5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

Happycas

Good afternoon.  A bright sunny day after lots of overnight rain.  DS just rang me while driving over Woodhead pass and informs me the reservoir is filling up again!

Highdays Thank you for the kind wishes.  And yes, we had Mischievous Night in Leeds when I was growing up.  It often involved pinching wood from other people's bonfires.  But as they pinched it from yours, everybody ended up with as much as they started with!
We also had parkin pigs.  Like a gingerbread man but a pig and only sold around bonfire night.  Not seen one of those for years.

Met some friends for lunch yesterday.  Lovely to see them and had a good natter but the drive home confirmed that neither of us likes driving in the dark anymore. Think we will try to avoid that in the future.

Was going to make sweet potato soup when I found we only had three small ones left.  Not worth starting for that so they can go in tomorrow's oven veg instead.

DD got me a sort of generic Air Wrap for my birthday.( glad she didn't pay for a real one!) so I've been having a play with that.  I think with a bit of practice I'll be able to master it.  My hair is very fine and tends to just lie flat but we'll see.

Finished Trigger Point so will start Shetland tonight.  But I still miss Jimmy Perez.

Happy Wednesday everyone

mhagster

And so at 5pm the booms and bangs have begun. One terrified dog. 

Anyway up early. 

Had to pick up DD2 for a medical appointment…didn’t even attempt the car park…parked in a nearby street and walked! 

Then grabbed a doggy on the way back to drop her off at work and we had a nice walk even though it was rainy. The river was back! ( just very deep puddles all merging in to a stream) so he had fun splashing his way through that.

Then picked up The Pup. 

Home. Chat to sister. I’d sent her some seeds from my sweet peas in my garden and she hadn’t received them…but got a card from Royal mail saying she has to pay postage on an item. That was stamped and sent two weeks ago! Grrr! 

Made a chicken and veg pie which is just in the oven. DD2 here for tea when she finishes work. 

Hoovered, washed floors and cleaned downstairs loo. 

Call from car garage to say part is in and to drop it off at 8am…sigh! Haven’t we already done this already? 

LaineyT

Poor Haggis, hope he’s ok now 🐾

For yesterday,

A mild, breezy day and lots of beech leaves coming down.

Over to the yard in the morning and did some horsey pilates with my girlie, also set up a new energiser next to her fence which 🤞will keep her in her own field! 

Capt S wfh so lunch together.

Long chat with my brother.

C dog had her latest check up with the V E T S and more medication picked up. Later tea so by the time Shetland came on we were both dropping off so will need to watch again.

mhagster

Last night was awful. Four hours of constant bangs and booms and one terrified dog who was hyperventilating/shaking/ heart racing for every one of those four hours. And a few have been going off tonight. I just hate that my dog is so distraught. 

Anyway 

up early and dropped car off ( sigh) at 7.50am. Walked into town and went in to  a coffee shop that was opened at 8am. Had some very nice toast and jam. 

Then popped into workplace and had a nice chatter and then up the road to get car. 

Then over to pick up Pup. 

And home. And I’m not going back out said to my doggy, so we had a snuggle and I started a new library book that I’m really enjoying. 

Made lentil soup which is delicious. DD2 in for her tea and her doggy. 

After a grey start it brightened up into a pleasant afternoon. Nice sunset. 

And just enjoyed an orange! 

Frith

Pleasures for today (Thursday)

1) Not a bad sleep. 

2) Picked up my friend and her daughter at 10 and we went to Costa. 

3) Dropped them off then went to Waitrose for a cup of tea and to do the crossword. 

4) Weeded all the front garden and edging. 

5) Cleaned the garage. The cat (nearly 20) has decided it is her toilet (despite an open door to the garden plus a litter tray). So i clean it daily but it had a hosepiping out as well today. 

6) Cleaned the porch, tidied up, cleaned the entire dining room, hoovered all downstairs. 

7) Smaller son made our tea. 

8) Did jobs I've been ignoring such as charging the ring doorbell and sorting out the winter hats for washing. 

9) We like playing Geoguesser online and watching YouTube videos by Alloverthemap. He's in the US but tries to identify UK towns. Tonight he had our town!

10) Very excited by the Traitors final. Bought a carrot cake from Waitrose so we'll have that with a pot of tea. 

ampersand

Well, we know that we've burgered up our planet, so here's &'s example.
1. Couldn't believe it, but yes, spotted en route to midweek Communion this morning. & has TWO strawberries growing, at last.  None until now.
2. ...and her ONE tomato continues, too. Usually have a glut.
3. Wonderful emporium chickens, their own Leckford Farm chaps, Large, rtc £2.43! - down from £7.50-ish.  3 bought and distributed.  & is sticking to her Eating-From-the-Freezer pledge.

4. Even saw some strange little violets on church path this morning.5. Nexus' G sorted new-from-them Blaupunkt DAB radio for &. A good £10 spend.🙂
#
Left rugby training, with all v.v. warm on a day some said tipped 18⁰C!
Tried emporium's new pistachio croissants, rtc yesterday, 59p.  Won't bother again.  No idea where the pistachios were hiding.🫣😁

LaineyT

For yesterday,

A morning trip into Uni City for a haircut, great chat as always with lovely hairdresser.

Home to C dog and after lunch we had a game in the garden, we do fetching a ball very well now but can be easily distracted by birds, squirrels, leaves falling…..

Over to see my other girl, her winter coat is fully through now but the current mild weather means she is warm so a good groom to get rid of all itchy bits and some more Pilates.

A stunning sunset on the drive home.

Watched and enjoyed the Traitors final.

DigForVictory

shambling back, repentant & hugely grateful for your generosity with the good stuff which has kept me rolling through the odd wobbly patch

mhagster - cross stitch!? (makes me cross) "nice thing" - very canny! A proper platter. Ooh, night driving not fun. Tablet cupcakes? wow! Oh poor Haggis - these nasty bangs. A lovely way to remember a birthday. "mince and tatties", ooh yum! Still car troubles? Might valerian help Haggis? (Sis dosing her Labs into drowsy calm.)

Highdays - the dark is sudden & formidable. Hoping the monitor on your brother has provided useful reassuring data? "Middle grandson is 18" - congratulations, you child bride! Mischief Night - happily upheld by our scouts.

Purple kitten - awed at watching til the RRP drops by 70%! Love a ramble and "ferrets had lots of adoration"! I like chatting with much older gents, too, they're appreciative & strangely very knowledgeable. Love picking up "ferret chicken". Ah the washing. Ferrets not fans of bangs either?

weenancyinAmerica - family tree climbing is a marketable skill (a great aunt worked for my grandfather, testing 'missing heir' claims - she would view DNA as nearly cheating!)

LaineyT - a very thick dressing gown is a special pleasure. Always good to know & cherish folks who can fix oil-fired boilers! Even if they can't coax another few years from the occupant. "found an egg from one of the yard chickens"! Clear skies & star gazing, covet! Rev Richard & the shipping forecast <off to iplayer>  There is something very rewarding in mending loved clothes. Do please see Uncle as soon as he's fit enough to receive visitors? Oooh,  screech owl! "horsey pilates" sounds loads of fun. "easily distracted" - she's relaxing.

Suffolksue - Christmas cake making with family is a lovely thing & atta girl at scrabble (BoP check your laurels?!) Always good to get out and party - can't dance Every time.

Frith - tv with a hwb - good shout! ah shuttling brother whilst his car is sorted. Bigger son still in negotiations with dentist? Love the preparations before you watch TV. "work was bearable" - better but I do wish they would appreciate you more. Underdogs need support too. Very right to enjoy a roast dinner you haven't had to cook. Gosh yes cats & where they choose....

DundeeDoll - soda crystals save a lot of lamenting later. A lunchtime jog - awed respects. far be it from me to judge you "taming your office", mine's in something of a state. love rehearsal then requiem mass for All Souls Day - heady stuff. 

ampersand - delighted you are merciless with handfuls of emporium green tokens too. Addenbrookes, courtesies & precautionary approach to HWB! Stockton and Darlington was the Start of steam powered passenger rail! The DAB radios are fun & cor, emporium chickens!

Happycas - hoping achy week is wearing off and hurrah DGD! Love the sound of parkin pigs - may plant the idea with the young & see what happens.

 

OS pleasures recently (ah, three weeks worth, oops)

Scouts celebrating Diwali without fireworks or mercy. Glad the dogs were another week! Yet I do wonder how the coconut & condensed milk truffles are being met - coconut is the marmite of the nut world! (Think they might be fun after another 24 hours letting the condense milk infuse the coconut.)

A bowl of home made stew with a home grown bay leaf clearly part of it.

My bed. Not yet hot water bottle season, quite, but oh, the raw comfort.

“This year will be a test now I’ve had my hedge removed” - it still sounds like a euphemism, but sis is looking forward to her central hearing boiler working without hedge leaf blockage issues.

Found a copy of a reference book! (Second hand, better still.) On aerogrammes (I always loved the Christmas specials & then the ones in Welsh…) so can soon catalogue my lot per Adby. Should keep me out of mischief over Christmas. (Unless I decide to fill in identified gaps.)

Hurrah the NHS & antibiotics (even if the pills do dreadful things to my sense of humour). Seemingly, my sunny good nature depends on my gut biome. 

Pharmacist adamant I am short on my tickover pills - prepping includes agreeing cheerfully as this will buy me an extra fortnight not having to go out when we have snow & ice.

I am to go a-visiting in Warrington next week. Then drop the hire car off, pack a bag & head south to mum. (What could possibly go wrong?!) I enjoy the cheerful calls arranging matters. (And am hugely blessed my boss nodded through finite mileage of own car.)

Youngest opines raisins & sultanas are the same & has been educated “they’re different fruit!” & chided “your palate is deplorable!” In stereo…

QI closing quote “ We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and'.” Arthur Eddington

Why do smoke detectors wait til the small hours to let you know their battery is failing? And why did I think it kindly to leave the young to sleep as I shambled about hunting the gizmo. [Gave up, went back to bed, slept worryingly fine.] As son located it (fastened to the ceiling, where it should be, where it never occurred to me to look) & relocated it to the cutlery drawer downstairs & we’ve not heard a cheep since. (Small electrical recycling bin ho, when I can find one…)

I am crisply informed that “old bat” & “beloved” share certain syllables & obediently I toddle off out of the way. (To examine the hypothesis & find it wanting, but to appreciate the gist. Especially as it’s raining, & he’s lugging the shopping.)

“All possible sympathy short of actual help” is a phrase my father used from time to time & it has stuck in family vocabulary. Filed near “I hear what you say” (which I gather is supposed to be empathetic or something positive) and yet my lot use it rather differently.

Taking sartorial snark off Youngest who has one fleece jacket that fits under another whereas I “flap around like a bat”. Coaxing him through the formalities of the paperwork to quit his degree course and wind up his account with the student loan company. (No holding breath, his grip on life admin is tenuous.)

The smoke detector is still cheeping & youngest likens it to the Poe short story “the tell tale heart” and mocks my ignorance, but at girls school, there were beady eyes & horrors enough without Poe. (Netball, statistics & the food all spring to mind.) Deo g I am past that.

My work clothes are clean folded & ready to go. Laptop cased & in workbag. Extramural garb folded neatly in another bag, (ready for the addition of steel toe capped boots & thick socks). Phone alarms set to remind me to take my antibiotics at the right times. Live yoghurt ready to eat to mitigate some of the effects thereof. Now to sleep & see how many of the plans are derailed by events before noon tomorrow.

Amusing to listen to estates & the heating squad politely duking it out up on our floor. Which at my end is cold for the fifth week running & they’re unwilling to send someone in each Monday to switch on space heaters… Amusing as they don’t always realise who is eavesdropping.

Colleague has joker quote as wallpaper "Madness is like gravity... all it takes is a little push," Not wholly certain how to respond other than agree, amazing actor. 

Aww, colleague wfh as plumber due & ending a call with me understanding “gosh yes go ply the plumber with the good biscuits!”

More calls planning things, researching data  & winding up the springs for Wednesday & Thursday…

The absolute joy of bring late to the party is listening to Bruce Springsteen Nebraska album & whoo! This isn’t stadium pop but much more sat closer, thinking harder, wrestling with things & it’s not easy listening but it is compelling stuff!

Youngest deriding me for “forgetting curry”. (I didn’t want to hustle him, earlier.)

Found myself talking a colleague out of some school governor training as he’s moving south before it’s of use to his school  & it’ll cost them. Better to find them a friend who’s staying north, who can do the school trips & take the lads to the loos as several staff chirped delightedly on his arrival… He grinned ruefully & agreed.

It is now hot water bottle season & oh my happy cosy toes. 

Tomorrow may include a stock check which is fine, just we have safety gear protocol & the lad who’s proposing 'we swing by & help' may not have the boots & helmet. (Hasn’t, “just a positive attitude”, fortunately not tested.)

Coughing colleague has a home brew of honey ginger cloves & basil. The cloves actually make sense from a home pharmacy perspective having painkilling capabilities as well as assorted anti- bacterial, inflammatory, oxidant etc. Given I usually spice my honey & ginger with black pepper, I’m clearly missing a trick. (He still got told to go home before we came down with anything.)

Youngest has grouched the pepper mill makes adding a teaspoonful of pepper to his chili slow & wants to buy ready ground. Met with an unexpected ‘no way!’ from me, as my beleaguered palate can identify freshly ground black pepper, whereas the ‘tipped out of a pot’ stuff quickly lacks pep.

I say, Middleson now has a statement wall! Glorious Jasperware blue making the cream walls look a bit grubby & bare & the table lost under a rather nice curtain I’d have swapped our front room ones for, but there you go. He’s doing a good job & that’s reassuring.

We watched an episode of Alien Earth & there are several unpleasant characters & offhand I have a bad feeling they’re not going to all die in the first series. Son rolls his eyes but grins agreement.

Youngest is sticking to his Wednesday program of enchiladas, despite it being half term. I am just so lucky.

I have cloves & can now threaten the ailing with clove tea. I see how honey & ginger fit in, but am still bewildered by the basil.

“Conventional Logic, that old strumpet, where would we be without her?” Youngest trailing philosophical queries (like what might unconventional logic look like, & whatever did Logic lead him to that resulted in ‘strumpet’?!) just before bedtime…

Up before dawn, yikes but got to drive through sunrise colours on a near deserted road. Given the stop-start bedlam of families returning later, I was heartily glad of the calm start.

Chuckling at various mugs “devilishly dapper & irresistibly charming” & “my dad is stronger than doomsday lex Luther” etc as well as impressive china bucket mug used by the team to hold used teabags. (Bin 4 metres away, past desks & over a relatively pale carpet.) 

Switched suppliers & got the refund into the savings pot before it could wander off. Peace of mind galore!

It has happened & in my lifetime, a prince of the blood reduced to a commoner (relatively). Largely as every time he looks in a mirror he sees what he thinks is an honourable man, & no one got in there early & firmly enough to correct that delusional vision. Of course his elder brother is stressed, not least as he’s running out of leverage on the idiot. I’d make a hearty donation to a charity of her choice to hear the princess royal’s view but I expect she’s far too loyal to the firm to say anything eye watering.

Mum crooning to the Aldi triffids (lilies in tight bud) & admiring their shape before they even reveal their colour. I like long lasting flowers (tend to buy carnations in tight bud, but mum loves triffids…)

Mum fascinated by scout AGM report & diligently examining every photo looking for me (eventually run to earth in a corner, teaching Scouts how to use chopsticks - with mentoes, those smooth round curved sweeties…) Amusingly over half the troop were chopstick-literate already thanks to a previous year making & cooking their own dumplings, but bright eyed curious young are their own reward.

Yikes mum slipped & landed on her backside in a mulch of soft leaves & (shame on me) I thought ‘photo opportunity’ queen of autumn scattered with a confetti of tiny leaves but no, did the decent thing, helped her up, checked her over, gently brushed leaves off hair, fleece, shoulders, back & guided her to her proper armchair. Finished the picking as far as I could, did some ferocious shaking of the tree & returned startling heavy ladder back into house. Youngest bidden “bring shortcrust pastry & cream home” for homemade apple pies. (Helping her to bed, we chuckled as more leaves brushed out of her hair.)

Good Housekeeping tests mother & daughter. I had to explain “bao buns” without Google as my phone was flat! How has she survived marriage to my father without the word “pragmatic” (or has she been so busy being it, she never needed the word for it?!) “Pancetta’ is a new ingredient to her, it hadn’t occurred to me it was a bit recent.

Saw a headline about 'the lasting power of heirlooms' & was gutted to find it was an advert for Olay! Not my context at all, as I carefully stitch Granny’s Bargello work onto a new cushion cover so it can live on & be cherished longer.

&’s observation of modern parenting in a hospital reminds me of a doctor recalling a mother reminding her child “now what go we say?” And the unexpected but clearly well drilled response “thank you for the nice party”. Not all medical humour is gruesome. 

The bag of quinces! It’s full, big fruits & all beautiful! A cherished cousin will get her wish for home made quince jelly to enjoy with cheese. (I will get Lots of seeds to hope with.)

Granny going back to bed, (awash with coffee) & declaring “Youngest is doing a great job” - I know, that’s why I tow him down with me, he’s a much better cook!

Put a box of apples out on the pavement for those who haven’t grown their own or picked up more elsewhere. Clearly labelled cooking apples, so no one gets a surprise! (As children we didn’t discriminate much between them.) {Half empty within an hour!}

You can’t take a certain vintage for a walk & expect them to miss sloes & rose hips. Happily I had a clean handkerchief & vivid memories of sloe gin (the grandmother of embroidery had clear views on child labour, equipped us with a pin each and instructions to !!!!!! each sloe Thoroughly) so both mum & I are eagerly awaiting family with gin…. (Gosh it is fun. Shame it tastes as it does.) {the happy croons as the colour deepens!}

Oh gods, some texts reflect a relationship so unjustly “Love you much please do not forget biscuits & gin xxxxx”…. (I then had to do a photo briefing on gin! Truly the young are not all as fascinated by intoxication as we were.)

All the “little perforations that let the flavour flood out” that we stabbed into the sloes are gently oozing/seeping/letting the gin start to haze purple. Mum is beaming, as the family hasn’t made sloe gin in years. Not every year we find sloes, after all. (Still hoping for acorns, to start oaklings!)

Subjected to rigorous interrogation over the oven friendliness of Pyrex & was clear, the brand name is a good clue, but lift from the oven onto dry towelling. No brand goes from oven to cold surface willingly. <I skipped the physics> It may be we awaken to a row of tubs of home grown home made apple crumble…. (One glorious beast with cooking instructions!) {Sister followed them, & portioned it up}

Saw some meme of 9 blokes “you’ve been kidnapped, who’s coming to rescue you?” & utterly failed to recognise 7 of them. I am so not the damsel in the dunces hat with the scarf trailing from its point, I am the wrong time wrong place person yearning for a bag of chips… (Which probably rules out an easy 7 of the 9 anyway - silver screen stars don’t seem to eat.)

Got home to the sound of running water & pelted towards it. Heard a cuckoo & realised that in resetting Himself’s alarm clock I had switched the alarm function on. I do hope he’s laughing too, as we used to find this sort of human error utterly hilarious.

I am reliably amused by how quickly the supermarkets change from Halloween to Christmas stock. Many have the lower priced stuff in parallel after ‘back to school’ has happened, but as soon as it’s November, bamf, the pumpkins are gone!

There’s a vacancy opening that I would rather it was me in than someone else & so it’s application writing time. I do so hate trying to capture my many sterling virtues in 750 words, not least as I run out at about 45…

Catching up on Only Connect & smitten with “temporal adverbs”. Then blinking at “morally questionable rabbits” - really OC has a verbal style all its own!

Sis is pushing me to look at a possible carehome & I’m thinking by the time mum needs this care, she won’t notice the décor. I think sis is using this & I’m not amused.

The gentle chirrup of Youngest’s phone alarm & ensuing bleary thuds heard as I squint at another management query. (Poor lamb to awaken to the other sounds of his mother snarling at the VPN.)

I was wrestling with ‘what I do’ for a job application & asked Youngest what he thought. “You teach, and you go to iffy places & do iffy things”.  With hindsight I should have consulted my colleagues but son left me gurgling with laughter for several minutes. I did try to add “for work!” & got the most devastating “so you keep saying” glinting grin - ooh, that apple has not fallen far from the tree!

Application for promotion put in. Most of my colleagues also going for it, so no major hopes - just if I don’t try, I can’t grouch! Now sprawled with tea & tranquillity.

Did a scout survey & got a discount on a badge & bits order that effectively gives me a free pair of trousers… the world is wonderful strange some days!

Youngest being a complete trooper & cooking a lish beef stew…

There’s a Lego starship enterprise! With a mini figure Picard (& a cup of Earl grey) but alas also a minifigure of Wes Crusher of whom it is safer not to speak.

Oh that Friday feeling! I still have lots of work to do having neglected it for that blasted app but I am looking forward to it as a welcome change!

Listened to ex-Army colleague who will be reading at the work remembrance service. Hauled him off to one of our biggest meeting rooms & hiked him over the reading three times til he had the breathing & the pacing & the “head up, check everyone’s still with you” sorted. He’s reading parts of a letter which would be much easier had it been edited for reading aloud, but he’s wanting to do it the proper respectful justice. That it’ll be immediately followed by “Amazing Grace” means we considered the business of handing over too. (Who’d have thought those hours of being chivvied by the English mistress for school assembly readings would thus pay off?!)

Attended yoga class over Teams in another meeting room, rather desperately hoping would remain undisturbed (wasn’t) & that my social trousers would cooperate (mostly but yikes keys in pocket!)

Aw Youngest coming second in the logic puzzle of how do you open the washing powder. Clearly a habitual struggle as the last box was shredded open as he “never saw” the pull tab. I really shouldn’t laugh but really….

Looking forward to a recharging weekend, then the Remembrance Parade. Followed by hot Vimto to restore circulation. (Youngest checking supplies muttering “you odd little creature”.)

Health, Strength Love & Courage to all as have need, please test your hot water bottles before trusting them, and may the currently tranquil temperatures not distract you from the joy of layers.

weenancyinAmerica

@DigForVictory - very interesting post. We don't do much for Remembrance Day (called Veteran's Day here). We used to when my father was alive as we would go to the Pearl Harbor Survivors meetings. My father was in the Army on Dec 7th stationed there in Hawaii when the US entered the war. My licence plate frame still says "Pearl Harbor Survivor" on it. Long ago I would go to my grandmother's house in early November and make poppies for her Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxilary to hand out. Did this for several years. I remember doing that very well even though it was over 60 years ago. Now we just stay home as there is no class to go to and nothing else happening locally. There are some big demonstrations planned across the US that day though.

I started tracing my family history 66 years ago, started doing it for a living 50 years ago. That's why I went to the British Isles quite often - taking people to see where their ancestors were from. Mine were from every county! Miss the travel part, but still working with people on their family history.  

PaulieHerts

Morning all 😊

sorry for absence, trying to move house is very stressful and time consuming!

On Monday we withdrew from our second proposed bungalow purchase due to legal reasons (access road etc) after spending a considerable amount of time and money on survey, reserve, solicitor etc 😧 so Tuesday was spent scouring the internet for rental homes and Wednesday down to the coast to see the only two we could find on a six month rental.  One was completely unsuitable and the other, a small 2 bedroom bungalow fine.  Anyway long story short we have passed the checks etc and will have the keys on the 24th!  Our plan is to hopefully complete our sale and move out on 1st December 🤞 so we have a week in hand to prepare the bungalow and transport some of our things down.  We then have six months to find the right new place for us 😊. Fortunately the interest on the sale of the house will cover the considerable cost of renting.

other things, our colds seem to be finally abating , after over 4 weeks for me and three for OH, although we’re still coughing!  Met my BF for lunch yesterday and her OH is home after a night in hospital with pleurisy and a reaction to the antibiotics.
House is a mess but the loft and shed are cleared! Some furniture is sold or disposed of, dozens of bags have gone to the charity shops, about a dozen trips have been made to the tip.  We shall carry on today!

have a lovely weekend all 😊