General Chat

I am very fortunate and do realise this.

One daughter lives here with me and the other 2 children within about 8 miles, so I have seen them from time to time, but we didn't visit each other's homes during lockdown, just met up on social distance walks for birthdays and a few other times.

Today we are having lunch together for the first time since March 2020.

Annx
It sounds as if your grandmother lived in similar conditions to mine, although I never remember the cottage without electricity.
Gran cooked on the open fire or baked in the oven alongside.
She made wonderful cakes. How do you make a light sponge like that ? I have enough trouble in a temperature controlled oven.

When she got 'modern', they no longer fetched water from the village pump, but had a standpipe outside the front window next to the stile which gave access to the garden. (this was Wales and was the way to keep wandering sheep out )
She was very particular about cleanliness and although they had humble beginnings, all 3 daughters lived healthily well into their 90s.

Morning all,

We have sunshine and it feels really muggy with no breeze .

Enjoy your day with the family Gwyn .

We had a lovely day yesterday ,Mel you asked if I cooked different things for the children ,no when I do cook they all eat the same no cooking different ,it was the Chinese take away that I meant they had to decide what they wanted to eat .

Hope you enjoy your lunch again Ann and the smaller plates are enough ,there's always pud to fall back on though if your still hungry.

Tomorrow we have to get a new tyre put on the car when Colin went out to check the car over the other day he noticed one tyre has a tiny crack in the tread so hopefully we can get that done before I go for my jab after lunch if not son said he would take me .

Coffee time now I think BBL

Enjoy your time with your family Gwyn. I am pleased you can see them face to face at last and, if I am honest, a bit envious too. I haven't seen my granddaughters in Yorkshire for well over 18 months now. We’re waiting to see what happens on 21st June and, all being well, will arrange to visit them after that.

It’s got a bit greyer here but no more rain promised till tomorrow. I think we had more than our share on Friday.

Ann, if it’s anything like round here, a small plate will be plenty. Enjoy your lunch.

Morning Vera, Gwyn, Anng and all,

I think my weather here is about the same as Anng, grey skies and it rained last night fine steady rain. Weather thingy says 17 degrees here.

Hi Gwyn it will be nice to see your daughter later face to face. Will it be the first time for a loooooonnnnnnggg while? Enjoy your chat. :-D

If its dry I shall try to get up the border and if its not I shall be in the shed and there's a grand prix today so I shall watch that too.

Morning All,

It's looking grey here too. We had to water the garden last night, no real rain for ages. Today a bit of HW is needed with the new TV being set up tomorrow. They will connect sky and the dvd player too, but we can do Wii. Then wipe down later, but that is getting easier with only what we need immediately and the fridge stuff being wiped. We have a wheeled garden trolley that was unused to store tins, packets etc in for 3days and 2 empty drawers in the freezer to leave things for 3 days.

It will be nice to chat face to face as you say Gwyn after using screens and phones for most chat. It makes me realise that my grandmother didn't even have that when my parents moved away from the area where she lived. She didn't even have electricity so no phone, my parents only had a phone when I was in my teens.

It's great not having to think about lunch today, but rhubarb and custard is on hand if the portions are toddler size!

Anng our cars have only been washed by rain for over a year now! I have thought about going out with a soft hand brush or sponge in the rain to give mine a once over and let the rain do the rinsing.

Weather as promised here so good morning all from a grey Gloucester. Looks like we have swapped with the East for a damp day, we had rain overnight but dry here and 14 degrees but we are not expecting sun today. The garden needs a good shower and so does my car which is covered in dust.

Good morning Vera and everyone

Cloudless blue sky here and quite warm too.
Seeing my elder daughter later and possibly grandson. It will be good to chat face to face.

Good morning

It’s a bright sunny day and 15 degrees already. We haven’t got any plans so I’ll just be taking the day as it comes. Hope you all enjoy your day.

Foxes are getting very tame aren’t they, it probably fancied a chicken dinner.
As I said in my email Vera they are very pretty and would look lovely on a rickety.

They are lovely plants Vera. We will want to see a picture when they are bigger please.

So you made it today Mel! It sounds like you have made some progress too. The fox wasn't that scared was he as he hung around.

Vera they are lovely and such lovely colours. I emailed you.

Just come down from the border. Yes I actually got up there this afternoon. Another barrow load of dead stuff, twitch and I dug out 5 brimbles and pulled up some of the forget me notty nots white ones and blue ones. I have two or three foxgloves up there and all the flowers are blind so they went too. Heard a noise and looked up and the fox had tried to get through the little arch where I have a fence with a hole for the rabbit trap. He ran towards the orchard and turned and looked at me so I clapped my hands and he ran off through the orchard. When I came down about half an hour later it ran through the garden and out iunto the field behind us.

So we have all been in the garden today then. It started to spit with rain when I came down and has been cloudy all day with a bit of a breeze so it was comfortable to be up the top of the garden.

Hope Mandy and Colin have had a nice day.

Steak rolls for tonight and a nice bottle of Rose'.

Yes it is 22 degrees here and very hot I have done a very short spell of weeding but it was too hot. I have just been round filling up the bird baths and topping up the water feature.

Mandy I don't officially lip read, only partially and he didn't lip read too well either but we had quite long conversations and he was not afraid to try to speak, I could understand him when he did. He was a nice fellow. He finished early before Charles cam from his other job and he was sitting on the pavement in the sun I took out of the garage one of our old garden chairs which pleased him. so, the front looks nice and clean now and the shed has its new bolt which will save me a fight when I go to open the door, and hopefully he has fixed the lock. Time will tell with that one.

Crikey, it’s hot out there now. I’ve been in the garden for about an hour, just doing easy jobs, nothing too energetic, but I am wilting and had to come in. Our garden is in full sun for a lot of the day and today there’s hardly a breath of wind. My app says it’s 21 degrees and feels like 23. Never happy are we. We moan if it’s too wet, too dry, too cold and now too hot.

Mandy do you have to cook all different things for the children then??

Afternoon all,

Thank you for the anniversary wishes we are having a nice lazy day the family will be here later then the fun and games begin sorting out what everyone wants to eat .

We have sunshine after quite a lot of rain last night but it has filled the water butts nicely.

Gill you are getting there now ,I can see there will be a fight for the first bath lol ,thats naughty of the neighbours to put their rubbish in your garden i suppose as the place was empty they took the opportunity to dump but now you have to clear it .
Yes ring the council to check they probably won't be able to say if you can without seeing plans first so you might have to have plans drawn up.

I see you got to the eggs this morning Mel before Mona had a tuck in :-D

My cabbages didn't do very well last year so we haven't bothered with them this year, we have had three lots of radishes o far with lots more to come and I see there are several tiny cucumbers coming.

Anng I bet it looks a lot better out the front after having it pressure washed ,it's not until they start you realise how bad it was .
With the young lad being deaf too communication was probably easier as he would probably lip read as you do too so you both wouldn't turn away from each other as hearing people do .

Hope Frank is feeling less sore and bruised since his latest fall .

That's good you beat Mona to it today Mel. She'll be chicken soup if she isn't careful! That's good your courgette id doing well and your cabbages. I had a surprise when I planted out my replacement yellow courgette........it is a climbing one!! lol. we will have to find some canes for it when it gets going. We managed to plant the rest of the French Marigolds and some of the mesembryanthemums. OH dug up a tiny leafed Holly that has never recovered from those scale insects despite treating it. I didn't want it infecting our nice variegated Holly so it had to go as it was a sorry sight! We were bothhot and aching by then so came in. OH had already decided not to go to a match as the one planned had roadworks and diversions meaning it added many miles and time.

I am doing more painting now for an hour or so while it's cooler in here.

Happy Anniversary Mandy and Colin. I am sure you will have a wonderful time with the family and a meal too.

I got to the eggs before Mona this morning and I had three!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ones has a tiny miney dent in it but that will be ok cos I shall use that one tomorrow.

Was in the shed and suddenly felt very hungry so came in and did us both toast. Oh was watching the practise laps for the race tomorrow then later he has the qualifying to watch but for now he has gone back to the mower.

My courgette is doing well in its pot on the decking and so are the four cabbages I put in a big pot. I still have two to plant up but thats ok because we can't eat 6 cabbage all at once and if they don't grow properly the chickens will enjoy them whatever they are like.

Good morning everyone

You are all early birds this morning. I’ve also been up since 7 am but don’t seem to have done very much yet apart from walking down the road to post a birthday card. It’s quite warm out but cloudy. I think it rained quite a lot overnight but it is supposed to stay dry now.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MANDY AND COLIN. Enjoy your day.

It’s all happening at your house Gill. You might have to put up with a few months of dust and mess but it will be worth it. You’ll have a little palace when it’s all finished. That’s really bad of neighbours to dump their rubbish on your ground. They probably thought no-one would know. They didn’t bargain on whizz kids Gill and her OH getting the garden cleared so quickly. Did you ever manage to find out where your boundary is? If not, I wonder if your local council planning department could help as they often have old maps and plans.

It’s a shame you are losing so many eggs Mel. It must be frustrating to know they are being laid but getting broken. You’ll have to give that naughty chicken a good talking to.

Busy times at your house this morning too AnnG. I wish my OH would agree to getting our paving front and back pressure washed. It’s one of his foibles, he’s very anti pressure washing. This year because of all the rain and our own physical problems it hasn’t even had it’s usual going over with “Wet and Forget”.

It looks as though the sun is trying to peek through so I think I’ll go and see how many plants have been flattened by yesterday’s rain.

I slept okish, not as good as I would have liked but it was knowing I had to be up early for the lads coming to pressure wash the front, They have left one of the gand to do the pressure wash and the other two will be back later. At the moment I have a swimming pool out there and the Tesco man is due, hope he has good shoes on. He could be in for a paddle. The lad they have left is deaf so we will make a good pair if he needs to communicate with me, he seems like a good worker.

I have done a load of washing and that is half dried in the drier, I have watered the pots, just need to go down the greenhouse.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MANDY AND COLIN Have a great day. <3 <3