Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 27 September 2015

Hallo all and THANK YOU DIANE!

Diane:  I've just put the time of Sunday's eclipse on my calendar - you're so sweet to give us all the info!  And what a lovely way to start off the week. Have you seen the most recent shots of Pluto? Apparently, not what the scientists expected.   Re that fieldmouse, I guess we can make an exception this time (but what about its friends and family?)

Lindybird: Bummer that you're still not feeling well.  Clearly your OH's more dramatic reaction stopped the bug from settling in.  Interesting about Mary Berry - hadn't heard of her. They seem to have fun making that show.  Dang! Nothing like dragging yourself out for nought.  Hope your OH got home safely.  Might help you to get away for a week given all the noise next door.

Brenda/Heather: I've never heard of professional oven cleaners; mine is self-cleaning, but must say I tend to keep it clean as I go (but then again I use the cooktop and BBQ a lot).  

Heather: Oh that's a riot about the fog lamps.  We have that setting on our vehicles, but I could count on one hand the number of times I've needed it over the last 10 years.

Have a good Sunday all.  My yoga teacher is hosting a practice session at her house tomorrow followed by a pot-luck brunch. Not sure if I'll make it - it's been rather nice sticking close to home with minimal activity.  Do want to make the stretch class though..

Good Morning, All,   and Thank You Especially to Diane, for the cheery welcome to a new week, plus all the wonderful info.   Not sure if I'll get up in the middle of the night to see the Rusty Moon as it was described on TV today, or if I might be up anyway, to answer the call of nature!!  The moon was certainly very bright and full last night.

Its a beautiful Autumnal day here, with bright sunshine.  My OH is trying to stick some of our wallpaper back onto the wall, which Bonnie has removed, and we are both trying to stop her climbing on our laps as she got really dirty on her morning walk today.  He tried to wash her but she resisted having her tum cleaned, as she hates it even though he uses warm water!  Just now she is sleeping on her bed, or what remains of it, and hopefully the dirt is falling off her as it dries.

Annette:  I can see your dilemma - the stretch class would be nice, but you have been so busy it would be nice to just be quietly at home and not do much - maybe do some stretching on your own??

I can see its quiet on here today so hope everyone is out and about and especially in UK, enjoying the sunshine.

Here are a couple of pics from the Flower Show:  this is what greeted us when we entered the main tent display -

Hello all

Thank you DIANE both for starting us off and for all the links to lunar events. Harvest moon ----

LINDY - Lovely pics, I have never been to a flower show, but would love to.

My poor OH did the same as you, LINDY. He had an early meal last evening and set off to the Indoor Bowling for the opening evening, he was looking forward to the game, the chat, the coffee and cake -

unfortunately, probably due to his poor hearing, he got the date and/time wrong. He will find out tomorrow.

Some of the family have dropped heavy hints about a Rumtopf this Christmas. I haven't done it for a few years. It is a bit late but will still have three months to mature. OH is outside picking Victoria plums. I have apricots, grapes, nectarines, cherries to go with them so will crack on with that today.

I want to buy a new TV for the sitting room. We have one in the family room but if we have a bad winter we will migrate,the sitting room has a gas fire. My stepson is going to take me shopping when he comes home but when we were talking on the phone last night he said that he had just bought a 'smart TV 'for the flat in Edinburgh (where he lives when working). I'm really not sure whether we really need such a fancy piece of equipment and my OH has distanced himself from the whole idea since it involves money :-))  Existing TV in the room is small and old. OH said that he was small and old as well, and was I thinking about throwing him out, also?

Morning all:

Lindybird: Lovely cheery flower pix.  Thank you.

Heather: Oh my, I tell you - the larger flat screen TVs are so nice, do hope you splurge for the winter.  We get Consumer Reports magazine (the US equivalent to Which?) and the Samsungs top the ratings.

Wonderful, wonderful coastal overcast this morning. Gray skies and cool!  Was chatting to a lady in the check out at Costco the other day and she was saying she doesn't ever remember it being this hot for this long in Santa Barbara.  Off to check out garden and say hallo to the plants.

What a lovely day its been!!  Almost summer-like, except of course its not warm enough to sit around outside.  We went for a country walk which was eventful:  Bonnie first got through a wire fence into a field, then couldn't find her way back again as of course she didn't want to retrace her steps entirely. Lots of frustrated calling of her name!  Then when she appeared, she found a "friend" to play with in a large young pale yellow labrador, who was only too happy to chase her around and whose owners were worried that she might get squashed by the bigger dog!  They found the only puddle in a rut in the path which had filled with water and made a muddy mess, so they both ran through that......  She was now a worse colour than she was this morning, after a walk through the muddy fields.  Later, an encounter with a rather fierce looking bulldog type who was on a lead and held back by anxious owners - she will have to learn that not everyone wants to play with her.

Heather:  Laughed at your post.   We have flat screens, they are not Smart TV's but that is what I will go for when we next have to change.  We love Sony brand but also find Panasonic are reliable.  Main thing is to buy from somewhere where you can see the thing working, and make sure it's what you want.  Also, if you get the chance, try to see the Remote Control as some of them are more tricky than others to get the hang of.  The prices vary enormously but I think you get what you pay for, so although even the smaller cheaper ones are perfectly good, I always look for a brand I recognise and trust at least.

Since we got our TV & internet reception fixed, we had to give up our VPlus Box which had to be replaced as it was faulty - this meant losing whole series of things we had recorded, Agatha Christies new series, concerts, episodes of Strictly, recordings of Ospreys catching fish, murmurations, etc. etc.  Boo Hoo!!

Sorry about your OH missing the bowling.  At least its in the future, not the past, so he can still go.

Whilst I'm on a roll, as they say, here are some more Flower Show Pictures:

    - -   I took the above one deliberately to show how huge the tent/marquee is:  its actually a "U" shape so this is only some of it!  Takes a long time to walk around, especially when like us, you want to gaze at just about every exhibit.

Just beautiful!   Such a lot of work goes into growing, transporting and displaying these blooms.

For those who have never been to such a Show, I can tell you that when you enter the largest tents, the smell hits you right away - the scent of these Sweet Peas was just heavenly, and in fact the ones in the bottom left hand corner of the picture were given a prize for their scent.

More.....

    -  -  This is a view out of one of the entrances, of the rest of the show.  More about the skull, later!!  As you can see, it was not a bright day, rather clouded over, but at least it was not hot like last year, when I wilted rather.

Unknown said:

Morning all:

Lindybird: Lovely cheery flower pix.  Thank you.

Heather: Oh my, I tell you - the larger flat screen TVs are so nice, do hope you splurge for the winter.  We get Consumer Reports magazine (the US equivalent to Which?) and the Samsungs top the ratings.

Wonderful, wonderful coastal overcast this morning. Gray skies and cool!  Was chatting to a lady in the check out at Costco the other day and she was saying she doesn't ever remember it being this hot for this long in Santa Barbara.  Off to check out garden and say hallo to the plants.