Hope you all enjoyed your extra hour in bed!
Hello everyone. Gosh ANNETTE, no wonder that you are thrilled to get rain. You have waited a long time for it. I could just picture you rushing outside to pull the plant pots forward!
It is about 11 degrees here. OH is fed up with daily raking up of leaves, he says that he can't use the leaf sucky uppy thing because the leaves are too wet.
We didn't have any rings at the door bell last night, there aren't very many younger children around here. I could hear some older children in the street but they usually just hold out their bags for sweets etc. I used to love to have the little ones in the house, singing,telling jokes or funny stories. I have fond memories of the dunking for apples! My Elgin grandchildren had a little party at home last night and there was a Halloween disco at their primary school a few days ago.
We are off to Tenerife next Friday so the next few days will be busy. Or so I like to think-- Quite often the packing doesn't happen until the last minute!
Morning all: Well, we had very heavy rain for three hours nonstop last night - magical! - and more sporadic heavy showers since then and to come, with great gray billowy clouds overhead. I'm not sure the garden knows what hit it. Of course, we also realized we hadn't cleaned out the gutters coz they overflowed in a couple of places, so that's our job for this week, though I suspect I'll be the one up the ladder as OH gets dizzy at high altitudes.
AQ: So you had a total of 15 kiddies? As usual, I bought way too much candy (not bad quality stuff though) and now have to find somewhere to get rid of it without feeling guilty about causing tooth decay....
Brenda: One plant is leaning heavily, but I have to cut it back soon so I'm sure it'll be okay. Chicago can be very, very cold and windy - nothing between it and the North Pole.
ChrisyB: Good to see you.
Heather: We never did Trick or Treat when I was growing up, but we did have family get togethers and go bobbing for apples where all I remember is getting water up my nose. :-) How long will you be in Tenerife?
Off to sort out breakfast or something...
A quick sit down while dinner is cooking – including roast parsnips, yummy! We went to a “Fairer World Fair” in Dumfries today. We used the “café” as our lunch place (soup followed by baked goodies), stocked up on some fair trade foodstuff (and chocolate), bought a lovely wooden Owl for me and a Christmas present for one of the Grandsons. It was also a social occasion as we caught up with a number of friends and acquaintances. This afternoon we have mixed the mincemeat; I delegated the sticky task of chopping apricots and glace cherries! It will sit and soak tonight and then tomorrow will receive a dose of Brandy!
AQ – I hope you will get at least a few more days of pleasant temperatures before the real heat sets in for summer. How nice that the family called in for a while, without the need for babysitting! Albany sounds a really interesting and historic place, and I enjoyed seeing the photos, thanks. Mt Clarence must have held poignant memories for many families.
Annette – always sad when an inheritance splits a family. How wonderful that rain must have been to your ears, and I am sure the plants were pleased to soak it up!
Brenda – Diane was expecting snow yesterday in Indiana when I spoke with her briefly on facebook – didn’t talk long as storms were threatening so she wanted to shut down the PC.
Chrisy – we don’t do T or T either, and J stays indoors because of kids who know him from his time working locally. Sorry to say, our elder daughter and family were part of the tourist scene on Wednesday, including crossing Kirkstones Pass to Ullswater (if I got my geography right!) – they spent the week near Bowness-on-Windermere and that was their best day for weather, which is why we only saw them in the evening.
Heather – there were Hallowe’en activities at the school where J works. Apple Dookin’ banned as unhygienic, they had to use forks to catch their apples!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend; I hope we get the right two couples in the strictly dance-off “tomorrow” night!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Starting a new thread www.rspb.org.uk/.../114086.aspx