Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), Sunday 04 August 2013

Morning all: Had trouble (at our end) getting on line the other evening but all okay now. Weather forecast called for more of the same gloomy overcast mornings, but we had brilliant sunshine first thing today and they're threatening us with "normal" temperatures next week.

Diane: Wonder why dunking a hen in water would reset it's biological clock... I have showers every day but haven't noticed any change - I'm still getting older.  Brain sandwiches - yuk; elephant ears - yum.  The only thing I know about the Wabash area is that old song The Wabash Cannonball.

Clare: Great shot of the kite in flight. We have a White Kite at the local park; love to see them hovering.

dibnlib: Assume we are talking about white "flesh" peaches. I've had very sweet white and yellow; it seems to depend on the particular type.  I think Heather's got a point about peaches being picked before they're ripe. Here, we have to fight the birds for the peaches/apricots, etc. grown in our gardens. Good that you didn't let Fingal suffer; I think that's a lovely name for a dog (Fingal's Cave was one of my favorite pieces of music but now I can't remember how it goes. Will have to Google it.)

Heather:  Peaches poached in peach liqueur with raspberries and "proper" vanilla ice cream sounds seriously yummy, but which seeds are we talking about? We have lots of (not native) Eucalyptus trees here; not sure which kind, but people tend to worry about them in high wind.

bjane: Good to see you. Are you going to make any major changes to your house?

BrendaH: How long have you been a Good Egg?

Alan: How nice you got the comfy seat at the hide.  How is Lady P these days?

Lindybird: Naughty flapjacks - yum, but what's this? Christmas pressies already?  Eeeek.  Good to read all your posts and now find that Buzz is back home, if a little wobbly. I got rid of some old bits and bobs of towels, etc., some time ago when I realized we had more "rags" for cleaning than I could ever use.  Ha! Was looking in the binder for the BBQ cleaning instructions this evening and found Owners Manuals for several items we no longer own...

NiteOwl: Hope you're taking care of yourself.

We had a bit of excitement this week - well everyone in California that is. The Amber Alert (child abduction alert) was linked to everyone's cell phones in January and there was an abduction near San Diego this week. I was sitting doing my jigsaw at about 11 p.m. Monday night when my cell phone started shrieking - really terrible noise, like a smoke alarm going off - and when I looked it said "Emergency Alert." Freaked me out a bit until I opened the message and saw it was this Amber Alert asking everyone to be on the lookout for a particular car/model and the license plate.  Apparently, it was sent to the entire State and pretty much blew everyone out of bed, off their couches, and sent drivers weaving all over the roads. Even "smart" phones set to "All Sounds Off" (or whatever) let out this terrible noise (although my daughter's phone, on Vibrate, just vibrated).  Much debate has ensued - everyone agrees Amber Alerts are brilliant, but when you're fast asleep in bed......  I had no idea my phone was capable of making such a racket. The last sentence of the alert asked "Do you want to continue receiving alerts?"  Um, well, yes (though when most people signed up some years back we assumed it was for tsunami/wildfire evacuation alerts and didn't realize this was in the pipeline).

Anyway, off to tackle Mona Lisa (the jigsaw). A big Hallo to everyone I didn't mention and thanks for lovely doggie photos. And, of course, giant hugs to Margo.

Take care all.

Glad that Buzz has come through his ordeal and now will have to be pampered for a few days as he probably isnn't to pleased that he was taken some place he is not fond of. I now have problems getting Diesel in the car as he thinks when I go in here it is either to the vets or the groomers.

Alan we had a shower yesterday as the dust was starting to build up again but it only lasted about 15 minutes and today is again dry and we usually have a better afternoon and yesterday got the grass cut before the shower of rain.

OG I am looking forward to our meeting on Tuesday and hope the weather stays as good as it has been for your holiday.

My thoughts are with Margo and her OH and hope everyone else is in good health.

Hello, George - and Everyone!  Quiet on here this morning, but then it often is on a Saturday when we are all busy with something or other.

Hope you enjoy your meeing with OG and Eagle-Eye on Tuesday, George.  Yes, Buzz has mixed feelings about the car these days as sometimes it's the vets, but then other times its for a walk somewhere and he's very keen to go.  He can't jump up into the boot now and my OH has to lift him in - not easy as he's 26 kilos!

He had a mixed night - sometimes restless, and other times snoring loudly and deep asleep.  We're feeding him little and often, as the nurse advised,and trying to make sure that someone is in the house at all times until he feels stronger.  We have been pruning the holly bushes this morning in between showers, and will be at home all weekend as our Eldest and his OH are coming for lunch tomorrow whilst they are in the area.

Told my Youngest (on the phone)  about the Big Cupboard clearing out -  I said "There seem to be a lot of things in there I didn't know I had...."  His reply:  "Get rid of it, Mother!"  -  a real case of the child taking charge and becoming the parent LOL!!

Annette:   Interesting story about your Alert system.  A worthy cause, but did they not think about the consequences - I should think there might have been some fatalities on the roads and one or two heart attacks!!  Surely just the usual text message would do,without the drama of the noise attached. No common sense applied, as usual!     I wonder how difficult your Mona Lisa jigsaw is, seeing that the picture has a lot of muddy colours, in the background at least.  Did you know that she is one of the few people who have been painted without their eyebrows LOL!!  ?? (I'm full of useless information like that)

Am going to annoy everyone by getting out my equipment and papers, and making a few Christmas cards soon, time marches on ;-)))

Nice to hear from you , NiteOwl, and hope you have not had too much of a rotten time lately.  Thinking of you.

LINDY  Hope Buzz is feeling brighter today. I agree with NITEOWL about vets guessing whether lumps are harmless or not. When the vet found Fingals lump in his mouth he didn't suggest anything but his manner led us to believe it was not going to be good news.

ANNETTE  yes Fingals cave is a wonderful piece of music and it is an amazing place. We visited the cave years ago when staying in Tobermoray and long before we got Fingal.

Thought I would put on some more pics from the Flower Show, before I forget that we didn't finish them. It's hard to remember now that it was such a very hot day - a lot of the ladies were prepared, and had either brought an umbrella to use or had a pretty parasol or sunshade:

   -  this was made entirely from recycled materials, including an old bicycle, just out of shot, and all the hard landscaping. (quite appropriate, I thought - a cycle for recycling....!)  There are panels on the walls made from something fastened on and then painted into floral shapes.  It certainly made you think about what could be done with little outlay, if you could lay your hands on things no-one wanted any more.

   -  There was a competition for Schoolchildren to enter, and the theme was "The Seaside"  some of the entries were very imaginative, with plants growing in beach buckets & spades for example, but I liked this one which was a boat made entirely of old plastic drinks bottles stuck together.

   -  Continuing the "recycled" theme, here is a horse I made friends with, isn't he beautiful?

   -  These were the flowers at the side of an exhibit of garden vegetables, they were so colourful I was lingering by them for ages. They attracted a lot of bees and butterflies.  My OH of course, was far more interested in comparing the sizes of the cabbages and beans to his own!!

More....  

   -  The main theme to the large gardens this year was "Galaxies" and there were several gardens which we did not like, inspired by the stars & space travel.  This one was charming as it had a little studio at the end of the garden with the various telescopes ready for an evening with the stars, plus a dear little pool in front of it which could reflect the night sky.

   -  Another one on that theme, showing a "Black Hole" effect, although we saw it earlier without anyone sitting in it and it looked a lot more effective!! The disc at the front is showing their award from the RHS:  "Best Galaxy Garden"

   -  This was on a different theme, and was made by a Municipal Gardener:  It was called "Ripples" and was most effective:  hard to show it in just one photo, but the use of the bleached wood and the colourful eggs (though I'm not sure of their significance) was very well done.  A Gold certificate for this one.

Lovely pictures, Lindy.  Hope Buzz is getting over his op.