No T Words mentioned at all - a fresh start

scottishminnie

I'm back , snowed under a bit however working through things and by the end of the week I should be fully back into the old routine.
Working my way through some threads so I will Have more to comment on soon no doubt. In the meantime though....

AOT - that sounds dramatic, I hope you have fully recovered!

Hoglet - enjoy your trip.

Candlelight- my list of chores is quite long, will keep me out of mischief

MrsLW- I hope you had a great time with Cookie.

Hope everyone else is well and enjoying the start of autumn. Crunchy leave and big sweaters on the way now!

candlelight_2013

Good to see you back SM, take it steady this week.

Will be pleased to hear all your news eventually

Candlelightx

scottishminnie

Well the to do list is going down however progress is slower than I would like. I seem to keep finding other things I need to do.

I got a little side tracked by a very ornate gold mirror I have which I decided I would prefer to be dark silver. I sprayed it pewter, then decided it looked too grey so added some silver gilt cream, then some gold gilt cream on the raised bits. So while I'm now happy with the effect it wasn't quite the quick fix I thought it was going to be:o

I have another mirror which could do with a facelift but that can wait till I've finished all my other chores!

To try and stop the crows wasting them, I picked quite a lot of apples from our trees and made 6 pots of apple butter last week. It's not the prettiest looking conserve however it does taste nice on toast so I will keep some and share the others for gifts later. I think we will be having apple crumble this weekend to use up some more and I will bake some Apple Oslo cakes which freeze amazingly well.

My friends husband isn't doing too well as he struggles desperately with an empty house so I've been trying to make shorter but more frequent visits. Just a short time seems to make a difference so it's worth the effort. I've also been making sure he has plenty home made soup in the freezer so I know he can have something hot for lunch as the weather cools. There was a definite change here over the last few days so summer is absolutely behind us now.

I'm off to bed now. Have spent the last hour sewing new buttons on a black cardigan. I lost a button last week then managed to shatter another one as I leaned on a desk at work. I didn't have two replacements so I ended up removing 1 of the remaining 4 buttons, adding 3 contrasting buttons and rearranging them alternately. I'm impressed at how resourceful I can be when I put my mind to it. I'm also quite impressed with my cardi which now looks quite bespoke (and expensive):)

Hope everyone is warm and well.

[Deleted User]

Morning everyone, the Mollie has landed chez Lurcher and she's a sweetie. I'm not quite sure just how old she is but she's 9 or 10 and a bundle of energy and licks. She's a little unsure but is settling beside whichever chair I sit in and we've just had a 20 minute throwing the tennis ball session in the garden, so she's pooped for the moment. Going to both take her and Cookie for a lovely long walk across the common and back along the footpaths this afternoon and her mum will collect her after 4.30 when she finishes work for the day. It's odd being licked unexpectedly and vigorously but very pleasant!!!

I've just made a nice big pot of butternut, chickpea and spinach curry for the next couple of days, it's that bit cooler here and in the evenings nice to have something warming and comforting for supper. He Who Knows is on the allotment and yesterday saw a first for him when he went to a Yo Sushi for a snacky lunch. He's been to Japan and had sushi for real so I wasn't sure what he'd make of the generic version but he liked it very well and would go again.

The garden plots are empty except for the fruit bushes and some rows of leeks to stand and be used through the winter and it all looks neat and tidy and dug over, ready for a nice rest before being planted out in the spring. He Who Knows has dug in the contents of all the compost bins and we now only have to clear the greenhouse when the tomatoes finally stop ripening in a couple of weeks, then all is safely gathered in and the garden finished.

Have yourselves a really nice day, hope you've got the lovely sunshine that we have today, cool breeze but not cold, pleasant, Lyn xxx.

candlelight_2013

Hello all, long time no see

Life continues to be busy. DGD1 has now lived with us for 4 months, and she is still a joy. She return from Florence tonight, having spent a few days there with her boyfriend. They have know each other for about 4 years but only got together when he returned from a year in Australia earlier this year.

Grandson is at University and seems to be enjoying it very much and DGD2 is doing an apprenticeship and seems to be loving it.

DD1 is walking so much better now and her surgeon doesn't want to see her until next April so that is a good sign.

Himself has dreadful insomnia at the moment and roams around the house in the middle of the night because he doesn't want to disturb me, and then falls asleep on the sofa.

We are still not sure whether to have the the flu jab or not. Until last year I had never had an adverse reaction to it, but last year we were both ill for a long time and I am convinced it was that, although I am sure the medical profession wouldn't agree. Himself has to go for a mediction review with the nurse next week so he is going to discuss it with her.
The garden has almost been put to bed for the winter and the tulip bulbs have been planted, but a certain bushy tailed rodent has been seen digging a bulb out.

AOT, how are you, are you managing to keep well

SM I hope you are not too busy and still making your beautiful cakes. My sister and BIL are due back from Florida the middle of November, so that means we should be able to see them at Christmas/ More often than not they are in America then.

Kate, are you still out there?

I hope Hoglet is having a wonderful time and doing lots of shopping in between work.

Lyn I know you are having a wonderful time walking the dogs and I am sure dearest Docky would approve very much.

Much love to you all

Candlelightx

[Deleted User]

Hi CANDLELIGHT we have the flu jab every year, wouldn't NOT have it and any other preventative available to us, He Who Knows is waiting on the shingles vaccine coming into the surgery, having talked to the GP in the family she says that shingles in particular is verr effective at reducing the severity of the disease should you be unlucky enough to catch it, it's she says, a vaccine that GPs love because it actually works, and as you get older, her words, saves lives, shingles can be VERY nasty indeed.

Here in Hampshire last winter although we had the flu vaccine and most people took it up we had an anomaly in that the prevalent flu strain wasn't the H1N2 that was predicted but it mutated and what most folks actually caught was the AH1N2 virus, leading to many people thinking the flu vaccine hadn't worked. The folks who make the call on which stain is likely to be the most prevalent don't have a crystal ball either and something like a small mutation isn't foreseeable so can always happen. I'd rather take the chance and have the vaccine even if some other strain of flu catches you unawares.

candlelight_2013

Lyn I had shingles in 1973 a year after DD2 was born, and I was really ill and had 2 children to look after whilst Himself was at work. We haven't been offered the jab yet but I am going to ask.

I will have the flu jab because it is silly not to, bearing in mind I have diabetes as well, but I was so afraid of being ill like last year. Thank you for your reassurance, it is good to have a GP in the family

Candlelightx

scottishminnie

Candlelight- I think lots of people were caught with another strain of flu last year after having the jab. I know my mother was and it has taken her GP quite a bit of persuasion to convince her it was sheer bad luck and totally unconnected however she is scheduled to have hers next week

MrsLW- hope Mollie is still settling in well and good company for you.

I too have a bushy tailed resident in the garden. I hadn't thought about it digging up bulbs. I will be very disappointed if it does as I have a real love of squirrels and was quite excited to see it. I was less excited to find one of the farm cats prowling later the same day so it got a serious talking to about what it is/isn't allowed to hunt. It was really quite funny, it stared at me quite intently as I made my speech, before turning its back and stalking off. Just as well nobody can see what goes on in my garden rotfl::rotfl:

Not much baking going on at the moment. Some scones at the weekend and a couple of Apple crumbles. I did make batches of minestrone soup for my elderly friend to freeze and I picked up some figs in Mr A as I know he likes them as a treat now and then.
He is coping ok. It's a very old, cold and draughty house with coal fires and central heating which he won't run, however he has purchased two small halogen heaters which seem to give off a decent amount of heat and have a safety feature which turns them if immediately if they are knocked over.

I may have to make a Costco visit over the weekend so I must be on my best behaviour and not tempted by any nice things which I don't need.

Sadly something has eaten my Brussels sprouts. We suspect it was a hare so the Christmas Day offering will be shop bought. Not quite the plan.:o

Off for a quick cup of tea before bed and to empty the dishwasher. My least favourite job - until I remember life before it!

hoglet121

Hello everyone!

I am back from my travels - had a fantastic, but extremely exhausting, time. Fitted in lots of friends and family, a couple of different countries and even the bit of work that I was going over to do.

Loved meeting up with some new friends from my book group too, amazing how well you can get to know people without meeting them sometimes. All my pals I felt I'd 'clicked' with, I really had, and one or 2 that I wasn't so sure about proved me right too.

Cats and DH are glad to see me, although I'm not quite over the jet lag yet. Quick trip to the garden centre yesterday to get a wiggle on with the garden this year - v late owing to trip! Got some toms and some chillis, must get lettuce, sweet corn and carrots sown too.

Lovely to catch up on all your news. First day back at work and absolutely piles of emails to trawl thorough so this is just a quick note. Will drop in again soon.

Lots of lvoe,

Hoglet xx

candlelight_2013

So good to see you Hoglet, I have missed you, I was only thinking of you yesterday morning.

I am pleased you had a good time.

Not a great deal happening here. DGD has settled in well, and spent Sunday making her Halloween dress. It looks beautiful she is so clever.

Our garden has now been put to bed for the winter, and yours wil be starting to bloom. On the whole we have had some good weather of late so I am not going to moan. DGD1 and I are looking forward to planning Christmas, Himself, as usual, is bah humbug so we just ignore that.

I won't have so many presents to buy this year because the grandchildren are grown up now, and they really only want money. I shall buy them the usual chocolates, the ones they like, Ferrera Roche, and Lindor and give them extra money.

We went to A*da this morning and I bought a big bag of sweets for if we have any trick or treaters on Saturday. Personally I don't like children going round to houses but I know it is very popular now. I sound really old don't I, but I am not a spoil sport I promise you.

SM I hope you are well and that your friend's husband is coping a little better

AOT I hope you are well

Lyn has gone to cat sit today until the weekend, so Pushkin is going to be spoiled rotten I have no doubt.

Much love to everyone

Candlelightx