5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

DundeeDoll

the majority of Traces was filmed in Bolton @Happycas but there is certainly enough for us to go oo look Dundee
I'm now officially off work hooray 
for yesterday
1) took dad's bday present to the postoffice to post and there was no queue hooray
2) my lovely dental surgeon checked and yes she could take the stitch out (i said if it was still doing anything obviously i'd put up with it!)
3) had warned colleague i might be delayed by dental appointment and she moved our online meeting forward 15 minutes so i was in time and was a very good meeting
4) took boys for a super walk - mum got me the i spy christmas as an advent present (she gives me a small gift each Sunday of Advent, very sweet) and I ticked off several items (@frith if you haven't done i spy recently i thoroughly recommend - the original geocaching )
5) then football - very exciting but I don't like penalties

Highdays

Hello again.

Fingers crossed for the scan results, Lainey.

Recent pleasures:

1) Slowly starting to feel a bit better, just overwhelmingly tired.

2) Glad that Christmas will happen here with minimal input from us.

3) MOT booked for January, in the diary so we won't forget.

4) Little fella sent home from school at play time yesterday as he fell on his head in the playground. Big lump but we kept a very close eye on him and all is well today. He is a brave little chap because it must have really hurt.

5) The people who bought my mum's cottage in January have sent photos of the very radical changes they have made. No expense spared and it looks amazing. Mum would have been thrilled with what they have done.

Off to bed, night all.

Happycas

Good morning.  Dark and very windy!  But this should be as dark as it gets.  Lighter days ahead!

I've just had to go out and rescue the green box which had blown into the middle of the street. The lid was at the other side of the road!  It's the one for glass bottles and we're clearly not drinking enough wine to weight it down.  Rehomed the neighbour's blue bin too.  She must not read enough newspapers or have many Amazon deliveries!

I've been awake ages, mostly reading.  Can't watch tv because our telly doesn't like the wind so can only see Netflix etc. No live tv here!

I found a tree topper yesterday.  It's like the one we had when I was achild.  I think it looks like one of the onion domes in Red Square.  DH says it looks like a German helmet from long ago! My childhood one was glass; this is pale gold not-glass but will do until I find something better.  All decorations were half price so MSE too.so

Finished Vigil now.  Can't say I really enjoyed it.  The plot had more holes than a sieve and too many young man with dark hair and beards so I got mixed up.  But DH liked it so we stuck with it! 

Not much happening now.  The bin's bid for freedom will probably be the most exciting thing today.  But that's the way we like it.

Happy windy day everyone. Do take care x

LaineyT

For yesterday,

Finished of preparing the house ahead of our guests arriving, eldest DSS messaged to say flights all ok.

Into Uni city for a haircut, chatted all things football with lovely hairdresser, he’s a Spurs supporter like my lovely man.

Straight over to yard, one lovely vet already on site looking at another horse then the stud one turned up with scanning equipment. The beautiful grey one was quickly sedated and spent the whole procedure with her nose on the floor, completely out of it! The good news is that her ovaries, uterus and cervix are all clear & in good working order, the bad news is we are still no nearer to finding out problem. More bloods were taken to check kidney & liver function and at some point next week yours truly has to obtain an urine sample for checking, wish me luck 🙈 Thank you for all the good vibes, much appreciated x

Home and our guests had arrived, so lovely to see them again. I made a big batch of chilli and we had that with baked spuds.

Played two games and our answers got sillier as the level on the wine bottles went down, ha ha.

mhagster

Up early. Such a wild seriously windy start. I’d stuff all over the garden.
Dentist. All good 😬
Parked at town supermarket so walk downhill meant walk back uphill! 

Dropped off books at local supermarket. Got a few very RTC things.
Home…neighbour had fallen so dealt with that. Luckily she was more shaken than actually hurt.
Then a quick hello doggy then back out again to meet DD2 for lunch. That’s her stopped for Christmas. I had a bagel with cheese and ham that was very nice with soup on the side that was alright.
We got drenched going back to the car. Soaked right through.
Carol and nine lessons concert at church . Was lovely.
Home and hello doggy! I’m not going anywhere else today. 

DundeeDoll

goodness it's blowing a hooley out there
1) a lie in to celebrate first day of leave though did need to do a couple of emergency cover emails as I'm 'on call' then a student called round (she did ask me if it was OK) and delivered a very generous present of wine
2) day 4 of Ralph Vaughan Williams as composer of the week on radio 3
3) town with dd2 -  treated her to lunch - i had bangers and mash
4) then shopping - she's set me a challenge of £10 per stocking - love a challenge - there are 3 of us and several things came in 3s so that's good - decided on pigs in blankets crisps rather than christmas pudding flavour - my i-spy book includes paper chains and happened up on a pack of strips so have split those amongst the 3 of us, will also put in 'make your own christingle' and instruction sheet for paper snowflakes - yep they're in my i-spy book too ;-)
5) choir practice for 4th sunday of advent and midnight mass - it's going to be good! 
and now i'm back home, candles lit, fire lit, cup of tea made and all creatures great and small (sorry to hear about your lack of tv signal happycas) - dd2 is on night shift upstairs, I've taken her a cuppa and she has a 2 hour break at midnight so we'll walk the boys and I'll head to bed - cos of course i'm on annual leave tomorrow

Purple_kitten

Lainey, hope you get some results soon.

For the last 2 days.

1 Popped to the vets and picked up the animal meds, they are feeling festive.

2 Quite a journey but missed the crowds or should I say avoided them.

3 The cake is iced, and I’m chuffed DH was really impressed with it.

4 Cooking up pork belly and sausages in the same heat.

5 The birds falling over themselves on the feeders.

6 Had a rather large bill which is a bit of a shock (a lot of a shock, but able to cover it), I guess its mse as able to cover it, sort of.

1 Popped to aldi which was a large flop, so much for 15p veg, it was boxes and boxes of parsnips and that was it.

2 The house is cleaned up as family will be visiting, I should expand on this the house that people see is clean and tidy, there’s one spare room where stuff has been put thou. 😊

3 Various candles celebrating solstice.

4 A ferret is curled up between us on the sofa so all is well.

LaineyT

For yesterday,

Having loved ones under our roof.

Was up and at em as wanted to get out to the emporium before any of the young people were up, shop was blessedly quiet and I got everything on my list.

Small dog had obviously forgotten that they had stayed and she was sooo excited as they gradually come downstairs.

They headed off late afternoon as had friends to visit, we slumped on the sofa and drank tea.

The festive special of All Creatures, lovely.

Extra one of raising a glass to celebrate Yule and the Winter Solstice, from now on we start turning towards the light 🌞

DigForVictory

Slopes in, getting nearer the Christmas spirit...

mhagster - So for DD2 the start of Yule includes getting soaked to the skin? <passes ginger cordial & steaming kettle>

dundeedoll - love the £10 stocking challenge!

purple kitten - house all up to family visit standards apart from one room - well done! (We stopped inviting family when they commented & wondered what the boys got up to - it had all been vigorously put away!

LaineyT - oh what fun for small dog as More people appear! Hoping beautiful one gets a clear diagnosis soon. Happy Solstice!

OS Pleasures recently

Slightly peeved that the shandy the lads like can now only be bought online. Still, a seasonal knees-up requires stern looks to be set aside. [Youngest charmed, but then he’s the fan of it!]

Rereading “a life with footnotes” - Rob’s book of Terry Pratchett and just awed all over again at the writer & the very beautiful grace with which his assistant steps over the really rough terrain of the last months & leaves the family with so much dignity & privacy, without veiling the love. 

Boggling somewhat at 68 yr old John Whittaker riding at the London international horse show. (The jump designers have happily pillaged the tourist sights, & an Elizabeth line jump is a particular treat.) This is serious competition & he’s still riding & I recall him riding 4 decades ago.

Hah! Youngest up for being hauled through basics of power of attorney “in the event of me going Wibble”. A relief, frankly. When his brother isn’t at work, he too will get the explanation & the challenge - “you up for this?”

Met the concept of breadcrumbing in the relationship arena & am slightly embarrassed - I thought it was just cooking….

Colleague has several more days in the office as infant 9mo will be celebrating First Christmas & his enthusiasm is a bit finite. I cheered him on as a loving mother “remember, one photo for the grandparents & another for blackmail.”

Watching the news & Australia has flooding, & crocs in Queensland streets! Truly the perils of heavy rainfall are unique in Australia. (I hope?!) 

Only connect! So much fun & a spice of terror.

Yikes! Youngest had a mobile phone glitch & didn’t notice…. At least he’s back in touch with his driving instructor, if not with me. (Ah, priorities.)

The “teddy fleece” blanket I wear as an indoor cape has had an upgrade so Youngest & I can celebrate swathed cozily & washably. My boss adores her “heaty blanket” (as does her cat!) but I prefer something I can fling into the washing machine without anxiety. [Added one of Himself’s belts, being worn as a féileadh-mór]

“I pronounce you man & wife. Proceed with the execution.” I love “the African Queen”…

Pondering how come you can bribe and blackmail a child (up to a point) but cats? Bribery only. They have us humans taped.

Snuggled in bed reading (ah, holiday bliss!) my alarm went off. To remind me that fun though a good read is, I am expected in various places today & once dressed I need to sort wardrobe changes for a funeral (in Yorkshire, forecast gusting & raining) & later a Scout Christmas party. Hopefully no tears there!

Homeowner appears to have bought new bath towels in a café-au-lait colour that will not ever look seriously clean. They were cheaper than white - ye gods his priorities!

An odd pleasure but comforting - I have both a roll of black ribbon & still vigorous rosemary plants to cut & tie a bunch. The bereft daughters have been consulted & agree so there’ll be no sudden frozen pauses and wild eyed silent consultation. [Beautiful, but ye gods Yorkshire wind & rain horizontal.]

I’m channelling my Inner Cat & finding both the warmest & most inconvenient place to roost. On the staircase, seemingly.

The lads have bickered over whether I am now or have ever been a hoarder. A collector, yes. I then inherited my husband’s life work of restoring old tools, his libraries of books, his collections of things.

A daft Facebook thing invited me to conjure my dragon  [Your name backwards] of [current mood], hoarder of [last thing you ate] and [thing to your left]. This generated

Gid of snug-under-duvet, Hoarder of scones & pillows… I can’t help but feel the algorithm needs work as that doesn’t capture my draconic range.

Christmas radio the doors “people are strange” - a refreshing change from fairytale & all the happy stuff. (I love that too, but I like being startled - it’s not always a bad thing.)

Colleague enthusing about buttered toast, “proper Irish salty butter” & intrigued that someone else almost burns the toast to get the caramel sweet taste then soaks in the salty butter. (Just judging the tipping point tends to include the smoke detector.)

Setting up the crib. Playmobil figures, simple pleasures. (Lads somewhat appalled that I both have them & love them. An additional piece in the hoarder bickering.)

So glad it’s not just our TV that’s taken up bring weather sensitive. Granted the blusterings are peppy enough to give most structures a testing, but it’s frustrating when you’re three quarters in to Midsomer & awaiting the denouement!

Listening to the Dark is Rising & remembering the vivid physicality of a young Simon McBurney at the Dartington summer school of music (he ran workshops in movement - one shoulder exercise I still remember & use occasionally decades later) & now the guiding tones as Narrator.

“To absent friends, lost loves, old gods & the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due.” Neil Gaiman. (Should you need a toast in the next few hours…)

Sons helping me repot the lemon seedlings (one of which is a hearty  2'6" extrovert & the other a just over 1' introvert (under those leaves I'm sure it's reading something). I will have to rearrange the windowsill!

Health Strength Love & Courage to all as have need & even as the days At Last begin to lengthen, do please check any emergency torches you have still have working batteries. (So you know where to find at least one, should someone Desperately Need a battery on Christmas Day. The Fates dictate it almost certainly will be the wrong size, but that's not guaranteed.)

mhagster

Hello. 

Up early. Had a nice chat with DD1.
Did housework in the morning.
Did a bit of work stuff.
Went to beach. It was crazy wild. 

Was very kindly given things to give to my neighbour who fell yesterday. So, so kind. Dropped them off then her daughter popped in to see me and say thank you. 

Pup dropped off.
Then I went for a reiki session. It’s been a while ( as in probably a couple of years) parked halfway as there’s a local event on taking up loads of normal parking spaces. 

Home and local Santa /charity float went by…was soaked once again!