WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2018

HAPPY NEW WEEK EVERYONE.

  • We returned to where we had parked the car, only a few yards away, on the road.  Someone else had parked behind us at the side of the road and whilst I was giving Bonnie a fresh drink of water, a man shut the boot of his car just behind me with a loud "BANG!"  which made me jump!

    We went on south to where we know there is a favourite walk of ours, in the woods.  You may remember me posting pictures years ago of our dog then, Buzz, enjoying running around looking for the red squirrels there:

    Hidden in the trees of this Forestry area, is a secret lake... so peaceful and beautiful.

    There were birds, we could hear them, but of course Bonnie was keeping them away so I couldn't snap any. (Edit there were some ducks, unidentified, which flew elegantly above us, very fast over the trees.  No chance of getting them on film!)

  • Here is Bonnie running around in the woods which Buzz loved, too:

    A lot of the trees there are HUGE!

       -  Just the sounds of the forest, and birdsong.  Lovely.

    We managed to get a drink in a cafe, then I went into a supermarket for the much needed bread and milk. My OH stayed in the car. I grabbed a black plastic basket and started looking around.  As I stopped to examine the choices of bread, there was yet another huge "BANG!" in my life!!  I shrieked, and everyone there looked around at me!

    I had managed to pick up two baskets at once, and one had clung on but waited to surprise me by falling onto the tiled floor when I least expected it..... So I had a day of loud bangs, that day!  We drove back to our caravan, changed and went out for a celebratory meal, which as I said at the time, was quite delicious but the service was very, very   s l o w indeed....

    A memorable day.

  • Thanks, LINDY. Laughed about the bangs - I'm the sort of person who  would shriek, so can quite understand your reaction.

    I'm waiting for youngest family to arrive for a quick visit and I'm also avoiding housework. Tomorrow, I will attack everything before eldest and family arrive on Friday. The house is not that bad - one person only, living here!!

    I'm a bit worried about a friend. She was widowed six months before me and is still relying on her son to sort out everyday financial things. I'm not sure whether they are both happy with this arrangement - if so, that is fine. For me, it was a challenge to keep things going. A very full filing cabinet has helped! She keeps referring to herself as helpless - something that she never was. /p>

  • Lindybird:  Love the photos, especially the one of the path winding through the trees. Found myself studying those jagged rock formations behind the beach and wondering how, when, and from whence they came (am just finishing up a book on geology).  What are you taking the pix with - a phone or a "real" camera?  The images are so crisp!

    Heather: Umm yes, doesn't do to think of oneself as "helpless."  A self-fulfilling prophecy.....

    OG: I too would be fascinated by the comings and goings across the road (not that I'm - ahem - nosey or anything). I've found that often other neighbors know what's going on and you hear about it in dribs and drabs.  Of course, there was a drug bust up the road some years back and nobody except the people immediately next door knew anything about it!

    Off to sort out the world - or at least my desk...

  • Lindy - Loved your pictures and would you mind if I used one of them for the background on my laptop?

  • Of course you can, bjane. When I put things on here I realise that they become public. And I don't mind :-)

    Annette - Thanks, it's a Sony camera, 20 something megapixels. I treated myself a few years ago, after a bit of an indecision about size (not too big to carry) and performance. It has all sorts of fancy settings, but I use the automatic settings mostly.

    It got hot again here this afternoon. I sat in the coolest room, the sitting room, and caught up on a couple of recordings on tv.

  • Heather -- Your friend might find that she needs to lean on her son a little, and the finances are just an excuse to see him regularly.

  • You could well be right, LINDY. She has had relationship problems with her daughter since just before she was widowed. Anyway, she is planning a flight up here and it will be good to see her and talk properly. ANNETTE- agree with what you say about self fulfilling prophecies.....

  • Ugh Another busy but-what-to-show-for-it!  morning.  Was reconciling bills and expenses from the trip with receipts and entering in Quicken and saw that OH had already entered some, but not all and I got confused with his entries and my own notes on the actual receipts.  He was trying to be helpful. Sigh.  Then the new piece for kitchen faucet spray arrived. I went to hook it up, then realized had better soak the old connection to get rid of mineral deposits before connecting. Then went to rinse hands off which resulted in jet of water all over shorts, shoes and kitchen.  Sigh x 2.  Then OH confirmed that he did indeed want to go back to his trusty old flip phone after trying an iPhone and deciding life is too short to be fussing with it, so just spent 40 minutes on the line to Verizon, but he his happy again and now there's an extra phone for when the next one in the family goes kaput.  And it's 2:20 already!!!  Arghhh.

    Heather: When is your friend coming to visit? Too bad she's had a falling out with daughter; life's too short...  When are Danes coming (or did they already come and go).  Seems like you've got nonstop visitors.

  • Good Evening All,

    Lindy, I love all your pictures. What a beautiful place! I visited Anglesea years ago.

    We always intended to go back (when we were living in Chester) but somehow never did.

    The hot weather continues, with no rain. I am trying to soak the roots of vulnerable plants in rotation, with the hose. Even the rudbeckias are wilting. Also rhododendrons. Most recover when they have had their turn (so far) No hose pipe ban (yet)

    The gardener comes tomorrow. Consultation required.

    As I think Heather said, it is difficult to keep up with replies, but I enjoy reading all  posts.