General Chat

Good afternoon everyone

Another grey, damp day. It’s not actually raining but everywhere looks wet.

I went to bed last night full of confidence that I was going to sleep well as I had had two good nights. I had an appalling night. I just could not sleep. At 3 am I put the radio on and listened to an hour’s programme where a Holocaust survivor was talking about her time in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. It was very moving but not exactly peaceful and calming. So then I read for a couple of hours. I think I eventually fell asleep about 6 am and woke up at 9.30. I have been so lethargic. I haven’t been able to find the energy to do anything much. My get up and go definitely got up and went this morning.

It’s not all doom and gloom in the house today as OH has got up feeling quite a bit better. He still needs to take it very easy but the pain has eased and he can move more freely.

I hope you are not suffering too much with the after effects of the latest round of chemo Jane. Sending you a gentle (((((hug))))) <3. I’ll keep everything crossed for James on Monday. These days it’s an achievement to even get invited for an interview so well done James. I hope H & G’s house move goes well. Not long now and you’ll have them nearby :-)

Gill, don’t worry about the conifers. I expect they will just take some out of the top.

Wrote this over an hour ago, then the window cleaner came and I got distracted so it didn’t get posted. I’d better send it now before I forget again.

Evening all,

Dreary day here we haven't done that much today in fact this afternoon i fell asleep as i had a restless night again

Mel those dragon eyes have turned our well ,the mushrooms sound interesting .

Jane hope your not to bad this time after the treatment ,good luck to James with the interview next week ,we'll all have our fingers crossed for him .
So not long before Hannah is nearer to you which will be nice ,they have a busy time packing for the move .

Ann was it crochet today or beading ? what are you making or is it just learning the stitches in crochet at the moment .
That was nasty OH getting the migraine when he had notes to do ,at least he had time to rest before hand ,i have had those zig zagy lines at the side of my eyes and just sitting with my eyes closed seems to ease it but OH had to do the meeting and then drive home which must have been a bit of a worry for him ,i hope he's ok now .

OH must be pleased the pain has eased a little Vera, i hope you can get a better nights sleep tonight .

Oh Frank don't talk about those blooming phone calls we had three the other day and they are all automated so you carn't even tell them were to go :-P
We had soup today too nice and warming for a day like this .

Hope your OH made it home in time for the photography group AnnG if not he won't be in your good books !!

Gill don't you go worrying about those trees i'm sure they'll get them trimmed out with out doing any damage .

I don't know where this week has gone ,in fact where has the month gone ,the nights do seem a little lighter, i think you can notice it more when you have a brighter day .

I am so pleased that hubby is feeling a lot better today Vera so lets hope it continues and he can get back to normal soon. sorry you had a bad night though so perhaps tonight will be better. I find if I think about not dropping off it makes me stay awake longer. I tr to think just black and that seems to work with me.

So I am not the only one who writes a post and forgets to post it!!

Frank are Ros Jan and julia going out for lunch tomorrow? Hope they enjoy it and don't come home with lots of plants if they go to a garden center.

Just going to start dinner now after finishing my cover. we have nice loin of lamb chops and I am going to make a cauli and brocc cheese to go with the chops. May do a few new pots, may not. ;-)

Evening All,

Yes another 3D day.......Dreary, Dull and Damp. :-(

I left OH in bed when I went to beading and he slept till 11.00am and felt better then after the draining effect of his migraine. We didn't do much of anything this morning as one friend had her new iphone and one of the others was helping her get to grips and I was earwigging in case I get one, not that I will remember anything! She found the torch for her and then another with an iphone didn't know where it was on hers so she found it for her too. That's the trouble with a lot of things these days. Not enough instructions so you might as well not have the features if you can't find them! :-( I did do a bit of a necklace I'd started last week and one did a bit of crochet. She is in her late 60s lives on her own and has an allotment and was saying giving up plastics for paper bags isn't ideal to put wet veg in. She is struggling to get her tension right with crochet (it is hard at first!) so I said she'd be able to do herself a string bag soon to use. I won't repeat what she said!! lol. :-D Two of the cats were lounging around indoors and about as lively as me. We went out for lunch, called in the shop after and I haven't done much else. I did sketch out a small painting I want to do to make up a pair, The board I am using, so it matches the other, is a quite rough board so pencil marks don't rub out easily so I'll have to concentrate on which lines to follow when the paint goes on.

Gill there's not much you can do except wait and see what happens with the trees. I can never understand why people let conifers get tall. At my old house we planted them across the bottom of the garden as there was a park at the bottom, but we kept them clipped at about 6 feet high and they never became a problem. How is Sandra's knee now? Is she still needing painkillers? You mentioned not dyeing your hair after you have shampooed it. My hairdresser tells me not to shampoo mine the day she colours it (I normally shampoo it every day when I shower) and told me the colour takes better on less clean hair.

I hope Jane is feeling a bit better today. I don't know much about how long the effects of chemo take to wear off, but expect it is different depending on the drugs used and how each of us react to them. I'm impressed with how Hannah and G have jumped to it to get the move organised while both working and how quickly Hannah got herself another job. She doesn't let any grass grow under her feet! :-D

Oh poor you having a bad night Vera. I have more now than ever and rarely get off before 2.00am. I hope it means you get a good night tonight.

I hope your photography group had a good meet up AnnG. Is there any particular subject you are photographing at the moment?

It will be nice to get some lighter nights Mandy as we don't seem to have the curtains open much in the afternoon even lately! How is your crocheting going? I hope you have a better night tonight too.

Did'nt do pots in the end just the cauli. and brocc cheese but I did some little button mushrooms. Oh said it was lovely. I got the chops how he likes them tonight all really pink in the middle but left mine in a little longer.

Well I hope you all have a better nights sleep tonight as it sounds like lots of you need it.

Morning one and all,

Another not nice morning here. Definately the 3D's or maybe even 4D's, dull, dreary, dark and drab and damp so thats 5.

Got in bed lst night and tried to go to sleep but oh was in a restless moody with his arm. This is all in hiis sleep. He was doing 4 punches of the bed clothes every few minuets so in the end I got up and parked myself in the spare room but we don't heat this room and the bed was sooooo cold it took me a while to warm up. Its not as soft as our bed either and felt quite hard to lay on. I did think it may stop after a while or he would turn over but no he was well away in dreamland cos he kept muttering.

I hope you all had a better night than I did last night!!

I have a dozen and a half for Em today and then down the shop for the Saturday paper.

If the book front fits I shall be baking it today so wish me luck please.

Morning all

Another damp day but no rain so far. According to the weather it's going to be bad starting from tonight and right through next week with some possible snow on Monday. I think it's going to be snow flurries rather than a few feet deep, which is a pity as Sandra would of loved to have built a snowman.

I think next door is having a metre cut off the top of the trees and then straightened all the way down to ground level, so quite a big job. He wanted the fella to take the big oak tree completely out but he said no as he would need permission off the council. Knowing the neighbour he'll get anyone in to take it out if this fella doesn't do it. He's had some right cowboys doing work for him including gypsies who did his drive. If your remember there was a problem over payment and the gypsy boss threatened to kill him.......I don't think he was joking either, so gawd knows who he'll end up getting and how they'll go about taking the trees out. I wouldn't mind but the conifers aren't even his. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

My mum has just had an operation on her eye so I'll be going to see her and helping where I can, so I hope they don't turn up to do the job when I'm not here.

Hope you had a better nights sleep last night Vera, those few hours you finally got wouldn't of been enough to keep you going through the day. Pleased to hear your OH is feeling better now.

It sounds like you had a bad night last night Mel, I hope you're not to tired today. Good luck with the book front, I hope it bakes well for you. Your girls did well with their egg laying, it looks like you're going to have quite a few off them this year.

So you had a restless night to Mandy, I think I'm the only one who's had some decent sleep lately. I hope you had a better night last night. I think time has gone by quickly so far this year, I was only thinking this morning how it's a month since Christmas Day. Before you know it, it'll be Easter.

Hope your OH made it back in time for your photography class AnnG. What type of photo's do you take?

Those nuisance calls are a pain aren't they Frank, at least you can block them, so that's good.

I'd love to see a pic of your necklace when you've finished it Ann. How are you getting on with your crocheting? I've got a very old phone so don't need to worry where everything is as it doesn't have anything on it lol ;-) ;-)

Thinking of Jane and hoping she's not to ill today. Sending lots of hugs off Sandra and I <3

I've not long got off the phone to my mum and forgot all about my cuppa so I'll have to make a fresh one as it's gone cold.

Its in the oven............

I think its getting darker here today. I have to go to Em's now.

Will let you know how it turns out later when I get it out and I have my little dragon in there too and a mould I am hoping will come out ok.

Gill he must have he permision to cut some of the tree back from the neighbour who actually owns them? There is a thing called Ancient Lights where you can have trees cut down if they are taking the light from your garden. Its quite legal. I don't think that would apply to the oak though as big trees are often used by pilots of aircraft and helicopters as markers.

Sent a pic.

Good afternoon all, we have just been doing several small errands, post office, charity shop, Tescos and a call in to the Community centre. I was all set to have just coffee but left OH in the queue while I got a table and he ordered coffee, large sausage roll and chips (one portion between us. So that was lunch for me, he will probably also have a sandwich. Very dull and cold here again today.

Frank, the reason the hot tub should not be used by someone having chemo is because chemo lowers the immunity. Hot tubs have a few bugs in which our natural immunity can fight but Jane's immunity is very low so she has to stay away from crowds where people have coughs and colds and not eat certain foods as well, and also not use the hot tub. I am sure that doctors will give the same advice.

Vera, sorry you had another bad night after having two good ones. Maybe you were thinking too much that you were going to sleep so it was counter productive. Hope you can do better tonight. But I am pleased to hear that your OH's pain has lessened, hopefully he won't try to do too much now he feels better.

Mandy yes, OH got home well in time for photography. It was not a practical meeting but was a planning meeting for the coming year. It was quite long and for myself and another lady (whose hearing is actually even worse than mine) it was very tiring as the lighting in the hall where we meet is atrocious. It is a church hall with no real windows to outside and they have very low wattage (saving electricity) bulbs in the 6 lights there are, that means when in a circle in a largish (16 people) group it is hard to see people's mouths which you rely on when hard of hearing.

Mel your dinner yesterday sounded nice. We wanted to get something for this evening's meal but both had a mental block and ended up with a pizza. Not good for the diet I don't thin. I need to lose another pound or two but seem to have stuck and pizza and half sausage roll and chips won't help. On the other hand I blame over eating on the cold weather.
Mel that journal cover is looking good. do you keep a journal or is this for a present for somebody, or to sell at a fair. Did you sell much of your stuff in the end before Christmas? I think you were taking it to a shop to be sold in the end? Did the book front fit?
I would like my chops like your OH please.
So another OH who dreams and jumps around, it drives you mad doesn't it.

Annx We didn't have a subject for this month, or last if it comes to that, we wanted to slightly change the format of meetings (I say 'we' but I was happy how we were doing things, one or two wanted a change, hence the meeting yesterday. We are now going to aim to have an exhibition of work, Possibly in October, this will be at the U3A main meeting so we need to learn from one of our members who is in a camera club all about displaying our photos. We start wil the lessons next month but we also have a subject for February which is textures. (any suggestions welcome as it is hurting my brain at the moment).
Reading your post reminded me I don't know where the torch is on my phone so will have to have a look!

Gill, if your neighbour has the tree (that incidentally doesn't belong to him) cut down he can be fined thousands of pounds by the Council because such trees are usually protected. Leylandis are not usually protected but he can still be in trouble if he has someone else's trees cut down. Of course he may have had a talk to the person whose trees they are.
Hope your Mum's eyes are OK.
Personally Gill I take photos of anything and everything but for photography we usually have a subject for each month. I can't remember offhand but some of the subjects for the coming year are: Texture, Flight,Weather, water, architecture, opposites and Wheels.

Just checked the right to light law Mel and not sure it still exists. I found this:

Obstruction of window is a breach of planning: Wrong

How a development will affect the path of light to neighbouring properties is often something considered by planning departments when choosing whether or not to grant planning permission. However, once planning permission is granted, so long as the construction complies with the permission and any conditions imposed, it ceases to be a planning issue.

Your land has a right to light: Wrong

A right to light can only be acquired for light passing through a ‘defined aperture’ in a building (e.g. a window). A new construction on a neighbouring property which blocks light to a garden or grounds will not obstruct a right to light unless it also blocks light which passes through a window which benefits from a right to light

So that is confusing. I also thought they brought in a law governing the height of Leylandis but I have not seen it actioned anywhere yet.

Better get on this is getting very long. :-) :-) <3

Hope you are beginning to surface again Jane <3 <3 <3

The trees are at the bottom of his garden, on the North side so it wouldn't block any light off his garden, only the one at the back of him as the south facing sun travels down our back gardens towards the back. I very much doubt he's mentioned anything to any of the neighbours, especially the one who the trees belong to. We only found out about his extension the day the work started as the council letter only arrived that day, so there was nothing we could do about it. It now blocks all the sun we used to have on our patio in the evenings. He comes across as a man who doesn't care what other people think so long as he gets his own way. All we can do is keep an eye on the workman and hope he does his job properly.

I see your book cover came out okay Mel, it looks lovely. Are you going to paint it, or leave it white?

It's the 7th anniversary of OH's dad passing away today, so I'm looking after him and making sure he's okay. He rang his mum this morning but there was no answer, so he's chatting with her now.

I've got a bit of a sore throat, it started when I coloured my hair, so I think it was the hair colouring that triggered it off. I hope it doesn't last to long as it's quite painful, I'm starting with a bit of a cough as well and feeling a little tired, so I think I'll have an early night tonight. I must admit the hair colouring did seem stronger this time around, maybe they've changed it from the last time I used it. This happened to me a while back and it only lasted a few days, let's hope that's the case this time.

Evening All,

I can add a 6th D Mel as it's been a bit drizzly here too! Your book cover has turned out really well and I'm sure will look fantastic when you have painted it. Will you be doing a back cover too? The chickens are laying well now aren't they.....and I still remember your eggs with the lovely rich yolks! :-)

OH went to a match near Peterborough again today, not his original plan, but there were roadworks on the A14 which is busy at the best of times. I went to see if the snowdrops I looked for last week were out yet and they were, but lots more to come so I will go again the next sunny day to get some photos. On the way I called in a shop to get the papers and sat in the car park reading for a little while. In that time 2 young women in their cars drove in and parked in the parent and child spaces close to the shop. Neither of them had either a child with them or in their cars. It happens a lot in our village car park too and it seems as if once they get used to the privileged parking they think it's their right, whether or not they have children with them! :-(

Last night there was an advert in our evening paper for someone local to help with carriage driving. It is something I would have followed up if I could still climb up with my knees!

On the way home I called in the little craft place in the village, the one in the big containers, While I was there 2 ladies came in with a black Lab Guide dog for the blind. He was lovely, very calm and called Woody. Neither of the ladies could even see colours or the shapes of buttons they were buying and were having to ask lots of questions. I couldn't help but wonder what kinds of crafts they did, but I heard one lady arrange to come back on Tuesday to be shown how to do a hem and had to admire them for not giving up on learning to do things as they were elderly and I thought how lovely the lady who runs the shop is for taking the time to teach them things. She took them out down the little path and onto the road to the village after. I just bought some wool needles, a crochet hook in a size I don't have and a new tape measure. I already have 2 but one is frayed at the start and the other is plastic and all the numbers at the beginning had worn off. :-S

AnnG I hope they advertise their Exhibition well as I love looking round them but miss so many because I didn't know they were on. Some interesting subjects there to get your brain working as you say..........what about a closeup of some fine moss or coloured Lichen on some tree bark or the surface of a seashell?

Gill keep a note of how often you are getting these bad throats as you seem to get one after another which doesn't seem right.

I've just filled a water pot so will make a space and start painting now.

Thanks Annx textures is quite a difficult subject so only too pleased to have suggestions. I shall make a note of both those and try them out when I get the opportunity.

Evening all,

It's been dreary here to but we had Chelsea and Katie here for the day so that brightened up our day ,now we feel worn out ,they wanted jobs to do so out came the dusters and polish it kept them amused for ages :-D when i told their mum she said now why can't they do that here in their bedroom ,i told the girls i would buy them some polish and dusters , little Katie said" will you nanny " :-D LOL

Ann how lovely that the ladies can do some craft work it would be interesting to see what they can do i bet we would quite surprised at their efforts .
I'm now crocheting a strip to cover a polystyrene ring for a wreath ,i'll get a photo of the bits that i have done so far ,i've no idea at the moment what i will put on the wreath yet ,i thought i'd do lots of bits and just play around with them till i'm happy with t.
i might buy some new crochet hooks as the new ones now have thicker handle bits were you hold them ,mine are just the plain metal ones ,i think the thicker ones will be easier to hold and even the girls might do better with them ,they keep asking can i teach them to crochet

Anng what about a close up of bricks for texture or sacking or even some wrinkles ,not that i'm saying you have wrinkles LOL

I think we're in for a rough old Sunday weather wise ,so it will be a day for keeping in by the fire.

Mel the book cover looks brilliant ,can't wait to see it all painted up.

Thanks Mandy, some more good ideas. I shall have to write all the suggestions down (I think I will leave out the wrinkles though!! Unless I can creep up on OH :-D :-D

Anng what about some frost for a texture. My car looked like it had a crew cut the other night with lovely frost crystals all stnding up straight. I have taken a pic of those before or the frosty fern patterns. Its something you don't always get. A church yard is a good place to look for lichens on stones. We have some rust coloured ones in our churchyard and they are amazing. The other thign I was thiking of was the under side of a mushroom with all the lovely gills each one a different shape if you look closely.

Thanks fo rthe comments on the book cover and yes I shall paint it but I have had an afternoon off as I did'nt get much sleep last night. I have a bit of a headache over my eyes tonight which is not like me at all. I sometimes think its sitting under these spotlight oh put ove rhte kitchen table.

Thinking of our Jane and sending wishes. Hope she is not too dizzy this time. <3 <3

I meant to say I hope Gill's mum is recovering from her eye operation and is'nt in any discomfort.Sending best wishes. <3

Yes could maybe be the spotlight.

Good morning all, a tiny bit brighter today so fingers crossed it will stay that way.

Thanks Mel for those suggestions. I must list them all later on so I don't forget. We are not often up early enough to cat a real frost but we may get a harder one sometime soon I think. the other suggestions are great.

Keep them coming.

Morning AnnG, morning all

Damp again today and next door has someone taking his guttering down so we think his flat roof might be being fixed soon.

My sore throat has gone Ann, I thought it would as it only started when I coloured my hair. It's happened before and only lasts a few days. The hair colouring was quite strong this time and with it being cold I didn't open the window like I usually do, so I think the fumes off the colouring just got on my throat. All's good now though. What are you painting?

I finally managed to finish off another bit of OH's family tree last night, I was following an Obituary but it only had first names and how they were related to the deceased so it was quite tricky trying to find who the individual families were. With the help of fb I managed to get everyone in their correct places with their correct surnames. There were about 30 of them, it took me a couple of days but is now done. They all lived in Canada which made it a little more difficult as you can't search for any records unless it's years ago which it wasn't. I will move onto another sibling now and see if I can sort that part out for him.

Do you have a cactus AnnG, maybe you cold take a close up photo of that. I don't take photo's so don't really know what else to suggest. There are a few good suggestions on here though, so plenty for you to consider.

How lovely to have the girls do the polishing Mandy and how excited did Katie sound when you said you'd buy some polish and dusters for them........bless her. Do you think they'll polish their bedrooms now lol ;-) ;-) I'm sure their mum can hope :-D

Thanks Mel for the get well wishes for my mum. She had the operation on Tuesday but can't drive for a month, she normally goes out every day, so she's a bit bored at the moment being stuck in doors. Then when she's recovered from this operation she has to have the other eye done. It was a cataract operation. She'll then have to go for an eye test and have new glasses made up for herself.

My aunt had the same operation a few days before her and also has to have her other eye done, this is the aunt who is going to be in "Home is where the Art is" which I think starts next month. She's the 10th person on the show out of 15 episodes. I'm not sure what date the programme starts but I'm keeping my eye out for it being advertised. If anyone see's it advertised could you let me know please. It's the programme with Nick Knowles presenting it. Thanks <3

I'd love to see a picture of your book cover once you've painted it Mel. I hope your headache eased and you had a good nights sleep.

Morning all,

Yes I had a great sleep and got up at 9am for the loo and went back to bed and slept again for an hour and a half.

Its dull, dark, damp, dreary, drizzley, drab and dire this morning. Pouring with rain and windy with it but its not that cold so thats the only good thing about it.

I think its a bit too dark to paint today so I am going to wait until the days are brighter to paint the cover. It fits nicely on the book I have for it to go on.

Gill oh had the operation your mums had and that eye is fine now. It was some years ago now and its still his best eye. Hope everything is ok for the second one when she has it done. Wishing her better soon so she can drive again and get out and about.