WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 2014

Thanks Starling on my way out shortly. Life has been difficult for quite a while but this news has given all of us such a lift.

MARGO I don't always read this thread but do lookout for your name and tday I am delighted to read your good news. I hope the improvement continues and that in 4 weeks time you will get more good news. By now I expect you would have had your lunch so I hope it was enjoyable

Morning all:

Margo: It always gives my heart a lift to read your good news and hear you sounding happy - I hope you enjoyed every bite of your lunch with your sister and had a really naughty dessert!  Plan something extravagant for the week.  :-))

Diane: Re Microsoft - we've been careful to avoid Windows 8. In fact, we never buy a PC with MS's newest operating system - they always seems to need a good year to work out the bugs.  

Spoke to granddaughter in Prescott over the weekend.  Arizona - and most of the Southwest - has a monsoon season that starts in July 4 and continues through September with lots of rain and flash flooding. Anyway, they had a huge thunderstorm the other night and their duplex got struck by lightning. It blew out their electrical box, but the only other damage was to Ms. D's string of starry lights that grand-daughter strung across her bedroom ceiling and puts on at night.   I got them from Ikea a couple of years back; they're very pretty and change color all the time and Ms D loves them. Anyway, in addition to frying those lights, the lightning set off all the other little lights/toys/electrical things in Ms. D's room, which was quite exciting apparently. They were lucky: The neighbors in the other half of the duplex not only lost their electrical box, but their television, stereo and speakers and more. The lightning also went down their gas line, but lucky no explosion!! The landlord was right on the ball and had people over there first thing to repair the damage.  Grand-D and Ms D went to the park the next day and found lightning had struck the climbing/sliding thing in the playground and had split the slide in half.  Have already got the phone number of the nearest Ikea (down in the LA area!!) and will call to see if they have the lights, which aren't available through their website.  Then off to do some grocery shopping. I hear all the Uni students are coming back into town for the Fall session so need to get out early to avoid being held up by hordes of young people standing in the aisles chatting and texting and pondering which brand of quinoa to buy ...sigh.

Take care everyone.

Thrilled to hear your news, Margo. I was also so happy to read that you were going out for lunch with your sister.  I hope you enjoyed a glass of wine, too :-))

Annette, That must have been a spectacular thunderstorm. Good to see that nobody was injured and the landlord moved so fast. Frightening what nature can do.

Margo, I've just read your post and I'm so happy for you!  I can't tell you how much I hope the improvement continues.

MARGO - so pleased that you have some good news!  I hope you enjoyed time with your sister.

ANNETTE - sounds a horrible storm over Prescott, AZ - glad the family were okay.

I wrote a long post at 5.15pm, and left the computer with the whirligig going endlessly round for about half an hour. Will come back later tonight for another attempt.......

Now its late and I'm very tired..... <sigh>     This site does not get any better.  Lets try again, but Im not writing much as it might not work....

Margo:   What absolutely brilliant news!!   I'm so thrilled to hear that.  Will email you tomorrow when I can see straight!

Thank You for all your kind congratulations on our new grandchild.  More about it tomorrow, but for now, here is a photo from when she was just a couple of hours old:

We were watching a TV programme tonight with a new baby, who was named "Amber" and it was mentioned that it means "Precious Jewel" which is rather nice.

Goodnight All for now.