Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey Topics), 12 June 2016

Annette: Really glad that you're okay. I was worried about you. It's always difficult to know what the actual situation is from news accounts. Your terrain is different from mine. Hope you stay safe. Try not to breathe that ash. It will build up in your lungs.

Lindy: Mental health care is non-existent here where I live, unless one has significant funds or really good insurance to pay for it. Hope you enjoy your new paint colour.

Nice to see you ChrisyB.

Nice to see you, too, Mike. Very beautiful eagle photos!

Sending good energy to you, Margo.

Annette – It’s not the ash that is the problem but the chemicals in it. My sister drove past the Pinery bushfire last year and few days later had throat/lung “ïnfection” caused by chemicals in the air from burnt homes & sheds. Just think of the plastics and manmade products we have these days. So please please go and breathe some clean air.

AQ: So far, it's brush, trees, shrubs, etc., that have burned.  Don't even want to think of the various nasty components in furnishings, household cleaners, etc.

Diane: The highway hugs the coast, then there's a narrow coastal plain with roads rising up from the highway through the canyons to the east/west ridge that separates the coast from the Santa Ynez Valley. It's so rugged up there that none of those canyon roads actually makes it over the ridge. Houses with large lots and ranches, farms, etc. snuggle in the canyons; Some very nice houses are perched up on the ridge (include Ronald Reagan's Western White House)and in along the sides of the canyons.  The wind typically comes from the south, which is why the coastal plain is always cooler than the interior.  When the winds come from the north/northwest, they're channeled down through the canyons at high speed to the coast - and that's always something to watch out for, especially when they're accompanied by high temps. During the Paint Fire back in 1990, the flames went from the ridge to the coast down Highway 154, east of us, in just a few hours - right through the town, burning everything in their path. More than you wanted to know, right? :-)

Yesterdays main meal was honey and mustard salmon fillet. cous cous with raisins and almond flakes and asparagus.   This was followed by strawberries, rasps and peach. All good and low in calories. Just a shame about the 1/2 strawberry tart earlier

LOL DIBNLIB!   You can't be completely saintly......

Good Morning All, and relieved to see that Annette is OK. These things can turn nasty. Thanks for geographic explanation, Annette!

ROSY  I agree, anything was less stressful (and more fun) than cookery and sewing. Think ours was called home economics.

Tim Peake landed.

Good morning everyone - yes, thank goodness that ANNETTE is OK at present. Thank you for the explanation, ANNETTE. Surprisingly, on the so called (!) BBC World Service news last night, I heard no mention of the wildfire. It seemed to be all about football hooligans and Russia not being allowed to compete in the Olympic games. Also heard that the Mayor of Rio has run out of money to pay for the Games and has appealed to the federal government. Anyway, on a more cheerful note, OH is watching TV at the moment hoping to see coverage of Major Tim Peake returning from the ISS.

DIBNLIB - you do make very tasty sounding food! As for the half a strawberry tart, as LINDY says, we can't be complete saints!

ChrisyB - The wedding sounded as if it was good fun!

ROSY - Last word from me about cookery aprons, the worst bit for me was the bias binding that had to edge the whole darned thing. It was made from unbleached calico.

I had a long think last night and finally recalled that I didn't take Needlework O level, it was Cookery! I did manage to pass that. I was absolutely useless at most science subjects except Human Biology, loved English Language and Literature,got a medal for that, was discarded from Maths class in Fourth year (told lies to explain my lack of completed homework)In short was a great disappointment to everyone. My poor parents got used to reading 'Has ability, could do much better' on my school reports.

Think I was half asleep last evening - of course the "housewife" held sewing gear, not cookery!