Weekly Chat, Sunday November 15, 2009

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.

  • Love your suggestion too about the type of footwear I should be wearing and the helium balloons as well.  they say things come in threes so I am hoping from now on I will remain upright.  Have a good day.

    Margobird

  • I just watched some video of the horrific flooding and dangerous weather there in the UK (S. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and N. England especially). I so hope that each of you is safe, and I am thinking of all of you tonight. I just want you to know that all of us across the pond are aware of your struggle and wish you well.

  • Good Day/Evening All!

    I'm very sorry to hear about all the severe  U.K. weather and the monsoon season in Indiana. I will now stop complaining about the gloom and very moderate rainfall here!   

    AQ and Wattle15: If you need a place to cool off, you could always come to Chicago where it's been consistently 7c give or take a few degrees for the past few days.   =O)

    For any of you other raptor fans, I found an unbelievable survival story of a juvenile Peregrine Falcon in New Mexico. How this bird managed to live and thrive is nothing short of a miracle:

    http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-sunlife/ci_13775422

     

  • Caerann

    That is an amazing story - thanks for sharing it with us!

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Evening all. Thanks, Caerann, for that falcon story, amazing.

    I swam to work today ;)) and then got blown home this afternoon. The rain is not so heavy away from the higher areas of Cumbria, but it's still very windy and there is a lot of water lying about. The fields are lakes and sometimes the runoff is quite deep, not too deep for my little car though. There were a couple of boats in the small dock which I can see from my desk, the tide was so high at 1 o'clock, and the waves going up and down, that we thought the nearest boat was going to rise up and land through the window! Or at least on the dockside, hoho.

    Terry in Cumbria

  • Caerann: nice story; thanks. Poor bird though - what a way to lose a wing!

    I'm thinking dry thoughts for the UK folks and cool thoughts for our friends down under. Sounds awful.

     

  • Thanks for that link to an inspiring story of a peregrine falcon,  Caerann. The dedication of the people determined to help him was mind boggling.

    Diane:   Glad to hear that you  and your Dad are both recovering now. Sounds like you had a rotten time. Thanks on behalf of us on this side of the ocean for your kind thoughts during this terrible weather. We are lucky in this part of the North, in that we just had a very windy & wet couple of days, but further north of here there are now floods in a beautiful part of the country, where we have all posted photos of in the past, the Lake District- it is a wet place at best of times, hence the abundance of rivers, streams & lakes which are so beautiful normally but are tonight places of drama. Also Scotland, who seem to have had the worst of all the weather in the last few weeks, as they even had heavy rain when we were so dry down here. Down in the South they had the worst of the wind, I think. Lets hope its all over now and tomorrow everyone can start cleaning up and getting back to normal.

    If you hear references to a certain 'Pudsey Bear' over the next couple of days, its because over here we have an annual fund raising event, which is really huge, called Children in Need Day.  It's for disadvantaged children all over the UK, and is supported by both the BBC Radio and BBC TV with special events, programmes and fund raising. Last year they raised about 37 Million Pounds !!  Little children bake cakes, have days in school without wearing their usual uniforms, people sit in baths full of custard or baked beans, men have all their hair shaved, shopgirls dress up in costume, there are parties, dinners and concerts all in aid of this wonderful charity & we all go a little bit mad!  Oh yes, and its tomorrow!

  • TerryM, good to hear you were able to get home safely. I feel so sorry for those people whose homes are flooded. Stay safe Terry and all others who live in these areas.

    Caerann, thanks for that falcon story. It is hard to imagine how the poor bird survived.

  • Hi,, TerryM !  Glad to hear you've not floated away!  Seriously, it sounded really bad on our news report for your area, so hope you can all breathe a sigh as it stops raining tonight.

  • Caerann, thanks from me too. Incredible!  What a great read.

    Busy day here again but now it's dark, that's it, outside jobs over!!

    Lindybird, hope you enjoyed your evening out