Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 10 June 2018

LINDY    My friend has said this will be her last boxer. I have known her since we moved down from Shetland in 1995 and she has always had boxers. Alfie is her first male and also the only one with a tail.  He will be 10 in August and so will have outlived the others. She feels they are now too strong for her. Alfie is certainly a very big muscular dog.

Think the early lost post also said how much OH and I enjoyed "Swan Lake"  For anyone who is interested and has a participating cinema nearby, the "Encore" performance is on Sunday.

Thanks, DIBNLIB.

Heather B said:

LINDY/DIBNLIB - I think that my stepson was in the same state as I was when he did what I asked him to do! I did ask him for a couple of things back and he brought them straight away. Grief affects us all in different ways, I suppose! I do have a small box of everyday tools!

I know.  I remember when my father died (a long time ago, now - it was 1986) and two weeks later my mother offered me some pots of jam he had made. She couldn't eat them all, so hoped we would enjoy them. But when I got the pots home, I sat at our kitchen table and stared at them in disbelief. I opened one and looked at the jam: how could the jam he made be here, and all OK, yet the man who had made it be gone? Just "no more".  I was very upset that day, just coming to terms with an ordinary pot of raspberry jam.

Had a good chat with my Friend, and she told me how much they had enjoyed some strawberries I gave her yesterday, from our allotment. They have such an intense flavour. Tonight we enjoyed our first portion of our own new potatoes - yummy!

Yum LINDY! Nothing tastier.

I've had similar feelings about things, LINDY, as you did with the jam. I still find going into the greenhouse can bring a tear to my eyes.

It has been trying to rain here this evening, I wonder if we will be affected by the storms. I think that the west coast will be getting it soon, if they aren't already!

Rain and high winds predicted. Can only hope the rain falls here as well as in the Hills.

I arrived for nanny duty to be greeted enthusiastically by twins, Toby & Fluffy. Callie is still aloof. Dau was dozing, then dashed off to shop for winter pjs for ever-growing Miss6. MissL announced she was not going to have a sleep. (She did last until teatime without a nap; I hope she wasn’t too tired to eat then.) Twins played happily together all afternoon, leaving me to fold & put away washing, wash dishes, prep veg for soup and clear some of toy clutter. Every 20 mins I sat for a short rest. At one point, they wandered the house “G’an, where are you?” Then a discussion “Perhaps she’s gone.” So I reappeared from the seat behind the clothes airer. They gathered almost all of their soft toys, laid them on cushions on the living room floor. They gathered armfuls of books to read toys to sleep. MissJ is word-perfect & plenty of expression. “Where is the g’een sheep? There’s the blue sheep. . . There’s the far sheep. There’s the near sheep. Where is the g’een sheep?” Of course she can’t read (and can’t say ”r”) but has a great memory. I left as cauliflower soup with bacon & toast was served. Drive home now in dark. OH had our soup ready on stove. I’d made a big batch Tues with bacon bones, pea & veg. 3 more meals ready for freezer.

Evening all: Busy day, though tile guy showed up very late (a snag at the previous job threw everything off). I did a lot of work around the front area and on the patio - the dirt that blows around here is amazing.  Of course, it doesn't help that there's a huge housing development down the road and though they keep wetting down the site with water trucks, the ground dries in a matter of minutes and it all blows in our direction!  And boy, does the wind blow here.  We're just at the start of the monsoon season, so huge dark thunderclouds over the mountains, but no rain - yet. They're forecasting storms for Saturday and Sunday. It gets pretty wild then.

Have read all posts; had a smile about AQ's absence being a topic of concern between the twins. :-)

Hope everyone is okay.  Still wondering how Lynette is doing....

Take care all

Annette, Lindy, and everyone: Be safe in the storms!