Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 28 February 2021

HAPPY NEW WEEK and HAPPY NEW MONTH!!!

I hope everyone has a joyful week and that spring is finally here for us all! (Except AQ, I hope your side of the world is cooler!)

  • Pat, Belated Happy Birthday wishes! I have always thought that celebrations of any kind ought to be stretched out for as long as possible, managing to stretch one of my birthdays to about two weeks many years ago!

    As for being female or male, I worked out at about age 5 that men are in charge and from that point of view alone, it might be better to be a man. But despite that, I have managed to cope as a not-overly-girly female, and would certainly never actually have chosen to become a man, although the possibilities are presumably endless for my next life--lol! It boggles the mind, and I'm not about to attempt defining any of the new terms, or choosing any one for a future life! I do feel for those few whose actual biology is not clearly one or the other; life might be very confusing. As for the rest, as an old fogey, it looks to me like it is a preoccupation of folk living in the wealthy first world who have too much time on their hands and not enough hard physical work needed from them to earn a daily crust! The world faces far more urgent and crucial problems needing something doing about them, especially now, and I imagine that the poor around the world, even those living in the so-called first world, probably do not spend their time casting about for non-gendered pronouns! But of course, I could be wrong...

    Kind regards, Ann

  • Belated Happy Birthday from here as well Pat. At this rate, your birthday could last a lot longer!
  • Gardenbirder:  I agree that life for the neither-one-nor-other folk must be difficult and the world isn't always kind  Right now, I'm trying to fight down the urge to have a rant about Harry and Meghan, whose interview with Oprah Winfrey (I saw that coming when they moved to California;  after all, Canada is much too normal) is airing here on Sunday. So that said, I've no idea what they'll say and I'm sure they're very nice and good people BUT I've been watching news coverage of children dying of starvation in Yemen and the plight of folks in the remaining anti-Assad region of Syria, where aid groups are pulling out (I think that's what's happening) and they are living in tents.   And that's just the Middle East.  And here we have two young people living, as I type, in a $16million mansion in nearby Montecito (Oprah is a neighbor), bleating on about how unfairly they've been treated by the Royal family, who I'm sure aren't all sweetness and light, but I was raised that you don't air dirty laundry in public.  

    End of rant.  Should probably go pull more weeds.

    Heather:  This is an all-in-one printer/copier/fax machine.   Now if it did the laundry......    :-)

  • Annette - I think the Harry and Meghan situation was totally put into perspective for me last night. One of our Home Group members (we are presently meeting each week on Zoom) said, 'Someone should smack her bottom!'. This came from probably the most unexpected member of the group ... and nobody disagreed!

    Thank you all for belated birthday wishes. I've clocked up four days so far ... and thoroughly enjoying it!
  • Missed Thursday (no idea what went on all day) and nearly missed much of today – OH says he thinks I am still asleep, but I did sit and read the local paper after lunch. I usually complain it doesn’t have much in, although in general it has served us very well during this Covid year. I actually remarked that there is a lot to read this week – including some interesting history.

    HEATHER – I hope your Daughter is feeling a lot better by now. Not only does he pull the duvet off, he actually has to drag me bit by bit off the bed!

    LYNNETTE – the recommended Marmite Hot Cross Buns are from M&S. We can’t travel there in Lockdown, but OH was nearby for the car service and MoT.

    DIANE and OTHERS – when my teeth were good, I loved Pecan Pie! How is your bad tooth now? I hadn’t seen any mention of earthquakes on the news – we seem to be entering the pay-claim season – not really news, they are as usual all asking for more!

    LINDA – loved the bride and groom clothes pegs!

    PAT – glad you had good weather to add to the enjoyment of your birthday walk. Do make it last as long as you can!

    CLARE – glad you got the vaccine – it does seem odd that the one requiring more specialised storage should be at Felixstowe rather than Ipswich!

    I am not commenting on Harry and Meghan, but I do wish the younger royals would consider the Queen and Prince Philip – I wish him well and back home soon after his hospital stay and procedures.
  • Unknown said:
    CLARE – glad you got the vaccine – it does seem odd that the one requiring more specialised storage should be at Felixstowe rather than Ipswich!

    The Felixstowe jab was given at a GP surgery while the Ipswich one was at a sports centre.

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • 71 Recipes... .....

    I'm definitely female, although I did a test once which decided if you had a male or female type of brain, and mine was edging towards being masculine. Probably explains why I never have trouble with reading maps, LOL!! I noticed throughout life that I seemed to be more like my father in many ways, although I never had his drive & ambition, plus being burdened with a bad memory meant that I simply passed his genes on to our Youngest who is a mechanical engineer exactly like his grandfather. :-)  (Looks just like him, too!!)

    Must get to sleep or the weekend will be spent in naps, catching up. Glad you're feeling stronger AQ.

  • I had a record 6 hours sleep last night; must be the good camomile tea. Washing day. I should do 2 loads but I am leaving one for Monday, another public holiday. This one for Adelaide Cup Day, a horse race with an attendance of a mere 5,000 people who would go even if not a holiday! However long weekend pleases all those attending Adelaide Festival, Fringe & WOMAD. I do hope attendees obey social distancing and we do not have a covid outbreak next few weeks.

    Some lovely pics from Dau of Trio at their school’s week of swimming lessons which are less swimming, rather more water safety. Trio have private lessons and can swim like fishes.

    I have chopped up the last of our tomatoes, fit only for cooking, and hence some for tonight’s sort-of salsa sauce with schnitzel, rest into mince brew tomorrow.

  • Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. (Miles Kington)

    Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie. (Jim Davis)

    I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward. (John Mortimer)

  • Lindybird said:
    I did a test once which decided if you had a male or female type of brain, and mine was edging towards being masculine.

    I've done one of those and the test concluded that I was certainly male!  Finding my way comes very easily to me, as it does to Helen - but not to Limpy!  My late father was a lorry driver, which probably explains how I inherited the ability.

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.