Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 27 September 2015

AQ: That was interesting. Thanks! Unique looking little church.

Annette: I so wish I could send you the rain we're getting. We're being clobbered here in the east! Turning chilly, too. I know you enjoy rocket launches, and I thought you might want to know that a Russian resupply ship to the International Space Station will blast off on Thursday at 9:49 in California, 12:49 p.m. in eastern U.S., and 5:49 p.m. in U.K. It'll dock at the ISS at 3:54 p.m. in California, 6:54 p.m. in eastern U.S., and 11:54 p.m. in U.K. Watch live on NASA TV.

Have a good Wednesday all!

Hugs to you, Margo.

Sunflower, New Mexico
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service government photo
Labeled public domain (copyright free)

AQ/Diane: Thanks for the chat about medieval church graffiti. I've passed the links on to my OH, who is a big medieval fan.

Diane: Oh really do wish you could send us some rain. We're in for another hot few days, but they're saying there'll be a big change due Monday when temperatures are anticipated to be Below Normal!  Will be en route to daughter's Thursday a.m., so the Russian space ship will have to take off without me.  That's a lovely sunflower for Margo.

Lindybird: What's that? Another 10-second poem?  Very cute.  :-)

Good Morning, All.  My OH has just set off with one of our cars, to get the M.O.T. done today.  He will walk back as its not too far, and he says he wants some fresh air.  He looked rather stressed yesterday so I got him to have a glass of wine before bed, I think he was worrying too much about his relative's visit. Can't say more on here but she does bring some stress with her!

Diane:  Thanks for the Space info, and that's such a lovely card for dear Margo.

Margo:  Thinking of you every day.

Yesterday I realised that as I've been busy trying to get on with Life, I never finished the Wedding saga, so here is the

Instalment of Wedding Saga, Part II

I just looked back to see where I left off.....ah, yes, the Bad Night and my hair.  When I awoke early next morning, thankfully after managing to get some sleep after all, I found that my hair was a total disaster! [Please excuse excessive use of exclamation marks during this post....].   We both freshened up and I rummaged in my large bag of tricks to find some Dry Shampoo which I had packed, in case of emergency:  this certainly was one!   After using that, I then had to comb through my hair with water and then dry it with a brush & hairdryer just to look good enough to go off to breakfast. ;-)

My OH ate everything in sight, but I confined myself to fruit and croissants.  We consulted with Youngest, who was taking the children off to a park, but we decided we would go our own way and find the coast - I map read and we found some lovely coastline to drive along and also a place to walk for 15 minutes, admiring the view across the Bristol Channel of the towns upon the other side.  Then we went into Bridgend, expecting to find a nice local Bakers for some home made type sandwiches for a light lunch.  No such thing, the whole town had been ruined by two large supermarkets being built in the centre and all the small shops were either closed or selling clothes etc.  So we went with The Enemy and bought some ham sandwiches in Asda! We took these back to our hotel and ate them leisurely with a nice cuppa, giving us plenty of time to prepare. 

I fought on my Spanx - this was a pair of undies which come up to under your bra, and hold you in nicely but without being too restrictive - they were very comfortable once on and were one of the success stories of the day!  My OH went in search of sis-in-law to help tie his cravat and find his buttonhole, whilst I tackled what proved to be a hopeless task of putting on some makeup in a room with a very large mirror indeed, but which was halfway up the wall behind a desk!  In the bathroom, the mirror was likewise large, but behind all the plumbing and so utterly useless to me with short sight, to put anything on my face.....  I gave in and left behind all the expensive new makeup I had bought and just slapped on some moisturiser and a touch of mascara:  at least I had not planned on any eye makeup because of my eye problem.

I got dressed had another fight with my hair,  and was pronounced looking "good" by my OH, who returned with his cravat done & flower ready to be attached.  He then had to spend ten minutes helping me to find a hole in the strap of my shoe, which seemed to fit one foot fine, but not the other!  We solved this by making a new hole with nail scissors.  We marched out, hoping we looked the part, and when we got to the main hotel building we found everyone gathering and I was passed my flower which was supposed to be a corsage on the wrist - it was decidedly NOT, and I had to find somewhere to attach it to in a hurry - Bah!  In the end I poked it through a small hole in my handbag from where I came crashing down regularly for the rest of the time until I ditched it at the reception.

We all went in to the Wedding Ceremony where we found a room nicely decorated with flowers and we all enjoyed a really lovely ceremony, presided over by a beautifully calm lady.  Our new dau-in-law sailed in confidently, looking wonderful in a white dress with short train and with a pretty lace bolero in dark hyacinth blue over her shoulders:  the bridesmaids were in blue with red shoes and red sashes.  After the introductions, a short piece of poetry and the Vows, young Amber was brought in and photographs posed for.   We all followed the happy couple out into the bright sunshine at the front of the hotel for a welcome glass of cold Pimms and congrats all round.

Later, we were all called around to the side of the hotel for the official photographs, this is where my shoes gave me so much trouble, as they were already giving me pain and now on the grass where we spent the next half hour, I immediately sank into the softness, like a ship going down!  At least other ladies were finding the same problem.  We then had the Wedding Breakfast, which was Asparagus wrapped in Parma Ham followed by Rack of Lamb, all yummy.  Pudding was an Icecream ginger basket, with Sticky Toffee Pudding.  The speeches were made before the meal, so that the men could enjoy themselves without thinking of what they were going to say!

We retired to our room for half an hour, after chatting to guests, where I thankfully changed my shoes to the comfy ones and ditched the hair decoration. Later we went to the evening reception, where there was much dancing, laughter and music, plus for those who wanted, more food!  We left the younger ones still dancing, at midnight.  A very enjoyable day in spite of my disasters - when I finally fell into bed and examined my photos of the day, I found that all the ones with myself on them had the jacket worn with the sleeves right down to the wrist, whereas I had actually practiced for ages how to push them up artfully - of course, without a full length mirror I had not seen myself beforehand!

Another photo of young Matthew...

you can see three of the four bridesmaids in the background.

Oh LINDY! I have so enjoyed reading your story about The Day. Thank you for sharing it with us. Your outfit looked just as you hoped it would, it took you perfectly from the formal into the informal part of the day.  

#Thunderbirds is trending on Twitter

Thunderbirds are 50 today FAB

Thanks Heather!   It was comfortable,anyway, which is more than can be said for the shoes.  They only had a 3 inch heel, but might as well have been 5 inch ones, for the agony!  Next day I still had some toes which I could not feel at all!  I ditched the jacket part of the outfit too, for the evening and had on a floaty stole in matching material to the dress. This worked very well.  A lot of the younger guests had on beautifully flowery summery dresses, and it was all so festive in the sunshine.

I have some more photos, but cannot get them onto my pc yet.

We had an email from our Eldest, saying that he had heard from the hotel and they had found my SatNav!!   I rang them and they are hoping to post it to me.  (must admit I am a little disappointed as it was so old I hoped it had gone.....).  He also attached some hilarious photos of young Amber smothered in Lemon Meringue Pie on her holidays!