General Chat

I'm pleased you had a good day out and it sounds like you enjoyed it which is the main thing and you have the snowdrops to remind you of a lovely day out.

I'm glad you are pleased with your glasses Ann. I laughed at the minty smell as it reminded me of a time we were in Herefordshire with my brother and his partner and visited some gardens. We were all going around sniffing at every plant trying to work out which one had the lovely cinnamon type perfume, when my brother suddenly realised it was my jacket. I worked for a spice company at the time and it must have absorbed the smell. Thank goodness it was spices I worked with and nothing smelling worse.

Mel, I do hope it's not a bad bout of sciatica you are going through and that the pain has eased today. Take it very easy for a while.

I had a slightly better night. I didn't seem to sleep much more but I was able to rest quietly without jumpy legs and aches and fidgets, so I didn't feel so bad this morning. We decided we would go to Anglesey Abbey and got there just on 11 am. My goodness, it was so busy. The car park was full and the overflow car park didn't have a lot of space left but we found a spot. We've been many times and the only time I've seen it so busy is during the Christmas lights period.

We started with the walk through the winter garden which is my favourite part as it is always so colourful even in the middle of winter. There were snowdrops everywhere but plenty of other flowers as well, all in among the shrubs and trees. OH forgot to take his camera as usual but took some photos on his phone. The snowdrop ones didn't come out so well but some of the others are quite good so I'll get him to send them to me from his phone and I'll let you see a few. We also walked round the woodland walk and across one or two of the open areas but the wind was really blowing hard and it was such a cold wind.

About 12.30 we decided to go and get something warm in the cafe. It is a fairly big cafe and they had attached quite a large marquee to one end of it and it was choc-a-bloc, but well-organised, You had to wait in a queue so people weren't saving tables. As soon as a table was vacant it was cleaned and the front people in the queue were sent to it. The staff worked the system very efficiently and we didn't have to wait long to be seated. We were planning on something like a jacket potato or soup but OH said it was quicker to take sandwiches from a cabinet and take them to a separate counter where he could get tea and pay. The sandwiches were tasty and very fresh and the tea was hot so I didn't mind. I was talking to one of the staff and asked why it was so busy and she said it was the snowdrops bringing in the crowds. They even had coach parties there.

When we'd eaten we had a wander round the gift shop and the plant centre. They had some little pots with just one or two snowdrops in them for anything between £3 and £6.50 but they also had "in the green" polythene packs of bulbs, some blooming, some just gone over. Packs with 25 bulbs were £10 so we got 2 packs and OH planted them as soon as we got home. I hope they will spread a bit over the next year or two.

We had a really good run there and back today. It was almost exactly an hour each way and you couldn't do it much more quickly than that. Since getting back I've done 2 loads of washing and prepared, cooked and cleared up after our dinner. I now see from the length of this that I have rambled on a bit so I'd better stop. Have a good night everyone, and sweet dreams.

I had to laugh at mint smelling specticles do you think it was their final cleaning solution that has done it. I always wash mine with carex alovera and wipe them with loo paper. I used to use bounty roll but that scratch some lenes. Nice of the neighbour to ask if you needed help.

Two days work on making a new mould and the handle has a slight bit stuck together after casting it. It came out ok and I was really pleased until I spotted the fault. I know its there but a blind man would like to see it. I have just started a new mould of it. Hope this one comes out ok. I do so wish we could have a calm warm day with some sunshine and I could go and cut my willow before its too late.

Glad you all liked the pics and yes he has a Cannon camera with a huge lens and it will take loads of pics at the touch of a button so if something moves there's usually a shot soemwhere thats ok. Its his one hobby. I think I told you he has been to Iceland to take photos of the northan lights. Last time he went in February his ankle played up and he spent most of his week out there in the hotel. Not sure if he is going this year.

Just quickly posting to say the photos are great Mel. I like them all. Thanks for sending them. Your bil is very talented.

Busy at the moment but will try to BBL

Afternoon All,

What lovely photos of the Bluetits and Long tailed tits your BIL has taken Mel. Like AnnG says, it looks like he has a serious camera. I didn't realise what tiny beaks the Long tailed tits have before seeing these. Do the heat patches help with your sciatica? It's a horrid pain that stops you in your tracks. You might have to take it a bit easier and do some of your makes inside.

AnnG I think we could do with someone like Jake. He seems to be a godsend doing the heavier jobs and gets them done quickly too.

Good idea not to stay out and do more weeding Mandy. We pay for it with our backs if we overdo it and end up out of action for a few days don't we. Little and often is the way I have to go now.

Hubby is going to ring Asda, (he's so cross with them). I was just going to send an email, not expecting any reply though.

I'm so sorry you keep having so many bad days Vera and the headaches must really drag you down. OH had another migraine, woke up with one in the night again. I was reading in the paper today that Simon Cowell found the bright studio lighting was causing his migraines and got himself some cheap (under £20) blue light filter glasses and swears by them now. I used to find the flourescent lights and the heat at work would bring mine on.

We were up and off to collect my glasses first thing and I got seen quickly. Everything seems fine with my glasses and they seem comfortable. We popped to Sainsbury's next and picked a few bits up and the paper. When we got home, OH pumped my tyres up in case it wasn't just the cold weather that had triggered the warning light. Both were 5 pounds down at the front. Our neighbour, who was on his way out, popped across to see if we needed help which was kind of him. I then came on here and put my new glasses on and it's good I don't have to tilt my head back now to read the screen and they are a bit clearer too which will help me painting. I then did a few jobs and kept noticing a peppermint like smell. I thought it was some disinfectant, then I thought it was OH sucking a mint! I sniffed my top I was wearing as I had a different brand of washing powder recently but no! It seemed to be everywhere in the bungalow, but OH couldn't smell it. Eventually I had a chuckle as I realised it was the frames of my new glasses! lol. I hope it wears off or I'm destined to smell like a packet of Polo mints!! :-D

Thank you for the photos, Mel.
They are very clear. I like all of them, but particularly the 2 long tailed tits all sort of puffed up against the cold.

A really keen cold wind blowing here, so I'm finding plenty to occupy myself and be warmer indoors. A quick walk to the post box early morning was sufficient fresh air for me today ;-)

I am so pleased you liked BIL photos. He is mad about his camera and goes over Exmoor to get pics of the deer and stags. He has some wonderful pics of Red Kites and Barn Owls. Now I know I can send them I'll ask him for some more.

Mandy I like the blue Tit in the box hadge one too and the two Long Tailed Tits sitting on the bramble on the top of the box hedge.

Morning all,

Cloudy with the occasional glimpse of the sun just been out and weeded one of the little half round gardens but it's so windy out and I thought one little bit was enough for my back I have to ease myself back into bending over .
Before I went out I hoovered all through and did some veg ready to put on to make soup for our lunch today.

Oh Mel lovely photos all of the birds I love the one hiding in the bush with the red berry in his sight and the little blue caps they have on the top of their heads .
Hope your sciatica soon eases I wonder if you started it off reaching in that bottom cupboard.

Anng son was just the goofa collecting the F&C he did it the last time for them but he walked into town to get them as there wasn't so many to collect but this time he took his car ,I don't know how many portions were in a box but he said he collected nine boxes .

Yes Vera they are hard working they have had to be with five children to bring up ,I can't remember the last time son and dil went out together they always put the children first
We have helped them a lot over the years and son and dil help us out too with any thing technical that just goes over our heads but son soon sorts it for us .

Better get my soup on the go and there's some ironing that keeps giving me the eye so better get that done while the soups on the go.

Thanks Mel, They are beautiful, he is a very good photographer. I think he must have a good camera with a long lens on it, I love the little blue tit and the long tailed tits too. does he sell his photos?

I have sent pics that BIL took in the garden last week. I have sent them in two's and the last one is three. I hope you can open them.

Morning all,

Dull and very grey as usual here this morning not been out yet to see if there's rain in the air. Its 9 degrees and pc says cloudy. I do wish we could have a bit of sun to brighten the days as I get much more done when the sun shines.

I have three deer lying in various parts of the garden this morning.

Hip I think has turned into siatica. I can hardly get out of bed in the morning it a very slow process.

Good morning all. 8 degrees and cloudy, maybe a bit more gardening.

I have to say I can only tackle the gardening part of the garden now that Jake and co have got the rest of it in some sort of order. He stil has a list and will be here to discuss the next move on Wednesday. But getting the heavy jobs done helps me with the rest, And saves me employing an actual gardener. Jake and co are landscapers (and odd job men). so I have more energy for caring for the plant side, and having last year's gravel done and pots on it reduced the weeding a lot.

Mel, I think now we are on our own we tend to set ourselves 'timetables' of jobs to do and lovely though it is to see people we tend to be aggravated because we can't complete our jobs. Maybe we must stop being single minded and then it would not worry us. I am the same and have to tell myself that it doesn't matter if the room I planned to clean doesn't get done because a friend turned up. Company is more important than dust.

Mandy I bet SiL felt hungry after fetching those fish and chips.

Ann, how awful of Asda. I am with Vera I think I would take it further, even if you do plan to stop having them. So a van driver had sandwiches for lunch maybe?

I too like those crocus, they seem to be the only ones in the garden and have spread all along the wall garden in front of the conservatory.

Well for not wanting to do anything today Vera you had a good work day after all. You must be pleased with yourself and you got a lot more done than I did today.

It throws me when I have people call in and I was going to do so much today too.

Thank you for the photos AnnG. You really have been busy in your garden. All the flowers are pretty but, like Ann, I like the mauve and orange crocus. You must feel pleased with yourself getting so much done.

Mel, be careful with that knee and hip. Don’t be stretching into the backs of floor level cupboards or you might make things worse.

Jake is doing well Mandy. The manager must think well of him if he’s letting him deal with the customers. I wish your dil luck with her studies. They seem a really hardworking family.

My goodness Ann, what are Asda playing at? Refusing a refund for something that hasn’t been received is very poor customer service and if I were told it might be because I was committing fraud I would be writing to their CEO. I use both Tesco and Sainsbury’s and haven’t had problems with the customer service of either.

Your primary school seems to arrange really good outings for the children Gwyn. They must learn so much from such interesting trips. I expect you enjoy them as well, though it’s hard work keeping a close eye on young children.

Well, I had a dreadful day yesterday. I just sat about and couldn’t get myself psyched up to do anything and I felt very down. It was another bad night last night and my head has been aching all day but I gave myself a good talking to and told myself to buck my ideas up. I decided that instead of worrying about all I needed to do, I would pick just one thing and do that. As it was dry and fairly mild I decided to cut back the buddleias. They are in half barrels to keep them small so not too hard a task. Once they were done I decided I had the energy to tidy some pots of plants and then top up some other pots with compost and give some plants a feed and before I knew it an hour and a half had gone by. I still had a headache and my back was sore but it lifted my mood a lot. I came in, showered and had a snack lunch, then I made 2 long phone calls that I’ve been putting off and prepared and cooked our main meal. I even cooked a bread and butter pudding in the slow cooker. That was a first. I am feeling tired and achy but all in all, I am pleased with my efforts today.

That’s enough of me patting myself on the back. I hope everyone has a good night and wakes up bright eyed and bushy tailed.

No Ann no F&C for son he was just the goofa lol

I love watching the birds when you get one that trys to keep all the others from getting the seed .
I asked Jake if he was getting to know all the prices in the shop and he said I don't really have to remember all the prices as the label on the mince ,stewing beef etc has a number on the back and he just has to put that number in the till and the price per kilo comes up .
That's not very good service from Asda I wouldn't be very happy paying for an order and not getting it .

Evening All,

Dull here except a bit of sun while we had lunch. A nice and rare surprise was a flock of long tailed tits visiting the fat balls on the feeder. The Robin wasn't happy at sharing 'his' fat balls and kept flying at and disturbing them. We had a change from a sunday roast too and had toad in the hole with new potatoes, veggies and an onion gravy. It was as well it was something quick as we were up late today, but I slept well for a change.

Thanks for your photos AnnG and I love that pretty crocus with vivid light mauve with orange centres! You have lots of spring flowers looking good and you can see the impact you are making with your tidy up and getting things trimmed back how you want. You put me to shame with what you get done, I need some of your energy! lol.

Mel careful what you attempt if your knee and hip are playing up. No scrabbling about in low cupboards. It was perhaps as well you had visitors as it stopped you doing too much today. I expect SIL was impressed with your makes, as we are too.

Mandy we often find parking away in a quiet spot seems to attract other cars parking next to us. It's the same when we choose a seat in a cafe. I said to OH last time that we must have magnets attached to us. Schools hold far more events these days than when we were young. That was a lot of F&C ..........were some for your son too? I'd have had to get me some as well! lol. :-D Your DIL is doing well to do the course as well as her long days, but it will be worth it to be able to work with the younger children as well. Jake will be growing in confidence the more he learns, especially dealing with the public and serving them now. He's ahead of me as I wouldn't know how to use a till!

Our food delivery came today and I'd ordered too much bread so the driver took a loaf back with him and refunded it. Once everything was packed away I realised a pack of sandwiches was missing from the order, so asked online for a refund. For the first time ever they refused the refund, said it didn't meet their criteria!! When I asked the chatbot what the criteria were it said they didn't divulge their criteria and said it was to prevent fraud and save costs. Well it certainly wasn't helping my costs to pay for something they hadn't delivered! :-S I decided to look online for complaints against Asda and was horrified!! People who had not had their delivery at all, but because a driver had clicked they had delivered were being refused refunds, other people with missed items on their order couldn't get refunds. They were saying customer service was awful, being cut off in phone calls, unable to understand the english being spoken, things that were promised just didn't happen even after repeated calls, the online complaints form seems to be ignored as does the email. I decided to check when our delivery pass expires and it is the end of March, so not long to go and I have clicked for it not to renew and we will go elsewhere. It appears that Asda wants to blame their customers if orders or items go missing, rather than look at their side of things and what might be happening. I don't want to risk be lumbered with the cost of a whole order that doesn't arrive!!

An early start and shower tomorrow as my glasses should be ready and I won't have to wait ages if I'm early, as they don't do appointments for collection and any adjustments. I'm hoping they will be much better than what I'm wearing as it's a few years since I had a change of prescription.

I did a roast chicken in the week Mel so the sausages will be a change for a Sunday, we finished the last of the chicken in a curry yesterday .
I just went out to the bin and it feels really chilly now but the sky is so pretty with ths sun going down, nights are pulling out ,I think the weatherman said three minutes each day .

Sausage beans and mash sounds good to me Mandy I am sure you will enjoy it all the more for not having to stay and watch a roast cook.

Its got a bit brighter here now and I can see blue sky here and there but its a bit late we could have done with that earlier on. At least the rain has stopped for a while its still 10 degrees. and pc says cloudy.

Afternoon all,

Not so sunny here today yesterday was a lovely sunny day, I nearly hung some washing out as there was a lovely blow but by the time the washer had finished and I had finished doing some other jobs it was a bit late to hang them out .

Anng thanks for the photos of your garden lovely to see the flowers all out and the start you've made on the clearing and weeding .

Ann thats good OH got his car back OK, its so annoying when you get damage done to the car even if you park well away from others parking you can be sure there'll always be someone who comes and parks right beside you when there's loads of empty spaces on the car park .

No Gwyn I've no crafting on the go at the moment, I did try and sort out my material box as I've loads of fat quarters and I mean loads there must be over fifty or sixty maybe more so I mustn't buy any more for a while .

We nipped down to see son and family this morning as they didn't want to turn out after having a busy week at the school ,yesterday son had two lettings one in the morning which was a fish and chip lunch so he had to go and get nine big boxes with the fish and chip orders in and after he had to go in and tidy up ready for a magic show late afternoon and then clear up and locked up when that finished at seven .
Dil is now doing a course to become a teaching assistant so she has a lot of studying to do ,this is a course so she can work in the nursery at school she has to have that to work with the younger ones but she's OK to work in the other classes ,she does the breakfast club and the afterschool club so she has a long day .

Jake is now serving in the butchers ,I asked what his biggest sale has been and he said eighty pound and he said he must have taken about four hundred pound yesterday

Not at all cold today I really should do something in the garden but I didn't have a very good night I was still awake at gone twelve and had fidgety legs so I feel tired today so I'm having a rest this afternoon and being lazy with our meal tonight it's just sausage beans and mash.

The chickens did'nt get done as BIL and SIL arrived and did'nt leave till 1pm. We had a good natter with a coffee and she looked at a lot of the things I have been making. They brought me a Sunday paper something I hav'nt had for years and 4 pints of milk and a pasty and a sausage roll so no cooking for me today.

It good you have managed more in the garden and filled the bin up ready for collection. You are way ahead now for the new season in the garden. Good to get the accounts out of the way too.