Weekly Chat, Sunday August 22, 2010

Good morning all from a very bright and sunny Poole.  Quite windy but as I have a line of washing out I am pleased.  Amazing what you find that wants a wash before you go away on holiday.  Birds are keeping me busy with constant refilling of bird baths and eating for England still.  OH is off out topping up everything we need for them.  When I stop to think about the cost it frightens me to death.  I am sure we spend as much on them as we do on our own food.  Wouldn't have it any other way though as they give me such a lot of pleasure all year round.

Annette I hope you will wake refreshed after all that travelling.

Lindybird loved the knitted cup cakes.

Hope you all have a good Bank Holiday wekend.

Good morning HeatherB  was so pleased to read about your daughter   She must be very special to you.  No wonder you had tears in your eyes.  It makes me realise when I read all the posts that my troubles are small and manageable.  They say there is always someone else who is worse off and sadly this is true.  Have a good weekend.

Good Morning All. The sun is shining here but still feels quite cool.

Another scam story. Our daughter received a letter from a credit company demanding two years back payment, with interest, for ground rent for her flat. She was sure this was included in her annual service charge and as she is mid-way through buying a new flat, she passed the letter on to her solicitor. The solicitor has proved it is a scam and has passed all the details on to the police. I hate to think how many people just pay these so called demands.

OH has the leaf blower out this morning trying to clear all the debris left by all our recent rain and gales. I must also go and do some dead heading. I will catch up with you ALL later.

Afternoon all,

Thanks for all the chat etc.

BrendaH : Not those pesky leaf blowers already!!!. I thought we did all the jokes last year.

Weather is sunny but a trifle cool for late August. I have already trimmed the lawn at the front and aim to do the back later this afternoon. I also have some beetroot simmering away. The first this year from the raised bed.

Alan, Sorry about mentioning the dreaded leaf blower. OH reckoned that it objected to being woken up too early from it's summer hibernation.

A mixed day for weather here - some sunshine - but hav'nt seen any leafblowers yet!

Heather B - Such good news that your daughter came through with the All Clear - you must be so relieved. Expect you feel like celebrating, now.

TerryM :   Hope the 'fluting weekend' went well  and you enjoyed yourself.

georgeg:  Expect you feel better now that the funeral is all arranged - hope everything goes well on Tuesday. Good idea to keep away from local shops till its all over - the sympathy can sometimes be too much when you are feeling fragile, so you are wise to help your sis. in.L with it.   Do let us know if you spot any of those White tailed Eagles near you.

Diane:   Thanks for nice links to the polar bears etc. - not seen one yet but I'll keep popping in till I do.  I have mixed feelings about zoos, sometimes its sad to see animals hemmed in and unhappy, but understand that some can't be set free or wouldn't survive.

AQ:   Loved the phonebook remarks - must tell my d. in law about the one re names for babies!  They are having lots of discussion about this subject,  & scratching of heads is going on: its hard thinking of things which will be ok with surname etc & also not too hard to spell etc. ( & yes, she has looked up some of the websites - think there's almost too much choice there!)

Have noticed lots and lots of butterflies in my garden this week - they love the honeysuckle & the buddlehia -all kinds both white, red admiral, and peacock, also little brown ones.  Was sad to see on my walk around the town this morning that there are now lots of brown autumnal looking leaves in the gutters:  boo  hoo!

Went for a quick cuppa with my nice neighbours yesterday - they said  'look out of the kitchen window' - and there was a juvenile Woodpecker on their feeder!  I shall ask them if I can go around with my camera & catch him.  

Forgot to say, went to the cinema on Thursday with Friend, to see "Toy Story 3'  in 3D.  Very enjoyable and much fun.  There were quite a few very young children there, though,  & I felt that some of the scenes were a bit scary for the very young.  Friend & I sat there determined not to cry near the end, as we had been warned it was sad - but we did !  Got my tissue out & hoped the youngsters couldn't see me.

Hoping for some warmer days so that we can tidy up the garden now, it has been so wet for so long that it looks a bit bedraggled.

Back home - got pics but must have dinner first!

Good evening all!

Thanks to all for posts, have read and enjoyed them Not a long message from me tonight (well, that can't be bad, can it?!!). After daughter's good news yesterday, she and I were taken out to lunch by my OH - never in the history of lunches was one meal enjoyed so much and with such good reason!!

Today youngest daughter and her OH and children came into town (they live 50 or so miles away). I joined them for a childrens' shoe shopping expedition and was shocked by the price of little peoples' shoes----

Weather today has been showery but dry at the moment and OH is prowling around the garden doing what, I do not know. What I do know is that our greengages are beginning to ripen and every so often I see him standing under the tree with, I suspect, juice dripping down his chin. He tells me that they never taste as good as when you pick and eat them straight away!

Enjoy what remains of the weekend, folks.

Thanks for all today’s posts.  Just signed off on the Daily Update for final time this year – so glad that you are all here!

Margo – lucky you, having good weather to hang out the pre-Cornwall wash – is it this coming week that you go?  Not real Bank Hol in Scotland this Monday (we had 2 Aug) – except some businesses here will close because we are near the border – very confusing!

Brenda – so pleased the leaf-blowers have returned from summer migration – all helps us deal with the annual cycle!

Alan – I hope you are enjoying the beetroot – really pleased with ours!

Lindy – choosing a child’s name is a big responsibility! 

Heather – so pleased that you enjoyed a celebration lunch with your Daughter.

We had a great day out.  Some very light showers as we went, and one heavy one at our coffee stop made us think we might not actually go to the show – we were prepared to go on to find lunch and then come home.  But Newcastleton was dry, the sun was shining  … and there was designated disabled parking!  We never actually had lunch, but rather grazed our way through the show!  There was just one shower for about 5 minutes when we went in a marquee to look at a photo competition, and although there were clouds, they were rarely over the sun.  It was a great day out, and a typical country show:

 Rather tired, so I’ll put more photos on tomorrow, but since our Ospreys have left for Africa, I thought I would bring you an African bird!  There was a Birds of Prey display with most of the birds being reared in captivity, but this Bataleur Eagle was found by customs being smuggled in, with its wings broken and its primary flight feathers cut.  Named “Bungle”, it takes its place in the display, now fully recovered and able to fly.