General Chat

Hi to all.
Well what a terrible day we had yesterday, I haven't seen a storm like it for quite some time,especially considering it's summer time & not winter !
I was terrified.& really worried, & the noise of the wind hitting the house was frightening.

Today is a "little" better but still blowing a gale, I wanted to go outside to check for any damage ( fallen slates / fallen tree branches etc) but it's still too windy for me to step outside, fingers crossed all will be well !

I can see there are a LOT of leaves to sweep up, the drive has quite a pile up against the garage door, hoping any leaves that cam down into the front garden area have blown over the fencing into the fields !
It's bad enough having to sweep up leaves in the winter time, I really don't want to have to clear them up in summer time.

One good thing, the power stayed on, unbelievable considering how bad it was..

Joan.

Afternoon all

well storm is raging here just now and we still have power thankfully.

No ferries or planes though!

Tunnel will be ok Linda up to 130 mph and right now its about 60 and increasing so we will be ok.

Busy prepping for our show on wed so getting all the baking stuff read and exhibits today.

Hope all ok with everyone looking in
Take care

Florence in the hebrides

Linda you will have to buy a coffee and sit and read making it last. Those girls are lucky to have you to take them out and about. I bet they love the school holidays.

I hope that your poly tunnel will be OK in the wind Florence.

I have had a busy week. I took Esme to Lightwater Valley on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, I took her to the Theatre to see Ms Rachel. She is an American who is very big with toddlers. Esme likes to watch her on U tube. She took Katie, her reborn doll. She really enjoyed it, we went to Mc Donald’s for lunch afterwards. I took her in her wheelchair on the bus, so that was an adventure.

On Friday, I took Eve out for the day. We went to the cemetery where my parents ashes grave is. She washed it and we replaced the flowers. Then we went to a National Trust house for lunch and a look round. She likes all things historical and reads the boards in the rooms, so we had a good day.

Yesterday we went to my daughter’s house and OH and my son built a new swing seat for the garden. It turned out tobe very fiddly to put together, but it kept them occupied for the afternoon.
Today OH and I had a walk into town and went to the Heritage Centre. Their exhibition has just changed to one about the town in WW2, so that was interesting. We had coffee and cake of course, then got the bus back because my hip aches if I walk too far.

It is supposed to be raining hard tomorrow, I am going to take Eve unto Harrogate on the bus in the afternoon. She is starting volunteering in an Oxfam shop as part of her D of E . She has to be there from 2-4 pm tomorrow, as her parents are working, I said that I would take her in the bus and go shopping. I am not sure what I am going to find to do for two hours . I was hoping to be able to sit and read in Valley Gardens, but I won’t be able to do that

Afternoon all looking in.

Quiet weekend with only a quick trip to town yesterday for a few bits.

Its very windy here and tomorrow of course they are predicting severe gales up to 85mph on exposed coasts! lets hope it will not be as bad as that.

We did buy 2 plants in the garden centre and earlier we put up some more green netting against the fence as a windbreak. So although quiet we have been productive.

All the washing and ironing up straight for now.

Bank holiday here in Scotland tom so no post anyway.

Hope all ok with everyone

Florence in the hebrides

Hello all,
Well it is cloudy but warm today. Nothing planned to do today . The window cleaner has just been so had a chat to him about nothing in particular mainly the weather and some about the strikes that are happening.

1st of August already were does the time go?

Had a visit from sis in law yesterday and we spend a couple of hours talking about the past and some of the things we did years ago. Such a laugh. Of course we had sad times but who hasn't and talking about the daft bits was very funny .

Oh it's raining now. Always on window cleaning day. lol

Good evening Florence. Vera posted that Sylvia was on the Cleo Laine thread a few days ago, so she hasn't left. I just wondered if she'd left as hadn't seen her post on here for a while. You look to have had a busy day :-)

Morning all
Lovely to hear from you lyndi.

I dint see anything to say Sylvia is leaving??? Or have i missed something?

Grey and overcast day here so a day indoors and im going to write up my friends family tree which has been on my to do list for yonks! Research has taken a back seat over the recent months but today feeling productive.


I have planted more beetroot for an autumn crop and more potatoes too.

Peas are very plentiful and have been having them with many meals.


Hope everyone else looking in today is keeping well.

Have a good day all

Florence in the hebrides :-D

Thank you Vera. Good to see she is ok.

Sylvia posted on the Cleo Laine thread a couple of days ago.

Oh dear, yes, you're right, Lyndi.

Unless I've missed one, she hasn't posted on here since 6th June.

I rarely post on here but often pop in for a read through the posts. I just wondered if anyone knew if SylviainCanada was ok. I may have missed a post to say she was leaving, but haven't found anything. Thank you.

I still have some scrap books from holidays when my children are young, they are nice to look back on.
I have had a very busy week with lots of trips out. We are having a much quieter weekend because the girls have gone to a three night family music festival. They have hired a campervan and Esme likes it, in previous years she has refused to sleep in a tent, so my daughter had needed up taking her home each night and coming back the next day . Eve has taken one of her school friends, so they are sleeping in a tent next to the van.

Florence, a scrap book of your holiday is a good idea and will be a lovely occupation for the winter days to remind you of the holiday, I used to make large (12X12 scrap books and have 14 of them in this office. some of holidays, some of Grandchildren, One is a family history one. they are great to look at but a pain to store. I also have a couple of smaller ones which are easier to hold to look at.

Morning all looking in.

Very heavy clouds and overcast with some wind but not cold today. No plans at present but a few jobs to do around the house first.

I have to tf all my holiday pics to the PC and then go through and sort, delete etc. I'm going to make a scrap book of the holiday and print out various pics plus we bought a few postcards etc so they will go in the book too.

Making new memories <3

JustGinnie, so glad you have some nice new neighbours as its a bit hit & miss thesedays.

ArgyllGran, glad you got your car fixed for a good price....bargain!

Well the kitchen is calling me for a quick coffee and then to do some chores.

I have plenty room for peas in the freezer plus i chopped carrots and courgettes but its filling up!

Florence in the hebrides

Hello to all, it's a sunny day here and the washer is on and I have cleaned the bathroom so I am having a cuppa now before I start on the kitchen. My oven needs cleaning a job I hate so might leave that for OH . He can bend down better than me so I think I shall delegate. lol.

Florence, I have a picture in my mind of your tunnel with all the veg growing madly while you were away on holiday. Have you room in your freezer for your extras?

Ann your visit to Slimbridge sounds delightful. A lovely place to visit.

G/son and his gf came to visit for a couple of days, lovely to see them . Just OH and the dog to keep me company now lol.

Our new neighbours seem to have actually moved in now, they were back and forwards for a while but now seem to be here everyday. They seem very pleasant and OH and the young man have had a couple of conversations about fish and fishing. They have worked hard in the gardens and the front is neat and tidy which is nice .

Well must go and start again . Take care all and enjoy your weekend.

It's nice to hear about everyone's various summer outings/holidays.

It's grey here today, but warm and not actually raining, which makes a nice change.
I've sprayed the gravel drive with weed killer this afternoon, as it's looking quite green.
The last few wet days have encouraged everything, especially weeds, to shoot up.

The grass will be about knee high before I can attempt to cut it, I fear!
I missed one dry day last week, and it's rained ever since, and is supposed to rain for at least part of every one of the next ten days or so, so there will be no chance to cut it.
It's already about three inches long. Even though it's not raining today, the grass is still wet.

I thought the car was going to need a new exhaust, as it was making a loud rattly noise every time I switched on the engine, for the last fortnight - and louder each time - though not when the car was moving.
I'd arranged to take it to our local garage this morning for investigation - so of course it didn't make the noise today!
However, they had a look at it, and found that the exhaust itself was OK, but the clips which support the heat shield above the exhaust had corroded, so that the heat shield was gradually collapsing and rattling against the exhaust when the engine started.
They put in new clips, ad it's all quiet again. And all for £23.60, and done while I waited. Excellent service!
If only all car problems were so cheap and easily fixed!

Afternoon looking in.

Ann what a fa day you had. Really sounded very interesting and lovely seeing swans and flamingos. In jersey Zoo they had loads of pink flamingos.

We decided to "adopt" a gorilla at the zoo. It costs £25 which goes towards their keep and conservation. We have a certificate and other info about the 4 that live there.

One orangutan was 45 years old and loved seeing inside your handbag, So one lady took things out one by one and the orangutang looked with interest at everything. So amazing the concentration in its eyes studying everything.

Another misty/murky day. So annoying as i really need to weed and dehead but its too wet to go outside.

I decided to make a pan of stewing steak today with broccoli, new pots and a cauliflower cheese bake using my own cauliflowers :-D of course i wont be eating it as I'm a veggie but shall have a fish cake and all the other stuff.

Tesco coming 4-5pm.

Just about back in my own routine now and glad we are not in town again today!

Hope everyone else is well today

Florence in the hebrides

Pleased you enjoyed both Jersey and Guernsey Florence, both favourite places of mine. stayed in Jersey four times (including honeymoon in 1960, and in Guernsey 3 times.

I had a good day out yesterday visiting Slimbridge.
I wrote the following diary of my day for Mel's thread so I have copied it here.

Had a great day today, Anne picked me up at 0930 and we had a busy but reasonable drive to Slimbridge arriving at 1015 to a car park rapidly filling up. Of course us is school holidays and this was evident at the number of excited children of all ages making their way in. As we are both members it didn’t take too long to get through reception, noting that for seniors it would cost £18.00. We headed for the cafe first to start the day with a coffee

After talking with the young man on reception we had decided to go for the 11 o’clock tour of Peter Scott’s house and that included an exhibition of and talk on the art and various books and papers kept in the house.

Elizabeth and her male colleague were both excellent knowledgeable speakers. They made the whole talk very interesting and entertaining. Telling the story of how Peter Scott came to open wetlands in Slimbridge and how he and Philippa his wife lived and worked and, in his case drew and painted there. Most of the paintings are prints as the actual paintings were in the hands if people who paid a lot of money for them. We looked at the tiny cottage that was their original home until they had a house built in the early forties post war.

PS started the wetlands there after he was no longer able to continue to display paintings etc at Hull where he started he visited the area, spotted many geese including two rare geese and thought that was an omen that it would be the perfect place.

Elizabeth and her colleague (I think his name might be James) told us about nene geese from Hawaii that were on the endangered list and almost on the red list. PS approached Hawaii and asked to be allowed to try raising Ben geese in captivity, they were sent 2 geese but the following spring they both laid eggs. So they were asked to send a gander which they did and the following spring there were nine goslings. They are still endangered but there are now a good number here and Hawaii and other places. The talk was well over an hour but was so well done it didn’t seem as long.

After lunch we walked around the area closest to the cafe as I was fascinated by two large arches that I could see. They turned out to be woven from willow, beautiful. On the way there was a bed of beautiful Roxanne geraniums. Meanwhile children were having fun crossing the small lake on huge stepping stones.

We made our way round now visiting the flamingoes, always one of my favourites then on to see if we could see the otters but they were asleep in their hut. Elizabeth had suggested we visit the mission possible area where the Nene geese are and where there is an exhibition about endangered breeds including the Madagascar Pochard ducks. No actual ducks on display as they are forbidden to be removed from Madagascar. Although there were a couple of ducks said to be similar.. we spent the remainder of our visit looking at all the variety of ducks and swans before wandering round the shop

Florence, some of the budget airlines will add the luggage weights together if there are two of you travelling. OH is regularly over the luggage allowance, but as I am usually well under, it is OK.

I'm pleased you had a good time. :-)