Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 23 September 2018

Am I the only one who is surprised all these 'events' are coming out now after so many years?  If people were so traumatised, why didn't they report it sooner?  That sounds really uncaring - it certainly isn't meant to.  I suppose this is all quite raw for me - my daughter was accosted by two drunken men at a bus station in broad daylight only last week.  She has severe learning difficulties and is, quite naturally, very upset.  Fortunately people came to help her = a lot of people know her in the small area where she lives - and the police are doing what they can to find the two men.  What upsets me is the publicity these historical events are receiving, while ordinary people like my daughter are still regularly being abused - more seriously than a hand on a knee …

PAT - I couldn't agree more with your thoughts and feelings x

I am sorry that your daughter had such an awful experience Pat. I agree with you and Heather.

Annette,  I bought some porridge oats today, in preparation for the colder months.

I like it with honey, but will try it with raisins.

The planting plans went well, but I think I have overshot the budget! The most important thing is to replace the box plants, which were completely devastated by the invasion of caterpillars. We are going to plant Hebes instead. I would like white ones, but the gardener thinks purple would be best. He is like that!

We also have eleven box plants in containers. I will be ready with my  gardening gloves on next April, when the caterpillars re-appear. Hampton Court gardeners have been picking them off by the dozen, apparently, so I am in good company!

I hope you have not caught the flu, AQ.  My OH had the new, improved, flu jab yesterday. It is supposed to be more effective.

As I expected I’ve been called. S-i-l has a bucks party this pm & eve; can’t miss it as he is best man. I am to prep tea & prep Little People for bed. Dau has chicken nuggets in freezer & assorted veg for Littlies. She couldn’t think what for herself, not hungry. Luckily I made pasties yesterday and I have a few cans of soup in pantry. I’ll take those and maybe something will tempt her. I overdid the weeding yesterday. Ground is so dry and hard. Nasty grassy weeds won’t let go. I can just see a small, very small, patch looking good..

Rosy: Re purple vs white, I have some a plant that comes in blue and white and for some reason the white has a much prettier growth habit than the blue, which is sort of clumpy. Wonder what your gardener's rational is....

PatO:  What happened to your daughter is especially egregious. It's lucky that others stepped forward to help her.

Re The Hearings, I'm not so sure it's that simple.  It's well known that women historically didn't reveal these kinds of incidents given that they were all too often subjected to ridicule and painted as "loose" or "asking for it."  So I imagine many women raised in those very recent times (and there is a generational split in how women perceive these kinds of events) accepted that it was what some men did (drunk or otherwise) and so just went on with their lives. And this woman was 15 when the alleged incident occurred - I'm not sure how I would've handled it.  I suspect we would never have heard from her if Kavanaugh hadn't been nominated to the Supreme Court, a position where there's a very, very real likelihood that he will end up wielding huge power over women's reproductive rights, which are still - unlike in many other countries - regarded as fair game among many right-wing politicians here. They've already cut funding and are using legislation to deny women's access to family planning clinics. And look who's in the White House - a man who admitted "grabbing women by their _______"  Not a happy atmosphere.  It's all very regressive.

No sun here today.  Took oranges to the Food Bank and then distributed more around the neighborhood....

Take care all.

Annette - I was thinking along the same lines, how I would have reacted years ago. Also I find it amazing that someone can be elected “for life”. Then I remembered the Queen.

AQ: Ah yes, but the big difference is that the Queen has little actual power whereas a Supreme Court judge - and Kavanaugh is young at 53 - can affect social policy and women's lives for decades!  

Hello all

Windy and dull here, after a promising start. Son in law was like a whirlwind in the back garden yesterday afternoon and achieved a lot in the way of chopping and so forth.

ANNETTE- There certainly appears to be a political element to what is going on.

Nice that you can give oranges away. Do you grow lemons?

OG - hope you weren't exhausted after your evening out -

I think I may have flagged my own post! Stupid hands.... AQ - I really hope that you don't pick up those bugs! I'm always meaning to ask you the pasty recipe. Is it similar to the Cornish pasties that I make? They have a,filling of diced beef, onions, potatoes and swede ( don't know what Swede would be called in Australia) A type of large turnip, yellow flesh, purple top.

Morning all:

Heather:  I keep meaning to get a dwarf Meyer lemon tree, which do well in pots. I had it on a list some years back...then it fell off.  Meanwhile, some of my oranges seem to have cellulitis, which I've Googled and is something called citrus scab - bumpy, but apparently not anything backyard gardeners need to do anything about, thank heaven.  Re "those" hearings, the American Bar Association had problems in 2006 with Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals, citing concerns about "the question of his freedom from bias and open-mindedness."  They've raised concerns about the current situation too.  

AQ: You are a gem and I hope your daughter (and your OH) realize just how lucky they are to have you available for rescue missions.

Diane: I can start the thread tonight.  How are you doing and how are your critter friends?

I think my niece stashed the sunshine in her suitcase when she left for home - we've had coastal cloud/overcast every day since she left.  Must ask her to return it post haste.