Hallo folks. Not much action yesterday afternoon on last week's chat, though SueC quoted a poem by the Wolof fishermen of Senegal about ospreys, which I found reassuring.
Gary: Gorgeous sunset and photos! In an earthquake, it's Duck, Cover, Hold; move away from windows; get in doorway if it's close and load-bearing.
OG: Three-and-a-half volunteer jobs is a lot, but great that you can do it all from home. Brilliant.
AQ: So "cool" weather? What a relief! Hope it lasts. So you open gifts after dinner; I think we used to do that when I was growing up in England. Now it accompanies breakfast and Mimosas (Buck's fizz?), especially when young folks are around. Do you make the Xmas pudding and, if so, do you put money in it? My Mum used to put a sixpenny bit in and my sister and I used to stir the pudding and make a wish! I think whoever got the sixpence in their pudding (and ooh - that wonderful boozy, buttery sauce!) also made a wish.
Annette - No, we don't put coins in the pudd because (1) Aussie coins are made of cupro-nickel (75% copper & 25% nickel) - not good in food. Some people keep pre-decimal coins and I believe there are special silver xmas coins. But (2) elderlies are likely to break their teeth. My Xmas pudd is not the traditional-made-3-months-early one but a fairly rich steamed pudd, prepared night before and allowed to brew?/breed? overnight and steamed on the day. Recipe came from m-i-l's friend.
These dainty bulbs are valiantly flowering in our heat - Queen Fabiola or Triteleia laxa. The green is thyme and the shadow is a tomato bush!
good morning OG
dillon says yes thank you tum is all better. Know of the chicken and rice cure but from puppyhood we were warned off chicken because of a tricky digestive system, hence when he is ill i am afraid it means 24 hours without food. i am sure i hate it as much as he does.
They are so pretty, AQ ! And fancy their surviving in that heat! Hope you have a couple of 'cooler' days now, after what sounds to us pretty horrendous.
Annette; Scary descriptions of earthquakes; I always wonder what I'd do, with not much time to decide!
Gary: Great pics of the sunset. Hear you are visiting these shores in April: at least we should be over the worst of the winter by then! It must seem strange to 'be back' after a long time away.
Having another go at sending pic of Autumn:
Nope! Tried to get around it by long way round: printed photo out, scanned it, then resubmitted, but no go.
Pouring rain here this a.m., but clearing up & brightening a bit now. Husband has gone to the local Tip with unwanted table lamp and huge overgrown indoor plant, all part of the clearup & tidy operation before Christmas and all my overdone decorations descend.... Thanks for your description of Christmas day, AQ, it sounds very similar to ours- what a lot of food! Very tempted to take your tip of cooking the turkey in advance, what an idea! suppose no one need know!
dibnlib: See we have overlapped. Hope Dillon is a little better today, its awful when you can't tell them that the starvation is for their own good. He looks a lovely dog, and those eyes must be hard to say no to.
ps: Notice that there are now a whopping 263 people in our group- welcome to you newbies, and enjoy!
Great photos Gary we have not had many sunsets of late, just high winds and torrential rain espcially Friday night and Saturday morning.
Just catching up with all the blogs as have been out most of weekend. Went to see a ballet on Saturday (Giselle0 and up to London Sunday for mum-in-law's 80th birthday party. Gload to say I have stopped upright all weekend.
Margobird
dibnlib so glad Dillon is feeling better after his upset tum. Hope he has been able to eat now.
Dillon is beautiful dibnlib.
original goldfinch what a monster this pigeon is. I regularty have between 12 and 18 visiting my garden because I put nuts in a separate bowl for them so that they leave the bird feeders alone. Felt desperately sorry for them in all the rain we have had in Southern England. They looked so wet and miserable.
Sorry you had rather an unsettling time but glad you are feeling better about things now.