5 OS Pleasures in your Day Today part 2

Cappella

Frith that conversation really made me chuckle! Have to say that I miss Laura Ashley too though.

Emm-in-a-pickle I'm reading 'Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy' at the moment, just finished A Candle for St. Jude. My favourites are 'In This House of Brede' and 'Thursdays Children'; but I have a very soft spot for her children's books too. The copies I have were my mums, I can remember her reading 'The Story of Holly and Ivy' aloud to us at Chrismas

Thinking of all in pain or hurt and sending healing thoughts to them x

Today's Pleasures
1. Beautiful sunrise. My heart meds cause nightmares so I wake very early. Not a pleasure waking at 4.30 but the dawn sky this morning was beautiful, silvery, dappled blues and greys shot with silver and rose. Wish I could describe it better.
2. Lemon balm tea. Hot and soothing.
3. Our own honey (well, the bees honey really), just half a teaspoonful in my morning tea.
4. An empty ironing basket. NOT my favourite job, but always a pleasure to finish it.
5. Tea is already prepped. The slow cooker is worth its weight in gold, and it's a pleasure to know that kitchen duties are done for the day

ampersand

& contributes to the Godden pleasure mix:http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/534694.Two_Under_the_Indian_Sun
and this, having fluke-found Rosie Thomas a few years back[and like. v. interesting life/woman/writer]
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/01/rumer-godden-rereading-india-novels
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An &sthg triggered, or rather, concentrated minds on turning push into>shove, for Wireless i/v with Rumer long ago and am so pleased, still, it happened.
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Were & to twist her left arm back about 4meters and down, fingertips could touch this one:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3842265-shiva-s-pigeons
~~~
1. Beloved Uncle moves to nursing home stage 1 on Friday, fingers crossed, with preference next one in wings as soon as feasible. Is managing own spoon feeding with good black humour intact, managing card-playing with Aunt, working on vowel sound clarity and distinction.

2. Landline>NZ working this morning, enabling talk to famberley, until beep-beep-beep cut-off....as always. That's phone gone for rest of day now.
Hopeless and hopeless here. Couldn't access em since last Thurs, when stroke learnt of, until this a.m. either.

3. Thinking of ALL who read and write here with particular focus atm - and giving mighty thanks for the renew, refill, revive, replenish which goes into this inifinte pool of simple friendship, care and prayer...along with every darned thing else we share and rant. Bless you all.

4. Not only beloved enzed Uncle, several Other Peeps biz atm. All day yday with one at Adbkes, ditto demain. Garden room being bolt-hole used since Church on Sunday - so glad this is poss., can=breathing space for person. AW muck-sort date on horizon. & thinks at times like these [ because it is our 1st world luxury even to have time and space so to do]of the rather disliked Princess Michael of Kent at one of her several troubled press-hounded points, saying 'My shoulders are broad...'. following the revelation of her father's Nazi past.

5. Given a pot of purple basil last night. & way more than lurves basil,[ &'s drug of choice - posts passim] and mentioned to donor this gift will be nurtured, then repotted into several others and that & knew who next recipient would be. Donor delighted and & has thought that emporium coffee grounds when next passing can be good Merci.
#
Frith - near-ish villiage friend has just received & carte postale from 13 juillet, so there's hope for yours yet. We are both reminded that this happened last summer aussi. That one took 46 days to arrive....besides which, & has form re: postings: e.p.<frithland organ man. ykwim. Can't imagine anyone else does :-))))) Hope you can have a lovely festi.
Maybe bigger son will change mind last mo?
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Oh, late p.s. to Lainey re: The Alma and Hobson's, who pre-dated my awareness, but do you remember a medlar tree, if you come out door, turn along the path right, crossing the street and carrying straight on? Hold on, let me see if I can fiddle sthgy googly -
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.1961007,0.1260466,53m/data=!3m1!1e3?

I can see where tree is:-), at qtr past 3.
Come on, &, away from putah - loads to do.
#
Major Gorblimey present and correct, Suh!
Just saw & province HB A&P Spring Show link instead of Godden one. Sorted now, confusing otherwise. but maybe not in context of an &ost.

mhagster

Back with my Tuesday pleasures.

1. We are all home happy sigh!

2. Got a seat on the train ( facing backwards but a seat) , listened to radio on my phone, watched the sunrise, looked at people's back gardens. Saw hot air balloons, appreciated being on the express train so saved 15 minutes. Just missed a tram but not long to wait for the next one and got a seat.

3. A busy day on the ward, met lots of new people, a very severe episode of pain for OH was dealt with very quickly. The worst pain he has ever felt and I felt very helpless. Horrid. Chemo number 2 done.

4. We watched a movie but think we both dozed off at same time!

5. Read book

6. Friend picked us up. Drive home in rush hour but thankful to have a lift home. Shared our days experiences. Nice to chat.

7. Nice to be home and know that we don't ( hopefully) have to rush around tomorrow.

8. Phone call to say my ring is ready

9. We were on 3rd floor and had a huge tree outside the window so enjoyed the comings and goings of birds.

10. Oodles of noodles for tea.

Have a good day

[Deleted User]

1) The sun is shining and hey hey it's a beautiful day!

2) Just had text from He Who Knows to say he's safely arrived up with DD1.

3) The lovely fresh bread roll I've just had for breakfast.

4) Hope, really good thing to have in your life at all times and under all circumstances. Pandora knew a thing or three!

5) Having a message from my pal Fuddle to say she's responding to the medications in hospital and that things look to be improving day by day. She also now has a bed in a ward and it looks like the medics won't have to do anything invasive to fix her. YAY for Fuddle!

ampersand

Apologies over and over again - right now, just WISH the Thanks button would work.
Again, please know that they are a given from &.
mhags - ring on finger pic, please, when you can :-)
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Right, wonder how garden room triallist is today....
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&, you'll be thrown off this Thread with all these messy extras:
fao and poi> Frith :-)
Just voted for OS online.

LaineyT

Seconded on pic of ring on finger please Mhags,
:rotfl: Frith re Laura Ashley conversation, love love Billy Bragg.
& don't recall the tree am afraid, Hobsons P was based in part of the old Masonic building opposite Botanical entrance, we were lucky enough to have several free passes so spent lunchtimes in there as well.

Right, time to dwell on pleasures, doubly important at the moment so,

Laying awake in the early hours of Monday morning, listening to the rain hitting the windows and thinking how much the garden needed it.

Tasty fruit compote made up of foraged goodies, Mirabelle plums which are prolific around here and two pears from the tree in the grounds.

Kindness of some work colleagues, glossing over the impossibly crass behaviour of others.

Macmillan team from local hospice have been in touch, lovely lady remembered my darling Dad from few years back. She was so helpful, calm and practical, got a warm fuzzy feeling just from talking to her on the phone.

Uni Challenge and Only Connect, brain busting Monday's

DigForVictory

mhagster - that ring sounds wonderful. Ongoing love & support & courage! Hurrah for splendid afternoon tea of lots of small things & photos. Love how family pulls together to keep you rolling - hugs, wags, chips & arnica!
Laineyt - blimey that wedding description had me reaching for a hankie - as I *love* a happy do & it sounds a dilly.
Mrs LW - if there's anything tougher than waiting for medical tests, I've not run into it. If you hear a whirring in the background, that'll be me muttering assorted words & phrases to whichever deity is listening. Meanwhile, keep on cooking & dog walking etc as the longest to do list is the best help against the cold horror of sitting waiting. Very glad you have a lot of family! Delighted at Zebra plans - yes, *all* will sleep I think!
Ampersand - there's a Quaker saying, "I hold you in my thoughts". I do, & will.

All four of you, actually, & anyone who needs it.

Capella - salted runner beans & Rumer Godden - can I come & stay?! Flowers "too early" - like children, come in their own time, to be much enjoyed.
BoP - while Jenny's still running, the consultant may wish to reconsider? Live Scrabble!
mila - "not my mother's clean" - yep, live in that state myself!
Frith - love the idea of self-putting-to-bed chickens. As for conversation with sons re Laura Ashley & Ashley Madison - still chortling. Think you're getting your money's worth there!
VJsmum - well done that lad & therefore rousing cheers you, as behind every good chaps stands a strongminded woman!
Skint yet again - clearing "Stuff" is heavy going. Especially photos. <eyes heap of clothes awaiting a bit twitchily> You have a happy mob of young chaps? Splendid! Have a little list & home made cake next time they gather? (Me, devious? Absolutely.)
DundeeDoll - sat awed at thoroughness & generosity with which you face Autumn.
Bagpuss38 - you have the nail on the head with 5 - you've done a good job & she's away of her own choice, not hastened. Quiet though, initially.
Purple kitten - welcome back from Wales & have fun (after the flying change of tackle) with Steam!
Emm-in-a-pickle - I do love mash, but my all time favourite Welsh food is cawl. (Happy holiday memories!)
VickyA - m'father gets emails from Kensington Palace as he & one of the curators are having a lovely detective romp through the history of a painting. Smashing gallery!

OS Pleasures recently:
Some public conveniences still exist and at least one has soft loo roll! This is a somewhat awed pleasure.

Mother in law has developed a passion for Abernethy biscuits - have sorted recipes for grandson to try. He will also bake a sponge for her! [Trying hard not to feel jealous]

Son experimenting with rope, stick & sack of wheat has clobbered himself in the mouth & is being very tolerant of the combined concern & mick. At least his bowline tying skill (learned at Scouts last week) worked out fine.

Passworded my Kindle & then forgot the password. Son vastly amused "Kharma!" - I had to make a shamefaced call to Amazon for help. D'oh! 15 minutes on the phone, hours of good natured teasing, and I estimate about three weeks as I gradually reload the all the books that I have collections for.

Triple clove hitch (alias sheetbend) & new highwayman's hitch! Darn but what I learn from Scouts. It's even fun trying to figure tying a clove hitch when you're too short for the 'fish on a dish' version with a scout a quarter your age & 8" taller. We got there, though!

Oh my. Gas boiler Inspection. Kitchen looking like B movie horror set (the Nostradamus cherry jam looking Distinctly O Negative) but charming engineer diving into the familiar anyway. Explained comms in the house - "if you want someone, shout: if you need someone (artery etc) Scream" & he took it very serenely. Right, now to get breakfast & teenagers into same place. [Boiler has a clean bill, sons fed, all good!]

Puttering around the house, it occurs to me that it would be a complete nightmare as a murder site. The Scene of Crime folks would probably prefer a museum where at least the weird stuff should be catalogued, and some areas roped off... Shrugs. Holiday time is too precious to burn with a Hoover.

It seems mad to seek The Right Storage boxes when the game plan is to sell a good 80% of the "Great Wall of China" (my Denby flotsam & jetsam collection of 40+ years & 3 generations) but til it's sorted, I can't get things shifted. Still, 5 is a good start. [Was! Two whisked off to Other Purposes already, harrumph.]

Eldest tried to sit in the driver's seat & lock me out of my car. Having left the window wide open, so I reached in & tickled him ruthlessly. His brothers hooted encouragement & his father added a few tickles to reinforce the lesson... Good times!

Stumbling towards Christmas by establishing a single location for putative gifts. Lads much smitten with small stoppered glass vials in Sainsburys (reduced to 89p from £1.50) so I snaffled the last 4 & plan to print some "appropriate" labels before decanting in Ribena (or ginger syrup, whatever's handy) & loading into stockings. All suggestions welcome - teenage boys will not be *sole* recipients so anything from Love Philtre through to Prep Potion to test Ebola remedy #867/3550/D currently under consideration. Which may illuminate my offspring more than I'd thought...

Home made mango chutney hits the spot other chutneys cannot reach. Not least the self satisfied glow of "I made that". Along with the grin at the Kilner jar standing up to rigorous family usage.

The photocube is being prepared for the desk sharing future - I still haven't printed any photos yet but I have a sealed mystery Playmobil packet to stuff inside it. (Some days my priorities may be a bit adrift.)

Nice shovel found on kitchen floor by boiler. Ooops, poor engineer must have wondered what on Earth he'd walked into... Still, not muddy. Or showing blood spatter etc. [I am a somewhat accident-prone gardener.]

Watching lass on chestnut collectedly stroll past. Reminded me to check & yes! Charlotte & Valegro get top score! Just so pleased/proud/awed/happy. Then there's Monday too! Ulp. (Coz just delighted Fiji got Gold - rugby's their 6 days a week religion.) {She did it! She & that glorious Blueberry! And ulp, will they really retire him now?!}

"I don't have any post. Except for spears." Whereas I get to deal with All the bank statements, insurance policies, hospital appointment letters, junk mail, sales flyers and so forth. Still, man crooning over spear head a happy sight.

Good old time & motion. Washer washing, driers drying, tomatoes dehydrating, freezer defrosting, phone serenading, meal planning & root beer sipping. Darn but some times things are in conjunction.
Sure the wheels will come off but you can at least enjoy the ride til then!

Found two more unexpected nasturtiums! Repegged the honeysuckle which had suffered in breezes. The poundshop blueberries are all alive & seem to be sending up new shoots from the roots which looks hopeful. The jostaberry "cuttings" (weedwhacker collateral damage, plunged into a tub with prayers & compost) are showing bright green leafy life like the mother plant - I've even found a recipe for hawthorn berries should the prickly blighters choose to fruit!

Have found stash of dehydrated mango pieces - yum! Better still, they look a bit dubious so menfolk leaving them All For Me.

Iolanthe & that "we are dainty" chorus - Miword yes, back then we were hefty young women hoping to outgrow our puppy fat before we but the vote & we gave it plenty of heavyweight glee. Now? Abandoned shifting the mummy flab & singing from memory laid down decades ago. Good times!

"Sounds of the 70s" & the familiar voice of Karen Carpenter. How on earth did we refuse to believe she had problems? The ruffles covering revealing areas like neck, wrists; the drapery deftly concealing the fragility of the arms, the sheer coverage? To be fair, Abba were covered too, but altogether in a more tailored, visibly healthily, active way.

The Old Masters would do them proud. The old & the young man, at the fireside, dreaming, planning, laughing - while us everyday mortals are out of frame, on the other side of the glass, separate. Yet it works well enough for us.

Son's expression as I explain we are going to a car boot to buy coins for his Grandmother to put in Christmas Puddings. Not expensive, not in particularly fine condition, just the Right Ones for puddings. His face!

"All I know is, each birthday you're one year closer to death, & we get a takeaway." Son needs to work on Tact, husband needs to learn not to respond "Kebab...." Or death may come earlier than planned. [Have I been overdoing the holiday murder mystery reading?]

Nattering with a couple of car boot stallholders trying to swap stock & to rehome a rather sad Christmas Robin - we pondered where tree decorations went, if not on a tree. On a parcel as a bonus gift tag, (inside or outside the wrapping to bemuse the postie) or even hung on door handles, we reckoned. Still couldn't shift the bird!

"What's cardamom?" "The stuff Han Solo was encased in." "Oh. Hang on! That was carbonite!" Irony is *lost* on a hungry teen.

Eyeing the vacuum packer carefully. Brand new tech, never used by us before. If I can figure it, Christmas will be vacuum sealed in Mylar (shiny reflective plastic) pouches, which will save a lot of angst, wrapping... If not, I'll have to coax a child into trying it, exploring & playing with it, then teaching me. [<just sloping off to eBay to hunt a wad of cheap shiny Mylar> I got it to work! Er, need to remember to label though - dehydrated herbs look like each other even more vacuum packed flat! {Sharpie now in box.}]

Andy! So proud! (Is it just me or does he look small [height/heft wise] beside Juan Martin del Porte?)

A petty pleasure, but all school dates for coming year loaded onto technology for reference, panic etc. Gurgling with amusement that all sons restart school on wedding anniversary... (Husband duly reassured all clearly labelled on devices.)

Stunning weather forecast! The heat but Oooh sunshine! When the folk tarmacing the road are done, bed linens wash & out on the line, I hope.

Chortling at DoubleCabPickup 'Entitlement' being effectively & vehemently challenged by the Tarmac team. Their machines are Even Bigger, after all, but that area is now being re-rolled...

Harvesting einkorn & emmer seed heads & sharing the garden with a bee besotted with the peaseblossom. Facebook profile updated with photo.

If there is a greater pleasure than podding peas picked seconds earlier, it's probably one of the ones we tend not to mention on a family site. Right up there with sun dried fresh bed linens though.

"Dad told me to stop doing my flamingo impression so that's when I had to put my foot down." Argh - the terrible puns of the Youngest...

Aw, child bemused by office construction next new rail-bus interchange - "how many storeys does a bus station need?" (Poor lamb even [briefly] fell for quadruple decker buses.)

Stumping downhill to carpark & enjoying happy whoops of children playing on swings slides etc. Then spotted blackberries so sliced an empty water bottle into a picking tub & plan to make carpark jam! [later - fruit now freezing]

Blueberries for sale, alongside Charlotte cooking apples - how could I not make try to make Dressage Gold 2016 jam, celebrating Charlotte Dujardin & Vallejo (stable name Blueberry)'s triumph? God knows what it'll taste like & a lot of fuss but entirely appropriate somehow!

Watched & chuckled as a riding school class clopped past, learning road signs to indicate turning corners. Reminded of my Cycling Proficiency classes years ago. Good to see communication & courtesy being taught.

Awash in a heap of nappies. I had Such Good Intentions. Now as I gaze on squares, prefolds, kooshies & other solutions to those who cannot fold, I just need the space back! (The baby is 17 now, anyway.)

I love it when someone else does the washing up. This afternoon, to the strains of Michael Jackson's "Killer" - I'll not query the lad's taste in music while he's happy & industrious.

Re-watching Aliens as a family. 30 years old & it's still gripping!

It's raining! Everything that could use a drench is getting one (& plans to repaint the front door slide further, but offered three good days straight we'd take the tent for a run!)

Chorley is admirably stuffed with assorted charitable enterprises despite the wet weather. I've even found the sort of discerning tobacconist that stocks the simpler bribe. If he must engage in the evil habit, let the second hand niff be pleasing to the family & offensive to biting insects.

Are well organised toddlers a blessing? Overhead one "there's only one babywipe in here" - clearly Mother's Little Helper felt Mother had been Remiss. (Possibly, Again...)

Stranglers 'strange little girl' - brilliant unexpected radio hit pumping past inattention to remind me of 1980s... That chip shop staff turned it up for "you're just too good to be true" & sang along! Hadn't realised live ents were included...

Wandered into a war weekend (complete fluke!) and there on a dance floor were one vintage couple togged period & one elderly couple who'd clearly just come to shop & stayed to dance. The latter infinitely the more touching. (They're both in their late eighties!) We need more dancing in public spaces!
Oh aye & where else do you hear ladies exulting in a really nice bread pudding?!

Son engrossed by tablet computer on lap is blocking the stairs "to get a good wifi signal". The loving mother is mentally reaching for the keyboard, the irate would-be-stair-user for a hammer. To be entirely fair, the correct tool for the job (to remind the tablet of the password) is a keyboard but the hammer looks blighted attractive. [Loving mother won, just.]

Child in a tiger romper with a patch of Velcro where tail attaches! Reminds me of the romper we had as little 'uns, where the tail was stitched into place, the headgear was separate (& had utterly cute ears) & really all you needed to complete the "costume" was to coax 'the pencil' from mum to sketch on whiskers...

Son squawking & husband chides "try not to squawk like a pterodactyl". Son changes arm position from half Tyrannosaurus Rex to arms outstretched, extends fingers & squawks again...

Some vampire film on - cut to a shot of a coffin. Son chirped happily "orthopaedic gravel!". Ah, Sir Terry Pratchett, your name lives on.

Bravo NZ runner Nikki Hamblin & American Abbey d'Agostino for the unexpected & rare Pierre de Coubertin medals! (The International Fair Play Committee Award, reserved for those demonstrating the Olympic spirit & has only been awarded 17 times in Olympic history.)

"Cyrillic is like all the buttons you never push on the calculator" - awful film, lovely line & up to a point, he's bang on about Cyrillic. Oh & my first exposure to it was in translated maths textbooks so the quote is even nearer the mark.

The tidy one has found my glasses! Not just the spare pair but also the reading glasses - a whole new assortment of reading positions opens up. I may even lounge on the bed with my feet Still On The Mattress!

Daft lad went to answer the phone, tripped & sat on a plug. Distinct Yip before "Hullo?"...


Oh my dears - let us enjoy the OS things while we can. And train the children in hugs & chips & embrocation as needed.

Skint_yet_Again

Tuesday pleasures

1. tossing and turning since 3.30am helicopter buzzing around outside. Up at 5.30 am just as DS was coming in from his night out ! Thankfully work was over quickly ...

2. home for lunch and washing done and put out on line

3. afternoon nap

4. letter from mortgage company and interest rates have gone down so monthly DD reducing - every little helps !

5. £1.50 voucher from T*sco (I get my petrol from them) which I will use to get milk tomorrow

6. sorted some more paperwork & receipts.

7. batch cooking - meatballs in tomato & veg sauce using tinned toms and last of courgettes from DP's allotment which are starting to shrivel up as its 2 weeks since came back from staying with them also using onions they donated

Frith

Pleasures for today (Tuesday)


1) Not a bad sleep.


2) My brother walked up here with his dog.


3) Bigger son has been invited canoeing with brother in law this weekend.


4) My brother is taking smaller son to watch the cricket tomorrow. :-)


5) We went to nearest National Trust house where they have recently introduced rowing on the lake. Only £5 for adults, children free (so £5 for us). It was BOILING! Between 28 and 30 degrees, according to the car thermometer. Anyway, we rowed around happily.


6) Had much needed water and pot of tea from the caf! afterwards.


7) Smaller son made the tea - a copy of the barbeque chicken pizza we had in Frankie and Benny's for his birthday. Not bad and his dough was better than mine is. Cooked all the chicken thighs so we had some on the pizza and will eat them for tea tomorrow and Thursday in different guises.


8) Got tickets successfully! http://www.moseleyfolk.co.uk/


9) Looking forward to watching Holby City later. Spider Man is on at the moment.

mhagster

Evening .

A day of not needing to rush around which was nice.

Hoovered, washed, cleaned floors, ironed , made delicous cauliflower soup, a lovely peach sponge. Lasagne portions from the freezer served with mashed potatoes and veggies.

Briefly had my ring but it was far too big, so getting sized 4 sizes down! Not quite sure how that happened.it is very pretty though.

An un pleasure was having to sit and try and do UK tax return...can't do my oz one until that's done and then got stumped with reciprocal arrangements so I think we need to see a tax specialist. Then trying to fill out some other forms which need stuff verified so need to go to solicitor tomorrow and pay for that pleasure. I am feeling very stressed by it all. I've procrasinated enough so do have to deal with it all but could see it all far enough...enough of other stuff going on.
Blah!

I'm heading to bed soon, quite tired and slept reasonably well last night for a change, hoping for more of the same!

Have a great day