General Chat

That was a busy time you had Linda. You need a holiday now to get over that. I had a good time yesterday on my birthday, very hard when that special person is no longer here to celebrate with you but I am so grateful for my family (who were not able to be with me but kept very much in touch), and my local friends who made sure I was taken out and treated to coffee and cake and lunch etc. Back down to earth today with a Tesco delivery due and washing to be done etc. Already 17 degrees and it was such a hot night.

I am pleased that you managed to enjoy your birthday Ann, special days must be difficult being on your own, but you are blessed by a caring family.

It is going to be another very hot day at Center Parcs. The lodge is nice and cool and we are spending lots of time in the swimming pool every day, so it is fine. Thee others have hired bikes, but OH and I are just walking. All of the walkways are very shaded by trees, so it is fine walking about between the venues. Esme has a Duo bike with her mum. It is a large wheelchair on the front of a bike frame. The wheelchair part can be unclicked from the bike to use separately which is useful as she gets tired walking..

Afternoon peeps.
Happy Birthday Ann for yesterday. Glad you had friends to take you out for coffee etc. Always chores to bring you back down to earth lol. Im still catching up after a week back from down south! Dont know where daughter gets all her washing from lol

Wow Linda, you have had such a busy time but you sound like you are enjoying being away and the children are having a fab time too.

Yesterday was warm in the afternoon about 20 so pleasant and daughter & I spent the afternoon outside weeding all my flower pots. The gale we had back in Jun ruined the potato plants and all the greenery died off. So we dug up the plants and did get some new pots but not as many as last year. Still we had them with salmon fillets last night and peas and they were very tasty.

Enough left for another meal later in the week.

The haar/sea mist has covered the view to the sea and has become a bit chilly and damp now so a lot cooler....never lasts the sun here lol

Oh well back to the last bit of drying off and then ironing tomorrow.

Hope you are ok Joan and having better weather than me.

Florence in the hebrides

Thank you Joan for the birthday wishes and Florence too.

21 degrees here at 7am and 22 now but no sun.

Large planters become unmanageable as we get older don't they. I am trying to keep large pot is one place and buying smaller ones to move around. I have also bought several plastic pots in the new bright colours, so much easier to move. I have mauve, cerise, blue and apple green. I expect they will fade but I have some from last year and they have not weathered too badly.

After another foggy start, I can now see the hills in front of my house but it is breezy and damp so not a nice day. Suddenly looked out at 10am to see the neighbours bins out!! I had forgotten its bin day and with daughter away, it had slipped my mind.

So had to put on my lightweight waterproof and get them out quick as the lorry was up the village and would be down soon.
Have been busy transferring photos from phone to PC today. All 1800 of them! What a job.
But I am 3/4 finished and most now in files ready to tf to USB/pen drives. Just takes forever and SIl seems to send every holiday pic to me everytime they go away.

Anyway it kept me busy as im finding if Im not busy my mind is drifting to thinking of mum and its upsetting me a bit.

I think everything happened so quickly, its only now after being away, I have time to think and digest about what happened. It will settle down in time, just all seems a bit surreal at the moment.

Ann most of my pots are plastic and I can manage to move them about as when its blowing a gale, i shift them into the corner to shelter from the wind. If they were bigger, I wouldnt be able to do that.

Hope people get the well needed rain thats forecast and also hope it sinks into the ground. Flash flooding doesnt do the plants anygood as it just runs away and doesnt sink into the soil.

Cant decide on my tea tonight, really should have my fruit & yoghurt again but feeling so hungry.

Hope all ok with Joan & Linda too.

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon peeps.
Brighter day here albeit quite a stiff breeze but it got the bed linen dry very quickly.

Can't help but feel, there is a chill in the air today, almost Autumnal and yet we didnt have a summer here this year unlike the rest of the uk! A couple of days of 21 degrees was about it.
The children return to school on Thursday and I do feel sorry for them as hardly been many nice days for them to go outside.

Hoovered the whole house, and tidied up. Wrote 2 letters and did some shredding so all up to date with paperwork for now.

Ordered a new tumble dryer yesterday too, a reverse action one as the existing one doesnt have this feature and all the towels just get tangled up into a ball.

This one i have is only 3 years old so should be able to sell it locally for a reasonable price. The new one is 8kg not 7kg so a bit bigger too. I have a super kingsize duvet cover so needs space in the dryer.

2nd part of new series of Shetland on tonight. Love this series and so glad its back on. Also Scottish soap River City was back on last night as well and Masterchef so some good tv viewing. Mind you on Masterchef Chris Eubank, the Boxer was hilarious! Quite obvious he has never cooked much lol

So off to be busy again

Florence in the hebrides

It is slightly drizzly here this morning, that is the only rain we have had. It is annoying as all around us there has been a lot of rain. My water barrels need refilling, so I hope we get some soon.

My sister is on the second week of her radiotherapy. It is going fine so far and she hasn’t started feeling sick yet. As she had such a large tumour removed, there is a large space in the centre of the brain, so they said that this might help as it will allow the swelling caused by the treatment to happen without it pressing on other parts. I hope so, as she has a one and a quarter hour trip each way.

Evening peeps
Very wet day here and at 5am, the rain and wind woke me up, I was not amused!
It has brightened up but very windy and im feeling cold today but the heating is not going on in August lol

Linda, glad your sister is getting on ok.When my daughter had 3 weeks of radiotherapy, I think only once was she sick so hoping your sister might be lucky too. Just such a long journey for her.

Joan does the physio come out to see hubby re his mobility or give exercises to strengthen his legs? i do a few exercises every morning to keep my muscles moving as im not very mobile. By the evening once im sitting, left foot is like an elephants foot!

I have had an early tea as i was famished today. I ate the remains of my smoked salmon carbonara from last night and really tasty it was.

Was busy this afternoon scanning, printing and emailing legal docs for the Probate application, I thought it was all done but there were 4 more things to sign before it can go away to Newcastle. So that's it all done now....hopefully!

Watched 2nd part of Shetland last night and its the quickest hour to pass!
Anyone watching celebrity masterchef?

Better get the dishes done and then I can relax.

Florence in the hebrides

Good afternoon peeps.
Well its a blustery day here with showers and Im feeling it sooo chilly but the heating is def not going on, only a thicker cardigan lol

Got up about 9, made myself usual coffee. I placed on the table and sat down. As I reached to pick it up, I knocked it over!!! Oh yes, a flood that covered the kitchen table which is 6ft x 2 ft so not small. Went over table mats, box of tissues, some paperwork which thankfully was only shopping lists and nothing important. It dripped over the sides and onto my freshly mopped floor from yesterday.

So got in cleaning mode a bit quicker today mopping it all up. The worst thing about coffee spilling is that it is so sticky isnt it?

All sorted now and fresh cuppa made. Daughter away to town and post things for me plus a few items from coop for the weekend.
As Im typing, my fingers are so cold. Its like Autumn here now and we are still waiting for summer haha.
I did manage though to get the bed linen out & dried yesterday which saved the dryer just got to ironing it all tomorrow!
Neighbours cat had made friends with me as its a nervous cat, so im honoured but when I was talking to a friend yesterday, the cat ran between my legs and into my hallway! i had to chase it out quickly before it got into the lounge. This morning when daughter opened the door, the cat was laying on my door step , bless him.

I love cats but daughter does not sadly otherwise i would get one, nevermind.
Hope everyone else ok and having a good weekend.

Florence in the hebrides

It is very blustery here today, up about twenty degrees, an odd combination.

Eve has gone to a friends house for a birthday sleepover. There are four of them and they are using the hot tub, so will have a good time. I doubt that there will be much sleep involved, so she is going to be like a zombie when she is collected tomorrow

We need to do a lot of pruning in the garden. Lots of the perennials have finished flowering even though it is still August. The garden is starting to look autumnal far earlier than it should be

Hi peeps.
Not a bad day, still windy but dry and pleasantly warm but not too hot.
Linda, many of my roses are just about to flower with many buds still to open. I wonder if thats because its less hot up here and more rain?

All my lobelia, dahlia's, marigolds are still blooming well. Hydrangeas have flowered this year a lovely pink with still more to open.

But although sunny and warmish, there is an autumnal nip in the air in the shade.

Been in a baking mood today and found an easy recipe for Anzac biscuits. It made 16 and very tasty. Just oats, flour, sugar, coconut, melted stork, syrup and bicarb. All done in 20 minutes.
Just prepped onions etc for curry later tonight with naan and basmati rice. Cant wait as didnt have much yesterday and tummy rumbling now lol

Hope everyone else ok today and enjoying some sunshine

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon folks
A beautiful sunny but very breezy day here today but no rain.

Been busy dusting and polishing in preparation for when daughter returns as we are going to move the TV and bookshelves around so there is a corner free for the xmas tree.
Since last xmas, we had a new sofa delivered and the 2 seater is now under the window where the tree went last year.

Im also about to do a basket of ironing so thats up straight. Tesco delivery coming tomorrow between 2-10pm not a great slot but all we could get. I so hate it delivered after 8pm.

My grass was cut yesterday so looking nice and neat again.

I also managed to get my toilet roll bargains as they had been sold out last month.
Nicky Soft touch 32 rolls for £8 so I bought 2 packets and now have plenty to last me months. Looking at the drought problem, I fear there will be a shortage of fresh veg this winter so Im ordering a few tins of mushrooms, peas etc just now as a standby,

Hope all ok with everyone

Florence in the hebrides

Morning all.
Calm day here and dry so that can only mean one thing.....Midges!!!
Oh yes ventured outside as was wanting to tidy up pots etc and within seconds the blighters were on my face grrrr. They bite me and they itch and I have to scratch.
Someone said I have sweet skin maybe.. So the Avon Skin so Soft went on and hopefully they will let me stay outside.

Its a heavy day though, too calm and very low cloud so probably some bad weather to come i fear.

Joan , hope you and hubby are ok as not seen you for a few days, hope all is well.
Linda, how is your sister getting on with the radiotherapy. Hope she isnt too unwell.

Ann have you got a hosepipe ban in your area? You have so many pots to water.

I'm making a chicken curry tonight, basmati rice, Peshwari naan and some popadoms. Cant wait for that.

Well the sun is now peeping through so going to venture back outside and be busy.

Enjoy your weekend peeps

Florence in the hebrides :-)

I have just been away for a couple of days mainly to third Grandson's wedding celebrations but first we went up the Spinnaker tower .
Wednesday 24 August. A glorious sunny day. We walked from the hotel to Gunwharf Quays Portsmouth (about 15 minutes), where we had breakfast in the restaurant under the Spinnaker tower. We all had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup sitting outside watching the ships.
After breakfast we all went up the tower and spent an hour looking out over the views stretching miles in the distance. Really clear with trains looking like toys going to Harbour station. It took a while for eyes to adjust to distance viewing but we had a fantastic view of HMS Queen Elizabeth and H.M.S Prince of Wales aircraft carriers and the Gosport ferry going backwards and forwards.. I could also pick out Fareham creek and Portchester castle. And nearer to us The Square tower where the wedding was to be held. The Isle of Wight was very clear as was Gosport of course being closer. We could easily see the Fawley area and Southampton. We went up as high as we could go, the highest floor being accessed by several flights of stairs which proved to be quite a work out and certainly they made me puffed. We all walked/stood on the glass floor which looked right down through the tower to below. A very weird sensation and not one I particularly liked. We spent a good hour in the tower then reluctantly left as Lyn and Joe wanted to go on the boat trip round the harbour. I chose not to as most of what they saw I had seen before. I walked around the quays taking photographs and remembering the times before when I had visited with Tony each time we travelled down to see grandson and family.
When they returned from the boat trip we headed for Pret where we had a light snack and a drink before walking back to the hotel for a rest in our rooms.

Thursday 25 August. When I looked out first thing it was pouring with rain, not good for the wedding. we had breakfast in the hotel, a very good buffet breakfast, nicely cooked and plenty of choice.
The rain was more drizzle now by 11am but wet under foot so, when we were ready son, Stephen drove us down to the Square tower and then took the car back and walked down (by then it had stopped raining), it was less than ten minutes walk. We had to be there for eleven thirty, we were a bit early but the front door to the tower was open so we could get in ok. It was fascinating to see, not only was the Vikings’ flag flying over the tower but inside, all the shields of their company were fixed high round the walls with Greg’s shield on the wall his side and Izzy’s shield her side. This was in the downstairs room where the reception was to be held. One of the funniest things to hear at a wedding was “where are we going to store our swords?”
The ceremony was to commence at 1200 so we made our way upstairs to the room set out for the ceremony. The celebrant was with Greg, his Best man and three other of his friends as attendants. The celebrant was in costume but the rest wore normal wedding type suits and waistcoats.

The ceremony commenced with the celebrant reading from the wedding ceremony words Viking inspired (The normal Viking celebrant was unable to attend so one of Greg’s friends had learnt the formalities). (This was not really play acting but neither was it any way a legal ceremony , but they take it all seriously). First the celebrant called in Izzy’s attendants (Known as her Viking family), although wearing floaty dresses they were not traditional bridesmaid dresses and all four of them walked in separately and stood across the front, left hand side. Greg and his attendants were standing across the right hand side.
Izzy came in next but not walking sedately like a present day bride but sort of dragging each other. Her Dad then sat down. Izzy had a pretty vintage style short white dress on a circlet of flowers and a very short veil
The actual words then spoken and vows exchanged were very similar to a normal wedding and rings were exchanged. The Celebrant then performed a handfasting ceremony Izzy was then instructed to share a horn of mead with her family. (i.e. her attendants and her parents, brother, Greg’s parents and me). They were then pronounced husband and wife and told ‘you may kiss your bride. They and we then all filed out on to the adjoining flat roof where the bride and groom greeted us as we went out of the door.
Down then to outside the tower at ground level where we formed a double line and all the Vikings present proceeded to cross swords in an arch for the couple to walk under, they looked so happy, we had all been given a cone of paper with confetti in (made of small dried flowers) which we threw as they passed in front of us.
The starter for the meal was self service and was all sorts of cheese and cold meats and bread. The main meal was a vegan dish, a meat paella, a vegetarian Paella (all Izzy’s family are vegetarian) and prawns in shells plus salads. Wine was on the table plus fizz for the toast. The speeches were done as usual and then we moved while the room was cleared before we found seats for the evening. There was more food in the evening But I didn’t have a lot. It went on until 11pm but we left about 9pm to walk back to the hotel. It was nice to have the opportunity to talk as, for the meal, I was sitting next to one of Jon’s sister (Lyn’s late husband) and opposite me were Stephen and Judith (My son and daughter in law) Next to them were June and Dave who were Lyn and Jon’s friends who we knew ell and opposite June and Dave and just down from me were Ziggi and Begga, Jon’s ex uni friend and his wife from Iceland who we also knew well. Lyn and Joe of course were on the top table. For the evening we were able to sit in a group plus Jeremy and Chris and families were also around with particularly Inara enjoying the dancing. She dance with Izzy a lot. There was only really one sad moment for me and that was listening to and watching the first dance. I found that quite emotive.
It was a fabulous day, we all enjoyed it and it was so good that they could at last get everyone together to celebrate their marriage, the legal part of which was held in 2021. And even that was delayed from 2020.

Wow Ann, thankyou for that. I really enjoyed reading everything you did and your description of the ceremony built an image in my head.

What a fantastic wedding and rather different from the usual which made it even more special.

I have stood once on a glass floor and like you felt quite strange when i looked down, it is a weird feeling.
What a clear day too being able to see across to the IOW. I have been there many times and love that island.

Yes when anyones 1st dance comes on now, I get quite emotional as its hard thinking back isnt it.

So glad you were able to go and great that everyone had a really special time.

As for me, this afternoon was spent rearranging the lounge so we can fit in the xmas tree!! What a hard job lifting 120 books from the 2 book cases, then moving the bookcases into the hallway, move the tv plus stand as well. That had all the heavy photo albums underneath so all that have to be moved too.

Its all done now thank goodness. Almost thought i was moving in again lol

Hope you are ok Joan, bit worried when we dont see you posting?

Just helping daughter pack etc as shes away....again on Tuesday for another week so shall be home alone once more :-(

Off to do dishes now and make a cuppa.

Florence in the hebrides

pleased that you enjoyed it Florence. It was certainly different.All weddings are beautiful but we tend to let them slip by as we are so used to them. With everything being different it made more impact somehow. And they were certainly pleased to be able to celebrate their marriage, even if they have been Mr and Mrs for over a year legally.

Well our summer has arrived...yay.. This week promises 18-20 degrees all week, no wind or rain :-D :-D

Took a wee walk just across to the road and back. Admired the view and it was good to feel fresh air on me face. Took my stick though and when i'm home alone always take my phone with me just incase I fall.

Done all my ironing except one huge fitted valence sheet as after doing the super king size duvet along with general clothes, my legs were aching so have put it back in the basket for another day.

Had some paperwork to attend to but when i phoned this company and got "sorry we are closed" I couldn't understand it and then it dawned on me...Bank Holiday down south but not up here...oh well have to wait until tomorrow to deal with it.

At least our refuge collectors are not on strike up here....yet! Most of Scotland in all the cities and the Highlands has bags and bags of rubbish gathering everywhere, its just so unhygienic. NS needs to do something instead of swanning around Europe.

Worse to come as schools & nurseries will be closing as the janitors etc are also going on strike in Scotland...What a mess we are in!

Off to have some cheese and crackers for lunch, not sure about tea as a bit warm for a cooked meal today.

Hope all ok with everyone one

Florence in the hebrides

The wedding sounded really interesting Ann. I saw your photos, she looked lovely . I have spent quite a lot of time in the Southsea area over the years.

It is the last week of the school holidays, they go back next Tuesday. My daughter was supposed to be working this week , then going to Filey to stay in a caravan from Friday to Monday. Son in law was coming up from London and his sister was coming over from Wales. They were supposed to be going a couple of weeks ago, but it had to be postponed because the sister was ill

Last night at 9 pm she suddenly announced that she was taking the girls down to London first thing in the morning. She is desperate to get the house on the market because she has found one up here which she wants. The builders are finishing 5his week, but son in law has a huge backlog of jobs which he was doing and have to be done before it can go on sale. He is supposed to have been doing them months ago, but he is so useless that he hasn’t done much. She is going to work half days and work on the house for the other half and evenings. OH has gone with her, so between them they should be able to break the back of it while SIL faffs about making stupid plans which would cost far too much. There is a lot of heavy garden work, so I hope my OH doesn’t overdo it.
They will leave on Friday morning for Filey and OH will come home. The poor girls will have had to drive up and down the country twice in just a few days.

It is strange being on my own. I have started a mega sort out of Esme’s toys, that will, take a long time as they are all over the house.

Linda after all the visitors you have had recently and yes its strange being on your own enjoy the break whilst you can. You can get up when you want, eat when you want and just not have to consider anyone else for a change so make the most of it.

Hope they manage to finish off the jobs and get the property up for sale.Sounds as if SIL needs a rocket to get him moving lol

Im all for others helping if they get on with things and not faff about, they just hinder the proceedings.

Tidying and sorting out toys, i'm sure that will keep you busy for ages but it w

Hope it all goes well anyway.