General Chat

Anng, soup made, very tasty. Enough for two days. When ever I make soup, which is once in a blue moon, I always think 'why don't I make soup more often.
Sunflowers all ok, except the ones on the window sill which managed to fall over. I have pics to send- of the sunflowers, not the puddle LOL

Gosh, AnnG, you have been busy today. At least you feel you’re achieving something. Your garden will be lovely next spring and summer.. I would have liked to do a bit in our garden this afternoon but it’s not been good weather for it. After some early rain it has stayed dry but there’s been a really strong, bitter cold wind blowing. We went into town this morning and got really cold.

Island, I’ve no idea what you look like but I now have a vision of you “shaking it all about”. Sometimes I imagine you must be like Lulu twisting and shouting, other times I wonder if you’re more like Mother Brown kicking her knees up and showing her drawers :-D.

Your newbies are getting braver now Mel. Shame the old girl’s still chasing them but I expect she thinks her territory has been invaded. Enjoy your F&C tonight.

When we went into town this morning I went to pick up my meds and as I approached the shop from the other side of the road I could see it was closed up and the premises had been cleared. I wondered what on earth was going on but they had only moved further down the road to bigger premises. Panicked me for a moment though as I need my meds.

After that we met friends for coffee which was very pleasant. I have to say all the cafes seem to be well organised. Tables are spaced, staff are masked and customers stay masked except when they are sitting at their table.

We’ve got the dentist in the morning. It’s just a check up so fingers crossed that neither of us will have anything to be done.

Hurray, there’s a gleam of sunshine, the first today. I think I might go and put my nose outside and see if the wind has flattened anything in the garden.

Lawn mowed and two more lots of bulbs planted Another 7 red tulips and five pink Allium. That's my lot for today. Making a couple of cards now.

Anng he has been talking about moving the run over to a fresh patch of grass so perhaps thats why he told me.

It seems to have clouded over here now which is a shame as I was going out to do something. Don't know what but I shall find out when I get out there.

Island did you get your soup made? I had the second bowl of my veg soup for lunch, it is quite filling so I suppose it is not exactly slimming. And were the sunflowers damaged by the wind. There is a biit of a breeze here now but the sun is still in and out.
Oh well done for shaking the pain away again, let it know who is in charge!!

Mel, sounds like the newbies are beginning to settle, or would if the oldie would leave them be. Why did your OH stop you digging was it to protect your hip or to protect the run?

Just gearing up to go and mow the lawn now. :-D

The two newbies have been out in the run for a little while this morning while I dug some pof the ground to keep the other two occupied. They talk to each other all the time its so sweet but the big oldie chased them in the end. Daisy was in the nest box and I had an egg from her. I thought if I gave it a dig in places it would give the older ones something to do scratching around for worms. Oh told me not to dig in there so I came away.

Going to do bacon sandwiches now.......thanks Mandy. :-D

Well after a half hour break I went back out and managed tocut down a very dead clematis that was all tangled in plastic netting. There is still a bit to clear round the base of that as I found the logan berry had grown again and I also need to dig up the extremely prickly and almost dead goodeberry but the ground is 'claggy' under foot so not good for walking on. I left that bit and cut back the rampant yellow clematis and some of the buddleia branches it had entwined. Thank good ness it is beginning to look like I am getting somewhere, even though the bin is almost full again. I am charging up the mower battery in the hope it stays dry so I can cut the lawn this afternoon.

Still bright here. And no wind. I did an hour in the garden and managed to get the rose cut down and also finished off the high branches of the second buddleia. Another buddleia to check out but it is covered in the yellow clematis so have to sort that first. Had an hours rest while I had a coffee so will go back out there now I think.

I think |I am coming to Mandy first for a bacon roll or two and then on to Island for tomato soup! All sounds delish and I may just have to do bacon sandwiches for lunch now Mandy mentioned it. Mum used to call me her bacon baby and biscuit baby. Always been two of my favorites. <3 <3 <3 :-D :-D :-D

Morning all

Bright sunshine forecast all day here and dry. Still a bit of a bow going on though so I expect to find a few collapsed sunflowers and sweetcorn.

We've had a steady harvest of tomatoes so I'll make some tomato soup this morning before the three boxes in the fridge go past their 'eat by'.

Nice to have help with the decorating Mandy, keep those bacon butties flowing!

I did the okey cokey again this morning, well the right leg in and shake it all about anyway. I've got my dander up now re this sciatica - I just won't let it get the better of me any longer.

Enjoy your day all

Morning Anng Mandy and all,

Winds dropped here and its not raining at the moment. The deer in sitting in the orchard and its quite bright and there is some blue sky with white clouds and 13 degrees.

Oh is going to order the F & Cs online again today so I should'nt have to wait too long for them when I go to collect them.

Morning Anng, morning all,

We had quite a bit of rain and wind over night it's stopped raining now but still windy ,I've stripped the bed hoping I can get them on the line later if it keeps dry .

I need to go to Boots for my tablets and get some rolls for tomorrow as son is coming to help with the decorating and said he'd like bacon rolls ,Colin has painted the walls but son is coming to do the cutting in as it's a bit of a reach for Colin .
Son will come between his shifts at the school .

Good morning 8 degrees and bright so far, yesterday was supposed to be wet here but we didn't have any rain at all. Hopefully today will stay dry as I want to get out in the garden again. BBL

Island I thinkit was the big old hen eting the eggs of just squashing them and tidying the nest. They will all eat a broken egg oif they get the chance even Daisy. Still no names and one shot out of the house wehn the old one went in but got back in as soon as she could. I have given them all a worm dose today and have to do it for two more days removing all other water.

Hip has eased of a bit today but I have mainly sat around today after the wipe down. Glad the leg shake did the trick for you and you'll have to remember that for another time.

Cooking a chilli for tonight. Not one of my favourites but oh likes it when I have a lot of eggs I usually have a couple of boiled eggs and soldiers. Jane like that too.

I was goinf to do the ironing but could'nt be bothered so its still in the uti room waiting............... :-)

Island shaking your leg you seem to have found a new treatment! Well done.

Losing the young ones in a family is very hard, there are always thoughts of ‘what would they be like/be doing now?’. So sorry you list one as well.


I don’t have any trouble heading to my craft room, but I am good at prevaricating on other jobs. The monthly accounts have been sitting on the dining room table since the end of September waiting for me to balance them.

Evening all

What a blowy day, cold, wet, oh what fun. Tomorrow is a better forecast at least - we shall see!

Anng Thoughts with your family and little grandson. Ours would have been 11, his little life was brief but we did meet him.

Mel, I hope your painful hip has settled. My sciatica started up as soon as I got up, I was so angry with it I shook my leg as hard as I could. It worked!.
Is the old bird the one who pecks the eggs?

Vera, Bloods done this morning, I decided to just go for it, I didn't want to risk losing next weeks phone call. IF it isn't postponed I shall be able to say 'do you realise....' I'm sure it will be glossed over though.

Annx, I didn't know there was a link between reflux meds and osteoporosis. What joy! My ra meds cause reflux so I take omeprazole.... :-(
If funding went into research instead of making Big Pharma wealthy they might just find some cures.

My head is full of art craft ideas but it is not heading towards the craft room LOL mañana.......

Glad you didn't get wet Vera but sorry sleep eluded you again. I actually slept reasonable well last night and besides doing the bit of cutting back in the garden I have changed the bed and washed the bedding and made some soup with left over veg (parsnip, 3 small roast potatoes some roast carrot, some green beans, broccoli tips and sugar shap peas and one of the very large carrots.) It is very nice, strange as it is carrot coloured but the predominant taste is parsnip. Enough for me for three days so that is good.

It did cloud over but no rain and now the sun is shining again.

Hope your letter comes soon Vera and that your order was all there.

Mel, at least you stopped the egg being eaten by being right there.

The sun came out for a while this morning so I didn’t get wet going to and from the hairdressers. It’s been raining on and off since then. Now I’m waiting on a delivery from Sainsbury’s which should arrive shortly.

I didn’t have a brilliant night Mel and as well as everything else I got woken by the rain. It was so heavy that it even woke OH and he’s a sound sleeper normally. Still, I manage to keep going during the day. As well as going to the hairdressers I’ve sorted out some paperwork and done the ironing. That’s not as much as it sounds as I’m an iron as little as possible sort of woman ;-)

I hope you get your bloods sorted Island. You’re right about the NHS going to pot. All the doctors at our GP surgery and the hospital and all the other medical staff have been great but NHS admin is abysmal. We are still waiting to receive a letter the consultant wrote nearly three weeks ago. We know what it says as his secretary read it out over the phone to OH but we are still waiting for the actual letter to arrive.

Did the coffee sponge go down well Mandy? I hope you saved me a piece. Poor Lacey with her tin of beans but a good lesson that we can’t all win all the time.

It was sad reading about your little grandchild AnnG. He’ll always be a part of you family. Thinking of you all <3

I hope all of you with dodgy hips, knees and anything else have felt a little easier today. Take care all of you. ~~~~~~~~~~ a quick wave to Frank and Gill.

Come on Mr Sainsbury. I’m waiting here with my bags at the ready. Get a move on please. He heard, he’s just arrived.

Alll wiped down and put away and now I am having a sit down.

Glad you slept better last night Ann and feel ready to tackle the pots weather permitting. I need to get rid of the petunias on the patio and the cosmo as its so tall and keeps getting blown over onto other things .

Its very gusty today and we've had some sunshine but its starting to cloud over now just because oh has had something delivered to put on the newest mower as the spindle wore and chewed belts up. We.ve had some rain this morning too.

No new girls out this morning. I let the very old girl out yesterday but had'nt the heart to leave her out last night but this morning they were making a row when I went to feed them and the oldie was in the nest box so I fed them outside and she came out and she had laid me an egg and not eaten it so her holiday in the garden must have done her some good and me too to get an egg.

Vera how did you sleep last night? I hope you got enough to make you feel like doing something today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ to Island hope you're feeling less achey today. My hip is still very sore.

Anng you now have a nice empty bin to fill up again now. Your garden is going to be ready for winter soon.

Well we had a dry blustery morning. the garden bin was emptied and I spent an hour in the garden half filling it again. Hopefully it will settle and give me more space for what is left to do in the next two weeks before collection day again. I cut off the top high branches of two Buddleias (thank goodness for the lopper and for having the arm strength to use it). I also cut down a Rosemary that I have grown from a cutting but which was in the wrong place for the height it gained. I have kept it in place and hope that it will bush out instead of grow tall. (like me :-D).. I also cut a few rose high branches down which were blowing in the wind but I had to stop there as my back was getting tired holding the lopper. It is forecast dry and warm for the weekend so hopefully I can get some more things cut back. I have a rampant clematis on the lower trellis, at the moment it is attractively covered in 'puffball' seed heads but it has grown too big, I think it has grown up a rose and the third buddleia so all that needs sorting.

I too have been thinking of and remembering our lovely Jane, such a kind thoughtful and funny lady so much missed. xx

A bit of a thoughtful remembering day today as my (our) fifth Grandson would have been 21 today, he was born asleep He had Edwards syndrome. It was a sad time until two years later Granddaughter was born. I didn't see him of course but I do have a photo. Sleep well little one.xx <3