General Chat

I must admit it is nice not to have to plan the meals for a change. Your roast pork tomorrow sounds nice we have a mixture of nibble stuff tonight, includes onion bhajis not sure what else, chicken wings maybe.. and tomorrow is sil’s birthday not sure what we have then either.

It has been a long afternoon very dark, very wet, daughter and SiL are I the other room think she is doing a jigsaw, he is reading. I have been on my own in here for three hours, did some colouring and reading but so missing my man.if he was here he would be in here with me. Felt very down this afternoon. You can be lonely even when two other people are in the house. Shall have to pull myself together,

We are all here with you Anng. I am just about going to get the chops on and prepare the rest of the veg. Could you not have a go at some of the other threads or the Find ancestors boards? I always find that makes the time go quickly.

Be kind to yourself Ann. You’ve barely had time to grieve yet. There will be times when you feel very down and tearful and that’s normal, but you are stronger than you think and you will come through this period of grieving. Just give it time and remember we are all here for you <3

Came through it ok, just a blip. This grieving thing is hard. I get so angry inside at him for leaving me. Then I do know , given the choice he would still be here.

Mel, I do go on quite a lot of the other threads when they are moving.

I will get there.

No EOS again this week I hope she is ok and am thinking of her.

Anng I know you go on other site as I have read many of them myself. Keep your pecker up he's still with you and always will be. <3 <3

Do hope Elizabeth is ok. She is so good looking after us that we rely on her being here.

Good morning, I shall endeavour to stay upbeat today.. at least it is dry and bright part of my problem yesterday was the weather..

I do know I have to allow myself to grieve but I don’t intend to allow myself to ‘wallow’ in grief. I will always endeavour to lift myself out of it. Daughter and I are quite good at finding the funny side of the situation which is why it is good to spend time with her and her OH he can make me smile.

On another subject, when I washed my hair this morning I realised how much of it there is now. Not only long but growing upwards and outwards. And it is looking like a couple of months before it will be cut.

Morning Anng and all,

Drier here this morning but still a grey sky.

Anng if you comb your hair up at the top and cut a bit off straight it will lie nicely when it falls down same with the sides comb them out sideways and cut straight across and follow this line over the head leaving the top a little longer. Same applies for Vera.

I do hope EOS is ok as its two weeks now we hav'nt heard from her. Sending love and wishes. <3

I spoke too soon about it being dry today as its raining now but the dreadful wind has gone and it seems warmer now 9.5 degrees out there.

Morning All,

I seem to have losingpostitis as I lost another last night! Slept well last night and we have a dreary sort of morning weatherwise and it doesn't look like improving.

You are bound to have 'moments' like that AnnG. You have been through an awful, stressful time of uncertainty, mostly on your own and then the worst loss we can imagine in such difficult circumstances. Any loss takes a while to come to terms with and you can't hurry these things and everyone is different. You seem to have a good attitude so just be kind to yourself and just live a day at a time. I'm wanting to see a photo of those pussycats please. :-)

Must dash......lunch is demanding attention!

Good afternoon all

Oh dear Ann, I think there must be a lot of lost posts floating around in the ether. Frank’s lost a few as well and we’ve all managed to do it from time to time. Frustrating isn’t it?

AnnG, i’ve gone all gooey at the cat pictures. They are gorgeous. I do miss my Mitzi and Molly but OH doesn’t want more animals now. I’ve told him that if he doesn’t behave himself I’m replacing him with a cat lol.

I had another dreadful night but decided to get moving this morning and DO SOMETHING so I started by making a cake. I found a recipe online for a Marmalade Loaf Cake and started getting the ingredients out. While I was getting butter from the fridge I thought I’d get the eggs out too. Carried on through the list, got to the end and realised eggs weren’t among the ingredients so I put them away again and started mixing. It seemed odd as there was only a tiny bit of milk and no other liquid but it definitely didn’t list eggs. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy - check. Now beat in the eggs till creamy. Eggs? What eggs? Got eggs out again. No idea how many to use so I started with 2. That made the right sort of consistency so I added the rest of the ingredients and put the mixture in my tin and into the oven, preheated to 170 degs, as instructed. According to the recipe it would take 35 to 40 minutes. As my oven is quite fierce I checked after 30 minutes. Barely started to cook. After 40 minutes it was a pale gold but still raw. In the end I put the temperature up to 190 and cooked it for an hour! It is now cooked and a nice colour but gawd knows what it tastes like.

Our roast pork is “resting” so I need to get the broccoli in the steamer and sort the gravy. Will probably bbl.

Don't you just love these recipes that have ingredients missing or wrong oven temps. Hope it tastes ok Vera after all your effort. Stick to a recipe you know next time.

Suns out here and its quite pleasent so now we have had lunch I may go and clean the girls out when lunch has gone down a bit.

Mel, if I cut mine like that it would stick out. It has to be cut properly, it is not the length, I could cope with that, it is extremely thick, always has to be thinned out when cut. Daughter says it still looks ok though.

Vera, hope the pork was nice and I am sure the cake will be fine. Glad you liked the cats, cute aren’t they?

We went for a lovely short walk this morning down the lane behind the house, if it had been clear we could have seen the Isle Of Mann, we could just see Scotland.

Ann yes it will take some adjusting to I know. I will get there <3

That sounded like a nice little walk AnnG. To be able to see Scotland too! I must say it will be nice to be able to see further than the MI over the back fields here once we can hopefully be off on our travels again. I think the 12 mile trip to the vaccination centre is the furthest I've been in the last year.

Vera I thought it was just me that had those recipes with bits missing. It sounds like your tasty sounding cake will be ok though! I find it's the same with some beading patterns that I end up puzzling over for ages!

We had a bit of sun in the end Mel, but it's gone again now. That was a lucky turn of events that you only need to go to Great Torrington to your doctor's now. Did you know that Great Torrington is supposed to be the healthiest place to live in England! :-) The doctor should be healthy if he lives there.

AnnG my hairdresser gets those pinking shear type scissors to my hair after cutting it. It alarms me a bit sometimes with the clumps of hair falling on my shoulders!

Interesting fact: our electricity provider site says that before the invention of electricity, we all slept 90 minutes longer. Must be why I can't get up on dark winter mornings.

Your walk sounds nice AnnG. It’s been sunny here since mid-morning so I really should have gone out to get some air but I fiddled around with that cake and cooked a full roast dinner and then just didn’t feel like it as I am so tired. I compromised by having my cup of tea in the conservatory with the door open :-).

Had an interruption here- an hour’s phone call with my daughter which was good. We put the world to rights.

I’ve had my detective hat on today. A day or two ago I had a late sympathy card which was signed Pat. I know 7 Pats! The frank on the envelope said Royal Mail Anglia which covered them all. I eliminated 2 as they are married so would have included their husbands’ names, and 1 lives in our Close and would have popped a card through the door rather than posting it. I thought 2 others were unlikely to have sent a card even if they had heard of my brother’s death so I have narrowed it down to a choice of 2 but I have no way of knowing which of those it was. Well, it was a kind thought whoever sent it.

I hope you are feeling better today Frank.

It would be good to hear from Gill, just to know she is OK.

OH has made yet another cup of tea so I’d better drink it before it gets cold. I hope you all get a good night tonight.

Those lovely cats are in tip top condition Anng. They're very soft looking and nice to cuddle.

I have had a bit of a tidy up on one of the kitchen counters and it looks much better now and room for oh's cornflake packet and his all bran. the amount of dead spiders I yanked out from behind the trays over there put me to shame!!!! It is where I kept the cd player that dos'nt work very well so thats been thrown out as it was taking up a lot of space. Now if I clear out the bottom cupboard I should be able to get the cereal packets in there.

Going back to recipes being wrong I had one for a Bara brith. It said to put the mixture in a 1lb loaf tin but there was no way all the mixture would have gone in it so I put it in a 2lb loaf tin which was just right.

Did'nt get the chickens cleaned out this morning as it started to rain and I had to get the breakfast. Shame as it was'nt windy today.

Morning all,

Bright and sunny this morning here in deepest Devon and I hope it stay all day to cheer us up.

Strip the bed today and see if I can get it dry outside for a change as I don't like to use the dryer if I can help it. Nothing like bedding thats been outside in the air. Smells so good then...

What are you all up to today? Frank should get his scooter so I hope we'll hear about that later on and if he's had a little go on it.

Perhaps Vera will get her little walk today that would be nice for her.

Anng may have one too.

Good morning all, having a cup of tea in my room. Letting daughter get on before doing her hour of yoga.

The cats might look cuddly Mel and Millie is willing to sit on a lap for a stroke, yes she is very soft. You would have a job to catch Molly though, it is only in the last year she has even ventured on daughters lap and that is usually only for treats, she is about three, she was the one taken in from a rescue place when Lucas got run over and has always been nervous
S.

Looks nice and sunny today Maryport is just up the road and is the place they go for exercise by the sea so I think that may be the plan for today. Nice place, been there once before and plenty of space to be away from people.

Half way through changing the bed only the quilt cover to fight with now. If I'm lucky oh may help me with that as he is in at the moment. He's been pressure washing the decking round my pond as he has bought new mesh to put round the outside to keep the Heron out.

Everyone must be really busy.

I have hoovered the hall bedroom oh's study and the kitchen diner. Changed the bed which is a feat in itself and washed the bathroom mats. Swept up under the bird feeder and around the drain hole out the front and now I am going to do lunch.

Wonder if Frank's scooter has arrived yet?

Afternoon All,

A good sleep last night but an early rise in case the window cleaner came (he didn't again!) and OH is on a virtual meeting. It's an all day appeals one he is on the panel of so I can't do anything noisy. :-S My course is this afternoon so I shall be quiet doing that. I hope the neighbour doesn't leave her dog out to bark though. OH has had people ask whose dog is barking when he's in virtual meetings before as people can't concentrate.

That's good your fish will be nicely protected from the Heron Mel, especially after you seeing those nice babies last year. I hate changing duvet covers too. Now I use a top sheet under the duvet I don't change the duvet cover every time, which helps a little.

I wonder if Frank has had a scoot yet? :-) It will give him so much more freedom.

Sounds like another nice walk AnnG. I don't think I have ever been higher up that bit of coast than Workington.

Better get set up now and clear some space.

It was so nice to drive about two miles and have a walk along the cliff path, the tide was out but the sun shone and the sky was blue. I have sent one photo taken on my phone as can’t download the photos from my camera. We didn’t go into the actual quay this time as we did in August but sat looking out over the sea to Scotland. The walk was only about two miles but it was so good to get the sea air in our lungs.