Awful weather - typical Brits talk

LessImpecunious

Yikes! I am supposed to be joining others to play music for carols beneath our local town Xmas tree as part of its switching-the-lights-on event on Saturday evening. The last three years have given us, consecutively, rain, snow, and wind (the latter somewhat scary as we were situated just beneath, and to leeward (and that didn't provide any useful shelter!) of the (very impressive, take note, posh town vs very small town) maybe 20ft tall tree, which was flailing about dramatically above us)...(Fortunately one of the band is one of the volunteer firepersons who erect the tree every year, and he was able to reassure us regarding its security...) Looks like we might get all three weather variants together this time....

On the cones, think yours are pine Poppy, while Farway's are spruce. I found a handy guide which might help at https://www.treeguideuk.co.uk/mini-guides/conifer-cone/

pink_poppy

Looks behind me to see if I can find Dusty's comment about the Grauniad that went right over my head...   It's too early - my brain hasn't started working yet...

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Looks behind me to see if I can find Dusty's comment about the Grauniad that went right over my head...   It's too early - my brain hasn't started working yet...

The word that's causing your puzzlement, can be used with SHOO and a common ending to make a 15 letter word.

Not much to report here, except a fervent wish that the 77mph winds predicted for Saturday aren't so strong. That's roughly the worst we ever have. I'll be battening down today, but there are things no one can 'batten!'

It's merely dreich here at present. Others have had clutch failure, so we're currently restricted to a 3.5tonne van or shank's pony for supplies. However, prep for far worse than 2-3 days of inclement weather is in place, so I'm going nowhere. Mrs Dusty is doing good works in Somerset. Unless she returns in daylight tomorrow, she'll be there until Monday.

I said I'd include a picture of what some folks do with their hydrangeas and other blooms/seed heads. Here it is. A few decorative pine cones in there too

Working_Mum

hello everyone,
I've been reading along but have had a really crazy work week so this is the first chance I've had to pop and say "hello" waves

I hope you managed to clean your fruit cages -taff - I love the idea of growing some razzers next years in my growing area.

I haven't been in my garden much at all since Pomander Sunday - been too dark and yukky and I was away at the weekend seeing the big sparkly dance show being filmed. It was ace!

I think your therapy chucks are lovely Dusty but I am a bit superstitious about having birds in my home so they wouldn't cross my threshold.

I confess I bought the 100 alliums offer as I thought they'd be great fillers for the end of my garden which I cleared this year and am hoping will get a woodland vibe down there.

I am not sea swimming this weekend as the strongest waves of the year are forecast along our coast. Gutted as I feel I need the cold to quieten my brain at the moment. I too am counting down the hours and minutes 2P until the days get longer. It sounds like you got some actual gardening work done though this week so that's a win

I  don't think I'd be able to use the kindling PP it's too cute and I adore anything with love hearts in it.

OT it is a balmy 11' here - I've just returned from my monthly Breakfast Club where we saw the fabulous Kevin Sinfield stop off en-route of his latest MND challenge. 

Wishing everyone a solid day, safe and sound from the impending wind and rain 

WM

Farway

Wet & windy this morning, not seen the weekend forecast but as I normally get Dusty's leftovers I expect it'll be bad

LessImpecunious said:

On the cones, think yours are pine Poppy, while Farway's are spruce. I found a handy guide which might help at https://www.treeguideuk.co.uk/mini-guides/conifer-cone/

Thanks for this Less, bookmarked, and now I can show off next time I'm trundling around Wisley arboretum area. 

The tree near me, I now know, is Norway spruce. I wonder if it started life as someone's Christmas tree way back and planted out down the bottom of their garden?

Seeing those mini Christmas trees [fancy cones] in your pic Dusty has given me an idea, that's if I can find some cones this year, but I'm not looking in this weather.!

twopenny said:

So I got too it and moved some pots - the apricot which is still alive and covered in buds, so some blossom at least please before you pass on.

I do hope it flowers for you, lovely flowers. 

I had one once, of course it had Norwegian DNA in it, and it is now flowering along the fiord shores

It caught leaf curl, curled up & died

Working_Mum said:

I confess I bought the 100 alliums offer as I thought they'd be great fillers for the end of my garden which I cleared this year and am hoping will get a woodland vibe down there.

Here's hoping they like your garden WM, bet they'd make a nice show, and get the insects along

pink_poppy

Dusty, give up on me now, I still haven't got a clue what the word is    I'm probably going to be really embarrassed when I finally get it - I'm glad people on here can't see me going red haha...

I wonder if that spinning lady looking at the camera in your photo uses MSE - funny if she saw herself on here   I like the sheep apron the other lady is wearing, that's my kind of thing.

The Hydrangea wreaths are clever. I really like the cone Christmas trees as well.

I hope the forecast changes for you, 70+mph winds isn't good. We've got warnings of wind over the next few days, but nothing like that.

I like the sound of your garden emotional support chicken, twopenny   Do you have a pic??

Don't worry, I'm definitely keeping the heart kindling, taff and W_M, I love things like that   I've got a few heart-shaped things in the house, including one hanging on my old railway sleeper mantelpiece.

Thanks for the cone ID and link, Less, I can see me perusing that for a good while   

Farway, we need pics if you do end up doing something fancy with foraged cones. I agree, it's not the weather to be looking for them today though. I saw some pine cones (thank you Less ) in one of the shops this morning that had been partly sprayed white to make them look snowy - I think they were about £2.49 and there were only about 3 or 4 in the packet!!

In other news - I bought my pineapple plant   and a pink Christmas cactus   I nearly bought an Amaryllis, but I've got two in the garage that I might try and resurrect.

OT - pretty much the same as yesterday, with a bit more wind of the non-sprout kind...

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Dusty, give up on me now, I still haven't got a clue what the word is    I'm probably going to be really embarrassed when I finally get it - I'm glad people on here can't see me going red haha...

I wonder if that spinning lady looking at the camera in your photo uses MSE - funny if she saw herself on here   I like the sheep apron the other lady is wearing, that's my kind of thing.

The Hydrangea wreaths are clever. I really like the cone Christmas trees as well.

I hope the forecast changes for you, 70+mph winds isn't good. We've got warnings of wind over the next few days, but nothing like that.

The answer will suddenly come to you. I'm sure of it!

A couple of the ladies in that group looked at me and smiled. People with 'real' cameras are a rarity nowadays, so maybe they thought I was shooting photos for the town magazine. I also wonder when I'm walking around that place if anyone recognises me. I left there long ago, but I've recognised a couple of people from that era whose features are distinctive. None of the 8 spinners looks familiar, despite a couple seeming around the right age to have been my contemporaries.

Sheep things are popular here. Most people know someone who has some! They've generally had a bad press. In recentish times, Shaun the Sheep has done a good PR job!

I've been rained-off now, so the rest of the prep for Storm Darragh will have to be done tomorrow. He's coming from the direction I dread most, thanks to the tiles at that end of our bungalow being somewhat vulnerable since earlier damage by Storm Eunice. I wanted to fix them down better in the summer, but the blimmin' sparrows were nesting under there non-stop!

LessImpecunious

Not just you Poppy, I can't get that word either...

Looks like we have 70mph gusts on Sat am, not quite up to Dusty's level...

greenbee

Only 50mph here - tonight, tomorrow night, Sat and Sun. That's quite enough thanks. Need to see what I need to tidy up tomorrow as the puppy has meant a lot less time in the garden so there are things in the veg plot that probably need taking down/putting away. 

Farway

Yay, my T & M plants / bulbs have arrived, well-packed and only slight dirt spill from the small pots

I'll get photo once I'm sorted, and this time all are identified

And my 5Tb external hard drive arrived as well, looks like a busy weekend

I'll look around for cones & fir bits while I'm out tomorrow. What I really need is a tin of spray snow, but I'm too tight to buy one, plus there isn't a handy hobby type shop or DIY shed nearby.

May have to pop into B & M or £land next week, I've got dentist then

LessImpecunious said:

Not just you Poppy, I can't get that word either...

Looks like we have 70mph gusts on Sat am, not quite up to Dusty's level...

Ditto, word & wind, also the non sprout kind