Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 5 February 2023

HAPPY NEW WEEK!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, joyful week!

Thanks to everyone who expressed concern for me. We did indeed have polar vortex cold in my area last week, but I'm okay. I should be able to feel my toes by June. LOL! Hope bjane is alright.

The male red cardinal comes every night just before it's completely dark, and he gets a wasp from the nest in my porch window. You could set your watch by him. I think the protein has helped him survive the extreme cold. I hope he shares with his mate. I think he's getting low on wasps, so the next time I walk to town, I'm going to try to get him a bag of sunflower seeds. I hope the little general store has them.

Friday was the exact mid-point day between the winter  solstice and the spring equinox, and I'm hoping for an early spring. Sunday is the full moon in the UK and the US.

Hugs to all of you who are facing adversity. I am also having trouble sleeping, and my dreams have been wild. Love to all.

  • HEATHER - Not stupid. Alas, church could be possible but inconvenient. One church is on a bus route but the first bus on Sundays is an hour after service starts. Another two churches both would require bus travel plus a longish walk which is unpleasant in hot or wet weather. I have not checked those timetables, once an hour could make it a looong session. For now, I am live-streaming.
  • RUSTY - A beautiful sunrise here at the moment ! Given the number of us in this small group who are insomniacs, it is obviously very common.
  • ANNETTE - Good advance planning for the garden ! What is a parkway in California ?
  • A pretty, pink sunrise here - all the cars in the road are covered in white frost, and its only just getting warmer now.

    AQ -- Good that you've been able to restock. Hope the eye is now settling down.
  • Morning all:

    Heather: The parkway is the (typically) planted area between the sidewalk (pavement in the UK?) and the curb.  Ours is destined to feature decomposed granite and rocks.  Someone suggested a few plants but that means water and associated irrigation challenges, not to mention dogs that would stop to wee on the plants.   Sigh.

    AQ;  We've been methodically eating our way through stuff I unearthed from the fridge and pantry and fretting about disposing of nearly full jars of stuff that nobody ended up liking.  Hate wasting food.  And how many jars of different kinds of mustards can one household support?  And where did all these bottles of spicey sauces, etc., come from (oh right, granddaughter presented us with a box of them a few - ahem - years ago)..

    Must clean the bird fountain today or they'll all be complaining.  

  • Annette - I know what you mean, who bought all those fancy sauces which are in bottles in the fridge? Oh, yes -- me!! And we never got around to trying them. I hate waste too. Sometimes we eat weird combinations of food, just to use them up!

    Been to the opticians with my OH - they told him the other day that he needs glasses for distance, a total shock to him as he's always had good sight, except for needing reading glasses. I went with him to choose the frames as he's hopeless and would just buy the1st pair he picked off the rack - once, a few years ago he tried to buy a pair of ladies frames!!

    So we managed between us to choose two pairs, one for driving and one with sunglass lenses. He still moaned about the expense <sigh> but I should be used to that.
  • Interesting about the parkways. We have what we call verges, but they're rarely planted up with anything except when the council plant trees. In fact, in our last house we were forbidden to plant on them, and to put up anything fencing off our front gardens, to give an open wide aspect to the road. However, that was when the houses were recently built and now its about 50+ years later, so I noticed that there are a few fences up in that neighbourhood now

  • In Aussieland usually called “nature strip”, occasionally “verge”. Most house owners care for it as an extension of own front lawn. It may or may not have a footpath laid through it. Our street has a footpath on one side only (not ours).

    When we arrived here 50 years ago, our street had no front fences. They were discouraged to provide a pleasant vista. Gradually over the years front fences have been added as some people want a pool in their front yard or they think it provides security.(I look at houses with lots of security fences, roller shutters on windows, etc and I wonder what they have that is so valuable!)

    Watching “Escape to Country” episodes raises a query from me. Don’t UK home swimming pools require a fence? Pools in Aussieland must have childproof fence & gate, whether back or front yard.

    PS. Our neighbours, the ones insisting on a fence, still have not had their gate repaired since it blew down in the storm late 2022.

  • Good Morning. Cold here sgsin.

    AQ - No, no rules here about pools, I think. Of course, there are fewer pools here due to our weather, I did have a friend who had a pool: she lived near Stevenage (South of UK) and a lot of the time it had a cover over it to keep the debris out! It seemed to me to be several degrees warmer in her locality than up here in northern England, in summer, so there may be more pools there. Occasionally there are fatalities as people don't watch young children closely enough when they have ponds or pools in the the garden.

  • Re verges. We don’t have them on my road. Just garden, footpath, road. However, all the gardens are open plan. Again, meant to encourage a nice open look. Over the 40 years I have been here, several people have planted low hedges and no one has objected. No fences though. I just have lawn and a tree in my front garden and a small border under the window. My main garden is in the back which is fenced in. Talking of back garden, I got the fence painting finished yesterday in 2 sessions. I just have the gate left to do. I am very pleased as it looks so much better. So, as a treat, I am going birdwatching today (of course) We are going to the North Wales coast. Naturally we will have lunch afterwards.