Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 30 August 2020

HAPPY NEW WEEK, HAPPY NEW MONTH, and HAPPY FULL MOON!

I hope everyone has a safe, healthy, joyful week! 

The full Harvest Moon is 2 September. It's late on the night of 1 September for Annette.

For the gardeners on this thread, HERE is a photo of cardinal flowers blooming on the prairie at a state park near my hometown. Cardinal flowers (lobelia cardinalis) are wildflowers native to our prairie. It's a member of the Bluebell family. They depend on hummingbirds for pollination. I just thought they were a happy sight.

  • Diane:  Thank you!  Fascinating that those bright red cardinal flowers are members of the Bluebell family.  Was listening to an interview today with Frank Nitty, who walked from Kenosha to the DC March on Washington. He was telling about the problems they had in Indiana.  Suggest you move west ASAP.  Thanks for the info about the Harvest Moon.   Good luck fighting City Hall....

    Lindybird: Maybe wash down the mismatched pie and salad with a glass of two or wine?

    OG: Garage inventory has now been increased by two more packages (from Ikea).  Too bad they can't open the church with some social distancing arrangement.

    Left the house at 8:45 this morning en route to Ikea in Burbank (north of LA proper).  Stopped at Crate & Barrel and Scandinavian Furniture, which only confirmed my suspicion that I need an entirely different lifestyle to go with their offerings.  Was looking for a low bookcase and a clearance-sale chair.  Ha!   Left there and headed farther down the freeway to Ikea where there was a - arghh - 90 minute wait to enter the store!  (I'd already driven 90 minutes to get there!).   As it was, the wait wasn't that long and they had a place to buy water halfway through, but still.......   Got into the store to find the Living Room section was being remodeled, resulting in far fewer displays than usual.  Arghh.times two!.  They didn't mention that on their website.  Felt even worse for folks shopping for office furniture who were met with signs halfway through the line that advised 'very low' stocks.  Why halfway?  Don't ask me.   I waffled about whether to buy a cheap-and-cheerful chair for 'my' room and decided to go ahead, given that they don't deliver to Santa Barbara and weren't even sure I could order online.  I have about 3 months to return it, which is what it would take for me to work up the enthusiasm to make that trip again.  

    OH's temporary office setup isn't working for him at all, so guess what we'll be doing tomorrow.

    Have a good Sunday everyone.

    .  

  • DIANE – Thank you for the red, er bluebells. My bluebells have started flowering under the crab apple. I noticed blossom appearing on street trees in the next street. Much prettier than our street trees..

    OG – It is sad your church has not resumed services. In our state, churches have restricted numbers depending on size.  Mine has max of 120. By removing the early morning service that few attended and adding one in late afternoon (popular with young people I believe), so far numbers have been OK. We all fill in name & phone no (in case contact tracing is needed), use sanitizer supplied and only families sit close. Minister has asked for volunteers to stay 15 mins after to wipe pews. Venues are only deep cleaned if positive covid is reported at that venue. As for our older g-chn – G-dau is working in Canberra and does not reply to my emails or texts. Grapevine says she is OK. G-son is said to be looking for work but he’s not qualified for anything (study too hard, too boring). He does some work around house, meals, etc. I try not to worry too much about his future.

    ANNETTE – More furniture removalling tomorrow? No rest for the wicked, they say. LOL

    Dau#2 phoned last eve. “What are you doing Sunday afternoon?” Of course we are free for a visit. Since church, I have been flurrying around, tidying up, wafting duster, bought scones from bakery for a’tea.

  • There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before. (Robert Wilson Lynd)

    God loved the birds and invented trees.
    Man loved the birds and invented cages. (Jacques Deval)

  • Annette: Yes, this part of the Great Lakes/Midwest is a tinderbox. People are on edge, and many are openly carrying guns. Honestly, I don't even like going to the supermarket anymore. I put it off as long as I can. I stay on my own land.

  • Thanks for a lovely 'red' start, Diane. Nothing like a bit of unusual nature to bring an early morning smile.

    Our local churches have been going through risk assessments and are gradually reopening, but under very strict and very different Ts and Cs. My church is opening in a couple of weeks, with only one morning service instead of two - no singing - masks to be worn throughout the service - no refreshments afterwards - no touching. Everyone to sanitise their chair before and after the service - a one-way system for getting in and out. A deep clean will be carried out every week. We are also going to be allowed to have meetings such as Home Groups in two areas, with all doors and windows to remain open throughout. Great as winter approaches! But for the key-holder it is a massive responsibility - sanitising all touch points such as door and window handles, keeping a record of contact details for all attendees, etc etc etc. Not sure I will be restarting my Home Group at church for a while yet ... and because I travel around to different churches every Sunday, I'm going to have to learn what each one of those churches is doing! Fortunately most of the Circuit stuff going on at the moment is being conducted via Zoom - so I'm only responsible for myself and my home!
  • Good morning - warmer. less wind, more sunshine. No great plans but should be a "tidy loose ends" kinda day.

    DIANE - thanks for the next chapter in our adventure - seems impossible that we are already embarking on another month and with another full moon. Loved the brightness of the Cardinal Flowers - enjoying our Bishop of Llandaff Dahlias for the same reason. Thinking of you challenging bureaucracy this week, and sorry life out there has become so scary.

    OH's new office chair will be delivered by IKEA next Saturday (people say their delivery charges are prohibitive, but I find them quite reasonable, especially taking account of the savings compared with buying elsewhere). . I hope you can find suitable office furniture for your OH to sit comfortably.

    AQ - sorry you don't hear from the grown-up Granddaughter and that your Grandson is not well-motivated to live an adult life. We have been lucky that all our four grandchildren were happy to work to achieve their goals. Enjoy your tea with the Littlies this afternoon - I guess your OH will be happy having scones from the bakery!

    PAT - your church sounds a few steps ahead of us towards opening - lucky you have a work-force to do it all. Our congregation are too old or infirm to do any physical stuff, and I think we might have been better motivated if our minister was able to return to us - his heart surgery has been postponed for the third time, and he is therefore still shielding. My OH is too busy to help much and I can do nothing useful to help.

    I hope LINDA will get a good dry walk for her final day in Wales - not the person one would expect to forget to pack the right shoes!
  • Morning all:  Made my usual mistake of staying up too late and then waking at usual time (5:30).  Yawn.   My desk is an absolute mess that I really must organize today in addition to helping OH sort out his office.   Must also make a To Do list for the week, top of which will be a haircut.   That said, better get stuck in....  :-(

    OG:  Yes, with all those shoes, we'd expect Lindybird to be prepared for all eventualities.  :-)   OH will not part with his chair, which frankly is sporting a few strips of Duct (Duck?) Tape here and there.

    Forgot to mention that our Coopers Hawk spent about 20 minutes sitting on our fountain yesterday evening, sipping water every few minutes and generally looking very relaxed.  Never seen it stick around for that long.   I was about to put dinner on the (coffee) table, but didn't want to disturb it with my to-ing and fro-ing so we just watched it until it took off.

    Hope all the churchgoers can settle into some kind of routine, what with all the precautions.  

  • Nice to read all posts: thanks to Diane for starting us off.

    Sunshine here today, enjoyed our walk, pics later.  Had the right shoes on this time. My OH rolled his eyes yestersay, as I could have worn the same shoes for the whole morning, but chose to wear comfy ones for supermarket shopping & intended to change them to sturdier ones. Which I then left behind on the step!

    More later, meanwhile, here is a butterfly which my OH spotted yesterday- he has good eyesight!

    Can you spot it in middle of the picture?

    Nearer....

    Close up...

  • Might have known it would be on the Buddleia, LINDA - had five on a pot of Liatris today - they are also blooming profusely. OH is taking down the lounge curtains tonight to take them for cleaning tomorrow - in time to get them back before we need them for autumn! J has a very painful shoulder so phoned NHS helpline - they will contact the GP so he can refer him for X-rays! Don't know why it needs so many steps!
  • Didn't have time to say how much I liked the Cardinal flowers, Diane. Thanks for posting them. Sorry to hear that you'll have to gird your loins and do battle this week. Power to your arm!

    Annette, frustrating to have to queue for so long. Bad customer service, to not let folks know before they begin queuing, that all things are not necessarily available.

    We had a most beautiful afternoon here. The sun came out and although not hot, it was good enough to sit outside and read. The ice cream van called late afternoon, so we bought a couple of spoonfuls to go with some strawberries bought yesterday and needing eating - delish.