5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

Admiral_Barbarossa

Oh 'eck, not The Admiral, Again!

I cans nought keep offs the keybored the last few days!
Note to self, I sees Ms. DD is in Malta. I will no give yous lot the opportunity to see the pix I put up on my AFVBC site about the town there! & luck away now!

Ship's Log

Pursers free penny day next weak! Mrs Admiral; has requested a trip too the smoke soon. As yous is aware, the Admiral does no do requests! I see that whens I did the visit to the rose garden, I got outbound for about £11! Now is £19. A rip off. Will see if the Cho Choos run!

Still on the Only Murders in the Building, new series soon! Cheeses were taken as well.

Will be inn the Jim later to get beech ready!

Jen sends her

VJsmum

Phew indeed Happycas

Pleasures for yesterday
1. a walk in the park with friend.  She bought the teas!
2. OH painted the garden fence
3. begg for lunch and tacos for tea.  I'm not usually so fussed on tacos but these ones were nice
4. house is now clean - for a while
5. watched who do you think you are

Happy Friday evening all.

DigForVictory

Whooops! Fell off as RL & weather & just ongoing things.

happycas - the downside of rain - it brings on the weeds as well. More surgery for DH? Ulp but all relatively nearby & support net in place.

VJsmum - aww offspring missing you & saying so. 27? MiLgrimages ongoing - well done. Birthdays can be fun. Ah, begg is the good stuff.

mhagster - Oh Haggis. How come he gets the first raspberry? The lesser spotted son! Meeting Chap's Parents, eh? Some days have an unjust magic. Charity shops less interesting - worryingly possible.

Highdays - a good school report! That used to trigger an immediate kebab supper... Hurrah summerhouse. "sit it out and wait to feel better" sounds pretty hopeful. Summer holidays are go.

Frith - may the misbeggoten who reshaped your car meet with the appropriate justice. Hoping your concillor comes through. Oh dear, about the normal life. Decomissioned the geocache - will it be reinstated at the new location? All Good Luck! Eating the freezer empty.

LaineyT - away to watch the cricket - fingers corssed for the weather!

ampersand - hurrah Curiosity Fair & h-g blueberries!

DundeeDoll - Malta? And so planning the next 5 years - repectfully baffled! Of course Midsomer is silly. Best of luck with planes etc

PaulieHerts - a beach hut for a day sounds blissful

BoP - delay repay with the Bursar - jolly good! Only Murders in the Building has Meryl arriving, yes? Ponders deploying freebie Apple membership... Have fun on tour!

OS Pleasures recently

Highlander! Cheesier than a deli counter but so much fun, so many good memories. Truly the 80s May have had a lot to answer for but the music, the films…. 

Bedlinen dancing on the line. Raw satisfaction in the mix of sunlight & a breeze - I’ll sleep well on crisp sheets of light.

Another spurt of seize, scrub, line dry & donate - just I tore the end cup holding the bar - After taking 17 loaded hangers (1 hanger ~4 tee shirts) Off. Youngest trying to fix it as still suits etc needing hanging. Not having a traditional sense of smell is possibly a blessing. [As the weather goes thundery wet, a certain satisfaction that that’s done.]

I can see feral strawberries going from green to pink.

Which is more incorrect, to water at the wrong time of day or not water potted on rooted cuttings for days? (Bless her, my mum is So impressed with my gardening - she has no idea of the failure rate!)

New webcam (old one gone impressively streaky, like an expensive IKEA fabric) set up & tested & now has a “you are live” warning light (which the old one had space for but not the LED). I’m still not allowed to use it for interviewing but then that’s another little challenge. Be present, be smart, And take notes simultaneously (bring on the training, says I!)

Trying to figure out what best to do with stamp collection, much of which is mass produced decorative & not valuable nor eligible for swap-out, but some booklets a mix of eligible & non-eligible. That I didn’t label things terribly thoroughly has added to a certain sense of argh! Still, three [er, just over one] more weeks (deadline 31 July) & then it’s moot.

The bay tree has recovered from what ailed it & is covered in lurid green shoots all over! Our Christmas wreath may be of herbs this year - but I’ll try layering as a method of propagating it too. Son should have a bay tree in the garden of his first home.

Tayberry has two fruits & 3 layering pots all looking colourful. Gardening is such a fertile source of hope!

Middleson has some bits of metal for his kayak outrigger, chopped & drilled to meet a spec only his inner eye can see & they are wrapped in a lightly oiled rag from an old tee shirt. Blinking I recognise the rag as previously showing the millennium falcon…

Managed to wave a greeting to Middleson’s guest - despite best efforts to keep family out of sight. I can only presume we embarrass son: splendid, that makes teasing him much easier. Guest & I chat over WhatsApp anyway. Nice lad, lovely manners & very tolerant of the household eccentricities.

Emptying the freezer I find a layer of butter & feel amazingly rich for a few seconds… The chaps are being heroic, emptying where I can’t reach & lifting & doing the heavier work. There are competing philosophies of how you store food in a chest freezer (particularly in the trough at the front which I cannot reach into), but it’s done. [And the cooler bags emptied, dried & stored in the big Coleman box for next time.]

I was going to try taking cuttings but the weather is such that I shall plan with a cup of tea instead. [Then played mud pies once the thunder passed!]

More family tree climbing & I’m getting bored of stud book entries - they’re easy (& usually accurate) but they lack spice. Filleting a death notice or obituary is more satisfying.

 

Awww Middleson “detoxing from The Boys” with Lilo & Stitch….

I am so lucky in my sons! They help defrost the freezer, they repair the wardrobe hanging bar, they buy me pots & sand, they bring me tea, & sellotape, they lift awkward boxes into high places. OK one spells with all the accuracy (but enthusiasm) of a nine year old & the other has a terrifying ability to shrug off an unseen university as “meh” (whilst having the proper affection & respect for the Unseen University) but ye gods they are my delight. In months to come I will be without their daily care (& will have to learn to cook) but right now I am deeply lucky.

We couldn’t find clear plastic bags. The newly attempted bay cuttings are under a sheet of two cellophane wrappers carefully torn along the seam & taped into one whole. Bagged as recommended they are not, but we’re trying. 

At work my spare laptop charging adaptor has arrived, plus it’s Mickey flex (which apparently is correctly called 'cloverleaf') so hurrah my work bag can now weigh less & my home cabling setup can be cable tied down… (Once I’ve cleared & cleaned it all first, ahem.)

If you are feeling life is short on laughs, dip into any of George McDonald Frasers’s short stories on McAuslan. (If you’re short on time, cut straight to McAuslan’s court martial in The General Danced At Dawn.) says she still weak with laughter.

Signed up for this Kroo thing for the savings. I’m a bit older than their target demographic, I think, but for over 4%…

You know things have gone somewhat awry when your phone goes to “do not disturb” but you’re still hoping for a hot meal. On a school night. Aye well.

Just read the risk assessment for the scouts trampolining. I’m amused we’ll have a horde of 8-12 year old & a tiny cluster of 4-6 year olds. “Age segregation” - well, we can try! Just adds another meaning to “Hunt The Squirrel”, ahem. [miword 150 leaping, no formal injuries, lots of fun & I poured about 20 L of squash for Radiant youth!]

The POA thing is gnawing at me - the basics are really simple, the witnesses I can find at scouts or heritage conservation, just this blinking other bod checking you’re not being coerced. Which? offer help but the legal profession won’t help you over that last hurdle without a fee…. [Getting there.]

Sweet Coz has asked if I fancy a career change handling large datasets but of cctv footage of wildcats rather than financial data. In an area where there are polar bears, moose & lynx. Not sure supermarkets deliver if you’re halfway up a Cairngorm…

Ah, Martin on mortgages. Riveting stuff. Me watching like a hawk as Middleson could be walking into a minefield. Plus whilst I’m not planning to retire yet, I could still be blindsided. 

A propos, this new forum layout is intriguing. Works ok on phone & computer. Figuring the thanks took a few minutes!

Scouts! Made lords a leaping look like sleepy dormice. They moved in orderly blocks in, shed shoes & socks for trampoline socks, through the safety video & then bamf - the whole site covered in little leaping enthusiasts. Some of whom coaxed a soft football from staff (Lord, give me patience).

My second mango seed has sprouted a rootling! The first one took Months - this was weeks… just so happy that my green family is growing. (Bit damp to put any more of it outside though.) Two Mango rootlings pondering soil & growth - it’s just such a buzz! [And today, small shoot sighted! Awed.]

The believed-to-be-mango-later-realised-to-be-lovingly-tended other (named Xenia) has been carefully planted outside. That little plant is getting very watered in.

Started listing insufficiently loved stamps. Either a collector loves them or I trade in what I can as real stamps & use the rest as decorative stickers. Pleasure in trying to get them into loving hands.

Eavesdropping is a vice. Just listening to son planning a week away camping & kayaking in Lake District has me biting my lip to hide the chuckles. Whilst staying curious - last Scottish camp was snowed off so they went to Gran Canaria. I mildly boggle at what they might pick.

Hurrah! Little (relatively) Tesco had terracotta flowerpots the size of buckets - I already have several from previous years still going strong, but am delighted to add another pair to the parade. If the tayberry layerings survive, they will have spacious homes to go to!

Prof Hannah Fry & the nugget that credit card fraudster can be hired on the dark net are paid in bitcoin & require 3 factor identification (most of us clunk along on two)

Only Connect - I love the mischief of the wall…

There’s a mob of beautiful people carriers parked outside the office, every one glossy & immaculate, so I shambled across to chat to the chaps buffing & nattering. Seems they’re ferrying corporate sponsors of the golf over to The Open at Hoylake. The helpful chaps were generous appeasing my hungry curiosity & my colleagues amused & appalled but when you don’t know, you ask & you learn.

 I say, fire drills & old friends & godmother of the 8th of a building now being redeveloped & just happily catching each other up (her vigorously masked as ongoing immune system weaknesses) - I am so lucky to have her as ally & friend!

There’s something about a daisy that is enchanting. From the yah boo sucks to the lawnmower, to the careful stabbing with a fingernail to make a chain, to how the little flowers just show up exposed & bright to the world regardless of fair weather or foul.

Decades ago I bought a Cross biro & never used it (& forgot where it was to give it away). Today it’s found, photo'ed & on eBay & has watchers. All I need now is a bidder!

We’re new trainees & as the old sign about paying your battels started “Gentlemen will, Others must”, I copped a stern glare off my Boss for piping cheerfully that of course completing the HR paperwork, only your bank details were essential. Just next of kin made it easier for the never yet been necessary phone calls. Snarls about “little do you know” & “but we Want their cultural background info” were sotto voce & I casually steered the complete newcomer through it all on the grounds that the others probably had already been chivvied so we could just see what percolated through.

Scouts end-of-summer-term whoopee & waterfight. I donned full unform bar the boots, beads & some jewellery & was soaked as is traditional but I also drenched several scouts, refilled “ammo” tanks & generally had fun too! My skeleton is less certain this was fun but is being ignored as huge grins & scamperings and general happy drenchedness trump a few aches. [Next morning, moving like a waterlogged wheelbarrow & with oh-yes-that-ah-well aches but still grinning.]

Tea. If ever I wonder if the universe is essentially benign or not, tea tends to provide the answer!

Right. Health Strength Love & Courage to all as have need, reliable waterproofs & whatever restorative works by the galore likewise. 

mhagster

Oooft when you have to follow on from a DFV post😆😆

Up early and we went to the beach. First time in a couple of weeks. It was nice and was needed.

Home and a doggy vomited big style! However, it could have been worse…could have been in the car! Poor boy…then another barf a couple of hours later.

Went out ( in between sicks ) with my work bag and sat for an hour, ate a cheese scone and was very productive! 

Washing out. 

Postie came. An unexpected gift from DD1’s recent trip to India. A beautiful cashmere throw.

Oh hello puppy, here for Friday afternoon. Nice to see him but nice to wave goodbye to 😆

Just as they were leaving friends daughter dropped off a beautiful gift for me. Friend makes amazing wool felt creations. It’s stunning and detailed. Love it and love that it was totally unexpected. Two surprises today! 

Nice weather though rain on now. 

Frith

Pleasures for today (Friday)

1) Not a bad sleep.

2) Still no exchange of contracts. They've said it will happen on Monday and moving day is still Wednesday...

3) Took some crockery, books and bigger son's old motorbike jacket to the charity shop.

4) Went to M and S for tea and Arabic.

5) Bought a house plant for my sister's birthday (her request). 

6) Cleaned all the kitchen cupboards out. Boxed up things I don't use very often. Finished the last bit of tidying in the garden. Took down the outside fairy lights. 

7) Using up food from the fridge and freezer. Cooked lots of chicken that can now be used for sandwiches etc. Sausage sandwiches again for smaller son. Fruit made into smoothies. 

8) Next doors will lend me their cat box.

9) Took my friend to watch out football team. We (smaller son and I) were both very much looking forward to this. When we got home, it turned out we were both wondering whether he had enjoyed it or not. I mean, there are endless possibilities as to what he was expecting or what might have made him uncomfortable. 

10) Talked to my school friend on the phone.

Happycas

Good morning.  Rain!  I know only a month ago I was wanting rain, but not every day.  A little moderation please, weather.

Frith- fingers firmly crossed.

VJ's mum - I'm watching Manifest too.  Like the concept but disbelief is at its limit of suspension.

Highdays - I remember last day of term at the school gates and many mums moaning about the 6 weeks stretching ahead.  I kept quiet.  I loved the holidays with the lack of restrictions/ clock watching etc

DfV - your sons are wonderful.  A marvellous reflection of their mum and dad x

Admiral - it's very reassuring to see you back on board. We often need Jenny's help here.  ( is it still Jenny1? I thought you were getting a new one)

Yesterday was beautifully full of nothingness.
A trip out for coffee.
Pot of flowers taken to the cemetery.
Easy tea of oven veg and salmon.
Tying up a few admin loose ends.

And I think today will be more of the same  ( no fingers crossed emoji!)

Happy rainy day everyone

LaineyT

For…….well since I last posted really!

Dropped small dog off with lovely dog sitting pal, the knowledge that she is being so well cared for is the icing on any holiday cake.

After slow drive through heavy rain we made it to the hotel and there was a space in the small, attached car park. Room comfortable with a mini fridge for frugal food choices.

We did treat ourselves to breakfast out both days at the local council cafe en route to ground, much cheaper than other outlets with hot, tasty food and good coffee.

Then finally in the ground, for someone who struggles to sit still at home I have found a remarkable propensity for doing just that for hours watching a game of cricket, how, why I don’t know!

Too many pleasures re the actual game and atmosphere, from the ritual singing of Jerusalem, good natured banter with various Aussies dotted through the crowd, the complete inability to actually see any of Woods super fast bowling nor the sixes flying high into the crowd, two days of complete cricket heaven!

My brother and his pal were also at the game so met up one evening for sushi and cocktails, get me ☺️

Last but not least just spending time with my lovely man, such good company and my best friend.

Highdays

Good morning, everyone.

Good to have you back, Lainey, sounds like a great trip.

Some pleasures:

1) Feeling a lot better, much more like 'me' again.

2) Haven't been anywhere or done very much this week, it's been good to rest and recuperate but starting to get itchy feet now.

3) Weather is just wet, wet, wet. Feel more energised when the sun shines but needs must, we have a home that needs some tlc so will get hubby onto painting scuffed skirting board corners this morning. Am anticipating he won't find this a pleasure however.

4) I am menu-planning for visitors, a shopping trip for supplies later on and I will get the caramel ice cream made and into the freezer in readiness. Debating the clotted cream strawberry too but that might be overkill. Hmm...

5) Water coming out of a tap is a major pleasure when it has been randomly off due to pipe cleaning or some such. We were told this was happening 'over the next two weeks' but not given any notice of it actually going off so no time to prepare. Tea made with sparkling spring water is different, big pleasure was it came back on after a couple of hours. We are so lucky that we can take for granted water will come out when we turn on a tap.

Right, a quick coffee and then I will start directing operation skirting board painting. Now to find hubby who hasn't been seen since I mentioned it earlier. Wonder why?

Have a good day, stay dry if you can.

ampersand

1. Non-stop today, but at least we're not paying to keep things growing.

2. No, 'operationalisatoring' is NOT a word. , especially not from a tory motormouth on R4.

3. Rtc limes in emporium just now will join ditto lemons for a little overnight batch of L+L marmalade later, as a Thankyou for someone.

4. Wonderful kindness of surgery and appointment given for just 10 minutes later! Immediate sthg done and separate biopsy Tuesday.  DG for the NHS, but only & wore a mask, despite notices up asking all entering to do so.

5.  & was cross to find a large padded envelope hurled over gate and soaked.  Diverted to P.O. to show staff, who apologised.  It's this, a true story, written as a fundraiser for Cyclone Gabrielle, back in &'s Aotearoa province, Hawkes Bay.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For no particular reason and same amount of knowledge, & is delighted that Lewis Hamilton is on pole tomorrow.
#
Frith  - fingers x'd for things signed, contracts exchanged, then up, Up and AWAY for Wednesday. 
TRIUMPH - POST DISAPPEARED, BUT IS RETRIEVED.  

Frith

Pleasures for today (Saturday)

1) Not a bad sleep.

2) Park Run first thing. Everyone jolly today. I always feel a bit sad when it is time to go home!

3) Did some Arabic.

4) My brother came round and took all the garden stuff away in his van. He will take it to the new house on Thursday. Then we dismantled the bunk bed and my bed.

5) A man with very good hair took the bunk bed via Freecycle. 

6) I gave up with the 2 loads of wet washing so went to the launderette. 

7) Still using up food but managed 2 tasty meals. 

8) Casualty to watch later, from my mattress on the floorboards !