WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY JUNE 28, 2015

'Allo all.  Hope it's a good week for everyone.  Ghastly news from Tunisia - those poor people, sitting on the beach enjoying the sunshine....

Heather:  There's at least one situation like yours in every family (sometimes two or three!).  Makes you wonder where these folks came from  I mean, can they really be related to sensible grown-up like us?  :-)  

Diane: We're on the edges of a tropical storm system heading into the Southwest which could end up in your neighborhood in a few days.  What a pain. It must keep on on edge the whole time.  I do hope the trees around your house are sound   We don't have many needs when it comes to cars, but we just have our trusty Honda Accord and our lovely old 73 Ford Ranger, which guzzles gas big time and is a bear to drive down Santa Barbara's narrow streets (narrow because of parking on both sides - and not narrow at all compared to some roads in England!).  The truck is in great shape but sits out most of the time and it's is beginning to rust in a few places. It takes up the entire garage and I'm the one who takes it and the stepladder to the do-it-yourself car wash where I nearly get blown off the ladder by the water pressure. Truck is too big for a drive-through wash.  Anyway, it's slowly deteriorating and I'd rather see it go to someone who will really care for it - it's pretty much a classic a this point.  I'm thinking sort of long term for a newer SUV with minimal bells and whistles that is versatile and economical.  We're looking at hybrids, but there's not a big choice in the smaller SUVs.  The Toyota RAV 4 will come in a hybrid version for 2016 - at a cost of about $30K!  Typically we buy newer used vehicles but with the recession, folks seem to have hung on to the popular models much longer than usual and the ones advertised on, say, craigslist, have lots of miles on them.  Still, there are much, much worse dilemmas to deal with in the world.

Lindybird: Good news from Glaslyn then.  Ha! Liked the 1-in-5 joke.

That tropical storm that's east of us has brought clouds, humidity - and a sprinkling of rain!  More sprinkling possible in the next two days. Hey!  It's wet. we'll take it.

  • Your flowers are beautiful, Lindy.

  • LINDY what a truely beautiful poem. thank you 

  • Thank you, everyone who has enjoyed my little bit of poetry. After I dashed it off (not bragging, but I work best when rushing!) I thought of several other verses but I won't bother changing anything now. Originally, I was going to write a much more wistful and vague description of Diane's day, however my brain took over & it came out the way it did.
  • Hello All -  Nice sunny day here, Hope Margo has been able to sit outside with Billie.

    Clare - sorry to hear that you are still jobless, I do so hope that you will have some luck soon.

    Lindy. - Love all your flower pictures, especially the Poppy.    I am missing my garden very much, my bearded Irises will be over by the time I get home and they are my favourites.  I hope that the roses will still be looking nice.    I see Bonnie is still being mischievous, I am glad she did not cut herself on the piece of glass.

    Second grandson got off safely to Bulgaria in the early hours of this morning, now oldest grandson arriving back after two weeks Kayaking in France,  D in L.off to meet him in Bristol and help him move into new flat. However, he has got caught up in the Ferry strike at Calais so now probably will not reach his old flat by the time the rental ends at midday and he still has possessions there, so is afraid things will be thrown out!  I must say he was running his time schedule a bit fine!

  • Nanny duty was one of the better days yesterday. There was actually an hour pm when twins & their Mum were napping at same time, Miss3 happily playing computer games and I dozed on lounge for an hour. Of course there were lots of little chores I should have been doing instead. Both L & J woke together. I managed to get both up, changed and playing without too many tears before Dau stumbled out. Miss3's Playdate has been transferred to Wed. No fair, I cry. How does OH get the easy days? This week I am swapping days with him as Thurs is immunization day and for some reason Dau thinks I will be more use than OH. To add to the fun, tomorrow my poor car goes in for repairs. I hope loan car is friendly. Off now for food excursion. Then I shall come back to drool over Linda’s poppy, iris & clematis.

  • Evening all:

    Lindybird: Ms D. has that poem you wrote for her in her bedroom - I copied/pasted it into a Word doc with the photo of her sitting on the fence - in a bright blue frame!

    Rita: Hope your grandson manages to collect his belongings - can't imaging they'd be that unreasonable...could they?

    AQ; Hurray!  Maybe synchronized naps might be the new normal?  Good luck with the loaner car.

    Bought one of those "shade sails" from Costco the other day - it's a triangular-shaped shade cloth with ties at each corner. You're supposed to organize it over the area you want to shade, but really, the effort to find the perfect location to get it tied tight (and therefore high) enough wasn't worth it Then the sun moves (yes I know it's really us) and the place you wanted to shade is sunny.  Not as effective as the cheapo on-sale beach umbrellas I got the other week that you can just pick up and move around.  Managed to get to yoga where we did some wonderful restorative poses - yawn.

    Have a good Tuesday everyone.

  • Good Morning, Everyone. I wrote good morn, but this tablet changed it to the full version, LOL! Good that AQ managed a nap herself as well as the twins & their tired Mum. Good Luck on Thursday! Hope they're not too cranky! Annette - I love the look of those 'sails' but now I can see the disadvantages! I'm trying to wear out a very old large umbrella, so that I have an excuse to get a smart new large one.
  • Humbled that some of my poetry is being kept - I often lose it, myself! Somewhere I have some of the osprey ones printed out, must go check on the Site sometime that it includes them all. There's been drama here in the NWest as the anti fracking movement are celebrating a minor victory after the Preston Council rejected a planning application. Must say I'm not keen on them doing it under peoples homes.
  • Good morning all

    I'm happy to read that AQ had another good nanny day :-)

    RITA- Don't know about your roses but ours are very slow due to the cool weather.Indeed, everything in the garden is behind. There was a notice from Wester Hardmuir fruit farm in the Inverness Courier last Friday saying that 'due to lack of sunshine' there would be no pick your own strawbs or rasps until July.Let's hope we get some sun soon.

    LINDY/ANNETTE- I had never seen those triangle things for shade until we were in France in May. Given where we live its not,perhaps,surprising! We were having a drink in an outside cafe and they had the triangles tied between the trees.

    Better get going, OH and I both have dental appointments this morning, his at 8.50 and mine at 10. After that going to look (again) for a clutch bag to go with my outfit for the wedding which is a week on Friday. I've seen several possibilities, just looking for a bargain that looks more expensive than it is.....

  • Heather - Yes, everything has been very behind in the garden this year, so perhaps I will see some of my roses after all.  The roses are all fully out in the garden here and smell divine! They are mostly David Austen roses.  I usually go to a fruit farm just outside Muir of Ord, I expect they are all behind as well.  Weather is very hot today, almost too much for me , I am not used to it!