Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 25 October 2015

OG: I hope everything smoothes out with your scheduling. You're under too much stress. Sending good energy to you right now.

Hi, all. There are some replies I want to make, but I'm too tired and achey tonight. I got up really early to go on a marathon mission for groceries and supplies for the next month. It's about a 25-minute drive, and when I parked my car I noticed that one of my back tires looked low. When I came back with the groceries, the tire was going flat. So I had to go over to the car center (luckily, I was at the superstore where I bought the tires). The mechanics were really nice to me and repaired the tire for free -- I had tire insurance. But I had to wait around for a couple of hours after shopping all morning. By the time I got home, unloaded all the stuff, and put everything away, my joints were howling and I was done for the day. Will answer all posts and emails in the morning. :-)Everyone take care.

Good Morning.  Bright here, but cold.  Its been very mild for this time of year, up to now.

OG:   Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!  So sorry to hear that ~  do hope it can all fall into place, eventually. Everything seemed to be going so swimmingly, but there are often unforeseen glitches in our plans.   {HUGS} from me, too.

Diane:  What a good thing that you noticed your tire (tyre, here!)   and could get it fixed, even though it all took a long time. Great that you didn't have to pay up.

AQ:  A saint for getting up to your elbows in the suds, someone had to do it!  Hope that eventually you can get your life back!

Annette:  You seem to be leading an exciting life, these days!  I adore Annette Bening:  she always looks good to me.  Thanks for info on film making, it all sounds interesting.

We had a good few days away:  the weather wasn't half bad, and we only had the heating on occasionally.  A couple we have gravitated towards texted us when they knew we were coming, and suggested a meal out ~  we all went to a restaurant we hadn't tried before, and the meal was excellent indeed.  I had slow cooked braised Beef In Red Wine, and my OH had Lamb Henry.  Afterwards, we followed with Raspberry Crumble & Custard, and I had Choc Brownies with Icecream.   All yummy, but it took   a g e s    to arrive, so our friends complained.  The management gave us free puddings and didn't charge us for the wine!  There was a nice atmosphere in there, and a good menu to choose from.  A good evening all round, and we have found a new place to enjoy on future outings.

We have now mothballed our caravan for the next few months: we met folks who were going to return for Christmas, but don't fancy it in the cold winds there, which come off the Irish sea.  I took out all the perishable foods and made sure I have the t shirts I need for my winter hols.

Just read back over everyone's news.  

Heather:  Sorry about your daughter's fall.  How unlucky, and she will have to take it easy for a while now.

Rosy:   I used to keep tortoises years ago.  Tuck them up warm!  I agree that seagulls seem to do things just for fun!

Brenda:  I love fireworks, but do wish that they were only used at events these days, and not sold in shops for general use:  the noises go on for weeks both before and after Nov. 5th.  And I don't think its ever considered that if its near to woodlands, the wildlife must be terrified.

Margo:  {HUGS}   Hope you had a good weekend with your OH.

Must go and get dressed - a million things to do today!

   ~  sorry if I've missed anyone out, I must dash but I have read everything!

Golly, where is everyone?  I've been dashing around.   Also spent   a g e s   on the pc trying to book ourselves into our flights for next week.  Its hard work, finding out what you have to do, trying to do it, having to  ring the agent you booked with, reading their subsequent email, then filling in forms.  Eventually we got done and now have our flight vouchers and hopefully, everything done now.  We felt that we were doing their work for them! No wonder as its part of the cost cutting these days, I'm sure.

Sunny here but chilly:  got my laundry on the line and some phone calls done.

Here are a couple more pics from the Flower Show to cheer you, I am still working my way through them even though it was last July!

These are some of the gardens produced by local councils, some with a theme:

I forget why this one had connections with the Zulu War!!

But this one is of interest to OG & EE, as its to do with remembering John Paul Jones, the Scottish/American explorer, who must have originated in Dumfries & Galloway as it was their council's entry!

Morning Lindy: I'm here but busy sorting out paper stuff and updating some info for various folks. Will be back to admire your photos later!

Thanks for your "Likes"  Rita - every year we go to the RHS Tatton Flower Show in Knutsford, Cheshire, and I take lots of pics & post them on here later. (if you havn't been reading & lurking!)

Here is another council offering, though for the life of me I don't know why they had a "Fiesta" theme!  There were not nearly as many entries from councils this year, probably as part of council cuts in spending.

Here is a picture of the nearby Poles, which were very high indeed and had floral arty things on the top of each:  it was a very dull & cloudy day, as you can see, so it was hard to get a photo of them, but they were made with real flowers and very attractive!

Can't remember either, why this had useful solar panels, but they were planted around with some very colourful plants!

More, whilst I've got a minute.....    we had a little bar of chocolate this afternoon while I was ironing, so its taken the edge off our appetites and we are going to eat later ;-)

This was a Chinese entry - the outside planting was interesting and represented modern China, and the inside was traditional planting:

The archway in the pic above, could be walked through so you could see the inside part..... here it is from the other end:

I went through, but the inside was just green and sort of ferny.

Not fond of this type of modern style.....