Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 26 December 2021

Happy Hogmanay and Happy New Year!

This is the last thread of 2021! Time flies...

My dear friends, I wish you all happiness, health, safety, and serenity in 2022. May it be a better year for us and the world.

PHOTO: The 2021 Comet Leonard, near in the sky to the awe-inspiring star cluster Messier 3. The comet will reach its closest point to our Sun on January 3, 2022 at the end of its 40,000-year journey to the inner Solar System. It'll be ejected into interstellar space, never to return.


Photo labeled “Public domain” (copyright free)
Horizon Productions SFL

  • It’s officially New Year’s Eve. You only have a couple of hours to do all the things you will resolve not to do in the new year.

    I’m gonna order a pizza five minutes before the new year and when they arrive I will say, “I ordered this a year ago!”

    Last year’s resolution was to lose 20 pounds by Christmas. Only 30 pounds to go.

  • Bonnie chilling out last night, in her Dads favourite chair. She stayed with my OHs Other Sister whilst we were away, and they not only have their own dog, Mabel, but were also caring for someone else's pooch, so she was exhausted when she got home!

  • AQ - I love your quotes today. Sorry its so unbearably hot there, hope it cools a bit, soon.

    Very warm here, although we have the heating on for now as its cool in the morning.I must get on with little jobs, then tonight I'm cooking an old favourite of mine, a version of moussaka using minced beef and sliced potatoes rather than aubergines.
  • Lindybird: It's a dog's life.

    Lynette: Glad they managed to ID your OH's problem. Is he till in the hospital?

    Still busy here but thank heaven snow forecast now just rain. Daughter could be transferred to a rehab facility soon - more changes, new staff.... Granddaughter and I are seriously talking about them all moving back to California when things have settled. This is all too much for granddaughter to handle alone....
  • Found myself driving behind a van with the following notice on it:

    No toilet rolls are left in this vehicle overnight.

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

  • Happy New Year/Hogmanay to everyone on this thread - contributors, lurkers, occasional poppers-in. Hope 2022 is happy, healthy and peaceful for us all. See you next year!
  • CLARE – Forget toilet rolls. ‘Tis Rapid Antigen Tests flying off shelves Down Under. (Love that they are known as RAT tests!!!)

  • AQ - We have a shortage here, plus at the same time we are being exhorted to take tests at every opportunity!

    We had our meal as planned but not until we/I had a disaster:

    The Chopper Disaster

    I prepared our moussaka, as described above - the recipe is mainly minced beef with chopped tomatoes & onions. The tomatoes come ready chopped, in a tin, but the onion is a fresh one. I had ordered a gadget in the Sales online, which saves the chore of chopping onions and other veg. I was pleased as it arrived only two days later, today in fact - I took it off the step and into the kitchen, unpacked it, and washed it before reading the instructions. So within half an hour of its arrival it was ready for use. As I got the other ingredients ready, I was excited at the thought of using it. I hate chopping onions, & although I have a big, sophisticated machine which does a lot of things, it's too much trouble to get out just for one onion!!

    I cut the onion into quarters, then each bit in half, & jammed it into the Wonderful Gadget. I pulled on the handle sharply as per the instructions, it chopped away, and lo and behold, on opening up, there was a perfectly chopped onion! Wonderful. So pleasing! I cut up some more onion and began again. My OH, who doesn't have my enthusiasm for gadgets, watched from his position by the sink. Suddenly, I lost my grip on the thing and it crashed to the floor, onion and all. It was all in the dog's dish and spread around on the floor tiles. Argh!

    I got (almost) onto my knees, and gathered up the bits. What a mess.... .... We had to chop another half an onion up by hand, and drop the gadget into the sink. Later, when the meal was in the oven, I looked at it - I had left it on the worktop half full of water. Then I noticed an ominous puddle of water. The thing was leaking! Double Argh!

    So, I think it's a record : I had received my parcel, washed the item, and broken it, all within just under three quarters of an hour.

  • AQ -- Lovely fireworks in Sydney!! 

    By the way, please don't mention the word "cricket" for a while!

  • LINDA – Yet another so-called labour-saving device that just makes more work!