Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 29 September 2019

Hi all. We have been ticking away with odd problems. Currently basking in wall to wall sunshine. Tomorrow its all back again. The Forest has generally missed all the flooding, with, at this time of year, the Severn overflowing in its usual places and the Wye doing the same and flooding the road through Tintern as usual.

Now for the BIG NEWS which made the national News. We have 18 new residents joining us, they are Pine Martins. In time they should deal with the grey squirrels and reduce the damage to the trees. It is hoped, in time, that they may join up with a recently established colony across the Welsh border. This time they were thoroughly health tested, unlike the beavers which all died. That is still ongoing but is waiting for healthy animals as they had started the job they were there for and future flooding in that area can be reduced or removed over time.

Hope those with problems are improving/not getting worse. I still have minor short-lived relapses but they do not interfere too much with living. The worst thing is muscle weakness, lets say it is frustrating especially my wrists.

AQ- Enjoy your "day off" - & try to keep cool, and keep your cool! - I'm already a Grumpy Old Lady......

Annette - Have a lovely birthday meal with your daughter, and a good journey home again.

Lynette - Glad you're nearly getting there with your cataract op.

Heather - What a super time your family have had, with a real day to remember.

FB -- Good that you're still feeling better, in the main. I must have missed the item about the Pine Martens - shall follow their progress with interest. Enjoy the sunshine!

Quiet on here today. I've been putting things back in their rightful places, and my OH collected a set of curtains from the dry cleaners, where they have been shortening them for me - I bought them over two years ago but was forced to hang them up even though they were too long. Never got around to sorting out the length, so my OH measured them recently and took them to be done. Must say, I wasn't relishing doing the sewing as they had linings. We put them up this afternoon and they look great in the study with the new blinds. Now must choose a new carpet as the one in there is an old one, brought from our previous house, and its really past it's best.

Been researching "late deal" holidays to see if we can get away for a bit of sun before winter sets in.

Evening all:

Heather: OMG - no wonder your house is always overflowing with people. Sounds like a really lovely evening. :-)

Lindybird: I can't keep up with all these projects you guys are tackling. I've been seriously unmotivated all year...

AQ; I don't restrict my grumpiness to any one age group.

FB; Glad you're generally doing well. Don't know much about Pine Martens but it's good to know they're welcome.

All quiet on the Western front this evening. Miss D and Daughter already in bed, G'daughter has said goodnight and retired to her room and I'm going to call it an early night too. Las Vegas was apparently great fun. Their hotel had lots of entertainment and amenities, so they more or less stayed on the premises, as did many of the other guests. They both needed a break and I had fun and was able to spend uninterrupted time with Ms. D.

Calling it a night - take care all.

Great to hear that all's gone well, Annette, and Everyone has enjoyed themselves.

Good Morning from a cold part of Cheshire: only 2 degrees according to my phone! The sky is a brilliant red, very dramatic. Here is a pic I took five minutes ago:

It's not come out quite as red as the actual sky, but gives an idea. The twiddly white things at the bottom of the picture are on the top of our conservatory roof, just below our bedroom window.

My OH has gone off to golf, leaving me to finishing packing & tidying ready to go to Wales -- but only if they can get the parts for the car, which is in the MOT garage!!

Lindy - Wow, that's an amazing sky. It was a bit pink here in the south-east, but nothing like as fiery as that. Remembering the old adage - 'red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning' - hope you are not in line for horrible weather later in the day.

Heather - I had a lump in my throat reading about your family get-together. Sounds wonderful, if a lot of work. As a member of a very small family, I can only imagine what it would be like. When we get together there are seven of us, including one small child, and with two others who are not able to travel. I really enjoy hearing how large families interact - please keep the stories coming!

FB - pleased that things are going reasonably well for you since stopping the statins. I had read about the Pine Martin translocation from Scotland. I hope you will get to see them, they are very elusive animals: we have only seen one once in the wild, but a privilege to spot it crossing a pathway.

LINDA - another holiday lined up - wow! Hope you can find one which won't go out of business and leave you stranded. I hope the car is fixed in time for Wales.

ANNETTE - pleased to see your Dau and GD had a good time and are safely home - and its sounds as if your time with MsD made it a good experience for all.

PAT - I hope you are having a calmer week after last week's pressures - how did the talk go on Monday?

We had a really good day out yesterday. Our journey down to Windermere took a long time as there was a big Police incident in Kendal, but we had a lovely lunch (all ate from the "brunch menu" ) at Lakeland Ltd. Then we shopped through the list of what we needed, and spotted a couple of extras which we didn't know we needed and finally bought things ready for Christmas. We came home a different way around Kendal and there was very little traffic on the motorway. Everywhere, the views were spectacular, partly because Autumn is further advanced down there so the trees were putting on a good show in the sunshine. We stopped on the edge of Carlisle and had another excellent meal - while the men ate mains, I had a starter of Lamb Koftas with Greek Salad. Cleaner is here this morning - just about to finish.

Keep forgetting to say, we have a Wood Mouse under the Japanese Anemones again, and are very pleased to have seen a Tree Sparrow (a rarity here) keeping company with the House Sparrow flock most days.

OG - Thank you for asking. The talk went really well. It was lovely looking at the photographs and remembering all over again some of the wonderful places I visited. And it was even better sharing them with others and seeing them enjoying my experiences by osmosis. I have another one in a couple of weeks, so can relive it all over again! And two more in the pipeline.

And thank you again - this week is a little less manic, and at least I've had a couple of bowls League games, so it's not all sitting in front of the computer ... well, not quite as much as last week! Can someone please remind me I'm supposed to be retired? What is this thing called 'retirement' that other people seem to have?!!?!