Hallo all! Have a happy week and don't forget to check last week's thread for any late-breaking developments! :-))
AQ Ha! At this point, Oz could fall off the bottom of the earth and our media wouldn't even notice. But Good Grief! Just checked BBC News Australia and see that your Parliament has been adjourned due to leadership crisis. What now? Oh tell me about this dressing-up business at school. I'm not sure I could cope - it's hard enough getting them up and out the door anyway - but granddaughter has to dress up Ms. D on occasion (although she enjoys it). Our only concern re clothing while at school was if our Panama hats were worn at the approved angle! I had a childhood friend in the UK whose family emigrated to Tasmania; often wonder what happened to her....
Lindybird: I can't fathom Trump supporters at this point; still, I don't think his very vocal and loyal base has grown.
Good Morning. Quite bright skies, maybe I can get more laundry out today. (Showers for the second half of yesterday: our lawn is suddenly green again).
AQ - Thanks for the link to Slinki Malinki - no idea what you meant as not heard of it here. I agree that these events are a chance for parents to try and outdo each other, which is surely not the point? - and nothing to do with encouraging reading. Just a pain for busy parents. I wouldn't have done the Twister game, either, good chance of pulling a muscle! Glad the children liked the poem. Just seen your leadership crisis, hope by the time you read this it's less of a drama.
Annette - Hope your windows are sparkling now. We have much the same here, lots of DIY shops are closing as parts can be bought online, or else people are calling in a repairman or decorator rather than tackling home jobs themselves.
Annette – But wait there is more (as certain adverts say). The PM’s challenger may not even be eligible under the constitution to be in parliament. What a hoot.
Linda – Nothing resolved in Canberra today. Awaiting legal report on above problem, they hope tomorrow morn. Drama just gets more, shall we say, interesting? Or, stupid?
Slinky Malinki is by a New Zealand author. I enjoy reading her books (to the twins, that is). Recently Dau “complained” that they had 34 books at home from the local library. Mostly dog & cat stories LOL.
I agree, AQ, about the pushy Mums whose offspring always have the most extravagant costumes and whose 'projects' have clearly had more parental input than pupil input!
I didn't know about your current political drama until last night. I think that I heard that you have had something like six Prime Ministers in ten years. That is some going...
ANNETTE- A previous PM here often had the prefix 'Teflon' attached to his name. It would seem that the same could apply in your country.
OG- Was J only making Wednesday meal during the school holidays?
Dry here today so planning some tidying up, outside. Front grass here is still pathetic. I'll probably leave weed and feed until the Spring and may even get rid of the grass and have a concrete garden.
It doesn't need to be concrete, Heather. Ours was only a small lawn, not worth the bother, so we stripped it, covered it in plastic and then mixed coloured pebbles, with a border of old cobbles and broken slate as a contrast. Very effective. Shrubs are on two sides, and some ornamental pots on the gravel with some bright annuals in. Easy to care for!
All happening here - our new neighbour has the decorators in, inside, before she moves in. Outside, there is a noisy man, complete with radio, who is replacing the gutters and the cladding. Meanwhile, a man has just turned up here to see to our tv aeriels, we have cable for our main tv but the other two in the dining room and bedroom are from some stuff on the roof which has been giving us problems for years. Every now and then my OH would get up on the garage roof on a small ladder, and twiddle with them, but lately he's had to admit that he can't sort it, and finally gave in and rang someone to sort it out.
Good morning. A bit dreich here – disappointing after second half of yesterday. OH just set off for his hearing-aid follow up - seems to have been going on forever. I was extremely tired last evening and slept late this morning, so will have a quiet day today.
Annette – plenty of stores disappearing from our High Streets (high rents) and shopping Malls, and chains failing, selling for peanuts and closing down – hardware stores seem to be particularly vulnerable right now, yet it’s so difficult to “get a man” to do a job. This must mean people are cutting down on house maintenance to save money – storing up trouble for later in the nations housing stock! You were lucky to have Panama Hats for school – we had horrid pudding basins for years, with a rolled brim We got up a petition to change to Boaters when I was in year 5 and Head’s answer was to insist that our parents wouldn’t want the expense! Finally, hats were done away with altogether – with various ceremonial rites of disposal! My Dad wore mine for gardening for many years after!
AQ – sorry to see your political scene is having another “wobble” – hope it gets sorted soon. Nice that Miss6 got extra Nanny-time, with no Guides -I hope all three stick with their dressing-up choices for Friday!
Linda – hope your weather holds for you to hang out the laundry – can’t remember when ours last dried outside. Your front garden always sounds so pretty, Linda! Our front is a huge area of grass so can’t do much else with it – apart from Shrubs at one end, trees and bulbs at the other and the Willow outside the study window – oh – and the ex-grasses patch in the middle the other side (to become conifers when ready for planting). I thought the house next door to you was already renovated and extended – maybe that was the other side! Pleased your OH has given in over the aerials!
Heather – the J cooking on Wednesdays started before the hols, but I called a halt fairly early on when OH had more to do as “sous-chef” than when he does the whole thing! Also, I got tired of Pasta Bolognese and Stir-fry Chicken alternate weeks. I know J can cook other things, but he was just taking the easy way out, maybe hoping I would get fed up! He did make some pancakes in the hols. OH gave himself more to do yesterday: at my request he had thawed some frozen left over canned tomatoes, but he forgot and opened a new can, so he then had to make the thawed ones into soup for the freezer! This evening will be fish, so a quicker meal. Would love to get the garden tidy again, but have the added eyesore of roof mess everywhere, with a quagmire around the Willow where they had their water reservoir overflowing almost all day!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Unknown said:I can't fathom Trump supporters
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Hope you get cleaned up soon, OG, weather permitting. Regarding the demise of DIY stores - maybe DIY is not as popular - despite all the TV programmes! My youngest SiL is very good at DIY - electrical, plumbing, decorating, woodwork - but as well as being good with his hands he is the son of a joiner and grew up watching his Dad doing things around the house. My own parents, of necessity, had to do most of the stuff in our family home. They bought it quite cheaply after the war and it was a large house. They were self taught and I picked up a lot of knowledge, mostly decorating, as a paper scraper was put into my hands at an early age! We have never had difficulty in getting someone to do a job for us in this house but probably that is because OH wasn't a DIY man and we have had the same professionals working here, for years. One thing that sometimes causes a problem up here is that the artisans are so busy that they don't have to look for work. My stepson insists on getting three estimates and often the guys don't even turn up to look at the job - the good ones don't need to, as they are always busy. Another perspective - do you think that the home is not as important to some families these days? Foreign holidays, both parents working, meals out etc. When I was a child, the home was everything and where everything happened. I haven't addressed the fact that the housing stock will be neglected and therefore decrease in value! Have to go and make lunch!
I agree, Heather - everything comes too easily to many people these days, and they will sell and move on, even at a loss, rather than keep what they have in good order. (I am not a poverty-denier, I am talking about people about two steps up the ladder!) We eventually found someone for our wall repair, but he only agreed to come and estimate if he was the only person we had coming - at that stage he was, and he has quoted (quite a good price I might add) but we still don't yet know when he will actually do the job!
Hello everyone, I am reading through but not really posting at the mo. Hope you are all well.