Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 21 March 2021

What a strange year it has been ..
Such a sad loss of life..
My family and I have been lucky with no loss of jobs and not one furloughed ..
Proud of youngest working with her students and gaining her degree to work forward with them...

Had heard about marking all those who have die from Covid19 but didn't do anything myself. Just kept it in my thoughts.
We have all be lucky here. Although dau had Covid, hers was a mild case followed by OH which was also mild and I kept free so we are all grateful. For those who had to go through it and lose someone must be devastating but hopefully once a semblance of normality is back families can meet and remember the lives of their loved ones. I know that once we are back in church properly we have one or two to give thanks for. We probably all know of someone who has suffered.

Thanks AQ for your anecdotes, always love to read them.

The floral display in my garden cannot compete with LINDA’s. Here is my wee patch of crocus declaring “autumn is here”. The first green sprigs of spring bulbs are beginning to appear. They have no problem in our mild winters, so this morn my supermarket trolley collected a few anemones & daffodil bulbs that I intend to bury. . . sometime.

Housework is for people who don’t know how to garden.

When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves. (Ken Druse)

May you never have a problem greater than time in the garden can heal.

AQ - Great 'thoughts' today. Thank you so much. All of them straight into this week's church news sheet! As others have said, I really enjoy seeing these quotes each day. Some make me smile, some make me squirm and many make me think.

Hope everyone is keeping well and still managing the odd smile. Very grey here, although it was lovely earlier. Hoping to get out later, between far too many Zoom calls!

OG - Thanks for the update on your church friend - good to know that he's recovering, even if it's slow after being so ill.

A sunny day here, after a damp start with a short shower. We both spent time in the garden as my OH mowed the lawn and I pruned back some things which looked untidy. The birds have shown no interest in my bag of alpaca wool which I hung up for them, but I'll have to give it time.

We both had rather strange stomachs this morning, and as we didn't eat anything odd yesterday I'm at a loss as to what we might have done, but I feel better this afternoon. Think I'll go and throw away the kitchen sink cloth and rub all the surfaces over with anti bacterial spray!

Morning all: Saw about 8 American Robins at our fountain this morning. Haven't seen them before.
Here's a link: www.publicdomainpictures.net/.../view-image.php

What pretty birds, Annette. 8 at once!

Annette, thanks for the link. American Robins are in the Thrush family and sound and behave very much like Blackbirds here in the UK.

Another dull day, pleasant weather for two Mice doing the morning scramble; rain late afternoon. OH went to the greengrocer this morning for a cabbage; came back with a lovely meal of Jersey Royals – as well as a very fresh local cabbage. Changed the menu for main meal lunch to enjoy them straight away. I almost finished the Magazine – Minister’s page was the most difficult to edit as usual. Now I just need to fill the small spaces (thanks, AQ!).

AQ – those Autumn Crocus are beautiful – I love the way they come back every year even better than the year before! I am still searching for my spring wood anemones – did somebody think they were something dead. They were definitely there by this time last year. Lovely to have your garden thoughts – straight into the magazine. Our “church gardener” has contributed a poem about spring this month.

LINDA – glad you two had a gardening day – makes the world seem back to “normal”! Hope the stomachs recovered!

ANNETTE – good to have a number of the Robins together – wouldn’t see that with the European Robins as they hate each other!

Arrangements made for a hybrid service (limited attendance plus Zoom) at our church on Easter Day – now see that Glasgow churches have brought government to court for causing places of worship to close beyond the demands of Covid restrictions! I wonder if other groups will follow suit? I shan’t attend, which will allow OH to be a steward that day. This weekend, the dreaded clocks “spring forward” an hour. Don’t know what effect that will have on my body clock, which still inhabits a world of its own!