Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 29 November 2020

DIANE – Thank you for starting us off. I may grumble & winge but mostly I am hopeful despite the darkness.

ANNETTE – I hope the writing is flowing.

Much more pleasant weather last night & today. I am back to online church services as current restrictions are 1 per 4 sq metres and hence too many regulars for size of church. I did not bother to book a place as I don’t want to catch even a sniffle. Yesterday 2 more cases connected to Adelaide’s recent “cluster”. Now we hear that one of them, who was supposed to be in quarantine, visited several shops last Sunday. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Anyone visiting named stores are asked to be tested whether or not have symptoms. LINDA’s post about our survival being linked to other’s common sense is so true.

I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs. I hear they have to pick up food they drop on the floor.

Feed a dog for three days and it is grateful for three years; feed a cat for three years and it forgets after three days. (Japanese proverb)

In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship them and a cat that will ignore them.

Good Morning. Grey & misty here, but not very cold considering its nearly December (7 degrees at present).

Many thanks to Diane for starting us off, and for the lovely pic & quote.

AQ, as someone who loves both dogs and cats, I agree with your quotes!

Got our lights out from under the stairs yesterday (what is all that stuff under there?!) and so my OH is going to begin putting them up in the hedge and under the front eaves today. More up ladders!!

Hope Everyone has a good Sunday.

By the way, during the week I put either broken walnuts or sliced almonds on my porridge, but on Sundays ----- I have both!!!

Good morning. Cloudy and cold but not cold enough for a frost.

DIANE - thanks for the new week and Moon update - and moody picture.

AQ - wise to stay home. Our church is doing its first Zoom today - OH "volunteered" for a reading and also recording the event. Some stupid people in Adelaide - sorry! Cat and dog quotes so true!

LINDA - hope the lights are worth your OH taking the risk of ladders!

ANNETTE - sorry work arrived so soon after family visit - take care.

Now got to check where OH is up to - only twenty minutes to Zoom time!

Lindy - That must make Sunday a very nutty day in your household!

Grey and damp and miserable here today after thick fog overnight. Mind you, it started like this yesterday, and then turned into a lovely day, with sunshine and really warm. A friend rang and suggested we should go to a nearby lake and watch the sunset - which we did. We got a magnificent sunset and far more - the most wonderful murmuration of starlings I have ever seen. They wheeled round above us for around fifteen minutes, swirling in and out of the setting sun, choreographed by an expert. We could hear the rustle of their wings as they changed direction, with other groups joining the main cluster from every direction. Impossible to count, of course, but there must have been thousands. Then suddenly they dived into nearby reeds and trees, and we could still hear them chattering to each other - obviously comparing notes of their day. It truly is a wonder of nature - and I am pleased with the photographs I managed to take. There were about fifty people watching, but very little talking, just the odd 'wow!'. One person voiced my thoughts - as a group of 'late arrivals' dived into the reeds a few minutes after their friends, a voice said, 'They must have been in the pub'!

When we got back we wandered down to the lake in our grounds and saw an almost-full moon reflected in the water. Then the twinkling lights of our newly erected Christmas tree. A truly memorable late afternoon/evening - after all that, we were home by 4.30pm!

It's going to be difficult to follow that, looking at the greyness outside ...

PAT That sounds so very wonderful.

OG Glad your trip out went well even if you were a little wary.

LINDY Amazing poem as ever, thank you.

Pat - What a memorable experience. You can think of that now and then, on a grey day. Loved your description. I adore seeing murmurations, but have not seen many really big ones except on TV. Once, we saw quite a lot of starlings swooping around on our journey back home from Wales, but of course we were actually on the move ourselves, in the car.

Dibnlib, glad you enjoyed the poetry.

We spent most of this morning putting up our outside festive lights at the front of the house: five sets this year!! One large set twinkling along the gutters, one around the front door, a net of twinkles over a large rhodedendron bush, and a long one running twice along our low hedge. Plus, a new set, run on batteries, on the greenery at the far side of our tiny driveway. It will be a white winter wonderland! Going to switch them on on 1st December.

Thank you Diane for starting us off. I doubt we will see a full moon tonight as it has been grey and misty here all day - a real November day.

Hope you and everyone else is ok and you are all keeping your pecka up in these difficult times. All we can really do is smile through and the light at the end of the tunnel will come , eventually.

Not a lot to say other than keep safe and well.