General Chat

Hi girls.
Thankyou Linda, I am nice most of the time, lol, I am generous when it comes to paying the grandchildren when they help me with various things.
We only see the 3 that live nearby as the others are scattered all around the UK, so the closest ones do tend to get more, but that can't be helped.

What a HOT day we have today, the past few days have been lovley as well, isn't this lovely "late" sunny hot weather what we used to call an Indian Summer ?
I recall when our first baby was born in August 1969, when he was just 3 weeks old we had an Indian summer then & he was out in his pram with just a thin little sheet over him & the sunshade on to protect him, it lasted about a week.
This is almost the same week as back then !

Bit warm for garden jobs but the birdbaths need topping up so will have to do them soon.
Hubby requested mince & tatties today, a bit warm for a gravy dinner but it's what he fancied so mince & tatties it is, lol.

I hope everyone is having a nice day & the weather is nice for you all.

Joan.

I am sure you are a lovely granny Joan. I just see more of mine because they have been here for two years, not the three months my daughter thought it would be :-S

They had a nice day at the farm, then went to a furniture shop and bought two mattresses. Eve had already chosen a bed on line, but wanted to try the mattress out

Hello.~~~~~~
Very very hot here, with wall to wall sunshine & no wind or breeze.

Just have to re-fill the birdbaths & that's all I'm doing re the garden, just tooo hot for me, lol.

Our daughter came over yesterday with a bag of mucky scrapers, she also brought her 2 youngest children (11 & 4) & they all ended up helping me shift some long tree branches, we lit a small fire so as to burn some smaller branches & the bits of wood from an old seat & a wrecked arbour.

All in all a very good lot of work done in about 3 hours, lots of old wood up in smoke,
Cost me money though as both grandchildren needed some wages, they deserved payment, lol.

You deserve a nice long break Linda, you are sooo good to & with your 2 grandaughters.
I thought I was good to mine but you beat me hands down, lol.

Joan.

It is summer here, hot and sunny. I have just had a good prune of nmy outdoor tomato plants. I have cut lots of the leaves off, to expose the tomato as much as possible.it is going to be very warm all week, so fingers crossed some of them will ripen.

The girls and their parents are out today at a nearby children’s farm. My son bought Esme a family ticket for her birthday, so they are using it before school starts. Eve goes back on Tuesday and Esme on Wednesday.I am looking forward to some quiet days

Afternoon everyone looking in.

What a change in the weather! The storm clouds are gathering and its blowing a hooley. I went out to the bin with a bag and oh my I nearly got blown over it was awful.

I think later tonight we are due a deluge of rain too. However looking forward the weather next week is looking great with high temperatures so summer is not gone yet, just a wee blip today maybe lo

Well I made soup in my newish big black pan. It is a huge pan like a le Crueset one but with handles and was far chepaer! Its tasting good.

Lentils, onions, turnips, my own carrots, plus stockpots and pepper. The carrots were a disappointment but I did get a few small chunky ones. Cant wait to have with some nice bread later for tea.

So glad we got all daughters clothes washed and dried yesterday, just a basket of ironing for tomorrow now lol

I bought some chunky wool. Different shades of cerise pink, orange, flecks of green. Really lovely and soft. Going to knit a scarf and see how it turns out. I'm using 6mm needles but have ordered some 8mm.

Nice to see you posting JG and hope your planters look good when they come.

Linda, good news re the house for your daughter, fingers crossed.

We have a viewing today, so hoping they like it and put an offer in. The market is really slow what with interest rates rising recently.

Having a lazy afternoon as after the work we did in the garden yesterday, my fingers are aching in the joints using the trowel and my hip is aching too with all the bending I did!

Hope everyone is well today :-D

Hello all , weather ok today cloudy but not too chilly and I have been able to put the washing out thankfully. Yesterday I had to dry the towels in the dryer as it decided to rain almost as soon as I put the washer on..

I have ordered 2 xl raised planters for the veg end of the garden, got them at what I think is a good price OH priced up what it would cost to buy the wood etc to make them himself and decided it wasn't much more to get ready made and less work for him.
Linda pleased to hear things are hopefully being sorted for your daughters house move , you will miss them of course but having some time to yourselves will be good as well. They will miss you as well.

Not ready for it to be Autumn yet. lol. This year has flown by, must be getting old . I bet the C/cards and decorations will be on sale soon if not already. Don't bother with halloween except to buy a few sweets for next doors children if they knock the door..

Doing pizza tonight for tea with some salad ,haven't had for ages so quite looking forward to it.

Take care all.
Ginnie

Well, things are looking up. My daughter just had a phone call from the estate agents to say that the land registry have redrawn the map, so that the property border no longer goes right through the middle of the large out building they want to convert to a home office. Hopefully they will be able to complete and exchange quite quickly now. At least the girls have been here for the school holidays. Eve isn’t a problem, but Esme needs to play and that is difficult as they are both working full time. If I wasn’t here to play outside with her and take her out, she would just have to play around them as they work, but that isn’t ideal.

So there is light at the end of the tunnel and we may get our house back soon after two years of them being here. Of course we will miss them dreadfully and I have given up most of the voluntary things I did, somI will have to think of new things to do.

It is cloudy and cold here, there was a lot of rain overnight. The garden plants are starting to fade fast. I have three outdoor tomatoes which have lots of green ones on them, but they haven’t ripened at all. We are supposed to be getting good weather next week, sonI hope that will help

I am with you on the ironing Joan, I never iron sheets, towels etc.I, or rather OH irons shirts, trousers etc, but every else just gets folded and put away

hello to all.
Goodness Florence you are fairly kept busy with the washing & ironing, I don't mind doing the laundrey but I don't iron everything any more, I stopped ironing the sheets long ago when I found it too difficult to pick them up to fold & re-fold.
My washing machine ( a top loader) is "gentle" on the spinning & so long as I remove the washing as soon as the machine ends there are very few creases.

It's a beautiful day here very warm & lovely sunshine.
I was out for a walk round the main garden checking the borders & removing any dead flowers, the Crocosmia is now in full bloom & even some offshoots that I removed from the mother plants have taken & grown & to my surprise have put out their own flowers, I didn't expect those ones to flower this year.

My rockery is looking really nice & the wee plants that I bought for it have taken off, starting to spread & flower, really chuffed with it.
My next purchase is for some Clematis plants, I need, our eldest son that lives in Morayshire is making me 4 wooden planters for them .

I have a long wll at one end of the main "best" bit of the garden, & have worked out that I will need 4 of them, I am hoping to get hold of the one called "Nelly Moser" as they would seem to be be the perfect plant for the said garden wall.

Our local garden centre has some & are quite big.
I am a bit put off by the price (£18 each) but they are very well establiched & I haven't had any failures with any of their plants in the past.
Maybe I should drop hints to the family for some early Christmas / Birthday pressies, LOL.

Must go & flick the duster around before its time to prepare the tea, hope all is well with everyone.

Joan.

Afternoon all.

We have brilliant sunshine and warm too so a fab day for washing which is just as well as daughter came home last night! 3 loads for the machine in all, one out on the line so far and another nearly ready.

She enjoyed the trip but was very tired as not used to "rushing in the city,"

So all the bags emptied now and things everywhere but getting through putting it all away.

Tesco coming between 2-4 pm and 4 things substituted one of which was my smoked haddock...again! So its gonna be cod instead. Its ok but not as nice as the haddock. My fridge is so empty and the freezer too so it needs restocking.

Linda, oh my. You need a medal! But what will happen when they move? Mum & dad will surely have to look after Esme not you? What did they do when they lived in London? Hope the house move is progressing anyway.

Daughter and I are going outside to deal with all the plants and see which ones are finished and some need a bigger pot etc. Really want to make use of the good weather before Autumn settles in properly.

I was always taught that the 4 seasons were as follows:
Spring 21st Mar
Summer 21st Jun
Autumn 21st Sep
Winter 21Dec

We never thought 1st Sep as the beginning of Autumn??

Joan, I'm sure you are busy too in the garden? Hope your B12 jag went ok.

Well a quick sandwich for lunch then off outside.

Happy sunny afternoon to all looking in.

Florence in the hebrides

I think it is Van Dal shoes Florence, my mum always used to buy them as well. I have really wide feet, so have to try shoes on in a shop to make sure they fit.

I am shattered after my day out with Esme. We got there earlier and stayed until after the last show. She had a lovely day, but is tired now and asked to go to bed. Oddly, she didn’t do a lot of walking today, she wanted to be in her wheelchair most of the time. That meant I got to push her. Being a child’s chair, it isn’t very high, as I am tall, it makes it tiring to push.

She won’t go on scary rides thank goodness, but she won’t go on the small children’s rides on her own, so I have to go on with her. We went in the carousel three times. Climbing up onto the horse is no mean feat at my age. Most of the rides are fine, but we went on a canoe ride. I had great difficulty getting in and even more getting out. I had to crawl out on my hands and knees, I must have looked like a real prat.

Re shoes, my grandmother use to buy 3 pairs, one black, one brown and one navy blue to cover all outfits made by Van Daal (sp?) They would last her 2 years and then she would buy another 3 pairs. She said if you find a comfy pair, just buy 3 colours and you wont need any others! But at £75 a pair, they were not cheap but were good quality.

:-D :-D :-D :-D just a stones throw then!

That's good to know, Joan - re fit , etc.

Maybe I'll give them a try.

Your nearest, Florence, is 107 miles away, in Inverness!

So Sorry Argyl gran, i forgot to add that.
We are lucky in that our local Shoezone shop wasn't closed when some others were a while ago.
I would be able to visit the shop but my daughter wold have to take me there as & when she is available to do so, & so buying the shoes from them on-line is a much easier option.

Compared to some companies though £2-50 isn't too bad, I have bought many pairs of slippers from them & in latter years several pairs of shoes & I have been more than happy with descriptions & fit of their shoes.

Joan.

:-D :-D :-D Hate to think how far one is from me!

I got quite excited when I read your post, Joan, and had a look at the Shoezone website.

Unfortunately the free returns are only for returns to a Shoezone shop.
Other return methods cost £2.50.

The website says cheerfully, "We have over 450 stores nationwide so there's sure to be one near you!"

No, the nearest one to me is 54 miles away.

Hi Florence, I 'm hoping it's not the same nurse as last time, she was a bit hasty & the jab did smart a lot & not used to that.

I don't mind doing the washing etc during the summer but not so keen when the weather is bad, I just don't want to be bothered with it but it has to be done.

We haven't had any post so far this week, we get less & less these days, I did get a parcel though, 2 new pairs of shoes from Shoezone, lovely shoes, flattish with a wdge heel, cushion walk inside & are sooo comfy.

I like to use Shoezone, lots of footwear to choose from, not expensive & they do FREE & speedy delivery, & FREE returns.
I buy my slippers from them as well.

I have had the same shoes before & though I still use them I decided to get the same ones again before they are no longer available, the weren't expensive & I only wear then alternately once or sometimes twice a week so they are lasting well. LOL.

Joan.

Hope you B12 jag goes ok Joan. Mnnnn fish & chips sounds fab..yummy.

I have done all the ironing and housework so sitting with a cuppa now.

I do iron everything Joan, even the towels and socks lol Daughter does have OCD so makes more washing than I do.

Sun is coming out but I stuck my head out the door and brrrr its really chilly, quite a drop in temperature and NE wind which is cool.

Might just have beans on toast tonight with grated cheese, old favourite never fails.

!st post of the week and i got 2 exciting letters. Tel monthly bill and bank statement :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Nothing exciting at all :-(

Afternoon everyone.

Florence, I second what you say about Linda, she certainly IS a wonderful granny, I don't know how she manages all the things she does for her 2 grandchildren & all her family.

Another busy day for you Florence, you should set up a laundry business as you seem to do a lot of it.
It's a nice day for us after some early morning rain.

I'm not going outside today though as I have an appointment at the health centre today, my B12 jab is due today, not looking forward to it as the nurse who did it last time (12 wks ago) didn't do as good a job of it as previous nurses have done it, it was rather painful which isn't usually the case !

Hubby & I are having a treat today, a fish from the chippy,using one of the chippy vouchers that our daughter bough her dad for fathers day.
Looking forward to it as it's been a while.

I won't have to make our own fish & chips on Friday this week, for a change, LOL.

Joan.

Morning all
Was up early today and managed 5 hours sleep without waking so feel good for that.

The ironing basket needs my attention, so thats my 1st job of the day, then hoovering throughout. Remake daughter's bed so its all fresh for her return tomorrow.

Cant wait to see what "souvenirs" she brings home lol probably had to buy another suitcase to fit them all in lol

Its a grey cloudy day with a bit of sun peeking through and the wind has dropped but think the midges may be out grrr.

The bread was lovely last night but my chilli not so! Wish I had stuck to soup now but never mind.

So off to shower now and then get busy.

Have a good day all

Florence in the hebrides