HAPPY NEW WEEK!
Last week's chat thread is here.
Hi, everyone.
Cold, grey, and rainy here, with gusty winds coming from the east coast.
Autumn has begun in Indiana, and I thought I'd post these fall foliage maps for the U.K. and the U.S.
Here's the Autumn Colours 2015 U.K.
Here's the Fall Foliage Prediction Map 2015 for the U.S.
I don't have a nice photo to start this week. I'm off to wrap up in my electric blanket and eat some hot northern bean soup.
Everyone have a wonderful week!!!
OG sorry to hear of another death in the family. Hope you don't have too far to travel for the funeral.
BRENDA Benson is fine with snow and he does swim, think he is just a little mixed up.
We had a wonderful meal at Rocpool yesterday. I indulged in monkfish stir fry with king prawns yogurt and mint topped with pistachios and lime on a bed of jasmine rice, OH had scallop and prawns with tomatoes and pasta in a chilli dressing. For pudd I had Hardmuir berries sorbet with fresh berries and a warm white choc sauce to pour over and OH had Pavlova.
That sounds yummy dibnlib. I don't eat meat so am very interested in great fishy dishes.
Diane, how lovely to have resident Red tailed hawks. I have just googled them.
I like to the the Cardinal birds in my son's garden. I don't know how widespread they are. They seem very exotic to us.
We do have a lot of green parakeets here. Theories abound about how they became feral,but they were either released or escaped in the 1990's and are thriving in this area. They have since spread to a much wider area now, apparently.
Agree ROSY, DIBNLIBS meal sounds yummy.
My fridge is full in preparation for the Danes visit and some family entertaining. I did a,stupid thing, though. I was shopping as fast as I could (!) and on autopilot. Thinking of what our Danish friends eat at home and threw two packs of Danish blue cheese in my trolley. Got home, OH watching me unpack, says 'Should we not be buying some Scottish cheese for them to taste?'. He has a point. Oh well....
Rather late in the day for me to be saying Hi to you ALL, but we have been busy emptying the summer garden pots and clearing leaves that have fallen on the grass and patio. Don't know where all the leaves come from, as all the trees are still green.
OG, So sorry to hear about your favourite uncle. I told Linda and she has asked me to pass on her condolences to you.
To return home and find you have to go back for a recall screening is extremely unfortunate. You are both going to need another holiday, when all your ' traumas ' have passed. Hugs and Prayers. X
I will be going with OH tomorrow morning for another eye check at East Grinstead so will 'see' you later tomorrow.
OG: My condolences to you! I hope everything is fine with your screening.
Rosy: The male red-tailed hawk -- I call him R.T. -- has been hanging around my patch for 3 or 4 years. Just in the past year, his mate has also been staying in close proximity to the house. R.T. is a very bright orange hawk, but his mate is a pale morph and light in color. She's a very large raptor. Cardinals are lovely birds, especially in the winter snows. I usually have a pair that stay near my deck in the backyard. They particularly like the weeds that grow around it, so I let them grow in the winter for the cardinals to eat the seeds. The weeds aren't very attractive, but oh well. LOL Cardinals are fairly common birds in Indiana. I've seen photos of those green parakeets. They are so very beautiful. You are very lucky to have such glorious birds around you!
Annette: Hope you're having a good time with your family.
Heather: Enjoy your visitors.
Brenda: Best wishes to your OH for his eye exam.
Hi all; will catch up tomorrow.
Thinking of Brenda's OH today, and George awaiting results, and Margo receiving chemo (I think it was due this week), and Annette rushing hither and yon with family, and Heather with visitors and family ... well, everyone, really.
May have to take more of a back seat for a while - life is just chaotic here! Still ironing from holiday. Organising veggie food and room for Dau#2 and Partner and trying to find out the state of OH's white shirt for Monday's funeral (I think there may be an emergency shopping trip this afternoon, then would need to wash, dry and iron new one), as well as planning food for J and me - but at least he can shop for us Monday if needed! They have accommodation booked for Sunday night, and will return late Monday, with Dau and Partner leaving here Tuesday morning. Good thing the two Daughters are now back on speaking terms, as Dau#1 is also going down to Cambridge!
Booked overnight near the hosp next Wednesday to get me there on time for Thursday, so that is more straightforward!
Second funeral will be the following week in Buckinghamshire, and that is really causing a headache as short-notice accommodation is so difficult near London. Preferred Guesthouse hasn't confirmed our booking; those nights have been marked as taken on website, but can only hope that is our booking. Have sent another email and told them we must have it definite now. This is partly because we are currently holding a booking at a less pleasant and not entirely suitable B&B (guest shower is over bath, so host is offering for me to use her shower, which is not a good arrangement). Of course, I am also dreading the journey, remembering what an awful one we had when Uncle had his 90th birthday three years ago - spent an hour trying to get off the M40 at that horrible roundabout in High Wycombe!
Sorry to be such a grumpy! Everything is fine , really!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
OG Do remember you telling us about your Uncle, I had just forgotten. It was the High Wycombe roundabout that reminded me as we used to live down there, in the dim and distant past, thank goodness.
Another visit to the dentist this morning as a massive filling fell out last night. Teeth are a nightmare to me, I had a temp crown fall out in Vienna. Luckily there was an emergency dentist a ten minute walk away and all was fixed by 1015, and free as I had one of the healthcare cards.
Off out now for lunch with a friend. I think we are going to Simpsons
Having a wee break from getting ready for our guests. I haven't a clue when they will be arriving. All I know is that they are leaving Dover 'early morning' to drive to Inverness. They probably won't phone me so our meal tonight will be ?when? I will make an uneducated guess and cook a chicken. If they get it hot, they get it hot. If not, I will make a salad. Baby potatoes hot if they are here, sliced and sautéed if they are not.
Sky man came and connected our new TV this morning. It seems that it is connected to the internet even tho' it is not a smart TV. Or maybe I am wrong!! Only time and grandson Calum will tell me.
OG - I hope that you get your preferred B&B. Know what you mean about white shirts. OH couldn't see anything wrong with his 'best' one the last time it was needed. I thought that it had a yellow tinge so got a new one. Having said that, don't know if I told you before about a funeral we attended a few years ago. Some of the guests were Lords, ladies and Honourables. Guess whose kilts had moth holes, brogues down at heel and unpolished? Guess who was cold and wrapped a travel rug around her shoulders? Said travel rug was covered in dog hairs.You got it, the aristocrats. We plebs give our humble origins away without even having to open our mouths LOL