Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 8 January 2023

HAPPY NEW WEEK!!!

I hope everyone has a healthy, happy week!

Right now, I am on my enclosed porch, and a big Barred Owl is raising a ruckus. It sounds like a large ape! He or she is claiming its nesting territory very early this year. The Red-Tailed Hawks won't be happy.

  • It is a nice morning here.
    AQ - sorry to hear about your tomatoes. What a shame.
  • How frustrating about your tomatoes, AQ. We have the opposite problem here, as my OH is going down to the allotment today to see if our Brussels sprouts have drowned!

    I realised yesterday that I'd forgotten to report on my trip to the theatre last week, after an abortive attempt when it didn't post. Will try to get on here again later on today.
  • This was on Facebook recently. I've noticed that the moon has been very bright indeed, like a headlamp in the sky when I rose in the middle of the night.

  • Lovely day, RUSTY !
    LINDY - What a star your OH is ! Touching up paint... Regarding Christmas presents for the grandchildren, most of mine are practically grown up, so I send vouchers. The youngest two, I send money to Mums bank account so that she can choose something that they would love.
    ANNETTE - I hope that your nieces flight wasn't affected by the events today.
    LYNETTE - You and the family seem to be coping splendidly and sensibly. I have to admit that at times, I don't.
    HARELADY - sorry about the family illness. I hope that everything is getting better.
    PAT - See above regarding coping. I think that grief is such an individual thing. Sending hugs.
    OG - I'm so sorry about your wobble. I imagine that it was quite distressing and can only guess that it did make you worry about the future x
    AQ - Its good to read that your granddaughters are being brought up sensibly. My two in Elgin are being taught basic kitchen skills ( as their mother, my youngest, was !)
    Regards to ALL
  • Have had a frustrating day, resulting in my being bad tempered and grumpy. Started well, with several emails and messages sent which I've been intending to do as some replies needed to various messages written in cards at Christmas, but one couple wrote without sending their new address! As I don't have their email, I guess we'll lose touch, now.

    Then someone rang me and talked for an hour. .... Nice to keep up to date, but then I was thrown on about four projects I had to attack. Only got one of them done this afternoon. Don't know how I ever had time to go to work. Sigh.

    Was going to describe our theatre visit to see The Lion King whilst fresh in my mind, so now it'll have to be a short version (oh, good, I can hear you mutter!).

    We drove into Manchester with some trepidation as we'd booked a different car park to the one we usually use, and we had to find it. It was not helped by my OH writing down his booking number and the price we'd been quoted, but not the name of the street it was in! Anyway, we knew the general direction of it and thankfully fell over it once we passed the theatre. That hurdle passed, we trotted down the street not too far away, and got into the theatre (The Palace Theatre) where I remembered that we had once many years ago, taken our boys to the pantomime. It was old fashioned then, and seems very dated now. There are no lifts, so I had to grit my teeth and climb up several flights of stairs to the Circle where we'd got prime seats. A great view, but alas, hardly any leg room. It was alright for the 1st half an hour, but very uncomfortable after that. By the interval, I could not stand up as I had got rigid in my seat. We forced ourselves to stand so that we could get relief from the tiny amount of room.

    The performance was very good, with an enthusiastic orchestra and excellent performers in all roles. There were many children in the audience, who loved to see the very clever versions of animals and how they moved around. Very neatly managed as for some of the scenes, a lot of moving animals and people were in a not very large space on stage. The music, of course, was very familiar, and well sung by the characters. We enjoyed it but came away saying that it will definitely be the last time we go there, though.

    Next day I could barely walk, and my knees would not let me go downstairs after their punishment of climbing and then returning all those steps.  I went as fast as I could so as not to hold anyone else back.

  • LINDA - What a shame the seating spoilt your outing.

    It’s just after 7 am and a pleasant 17 C. We are expecting that to double during the day – I must go out and cover what remain of my tomatoes. OH has not being going for his daily walks. For some reason he does not go in the morning when it is cool and his usual time, late afternoon, is the hottest part of the day. A few times he set out after evening meal; then I worry about it getting dark and anyway it is still hot.

  • A photo of the jigsaw I finished today. It is Dovedale in the Peak District.


    Lindy - thank you for the theatre report which I very much enjoyed. It sounds as if the show was good but your enjoyment was spoiled by the squashed up seating. When my nieces were young we used to go to shows there a lot. I can’t believe it hasn’t been refurbished in all that time.

    I had a profitable day. I climbed up the stepladder to take down the outside Christmas lights. They were only round the garage so not too high. It was only when I had done it that I thought it had probably not been a good idea to go climbing on the day when the ambulances were on strike!!!!! I finished my jigsaw and did some ironing. As the day went on, my head cold began to feel a bit better and I certainly haven’t been coughing as much. So, fingers crossed that it is on its way out.

    AQ - it sounds as if you need some of our nice cool rain!!! We have certainly had a lot in the last few days.

  • Rusty, I'm laughing at your remark about the Ambulance strike! You're probably right!

    Nice jigsaw. I see you've got one of those jigsaw carriers which I also use. Glad your cold is getting better. My OH seems to have caught it, now. He says he has " A head full of rubbish".

    My OH has done various small things today - one was to go to the Charity shop we have which takes all manner of things, with a large camera lens in a case which once belonged to my late brother. I have had to dispose of several items which he left with my mother in 1971 when he emigrated!! He had also left a camera, which I gave away a few years ago. Now I just have a small suitcase with papers and stamps in, to sort through. I have no idea what I might find in there but know that there are some letters. I do wish he'd taken it with him when he returned to the UK to attend my father's funeral in 1986.

  • Yes, it spoilt the evening for me that the seating was so bad - and they were supposedly the best seats! I am still struggling to walk, now, as my knees objected strongly to my forcing them up and down the stairs, too. Sorry to moan.

    AQ - Your heat sounds very wearying, and certainly not ideal for walking. When we had hot weather here at the time of the lockdowns, most people went for their outdoor exercise first thing in the mornings.