General Chat

I lived in south of England until i left to come here so well remember that at secondary school, we always returned around 6 Sep and had to wear our Green/white striped summer dresses with a blazer right up until the half term holiday in October. When we returned it was winter uniform, skirt, shirt, tie, jumper or cardigans and green gabardine rain mac
We were not allowed to wear bottle green trousers until 3rd year.

But here in the far west, we always have had a good May, wet and midgy Jul/ Aug then a warm September except this year has not been that at all. So many gales through the summer months, back to back. Many were complaining their gardens were so behind and people growing veg etc had a very poor year.

I now have new buds of roses nearly opening on several rose bushes :-S

Joan, what a lovely rose you found and in jack's name, how wonderful. Hope it flourishes and does well for you.

So glad you got out for a coffee too. I hope you can meet up again soon and make it a regular meet up and that will be something to look forward to.

Names. what part of the country are you in? NSEW?

As for cyclists, they are still around in their droves. I have seen some today, soaking wet with the dense fog...torture nothing but torture!!

I got a couple of parcels today containing xmas pressies i have ordered online along with wrapping paper etc so I can get a good start. I shall have to order more stamps before oct with my shopping as they are going up to £1.65 for 1st class!!
Shall have to make sure all the family and friends cards that get a gift, get their cards in the same package to save on stamps.

Well, im feeling chilly and may have to put the heating on in a bit! off to make a cup of coffee to warm me up.

Florence in the hebrides

I just don’t remember the autumn wear.i just don’t think Mum would have splashed out on a new summer dress just for a few weeks.

Where do I live. Southern England ( I can just about hear the M4). Used to live in East Kent bought up on Surrey / London border.

I grew up in Hampshire. We only wore summer uniform dresses in the term that finished with the start of the 6 week summer holiday. When we returned in September we were in winter uniform. (This was in High school. As far as I remember we didn't have a uniform in primary school (infant or Junior. My school days were 1945 -1951 (I didn't go on to 6th form.

It was horrible here this morning, really dark and drizzly., so I did more housework.
It has brightened up a bit this afternoon, but is very cloudy and humid. I managed to go into town to buy some eye drops as my eyes are really dry and feel gritty.

OH is still painting the large under stairs cupboard. He finished the far end and put his new shelf in, so I filled it up and discovered that I have two large plastic boxes which fit exactly underneath the shelf, so everything is tidy now. He has now moved onto painting the end of the cupboard by the door where the shoe rack and coat rack are.
The only things not tidied away were my feather dusters and flat dusting thing to get under cupboards. I wanted something tall and thin to stand them in, so I found what is supposed to be a metallic planter in Yorkshire Trader which is our cheap sells everything shop. It look more like a tall plastic plant pot to me, but for £2 it is ideal. I freaked the young girl on the till out by asking her if I had to pay extra for the huge dead spider which was inside , apparently it was free :-D

I have been playing school buses with Esme today, even though we are both at our respective houses. She FaceTimes and she is the teacher and I have to be a multitude of other people. I am the school bus driver, the various children and as we usually go out on a school trip, I am the staff members wherever we are. I have to do different voices for them all, it is difficult to remember them all. She usually lasts about twenty minutes before she declares that she is tired and goes for a lie down. At least it keeps her busy while her mum gets some housework done.

I hope that your OH settles down quickly Sylvia, it must be difficult for him coping with so many changes. It is a shame he had to go into the interim placement, but life is never straightforward

It's ben a really lovely day here today, it was misty first thing but soon cleared & the sun has shone all day & still shining.

Florence, my new Rose was delivered this morning in perfect conditon, & it's a beauty, a lovel bushy speciman with red / green shiny leaves, there are a couple of buds on it as well.
Not sure if they will open but the advice is to leave the Rose in it's plant pot to give it extra time to establish it's root system, I'm happy to do that as I have yet to buy a LARGE planter for it.
It would be nice if the buds were to open.

Joan.

Your rose sounds to be lovely Joan, I hope it establishes itself well

Well what a miserable day, it has been raining for most of the day. We popped down to see my daughter to take some plastic storage boxes which she wanted , plus my hairdressing scissors so she can cut the back of Esme’s hair. I bought them during the lockdown when we needed haircuts. Getting proper scissors made the cut much better.
They have just FaceTimed and Esme held a funeral ceremony for Bert, one of her pet fish. He was buried in the garden, complete with a cross made from lolly sticks. We all had to say a few words about our memories of him :-D

Morning all
Autumnal day here and heavy clouds looming to give some rain I think.

Oh Linda, I remember having a goldfish that died and we buried it in a shoebox at the bottom of the garden and made a little grave. Its what we did as kids and Esme is no different bless her.

Ive been busy doing the usual chores but was getting a bit hot & botheres so just sitting for 5 minutes and then to tackle the bathroom.

Yesterday was so quiet with nothing exciting enough to put on here! Instead I carried on with my xmas shopping and found some really great bargains and stocking fillers plus some lovely silver crackers.

Sorry if its too early for the "C" word but as we are already in Sep I feel the days are flying by.

Hope everyone is ok today

Florence in the hebrides

Not too soon for the C wors here Florence, I already have some presents and am halfwat through making my Christmas cards.

Cooler here today, temp just gone up from what it was earlier (13 degrees) it is now 15. I actually have a sweter on.

Over the weekend, I realised that one of the nose pads on my glasses had split, so this morning, I got the bus into Harrogate and had it replaced. I also made an appointment for an eye test for when we come back from holiday. By coincidence making an appointment was on my calendar for this week.
I also went to Boots and bought lots of new bits for the first aid kit which we take abroad with us as most of the tablets were out of date.

I am not even thinking about Xmas, it is far too early for me.

I just got word back about another xmas fayre so we have booked 2 tables for that, very happy now. So thats 2 fayres booked, end of Nov & beg of Dec.

Sun is out but a fresh day here and stiff breeze but good to get the laundry dry..

Daughters birthday us next Monday and i thought I had a Tesco order this Saturday but i dont arghhh!! However my lovely neighbour is getting a delivery this week so she agreed to add on stuff i need for the birthday tea, thank goodness for the kindness of neighbours.

I am making her birthday cake whilst she is in town and then when she comes home, I will have it all ready for her along with a small buffet.

Think I may go outside for some fresh air now after being busy indoors. Have to make the most of this good weather.

Well, OH has settled in, and the temperatures are dropping slowly to more seasonal ones. This morning was actually cloudy and quite chilly, sweater needed, but the sun is breaking through the clouds now that it is the middle of the afternoon.

It is so much easier to go and see OH now ........ I've got in the habit (4 days! :-D ) of to see him for about an hour after lunch and again after dinner. That's just continue past reception and the elevators, turn left and left again, open the door, and walk down to the end of the hall. There is a head nurse (RN) on duty 24/7, 3 shifts a day, so I get to see the morning and afternoon ones but not the overnight one. All but once when I've gone, the head nurse or her deputy has said "Oh, Sylvia, could you get him to do xxxxxxx? He's been refusing to do it!"

So I have to go in and say something like you have to do xxxxx, the nurse has to do it. He mumbles a bit, but then does what they want!

Yesterday was a really nice day, sunny but not too hot, only around 23C or so, so I took him out into the garden/patio area outside the MLC unit, it's actually a courtyard area, but with a nice quite long winding walk and with some incredible plants along the sides and in central beds. Trees are pretty tall now, so there was plenty of shade. We recognised Magnolia, tall hydrangea bushes with those long white drooping bunches of flowers, and possibly at least one dogwood. Then we sat at a patio table, on comfortable chairs, and under an umbrella for some time.

I was pretty surprised when OH said the scientific name of the weed Horsetail which was infesting one of the beds of petunias!

So we are settling in to a routine, though he still is not accepting the fact that he needs the help and support that he is getting on MLC, instead of being with me in Accessible Living. He thinks that will happen "some time, we just have to be patient".

That sounds like a really nice place, Sylvia.
I hope you (both of you, in time) will be happy there.

Your husband's belief that he will be with you in Accessible Living reminds me of my brother, with dementia, who lives in California.

He still believes that he will be coming back to Scotland for another of his previously annual visits, although the rest of us know that that is no longer possible.

Good morning all.
What a lovely place you are both living in Sylvia. I am pretty sure there is nothing like that in UK. Probably his being sure that eventually you will be living together is keeping him happy. Hard for you to hear it but just go with it. With the weed he remembered, his long term memory is obviously still good.

14 degrees here now at 0830 so a lot cooler and very autumnal now.

Hello all,
Bit chilly here today outside but I'm ok as I'm indoors . OH is out in the garden using up some scrap wood making a planter . He likes to be busy . He has left me to get on with the h/work . We noticed a spider on the ceiling last night and when we got up this morning the cheeky thing had made a large web from the light to the window. It had been very industrious indeed . OH said sorry mate but the missus don't want it there as he swept it away with the feather duster. So I got the blame lol.

Sylvia your new homes sound very nice and the garden sounds beautiful. I wish you both happiness in your home. It must be strange for your OH to be dependent on carers now when you have been just the two of you for so long and he sounds like an independent person.

You sound busy Florence with your crafting and getting ahead with your c/ gifts etc. I do hope you do well with the craft fairs when the time comes.

Take care everyone .
Ginnie.

Good afternoon to everyone.
Not a nice day here today, the sun is shining but it is VERY windy, strong enough to have toppled 2 of my bird tables.
I ventured out to sort them but didn't stay out for long.

I had forgotten about the tatties that I had put on & on high, & on returning back inside the pan had boiled dry & the bottom of pan & the tatties were burnt.
Pan is currently soaking & I'm hoping I can save it !!

I will now have to think of something else for my dinner / main meal now.

Joan.

Oh dear! I hope your pan can be saved, Joan.
I've done that a few times - put a pan of something on, then wandered off to do something else and forgotten all about it.

I put enough vinegar in the pan to cover the burnt bits, bring it to the boil, and then turn off the heat and leave it overnight.
In the morning, the black layer just lifts off.

It's really chilly here today. Alternate rain and sunshine, and a cold wind.
I've been out to a coffee morning in a nearby (well, a few miles away) village hall, and am now ready for some warming lunch!

Hi ArgyllGran.
Unfortunately the pan is ruined, the burnt bits have eaten into the base of it, fortunately I have a spare set of pans, unused & still in the box, I bought them some time ago as they were in a sale & the same ones that I use at the moment.

And so I now have my new set in place & I have put the 2 large ones from the previous set to one side,I have never actually used those 2 as I used different cooking pots for different things, someone in the family might want them but if not they can go to a charity shop.

Still blowing a gale here & trying to rain now.

Joan.

gosh Joan I have never had a pan burnt so badly that it has eaten into the metal. Good job you have a spare set of pans to use.

Hello Ann, I have "burnt" this particular pan before, a long time ago & not too serious so I managed to rescue it then, probably why it was worse this time.
Thankfully, burning pans is not something I do often, lol.

Joan.