Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 22 September 2019

Diane: Again, our thanks.

OG: Good that things are moving re J's surgery.

diblinb:  I also don't know Purccy, but glad things have ended well.

Heather  Hope the ride home isn't so ghastly.

Rosy: There are places I want to walk here but we have visitors in surreys, roller blades and regular bikes, which is why I tend to walk around the neighborhood.

OH and I went off to see Downton Abbey the movie tonight.  I think the TV series and now the movie are popular here because we're all so tired of The Orange Menace and his wretched rhetoric and  rude and demeaning tweets and DA is an escape!   Like all those musicals in the 1940s during WWII.

Have a good Sunday all.

Thanks to Diane for starting us off on another week.

Grey skies here. We were woken by thunder and lightning this morning, and heavy showers. Brightening a little now, but think its going to be too wet for a walk in the park.

Will sit and sort out some family photographs, as one of my birthday presents was a multi picture frame which might fit on the sideboard - not sure what I'll do with it, if it doesn't!

Annette, you don't say what you thought of the Downton Abbey film..... It's on at our local cinema at the moment. Undecided whether to go, or whether to wait till its on TV

Thanks to DIANE for the new week and reminder of the equinox. Our weather forecasters always tell us the start of each metrological season - 1st day of respective month, so they told us autumn started three weeks ago! Still no autumn colour in the trees - all looking a healthy green from rain and sunshine!

HEATHER - sorry about the tedious last leg of your arrival - and the whole hour for the meal to arrive. Enjoy your stay!

ROSY - many a walk here is spoiled by bikes - in fact car journeys too as they ride very carelessly on our country roads as if there were no other traffic!

ANNETTE - glad you enjoyed the film - must admit I never watched Downton, although I am a fan of the great Dame Maggie Smith!

LINDA - no thunder and lightening here, but plenty of the wet stuff, and so very dark. Need lights on to do anything.

Watching the golf from Wentworth this afternoon. The on-course commentator, Wayne Riley, an Australian former golfer and an excellent and amusing commentator, watched as one of the leaders hit a ball quite a long way off line into some nasty-looking rough. Wayne - 'Well, the lie isn't bad - a bit wispy, a bit patchy, but not bad ... as long as you like playing out of Donald Trump's hair!'

Morning all:

Downton Abbey the movie moved faster - inevitably - than the TV shows, with lots of subplots involving multiple characters.  I might have dispensed with a couple of each. Maggie Smith was great as was the rest of the ensemble. There was a hint she may not be in any future DA ventures. Some of the repartee seemed a bit contrived.. Scenery and settings were of course marvelous.  One critic I heard said there were too many "endings" that had to be tidied up; another said that there were enough new plots hinted at to make her wonder if another movie might be in the offing....    My only real complaint was about the theater. The sound level was way, way, waaaay too loud, not just in the movie (dialogue was okay though soaring music a bit overwhelming at times!) but in all the multitudinous previews for upcoming releases, which in their turn were preceded by ads, movie trivia quizzes, etc., etc. It's almost impossible to tell the plot of a future movie because all they show are short clips of dramatic scenes and/or dialogue interspersed with music and claims of things to come we've never seen before and will never see again.  Yawn.  It reminded me of why I prefer to watch movies at home......but the theater is just around the corner so it's not as if we had to make a giant effort.

Lindybird: Having scanned every photo under our roof, I'm now wondering how on earth to display the favorites, which would probably cover more than one wall.   Sigh..... Blame it on these all-too-handy smart phones!  Oh, and grandkids who are irresistible.

Am off to Arizona Thursday for granddaughter's and daughter's birthdays.  G'daughter is taking daughter to - gasp - Las Vegas for a few days.  Neither have been, granddaughter is dreading it (who can blame her!) daughter is excited. I was there twice and that was once too many.  I'm just glad I'll be in Prescott Valley with Ms. D, taking her to school and hanging out with the horses, dog, goat, rabbit....  Today I'm making a quick trip to meet grandson halfway up the freeway to pick up his Mom's gift.

Take care all.

ANNETTE - very brave of your GDau to take her Mother to Las Vegas. GGDau and Menagerie sounds the better option! Good that you can collect and transport the gift from Grandson.

Still very wet here - can't get out to pick Runner Beans, and this weather, still being warm, is making them grow very fast!

I'm posting before reading, which is absolutely the wrong way round! Have had a lovely day even though rainy. We went to Cardigan and had lunch cooked by my friend's son. Roast lamb with loads of veggies. The sun appeared and Cardigan Bay was beautiful.

Warm here, in spite of its being damp all day.

Just arranged to go to the cinema with sis in law this week, to see the Downton film. She has lost a friend who used to go to such things with her, the same as I, so it suits us both.