General Chat

Oh yes, hot blackcurrant sounds good too....nice and soothing. Yes mine wasn't too bothered and I'm sure thought I was fussing keeping away from him when he had colds in the past till I was ill for 6-8 weeks on a few occasions. Then once the doctor told me to come for flu jabs and a pneumonia jab, he said he would pay for flu jabs himself to help protect me. He was working full time then and had 500 staff and was travelling and visiting offices miles away so exposed to a lot of bugs. Following a footie team that had bigger attendances than the matches he goes to now didn't help either. Now he works in schools there must be even more bugs with all the children. Once we both had flu jabs we noticed we both got far less colds though and he does keep his germs to himself more now and we both use hand gel and I wipe cupboard and door handles and light switches. As you say, you can only do so much, but it seems to help. I hope you get a good night's sleep tonight without it disturbing you.

Back to a bit more filing now. I wonder who will be leaving Strictly this time?

Very cold here but lovely and sunny. OH finished getting his dahlias up, apparently two have rotted so a oood job he has got them done now. He has been watching rugby while I have been sorting out some very old photos of the garden (pre digital 90s), I also made one birthday card but have not really done much else. We have lamb shoulder tonight, only have it because it was reduced, bought it and froze it so hope it is ok.

Mandy nice sometimes to just have a lazy do nothing day, although you did see the family, I envy you that, seems ages since we saw ours

Annx Inara seems fine now or at least nobody has said she isn't. My cough is not too bad, occasional few minutes of coughing but not constant, worse when I lay down so shall go back in the spare bed tonight. OH doesn't seem to have caught it yet although there is still time. Hope your OH's doesn't turn into a cold. That is the trouble you can take all the precautions you can but maybe he is like mine and is not too bothered, it is worse if they mix with a lot of people too and I am sure my OH often brings cold bugs home from golf. Fortunately the last couple of times he had a cough I managed to avoid it. I like hot black currant that seems to stop a tickly cough.

Glad you retained the double win, well done.

Afternoon All,

We had a lot of rain in the night but it had stopped by morning. The sun tried to come through but hasn't made it yet. I managed to sleep past 3.00am this morning, so I hope that's broken the habit now. OH came home with a sore throat last night so I hope I don't get it next. He's finished off the rest of the bottle of cider I used for our somerset pork lunch, so I expect he's looking at the back of his eyelids now as Mandy would say! lol. He did manage to clear the tomato plants out of the greenhouse earlier which was good.

Sorry you have a tickly cough now AnnG. They can be so annoying and exhausting. I was advised to use simple honey and lemon for sore throats and tickly coughs, so there can't be medication clashes, I make a small glass up with some water as a small drink to take to bed with me to sip if I wake up coughing. I keep meaning to ask if Inara is fine now? I have the non reflective lenses in my glasses now, but the drive safe ones are supposed to be much better (and more expensive of course!). The lady who went through the charges etc was wearing them herself and held them up to a picture of car headlights for me to see and they made quite a difference, better than my own glasses. She said she had been dubious at first, but was very pleased with them.

I couldn't believe all the fireworks going off last night. I hope they 'fizzle out' now till the New Year. I don't mind the organised dos but the ones round here are in gardens every night for ages now.

I've been filing some papers away today and checked my bank account to see if my premium bond double win was a mistake like the papers said had happened. No the money was all still there, so I fished out the bond numbers from my pile of filing and the numbers were different so that's good! I found a cardboard box to keep my wool in for now so that looks tidier. I want to get one of those lidded plastic boxes with wheels to keep in the corner under my desk as it would be easy to pull out and put back when needed. Ikea have them but theirs are a bit bigger than I want.

Mel, that's a good idea to cover you nice red berries so they won't all be gone when you do your wreaths. I'm leaving pruning our variegated Holly till nearer Christmas. I like to wedge some sprigs round our house number and Robin.

Gill, if we are staying here, which is looking likely, we intend to increase security, so may well do that. It will be sooner too if we hear any more noises. I was wondering if you have any churches nearby as they often have carol services that Sandra might like if she would be happy to go to that sort of thing?

I think I'll get on with some beading now before the light goes.

The sun came out late morning and its been quite nice since. It is very chilly in the breeze though.

I spent the morning tying plastic bags over my holly berries as the blackbirds are starting to eat them. I don't usually get any off my own holly for my wreaths but I am determined to have some this year to save me having to climb the bank to get to Phil's on the edge of his field. His tree has'nt that many this year but I did have a lot of it last year and your not supposed to cut the berries every year. I think its about 5 or 7 years but I can never wait that long.

Then I did our big breakfast and am going to do something in the way of craft while its still light.

Afternoon all,

Very frosty this morning which soon went when the sun broke through ,now it's just started to rain .
Family came this morning ,the two older ones were with friends so it was a bit quieter with just the three little ones.

Not a lot happening here ,Colin has just lit the wood burner and we're going to watch a little tele ,meat balls for us tonight so nice and easy.

Afternoon all, We had a late start as we both slept in a bit (not too long but by the time we got downstairs it was gone 10 o'clock. I slept in the spare room last night and actually didn't have too bad a night. the cough is still with me but not all the time, just a bit tickly and catches me sometime. We watched the cenotaph ceremony (or rather OH watched part and then went out to dig up his dahlias and I watched the rest on my own. Then we went round the local garden centre where card holders got 20% off Christmas stuff so we bought some lights to go out the front (sorry Sandra they are ice blue) and and a new more modern candle arch to go on the kitchen windowsill. Also bought a couple of sedum for a pot. so that was the morning gone.

Morning Gill and all,

Miserable again here this morning but no wind so thats a change from the norm.

I need the light on to see what I am doing. Heatings on and the boiler seems to be coming on after only a minuet or two.

Big breakfast day today and maybe I can get on with some crafting.

Morning all

Bright but with a little frost this morning.

I wonder what the thudding noise is Ann, maybe you could buy a little camera with night vision on it and place it on the window sill, that way you'll know for sure what's making the noise, it'll put your mind at rest and help you sleep better, once you know what it is.

Have you tried filing your nails Mel, I find that works if they've broken near the pink bit and are hard to cut properly.

So you've had your first Christmas card then Frank, it sounds like Jan and Conrad have a good sense of humour. Have you displayed the card, or are you putting it away until nearer Christmas?
I'd love to see the video of Lola having her tummy tickled.

Sorry to hear your cold turned into a cough in the end AnnG, I know that's what you didn't want. I hope it doesn't last long and clears for you soon. <3

Thinking of Jane and hope she's not in to much discomfort. Sending hugs to you Jane <3 <3

Mandy I meant to say that the sheppherd lady has an artical in the country living christmas mag and she has written a book and its only £7.99. I may buy it as I think she is wonderfull looking after all those children in the old fashioned way. They always look so happy. I am enjoying the new series and can't wait till next Tuesday. I missed the last one of the last series, boo hoo.

Ann I love Angel and Dick they are so in love.........and he does anything she wants which is really nice. Its marvelous what they have done together with the chateau.

I thought you were doing BIG TYPING to help Frank's eye Mel! Oh what a panic that must have been to find something for the church flowers. It was lucky you had some things you could use, also finding some nice bits from Emms too. Your cheeky OH!! lol. :-) They have no idea and would just plonk things in a vase themselves wouldn't they. I expect he was winding you up though!!

Yes Frank can we see the video of LOLA's tummy tickle if you can send it on? I bet she was loving it. That was an early Christmas card wasn't it.......don't be expecting mine for some time yet. lol.

Mandy, the edges of my nails flake at times too, like the edges of slate splitting!!!! :-) Yes, those houses must be a money pit really with something always needing doing. What amazes me is that nothing seems to have got thrown away in the past as they keep finding useful old things to use or re-purpose in modern lingo. I like Stephanie? and her jolly french mum who is so happy with everything too. I didn't think much of the wedding garden they did at the other Chateau though. I kept thinking that after a few drinks, guests would fall over that low wall around it where there seemed to be a big drop the other side. Fancy leaving those wilted flowers on the pagoda thing too. They don't seem to have much idea. Somehow, although Angel is very individual with her hair and clothes, which aren't to everyone's taste, they really suit her and she always looks smart and tidy and is such a nice person and very clever with her ideas. I wasn't sure the distressed mirror tiles would work but they did with the fretwork over them.

o THATS GOOD YOUR EYE WAS CLEAR THIS MORNING fRANK AND HOW NICE TO GET A CALL FROM THE OPTICIAN TO SEE HOW YOU WERE.

Sorry did'nt mean to shout !!! but I am not typing that again. :-|

I was just getting into my crafting this mroning before going to the shop when the phone rang. It was Jane Cox telling me it was my turn on the flowers for the church and they need them done for Rememberance Sunday. Panic panic we've had two nights of hard frost and the hydrangas I was going to use with a few nerines were all frosted and brown and the nerines had gone all glassy. I rushed round the garden and cut beech leaves, some ice plant flowers and found a bit of that mauve tall stuff, can't think of the name. One nice branch of paper flowers and some rose hips that the birds had'nt eaten. Also cut some yellow leaves off the spirea and some evergreen yellow and green edged stuff the name of which also eludes me. Did lunch and then went to Em's with some apples but she was'nt in so I pinched a couple of her hydrangas, muggy mauve ones. Also cut some of the black middles of the rudbeccia and some seed heads off the chinese anenemones. On the way out of Em's there is a varicated bush thing Euonemus and it had lovely berries on it in pink with orange seeds showing I pinches a couple of bit of that too so all in all I had enough stuff after cutting three large heads of hydranga that was sort of greeny with a bit of pink that was under the frosted lot. So that was my afternoon gone. It took me about 2 hours to do the five arrangements and when I got back oh asked why it took so long to stick a few flowrs in vases of water. Men I ask you. I was please with the arrangements I did though but forgot my camera and phone so no pics.

Do we get to see Lola having her tum tickled Frank?

Fancy having a bit of snow this morning Gill. I bet Sandra was beside herself with excitment. How lovely.

I did'nt tell you that I lost another old girl the other day did I? thats two since I had the new ones. They are mixing more now and are outside much more when its not raining. When I cleaned them out I put a large plastic Catch Bait box in their house and filled it with woodshavings so they could have a good old dust bath or scratch. I had another egg this mroning and it was darker than Daisy's again so perhaps someone else is laying. I shan't know for certain till I get two the same day.

Ann that cats sound really good with their toys and the things they do. My nails sound just like yours so you know what I meant about them going at the sides and towards the middle as you said. The left index fingernail is doing it at the moment but when my nails are short I can't hold my craft thigns or pick things up or turn pages etc. so annoying.

Must get the steak on now or he will want to know when its ready.

Evening all,

Sounds as if we've been lucky with the weather today if you've all had a dreary wet day ,it's been nice and sunny here after a frosty start but that soon went when the sun got up ,it's been quite chilly though and we lit the wood burner just after lunch .

So you've had snow today Gill ,i bet Sandra was so excited to see it it's a wonder she didn't want to wake you up to see it too.

My nails get really dry this time of the year ,they tend to flake at the ends which then makes them weak so they never grow very long ,i use some hand cream at night ,i rub it into the cuticles which seems to help.

I've enjoyed the Chateau prog too,that painting effect like wood was really good ,i liked the young woman that had the french mummy :-D she was trying her hardest to talk the daughter out of doing things but loved it once they were done .
It must be lovely doing a big home up like that but you'd need plenty of money ,i wonder what Dick and Angels place will be worth when they finished it off .

Frank that's good the eye has cleared a little but don't strain it to much ,not long to go now before you can have it done .
Oh goodness that's an early Christmas card :-D
That's good little Lola has settled in nicely and it will be her first christmas here ,i wonder if she has seen snow ?

Ann it's good OH has found a home for some of the programmes as it sounds as if there's a lot more to come :-D

AnnG i think the coughing is the worst bit of having a cold it makes your throat so sore and always seems worse at night ,i can put up with the blocked or runny nose but it's the coughing i hate , i hope yours is easing a bit now ,have you passed it on to your OH yet ?

Love to Jane <3

Would you believe, WE had our 1st Christmas Card this morning, from CONRAD and JAN. Ros phoned them both. Jan was lunching with her sisters. Conrad was at home, and laughed his head off. He said I told Jan to post the card on the 1st November, as he wanted us to have the FIRST Christmas Card.

He has sent a video of "LOLA" having her TUMMY tickled by Silvia, She looks so content and HAPPY.

Really horrible wet afternoon, so not planning on doing anything other than watching a bit of Tele.

Take care all, see you later. xxx

Good afternoon all. First thing there was quite a hard frost on the roofs but it went quite quickly when the temp went up to 1 degree. When we popped out quickly to the local Tesco we had sleet then rain and quite a lot of that. It is showery at the moment.

I am coughing now which is extremely irritating. I had a broken night but not too bad. I didn't disturb OH but I think tonight I will go into the spare bed. again annoying as that means more bedding to wash as in two weeks Grandson etc will want that bed.

the cold seemed to hold off while we were in Tescos and the shop was empty anyway so hopefully I didn't infect anyone. I did keep my distance and managed not to cough or sneeze. Still felt guilty for going but we had not done the usual weekly shop so needed to go.

Frank good that your eye is clearing but of course still keep your appointment.. I managed to get a small pack of mixed veg when shopping and that is now soup for lunch.

Annx the cats sound lovely I am sure they are entertaining to watch as well. Good result with your eye test then. I find the only problem with anti reflecting lenses is that they need cleaning more often.
Maybe I woke you up at 3am, that was when I was awake last night :-D

Vera, we do like Dobbies but we found when they first took over our Wyevale it was about a month before they really became Dobbies as they were busy selling off loads of Wyevale stuff. Still I seem to remember there were a few bargains to be had. Eventually we joined dobbies Premium plus loyalty card which gives us two free coffees a month. I think it was £10 to join.

Mel My nails break and split as well. they can be quite long for ages and then suddenly they all start to split. I do wear nail varnish the majority of the time though.

Thinking of Jane as usual and thinking this horrible weather can't be helping her frame of mind. <3 <3 <3 Stay warm Jane. xx

Oh fancy there being some SNOW for Sandra Gill. :-0 It is really quite cold here so I'm not surprised. Yes it must be awful to have your home flooded like that and lose many of your possessions. With all the housebuilding going on it will happen more as there is less ground to soak up the rain and more storm water from gutters going straight into the rivers. Places that didn't used to flood are flooding now so I'd be very careful where I bought a house nowadays.

Frank we are eating in again tomorrow and having pork too. I'm doing my version of somerset pork with it chopped and cooked with onions, garlic, mushrooms, sliced apple, a few soaked apricots and a drop of cider and creme fraiche to make a nice gravy. OH wants brussels, so they will have to be there with other veg. That's good your eye is clearer today, but as you say it's best to keep your appointment on Wednesday. It was good that the lady from Vision Express phoned you to see how things were.

OH has his nose in all those programmes to find more for someone who has offered him a good price for the handful he took to the match the other night. Frank he has found some from the 1940's for WOODFORD GREEN. I expect you know of the team!! lol. :-D

I hope Jane is is able to get some rest, but it must be difficult when your world has been turned upside down and your mind is full of it. We are all thinking of you Jane.
<3 <3 <3

Well, I'd better get going now.

Morning All,

Drizzly here but dry just now again. Dark and dreary though and there was frost on the cars earlier. :-( I got ff to sleep but then woke up at 3.00am and then found it hard to get back to sleep. Maybe my subconscious is expecting more 'thuds' outside?

Oh Mel my nails have got more brittle now, especially in winter, and they split from the side towards the middle and as you say it is right next to where they are attached, so very hard to trim without bits that catch. I thin mine down with a nail file or sandpaper to try and get them as smooth as I can. It took me a while to get my head around the lariat pattern again but fingers crossed I think the change of beads is better so I will carry on with those for now. It has rows of bigger beads and they were popping out from the rest in places which wasn't a good look! So between chat and fathoming it out I only did about 3 inches. I was looking at the young cat's toys and there are 2 , a monkey and a lion, that he likes putting in the water bowl, so monkey had a wet arm yesterday. They have bird and mouse toys, a fish. There are several toys where they can pat balls around to try and get them out. They also have a robofish game where you put plastic fish in a bowl of water and they move so they love that. The older cat is more cautious and I love how he rushes up to watch what the other one is doing and lies on things with just 1 or 2 front legs hanging over the edge. Polly is a pretty black and white rescue cat and she comes to the door of the garden room and sits watching us. If the door is opened for her to come in, once she sees how many of us there are, she gets overwhelmed and changes her mind! I think she will be brave enough one day though. :-) The garden is full of bird feeders and has lots of tall trees, so there are always Squirrels and birds to watch.

I've been catching up with some of the Chateau progs too. It makes me wish I was 50 years younger as I would have loved to renovate and live in such beautiful places. Not sure I would have enjoyed all the work doing the events needed to pay for their upkeep though. I watched the one where the chap painted that wonderful green trompe l'oeil effect on flat wood to make it look like fancy wood panelling. I'd like to do that.

We are just back from the farm shop with various veg and fruit and now I need to get some felt and dark green wool in the village.

Morning Mel, morning all

Sorry to hear you have the rain Mel, we had bad rain all day on Thursday and ended up with a very wet garden and a massive puddle right where we needed to walk to go out. We've had SNOW this morning, OH woke Sandra up, I was still asleep so missed it as he didn't think to wake me up. Apparently it didn't last long but Sandra was thrilled to see it. I just said last night it was cold enough for snow. I wonder if we'll have a white Christmas this year, Sandra would love that.

I don't think the garden centre is part of a chain AnnG so there isn't another one we could of gone to with Sandra. I have noticed with Brexit there seems to be a lot less around, a lot of the shops aren't selling half the food we buy and poor Sandra hasn't been able to have her favourite juice for months, even though Tesco's keep telling us it's going to arrive soon. If you remember we had problems buying the cable for Sandra's lights, they said they weren't getting any until around December. So maybe the garden centre not having much has something to do with that. She did enjoy what was there and managed to take a few photo's but it wasn't anywhere near as good as it's been in the past.

Unfortunately Mandy, they only do one Christmas event a year, so there isn't another one on now and where we live is a little village so there isn't anything else on like it she can do either. Never mind, she's enjoying all her Christmas films and has just told me of some more that are on today and tomorrow. It's very cold which puts her off going out anyway, so she'll enjoy watching her films in the warmth.

I'm the same and feel sorry for anyone who's been flooded and so close to Christmas to, like someone said I doubt they'll be back in their homes by Christmas. It's so sad.

Well, I'd better go Sandra is waiting to watch another programme we have on pause, the life of the zoo, we have a few of them and she wants to watch them before her films start later.

Good morning Mel and all,

FOG is bad here, can't see down the bottom of the garden. I spoke to a neighbour who was taking his dog for a walk and he said RAIN is forecast for later. So it's the armchair for me today.

The only reason I cooked Cabbage and sprouts together was, that ROS won't eat sprouts. So it saved another saucepan.

Those floods in Yorkshire are terrible, and that poor woman who was drowed, I wonder what happened there. ??

My eye is as clear as a bell this morning, but I am still going on Wednesday. I had a call from the woman at Vision Express yesterday, enquiring how my eye was. I have never had that before, after an eye test etc. Very impressed.

Ann picked up Biggles around 5.00 pm. so we went straight off to get something to eat, we were back home just after 7.00 pm. In time for Madams SOAPS. I watched a little bit of VERA, then went to bed. Had a reasonable night with the exception of a IFFY TUM around 4.00 am.

Ros has gone shopping with Martine this morning, for odds and ends.

I hope these colds and sneezing bouts, soon clear up for you, who are a bit under PAR. xxx

Cuddles for our Jane, I hope she rested well last night, and is comfortable. She is in good hands with Chris and Hannah being on call, as and when she needs any help. And with James helping out in the kitchen. What a lovely close knit family they are.

I haven't heard how my sister is, so it will be down to me, to phone again.It's so annoying that they don't keep in touch with me.

I have a Leg of pork out for tomorrow. We have plenty of Veg in the fridge, so no veg shopping for Ros today.

Well folks, I hope you all have a nice day, today, whatever you might be up to. I'm off back to me armchair, after catching up with the BBC News.

See you soon. xxxx

M orning all,

Well after two dry days we are now back to rain, westerly wind and dull skies. It made such a change yesterday having a nice dry day and now back to this miserable dark stuff.

You can tell I'm p***ed off can't you. Having to turn the lights on suring the day and just cleaned out the girls so they are nice and dry and now this.................

Wrote this and forgot to post it!

By the way I could'nt find my micro monkey last night to put on my knees. I found it this mroning un a pile of felt in the dogs bowl I won at the dog show!!!! I had to use my new pink bunny instead last night.