General Chat

Lesley I have a friend living in Canada, who sent me a little pebble once, in a package with other items. Thats kept in the house. I've kept some large branches from pruning jobs, if the branches were an interesting shape, and positioned them strategically around the garden, partly for "natural artwork", and partly to deter cats from digging.

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Teresa, you are back! The power of the blueberry - last night I made a blueberry and grape crumble, and with some healthy bio yogurt it went down a treat. No added sugar, or preservatives or other edible poisons. I would love to join you for sausage casserole but the decent sausages contain too much fat these days, and low fat sausages taste like ... I dont care to repeat the word!! ;-) :-D

I despair of Pat rish aaaaah, I really do. At this rate, daer Petunia will be nipping over to the jungle to control everyone and everything, as she always does, in her usual imperturbable and inimitable way. That will teach 'em!!! :-D :-D

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Susan I am delighted to confirm that Petunia is remarkable for 94. She rather reminds me of Miss Marple, except that she doesnt knit. She will be solving murder mysteries yet.

Ah you too collect driftwood. I once knew someone who took a photograph of a piece of wood in a wood, it was a most interesting shape, in fact it resembled a wooden snake. As I said to Lesley - natural artwork.

Well if I was you, I wouldnt worry so much about dressing up as Santa, I'd worry more about who is going to be the Fairy perched at the top of the tree. I believe it can be most uncomfortable by the time Twelfth Night comes around.

Talking of Santa, tonight when OH got home from work we went to Harlow and visited a Homebase store there. Their Christmas display included a Santa about 3 foot high, and every time someone walked past he started singing seasonal ditties. Needless to say, I just had to keep walking past ..... The motion sensor was in his belt.

Goodness, that was an unseasonal bit of frost for you people down under. Weather like that makes me wonder where the Global Warming went .....

ciao for now
CC

Morning girls - said the farmer to his cows :-S,

Oops, hello one and all.

CC, I did wonder if Petunia was your visitor and am very pleased to learn it was she. Not bad for 94 is she ;-). So pleased you had a lovely time. It would be quite loverly if we could all meet one day - if and when my 'boat' comes in, I shall be winging my way back to your shores.... Probably with my OH in tow :-).

Now I don't collect fossils, but I do have a wonderful little bit of driftwood that I dug up on a beach some years ago. It is exactly the shape of a dolphin - believe it or not. I love it, it is quite smooth, sanded by the sand I guess.
My male fruit has a piece of china, which was recovered from a wreck. I have the typed manuscript of the ship and her details - somewhere :-D.

Fruit and I have this morning done the Christmas draw for the families..... A little bit of 'rigging' was required to make the draw fair and satisfactory - to us :-D. Time to start shopping, we have a $ limit, every one gets a token present under the tree. I wonder who gets to dress uo as Santa??. Not me that is for sure.

Do you know, well of course you don't, but we had a frost this morning :-| :-|. Tis only two weeks until the official start of Summer fgs... It was a tad chilly around my lugholes this morning while out on our walk.... Yesterday we were a little unnerved twice - one fruit cake of a fellow, walking towards us muttering all sorts of rubbish and then two random dogs running freely in the park we walk through.. We gave them an extra wide berth. I have been bitten by a random dog in the past and have no wish to be any canines meal ever again....

Time to get on with my day, the sun is out which makes a pleasant change.

Toodle pip
Susan

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Here I am back :-D


All I can say is tut tut and tutty tut. What is to be done with Pat rish aaaaa. I can only think that wearing a bikini style swimsuit is a little much at her age. Has she never heard of decorum :-S


Teresa

No Lesley, not the Caribbean. The jungle :-S Patrishaaaa is there causing all manner of problems. I nipped over after the Devils Football game. The Spirit of the Docker had entered my dear Husband but it must have worked. His encouragement to the dear boys won :-D :-D :-D.

Anyway back to Pat rish aaaaaa, she has been boycotting the trials but last night ate all manner of innerspring and outers so to speak. I will leave Aunty to fill you in by the power of the blueberry. I have to be back tonight to get the sausage casserole on for tea. I will just nip into the tardis to get back :-D

Teresa

CC just a thought do you think Auntie Petunia, Susan and Teresa could have absconded to the warmer climate of the Caribbean :-D

Hello CC I too have been known to bring stones and rocks home :-) but my favorite by far is drift wood, I have some pieces in the garden that I have bought back from Canada :-D naughty I know ;-)

I googled The Cage and it was a Medieval Prison, the lady owner has apparently started to offer ghost tours to help pay the mortgage.

I nearly forgot ... yes Lesley, according to the TV show Haunted Britain (with Michaela Strachan) there is a property in St Osyth which if I remember correctly is now known as The Cage, but was once a gaolhouse, and it is allegedly so haunted that no one will stop in it. The lady interviewed in the show is the current owner, and she had to move out. At the time of the filming, she said she still has a mortgage on the property, so was renting it out, and none of her tenants would stay very long either.

*watches Lesley rush to buy a train ticket to St Osyth........* :-D

CC

well, you see, Lesley, I like collecting interesting pretty pebbles and fossils, after all I have become one ... a fossil I mean, not a pebble. I found a stone in the backyard that looks remarkably like a fossilised snail shell. Also, over the years, I've dug up some strangely shaped stones that look like extremely old bones; one day I will take them to the museum in case its the remains of a small dinosaur.. My Oldest Offspring, while on a school trip to Wales, found a small piece of fossilised wood, which is now in my backyard, and it looks like stone.

Yesterday, we discovered a cluster of antiques and collectors units in the far north of Hertfordshire, near the border with Essex, and I had a very pleasant couple of hours rooting around the assorted items of interest. I found a chunk of carnelian crystals for a very reasonable price so I bought it, to add to my little collection of small crystals in a cabinet in the dinette. The GOG found some paperweights being sold for a reasonable price, he lives in a world of his own, I left him to pay for his purchases while I had another mooch around and when I returned to the cash desk he was about to proffer his credit card, I pointed out a sign on the wall that read "3% surcharge on credit cards". I asked him if he'd seen that. No, he said. I got my cash card out. If I hadnt walked back when I had ....... Thank goodness that I have my feet firmly planted on the ground and watch what is going on around me.

Have you seen Petunia or Teresa? I expect Petunia is orft out doing her Good Works again, she never seems to sit down for a minute. I'm just a tad concerned because it looks like her bed wasnt slept in. And Teresa must also be doing her own good works where people are not allowed to get sick for fear it would cost the government some money.

CC

Well you learn something new everyday CC :-) haunted houses in St Osyth's :-S

My mama and youngest sis often had short breaks in Walton on the Naze and they did find sharks teeth which I inherited :-S I will have to hunt them out, the last time I was there at the Naze end there were several people sifting through the sand and using a magnifying glass to look at their finds :-S being nosey as I am I asked what they were looking for and was told amber :-0 now if I had inherited amber I would have been delighted :-D but sharks teeth :-|

Petunia dear, if your lottery ticket comes up trumps, I will naturally expect at least 20% commission. I suppose I could ask for 40% dear, but I am not greedy.

I also never bite anyone - not until I know them better :-)

I wondered where you had disappeared to yesterday, I returned to Motie Towers to find no sign of you, and Mrs Berry in the kitchen merrily singing "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass". I suspect I am being wrongly blamed for some of the chips and cracks in the crockery and glassware.

I am so pleased to hear you enjoyed your afternoon with Lovely Rita. Does she work as a meter maid dear? You had a very busy, and I hope interesting, week, dear. I sincerely hope your hangover is wearing off.

Have you checked out that Closed Order that Juana is joining yet? I think it is a scam. And have you decided to give permission for Pat rish aaaaah to go and work at the North Pole? it really will do the gel some good. She will appreciate you, and her home comforts, all the more.

CC

Lesley, I've heard of St Osyth, I know "a lion" was on the loose there earlier this year, only it was a big puddy tat really. But I had already heard of St Osyth, through watching a show in the series Haunted Britain (or similar title). The show went to St Osyth, to investigate the old gaol house which is now a private house only no one wants to live there because of the hauntings. I think they said its called The Cage now but I could be remembering wrongly. If its true The Cage is haunted, I'd like to send my GOG there to spend two nights on the premises ....... I dont have to worry about his hair turning white, it already is.

I would like to try out my Creation on the beach at Walton on the Naze but am not sure my legs will carry me down the concrete staircase, let alone back up it. I once found a "pebble" at Walton/Naze and thought it looked like a fossil shark tooth. MFH said it wasnt, so I gave that "pebble" away. At a later date, watching a fossil show, they produced a sharks tooth, and I had been right. Well, I usually am right, so I dont know why I bother to listen to the GOG.

Housework - if you never do any, after the first five years the extra dust doesnt show.

Glad to hear the little one is coming along nicely :-)

CC

Susan dear, never describe yourself as a dimwit .... someone might believe you :-D !!!

Well, dear Petunia has spilled the beans, so now we all know who my VIP visitor was. She entered my cardbox box most graciously, and promptly sat herself on the toadstool behind my shed in the back of beyond, while we sipped tea from rose petals. George and Francine hovered around, taking care of the car, in case the little tykes of the district made off with the wheels and pinched the gold lady off the bonnet. My hanging baskets all have to be nailed down, doncha know, and the front lawn is cemented in too. Everything has to be nailed down but sometimes one tyke is more enterprising than the rest, and steals the nails as well.

I'm old enough to have seen the George Raft movie of the same name. I think William Bendix was also in that movie with George Raft. Normally Raft played gangsters, but in Bolero he played a dancer who developed a heart condition and was warned that if he danced again he would die. So he danced again, and he died, cradled in the arms of Carole Lombard who looked up at the camera and tearfully twittered "..... he was too good for this world". I used to think Carole Lombard was so very beautiful, with her bottle blonde hair. I grew up ..... :-(

The music Bolero really haunted me, so as soon as I could afford it I bought the LP. I followed Torville and Dean, and their skating was superb of course, but it used to irritate me when the media started referring to the music as "Torville & Deans Bolero".

Och, the Beatles. I never forgave them for going Pyscho Delic. I much preferred their earlier work. Where we used to live, the Offspring decided they wanted to share a room, so the smallest bedroom was used as a storage room and I put the ironing board up there, as well as an old record player. One day, Oldest Offspring was doing some ironing and listening to records, and I was compelled to walk in and say "for heavens sake, will you please turn that rubbish down". OO was listening to Sergeant Pepper.

If you arent sure of the lyrics for One Fine Day, there is always The Humming Chorus. All together now ...... Ummmmmmmmmmm mmm mmm

Hope you will fogive me for saying this but I cannot abide Graham Norton, and never could. I've only watched one of his shows, and that was the night Jon Bon Jovi was guesting.

CC

Good evening Ladies.

Well........................did you guess gels..............did you.......................did you? Did you guess who the VIP was?

It was..................................ME!!!!!

I was the Lady Penelope who descended on dear Cherry in her own home. Yes, I arrived at Lesbee Avenue, at the Back of Beyond. And very nice it was too.

It took me a time to get there, the chauffeured car had no Zat Nav, and so were were in contact by cellphone, with dear Cherry guiding us along the road.

Oh my dears, Cherrys' Japanese garden is lovely. So delicate. She has very green fingers, and she has given me a Money Tree to bring me good luck. So thank you for that dear. I have even bought a Lottery Ticket for tonight in the hopes it will bring me good fortune.

After a refreshing cup of tea, we ventured to a gardening centre for light refreshment. What a pleasure that was too, it has a Winter Wonderland, all the decorations were twinkling. It was very pretty. I did enjoy myself.

So....................now I have met dear Upsidedown Susan, when she was in London Town, and yesterday I visited dear Cherry.

Two down, two to go. I am sure that you would like me to visit you dears. Why are you hiding behind your respective sofas dears? Come out. I dont bite. well not hard. Titters.

Now today, I went to meet my dear friend Rita. We had not seen each other for a long time. We went to a refreshment bar called The Icehouse. Funnily enough there was no ice there! But she was more familiar than I, and ordered us a pitcher of Woo Woo. Now I know Trickey Woo. But this was a pleasant sweet flavoured cordial. Very nice, but a little acid in the back of my throat. We passed an interesting hour or so, chatting and sipping..................then I am afraid I do not remember much after that.

George had to come and collect me, and take me home. That Rita is a naughty gel, she knows I usually stick to elderflower.....................

Nursing a muzzy head
Auntie Petunia

CC Baby E is as beautiful as ever and doing well thank you for asking :-) yesterday she was weighed and is now 11lb 11oz :-D

You could also tryout your creation on the beach at St Osyth's it's not quite so far to drive as Brighton :-D

Housework Susan I find myself doing less and less :-) I detest it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~To Aunty Petunia and Teresa

Morning,

CC, I am out of guesses :-(. Spill the beans to the dimwit please.

Now whenever I hear Bolero, I immediately think of Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean doing their magical skating routine... The first time I think we could really appreciate 'dancing on ice'.

My father was also a Beatles fan, I still like to boogy to their music and sing along. Now I know my Mama has a Kimono tucked away somewhere :-S, shame I am unfamiliar with the lyrics of Madam Butteryfly, perhaps I could make up my own.
I too enjoy big band music, in fact most types of music except techno and very heavy metal, I have even come to like a little country and western, a very little :-D.

I watched Graham Norton last night while waiting for OH to get home. he is a funny man and a good interviewer. I sometimes wonder if the guests quite know what they are letting themselves in for or do they get the questions ahead of time, possibly not as there is alot of ad libbing.
There are quite a few reruns on the tele, I am so bored with alot of them. Fawlty Towers to mention but one :-(.

Time to get me mop out and start the dreaded chores. Toodle

Susan

~~~~~~~~ to everyone

hello Lesley. Our council is very hot on recycling everything. Perhaps I shall save the clear plastic bag outfit to wear on Brighton Beach. All is revealed on Brighton Beach .... so they tell me ;-)

Ah now, my visitor arrived in a pink Rolls Royce, which I found out later had been hired for the occasion. The owner, a Lady Penelope, even let my visitor borrow the chauffeur, whose name was Parker. :-D

This evening I nipped to Tesco intending to spend a little time traversing the various aisles, as I have vouchers to spend. On the way there I noticed the fog was starting to come down again, and when I left the supermarket it was already dark so I returned to Motie Towers immediately lest the fog thickens, like the plot :-S

How is the baby doing?

CC

CC I think you made a very wise choice with your attire :-) some people just do not appreciate recycling ...........sorry I mean art :-D I have no doubt your clear plastic creation is beautiful a tad risque :-0 .................... maybe it is best only worn in private ;-) the public wearing of this I am sure would lead to an arrest :-(

May I ask did your visitor arrive by helicopter or public transport :-S

Morning fog that cleared you are soooooooooo lucky it was foggy in my corner of Essex all day :-(

hello Susan, I will give you three guesses who my Visitor was, please send your answer on a postcard to :
Hacienda View
999 Letsby Avenue
off Four Wheel Drive
(and I darent add a zip code because the one that springs to mind might get me whooshed LOL ..... old enough to know better, addled enough not to care!! :-D)

Spartacus was one of the first classical pieces I heard and enjoyed. At senior school, before Religious Worship was held each morning, while waiting for the headmistress to make her appearance to lead the service, a piece of classical music was played every day, so I got to hear Tchaikovsky and Mozart and other composers, but T and M were my favorites in those days. The wireless was always on in our house, but Mum & Dad never listened to opera. Mum was all for the Big Bands.

To me, the Big Bands all sounded much the same, with one exception and that was Glenn Miller. I dont know why but his music was distinctive and stood out from the rest, I virtually jitterbugged out of my cradle to Glenn Miller and in 1966 I bought a Glenn Miller vinyl LP which practically got worn out; I still have it however. I still play his music ... which I have on CD now.

I think I was drawn to the music by Katchaturian, because I had been impressed by the Kirk Douglas movie. As I said, I was very young once. I saw Spartacus the ballet on TV one time, and the way they moved to the Saber Dance was just brilliant, wonderful choreography.

The school also played excerpts from Holsts Planet Suite. I bought Ravel's Bolero in 1966, the first LP I ever bought, having heard it as the theme music for the movie of the same name starring George Raft and Carole Lombard, and still have that vinyl. Side B is Serenade for Strings by Tchaikovsky. I now have all these works, and more, on CD. In those days, I preferred lighter classical, but as the years have passed I've learned to appreciate more composers although I still find Handel and Bach a tad too sonorous for me.

I used to find Beethoven a bit heavy, but one day while reading a James Herbert novel I had the radio on, tuned to Radio Three, and they played a Beethoven symphony which I had on a compilation audio tape, and I realised I had "grown into" that symphony and its now one of my favourite pieces I like to hear a lot. I have that on CD now, as well. I've grown to appreciate a lot more of Beethoven's work, have you heard the Fur Elise? he wrote it for Elise, whoever she was; it's beautiful.

Well ... if you want to sing for us, why should we stop you. Dress yourself in your fancy costume - perhaps a kimono from Madama Butterfly?, and go sing Over The Hills And Far Away. :-D ;-) Just as long as you dont sound like Maria Callas ..... *cringes*

It's still Thursday here. I hope you will not be offended if I do not join you for dinner, as I would not wish you to have 13 at table.

We are very damp and cold in the UK at the moment. This morning we woke to fog in my little corner of north London, and when it went it wasn't missed ................ you have all the time in the world to work that one out !!!

CC

Good morning Ladies,

Cherry, so pleased you had a pleasant afternoon with your VIP visitor. Do tell who it was, an old friend perhaps??

These names you speak of, I know a few. I remember Mr Dooningan :-D, he had a pleasant voice. Some of the names you mention, dare I say, I do not know of them...

Speaking of opera, there are two brothers from Auckland who are both off to study at a music academy in Wales. They are an amazing talent. Watch this space.
My parents used to listen to opera and such 'old' type music. I had no appreciation for it as a youngster. I have 'matured', I do like a bit of Katchachurian with the 'Spartacus' theme. Not sure of the spelling :-S.

I must confess to enjoying a good old 'musical'. Such fun. I quite fancy myself in a fancy costume singing at the top of my voice. Lucky for the rest of you, that will never happen....

Teresa, hope the refreshed bedroom is to your satisfaction. It is always nice to update a room here and there. I have a few things I would like to do to this house, all put on hold until a certain nuptials is out of the way.

Tis Friday again, hooray. Tomorrow evening we are entertaining a few friends to dinner. We will be twelve in total :-D. My motto is 'all care, no responsibilty'. To the best of my knowledge, I have never poisoned any of my guests..... They keep coming back so it can't be all bad.

Have a lovely weekend folks, we are in for more rain... I need to mow the lawns this afternoon, hoping for a window of opportunity.

Toodle pip
Susan

Teresa dear, no you may NOT drag us back to the present thank you. The past is so much safer, I have my sanity to consider you know.

I know Perry Como was very relaxed and I think he often wore cardigans. Val Doonican sat in a rocking chair, wearing jumpers. Val D wore the jumpers, not the chair. I liked them both. I have a Val Doonican CD of course, his track The Special Years always brings tears to my eyes, it could have been written about me and my Offspring.

Oooh a new bed. Who gets the honour of testing it? Perhaps you can allow Pat rish aaaah to come and stay with you again - once she has apologised for what happened the last time. I do not care to see her cavorting around the jungle although it has to be said she is gaining experience. Perhaps Petunia will permit her to take the job in the North Pole during the Festive Season.


Lesley please do excuse my panting and puffing, I am out of breath from all the rushing around and the excitement of having a VIP visit my humble cardboard box. I changed my outfit at least 20 times you know, I have an assortment of binbag outfits in different colours - green, black, purple. The clear binbag outfit tends to attract unwanted attention, for some strange reason. I finally plumped for an outfit made from a black binliner and a blue and white plastic shopping bag. I knew I looked simply amazing, because the look on my VIP visitor's face was one of sheer amazement. She said I looked arresting, at least I think that is what she said, because it sounded a little like she said I ought to be arrested but I wasnt wearing my ear trumpets at the time.

After a cup of tea at Chez CC, we went out for a bite of lunch, and the time just flew. It makes a nice change for me to find myself in such congenial company.

Now, where is dear Petunia, because I wanted to tell her all about it but I expect she is out and about, busy in the community poking her nose ... errrrrr........ doing all her assorted Good Works. I have had a very pleasant afternoon indeed. :-)

CC