General Chat

There won’t be rails Ann, the steps will start off going down the side of the garage, but will then curve out towards the centre of the garden, Even the paths will step down slightly with each flagstone as the whole garden is on a slope. We already have a fairly steep set of steps coming down to the garden from the large raised decking area outside the patio doors . They finish when these new steps will start. They don’t have a handrail, but they run along the house wall, so in the future it would be possible to put one in. The back door of the house is actually on the side of the house, so you step out onto the driveway. That then slopes down to the garages which are set back behind the house, the gate to the garden is next to the garage. I had a step put in outside the back door as the drop was too big, but this house is all about slopes. When we were buying the house, that nearly put me off, but we are adapting things to cope and will continue to do that as we need to. I am seventy six now, but know that I always be as fit as I am now, so we will change things as we need to

Florence, hope that your daighter's mouth has settled down. It is not nice when you are unable to eat and yet are hungry. Hopefully she likes Yoghurts, maybe tinned rice pudding.

Linda, that will be a job well done when you have the steps in, you will feel that you are making progress then. Will you have a hand rail put in. I was so pleased when I had hand rails put in in my two short flights of steps. Not steep and only 4 steps but the rails made a big difference to safety.

I hope that you daughter is OK today Florence, it must be difficult for her to control her diabetes when she can’t eat.
It is really cold here today. I am having an easy day with no plans to go out. OH is in the garage chipping cement from the back of some of the second hand flagstones which we bought a while ago. We are ready to find someone to build steps into our sloping garden, so OH is cleaning up just enough to do that. He is going to use the rest to make paths himself, so it doesn’t matter that they will have cement in them, he can just bed them down.

Evening all
Mixture of sunshine & showers today and nippy in the shade.

Daughter got her wisdom teeth out this morning and is now back home resting. She has stitches in the gums and of course they are very sore so not eating much except ice cream.

Just been into the tunnel and my potatoes have now started coming through and the peas doing well too.

i shall have to do some thinning out at the weekend with the carrots, onions and beetroot as they need more room to grow.

Hope Eve enjoyed her trip out with you Linda and getting new makeup! Wow she is growing up fast.

Hope everyone else had a good day today and hope the sun shone for you all :-D

Florence in the hebrides

I did get my locket back Ann, so I am very pleased.
As Esme’s didn’t want to go out, Eve decided that the Easter trail was too babyish, so we just went out for lunch instead. We popped into Boots as I needed some vitamins, so I treated her to some makeup as I am always spending money on Esme and she doesn’t get much.

This afternoon I had my annual MOT at the doctors. My blood pressure was fine and they took all the blood sample, so fingers crossed they will be OK as well .

It is so cold today. I had a thin top on this morning, but changed into a thick fleece by mid morning

Did you retrieve your locket Linda.
Hope that Eve enjoys her time with you today in the bunny hunt.

The dishes were so convoluted Ann, that you would never find them on a menu.

As my daughter was working today, I bit the bullet and took Esme to Lightwater Valley again. She had a great day, but I am absolutely shattered.

Tomorrow, I said that I would take both girls into town to do the bunny hunt then take them out for lunch, but Esme doesn’t want to go, so I will just take Eve. You buy a map and have to follow the clues to find model bunnies in various shop windows. Once you have them all, you hand the map in and get a small chocolate egg. Then all the maps handed in that day go into a draw to win large eggs. The money goes to charity. They have about three trails in the year, Eve enjoys doing them, so we just have some time together without having to bother about Esme.

Sounds really nice for a treat Linda. pleased that you enjoyed it. Any of the dishes that you would definitely order again, if on the menu? Or vice Versa?

Sunny here this morning and 5 degrees, no frost. Looks like it is another gardening day. although I think it is due to change during the day.

Well lunch was excellent. We went to Goldsborough Hall which is a very nice typical country house hotel, known for its fine dining. We had a six course tasting menu, well seven if you count the coffee and petit fours afterwards. It is the sort of place where they explain to you what each course is using very poncey words which mean nothing to you at all. It was very different, lots of things which we would not normally have tried from a menu, mainly because we don’t know what they are :-D
Despite the fact that the courses don’t look that big, I am absolutely full now. It is the same as when you go for one of those tiered afternoon teas and think, that doesn’t look much, then realise that it is !

Belated happy birthday Linda. Wonderful that someone handed the locket in. cloudy here today and 15 degrees but a chilly wind.

Grandson and his two boys have just left to go home to Portsmouth, lovely to see them but a bit of getting straight work ahead of me now. :-)

Belated Happy Birthday Linda, enjoy lunch.

Glad you enjoyed your trip Florence. I think you're a closet rock chick!

Happy birthday Linda for yesterday. Hope you enjoy your lunch out today.

So amazing someone handed in your locket, you must have been so very pleased for that.

Its showery here today and breezy, a right mixture really but none too warm.

Catching up on some laundry and maybe a spin later this after noon if the weather holds out.

Busy week coming with lots of appointments including daughter getting out some troublesome wisdom teeth on Tuesday but being diabetic she is going in tom afternoon and staying in for a night making sure her blood sugars are stable after surgery.

I now have a lovely display of tulips in the tubs outside assuming the wind doesn't blow them all to bits!

Happy Sunday everyone looking in.

Florence in the hebrides

It has expanded quite a lot since then AG.
I went a couple of times with my own children when they were young, but that was also a long time ago. I did take Eve a few years ago, she could remember visiting. It has expanded a fair amount since then with quite a lot of extra buildings, gardens and animal paddocks.
It is a good job we went yesterday as it is an open air museum, it is cloudy and cold this morning.
OH and I are going out for a swish three course Sunday lunch at a very nice country house hotel. We are using a voucher our daughter gave us for Xmas.

Happy birthday, Linda!
It sounds as if you had a lovely day, in all sorts of ways.

How lucky that someone handed in your locket!

Your mention of the Ryedale Museum brought back memories of my visit there with my children, about forty years ago!

Amazingly, someone dud find my locket and handed it in, so I will be ab,e to collect it the next time we go.
It was another lovely day here, but tomorrow is going to be cold, only twelve degrees. It was my birthday today , so we went out for the day with my daughter and the girls. We went to Rydale folk museum which is an outdoor museum, they have cottages and agricultural buildings which have been brought to the museum and rebuilt . They had a nice children’s trail, so that kept Esme happy. We had lunch in a pub before we went in.
Afterwards we went back to their house for the “surprise“ birthday cake. They were just going to light it when my watch told me that there was someone ringing my doorbell. So I looked on my phone and was very surprised to see that it was my son clutching a bunch of flowers. It was a good job we hadn’t gone away as we had no idea that he was coming. So he came to my daughter’s house and we held of the cake until he arrived. Apparently he is staying until Friday, he will work remotely on Monday and Tuesday and have the rest of the week off. He has come up because he has to go in person to see the solicitors who are dealing with his house move and they are based up here. He is going to try to arrange to have another look at the house he is buying while he is here. Luckily we don’t have much in this week, but I will have to go to the supermarket tomorrow morning to top up the food.

Good morning all, so far bright and 6 degrees. I think this will be the last nice day for a while.
Florence, welcome back. I am pleased that you enjoyed your break, sounds as if you were spoilt. I too love Alfie and Michael, although I have not seen either of them live. Have loads of their CDs.
Linda, I am pleased that Esme had a nice day and that you were not 'forced' to go on the bigger rides. I bet it was hot there though. What a shame about your locket. Could have come off during one of the rides I suppose so would be hard to find. Let's hope for a miracle and that somebody has picked it up who will hand it in.

I have my eldest Grandson coming for the night today, bringing my two great grandsons (9 and 11).

Oh dear Linda, hope someone finds the locket and hands it in so you will get it back.

Sunscreen eh lol damp, windy and cold here and nooo sun!

It is good to have you back Florence, I am glad that you enjoyed yourself.

It was a glorious day here and I was outside all day long. I put sunscreen on twice, but the back of my neck feels red. Esme had a great day, but I am shattered now. We went on quite a lot of rides, but not the worst ones. The theme park used to be an adult one, but it has been changed to focus on under twelves and the adult rides have been removed. There are still some rides such as the large pirate swing and the chairs which swing around high up which are really adult ones, but some of the so called children’s rides are too extreme for me. I went on the Caterpillar rollercoaster and Esme was so funny, she said Grandma just close your eyes and it will soon be over :- The ones I hate are the things which spin you round Waltzer style, they always made me feel sick even when I was young.
One annoying thing was that I lost my gold locket while we were out. I have had it about thirty five years and it opens, so it has photos of my children when they were teenagers inside. I have emailed the theme park, but it would be a miracle if they have found it.

I'm so glad you had such a great time, Florence!
I'm quite jealous!
How lovey to be wined and dined, taken on holiday, and generally cared for!

Similar weather here. Still sunny and dry, but slightly cloudy, and quite a chilly wind.
I must bash on with the gardening this afternoon before the good spell breaks.
I hope the rain remembers to stop again, and doesn't keep raining all "summer" like last year.

Nothing would ever tempt me to go on one of those big rides, Linda!

Sounds like you had a lovely time Florence. I love Michael and Alfie and have all their CDs and loads of Michael on his own. Many years ago my daughter and I went to see him for the 1st time and were in the 2nd row and it was fantastic. Have seen him live several times now but have not seen Alfie live but love seeing him on tv and listening to him sing. They seem to have such a great friendship.

Linda yes sounds like OH and your OH are the same. All the things like fencing and laying paths are things that my Oh does and I have to stop him sometimes because he still thinks he can do heavy work and cleaning the guttering out like he did when younger but having medical issues it is not safe plus being a old bloke now. :-D
I think most of us have a head age and a real age. I find my head says 30s/40s but body tell me 70s. :-D :-D

I'm not a great gardener but I do manage to prune stuff in a OK way and not kill it .
I do like my veg & flower planters which I can look after without bending down.

Must go and do some H/W the sun is showing me where the dust is.

Hope everyone is ok and enjoying some sunshine.