Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 29 September 2019

HAPPY NEW WEEK! 

Everyone have a great week!

  • It really is Saturday - I know for sure having enjoyed the once--a-week cooked "family breakfast" which today was Bacon and Tomatoes in a crisp Croissant!

    LINDA - thanks for the explanation of the appearing photo. I hope you will get some outdoor time today and tomorrow before your early return home. Here. today is grey but dry until evening, then the really wet week starts tomorrow.

    ANNETTE - good to see you arrived safe home - do let us know what "Normal" is when you find it!

    Poetry and music - love both, in all styles and genres. Used to able to quote The Lady of Shallot right through but I don't think I could do it now! I suppose it is the musicality of the rhythm that makes verse so much more memorable than prose.

    New microwave is due for delivery today - more touch buttons to learn! J is off to Carlisle as usual . He spoke to his boss yesterday and is going to work half time on Monday and Tuesday and then his normal hours the remainder of the week before the October two-week holiday; he will then have one week at work before his surgery and recovery (probably two weeks rest).
  • OG- I remembered (!) that you Always have a cooked breakfast on Saturdays and knew that would re-orientate you. I often find myself one day out, usually if I have a roast dinner on Monday, my brain is wired to have it on a Sunday, as we did for years.
    FORESTBOAR - that you remembered heading in the wrong direction to the shop is quite reassuring!
    ANNETTE - welcome home. Miss D will have enjoyed her time with GG :-)
    LINDY - enjoy your day - it makes sense to go home before the deluge. I liked your arrangement of shells, etc
    PAT et al - I like music, rather than love it. Used to have music playing while doing household chores. Often classical including opera. Somehow have got out of the habit. After a busy shift at the hospital I used to play loud music (Queen comes to mind!) as a kind of therapy. Strange, maybe....
    AQ,- thinking of you in those high temps :-(

    Regards to all

    Things are just about back to normal here. The silence is deafening but I'm fine with it at the moment. I had a vivid dream last night, I had to get up early this morning to meet some deadline or other. I awoke in a panic, trying to remember what it was that I had to do. What a relief to realise that it was Saturday and the day was my own!
    The newspaper came through letterbox, I made my usual mug of coffee and took both things back up to bed. Bliss.

  • Pleased to see you are relaxing now, HEATHER. When are the Danes due?
  • On the 13th November, OG , for a week.
  • We are relaxing, here: Leisurely trip around supermarket, then bracing walk along the side of the estuary: pic to follow, of a trawler stopping to drop off a crew member at Caernarfon. Bonnie enjoyed meeting both another spaniel, and a very lively black Labrador ("She's only 15 months old!, and a bit playful!")

    The trees here are just beginning to turn and there are only a few blackberries left in the hedges. Have a nice M&S meal to throw in the oven tonight, to have with a glass of wine.

    Sitting down with the papers and some crosswords to do.

    ----  have just added my picture, which came out at the top of my post this time.  We have had "Saturday eggs" for lunch.  Don't know quite how it started  but we seemed to end up plumping for eggs on a Saturday, some years ago. My OH prefers egg & soldiers, or poached, and I nearly always have scrambled on toast.  Sometimes he looks enviously at my eggs, and asks to join me with scrambled, the following week. Then I put four or five eggs in a big jug, with a little grated cheese for extra flavour, and bung them in the microwave. Yummy!

  • HEATHER - pleased they are not due yet - I thought they were going to be a bit too close to everything else, but you have plenty of time to get ready for them!

    LINDA - a nice calm photo. Glad Bonnie met some doggy company! Enjoy your evening meal. Our Saturday cooked breakfast is often based on eggs as we don't have too much processed meat. Scrambled eggs became so easy when we all got our microwaves - although sometimes we do have them poached. OH and I then have soup for our lunch - which is one reason J goes out on Saturday - to have something more filling!

    New microwave was delivered on time - while OH was sorting through paper work for the "old one" I was surprised to discover it only lasted eighteen months; so glad we had it on our "New for old" multi-appliance policy!
  • Morning all:

    Lindybird: I've never done eggs in the microwave! That sounds brilliant. Tell me more.

    Diane: I also liked reading the WaPo article on the Methodist Church return - a nice gesture but good that the church folks acknowledged that it didn't make up for the bad times...

    OG: Good that J's work schedule is so flexible. Have fun with the new microwave. I ended up putting stickies on the pages with the basic info when we got ours - initially I was always pressing a button that put it in Demo Mode and had to keep looking up how to exit that. Wow, 18 months is not good for the "old" one.

    Heather: Enjoy the peace and quiet.

    AQ We learned everything by rote back in Catholic School. I was flummoxed by the incredibly complicated way Ms. D's school is teaching multiplication. Geez - so complicated. G/daughter said that last year so many parents complained that they couldn't follow their kids' homework that this year the school district has sent home "homework helpers" - for the parents!!! I can still recite my times tables which we learned by reciting them over and over in that singsongy manner..... Why do they have to keep fixing things that aren't broken? Ms. D read to me on this trip - I was pleased to hear her put lots of expression into the dialogue. I was at a Catholic school that had borders - they tended to be from well-off families and were always very cliquey; in fact when I went back some years ago to a big reunion, there were the borders, huddled on the couch and barely acknowledging us day students.

    Pat O: I like all music except Hawaiian and Cowboy music. ("She's acting single and I'm drinking doubles!" or something like that.) Oh, and I just can't appreciate rap and also squirm at female singers who sing through their noses - if you know what I mean.

    Am always dragged out the day after a drive, so planning a nice nap in my anti-gravity garden chair after lunch.

    Take care all.

  • OG - We have also tried to be aware of the amount of processed meat we consume. It makes sense to me, to not eat such things every day, although recently the idea that a lot of red meat was "bad for you" seems to have been debunked. We have at least one meatless day a week plus one "fish day", usually Friday in the time honoured fashion.

    Hope you enjoy the new microwave. When we bought one for the caravan, we searched high & low for one with two turning knobs on, rather than a touch pad, as we prefer simplicity. (One knob for power setting, one for time)

    Annette: Microwaved scrambled eggs --- Easy. Take one large jug, either plastic or Pyrex glass. Break into it the number of eggs required (one or two for each person, usually) Beat hard with a fork or whisk. Add pepper to taste, and a small knob of butter for each egg used. Add a tablespoon of milk for each egg, also. Beat again.

    Put in microwave on full power for one minute - remove and beat again. Then microwave for another 30 seconds for one egg, or one more minute for two eggs, etc. Keep an eye on them! Take out when they still look moist, as they will continue cooking afterwards. Stir well and serve.

    Works well if you have a plastic whisk which is microwaveable, so you can leave it in there. The eggs will not be lumpy as they can be if not tended when cooked on the stove, and the jug is easily cleaned without egg being stuck to it, as pans usually do. A little cheese or even some leftover peas or spoonful of sweetcorn can be added, for variety.