General Chat

I hadn't heard of those, Names - must look out for them.

I know Edinburgh well, and love books set there, often reading them with Edinburgh A-Z to hand!
Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series; any Rebus book; "The Fair Botanists" by Sara Sheridan (set in 1820s Edinburgh) - and many more.

We really like the Bob Skinner books by Quintin Jardine, he’s been writing them since 1993.

Bob is a copper based in Edinburgh, and unlike so many, he, his family and friends are all allowed to age and climb their various ladders. Bob has now retired as a very senior policeman but still keeps his hand in. Hopefully there will be a new one soon.

Good morning all

Started off rainy and is still a bit overcast but the sun is shining through the clouds.

Lots of paperwork to do today as its the end of the month so kitchen table is covered in paper just now!

Daughter and a friend have gone to a previous house I lived in to dig up a plant that I thought had been "strimmed to death" many years ago. However, it regrew and was told, If I want it, I can get someone to dig it up and take it.

So they set off 1/2 hr ago. There is a spade and plenty heavy duty black bags over there to cover the roots once dug up. I just hope they can manage to get it out the ground, might take awhile!

Linda, your painter needs a rocket! I bet you will be so glad once all the painting has been finished and make a note not to ever use him again!

Ann as much as I enjoy watching the Grace series and the latest one is due soon, I do prefer the books as the way PJ describes a scene or the background on someone is far better. The episodes on tv are obviously condensed down and compared to the books, somethings have been left out or changed. Still a good adaptation though and I enjoy spotting all the streets that I know so well and the beaches,

Well have a good day all. off to be busy but shall look in later on.

Florence in the hebrides

ARocker yes that is a lot of books to have written. I prefer the Alex Cross books as those are the ones he has written on his own I think, some of the others I have liked, some not so much. It depends on the co-writers style of writing.

I've read a few James Patterson books too, and enjoyed them. It baffles me how he can write so many, I know he writes a lot jointly with other well known people (Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton amongst others) but he writes a book faster than I can read it. I've just looked at his bibliography, 209 full length novels, plus countless short stories and childrens books too.

That’s a blast from the past. Must see if I’ve got any knocking about. Mind you, lots of my books are in the loft as it is never my books that get unpacked and out on the shelves.

How frustrating, Linda - I feel your pain!

Re books -
I've always got at least two on the go at the same time - one in the bedroom and one in the living room.
Recently I've been re-reading some of those which I first read many years ago, and which have been sitting untouched on my shelves ever since - mostly for so long that I can't remember the plots.
At the moment the bedroom one is Mary Stewart's "The Ivy Tree".

I seem to be reading a lot of murder mysteries these days, maybe that is why I am imagining what I would like to do with the painter :-D

This morning we were up early because the plumber was coming at eight, he actually turned up at eight fifteen, so that was fine. The downstairs cloakroom now has a new vanity unit and toilet . OH has some boxing in of pipes to do and we need to choose some tiles, although there won’t be many. The plumber then moved onto the bathroom and has the new toilet in and the pipe work for the sink. He had to leave at four to do another job, so is coming back in the morning to finish the sink and put the bath in.

We had arranged with the useless painter that he would do the first coat of watered down paint on our bedroom and en-suite ceilings , then while that dried do the same in the kitchen and utility, then go back to the bedroom and put the second coat on. That way the bedroom would be done in one day.

So this morning, we moved all the furniture in the bedroom into the middle and covered everything with a huge polythene sheet. What could possibly go wrong?
His car wouldn’t start -a flat battery apparently :-| So his mate was coming to sort it out. I then got a message to say he was on the way and wouldn’t be long. But then I got a message to say, no he wasn’t, his mate had taken the car to a garage who had fitted him in. He would come about 3.30 to 4 pm to paint the bedroom so we wouldn’t have to put everything back and then do it again in the morning. That was crackers as he probably wouldn’t turn up, or if he did, he wouldn’t be finished until very late. So we told him not to come today, but he had to come much earlier than he has been and not disappear mid afternoon. He has promised to be there at nine o’clock in the morning, so we shall see. We feel like sending him packing, but the OH would have to finish it and he already has a lot of work on in the bathrooms and the garden.

No he definitely wasn't.

I recently downloaded the Lee Childs books from the library to re read them. Must get on and get the last couple of them.

Tom Cruise just wasn’t right for that film.

I like Lee Child as well. Actually I read a lot and like a lot of different authors, depends what mood I am in. can't seem to get enthusiastic about historical novels these days whereas I used to read them avidly Still got, unread on my book shelves a couple of Philippa Gregory and four Elizabeth Chadwick.

James. Patterson is a prolific American author. They are crime novels but different to Peter James.

I used to read the Patterson books but got a bit fed up with them I enjoy the Roy Grace books and prefer them to the tv series.

Afternoon Ann, well our sunny day has now become very dark and overcast and think its going to bucket down soon and we have washing out!

However, ironing all done and daughter is vacuuming so chores are getting done.
What a nuisance when people don't turn up, it really annoys me as you hang around waiting and it just wastes time but at least you cleaned the bathroom so you have been productive.

I have just had my first bowl of Greek yoghurt and fruit for my lunch and really enjoyed it and feel quite full.

I'm not familiar with James Patterson's books, are they crime fiction like Grace?

Not sure what my next job is but i have a few from my list to choose from...decisions, decisions lol

I have not read any of his books but have seen Grace on TV. Maybe I should look out for his books. I am steadily reading my way through James Patterson's books, my favourite being the Alex Cross books.

It was a lovely sunny morning but has clouded over now and looks like rain. I was expecting the men who do my garden jobs to come but no sign of them so another wasted morning for me. Well not completely wasted, I have cleaned the bathroom.

Good morning all looking in.

Well its another bright and sunny day and quite mild too with a bit of a breeze.

I have just ordered the latest Peter James book in paperback called Stop Them Dead.
I have all the books in the Grace series, so cant wait to read this one. it should be here by the end of the week along with the extra craft supplies I needed.

I'm off to start the ironing basket before it overflows and get that up straight. After that, usual chores to do. i'm feeling back to normal now so here's hoping the virus has finally gone.

Hope everyone well and ok today.

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon everyone.

Well its been a bright and sunny day but now the wind has picked up and Im feeling it chilly.

We managed to go and sprinkle grass seed all over the back garden and see if we can get some new growth as now there are many bare patches. It is only turf they laid when the house was built and underneath is basically rubble, stones etc so no soil really.
My neighbour did the same 2 weeks ago and I can see new grass on his side so fingers crossed.

I have been making more candle centrepieces and finished all the mini ones. The medium size , I have 5 left and 11 large ones but run out of pine cones again grrr So will have to order one more bag and that will be enough to finish off.

So after clearing up, Im now sitting here with a well earned coffee.

Crikey Linda, what a lot of stuff for the tip!" I so hope you hedge grows well.
As for SIl, oh my, so a lunch date was more important? That beggars belief really!

Decided that I shall start my Yohgurt diet tomorrow as I had already taken out a breaded fish for tea, new potatoes, mini cobettes and peas. Still a healthy meal

End of next week it says we are to get 19 degrees :-D :-D :-D mmmn in our dreams but you never know!

Hope everyone looking in is well and ok today

Florence in the hebrides

Good morning from a very wet Yorkshire. OH managed to demolish even more of the hedge yesterday. He got in two trips to the tip as well. He has one of the very large dumpy bags which fills the back of the car with the seats down , he also fills the front passenger seat with bags as well. He has just gone off with another car full, but it will be very wet as it has been raining all night and still is. Lots of the stuff to go now is large branches, so they are going to be very wet.There is just one section about six feet long to do, but we will leave that for a while as it would leave the back garden open to the track. We have decided to put some fencing in that section to keep the back garden private as it is going to take a long time for the Hawthorns we are going to plant to grow.

We decided that we needed to buy a hosepipe as this house has an outside tap and we will need to water the new Hawthorn hedge which is about twenty five metres long. Trying to do that with a watering can would be too hard. We ordered it from Amazon about nine o’clock last night and the doorbell rang at 8.30 this morning, that is amazing service.

Oh dear Florence , you have had a bad morning.
Esme ended up staying in hospital overnight. At least they were in a room of their own and they gave my daughter a fold out bed right next to Esme’s . Esme actually slept well as she hadn’t slept much the previous night. The only problem was that she managed to get tangled up in the cannula tube and the machine started beeping at midnight. My daughter realised that the bed was very wet because the needle had come out and it was just pumping saline all over the bed. So they had to change the sheet and put a new cannula in. Esme was very good about it and went straight back to sleep.
It was late morning by the time the doctor said she could go after lunch. She now has another ear infection in the other ear, not the perforated side. They have given her another course of antibiotics. I went to pick them up from the hospital because son in law had a long standing arrangement to meet a friend from London for lunch. For whatever reason his friend was passing through Harrogate on the train, so they were meeting up.
Esme isn’t very happy because her ear is hurting, but they hadn’t given her any pain killers, so she had some as soon as she got home. She was demanding a nice hot bath - what a strange child!

names, i did wonder if you had meant it for the other thread :-D :-D :-D

:-D :-D :-D names, yes!!! especially if I haven't hoovered or tidied up and then i get very flustered trying to make my visitor a drink and nibbles. It doesn't happen very often but occasionally a visitor has turned up unannounced mid morning eeeek that really throws me off balance.

Well Tesco came early at 10.45 :-D So we got it all put away quickly except we had a bit of a disaster.

I had ordered what I thought were ice pops, the little ones which are good when you feel unwell or have a sore throat. Well there were 20 in this really long box. When I took them out they were all about a foot long!!!They were joined together in groups of 4 so I had to gently prise them apart. Well 2 split and the juice went all over my legs and the floor so that was messy and sticky to clear up.

Eventually rearranged top drawer to accommodate them. But whilst we were putting other frozen stuff away, daughter noticed pink juice dripping from the top grrrr. Another one was leaking and had gone everywhere and into the 2nd drawer as well

So of course everything had to be taken out and the drawers cleaned etc which took ages. Before I knew it it was after 12. All sorted now, change of clothes and resting with a well earned coffee. Just as well I didn't get any visitors as I would have been mortified at the state of my upside down kitchen.

Think its going to be one of those days, i can feel it :-D :-D :-D