Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 31 December 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We begin the year with a Full Moon on the night between Monday and Tuesday. This Full Moon is also a so-called Supermoon, because it will occur just hours after the moon reaches perigee (its closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit). 

I cherish you all, and I wish you a joyful, peaceful, healthy, and fulfilling 2018! Thank you for being my friends. 


  • Blimey.  A completely unknown bloke has just wiped the floor with Phil Taylor to win the World Darts Championship.  I don't watch many sports but I find darts amazing - to be able to throw the darts so accurately is incredibly impressive.  I'd be lucky to get them to hit the board anywhere at all!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year filled with peace and serenity. It is quite peaceful here as it is -24 °f today and few people are out and about. -20 °f forecast for tomorrow morning.

  • bjane: A very happy New Year to you!!! My best wishes to you in 2018.

    Be very, very careful, my friend. That's a killer cold. Phew! I went outdoors for about 5 minutes to put a small bag of moth balls under the hood of my car. In just that short time, I sustained some minor frost bite on the tips of my fingers. (The moth balls are to repel the field mice and squirrels, so they don't take up residence in my engine compartment to stay warm and chew my wiring.)

    Authorities are so far warning that my area will have an actual temperature tonight of -16F or -26.6C with a wind chill temp of -35F or -37.2C.

    Sending you warmth, bjane! Take good care of yourself and stay safe. 

  • Geez Diane: Is that heater you bought keeping you warm enough?

    Had a nice time at my friend's brunch today. A small group including a couple from London and their son who are on tourist visas and trying to translate those into - eventually - permanent visas. They're currently fighting multiple red tape tangles with employers.

    Moon is wonderful tonight.

  • Good Morning, All.  Nice to see you, bjane!

    Annette - Its been an amazing moon: I spent several minutes gazing at it last night, just before bed. It's very, very bright just now. Nice that you enjoyed the brunch.

    Diane - Do take care, don't want you losing any fingers. You really seem to get extremes there.

    Spent ages on the phone last night. Sis in law has already packed up her Christmas decs, and marked the boxes ready for her house move! There are a lot of friends with shockingly bad coughs and colds, so we are hoping to avoid getting them.

    Everyone, have a good day!

  • Today's pic:

    "Are you my mummy?!"

  • Pat, I agree with your post about the feelings at this time of year: it's a time of reflection and often it can be sad, recalling those we've lost, either that year or previously, and a reminder that we ourselves are a year older. I used to say that I didn't like New Years Eve itself, and that may be why my Friend invites us to her party each year.

    I hope that OG and EE are alright, I have seen posts on Facebook from OG but she is strangely absent from here.

  • I do miss OG, whose posts are always pertinent and thoughtful.  If you are lurking, OG, I wish you and EE a happy and healthy 2018, and very much hope you will continue to post here.  You are very much missed.

  • LINDY -from what I can remember, without scrolling back, I think that OG maybe felt that her views about age and driving were not totally respected here and didn't want to upset anyone again (her words)  I hope that we will see her back here again in due course. I miss her contributions.

  • It all seemed to be rather unexpected: I hope OG is not overtired, as she did seem to be, before all this. We respect all views here, I hope.