General Chat

Good morning everyone looking in.

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon and was taken out for a spin and we had coffee and cake. It was a bit windy but otherwise a lovely warm afternoon. I had made some sandwiches and dips for lunch before we ventured out.

The friend complimented us on the house and said it was very smart and loved all my pictures. Thought the garden and view was fab too.

The friend is meeting daughter in town tomorrow and has offered to take me out to town in the week. He is such a sweetie, he says Im his "adopted mum."

So mid week, I'm going to make a chicken curry with all the trimmings and a not a drop of soy sauce will be in the making of it!!

Today, it is a beautiful sunny day so think I may hang out some washing. I have some ironing to do as well. Apart from that, a relaxing day reading 2 papers I bought yesterday which I havent bought in years!

Joan, your leaf sweeping will keep you going all Autumn! Your rockery sounds like it has taken well and the plants sound great, well done.

Linda, mmmn just love a home made loaf especially with blackcurrant jam...yummy.

Well i'm not dressed yet so better had get going and be productive for a bit. The sunshine is too good to miss :-D

Have a good day all

Florence in the hebrides

You are being incredibly busy in the garden Joan. OH loves nothing better than chopping back things in the garden. I had to stop him from chopping everything back before they took the photos for the house sale, or there would have been no colour apart from green on the photos.

It is supposed to be a nice day today, but it looks a bit grey and drizzly at the moment. There is lots of condensation on the outside of the windows. I always find that to be a bit odd, but it means the double glazing is doing a good job. It will clear as soon as the sun starts to come up.

OH is preparing Sunday breakfast, he has always done that bless him. Now the family have gone, I have time to make bread again, or use the bread maker to be exact. I made a really nice wholemeal loaf last night, so am looking forward to having some of that

Good evening.
hame you have had a nsty day weatherwise Linda, it has been rather pleasant here,
no sun but very mild & flat calm & so I was ablw to look to tidying up some of the plants.

I tackled a couple of the Ferns, they have grown so big & crowding other plants, I have reduced the 2 of them by half their height & width & looking so much better, I would like a bt mre growth off them but it's getting harder to clip them further down.

Swept the drive again & tackled the birdbaths, they had a bit of soil & leaves in the water so so I needed to give them a good clean.
The birds seem to like the baths when there are leaves in them, probably because they find some beasties in amonst them.

I also clipped one of our hedges, the shorter of the 2 hedges that we have which doesn't take as long as the long Rugosa one, I will have to give it a trim though as it gets rather straggly once the flowers have gone.
I noticed sme Rose Hips so I will be sure to leave them for a bit longer.

The rockery is looking fantastic, the plants have spread & flowered so I'm well chuffed with that.

Joan.

What a horrible afternoon after a fairly bright start to the day.

We signed up with an estate agent yesterday and had someone come to do the photographs today. I cleared all of the clutter away, it is amazing just how spacious the place looks when you do that. He also did the EPC, but that was fine.

Having cleared everything away, I now have to find things again. I wanted my kitchen scales which are normally on the worktop and it took me ages to find them :-(

OH has spent all afternoon in the garage again, he really is getting rid of so much stuff. My daughter called in with the girls on her way back home. They had been to the specialist opticians in Durham to collect Esme’s new glasses. Eve just spent all the time they were here, snuggling up to me. She really doesn’t like change, so she doesn’t want us to sell it.

My mum use to jive with the door handle in the living room Joan..whoohoo party on ;-)

Dance on, Joan!

My older brother was a big Johnny Mathis fan & collected many of his albums over the years.I soo remember those record booths Aryll Gran.

I do have a record deck but I cannot access it as it is at the top of my sterio player & the top of the unit I have it in is fixed, however since sorting through my singles etc our eldest son is going to see if the top of the unit can be altered to allow me to access the deck !

He is coming to visit in 2 weks time so just maybe I will be able to play the records & maybe even do a bit of jiving by hanging on to the door handle, LOLOL.

Joan.

My first single was "Wonderful, wonderful" by Johnny Matthis - bought from our local branch of John Menzies, in the days when there were booths where you could hear the records before buying them - or just listen to them if you couldn't afford to buy any!

I still have it, and others, somewhere in the loft, although nothing to play them on.

Hi to all.
Another busy day for you Florence, I hope you have a lovely day tomorrow with your visitor.

It has been on the windy side for us today, more so than yesterday but nothing too serious apart from the gusting which did not help when I went outside, so I didn't stay out long.

My 1st single was Halfway To Paradise by Billy Fury, he was my overall favourite & I bought several of his singles & LPs even though I didn't actually have a record player, LOL.
I was just 16 & not earning very much but by the time I had had several of Billys records my mother took pity on me & bought me a Dansette record player.
Oh boy did it get some use & soon after I started my record collection.

I can't bear to part with any of them, & the Dansette is in the loft, such memories come from those records, 2 of our children actually want to get their hands on them so I can see a bit of a battle when I go, lol.

Joan.

Afternoon everyone looking in.

Its blowing a hooley and very heavy showers here since yesterday. Stripped my bed anyway so that took me awhile as although clean bedding was ironed, it was a bit creased in the cupboard so re-ironed the duvet and valence sheet which took ages!

Daughter's friend is coming over tomorrow so first visit to this house so chores all done. He is taking us out for a wee run in the afternoon after Tesco has been between 11-1 pm. So we are looking forward to seeing him and going out.

I am going to make some scones first thing in the morning for him and give him a few for his poorly gran too.

So now sitting with a cuppa as feeling a bit out of breath as have busy last 2 hours. I have done a bit more fam tree stuff too so making good progress with that.

I have a box of 45 records and a bag of LPs. I know 1 or 2 are worth a few pounds but really nowhere here to sell to. if you use Ebay etc, you have to send by post and they are very breakable so not keen. I shall hang on to them for a bit longer.

First single was School's Out by Alice Cooper and the Lamplight by David Essex and he was def my schoolgirl crush. He's still lovely even with grey hair! Many of my singles are in the original sleeves many of which are colour and have pictures on the front.

Hope everyone else is well and ok

Florence in the hebrides

Ps I ordered a new xmas tree yesterday and is on it's way! :-D :-D

Some of those LP’s could be worth money Joan. I think there are on line sites where you can list your records and they value them. Unless you want to keep them all of course, but do you ever play them?

It is an absolutely miserable day here, really dark and gloomy and it has started to rain.

We had a house valuation yesterday and have a second one in half an hour. I will have to put all the lights on , so the chap can see. We were pleased with the valuation yesterday, although you never get the asking price of course. We are definitely going ahead with listing it, whether anything is selling is another thing of course, but it doesn’t cost anything if it doesn’t sell. It just means that I will have to keep it immaculate of course.

OH is in the garage starting his massive sort out. To be fair he did get rid of a large amount of stuff last year, but he is being ruthless now. There will be lots of stuff to go to the tip, some things to give away in the free Facebook sites and some things for the charity shop. I did go to the Oxfam shop this morning with a large number of books which I had sorted out last week.

I am glad that you are feeling better Florence, I hope you don’t have any more reoccurrences.

Good afternoon Florence & anyone else looking in, so glad to hear that you are feeling better today Florence.

I woke to a nice sunny day today, nice a calm with a bit of a chill but not too chilly now.
It's quite calm here calmer than yesterday when we had a very windy day all day & into the evening.

Today I was able to sweep up the heap of leaves off the drive that had gathered yesterday,.
I was going to go round the flower borders at the front of the house to tidy up the plants but when I took a look round I found new flowers & buds on several Roses & another plant (don't know its name, lol,) so I left them alone.

I spent the last couple of days emptying an ottoman where I kept all my old LPs & singles.
I decided to sort through them & move them to a different spot, oh my, over 100 Lps & near 250 singles, most go back to the 60's with a few later ones, just looking through them took me back to the oh soo good & long ago old days, some made me cry but at the same time they brought back sooo many memories.

I hope all is well with everyone.

Joan.

Afternoon everyone, hope all ok with you all.

Gone flat calm here and eerily quiet so that can only mean one thing.....storm is coming soon!

I am back to my normal self today and have been cleaning windows and doors. Got the ladder out of the hall cupboard as daughter wants to get the xmas decs down :-D :-D :-D nooooo we are not putting them up lol its just she wants some fairy lights for the fayre and needs to see if they still work. So I am the chief ladder holder as its huge.

Linda, hope you teeth are ok since your visit. I always felt worse after they poked about but didn't actually do anything!

Joan, hope you and hubby are doing ok?

I found a sachet of scented poppy and thought they were seeds. I opened the little packet and what do you know, there are thousands of tiny seeds inside so am wondering if I plant them next spring, if they will grow into poppies?

Need to finish of me Tesco order coming on Saturday and still to finish a scarf for someone so better crack on.

Take care all

Florence in the hebrides

I am glad that you are feeling a bit better today Florence.

I had a dental check up and the hygienist this morning. I thought that I had a bit of apple stuck between two teeth, but the dentist said that it was a bit of dental amalgam which had come off the filling on the adjacent tooth and wedged itself between the two teeth. She tried to hook it out but couldn’t, so she used her drill to break it up. It didn’t hurt and it does feel better. The trouble is, there is now a gap between the teeth and as soon as I had lunch, some food got stuck in it. I have an appointment on October 6th to have the filling replaced and the tooth built up to fill the gap and stop food getting caught.

It was a new dentist, who has taken over from the man who has just retired. Apparently she used to be at the practice before, but I never came across her. She does seem nice. I have a bridge across two missing teeth in the middle at the top. She pointed out that there was a crack in the porcelain of the bridge which apparently shows as a brown line. She assumed I knew about it, but the old dentist never mentioned but. As long as it doesn’t get worse, the policy is to leave it alone. I have had the bridge replaced twice before, but not for about fifteen years. I hope it stays put as it is a major job and I don’t want to go through that again

Morning chit chatters.

Thankyou names for your kind words.

I ate my jacket potato quite slowly last night and didnt quite finish it as just felt i had eaten enough. Im drinking lots of water again and so feel much better.

My throat is quite raw so yes eating soft foods and sucking ice lollies just until it heals. It was all the straining that probably tore a little skin somewhere but it will heal.

Never slept a wink last night though! Oh my the wind and rain lashed all through the night until about 6am when i promptly fell asleep until 9.30!!

The wind has now abated until round 2 later tonight and tomorrow as storm Agnes rolls in. Couldnt help think of " Mrs Brown" when I heard it was called Agnes lol :-D :-D

Daughters friend is supposedly coming on 1st ferry tomorrow and has recently passed his driving test and bought a small car. He has promised to come over for an afternoon to see the house and have tea and scones with us. So looking forward to that probably one day next week. He has an elderly relative to visit and help provide some respite from a family member so his time is limited.

I have been doing my xmas shopping online and have nearly done all gifts for sending away. Dads birthday gifts arrived today so all organised for that. Ordered some quality wrapping paper and few cards from a Scottish charity I support called Quarriers. I give an order and a donation every year.

Rest of today I shall be flicking the duster round as you say Joan as haven't done that recently! Cant have a dusty looking house for the visitor can we lol

Hope everyone is well and the storm wont affect anyone too much but take care if out and about in it.

Florence in the hebrides

Coughing up blood is a worry. I know seeing a doctor is a huge problem for you so you must take things and food easy so that whatever went gets a chance to heal.

AnnG, previously the sauce with my added soy gave me a bad migraine the next day and had made me sick with the pain. So i haven't added soy to any sauces I have been making...however there is soy in this sauce! yet many times in previous years I had it and it never affected me.

So shall not have anything containing say anymore.

I did look it up and it says if you are allergic, it can cause nausea and upset stomach which I wasn't aware of

I'm really feeling my ribs and back today when I cough or sneeze, the pain is awful as if I have been given a beating!

I am feeling much better as the day has gone on and looking forward to my jacket potato as my stomach is rumbling as so empty. Managing to drink more too.

Temp was still up at 37.8 but under the 100 now so that's good.

Nope, no new meds either. I'm only on 2, a statin and blood thinner which I 've had since surgery in 2020.

Florence in the hebrides

Oh dear Florence that was a nasty attack. Have you always had an allergy to soy? O have the violent reactions started fairly recently maybe after you have started a different medication. Still better avoid soy and check the ingredients of soy that you have in case it is in other things. Glad you are feeling better.

It is a shame just to go to plain food Florence. I never use jars of sauce or sachets of stir fry sauce. I make my own from scratch. Obviously I use soy sauce, but there are alternatives , oyster sauce doesn’t have any soy sauce or soy beans in it for instance.

I realised that I could easily prep the soup in the utility room, so I have a large pan of pea and courgette soup on the hob .

Linda, my daughter had the same and she was fine.

I looked up about soy sauce and it can cause nausea and upset stomach, I checked the little sachet of sauce I used and yes it has Soy!! So obviously I am allergic to that so no more sauces for me.

Last time I added my own soy sauce and that gave me a bad migraine so this time I didnt add any and thought it would be ok.

I have managed another glass of flavoured still water so thats a good sign. Later I shall have a jacket potato with beans and a little grated cheese, justt plain food.

Oh dear, your OH was trying to be helpful but in your case stopped you from making the soup! Hope it dries quickly.