WEEKLY CHAT (Non-Osprey) Sunday, November 3, 2019

HeatherB - glad you enjoyed your lunch with eldest - did you spend out! That is lovely of her, early birthday present.

Annette - well done you for raking the leaves up. Our garden is full of them from the flowering cherry and another tree which is on the outside of the garden. Weather too damp to gather them up, usually leave them to the vagaries of winter.

Pleasant day with some rain, they say all change again, I suppose we'll see what we see.

Lindy - like the poem

Lynette:  I don't rake up the leaves on the beds - after all, they turn into wonderful mulch!  :-)

Had nice visit with friend, then did grocery shopping, organized easy dinner and now catching up on e-mail, etc.

Good Morning. A bit grey here. More rain.

We're off to the big shopping centre to look for Christmas outfits for our granddaughters, and maybe get some food shopping from M&S. We miss our local branch which closed down this year. Might stop for coffees and a naughty cake in John Lewis.....

I hope that you had the cake, LINDY!
Not much happening here. I have almost finished pruning the grape vine but it was cold work, two fleece jackets on!
A week today and my Danish visitors will be here. They have never been here quite so late in the year and I'm afraid that they will find this house cold. They have good Scandinavian house, underfloor heating, triple glazed windows, central heating by radiators and a wood burning stove!

Oh, dear - you'd better supply some cosy slippers, Heather! That grapevine must be big, it's taken you a long time to sort it out.

Yes, I had a nice slice of Orange & Almond Cake, and my OH had a huge raspberry muffin. However, later on I felt rather queasy and put it down to having had the cake too early on in the day: I'm not very good at eating much before lunchtime (I make up for it later in the day!). We bought some sherry for the festive season cupboard, and I chose a new dressing gown for my OH to give me as a present, even though technically, he hasn't bought me my b'day present yet! But that's another story - it was to be a treat and we've not had time for it.

In John Lewis, I bought a cute little sequined top for Amber, and a red all in one outfit for the baby, with a Santa motif and 'My First Christmas" embroidered on the front - very extravagant as of course she may only wear it a couple of times.

Good results then, LINDY!
The vine is quite big, I suppose. Our sittooterie is attached to the house on two sides with a windowed screen on third side and open to garden on fourth side. It has a clear roof and the vine is trained to cover the underneath of the roof. Maybe 9 square metres. It grows and grows prolifically,through the year , completely covering the roof and each stem has to be cut back to the budding point on the main branches. It only takes me so long because I do it in short bursts, standing on a chair or small step ladder. I don't like working on things above my head for very long. It's,amazing that it produces so many grapes, here in the north.

Thinking about OG, EE and J. Hope they got home today, with no problems.

Had a lovely day out at Hever Castle with a friend today. And believe it or not, the sun shone on us! We went round the castle, where they had a special display to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the film 'Anne of a Thousand Days', which was filmed at Hever. There have also been other films made there, and they were being celebrated as well. Can't believe AoaTD is so old - a lovely film, which I remember seeing ... goodness, it couldn't have been fifty years ago! Must have been on the third or fourth time around!! Then we walked round the lake, and sat and ate our picnic watching great crested grebe swimming and diving. Yes, it is possible to have a picnic in November!

Now I'm exhausted, and wondering how early I can crawl into my bed.

Hoping OG and family are now safely home, and no after-effects for J.

PAT - what a lovely day out - and like you, I can't believe that it is fifty years since the film was made! I'm thinking Geneveve Bujold ? spelling? If it is, I feel very old....

Yes, Heather - that's the one, with Richard Burton at his very best. We saw the window she looked out of when he first arrived at Hever. I must check whether the film is available on YouTube - hope so, Having seen the exhibition I now want to see the film.