Weekly Chat, Sunday August 29, 2010

Hallo everyone. Just started this but now off to actually read recent posts!

  • Now that I know exclamations are “obligatory”, I shall type faster, because they flow automatically.  But Annette says hyphens are not a proper substitute for real punctuation – oh dear!!  Went to coffee morning, mission group and Tesco this morning.  Lunch was Parsnip and Apple soup, which I spice up with cumin – delicious!  Didn’t do much this afternoon – Son phoned at end of lunch and we both seemed worn out after that!  After dinner, went for a stroll round garden - ended up pulling weeds from gravel at side of drive, reducing the height of remaining Birch Tree and watering Cucumbers – after picking two more – so a sudden burst of activity!  I think this long-lasting warm weather is getting to me – plus allergies due to pollen and bracken spores – that’s my excuse!  Had to come here via my profile page this evening.  Have enjoyed reading all the posts.

     

    Annette – I hope all went well with the doctor’s poke and prod!  And that you found your roses happy and thriving.

    Brenda – we get a lot of Starlings – sub-flocks of the well known flock visible from the M6/M74 border crossing at Gretna, where they gather to roost in the Graitney Marshes.

    Auntie –Mumintroll!  Now, that brought back memories!  Looked up the link – and oh, Moomin World – I want to go there!!!

    Sheila – how lovely to see so many Swallows and Martins all together!  There seem to have been higher numbers of Swallows this year.

    AQ – so glad you took that photo of Oxalis before lawnmower man came – sorry they have had their heads chopped off, but what a good thing he came before all Friday’s rain!!

    Margo – sorry you are not any better – fingers crossed for Sunday.

    Alan – pleased Lady P is getting better (and Hamish’s ears) – sorry about your SiL still being in hospital.  Do look after your Hedgehog – they need help.  Pleased all 7 cygnets have come through.

    Alicat – sorry about your poor dog’s blood blister – sounds painful for him.  I hope it doesn’t fill up again.  What sort of dog is he? - we like to see dog pictures here!

    Joan – pleased the extra sleep sorted you out. 

    Dibnlib – sorry you have to go private for the teeth, but pleased about you shoulder doing well – a long job, but sounds like you can expect a good outcome.

    Diane – I noticed surfers in N Carolina behind a reporter delivering a hurricane report on our news – foolhardy or what?!!

    Patricia – pleased to hear the arm is doing well.  So, three competition weekends- and then holiday!

     

    Out tomorrow to Langholm – a food event as part of Dumfries and Galloway Flavour Fortnight, coinciding with Scottish Food Fortnight!  Will probably come back with cheeses and chutney – and some local lamb for the freezer.  Have a good weekend, all.

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Hi OG, he is a west highland terrier here is a picture of him for you

  • Good evening everyone !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Thank you all for your posts, most enjoyable as ever. OH and I have been very busy today, outside. Pruning, chopping. cutting, mowing, edging, scrubbing slabs, weeding, demolishing spider webs (sorry, but there were a lot of them) - I could go on but you would all be verrrrry bored! We finally sat down to a very easy meal tonight, jacket potatoes with Marie Rose sauce, prawns and salad. My sauce was a bit bland, though. I had run out of Worcester Sauce, made it with mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, lemon juice and a little Tabasco. Anyone out there got a better recipe?

    Beautiful day here - yes, Dibnlib - aren't we lucky here in Inverness? A real Indian Summer after indifferent weather for what seems to have been ages.

    Hope that Margo gets away on her hols - thinking about you, Margo.

    Goodnight all

     

     

  • Hallo all   Doc's visit was fine - doc himself was not - (OG: Note my hyphens? I don't have a boss anymore so use them all the time!)  Anyway, doc had torn ankle something-or-other and hobbled into the room on crutches, so I said I wasn't sure who was supposed to be examining who.  He's okay; gets the cast off next week.  He was in a very chatty mood - he lost his house up in the hills during the last bad fire and has been hassling with Lloyd's ever since to issue a check for the total amount of the loss. We talked about gardening a lot and he gave me his address and told me to help myself to any succulent cuttings left on his property. Cheeses and chutney sounds wonderful!

    Lindybird: Folks here have a less-than-poetic saying about the state of Kansas: '"It's so flat you can see from here to next week."

    Auntie: Brilliant catch of Diane's blob on nest.  And yes, Autumn is coming here too: Spiders are now weaving webs between the shrubs on the back walkway and getting lost in our bathtub in the process. My friend is leaving to visit friends in the UK and yesterday we went tooting about together and she bought The Summer Book by Jansson, which is still one of my favorites, to read on the plane.

    patriciat: Oh that's awfully sad news about the little boy - I can't imagine the grief his family must be feeling. I guess it was an accident, eh? No alcohol use apparent on the part of the speedboat driver, who must also feel awful.  Nice that the garden is coming along.

    AQ: Oh that's so funny about OAPs.  When I'm out driving and come across an older person dithering at an intersection or somewhere on the road I get all fluffed up and say (jokingly) "Who let all these old people out!" Oh gosh, how awful about the weather - you'll have to carry an iinflatable boat around at that rate!

    TerryM: I'm halfway through Hornet's Nest, so don't tell us what happens at the end.  :-)   I keep telling my OH that the plot never stops thickening.

    Alan: How sweet! A hungry hedgehog enjoying a midnight snack.  Cram in as many picnics as you can. Hope Hamish and Lady P and sister will get over their health problems soon.

    Gary: I can't imagine how a horse can stand 3,000 miles in a trailer; still, they get carted all over the place so it must be okay.  I remember in the movie The Horse Whisperer, the mother drives from New York or somewhere to Colorado or somewhere with a crazed and injured horse and an only slightly less crazed and injured daughter. They showed these marvellous aerial shots of the truck and trailer as it wended its way across the country, but not a single shot of anyone trying to feed the horse or exercise it or clean out the trailer. TheMom and daughter spent nights in motels and I kept wondering who was taking care of the animal!

    BrendaH: What a "morish" cookies?

    dibnlib: Ugh. Another dental bill.  Maybe you should take in ironing to raise funds - you'd have plenty of takers on these pages.

    Diane: Great shot of NJ beach - there's gotta be live cams for the Carolinas - if only I had the impetus to find them.

    Alicat: What a cutie!

    Hallo to everyone else I missed - we have the final holiday weekend of the summer coming up this weekend - Labor Day, which means staying off the roads and avoiding holiday crowds.  Lovely day here; now off to roses!  Take care all.

     

  • Hi all,  Thanks for the chat and updates.

    Lovely pics of your westie, Alicat.

    Alan - thanks for another link for ospreys.

    Gary - Early has now downsized to a Category 1 so hope you are not being battered about too much.

    Diane - thanks for link to Belmar beach, waves look fierce.

    Webcam for Abernethy - go to - Webcams, Scottish Wildlife Trust.  Get the LOTL one up and then click on Cam 2, you will be directed to another page.  Scroll down and across to the squirrel and click on that.  Then when it comes up, scroll down page to black screen and click to connect.l  Hope that is not too confusing for you.

    Will get the tapestry finished , someday never, but when I do I'll post a pic of it!!!!!!!!!!!

    Watched Relocation, Relocation, late afternoon , and they were up in the Black Isle looking for properties for a couple coming from Gerrard Cross in Herts. Looks a lovely part of Scotland.

    Will say night, night, and catch up tomorrow.

  • Thanks Lynette, getting some rain now but don't think it's going to be a be deal here.

    OG, enjoy the weekend.

    Heather, that sounds very busy, I'm worn out just reading it

    Annette, glad the visit to the docs went OK. Sounds terrible he lost his house in a wildfire. and to fight the insurance company as well. Not great. Enjoy the roses. They took about 6 days getting Lida here and they stopped each night in "horsey motels" so that wasn't too bad. Not sure they did that in the film though! lol

    Alicat, he is soooo lovely:) thanks

  • Thanks for good wishes for my dog (casper) and also for saying he's lovely i think he his

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    Margobird - I hope you are not reading this - at least not until you return fit and healthy.

    Diane - Those surfers disregarding Earl must be the same ones seen surfing off the coast of Queensland close to some 100 tiger sharks in a feeding frenzy on a school of fish.

    Alicat - Casper is a sweetie. Now for some captions - (1) G'way, can’t you see I’m resting. (2) Not another picture and I haven’t brushed my hair.

    Weather cool & calm this morn although they reckon more bad weather to come. We had enough rain to fill the reservoirs. Yet we still have water restrictions. Maybe they should do something about getting the excess rain down into the aquifers. One council has been doing this.

    While Himself had a meal & evening of drinks at a pub with fsil & "boys", I had a lazy meal (eggs!!), phoned Dau#2 who was enjoying one of her last evenings of singlehood and then indulged myself with a book to the sound of wind & rain outside. I’m reading a diary of a 15-year-old in Sydney written 1856-1861. She has just "come out" and it seems teens had emotional ups & downs back then too. Meeting the officers on ships, dancing, exchanging cards & flowers. Fighting with her sisters. Interesting to read when they sent their bonnets to be retrimmed, they had to send the maid to see if they were ready as the young ladies could not be seen on the omnibus without a bonnet. Alas the bonnets were too late and they missed that day’s outing. Terribly important to snare a husband. Sadly for all her hopes she died of TB aged 26.

  • AQ, LOL on the captions:) I can't think of one at the moment.

    Sorry, bit behind here, when is D2 getting married? I'm sure you have a dazzling outfit :) Very interesting about the diary. Incredible to see how much society has changed in a relatively short amount of time.

    Weather update. The storm has weakened and is just about a hurricane. The eye if off shore and moving away from land. We are getting rain but not as much as AQ by the sound of it!

    Off to bed now so happy Saturday everyone.

  • Hi, all. I've been feeling guilty all day. We had a storm last night, which dropped a small branch in the middle of our driveway lane. So on my way back from the mailbox, I picked up the branch and tossed it onto the woodpile that I've been building up this summer. Unknown to me, a rabbit was in the woodpile. He dashed out of the brush and ran under the apple tree, where he glared at me like, "Geez lady, we thought you liked us!" I felt so bad. I took some carrots out for him to try to make amends. I'm so glad I didn't hit him!!!

    Wow, I haven't caught up with everyone for a couple of days and you lot have been posting away!

    AQ: I've been known to wander aimlessly when my stress level reaches a critical threshold. LOL! Glad you got enough rain to fill the reservoirs, but sorry you got soaked. It must be a relief, though, to know your water supply has been renewed. Swimming/surfing with feeding tiger sharks? Now that's crazy!!!  I've seen a shark feeding frenzy, and that's not where I'd want to be! My thoughts are with the people in NZ whose homes and places of employment were destroyed. I assume that the NZ earthquake will have no affect on Australia?

    OG: I hope you enjoy your trip to Langholm. Please send me some cheeses and chutney. Is Scottish Food Fortnight part of the effort to protect and promote Scottish culture? Isn't there a national effort now to make sure that all aspects of Scottish culture are preserved?
    Gary: Glad Earl was kind to you!
    dibnlib: So sorry that your dental work has to be done privately, but I'm glad your shoulder is healing nicely.
    Alan: Thanks for the osprey links. Take care of that hedgehog.
    Alicat: Your doggie is a cutie! Hope his ear heals well.
    Lynette: I'll bet your tapestry is lovely. I would not have the patience or the talent for that work, but I admire the finished products. I have trouble sewing on a button.
    Paul: We in the U.S. have been looking at eggs warily. Nearly half a billion eggs have been recalled here because they were contaminated with salmonella and hundreds of people got sick. The thought of eggs makes some people shudder now. :-) I loved your beautiful photo of the woodpecker.
    Lindy: re Housework. I am always running up the down escalator. If I could ever get this house remodeled and cleaned from top to bottom I think I could keep it clean, but right now I always feel like I'm playing catch up.
    Auntie: I LOVE Stinky! I read about the Moomins on Wikipedia. The concept sounds wonderful! Really delightful little characters. I think, however, that Stinky resembles some of the dust bunnies under my furniture! LOL
    Brenda H: Oh, my stars, I hadn't thought of GONKS for years! My mother sewed, and she made me a Gonk when I was little. I still have it, and it's one of my most treasured possessions.
    Annette: I'm glad that your doctor's appointment went well. Hope you enjoyed working on the roses. I think Tony Blair does, indeed, discuss his feelings about George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, etc., in his memoir. I haven't read it yet, but I may have to get it from the library when it's available.

    Everyone have a great weekend.