HAPPY NEW WEEK and HAPPY NEW MOON and HAPPY SOLSTICE!
The moon turns new at 5:37 a.m. Sunday in the UK, and Saturday night in the US. The solstice is Wednesday in the UK and US.
I hope everyone has a joyful week and sees some pretty birds.
I was out in the cold & rain this morn for some family history lookups (only open Thurs). I finally found a park 2 blocks away, the wind blew rain under my umbrella and I had very wide gutters to leap (?) due to leaf-blocked drains. I was determined to go whatever the weather as I missed my lunch outing on Monday when OH developed severe back pain. I did not dare leave him, cancelled Friend at last minute and have been miserable since. OH was bad enough to accept panadol, now sort of recovered. Today our “shortest day” is so cold, now 4 pm and the max was only 11.5 C.
I discovered a reason why our winters start 1 June, not the solstice - In Aussieland, winter is defined to start on June 1 possibly because in the early days of the colony, the NSW Corps changed from their summer to their winter uniforms at the beginning of the month. In northern parts of the country, the tropical climate means generally 2 seasons – the wet and the dry.
AQ - sorry you didn’t get your lunch outing. Well done you for persevering with your family research in the cold and rain!
Lindy - I wonder if you have arrived in Wales? I think you might have the odd bit of rain but that it will be mostly dry and sunny. Enjoy.
A friend and I have treated my sister to a day out at Chirk Castle today as part of her ongoing 70th birthday events!!! A girls day out!! I drove. We began with coffee in the Castle cafe and then had a lovely walk in their woodland and formal gardens. Back to the cafe for lunch and then a tour round the house which was fascinating. It was originally built on 1295 as part of Edward 1’s chain of fortresses across North Wales. Much alteration has been done over the years. A volunteer was doing some cleaning and restauration on a brass candelabra and she described the enormous detail they go into to check for faults, cracks etc and then showed us the fine brushes she uses for cleaning. Another lady told us a lot about the history of the castle (owned by the Myddleton family but leased at the beginning of the last century to Lord Howard de Walden.) The latter did lots of entertaining and many famous people came and stayed at the castle. It is very secluded so people didn’t know they were there. He also did a lot for Chirk itself.
DIBNLIB – {{{HUGS}}} for you and words fail for your brother.
No idea when Friend & I can attempt lunch again. Between her medical appts and my dramas, who knows.
Apparently yesterday was our city’s 5th wettest day for a decade. Most of the flooding was in eastern suburbs & Adelaide Hills towns. We had a power failure overnight; I hadn’t been long in bed and “ping” went the stove clock. As I was worried how OH would cope if he woke in the pitch black, I fetched my “camping” torch to read until power returned 35 mins later. OH has a torch but does not remember where or if or whatever. <sigh> However he slept through. We were lucky some suburbs were not expecting power back until this afternoon.
I had a quick trip to city to collect my wedding ring which I could no longer pass over my arthritic knuckle. Fingers have got worse this year. So costly that I decided not to enlarge engagement and t’other ring; I need second pair of driving glasses before bling. The cardigan/jacket I have been knitting is ready for buttons. We have a marvellous Button Bar in city (claims largest in Aussieland). Alas, a notice that it was closed 22-27 June for owner’s 80th birthday. Not happy, nothing on their website. Well, the usual spiel does say “Come and visit us and you will be pleasantly surprised!” No, I was unpleasantly surprised.
Hello, I've been AWOL, as a very busy day yesterday. Went out for errands, rushed back to be "in" for the washing machine man who was coming for the 3rd time. He brought a new part, but after 2 hours & then running the machine again, he admitted defeat. The new machine arrives next week. Meanwhile, I was throwing everything into the hall ready for my OH to load the car up. Eventually, we left home and then arrived here tired and late. Threw a meal into the microwave and went to bed! Today, it began raining right after my OH got back inside with the dog first thing. We're hoping to get out for a walk in between showers!!
Edit: It's quite warm, & we slept with the windows open.
Dibnlib, as has been said, you are the last person who should feel any guilt over what's happened. Its a disgrace and none of your making. {{HUGS}} AQ - I'm so sorry your plans were disrupted- how frustrating. The button shop sounds wonderful.
OG - We had to come this weekend, as the following three weekends are already full up! We need to get in as many breaks here as possible during the short season when it's not too cold & damp.