General Chat

Morning all,

Nice morning and when I got up the sky to the east was pink bove the trees. What is it they say "Red sky in the morning a sailors warning". It was really lovely behind the fir trees but by the time I had boiled the kettle and made my coffee it has gone just as I went for the camera.

Tis 5 degrees out there and it looks very wet.

Hope you all had a good night.

Evening All,

Yes, first of the month and the start of our chocolate advent calendar and my turn today. :-)

Gwyn that sounded a nasty message and I would have reported it. If you get one again forward it to [email protected] as they take these sites down where they are trying to make you pay money. There are some lovely things at these Christmas fairs and it's tempting to buy things, but often expensive as they are one offs.

The cottages are lovely AnnG and like Vera I liked the photographer taking photos of the children visiting Santa, but it made me realise the days of sitting on Santa's knee are no more! I liked the children throwing snowballs at each other too. The red lights sounded a good buy for the tree. I hope you hear from Jake tomorrow.

Ah yes it was the boyfriend's one he hired that she borrowed from him now you have reminded me Vera. My brain must have been tired but it was an even better idea to wear it for the photo. On the subject of your and Gwyn's emails, the past few weeks I have had several unpleasant ones telling me women are waiting to hear from me, ie women in very provocative poses!!. I have never looked at any sites like that, so don't know what's prompted them starting to be sent to me!!

We often get our A5 week to view diaries from The Works Mel. Oops, the fireworks have started outside!! I wonder why?? Your Advent Ring looks great with all the different greens of the foliage with the red and white. It brightens up the church. I had to do the same when I applied for my last new driving licence. I was surprised they used the old photo though.

I think I would have liked the interesting Heritage tree too Mandy. It's a shame there were no real trees though to give out a lovely smell of pine. You've done well getting your christmas puddings all done now.

It's amazing thinking back to the decorations we used to see at Christmas when we were children like you say. Crepe paper cut into strips and twisted and pinned to the ceiling corners and light fitting in the middle and they were always falling down! Those tissue paper bells, christmas trees and balls that opened and had a flat metal bit you folded over to hold them open. The tiny tree had branches that looked as if it was made of brushes you clean bottles with and each branch was tipped with one red berry. Little mesh bags of chocolate coins covered in gold foil, to decorate it with as well as the baubles and obligatory fairy for the top. I don't remember seeing trees with stars on the top till I was older. I did see a pack of the sugar mice with string tails that I would always get at Christmas as a child at a garden centre recently.

I'd better get to bed now as we are up early tomorrow to see if The Works have one of those Gibson puzzles I want left. OH wants to come, but I think it's the Cafe there that's his main interest although he likes looking at the books. We might go on to the bigger garden centre with a bigger Works if there are none left.

Mel another lovely advent ring for the church they should be pleased with that .

It's been raining quite hard all the afternoon and been so dark we've had the lights on most of the day .
We had a lovely roast chicken tonight and like Vera everything cooked just as we liked them , we had the chicken, roasties ,roast parsnips and roast carrots, sprouts and green beans and cauliflower cheese , no pudding as we were both full.

Tomorrow I want to write my Christmas cards and we hope to get the tree in the stand outside and get the lights on .

Vera it does look Christmassy here now but it is only done early because of going away for Christmas. The berry lights surprisingly can be used outdoors although the transistor and plug must be inside.
No I have not heard from Jake but that doesn’t surprise me I will know more tomorrow,

Gwyn I will send again tomorrow when I get back on my PC sorry you have not got it.

BIL turned up about 2pm just as I was going to have something to eat. He did'nt come in but I gave him coffee and he sat out on the patio and we had a nice chat. He has had a bit of trouble with his eyes and wanted to see if he was ok to drive.

I did manage to renew my licience online today but what a lot of questions you have to answer. It said for me to send back my licience cut in half. The photo on it makes me look like a right miserable so and so and down in the mouth.

Going to watch my little couple on Youtube now Living the Skye Life. Really look forward to Sunday's at 6pm to see what they have been up to and thier two dogs Jack Spaniels and Nori. She does the most wonderful painting and he's a musician.

While it’s not cold it has been raining more or less non-stop since about midday so the fuchsia OH moved is getting well watered in.

Your photos are in my inbox AnnG and I’ve just had a look at them on the computer. They must make your room really Christmassy and they give off a nice warm glow. I love the cyclists and the little notice advertising photos with Santa. It’s a lovely collection. You’ve worked hard at getting your decorations done. The house must look a picture. We won’t put anything up for quite a while yet but I must get the big box out of the garage and see if anything needs replacing. I like the sound of those red lights from Tesco. I might have a look at those. Btw, have you heard anything from Jake yet?

Mel, I’ve also received your photos in my inbox, thank you. I have just been looking at them. The finished wreath looks as good as ever and the Church must be pleased with it, but I was also interested to see the other pics which gave me a good idea of how you build it up. I wouldn’t know where to start. You have also reminded me that I have a wreath for the front door somewhere, not a nice fresh one but an artificial one I bought last year. For years we had a lovely big garland which I hung all down the side of the door but last year it eventually started to fall to bits. OH shortened it and adapted it to hang in a loop on a side gate and I bought the wreath for the front door. Now where on earth did I put it after Christmas? It’s possibly somewhere in the garage. I’ll have to go on a hunt for it.

Annx, granddaughter didn’t even hire a gown, she just went without. Luckily her boyfriend was graduating at the same time so she borrowed his hired one for a photo. She met boyfriend when they both started at uni and over 3 years later they are still together. As for the garden bins, ours are collected all year round apart from 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year. As they are emptied fortnightly it means we just miss 1 collection. Perhaps your charges are a bit lower than ours. I’ve just had our invoice for next year and it is £65 which is a 10% increase over last year. It’s worth it to us as we would otherwise have to constantly take stuff to the tip.

I’m glad you enjoyed the Christmas tree display Mandy. I don’t think we have had one in town this year. If we have I don’t know where it was held. I suppose the different organisations use artificial trees as they don’t drop their needles and probably work out cheaper as they can be reused, but I love to see a real tree as well. Apart from the look of it you get that lovely piney smell with a real one. You are right about the change in decorations over the years. I expect we all remember making paper chains with strips of gummed paper. My Dad also used to buy a couple of rolls of silver foil, a bit like rolls of sellotape in size. We used to twist long strips of it which Dad would hang over things and round mirrors etc. The stuff was lethal! The edges were like razors and if you didn’t handle it carefully it cut your fingers to bits and the cuts were sore for ages. Those were the days.

Our roast was delicious; one of those rare days when everything cooked to perfection. We had lamb, roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots with cauli and broccoli. We followed it with lemon cheesecake. I knew I had a large one in the freezer that I made for an event in June and then didn’t use. I got it out, cut it in half immediately and put half back in the freezer. My label on it said “Might be squidgy”. I think that was my code for “Only use for close family”. In fact it was perfect. No idea why I thought it might be squidgy.

I might not be posting tomorrow as we have a busy day. I must do a couple of jobs in the morning and also go into town to pick up my scripts. In the afternoon we are going to visit my daughter and her partner who is poorly at the moment. So you might get a day off from having to wade through one of my long posts.

Your tree sounds lovely AnnG.
You've worked hard to get that all sorted and those red berry lights will look good, I'm sure.

No photos have arrived from you, either in mail or in spam :-(

Had a good day if tiring one. I have got my little 3 foor tree up and managed to get a hundred red berry lights on it and it is now decorated. then I have filled a few bowls etc with coloured baubles round the lounge and dining room. Used to do this when T was alive so I thought Why not this year. I still have the floral decoration to do but that will be tomorrow now I think my back has had enough. Pleased so far with the lights. red berry lights 100 for £8 from Tesco.

I also walked down with some stuff for Irene and posted the first batch of cards.
Going to have a cup of tea now and prepare veg for this evening's meal.

In case photos have continued going into spam Vera and Gwyn I sent out phoyos this morning. :-)

Oops, after answering Mel’s paper size query I went into automatic pilot mode and pressed submit even though I meant to carry on.

How can we be on the first day of December already? 58 years ago I was heavily pregnant with my second child and dashing about like a mad thing washing my hair (long in those days), making a Christmas cake and getting my 17 month old daughter to my mother-in-law’s. My baby was supposed to be born at home but things weren’t going right and I had seen the doctor the night before. He wanted me to go straight into hospital but I pointed out that I didn’t have arrangements in place for my daughter and he’d have to give me time to do that. So he gave me a day’s grace and I had to go in first thing the next morning. I didn’t tell him all the other things I was going to do with my day’s grace. My son was born on 2nd December.

I was very confused with the talk of Annx’s village photos and kept looking at the pictures I had got and couldn’t see anything resembling a village. I was just going to email and ask her about them when, like Gwyn, I found them in Spam. I wonder why they ended up there. I’ve never had anything from Annx go to Spam before now. The village looks amazing. I’ve only seen the pics on my phone so far but I am going to look at them later on my computer so I can pick out more detail.

Gwyn, a couple of years ago I had a spate of those nasty emails, each one getting nastier than the last. Eventually they threatened to expose me to all and sundry while I was apparently doing unspeakable things while watching hard porn sites. They seemed to give up when they realized they were not getting any money out of me but I had to laugh as I wouldn’t have a clue how to find these terrible sites I was supposed to be watching. It sounds as though you had an enjoyable, if busy, day yesterday. Craft fair goods are often quite expensive but you do get something unique. You were absolutely right about my dearly beloved being an eager gardener. The fuchsia that was going to be moved from outside the garage to the back garden next spring has made the journey this morning !! He says he did check on google and it was OK to move it once all the leaves and buds have dropped. He has trimmed it back so it’s about 18” – 2ft tall and we will have to wait till the spring to see how successful he has been.

I am going to stop here and get on with cooking our roast dinner which we usually have around 2 pm on Sundays. I’ll bbl to finish off what I was going to say.

I was going to say A5 is half A4 but Vera got there first. Thanks for the pics Mel great as usual.

Mandy the station next to the church on the left has a little train that runs round and can be seen through the door. I don't think any of them have sound although some are so old now the sound might have worn out.

Sent the pics in all the stages of its making.

Mel, A6 is 4.1 x 5.8 inches. A5 is about half A4 size. Hope you find what you want.

I want to order a new diary week to view but can't remember what A^ size is?? I know I don't have an A4 is A6 about half that size?

Morning all,

Dull here with drizzle the sun tried to peep throught but the clouds had other ideas .

Yesterday we went into the church to see all the trees I didn't take any photos as I didn't bother to take my bag with me and we went off in a rush as when I looked to see the times they were only open until 11.30 and then open again at rwo o'clock, not sure why but anyway the trees were really pretty ,just a shame there wasn't one real tree all artificial ,we both liked the Heritage one ths best as they had lots of old photos of the snowy town and old shops pinned on .

Got two more small, Christmas puddings steaming away ,just two more to do for son and family .

Gwyn I've seen lots of handmade things that seem pricey but when you think of all the time that goes into making these things they wouldn't make any money would they and of course some things you couldn't buy anywhere else as they are one offs never two the same .
The soup sounded tasty ,I make a curried parsnip soup but I like the sound of the spiced one, I bet it went down a treat with a nice buttered roll.

Anng your little cottages look lovely all set out ,I meant to ask if any are musical ones .

Ann that garden centre display was beautiful it must draw lots of people in to see it each year.

How the decorations have changed over the years from having the crepe paper trimmings and little paper lanterns to foil trimmings ,when I lived at home we use to go to a neighbours house for Christmas drinks and her trimmings were well lets just say way over the top ,when you went into the front room there were so many draped across the ceiling you could hardly see it and you had to duck down in places to walk underneath lol

Mel looking forward to seeing the advent ring again

Morning all and a pinch and a punch and all that.

Well only 24 days to go to the big day if you don't count today. Iv'e not wrapped a present yet so that could be on the cards for today. I am hoping I hav'nt bought anything thats hard to wrap. I think most are in boxes so should be ok. Still a few to get but not much.

Thanks for the pics of the village Anng it looks great as ususal.

Thank you Annx for the photos of the village. I found them in my spam :-S :-|
What a wonderful display and such detail. I'm going to go back and take a closer look.
Also in my spam was a very dodgy message, almost a blackmail type. I'm not feeling threatened, but I can see that it would unnerve some people in that it said unless I paid a certain amount of money in bitcoin, the sender would reveal to people in my address book, pictures that had been captured from my internet browsing and even from within my own home, :-0
As I never have a camera on and have not viewed anything of concern, I have no worry that there is anything to be seen, but the tone of the message was very unpleasant.

On a brighter note, I went to 2 Christmas fairs yesterday morning.
The first was at a retirement home in town, where they always hold a fair where residents who are crafters can sell their wares and coffee and cakes are served and there is tombola etc in aid of a local charity for the aged. Prices are reasonable and it's a good social occasion.
From there we went to the parish church in town for their fair, where there were various stalls set up, - some for charity, some for church funds and some for local sellers to sell pottery, wood turning and artwork etc. Prices were more expensive, but then many hours must have gone into the creation of some items.
Some ladies from the church had a soup kitchen running in a side room. Daughter chose a spiced parsnip one, I had butternut squash. Both were delicious with a buttered wholemeal roll.
Late afternoon we went off hand delivering some birthday cards for opening today and tomorrow, then delivered some society newsletters before going home for a later meal of haggis, swede and potato, it being St Andrew's Day and daughter needs little excuse to link in to her Scottish heritage ;-)

Good morning all. Wet here this morning which was expected as per the weather forecast, so a good job my garage is now rain proofed. Just the cosmetic bit to do now.

11 degrees so mild but not going anywhere so no problem.

I have got my little tree down now so will decorate that, I didn't manage to find a larger one so 3 foot will have to do.

I just had another look at the pics you sent Annx. Can you imagine just how long it took them to do that display?I expoect there were a lot of movinng things like the skaters and the men fishing with the fish coming out of the holes etc and it looks like the train was on rails and did the roundabout go round?

I think I will sleep well tonight as I am feeling tired already so will say goodnight all. See you all in the morning, late morning as I hav'nt got to get up for anything.

Afternoon All,

Much warmer here today and dry so far, so not much heating needed.

I read about that with PPIs a few days ago too AnnG. OH has taken them for many years and it isn't the only risk with taking them. I mentioned on here a few years ago about the risk of osteoporosis and how I badgered OH for a few years to get his bone density checked because of taking them long term. Guess what, as he was eventually persuaded to go and ask to be checked, he was found to be borderline for osteoporosis and the medics were so surprised with him being a man and only in his 60s! At least he got to be treated early for it with getting checked. The problem is with the osteoporosis rink is that the PPIs stop calcium being absorbed for your bones. Similarly with my thyroid medication, fibre, calcium, iron, coffee and tea can affect that being absorbed, so my mostly skipping breakfast helps or I take my meds a bit earlier in the morning.

I bet your display looks lovely now you have it done and you've got all the lights working. I bet it looks magical with the room light switched off and I'm sure your visitors will appreciate you setting it up again. I wonder what has stopped Jake coming to help with your roof and hope he and the family are ok.

That's good Stu has managed to get your bumper back in place and safe Mel and I hope there is plenty to pick for the ring. I always look forward to seeing that. Did Stu remember the book this time? It sounds like the Stoat has been keeping the Rabbit population down for you.

Vera I just looked at your Fuschia and think it is a lovely delicate one that drips with flowers, really pretty. Good idea to have hired a gown as they must cost a lot, usually just for the one occasion so your granddaughter is a sensible girl.. You are lucky if you are still getting your garden bin emptied as our have stopped now till next March.

I've had 6 scam emails today, all pretending to be my broadband provider! I reported them all, but it's a sign Christmas is coming now the robbers are out to trick us!