Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 30 October 2016

HAPPY NEW WEEK and HAPPY NEW MOON!

The new moon (the dark moon) is tomorrow.

Everyone have a wonderful week. Hope all my friends here are enjoying the last of autumn (spring for AQ).

A very strange day here with record-breaking heat near 80F or 26.6 C. So very weird. We should be getting cold now and having our first snow.  

Thinking of Margo, Heather's OH, Brenda's daughter-in-law, and all who are facing adversity.

Haven't heard from George for awhile. Hope you're okay, George. Also, Rita. And Nairnred (Jenny). And Heron77. And ChrissyB. Also, hi to June, my fellow Midwesterner over on the Gabfest.

  • Evening (well it's dinner time here) all

    Diane: Please don't feel you have to start the threads - I'm happy to do it just not as timely as you.  We're watching the World Series (neither of us are huge baseball fans, but anything beats watching the incredibly depressing election coverage!).  I was so exasperated I had two helpings of lasagne and salad - won't mention how many glasses of wine!  Now I'm going to dive into the chocolate.  Re weather, I was reading about the record heat in your part of the country. We have another chance of rain after midnight...

    Lindybird: A lovely day with family sounds so nice. Hope you get that lie-in in the morning.  Our clocks go back next weekend.

    Heather: Oh my, any way to avoid another hearing aid crisis?  Duct tape? Glue?  Relax tomorrow - you've been busy with visitors and your OH. Don't worry about us.

    OG: Same to you. Get over those bugs; we'll see you later.

    Like Diane (and everyone else probably) I've been thinking about Margo and wondering if Brenda has heard any news.  Assume Brenda's DiL continues to recover. Thanks Diane for also mentioning other MIA's and lurkers.  Hope all are doing okay.

  • Good Morning, All.  Thanks to Diane for starting us off again, and reminding us of everyone missing from the threads. I was thinking about Rita only a couple of days ago: she was poorly and staying with her daughter a while ago, I think. Hope all is well with you, Rita.

    And George - hope you're reading and lurking, George.

    We tried to lay in longer today but only sort of half managed it. Bonnie was very good and waited patiently for my OH to rise. We're off out this morning to a Chr#s*¢©s Gift Fair, and for a walk. We left chocolate filled Advent calendars with the grandchildren, which made it feel as if it's not long till it comes around.

  • Goodness, where is everybody today?!

    Went for our walk and my OH took his doggy friend for a longer walk whilst I went to the Ch#+**as Fair. It was a craft event, with lots of home made food and gifts. I bought several necklaces, mostly for one of our d.in.laws who has a birthday soon. Another was to put away in a drawer for my Friend. Another was for me!!  I didn't buy any foodie things, though sorely tempted!

    It's very warm here.

  • OG   So sorry you are still not well.

    LINDY   glad you had a good family day. Big fat puffy sausage rolls sound good to be.

    Beautiful day again so we went to the canal for a nice long walk this morning. Met a chap with a cross working poodle/labrador. I hadn't realised there was such a thing as a working poodle, but he told us they are used for herding goats. Lovely dog anyway. Another treat on the afternoon walk. We had just got to the track by the woods when we saw a Red Squirrel feasting on a feeder in a garden. He was so intent on eating that he wasn't bothered by us  and he only moved when two other people passed by with their dog. These near neighbours were having some trees chopped down in their garden the other day. I am so pleased the Squirrel tree wasn't one of them and in fact they have replaced the old feeder with a new one, so we should see many more squirrels over the next few months.

    I too have been wondering about those who haven't posted for a while, namely RITA AND PATRICIA. Hope they are ok.

  • Hello everyone. Firstly my thoughts go out to all those who are suffering one way or another.

    Over the last few weeks I have realised that I can only pop in occasionally as my time being a carer  is becoming longer. This will only get longer after the hoists are sorted out on Wednesday which, at least, may ease the manual work I need to do. I will need to be first up and last back to bed.We have had to get a lady in to do the beds and general cleaning as I don't have time. I can only leave OH for a maximum  of 2½ hours at a time. Fortunately my stepdaughters have taken over sorting out my brother's house as that is a 7hr round trip on a good day! For information she was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when a child and had two major operations to graft hip bone to shoulders to anchor muscles. While the condition is basically stable as we get older muscles weaken so we see where we are going after Wednesday. I do use a bit of time away to go to the pub in our village just round the corner to meet friends and get a bit of a respite.

    Away from all this we have been having one of our best autumns ever in the forest of Dean this year, spectacular shades of orange and yellow and some pretty good weather to highlight it. With the last week being school holiday in Gloucestershire we have been somewhat crowded with tourists. Ah well, the delights of living in a tourist area!

    Yesterday afternoon we went to Cheltenham to see our grandaughter perform in the Gloucestershire Guiding Show, it was lovely. Supper was late as it messed up my timetable for my medications, but never mind it was worth it.

    Extracting funds from organisations to go into the executor account has been somewhat interesting and time consuming, organisations which you would expect to be a pain have been remarkablyquick and vice-versa.

    I do pop in sometimes to try to keep up and will post when I can.

    Lindy: I have a weather station here, because of our location here we can get english or welsh weather and I have discovered that when it and the Met Office agree it is normally right, if they disagree mine usually wins. We made 13.2°C today!

  • Hello LINDY and DIBNLIB,  I will join you here.

    Seems you had a lovely day with the family Lindy. Lemon curd tarts sound good to me. I made some  pumpkin muffins with sweetener today. They were a bit dry , but Himself liked them.

    Lovely walk again today, Dibnlib.  One advantage of having a dog.

    Thank you for starting the week, Diane.

    It is almost dark here now. It takes a while to adjust to the time change.

  • Had a lovely visit to Scotney Castle in Kent yesterday.  Spectacular autumn colours.  Pity the sun wasn't shining, but it didn't stop me taking lots of photographs.  If only I knew how to post them here I would show you ...  The colours seem particularly vibrant this year.  And it warm enough to sit outside for lunch.  Not bad at the end of October.

  • Pat. There is a link here which should help you. Good luck.

  • Annette: No worries. I didn't mind starting the thread. I'm livid over that situation in Standing Rock, North Dakota, so I'd been making calls (to the White House, various politicians, etc.), signing petitions, and so on. I'm in that "angry" phase of grief, so I thought I'd direct all that rage to something productive instead of just shutting down. I happened to notice that it was time for a new thread, so I thought I'd just do it. Hope you're okay.

    Tomorrow, I have to write the newspaper announcement for my brother's memorial service, which is the 12th. And then for the rest of the week, I'll be mowing my grass for the last time and cleaning up my weed-ridden, brush-covered land for the winter. I'm still not 100% physically, but this warm spell isn't going to last long, so I've got to get it done right away!

    OG: I hope you're feeling better.

    Hello to everyone!

  • Good Morning, All.  Misty and grey here, and lower temperatures predicted this week, after our rather mild weather lately.