Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 1 July 2018

HARELADY - I seem to remember that you have joined a walking group or similar? Three hours away from family is probably not unusual these days but does involve a lot of driving for a get together.

Heather – good that the girls can see their cousins tomorrow at Amy’s BBQ – and an opportunity for you to collect things from home.  I hope SiL’s recovery continues today.  Very sad about the volunteer diver in Thailand – I believe the boys aren’t being told about his death.  They are now saying that the oxygen level in the tunnel is decreasing, so they are installing a three mile pipeline!

Harelady – distance isn’t the only consideration when it comes to family contact!  Apart from our Son who lives with us, we more often see the more distant members of the family – although we are expecting elder Granddaughter’s annual request for lunch on the way to camp at the end of the month!

What is happening here today?  Probably moving the final “keepers” from the grasses bed - just some Ophiopogon (“black grass”, which isn’t a grass at all) because we like it and it makes good ground cover.  Then maybe OH will also finish some weeding.  Next week, when it may be a bit cooler, the two of them will hopefully clear the grasses bed completely, then keep it weed-free until we plant the conifers out.  I noticed the Tomatoes are now changing colour, and when they start, it seems to happen quite quickly – and I think we shall be taking about five cucumbers to church on Sunday!  Half the Runner Beans are flowering well, but the rest of them are really feeble; I don’t think we shall have any of those for the freezer this year.

That is a pity, OG because you do love your runner beans. I think your garden must be very well thought out. Mine is not, OH was a very good but old fashioned gardener, and not at all artistic, just liked filling up spaces with whatever was available (and cheap!)/p>

Have had a pleasant day: not as high temps as at home, where it's been drainingly hot! Went for a walk in a new place this morning, where we were disappointed to find that Bonnie had to stay on a long lead, as there was a nearby busy road and some sheep in the fields. This afternoon we read our books, then walked on our beach where we can see the pair of local swans who we were told had 5 chicks this year, but sadly now seem to be on their own.

Annette - There are at present about 25 caravans here, with also about 9 or 10 empty pitches ready for new ones. (The owners have redesigned the site)  When we arrived, there were only two occupied, and now this has increased to six, including ourselves! More people could turn up this evening, or tomorrow for the weekend, but we find that two families arrive and one lot then go home, so it fluctuates a lot. We have been here often in the Autumn and found ourselves all alone! But it's very peaceful........

Unknown said:

Annette - How are the grandkids and are you able to see them often?

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments.  Seraphina is now 6 and her sister Luna is 15 months and James (my Sons's first) is 14 months and its wonderful when we can all get together but are all approx 3 hours from each other so it doesn't happen regularly.

Goodness, they're growing, Harelady!  Lovely when you can get together, as you say: our family is similarly scattered and so time together is precious.

Evening all:  Busy day at the house today with more to come on Monday and a likely delay in plumbing fixture installation due to delay in deliveries thanks to July 4 holiday and associated closures.  Wonderful - not.  :-(   I'm staying at a local hotel until Sunday to give daughter, g'daughter and Ms. D an opportunity to have a "normal" weekend and me a chance to loll and have some time to myself and relax..... except....

....way too much drama on a couple of fronts.  Daughter got a text from grandson's partner at 3:30 this morning saying he'd been taken to hospital with sudden and severe abdominal pain, which turned out to be acute appendicitis.  He's fine, having had  keyhole (I think) surgery mid-morning and we've all chatted to him this evening.  In fact, I got a call from him at 10:30 this evening telling me "There's a fire by the house."  "Which house?"  "Your house in Goleta."  He lives in Santa Maria, California and was watching TV from his hospital bed and saw live coverage of what is an out-of-control fire just one mile north of our house.  I called my OH a couple of times, the phone rang and rang so I called our friends who live two blocks away and they confirmed there was a huge fire just north of us.  The wife hopped in her car and drove over to our house to find our entire neighborhood had lost power at 9:15 (fire started at 8:45) so quite a few people were unaware of what was happening up the road, assuming the power outage was due to the high winds.  She woke up my OH and called me from our house on  her cell phone (his was off and wasn't charged and couldn't be charged with no power), so she's taken phone to  her house to charge and will keep in touch with him/me.  The fire is currently heading east and away from our immediate area, but as we saw with the Thomas Fire last December, these winds are highly unpredictable so nobody is letting their guard down.  I've been watching our local (Santa Barbara) area TV station's live streaming broadcast and am pretty familiar with that neighborhood, which is in the foothills and has some lovely older homes and lots of small farms, including the largest organic farm in town....some awful scenes with more than 20 houses burned so far.  No casualties at this point and they also managed to evacuate the birds from the (avian) Wildlife Rescue Center which is right in that area.   Apparently the temperature reached a high of 103F there at 8 pm this evening (now 99F! at midnight!) with more high winds due tomorrow but lessening over the weekend.  

Here in Arizona, we had the first storms of the monsoon season today with of more of them to come this week.  Lightning, thunder and torrential bursts of rain.  The horizons here are so vast you can see multiple storms in all directions.... very dramatic and very welcome to everyone here as the temperature dropped to the mid-70s.

HARELADY: I'm in Arizona overseeing remodeling work at g/daughter's house.  Will be seeing grandson as soon as the work is done and I can get back to California.

Well, I'm going to turn off the light and hope the phone doesn't ring!

Annette - You must be frantic. So far away. Not that you could do much anyway, except grab vital things if you had to evacuate. I'm sending thoughts and prayers for you and those in fire path.

I don't suppose that you'll get a lot of sleep, ANNETTE. I looked online about the fire after I read your post. Hope that all will be well in your immediate area but awful that houses have been lost.

Good Morning.  Not a good day for poor Annette - Glad you were able to speak to your grandson and he is OK now, but the news of the fire must be very worrying. Hope you can now keep in touch with your OH.

Hot sun here already, and much excitement in the media about the England match today in the World Cup. We are off to buy food supplies and take a walk. Two more couples arrived here last night, plus one set of visitors to join someone already here (most of the vans sleep at least six). But our next door neighbours have just left, taking two small children and a lot of stuff with them!