5 OS Pleasures in your Day Today part 2

ampersand

[QUOTE=SunnyGirl;
..................I hope that everyone is having a good evening and having blessings aplenty to be glad for. Has anyone 'seen' Sparrer or Ampersand? I miss reading their posts.[/QUOTE]
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Thankyou sunnygirl - I'm trying to catch up, but your concern for sparrer is with me, too - and I was about to check for her posts after this. Once previously similar alarms were raised - she had been admitted to hospital.

Now, I too have much catching up to do on the posting front, so shall let reading catch-ups be set aside for a Later Pleasure.

Call that the First, then. For the rest, in no particular order and definitely no chronological order and certainly not exhaustive....[just exhausting for you to wade through:o]...........

Had a super Tuesday[hmm,. feel I've heard that term before in years gone by...welcome to a worrying post-Primary reality downturn, Barack Obama. I'm worried]

1. I/v for new voluntary SOS Night Bus which is much needed. Learnt of it from our Ops Mgr[ground level involved], who is such a good peep[at times too open and unseeing of others' politicking for own preservation], though wouldn't recognise self as such. Had already gently baptised said bus, backing into it - so large it simply loomed unseen/unrecognised in rear view mirror as a solid piece of dark in pitch black same, when I left Charity last week in the new dark night] No harm done. Wondered if being 60 would be against me. It doesn't feel yet as though this number/construct has anything to do with me and I realised on Mon that 2 months's time takes me to 61...:o. The scrutiny bar has to be v.v.v.high and I hope....

2. Mrs Wifey[or maybe New Model] flew onto high brush fence, very camouflage-y and then down to peck around. They've been gone from garden since early May, although recently heard anew at a distance. That led me to an urgent Darwin House journey for more crushed corn and this new season's Big Boy has now found his way daily through the newish hedge/fence arrangment and big old wrought iron manor gate I saved years ago. He sports handsome gold/cream gleaming flashes above his ears and ran at great speed 20yds in a beeline right into porch the other day. Took pics of him straight down below kitchen window, so no more than a metre from me, among herbs and dying tomatoes[being left while fruit still colours].

3. Killing time after SOS i/v but before optician's appt, went into flea market in Memorial Hall - haven't been for a couple of years as it had gone downhill[numbers/quality/interest], but was this time buzzing and many long-known faces from old auction circuits/past lives, who spoke warmly, genuinely/asked after me, so utterly unexpected. This sort of response always takes me aback - never feel I'm supposed to be on the receiving end of such things. Even bought self an extraordinary pair of hmkd silver earrings[[£10, were mkd £28 - good silver] and we enjoyed our haggle, but I know the game, so did A and we both thoroughly took pleasure in this microcosm of paths crossing writ large=Life etc.etc. ..and I love the strange, big, so un-me earrings, sort of PO tower crossed with sputniks - don't really do dangly.

3. Have kept going with ebay listing - promising again. 10>40 watchers always cheers. Such amazing feedback and lovely private ems from recipients - just feel again the goodness of so many lovely people out there unknown but for the easily cursable[often justifiably]yet cosmic maw of ebay. Just wish it didn't take me so long to research e/thg - ended up speaking about sth to ceramics curator at the Fitzwilliam. Haven't met her yet, but from several mths ago, they want to see sth I have, which I found as an exhibit on their site. Couldn't believe it at time and had wonderful help from the Wedgwood Museum.

4. Ditto with huge postings, always dealt with so patiently and efficiently by all ladies at Nmkt Main PO. They really are exceptional in there and I always tell them so.
5. After v.early Skype:j on Wednesday, caught up with both i-player Spooks episodes and it was still not 7h when they finished.

6. Observed the 11m.11h.11d.11m.11y silence with my own thoughts, which are always mixed about war/insanity/gun fodder/extremist madness/thankful recognition that I am at liberty, precisely because of all of this, to have these thoughts and publicly air them without fear. It was also anniversaire of French neighbour and I always say/sing Bonne Anniversaire, but so far no answer chez eux. Sister died just after I left, pancreatic cancer - there's been a groundshift.

7. Joined an M&S queue for the Penny Bazaar yesterday[thanks to mse post and Martin's highlighting of same] and also bought v.g. 1/2 price chox box for X who was craving same via Skype. Have a silly sending to wrap this morning of good and bad choc Advent calenders[organic Fair Trade Divine and Poundland] and other supplies/bargains gathered in week.

8.Good £land bookfinds - John Humphreys' Lost for Words and Peter Hill's Stargazing.

9. Toulon[beloved old stamping ground]are playing Sarries on home ground on my birthday and may well use some Mr T vouchers to go and watch. Have been dabbling with idea since seeing the possiblity on Mr T's deals site. Easily saw self singing the Sarries' song[have a listen] and thought back to writing one - C'mon the Bay - for Hawkeye the Magpie, in a long ago NZBC life, when Hawkes Bay won the Ranfurly Shield several seasons on the trot. Yes, must go again, but hadn't really thought about being in UK then. It is a good and cathartic thing to be out and bellowing wildly but, for all that I am a solitary, it NEEDS a-soulmate-for-the-day-other for absolute shared ecstatic joy.

10. Feeling comfy about nothing much, despite boxes everywhere, foul weather etc.etc. Enjoying affordable warmth and feeling an ease that pension has brought compared with 9 years coloured by grief, loss, despair, physical menace, private detective snooping, corruption, struggle, theft, wipe-out loss, a very real, Police-watch terror campaign[wheelnuts undone, car fuel line cut, gas supply interfered with etc.], since R's suicide and the subsequent horror and evil of certain parties' stop-at-nothing machinations. There, have written it. Am very aware that R did not expect a talent for creative survival to be just one upshot of prev. £500 wkly for Waitrose etc shopping. It is all a great game finally.

11. Knowing that feeling 'Feeling comfy about nothing much' comes from weekly State pension despite all that others may sneer at it...and my augmenting it via ebay and amazon is just so lucky.

12.Will have to change little car sooner rather than later and this seems attainable for same reasons, rather than a desperate fear.

13, Finally spoke with mot again...i.t. is managing but it's a strange and cruelly ironic rôle reversal, for any here who know their stories[you are many, I know].
[13a. - struck lucky first time with alt+147 for the o+circumflex:j]
14. Must go out now, Grauniad for the week from Mr T, then will call in at Charity and pay for a super cream sofabed which came in last week. It is madness for colour and I don't care.

15. May sort out a ferry or two this arvo while listening to rugby...and knowing I can.

16. Dropping off a few things en route to someone who is feeling rel.shp numbed atm.

17. Took pic of neighbour on her b'day to tfr to porcelain mugs @ Mr T, where I happily crossed paths with brilliant young R who is presently sorting all the French Harry Potter Lego I brought back into saleable lots.
Not sure how we quickly chatted to this point, but we did and I like him hugely; he loves this sort of order fom chaos prob in a field he knows minutely and I have sent apologies to g/f who knows he goes incommunicado when he starts. They seem to be a cracking young couple - film/phot Degree and no related job, so has got stuck in at tesco while doing the other privately. Has a really attractive business card for them both and I applaud them. I think things are so tough for anyone of the post-Thatcher generations. They have been shortchanged by dumbing down in education, too - but don't let me start....

I'm gone, toodle-pip to all, but will be back soonish.
Have a feel-good weekend, wind in the face, mouth up and open to catch a raindrop or two - with someone if you can be/want to be. If not, speak to a someone behind/beside you in a queue.

Suppose it's 18. Had a good intelligent eye-level talk with 6mth old Lucy on homeward bus last night, oh-so-young parents just amazed at how she responded...oh please, please READ with, TALK with, LISTEN with all small persons. It's the biggest thing. What they receive is what they'll give. [Best dismount from that soapbox, too]
Bfn.
....except 19. Still sharing a few raspberries avec les merles.

ampersand

Just a note re: sparrer -
Last Activity: 04-11-2009 4:11 AM

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Hope all is well sparrer, you know we're thinking of you - and in even greater numbers than last time.
It's getting so we need to apply for mse leave to explain absence:rolleyes:.

Caterina

Hi all

Reverbe and Ampersand good to see you both back and both with loads of pleasures to share!

Sunnygirl, hope your cold gets better soon.

Newlywed, how scary it must have been for you! I am very glad to hear that all went well for you and you are recovering and getting the TLC you deserve from your loving OH.

mineallmine, best wishes for a speedy recovery from your op.

I did not have a chance to put down my five for yesterday so I am going to do it nowm but before that I remembered one pleasure that I forgot to add to Thursday (and which I promised the lady in question that I would mention):

Thursday:

I was sitting at the station waiting to meet the woman that I am doulaing for. A woman approached me in mild distress, holding a newspaper with the page turned to a puzzle (the one where you need to find words from a given list in the middle of loads of jumbled up letters) and saying that no matter how much she was looking for the last clue she could not find it, and could I give her a hand? So I looked and looked, using all the possible clues, but this word was nowhere to be found (incidentally, the word was CELEBRATE!). Then I read the instructions and all was revealed - this was the word that was given on the list but not in the puzzle. Finding this word was the prime aim of the game! She was very happy and said that she would enter the comp. We had a nice chat about how lovely it is to be able to talk to strangers and how this is something that no longer happens much. I told her that she would go in one of my five pleasures for the days and she was delighted, she told me that she makes sure she does one positive thing per day. We left each other laughing and happy to have made some human contact.

Friday:

1 - Baked a sourdough loaf and two soda bread loaves (one for an Irish friend, need to get her opinion whether she thinks it is of marketable quality - so I can start selling them from home - and one to take to my OS friend who invited me and DH for dinner).

2 - Relaxed breakfast of tea with toast and marmite.

3 - DD's BF brought loads of good quality bread from the patisserie he works in, because they do not use yesterday's bread and give it to their employees. So now I am well stocked up with good breads for the week!

4 - DS music recording of his band from college is great, they are doing reggae this term and it was lovely that he wanted to share his recording with me. I am a proud mum!

5 - Dinner with my OS friend and her DH and my DH. We had a lovely meal and great company. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, THANK YOU!

Today (so far)

1 - Breakfast in bed courtesy of DH, toasted sourdough bread with marg. and marmite (again! I love the stuff and need the B vitamins now that I am vegan anyway) and tea.

2 - Sitting at the computer, saw a great big rainbow out there now that the rain has stopped.

More pleasures to follow at a later time, now I am going to catchuup with a bit of work while DH is doing his martial arts class.

See you all later xxx

ampersand

Hello Caterina -:hello:and thankyou

Thought I'd added no. 20, but hadn't -

In Oxfam, where I enjoy reading their funny caption>old photo cards, saw one with bits of map. reshaped as paper boat and hearts, and one heart shows exactly the bit of France which is my old stamping ground, not the current one, where M[for whom La Senza jamas]still lives,,,this little randomly cut-out heart, stuck on a card, actually shows her tiny, TINY village. MEANT!

....and another p.s. following Caterina's Salut to mineallmine. I thought of you yesterday when I hoped to hit another M&S for the Penny bazaar. It was the one adjacent to Tie Rack, where your pashmina came from -but has now closed down. Pashminas identical to those we had from that DT offer were on Chrimbo Sale price of £14.99,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,hmmmmmmmmm, we did well that day. Just gave another one to X. last week and she loves it.
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Still on way out:o:o:o - and just emptied letterbox. Have to add this:

HAVE JUST OPENED A LETTER GIVING £250 WINTER FUEL PAYMENT!
Can't believe it - this really IS wonderful.

SunnyGirl

Ampersand Wonderful to see you back! How lovely to see birds returning who have been gone since May. I was laughing at your description of Mrs Wifey - or maybe new model. It seems that birds could be like some fella's then Keep posting your thought provoking, philosophical thoughts and pleasures. Great news that the Winter Fuel Allowance came too - superb timing too with this awful weather.

I am feeling better today thank you for all your good wishes I went to the doctors & he gave me some antibiotics which I'm to start taking if I'm no better tomorrow. Maybe the placebo effect is already working :rotfl:

My five, very early, pleasures for today are:

1. I was up by 6am and had 3 hours of peace on my own listening to Radio 4 and talking to the animals.

2. My Mum rang to say that DS3 is having a good time. They've ended up making sorbet as everyone can eat it.

3. Sitting down after lunch wading through the Saturday paper. Its a great big read on a Saturday & often keeps me going until Sunday if I read all the different bits.

4. Looking forward to The X Factor tonight

5. Feeling really cosy & glad to be in a warm, dry & comfortable house in the awful weather.

Have a lovely weekend all xx

newlywed

Hi, thanks for all the get well wishes. Hugs to everyone who is ill, suffering, worrying etc.

Here's some for today:

1. The extra shopping sainsbugs delivered and then told me to keep!!
2. Free: posh salad leaves, taste the difference tomatoes, balsamic dressing, cucumber and pepper (feel like I've finally beaten reverbe on that one ) along with our planned jacket potatoes for lunch.
3. Nice bottle of pinot grigio in the rack - for free from sainsbugs.
4. Loads more salad in the fridge for my lunches next week.
5. Loads of free mushrooms I don't really like them unless they are cooked in together with stuff and now have 3 big tubs of them and no idea what to do. The thought of mushroom soup makes me want to go eat hospital food instead It may have been free but i still don't want to bin it all - blame this board for that!!!

Sorry to whoever's shopping it was - I did ring them to tell them but they said it was elf and safety and they couldn't take it back :rolleyes: It was mainly the bottle of wine I was hoping for

Frith

5 for today.

1) The boys have played together well ALL DAY! Well, it only took 6 years to happen! They played on my bed most of the morning, pretending it was a boat. I'm sorry to have to tell you all it was named the "Boat of Poo", still, you can't have it all! Then they spent TWO HOURS copying Richard Scarry drawings and colouring them in. They're now splashing in the bath.

2) We made some fairy cakes this afternoon.

3) The fire went well all day. (I have to get back in the swing of getting the sticks and logs in, emptying the ash pan etc from now until April).

4) Nice, if odd tea. Grilled trout, sweet potato, carrots and.... erm..... wiggly chips!

5) Casualty on in a mo and I shall have a glass of damson gin when they're in bed.

6) Invited to my sister's house for Sunday lunch. She is a really good cook, am looking forward to it.

Have a good evening, everyone!

L

Bitsy_Beans

Not been around much last few days.
Here are mine:

H grafting like a trooper putting fresh coat of emulsion on the lounge, porch, stairs and landing walls. Also making a start on undercoating our two lounge doors. Bit overwhelmed with the smell of paint but it all looks nice and refreshed

sorted out the top of our wardrobe and boxed up some bits and pieces for the loft. Looks tidier and it's something I've been wanting to do for over a week. can sleep easy now it's done.

Had a mini Christmas fix this afternoon when I popped to Homebase and B&Q - I just love looking at all the lights and decorations.

Chuffing some HM chocolate rum truffles. They are sooooooo good

Had some left over mashed potato and slow cooked ham for tea - tasted lovely and only too 2 mins in the micro to heat - now that's a nice quick easy tea for me!

Off to a family "do" tomorrow. Get to meet all of H's extended family on his mum's side (her cousins etc). I swear I shall forget who half of them are but it will be good to meet them in the flesh.

Have a pleasant evening.

nuttybabe

Hi all

Hope your weekends are all going well.

Mine for today are

1 Having a bit of a lie in this morning

2 My sister trying to get me to go on come dine with me cos she thinks I would win it!! Bless her - she's just buttering me up cos I'm making a chocolate fudge cake for her daughters birthday next weekend.

3 Dd played nicely with my friends daughter. this would be normal for ds1 but dd has never played with other kids no matter how many play groups i took her to but since starting nursery she has started to interact with other people

4 Had leftovers for tea so was quick and easy and tasted nice

5 Got a film on, a glass of wine and my knitting - good times!!!!

Have a good evening all

yummyhoney

evening all mine for today are

1. dh took ds2 for walk in the forest so i clould wash the floors
2. using up leftover mushrooms and tomatoes in yummy soup
3. buying my own christmas present on amazon as hubby would have spent €60 in shop and i got them for €35:D
4. watching x factor with ds2 and dd sitting on my bed eating popcorn and loving stacey!!!
5. going to have glass of wine with dh as soon as ds and dd gone to bed,,ds2 already gone:A