General Chat

Popped into Em's this afternoon to give her her present and stayed and had a nattedr with Ed, Em, and Sophie ,Em's sister. Had a nice bit of homemade flapjack and then I had to turn my car around in there drive but Ed said would I like him to do it for me. Well talk about going about it the wrong way he had four attempts at different angles and I was so pleased he made a mess of it when he got back to me I said I would have pulled forward a bit more and back to the side of Sophies car and round that and out the driveway. He said he did'nt think of that and it would have been much easier. One up for girls I think.

Vera yes I did look like an old Biddy as that was my mother name.

I am now going to watch my two little persons on youtube and their two dogs on Skye. They are on every Sunday at 6pm. I better get the kettle on for a cuppa.

Thank you for the photos AnnG and Mandy. Your slabs and gravel look good Ann. When you’ve got your pots and plants set out how you want them the garden will look impressive. You’ve got plenty of bloom on that Amaryllis Mandy and it is a pretty colour. I prefer the ones that aren’t too bright and garish.

Doesn’t someone always come when you’re unprepared Mel? Your description of yourself is lovely - I am now picturing a toothless, tangle-haired, dressing-gowned old biddy and I am sure you’re not a bit like that really.

The weather wasn’t very good yesterday but granddaughter arrived safely. In fact, I think she did very well. She only passed her test at the beginning of December and had not done a really long drive, nor had she driven on a motorway before. They left at 7 am and she took her boyfriend to Leeds/Bradford airport, then drove on to us after stopping for a toilet/snack break. She arrived at ours dead on noon. Today she left at around 2 pm. OH cooked a big breakfast cum brunch at around 11 am for them though I just had a piece of toast.

A lot of our time was spent catching up but we also went to my daughter’s late afternoon yesterday and had a meal there. There’s more than one route to our daughter’s and OH chose the wrong one as we had to drive through some extensive flooding. We picked a different way to come back.

Granddaughter bought me a lovely orchid but I’m not good with orchids. Part of the trouble is there is nowhere in the house that combines the right amount of warmth, light and humidity. In the past the best place has.seemed to be on a sideboard in the hall. At least it’s warm and the plant gets a decent amount of diffused light from a half glazed front door.

I ended up with 29 birthday cards but suppose I ought to take them down now. They look so jolly on display but I can’t keep them up forever.

Better go and have a think what we are going to have to eat tonight. There are some chicken thighs in the fridge so I’ll probably do something with those. Enjoy the remainder of the day and sleep well tonight everyone.

Wow Mandy that certainly has a lot of flowers its no wonder it has'nt got any leaves. Feed it after its flowered and you can put it out in the garden afterwards in its pot and bring it in in the autumn in the conservatory and let it dry out completely. Don't take the leaves off till they die back and it should start to flower again next year. Mine is now three years old and its out in the shed completely dry. I have never had one with 5 flowers to a stem let alone two stems with 5 on one.

So much for my lazy morning slopping around as nobody was coming and what happened Phylis turned up to pay me for the wreath at Christmas which I had forgotten all about. I was still in my pj's and no teeth in and not even done my hair.

Thank you for the photo Mandy what a pretty coloured amaryllis.

Sunny here now still and 7 degrees.

I made myslef brunch (bacon eggs tomato and toast) at 10.30 so shouldn't need any lunch.
I took a gillet of T's down to Irene and bumped into a friend who has just finished having chemo. She is so very frail, it is a reurn of the breast cancer she had 10 years ago.

When I got back I went out in the garden and planted 6 primulas that I bought on Thursday, then did a bit of weeding but the ground is so claggy it is not pleasant, might wander out again later. It is lovely to be in the sun, I didn't need a coat on, just a thick sweater.

Morning all,

Very over cast here today with a watery sun not so cold ,not sure if we had a frost .

I have sent a photo of my Amaryllis its now starting to flower ,I bought this from Aldi just before Christmas, also got one for dil ,hers only has the one stem and three long leaves ,mine has no leaves and two stems .

I have had a hoover through and caught up with the ironing not sure what to have for our meal tonight might be gammon we'll see later .

Made a big mistake last night, I left my camera on charge on the pc and this morning the battery is completely flat. I have done this before. Anything else is fully charged if I leave it on, the speaker for my cd player, the cd player its self, my phone so why does the camera not charge at night?

Morning all,

Had a lie in this morning as nobody is coming. Its 7 degrees here and pc says mostly sunny. It makes you feel better when the sun shines even if you still have aches and pains. Hip still bad and back is aching this morning too. There wa\s a frost here last night well before I went to bed.

I need to cleaan cobwebs out of the bedroom behind a set of drawers today so that s what I shall be doing today and I may finish the Tudor man.

Good morning all -1 here and a hard frost last night. But it is bright and so far the sun is shining so it all looks much better out of the window. I don't have anything planned today so a bit of H/W and maybe if it warms up a bit, a potter in the garden as it is brown bin day next week.

Its called a Jar key. its on Ebay. I have sent Annx a pic of the two I have. If you want them let me know.

Found them both.

Yes they are heavy and glass so I don't want to drop them on the solid base and smash them. I will send a pic of the one I use which I bought in Homeleigh Garden centre years ago. It released the vacum in the jar and then you can turn the lid easily. I have another one which does the ring pulls on certain cans but I can't find that one at the mo.

Mel's right that's just the sort of thing OH would say Mandy. lol You just get that feeling when they start grinning and you know what the devils are up to don't you. OH made me snigger this morning when I went in the kitchen. He was moving about and what do they call it these days 'throwing some shapes'. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was pretending he was at the disco. I couldn't keep a straight face and I took one look at him writhing about and said ' if you keep that up much longer you'll be slipping a disco'. :-D He couldn't carry on for laughing.

I saw something very strange in a little corner shop the other day. I only pop in there when they've sold all the papers at the usual place. There in a tin on a shelf among other tinned foods was something I have never seen before. Tinned sprouts! Has anyone else ever seen them or even tasted them? I just can't imagine they would be very nice.

Mel I had one of those useless lid removers once as well. It kept slipping off the rounded edges of the lids and drove me mad trying to get it to grip enough. No this one is like a flat bar about an inch wide and the 2 ends can slide in and out and they fit over the edge of the lid each side. You turn the lever on the top which tightens the two ends onto the lid and the harder you turn it the tighter it holds the lid and hopefully turns it.

That's a nuisance about your shower and sounds fiddly to sort out. I imagine those doors are heavy as well.

Is the contraption you are talking about a thing that grips the jar tops with teeth in a ring? I had one of those and it was usless. I have one that fits on the top of jars just under the rim of the lid and I just lift it and it pops the lid so you can open it easily. This one is like useing a knife but much safer.

Bil had lunch with me and took a look at the shower door which has come apart and did'nt do anything about it. Said he could'nt understand it. Looks like trial and error with me doing it again if I can down to put the roller fitting back on and lift the glass doors to get it in the runners.

Mandy that comment Colin made could have come out of the mouth of Annx oh. Its the kind of thing he would say.

Had two big bowls of soup at lunchtime and am not hungry but should eat something so I think I will have a cucumber and salmon roll.

Meant to say the garden is looking really nice now Anng you are getting there and its going to look lovely when you have all your flowers out. I had a look on your blog to see where things have changed.

Lol Ann yes I've had mine a long whole now too but he's getting a little worn at the edges :-D
When we watch the Repair shop at the end they always say 'if you have a treasured procession and would like our help " Colin always looks across at me and smiles and says yes I have a treasured procession but I'm not sure you'll be able to do much with her lol :-D now when they say it I look across and say ' don't " lol

Well we've had a little sun at times through the day but it's been so cold so the fire was lit and we've had a lazy afternoon watching the television.

Afternoon All,

Dry here at the moment but still quite dull and only 1 degree. Like Gwyn I wondered if AnnG was getting the bad weather yet that they are forecasting. I'm glad we haven't got your winds Gwyn. Hubby has checked his match is still on after all the rain we have had in the last few days and it is so he will be off shortly.

Ha ha Mandy, I also have a contraption just like yours too. :-D I've had mine a long time now but it's not very reliable and usually elsewhere when I need it. lol I must have a look for those triangles, but I've noticed some lids have a sort of raised blister in the middle you can press. All I need now is something that will squeeze those bleach bottle tops and other similar tops hard enough to get them off. :-S Will the cat cave be for the family's 2 cats? You might have to make two if this one is a hit with them.

We called at the chemist this morning to collect my prescription and it was closed with no note of a reason on the door and had boxes piled up inside. I hope they aren't moving out as they have my prescription almost ready and were waiting for one item. There's nothing on their website about being closed today either. We'll have to try again on Monday and phone if they are still closed.

Have a nice time with your granddaughter Vera. It was sensible of her to travel this morning instead. Before OH retired he travelled a lot and hated Friday evenings as all the commuters would be going home and there would be a lot of traffic and delays. We have a man at the gate at our tip, but he checks what you are bringing and tells you what numbers of the containers to use. They are all labelled with what you can put in them anyway. We used to have to carry stuff up a slope and lift it high to throw into the containers, which was hard to do, but now the the road has been raised so that the containers are waist high.

Thank you for your photos AnnG. Your garden is really coming on now isn't it. I like how they have curved the slabs in the shed area. It goes well with the winding pathways. You certainly have lots of plants in flower already and by summer with your baskets up too it will all look lovely. :-D

We had a surprise visit from the chap who replaced some of our sealed units before and I was going to ring him next week to see about fitting another unit in the bay window that was smoky as he had measured up a while ago. The weather had been awful so I had left it up to now. He had the unit with him and fitted it and was gone in half an hour so that's another job done.

Two lots of photos sent. Please let me know if you didn't receive them.

Still only 3 degrees, still cloud but a bit brighter and not raining. I have a tesco shop due this afternoon one sub fully acceptable. Pack of courgettes instead of a single one, same price.

Morning girls,

I have sunshine at the moment and it 5 degrees, there's blue sky with white clouds but how long it will lat is anyones guess.

BIL should come today and I have the shop to do so I better get myself in the shower after doing the chickens.

We don't have snow although it is only 2 degrees at the moment. I think the rain was heavy overnight as there are puddles on the patio but since I got up it has been constant drizzle and it is so dark, very depressing, not really like March at all.
One thing brightening the view from my 'office' window is in the garden of a bungalow sort of diagonal to me. (I live five houses down from the end of our road and this bungalow is just down from the corner in the adjacent road.). And from here I can see in there garden a beautiful large camelia bush it is dark pink.

Morning all,
It was frosty when we got up but the suns out so it's all gone now ,just seen the weather forecast and I see Wales and Midlands has snow or snow coming .

Vera I hope you both enjoy your time with your granddaughter today ,much better for her to travel in daylight rather than at night .

Ann I have one of those contraptions for opening jar lids it's called Colin lol and if he can't do it we use a rubber glove , I do prise a knife under the lid until it pops and that makes it easier and some lids have a little triangle printed on to show you where to put the knife .

Anng the two chaps got on well in the garden yesterday getting lots of jobs done for you ,before we know it it will be time to get plants for hanging baskets

This cat cave is like an igloo ,I'm just trying to get it the right size I've done it twice and pulled it out so third time lucky, the first bit on the hoop is ok its getting the back bit right but I won't let it beat me .
I made some sausage rolls yesterday and as we weren't that hungry last night we just had one with some salad for our meal instead of a cooked meal .
Today I'm cooking a piece of gammon.