Morning/evening all: Off to catch up on today's posts.
Good Wednesday evening, all. Well. I was no good in the Sweetpea prediction stakes! Slept late again today, but made up for it by making Christmas puddings – I know it should have been by last Sunday, but hey, what difference does three days make?! Just made two very small puds as Son has never liked it, and OH and I don’t need much. Second one may get kept for next year, or maybe Easter – or maybe eaten first as a test before producing the Christmas one! Also did all the washing up and drying while OH was busy, and made a batch of ratatouille (eat some and freeze three more meals) which meant lots of chopping and slicing, so ended up tired and aching! Supposed to go out to church meeting after dinner.
Enjoyed posts since my last yesterday – thanks for replies and kind comments on photos.
Joan – thanks for info and link re Admiral Collingwood – as you say, huge statue!
AQ – hope you had a better day today – but at least Miss 14 phoned and apologised – not all teens would do that these days!
Wendy – pleased new machine is up and running and you like it. Loved the drunken “quote”!! Re distilleries: have I mentioned that the old distillery here, closed 1924, is to be revived in the next few years – expected to be a good lowland malt (whatever that is – don’t drink at all myself!) Don’t know if Son has snow in Grantown itself – no reply when I phoned this afternoon. Thundery snowstorm? My, that is unusual.
Tiger – sad memories connected with your Swiss Internet friend – are you still in touch with him? Thanks for APOD.
Lindy – what a time to have a stove delivered! Hope you are pleased with it now it is there. Vest? I even weaned OH out of vests a few years ago – although I think he has them salted away “for emergencies”! Thinking of you with dinner tonight – I am multi-tasking writing this while ours cooks.
Osprey – long time no see - welcome! In Northumberland you are at same latitude as us, but none of the white stuff here – just a minus 3 frost then temp crept up to about 5 max!
Brenda – lots of tarmac top filling today – may see barriers and cones and traffic lights go tomorrow – and new signs on their posts – then we shall see whether the traffic slows down or whether it has all been a waste of money – as one of the workers said yesterday: it keeps them in work!
Alan – nice pic of The Glenlivet distillery – have you ever visited the Speyside Cooperage – very interesting and wonderful aroma! Looking forward to Black Bear series in January – Gordon Buchanan has such a lovely gentle voice and, according to Bear Centre Blog, he did really well learning to get to know and trust Lily and Hope.
Auntie – good to “see” you again – take care with all your winter snow and poor vsibility – and I hope other people will be looking when they are driving on snow and ice!
Dibnlib – was at a buffet earlier this year and a fairly posh (now, but maybe not in earlier life) chap said he fancied a bread roll but not with a hot-dog, so I suggested crisps as a filling – and he was thrilled to tell everyone about having a “crispy piece” because there was no possibility of a jammy piece or a cheesy piece!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Wendy, very sensible shutting out the outside. It'll still be there in the morning
Dibnlib, thanks for the "translation" I would never have got that!
Linda, sorry about the no news. I bet the fish came out great.
Still blowing a hollie (not sure that's how you spell it) here.
O.G. Which distillery is com ing back to line...up here lots of moth balled ones are now back on stream. Whisky is a license to print money. I gather all the whisky in bonded warehouses if released could pay off most of the U.K.'s national debt.
The aromas from a warehouse are so much nicer than the cooperage. Just for info just like the 2nd most powerful owning companies in whisky it is owned by the French. The French I think are number 2 in the world with the amount of whisky sold and drunk....more than brandy. They now own the cooperage.
Joan, stay safe. Hope you don't have to go out an more today.
OG, well done on making the puddings. I Love the xmas puds, the richer, the better:) Thanks for the report. Do they have an "end date" at all?
New way of watching ospreys fishing:
http://twitpic.com/39smq4
Alan: Like it!! water up here would be to cold for any of that.
Thanks Alan. Bet that boarder got a shock!
Evening all Too many posts to answer all individually. Sorry those of you in Scotland and NE England are already getting snow. Hope it isn't a warning of things to come.
Lindybird The excitement about Sweetpea's imminent arrival must be intense. My OH shares your taste for Bell's or Grouse and he, too, drinks it with dry ginger (and he's a Scot!)
Gary I think Richard at LG spelt it 'hoolie'. In this part of the world (Northern Ireland) a 'hooley' is a lively party or dance (probably a corruption of 'ceili' or 'ceilidh' (Irish and Scots Gaelic), both pronounced 'cayley'.
dibnlib 'Piece' was used extensively here to mean both a sandwich or a packed lunch - men going to Harland and Wolff's shipyard in its heyday carried 'piece boxes (usually enamelled tin) containing their 'pieces'. And children threatening to leave home after a 'telling-off' would be told to 'take a piece with you'.
Morning all: Geez. Snow and frost all over from the sounds of it. They've had a horrible time in the Seattle area; hope Gary and Diane aren't going to catch it. Seems like it always arrives in time to mess up Thanksgiving flight schedules...
osprey: Good morning. Stay warm.
Liz: Thanks for explaining Brenda's penguin info. Flashes can be pretty intrusive even if you're not a penguin. Wow - you're close to Ben Nevis; that must be lovely.
Lindybird: You can always name the oven in the absence of Sweetpea! Keep those instructions close at hand and put stickies on the pages you'll need most; otherwise you'll be reading the entire booklet when something goes kerpooey in the middle of a meal. How awful for the workmen to have to deliver so late; still..... Assume daughter-in-law is practicing coughing to encourage things along? Just what son needs - road tie ups when he'll want to move fast once things get going.
Tiger: That aurora show is one of the most amazing things I've seen. Those lucky Norweigians! Thanks so much for drawing our attention to it.
Margobird: That wonderful material they make socks out of these days is so soft and toasty; I have quite a few pairs coz I tend to wear them as slippers. My OH and I always ask each other what we want for Christmas; then we have to think about it; then it's a mad rush that often gets put off until after the holiday. No excuse at all. My husband is into books too, but he tends to buy them for himself throughout the year.
Auntie: Lovely to see you. Snow there too eh? Are we surprised? I've been reading lots of Henning Mankell books lately - is Finland like Sweden geographically? The lady who backed into your car wasn't looking???? Hmmm. Love the name Fox's Fire - a magical fox sweeping the sky with its tail! Love it!
Gary: Wow. Seriously? Snowbirder horses? Amazing.
Wendy: Gardening in the snow? Hope you had some nice whiskey on hand to keep you warm.
OG: Feel free to put any unwanted Christmas puds on a freighter and send them my way - it's okey to eat them months later, right? But not a good idea to send by air since someone at Homeland Security will think they're a terrorist plot. Sounds like Gary might be interested in one too!
Alan: When you get your osprey shot from a surfboard, be sure to post it here.
Take care all.
Annette: Living up here I think sometimes we are bonkers but other times it is great. Yea we do have some whisky I also have some whiskey some from the states and some from Ireland it is not just a different taste also a different spelling. I like a single malt but most distilleries make there money from blends such as Bells and Famous Grouse. They are cheaper to produce but (long explanation why but not for here) not to everybodies taste. I live close to Cragganmore Distillery and on their site map they have whiskEy store..total no no but they have decided not to change it.
Still not opened back door...whatever will be will be.