General Chat

Good morning all, a bit cooler here first thing, it was 12 degrees and now is 13. We had no rain yesterday. I believe it rained here last Wednesday and Thursday but it has been dry again ever since.

Pleased you all liked the photos, I am sure no matter how many time you went up there you would always spot something different, it was really fascinating.
The bride and groom, having spent three days at Whitby giving Viking re-enactment performances, are now with his Mum, my daughter for a week's holiday. apparently they arrived with a huge piece of their wedding cake!!

We never had a single drop of rain here Mandy, but OH said he got soaked at the match in a downpour and he'd left his coat in the car! I must do some washing tomorrow. I want to get the duvet done and any coats that need doing before the October energy hike! At the moment, the place we bought our carveries online from is charging £1 for a child's meal if an adult meal is bought. A mother and her 2 children had 3 carveries for less than £10 with big helpings of icecream for the children included as well.

Sorry your back is still playing up Vera. OH's has improved today, but now some filling has come out of one of his teeth! He's hoping it won't ache before his dentist gets the letter from the hospital. I threw something out of the freezer for the bin collection today. I couldn't even tell what meat it was through the sealed clear bag as I hadn't labelled it, but knew it was very old. I hope you enjoy your birthday group meal tomorrow.

The biscuits sound nice Mel so I have saved the recipe.

Evening all,

We had sun this morning so I hung washing out and went in to do a few jobs I just happened to glance out the kitchen window and it was raining so i had to hop out and get the washing ,then later out came the sun and as I had bedding in the next wash I decided to hang all the washing out again ,just about got it dry before it drizzled ,dry now though .

Anng thanks for all the photos ,lovely ones from the wedding everyone looked so happy and I liked the brides dress and the men looked smart in their suits .
What views you had from the top of the tower and like the others have said the one of the three of you is really natural and certainly one to keep.

Mel thats a nice lot of blackberries you've picked ,I use to love going blackberry picking but the best and big ones we're always just out of reach ,mum use to make blackberry jelly I can remember her straining the berries in a muslin cloth .

Oh Ann it will be nice to hear from Fitz how everyone is doing and if they are still thinking of moving house.

Oh dear Vera not your back trouble again ,I wonder what you did to start it off again ,hope your OK to go out for the lunch tomorrow .
I have a couple of those silicone freezer bags in the freezer and I just can't remember what's in them I know it's savoury and I didn't like to write on the bags so I could use them again for something else ,you bung the bag in the freezer thinking I'll remember what's in the bag and then forget ,oh well it will be a surprise when I do get them out .

These delicious biscuits were made to send to the ANZAC's
(Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) serving in Gallipoli.

ANZAC BISCUITS

85g/3oz porridge oats
85g/3oz deccicated coconut
100g/4oz plain flour
100g/4oz caster sugar
100g/4oz butter melted
1 tblsp golden syrup
1 teasp bicarbonate of soda

Takes 35 mins for 20 biscuits.

Preheat the oven to 180C gas 4 fan 160

1. Put the oats flour and sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter in a small pan or microwave and stir in the golden syrup.

Add the bicaronate of soda to 2 tablespoons of boiling water, then stir into the golden syrup and butter mixture.

2. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and pour in the butter and syrup mixture. Stir gentley to incorparate the dry ingredience.

3. Put tablespoonsful onto buttered baking sheets, about an inch apart to allow room for spreading. Bake in batches of 8 to 10 minuets until golden. Tranfer to a wire rack to cool.

These are the biscuits Em baked me and they keep you going for a long while.

Lovely photos from the Spinnaker AnnG and I agree with Ann that the one of you with daughter and sil is a good picture; that’s one for keeping. I can’t believe Senua is 10 months old already. Where does the time go?

That’s a good picking of blackberries Mel. What will you do with them?

It will be lovely for you to see Fitz again Ann. You’ll have to let us know how Jane’s family are doing and whether Thomas is still about. Jane and I shared many a cat story as Thomas was so like my old cat Molly. For one thing they both liked leaving half a rabbit on the patio for us to find and they were both wanderers and hunters.

Today would have been a perfect day for gardening but my back has been so bad again that I haven’t felt like doing anything much. I have got the washing done as well as a few small household jobs but I can see so much to do outside. OH pulled a few weeds but plants need tidying and cutting back, the bird bath needs cleaning (again!) and our teeny weeny pond could do with a good clean. We’re dithering whether to get rid of it and just have some sort of water feature but we do get frogs there from time to time. We’ll leave that decision till next spring.

Tomorrow I’m going out to lunch again. Our “birthday group” hasn’t been having our usual meals out for the last couple of years but one of the ladies had a birthday a few days ago and decided to start up again so she has booked a small room with a big round table in one of the pubs. We won’t bother with desserts as we’ll go back to the birthday girl’s for tea and cakes in her garden. There used to be 12 of us but sadly one died and another seldom leaves her house these days. There are usually 1 or 2 who can’t make it for whatever reason so I expect there will be 8-10 of us.

I asked OH what he would like for his meal and he wasn’t sure so I had a root around the freezer and found a container marked “Sort of bolognese. Large helping for 1” so he’s going to have that with spaghetti or noodles. I’m not sure what “sort of bolognese” means but I suspect I had one or two basic ingredients and threw in anything else I had handy. It must have been OK or I wouldn’t have frozen the leftovers.

I think I’ll read for a while now before doing something about dinner. I need to decide what to do with the leftover roast lamb.

I did take a few more from the spinnaker and daughter took one of me on the glass ceiling but I can't get it to download into my photo editing programme. A lot of our photos have a greenish cast because of all the windows and the bright sun. Depended which way we took them. there was a telescope in the room but a queue to use it.

That's a lot of blackberries Mel. I have forwarded the latest AnnG pics.

Afternoon All,

Slept well and was back to centigrade 18 degrees and now it's gone to F again.. All I have done today is nip out for a paper and the village was crawling with people looking at the yarn bomb. Some of the children were treating it like a playground, trying to get inside the penguin's milk bottle igloo and pulling at things in the trees, parents oblivious. The little ones in pushchairs love it though, little faces beaming with delight! :-D

I decided not to do my short walk this morning as I am meeting Fitz for lunch on Wednesday and didn't want to risk twisting a knee and hobbling for a few days afterwards! I'm looking forwards to hearing his news and how everyone is doing now. We still plan to go to Luton Hoo, probably next year now, when the Wernher Restaurant should be is open to the public again. He will be the first friend I have actually met up with face to face since before the pandemic.

Thanks for the Spinnaker photos and great views AnnG. Some binoculars would be good to use up there, but I wouldn't be treading on that glass either! lol. The one of you with daughter and SIL is a great, natural photo and one to frame I think.

I have just picked 2lb 6oz of blackberries from over the west wall.

Morning Anng and all,

Got up at 6 26am and went back to bed and woke at 9. 44am. Its a lovely sunny morning here and pc says 19 degrees and a clear blue sky.

I may go in the garden too today as I don't htink BIL is over today so I can work at my own pace.

good morning all, 17 degrees and sunny and bright here so far. woke early and dozed/went back to sleep got up 0815.
Nothing planned for today but a bit of gardening will probably come into it.

should have said Vera, yes babe is quite big already in the over 12 month size, but then Inara is already in size 2 shoes and clothes for 9/10 year old she is tall.

Baby is Senua she will be one in October.

O the photos are smashing and don't they look so very happy to have had a celebration at last. Lovely settting and gorgeous dress and flowers.

Thanks Ann for forwarding them to me.

No time to post much as OH has asked me to do a job for him but wanted to say thanks for the lovely photos AnnG and for the interesting descriptions of the wedding and the trip up the Spinnaker. It sounds like a fantastic few days.

Who's the baby in the last photo? I thought maybe it's Inara's sister but it seems like only yesterday she was born and that babe looks quite big.

Photos sent to Mel.

I meant to say I have my flu and covid booked for 14 October. Could have been the week before but I am away that week.

Gwyn the glad Flor is only about 3 foot wide and six foot long, not as bad as it sounds.
Ann the lift is internal and going up and down you hardly know it is moving.

It is a viking re-enactment group Mel Greg and Izzy both travel around to where they give displays. Like the Sealed knott re-enactment fro vikings instead of royals and cromwell's lot. In fact they are up in Whitby now with their group giving shows.

somebody forward the photos to Mel please as I still can't.

Thank you for sharing the photos of the wedding, AnnG.
What an interesting and beautiful occasion. I'm so pleased for you all that at last you were able to get together to celebrate their marriage.
I've only ever been to very conventional services, but all special in their own way.

Great that you had a fine day to ascend The Spinnaker and could see so far.
Lovely that you saw some ships to add to your experience there.
I don't like heights, but am fine if I am in a protected space and don't feel that I would fall.
There is absolutely no way I would walk on that glass floor :-0

Sounds like it was a great wedding. Who's the Viking fan?

I can't wait to see the pictures will you put some on your blog?

BIL arrived this morning and I found the manual to thye mower that was'nt picking the grass cuttings up so he fiddled with that after having a read and found what the trouble was. It was a tiny wire that formed a loop and it had come loose. So to try it out he mowed the grass within the wall again. I gave him lunch and he left to pick his wife up about 10 to 15 mins ago. Needless to say no sorting done today. I may go out and do a bit of gardening ass there's always something needs doing in this vast space. O I did dead head the sweet peas this morning and p[icked a bunch which I had on the table when BIL arrived. They are only very short stemmed now but smell just as delisheous. I can smell them now with my back to them.

That was an interesting read about the Viking Wedding AnnG. I am so behind the times I had to look it up. I also hadn't realised that black and white and all black wedding dresses were becoming trendy.

You did well to get to the top of the Spinnaker, I know I couldn't have done and would have shut my eyes on the ride part taking me up! It was good you got some clear views and could see so far into the distance. Thank you for sending the photos which are good and the bride looked lovely in her dress and I love her bouquet colours and the purple theme.

Vera we are falling apart too! You are in good company for a moan. OH came back from the match complaining about his back and took some Ibuprofen. This morning it was much better and I reminded him he'd been carrying the books in and out of the car in bigger bags than was perhaps wise. We are going to be extra careful carrying the food in this afternoon. It's a smaller order than usual again as I am trying to use up some of the older stocks. Yes I'm not sure I have enough space to lay out the material for the blind as OH has claimed the dining table. I might look at some readymade ones instead. Your roast lamb sounds very appetising!

Now I need to wrap these pastels I've sold ready to post on Tuesday.