Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 8 July 2018

HAPPY NEW WEEK!

I hope everyone has a wonderful -- or at least a better -- week!



Scarlet Tanager 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Lake Michigan)
U.S. National Park Service
Photo labeled Public Domain (Copyright Free) 

  • ANNETTE - haem is iron from animal sources, non haem is from plant sources. I know what you are saying about water in hot places but I wouldn't describe the Highlands of Scotland as being hot (usually!) yet you see folk walking up and down the High street with a water bottle. As you say, the new accessory!

  • HEATHER - I've always been considered pre-diabetic (Type 2) since back when I produced large babies, so always expect a blood result to show up.  Don't know whether to try to mask it by a strict diet until the test. or just "go with the flow"!  Pleased Daughter is being strict with her OH to get him back to full strength.  Bottles of water are essential to me - and not just in hot dry weather!

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Yes, OG - I had to have glucose tolerance tests as well, after 9+ and ten pound + babies. Fortunately, all has been OK since. I'm no expert but I know that I would prefer to get my blood sugar down by dietary changes, rather than take tablets. When we were children - did people carry water around? Maybe the answer is simple - most folk didn't have cars, we didn't travel far from home. At school we got the dreaded warm milk - which I never drank as I hate milk. So no fluid from breakfast until lunch and from lunch until dinner. Or as it was then - dinner and tea. Wait a minute! I forgot the water fountain at school! Can you imagine that we used to bend down and drink from the thing, together with all the other children doing the same? Today there would be a health and safety outcry!

  • HEATHER - that warm milk - yukk!  Warm from the summer sun, or if it was frozen on the doorstep, the crate was lifted up onto the heating stove to thaw!  (That was at Primary school).  There was a drinking tap there, except when the water was frozen - and then when that happened, there was no water to flush the toilets (across the yard), so they brought in one chemical toilet for us all to share!  School days: "The best days of your life" - I wonder!  At the Grammar school, we did have the unhygienic water fountains - in the toilet areas!

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Happy (?) memories, OG! We survived, though!

  • I drank the school milk! Although I didn't much enjoy it when it was warm from being on the step. I still drink a glass of it occasionally, and eat lots of cheese, as I have all my life, so I expect I should have strong bones!

    Went to visit my Friend, she looks tired and pale. Whilst I was there, she took a phone call from an old girlfriend of us all, who now lives in the Midlands. She cheered us up, as she always has a tale to tell. My Friend has to speak to her consultant after the docs have had a meeting about her tomorrow: they have already said that she can't have surgery as it's the stomach lining that's affected. She's expecting to have chemotherapy and possibly radiotherapy. We haven't discussed how daunting that might be. I am expecting the worst, really, but can't tell anyone that but you, my dear friends.

  • Annette - I hope you got the storms and some rain. We are supposed to be getting rain at the moment, but no sign of it!

    The carving may be meant to be the famous Green Man, I don't know. He is carved into the remains of a large tree, near the entrance gate of a charming country house. He's bigger than you think, I should have said - his face is about three feet high.

  • Words I hate – “absolutely” instead of a simple “yes’. Interviews where the reply starts “Yeah, no”. Oh, don’t get me started!!

    Talk of water bottles reminds me to take one. It is so long since Chauffeur Friend & I have had an escape, I hardly remember what I need! We are off today somewhere, meeting in Adelaide Hills (bleah , it looks foggy out). I slept in, not surprising as Tour de France finished at 1 am our time. <yawn>. I always carry water in car and on day trips – plenty of water seems to prevent headaches I used to get.

    Linda – You will need all your strength to support your friend. {{{HUGS}}} to you both.

  • Re school milk, the nuns used to put those small bottles on the radiator pipes along the classroom and it was always lovely and warm on cold winter days.

    Lindybird: I'm afraid I share your thoughts re your friend.  :-(

    AQ:  Have a nice day out.

    Another crazy day here; one of the contractors is here so often he's almost like family (poor guy!)  :-)  Huge thunderclaps right overhead this afternoon upset the horses and the poor goat fled to the corner of his little house..

  • It's raining!  It's raining!  Wow, what a strange feeling!  We had a few drops last night at bedtime, and now there's a small shower. It's not enough to water the poor garden yet. Have to see if it does more today.

    Enjoy your trip, AQ.  We take water in the car when we go on a journey of any length, but I'm still puzzled to see the youngsters attached to their plastic bottles on a daily basis. They all drink so much coffee, too - it's like an addiction. 

    I'm off to nearby town this morning on short foray to collect some sale price t shirts ordered for the grandchildren. Better take my light raincoat with me!