Weekly chat (non osprey) Sunday 1st September 2019

Good Morning. Sunshine here at present, but as soon as we got past Birmingham travelling north yesterday, the temps went down from the lovely sunny summery weather we had left behind.

AQ - Hope nanny duty goes well.

Rosy - I've not tried Waitrose spagh bol before, but I knew we would be very tired when we got home. Normally I would have a stock of home made dinners like that in the freezer, but I ran a lot of it down, so that there would be room for the annual bounty of plums, apple, and green beans! It was good by the way, as are most of Waitroses products.

Annette - The hurricane sounded horrific and lets hope there is no more damage before it spins itself out.

OG - Thinking of you all at this stressful time <hugs>

Welcome back, LINDY - I think we all missed you!
No Waitrose in Inverness but I do buy ready meals from M and S and use them perhaps twice a week. Going by the number of folk buying them ( and peeking in their baskets ), I am far from alone.
OG - I join others in wishing you well as you wait to hear when J will have his thyroidectomy. It must be worrying you on many counts, not least the travelling involved for you, since EE is your carer and cannot just drive J to Wythenshawe, leaving you 'home alone'.

I've just glanced at the time and realised that I must go and get showered - have an appointment with the dental hygienist at 10am.

Thanks for the good wishes. J is now trying to keep busy cleaning his room, doing paperwork etc.

LINDA - pleased you had a good weekend with the family - must have been special to get them all together again - and a reasonable journey home

ANNETTE - terrible news of the dive boat which caught fire - such a high loss of life.

And now I can't remember all I planned to say. Quiet day here until J goes to see GP this afternoon for a catch-up. He will walk again if weather is suitable.

What a strange day here - sun, then a cloudburst and so on. Apparently the most rain here between June anid August since records began.
ANNETTE - I heard some local people talking about the boat tragedy, on WS radio last night. .
My visit to the dental hygienist cost more than my recent check-up with the dentist! I received the usual reminder about flossing etc....
Tomorrow, lunch out with eldest daughter, I'm looking forward to that.

Enjoy your lunch tomorrow, HEATHER!

I meant to come on here and chat about our weekend, but its been one of those days. I went out this morning on various errands, then got some grub from Sainsburys. I did get some copies printed of the best pics taken - lots of new baby Rosie!

When we arrived for lunch on Sunday, our Youngest was already there with his family, and some of our d.in laws family came too. It was a warm sunny day, so the children played mostly outside until we got around a heaving buffet lunch table. Then the adults had a good chin wag over lunch whilst the children jumped around in the two paddling pools which had been put out for the party the day before.

Baby Rosie was held by everyone, both male and female, and was angelic. Birthday cake was eaten by all. After a good afternoon, we waved everyone goodbye, and didn't want our evening meal of salmon and salad until quite late!

The next day was a whirl of visiting a Children's Farm to gaze at and pat the animals, and then a visit to the park to encourage Amber on her bicycle riding. In the evening, we met her mummy on return from work and we all went to a local Italian restaurant where Amber managed to eat three quarters of a Marguarita pizza.

Have a good lunch with your daughter, Heather.

Gosh, they came out big! Maybe that's because I transferred to my new mobile and got the pics straight from on there. Note that Amber is sporting a colourful "tattoo" which was a transfer. I jokingly said that Grandad should have one, too. Within minutes he was wearing a sunflower on his forearm. I had a butterfly, and so did Daddy. Mummy said No Way, as she had to go to work!

LINDA – Gorgeous pics of your Little People. Rosie has lovely big eyes.

ANNETTE – What I find impressive with Miss7’s reading is the content. She reads aloud to her mother while she is preparing tea. Last week I heard the first part of a story of two lads who rowed across Indian Ocean from Perth to Madagascar. (Yes they made it.) Yesterday her reader was about “Staple Foods” and I overheard all about grain, their uses, recipe for damper, etc. I came home with 2 choc brownies that she had made after a classroom exercise where they watched a video and then had to write a report on making said brownies. Yegads, she’s only in Year 2 and that’s what they are learning?

I missed it. Tues afternoon there was mother whale & baby frolicking off Grange beach, a mere 5 km from us. Of course I only heard about it on evening news as I don’t have a smart-thingie with apps to alert me.

A few weeks ago I saw a report that the whale nursery at the Head of the Bight was “full” and mother whales were coming to Fowlers Bay (also Eyre Peninsula) and Encounter Bay (50 miles south of Adelaide). These are Southern Right whales.