5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

Suffolksue

Hope the dog recovers DD
I ,too,have been MIA for ages 
Its 11 weeks since my new hip and it’s fantastic ,walking well ,only slight problem is the angina has been playing up again and so some jiggling of drugs by my lovely GP 
some successful some not so but I’m sure we’ll get there .

Most important pleasure is that DGS1 ( my late daughters son) achieved the A level grades he needed for his first uni choice to study politics !
He was only 5 when his Mum died and has had a very stormy path through life ,was written of by his primary school ,doesn’t get on with his Dads new partner etc 

I am so proud of him as his Mum would’ve been  ,I am proud anyway but was in tears on Thursday mornings I was the first person he told ! 

Had a great day out yesterday with my History Group to a fairly local (next county ) Rural Life Museum and old Workhouse ,many years since I’d been ,but the pleasure was being able to walk every where with no pain etc 

Hope all are well and GKs all achieved their aims 

Highdays

Morning all.

Suffolksue - that is wonderful news about your grandson, you have every right to be burstingly proud.

So my pleasures 1-5 today are grandchildren. Mine, too, have had their share of trauma with a particularly brutal split up of their parents and their family home during Covid - and I don't think we can underestimate the effects of that on youngsters either, our littlest grandson was six/seven and often in tears that we were all going to die and there would only be him left. Dreadful. My bairn was devastated (as were we) and became a single dad overnight and for a while the boys were shifted from pillar to post with us trying to provide some physical and emotional stability. Anyway, all water under the bridge but does add a certain extra pride when they achieve against the odds and our eldest grandson also got the A Level grades he needs and now has three confirmed offers on the table. 

We are away with littlest fella this weekend, always a total joy, and then middle grandson gets his GCSE results on Thursday, he's got two under his belt already so hopefully will get what he needs to move up to sixth form college next month. Couldn't be more proud of all of them, a total pleasure and joy.

Off to do some packing, hope you have a great weekend.

Suffolksue

Congratulations to your DGS too Highdays 
agree about the emotional effects of Covid on our young .

mhagster

Hello. DD my childhood holidays were spent at Monifieth…it’s where my fear of thunder and lightning comes from! Being on the beach in a storm! 

Up early ( but the difference was I’d went to bed a lot earlier than I have been) dozed off again then up with dog just before 6am.

not so skinny club but it’s okay as I knew it was how it was going to be. Too much ‘life stuff with house’ going on.

Anyway doggy was in the car so we went straight to caravan. We were there for about 8.15am…and hurrah for good journey there and back today! 

Three coats of darker paint on lower kitchen cabinets. Need another final one  and then I need to do the kick boards too. Probably won’t go down tomorrow. Need to do stuff in the garden here.

DD2 and Pup came for a  visit and whilst she was there she saw a tripod lamp on marketplace in beach  town . So off I went to collect it…yikes, over the country backroad that goes up high and windy and then down , down ( to my maybe schmaybe little village) …I just kept saying I don’t like this, I don’t like this! But came back that way with a high, high and then down down…still saying I don’t like this! Quick chat with lady who was selling it and admired her lavender in her front garden. It was superb! Lamp is for home…as it’s getting darker earlier and oh guess where my lamps are? In a blooming container! 

Walk with dogs then they left and I started the painting. 

And I had my first caravan snoozette 😆 me on one sofa and dog on another! 

Waited till the rain stopped then headed home. Nice drive back. 

Had a ready meal doodah from the freezer. 

And going to have another earlier night. 

DigForVictory

Staggers back in after Ye Gods Far Too Long! Sorry, RL & it's an anniversary of Dad passing & exam results and uni decisions & paperwork.

LaineyT - the heat has made sleep one of the bigger pleasures! No swallows? All off travelling. What's your thinning technique? I imagine the grooming parlour is bringing joy wherever it stops in the heat! Thanks to you, caught up with Only Connect! Aerobics at the trot.

Highdays - my sympathies with anniversaries but hurrah for Legendary crumbles! I do like a tram. The uncertainty of "where am I?" is reduced a lot. Huge congratulations at seeing your grandson ready to launch and all best to Middle Grandson in turn!

mhagster - there are not words I am allowed to use on this forum about the whole house thing but  just wishing you so much better luck with the caravan & whatever comes. Line drying is such a joy if the weather cooperates. The return of the coolth! And also then of more rain than is comfortable to drive in. All the work you do on the caravan is for your enjoyment, I hope?

weenancyinAmerica - over here we get told not to sit for too long with sciatica, so I'd advocate a really nice brandy. Have you considered decorating the walker so its slightly less vile to be around? (So many here are default grey, to see a spray job & Christmas lights gets an array of startled grins.)

Frith - how goes the 1960s glass lampshade hunt? Invaded by cats! Yikes the perils of astronomy amongst people who aren't here for the meteorites. Love the "had a burst of activity". Nine Mens Morris is great fun - the lads thrash me at it regularly & it has the huge merit of being a credible game across centuries.

Happycas - Monday night quiz? Sounds good, far more fun that sciatica but at least you can choose to quiz. Any slip is a near nightmare to find, yet you can get "shapewear" in vile fabrics - I very nearly ended up chopping up a pillowcase. (Ended up with a wired nylon petticoat which looks OK under the dress but is a nightmare to drive in!)

Purple Kitten - I am horrified to hear of ferrets ailing & awed at your determined & practical love. Oh Truffle. In the very best of care. Fingers crossed for Fuse & all the rest.

DundeeDoll - while the dog isn't in pain, he's (rightly) sat on your heart. 

SuffolkSue - rousing cheers on very nearly there with both hip & heart, and absolute fandango at DGS1 off to Uni - may all go well!

OS Pleasures recently - An Edit (& yet!)

As the start of “summer” last scout meeting is traditionally a waterfight, I have bought water pistols. (I’m sure we have an armoury of possible weapons just they’re all stashed where the chaps who haven’t left an inventory.) Youngest, accepting my explanation, opined “Sweet. Packing’ heat.”

Whoo-ee, me the film star - all of one line so no Equity card needed but they liked my voice. All a film about weaving across time & culture so not likely to trouble Disney & partly filmed at the local weaving museum, hence me getting a phone call to come form a crowd (of 4 of us) Great fun!

Middleson taking mum out to lunch. And bringing book shelving back for me. He knows how to keep his womenfolk happy! 

Oh my. Youngest about to say “pay my student loan into my old children’s bank account”, Wholly Unaware of all the potential freebies (or what an overdraft is!) - sat firmly in front of MSE to learn better!

As I prepare to wrestle setting up “streaming” Youngest cheers me on “let me know when you’re ready I’ll show you the beheading videos & the best gory websites”… (house slang for my adored Midsomer)

Woo, family tree climbing I have a relative busted in Portugal for writing a dud cheque. Only 4 years after he was married, but the wife is unnamed whereas the judicial system names his mother & father in full. (Admirably: I now have his mother’s maiden name!)

Got the bedlinen onto the line but not quite dry, so it’s now draped under a roof beam & the heat rising is finishing the job nicely. I’m roasting! Still the citrus plantation is powering on happily & baby sis’ view that lemon trees are auspicious checks out with Google. Should make Christmas easier! 

Off for groceries “I’ll go put on my cape” & we agree he’s a vampire & I’m his Igor… (trumps Parker, I think) {and now this little Igor has backache. You can’t win.}

I see the Nipah virus is warming up & am pondering the observation “While not everyone living near fruit bat colonies will contract nipah virus” with a certain wry grin - we have a team nicknamed fruit bats. Doubt they’ll infect anyone but more handwashing rarely a bad idea.

Shocked at the dujardin episode & the timing. Best of luck to Becky Moody and her horse Jagerbomb!

Scout planning. I need to practice my potato carving so we can make unique Christmas cards.

The smoke detector may be a lifesaver or the death of me. Lurching upright to totter downstairs to see why it’s going beep, I realise I’ve been curled up with a book long enough to get stiff! 

Eva Cassidy songbird on the radio. Glorious, then ‘love actually’ memory dinged…

Giggling at an early sewing bee & the ladies ruthlessly examining chaps' trouser waistbands. Including Patrick’s. Oh my!

Ah family tree climbing. When a chap is born, baptised & then plain disappears I think I have to presume died young. I could always blue an extra wad on global ancestry coverage but I’d rather save up for the MOT.

Gosh the young can be challenging “Have you ever tried grafting mum ?” (As in working dashed hard, only when I loathed the job. As in gardening, not got the rootstocks [yet] but know the theory.)

This ‘childless cat ladies’ thing has been attributed to JDP & oh a lot of memes make more sense now. (Although I really am still somewhat baffled by ‘brat’, and now "very demure very mindful" - my poor Scouts!)

Youngest checked the cupboards & freezer & halved the shopping list. Middleson donated platelets. I sprawl in the heat Hugely Proud of both.

It is possible the chap who makes the pizza thinks I need feeding up. But we have lovely chats.

A colleague has managed to run a lawnmower over his foot. He’s still alive & stitched back into credibly healing human form even as the gossips speculate wildly. Meanwhile I accompanied his trainee out on a visit with excellent outcomes & will be writing words of praise.

Just tickled by the artistic gymnastics Google doodle!

The Italian backstroke gold winner on the podium looked like a Michelangelo carving around the eyes & mouth - very impressive.

Aw, the Americans really struggle with how to frame the talent that is Stephen Nedoroscik. As Clark Kent memes only go so far & he’s remarkable, but he’s on the same national Olympics team as Simone Biles. Still, he’s a handy engineer as well as gymnast!

“This app takes its sweet time opening up. Can relate.” Honestly. Who’d have thought opening a bank account could be amusing? Apparently I’m his Igor. (Again. Still, no backache this time.)

I do love youngest’s list for visiting grandma, it includes his big kitchen knife. He tried to use hers & found them all blunt bent or borked, sharpened what he could & has since packed a slab of Sheffield steel of his own.

Meters read, photos stashed, readings submitted. It’s the little satisfactions.

Amidst the happy sweetness & crumbs of Eccles cakes, what the Dickens is a “ceremonial county” (of Greater Manchester) - we presumed Eccles cakes originated in Eccles to find Eccles is in the historic county of Lancashire. Some mornings Wikipedia leaves you gnawing on electrons, wanting more…

Despite hideous photo, have completed form for replacement driving licence for mum. Should whisht fuss about “evidence of identity”.

My aunt kept a notebook of observations on her newborn baby, detailed on the first, sketchier (as always) on the second & third & it made me weep with recognition & laughter at new hatched parent, new hatched chick. Mum startled by tears but I’m so touched & somehow so close to all slightly stunned parents. Seems firstborn’s christening cake was iced as a family effort mother, grandmother & her father!

Dear gods. The drive, the groceries, the laundry & now (hurrah) the slump with pint of tea. It’s cooler up here. Best, the prospect of my own bed! (Have edited out multiple repetitions of just how much I do love my own bed.)

Alarm at 6 to fetch Middleson from shift then in into office then wrestle insurance but am home now & cuddled up to pint of tea.

Former boss very positive about action to take to get possible promotion. Not certain either of us wholly convinced but see her point job needs doing, & well, & I happen to be handy.

Two colleagues away as wives imminently expectant or delivered - great to have team babies! Us older parents cheering on the younger ones….

Coached two utter new-to-team on a questionnaire we use & why each question has freight. Then hauled both through unlocking the tackle drawer & issued them with sealed memory sticks as those things are as vital to us as working pens!

Loving wife asked husband if brew to taste: “satis thanks” came the reply, & their baby daughter “caught” this new word muttering darkly “satis, satis”. (This wee sweetie now my one of my older & wiser cousins but we both love the right word.)

Youngest has his new back account! When he discloses the sort code & account number, I can set up the parental contribution standing order. A proud moment. Test single pound sent, first. Proud, yes. Willing to fling sums of money into the aether without evidence of safe landing, no.

The Leylandii has been felled! Suddenly there’s much more light in our room. Now to see how the front garden plants do, without that shade, or competition for water. I may lug the tubs of lavender forward as they do need light.

Finally watched Becky Moody ride Jagerbomb to Tom Jones. Glorious!

As today’s visiting team assembled, I think we ticked every visible diversity box, but my colleagues have been scrupulous about checking Everyone home safe. Slightly amused they worried about us “girls” but I do not want to find out if a flung rock can discriminate. Also, plaster casts do make washing more difficult & I really don’t think the lads want to venture into those soapy waters.

Oh my. Denby mug spotting on celebrity bake off. (Denby Azure Coast Large Mug If you wanted to bicker over biccies like Pru & Paul? Beautiful, expensive & surprisingly heavy, but keep a brew warm for ages.)

Couldn’t remember “page and monarch forth they went”, brain suggested “sage & haddock” & imagination promptly slotted in wise old boffin & Captain Haddock…. 

Booking up on the transport industry, I see animals start with industrial quantities of cats & dogs & I am now politely fascinated, who wants a pallet of assorted dogs? Horses & edible livestock I understand. Ulp the paperwork though! 

Ah crunchy peanut butter on Bonio. Yes, the dog biscuit. The plain one. All that scrunch!

Saw a line in comments in YouTube “music is a Time Machine” - that it is. Especially dire straits your latest trick & the rest of the brothers in arms album.

We have fibre! Struggling to get the tv to accept this, but Amazon working without tears. Ministry of ungentlemanly warfare playing splendidly. Lovely Ritchie romp!

Kitlist for 36 hours away almost as bad as a week & fellow Scout leader confirmed this is Always the way. This will be strictly work, but I should get fresh haggis… Going from broiled to rain, oh good. 

11 hours driving, happily in chunks & a hire car so can relax a bit, or try to! Weird new gizmos like reversing camera, I feel very behind the times! Know how to pop bonnet & fuel cap, indicate & start the car (brake & clutch….) Lots of cup holders (how very Simpsons!) It may have been a hybrid - It was distinctly awkward on some roundabouts.

Completed the “where are you” for voting. Just two of us here now. Wryly amused they ask After elections done but good to see GDPR being abided by.

I say, Newcastle upon Tyne has traffic issues. That or when I’m there it goes sideways. Still, home & in several folks good books, on the day the promotion advert comes out. (Argh but Hm?!…)

It’s getting to the stage where if something isn’t on my “to do” list, it certainly will not happen, which is why I scrabble desperately at my phone when I remember things! 

Still boggling at all that light in the bedroom. Awakening early too. Still the right thing to do from house insurance perspective. I can learn to sleep earlier or upgrade the curtains.

Only connect is back! Wonderful! <off to rummage iplayer> “an amalgamated cassowary”?! Only Only Connect! You don’t realise how much fun missing vowels are, til you play another round. (And win.) [against yourself]

Right That is Quite Enough. Health Strength Love & Courage to all as have need, don't let student loan company paperwork get you down & one blessing of the "cruise control" thing is you can be much more certain you have not inadvertently exceeded the speed limit.

Frith

My meagre offerings after a DfV post!

Well done to your grandson, SS. 

Pleasures for today (Saturday)

1) A lie in. I had a lovely dream that I had entered into a Secret Santa and my Santa had bought me some soft purple socks with a white ammonite design. 

2) Pottered around in the morning.

3) An exciting afternoon at the football as our team won 3-0! 

4) Fed bigger son's cats afterwards. He is camping. 

5) I am still making courgette chutney. I started at about 6. 

6) Made toad in the hole for tea with peas and carrots.

7) Watched Casualty. 

Purple_kitten

DD, glad you are enjoying the time with the boy wonder x.

DfV, I had been wondering how you were.

1 Up and out very early to travel to in laws and take to appointments, a pleasure being able to help and catch up.

2 We were treated to lunch and dinner a lovely portion of fish and chips.

3 It was nice to sit out in their garden and natter.

4 The greeting when we get back in.

1 A wee sleep in.

2 We popped out to a local garden centre that had half price off all so we could finally afford an Acer tree. We also found a perfect memorial rose tree, I mean it helped that they had free tea and cake…Enjoyed it but can't help wondering about us moving away still, althou we aren't quite ready to go to market yet, the place will look loved, but might have to take a few things with us...

3 Made a curry with brown rice for tea, with leftover bits for tomorrow.

4 Started on some of the gardening, got bitten by night midges gave up and came in.

5 A soak in the bath.

LaineyT

It’s so tough watching them grow old isn’t it DD, we have good days, we have bad days but every day is precious.
I use a Solocomb to thin out my mare’s mane DFV, much kinder than a traditional pulling comb.

For yesterday,

An early cuppa and reading in bed.

Out to the farm shop for breakfast and we picked up some of their fab Suffolk bacon while we were there. It was busy as lots of families out and about.

Busy morning, made a loaf, changed the bed then worked in the garden, warm in the sunshine but not overly hot thank goodness, small dog mooched about as well.

Over to see my horse, bit of work done then a gentle meander around the farm before turning out. I wandered over to pick her a few blackberries and when I turned back she was rolling, big old belly up to the sun and legs waggling in the air, always makes me smile to see.

The nearly full moon rising in the sky, eerily orange behind hazy clouds.

mhagster

For today.

Up early but then went back to bed. 

Picked up some paint from old work for DD2 then over to hers and then we went out and I spent an awful lot of money ! Maybe not a lot to many people but as someone who doesn’t spend too much it seemed a lot! Anyway went to HB, TKMaxx, B&M  and Dunelm…all of which apart from TKMaxx I don’t much like as there’s just too much stuff! Anyway I got the stuff I needed /wanted for caravan life. 

Back to hers and my wee car was full! As I had to squeeze in the tripod lamp I got yesterday.

And back home and hello doggy. I know I was away ages shopping I should have stayed home with you! Would have been cheaper 😆

Popped into her local co-op on way back and got lovely RTC gladioli in a lovely shade of lilac. And a pizza ( for Tuesday Tea) and ice cream ( well that had to be tasted) deal. 

Ooh just had to run out there and get the washing in as the rain started! 

Been mainly dry but actually a bit cool, I had to go and put a jumper on an hour ago. 

Just going to hoover and wash floors. And I need to do a tiny amount of work, save doing it tomorrow. 

Frith

Pleasures for today (Sunday)

1) Not a bad sleep.

2) Went to M and S as I didn't pay for my cup of tea last time (the till was broken). They said I could have it for free for being honest. So had another cup of tea (paid for) and talked to my friend who works there then read my book.

3) Went to Sainsburys and saw some enamel baking trays. I've had my eye on them for ages but they are £11 each. I never go to Argos but I thought I would look online for similar and exactly the same tray is sold at Argos (which is within Sainsburys) for £5 !

4) Just bought potatoes, onions and cat food from Sainsburys.

5) Went to bigger son's house to feed his cats again. I phoned him up to see if I could open the window (their usual exit). 

6) Was fed up this afternoon so thought I would write a list and I completed the following:

Rubbish out
Tomatoes and other pots watered
Hoovered downstairs and porch
Cleaned the glass of the porch (i.e 99% of the porch) and the floor
Weeded the beds around the front lawn
Cut the front lawn 
Moved my car and weeded and brushed the drive then hosepiped it clean
Moved the home grown garlic from in the garage because something keeps getting in there and throwing it around!
Repotted the coriander in the kitchen 
Washing away, dishwasher emptied and yesterday's chutney jars washed down and put away

7) Made jacket potatoes for tea with cheese and beans plus rice pudding.