General Chat

It is odd how different bits of technology show different things. Is your tablet an android one or an Apple one Mandy because I think they differ? Mine is an Apple iPad and my back button like AnnG's is top left but if I google something and click on a website from Google then the back button is bottom left. Confusing isn't it?

It stopped raining earlier though we still have a thunderstorm warning in place and it's likely to rain again later. OH is taking advantage of a window of dry weather to pick the rest of the blueberries. He says he is going to take the cage off and let the birds have the remainder. Your blackberries seem early Mel. Maybe the hot weather and sun have been ripening them early.

I don't think changing the amounts of the ingredients in my cheesecakes affected them because I was careful to keep everything in proportion so the mixture should have been the same but just a larger amount of it. I also checked that absolutely everything was well in date. I wish I could work out what went wrong as this is my go-to party piece. I get asked to make it for parties as it's light and fluffy and refreshing and everyone seems to like it. I've been making it for years so goodness knows what went wrong this time.

Annx, do be careful of your knees. Climbing on step stools is probably not a good idea, though it is fascinating what you find on these top shelves

Tonight's talk at our Club is by a man who comes roughly once a year and does a travel talk on one or other of the places he's visited - he has been just about everywhere. He usually has a good selection of slides to show which gives us something to look at while he's talking. Most of his talks are about places overseas but now and then he'll do an interesting talk on some corner of Britain.

Our neighbour has been cake making again today. He doesn't do so much nowadays but every so often he'll do a bit of cooking with his little granddaughter. This morning they made raspberry and white chocolate muffins so he came in with a couple for us.

I'd better get moving. I've got a couple of jobs to get done and we have to eat early tonight if we are going out.

Towels washed and dried and put away. Bins out for tomorrow, Cynth's baskets watered, Front garden and most of drive weeded. Not doing any more today as the humidity is back and it is 22 degrees.

Mandy ah, that is a shame. Yes I have done that as well and try now to hold the tablet firmly at the lower edge.

although that is a bit confusing to me as it is where it says genes reunited across the top and other tabs that the back arrow is. Just shows how many different things we are all communicating on.

Anng I can't see a back arrow on this tablet ,I just have a x and a v shape in the lefthand corner, it's how I hold the tablet as my thumb is at the top left hand corner and if if slips I touch the cross and it's gone.

Just been out as its now stopped raining and got the rain water off the canopy ,I put a big tub on the side move a broom up on the canopy and the water pours off the side into the tub , I now have a good four inches or more of lovely rain water for the plants

Sorry but its raining here and it was quite hard but now it finer.

The leccy went out for just a mo when I ws outside cos the pond pumps went off and then back on again. It wiped out all the pc tabs and I have had a job to get back on the net for anything. Once it was back on I put the washing machine on and that knocked the leccy out again so I was back to square one not being able to get on the net.

I am back now and lets hpe it dos'nt happen again. Rang the gun shop this morning as I was told Rob would be in then and let me know if he could mend the gun cartridge, the chap I then spoke to told me he ws'nt in for a week so its back to square one. I have ordered another cartridge which should come in a couple of days by which time the squirrels will have eaten most of the nuts off the tree and then I shall have to wait till the beech nuts are ready. They are a real pest in the garden as they eat the strawberries, hazel nuts and my strawberries.

I picked the first few blackberries yesterday.

No sign of rain here and everywhere so dry still despite the few showers we have had.

Mandy sometimes when it all disapprears when you touch the screen, try pressing the back arrow top left of screen. sometimes it will get it back.

Morning,
Just did a whole post and my finger touched the screen and whoosh it was gone .

Pouring here so it will be inside jobs today ,just took the car for the garage chap to check it over for its mot tomorrow .

Posting this before it goes again .

Good morning

A week ago I was complaining because it wasn’t raining, now I’m moaning that there is too much rain. Never satisfied are we? It seemed to be raining most of the night and is still coming down.

I haven’t got any plans for the day apart from bed changing and doing the washing. There is a club meeting tonight. I can’t remember who the speaker is but I expect we will go.

Morning girls,

It was nice and bright when I first woke for the loo and it looked promisisng for the day. went back to bed and dropped off again and woke at 7am something and it was grey skies. Its 15 degrees now and pc says rain starting in an hour or so.

Put the recycling out last night and did'nt do much of anything yesterday.

Anng your dinner out soiunded lovely wish I could have come with you. Its good you have booked early for a Christmas dinner with your friends and I am sure it will be just as good for you then.

Annx you're a naughty girl standing on a stool to put your boxes up on the high shelf. Wait in future till oh can be with you or do it for you. Funny how we all seem to get sidetracked when we look in boxes we have put away a long time ago. My dads coin collection is up in the loft and is so heavy I could'nt get it down if I tried. I know there are Jenny Wren farthings in it and half crowns and florins, sixpences, pennies and bun pennies and ship halfpennies, thrupenny bits and tanners O and shillings. He started collecting way before they changed to decimal coinage.

I have some of the Peter rabbit coins and odd ones of other things as oh used to save them for me if he got them in change when we spent money and did'nt use our cards much.

Vera do you think its because you stretched the ingrediance for the two cheesecakes that they did'nt come out as expected? Such a shame when you spend all that time making them but I am sure they won't go to waste as you two can eat them up.

Mandy how many squares are you up to now? 40 is a lot to make so its going to be quite big when its finished. Did you say it has heart pom poms on it too?

Good morning all, when I came on here twenty minutes ago the temp was 13 but it has crept up to 14 now. It is a bright sunny morning with clear blue skies and little white clouds.

Hopefully a quiet day today. although it was a day of sitting and talking and eating yesterday that was quite tiring. My legs and back always seem to ache more after a day of no exercise.

Mandy, how strange not being able to get blamange, I will have to check Tescos. Not that I am likely to make one here, but just out of interest.

Oh dear Vera, yesterday really was not your day. At least if you can eat it the cheesecakes won't be wasted. They seemed fated from the start when you were unable to get the right cheese.

Ann, isn't that typical of our throw away society. Fancy not being able to replace the bulb, and I wonder if it will really last 10 years? Surely that rlies on how much it is used?

Oh that was a nice lunch Anng good value too with lots of veg and a good idea to get booked for a Christmas lunch as they soon get booked up .

Ann you are naughty getting on your stool with your bad knees I bet OH would have stopped you ic he had seen you do it .
You are having some heavy showers we've had sunshine for a while now and I can see lovely blue sky .

Oh no Vera and after all your hard work on those cheesecakes, perhaps next time make a trifle and then you won't have to turn anything out .
When I went into Tescos the other day I was looking at the packets of jellies and I noticed ths Angel delights son use to love those and I thought I know I'll get some blancmange powders couldn't see them asked the assistant and she had no idea what they were and she wasn't young so I thought she would have heard of them but no and she looked on her phone at the stock in store .... and they don't sell them anymore , shall have to have a look in Morrisons I like blancmange.

I just had a look and Morrisons do have them but only strawberry flavour .

CHEESECAKE DISASTER! One of the cheesecakes in a square tin fell to bits when I turned it out to wrap for freezing and is now in bits in the fridge. OH and I will eat some of it over the next couple of days and will dump the rest. The other one was in a large loaf tin and did turn out in one piece but it isn’t set as I would like so that’s now wrapped in the freezer marked for our use only. So change of plan. We have a busy week ahead and no time to do those particular cheesecakes again so I am going to take a couple of small Iceland cheesecakes that I have in the freezer and will make a fruit salad and Mandarin Cream on Friday.

Your lunch sounded tasty AnnG and good value.

Your lunch was really good value AnnG. The carvery we go to charges £12.49 on Sunday for a small plate carvery that isn't as good! I'm not surprised you booked up for Christmas. Fancy there being all that rain in the area yet it managed to miss your garden. It's thrown it down here a few times.

The Asda delivery was 15 minutes early so it was a good job I was ready. The two subs went back. A whole cucumber would spoil before we could eat it and the walnut halves I ordered have more flavour than the walnut pieces they sent.

OH was having a nap after lunch so rather than disturb him I used the step stool to put my decorative boxes back on the high shelf. I had to hang on to what I could as my legs surprised me as they seem to have got quite weak, apart from having to be careful of my knees. I must start doing a few exercises to strengthen them. I got sidetracked going through the boxes as I found my collection of old coins, siver threepenny bits, sixpences, commemorative £2 coins, Benjamin Bunny ones Coronation Crown and others but didn't come across my Farthing with a little Wren on it I know is somewhere. I managed to hoover the bedroom again and did tthe hall rug and floor so that all looks better.

I spent ages trying to see what bulb to get for the ensuite light fitting, only to discover how out of date I'm becoming. With a bit of googling I discovered the old efficiency ratings have been changed and are now A-G and the A, A+, A++ have gone now. This light fitting has an F rating which is very good for LED and the unit is all sealed so that once the bulb goes it isn't replaceable and you need a new light fitting. It seems wasteful, so it's a good job the bulbs can last over 10 years. (I hope!).

There's just been some thunder and the rain is hammering on the windows again so I'm swtitching off now. I hope sleep comes easily for everyone.

Good afternoon all. While having coffee at 11 O'clock before going to lunch. (about 3 miles from here the other end of the village) It reallpoured with rain, really heavy and I thought that will be good for the garden. Then it stopped but there was another heavy shower while we were having lunch in the next village. When I got home just before 4pm it wa dry as a bone here, no rain at all that I could see so witll still have to water.

Lunch was excellent. We all opted for th OAP size. there were three meats for a normal roast and three veg choices Vegan wellington, some veggie parcel and nut roast. So I had a large slice of beef and a large slice of lamb, two large roastie, honeyed parsnip, roasted carrot, stuffing gravy, french beans broccoli spears and red cabage. and gravy. Plenty of it. I also had a large glass of Pinot Grigio, then apple crumble and cream. total was £24.40. I couldn't believe the roast dinner was 10.95. Escellent value and beautifully cooked. the crumble was OK, apple was lovely but the crumble was a bit too puddingy but it was OK.

We have booked for a Christmas meal on the first Saturday in December.

Theres a new series on BBC 1 tonight The Narrow Road to the deep north. I may give that a go as it has Ciaran Hinds in it and I like him he reminds me of oh a bit.

I only go out during the day as I don't like driving in the dark anymore. I do have someone I ould go out with if I asked her but she talks a lot and I am one of those people who likes to be quite quiet. Oh did'nt tak that much but BIL talks the hind legs off a donkey and I forget what I was ging to ask him to do and remember when he's gone and its quiet again. I can walk very quickly now with hips knees and smoking and thats one of my only pleasures so I am not giving that up.

Its 17 degrees here now and feels quite chilly may have to put a cardi on.

I am going to cook myself a big breakfast now, that big egg and sausages and toms with a few beans.

Raining here steadily now and looks like its set in for the day. Not done anything today.

Good afternoon all

I had a better night last night. I was reading for a couple of hours in the middle of the night but I did get some sleep and feel better for it. It rained heavily for a while during the night and there has been rain on and off all morning. It is still very muggy but doesn't feel quite as bad as yesterday as it's a bit cooler.

I hope you enjoy your Sunday lunch AnnG.

Are you having a better day today Mel? It would be nice for you to have someone to go out with from time to time. When we moved to an isolated, rural place I had no friends at all. After a year or so there I joined a literature group in a nearby village but I found the other people very "privileged" and cliquey so after a year or so I dropped out. I was quite lonely so I looked at our nearest town, about 6 or 7 miles away and found 2 groups we could both join. It meant driving but it was worth it as we made lots of friends who are still "our" group. Is there something like a craft group in your nearest village or town that you could join? Or a garden society or anything else that interests you?

I hope your tea soaked papers dry out and are still legible Annx. I seem to remember tea being used to make documents look really old.

I'm hoping my cheesecakes will turn out well. I changed all the amounts of the ingredients as I wanted to make a bit more than I usually do so I upped everything by 25% I now have 2 good sized cheesecakes in the fridge ready to be frozen when they are completely set.

Grandson's partner has just texted through some photos and videos of our great granddaughter who will be 2 in August. She is such a sparky, bright little thing. One video amazed me. There was a large chart of shapes on the wall and she was being asked to find various shapes. My kids did this sort of thing when they were little and we would ask them to find a circle or a square. But gr.granddaughter was being asked to find a rhombus, a parallelogram, a trapezoid, a triangular prism etc. I'd be struggling with that now! Of course, she has learnt what the shapes look like but you could see her scanning the chart to find the right one. At the rate she's going she'll be in Mensa soon!!

Our pot roast beef is nearly ready so I must go and get the green veg on and lay the table and maybe pour myself a nice glass of wine :-D

Morning All,

We had more rain in the night and although I managed about 15 minutes weeding earlier, down came drizzly rain again. It's stopped now though but it's quite overcast. The nasty weed is springing up everywhere so as soon as we have a dryer spell I will be squirting away with the weedkiller. I'm determined to get rid of it!!

Mel, I agree and like the sound of a Sunday Lunch out! I'm sure AnnG and her friends have chosen somewhere they know is good, but we stopped going out for Sunday Lunch round here a few years ago as we find nowadays it gets so busy and noisy, at least round here and they certainly hike up the prices for a traditional Sunday Lunch. You could always go to have a cafe lunch on your own for a change of scene. You could start with going for coffee and a cake like AnnG and I often do and would find others do the same these days. I take a magazine to read sometimes. I found it very daunting at first in my job going on training courses in places like Blackpool on my own, booking into hotels, as I'd never stayed in one before. The first time I remember I skipped breakfast as I wasn't sure what the procedure was!

Better get lunch started next.

I need to finish damp wiping a couple of skirting boards, the tops of door frames and a high shelf in the bedroom and it is finished. Then there's the lounge to do tomorrow as that brown dust has got everywhere. Food delivery this afternoon, but I'm determined to finish the simple necklace off. Yesterday OH rang me while he was out and I grabbed the landline from a shelf where I'd put it off my desk and managed to knock over a COT which soaked a lot of papers that have been drying out on various surfaces since so I need to sort those and see if anything is still readable first!

Morning ,

It's cloudy but bright here this morning, not so muggy ,I was quite warm in bed last night and the last couple of days have felt very weary .

Vera I hope you managed to get a better night's sleep last night ,how you manage to do what you do on just a couple of hours sleep I don't know, you cope with it much better than I would I would be so grumpy I'm sure.

Ann I'm not surprised you feel weary as you've had all the upheaval of the workmen doing the ensuite and then the cleaning up in all that heat , perhaps you can get some beading done today .

Anng enjoy your Sunday lunch ,will it be the traditional Sunday lunch or something lighter .

Mel you had a busy day yesterday with all your cutting down I'd have a slower day today and watch out for the old ticks in the overgrown stuff you don't want anymore of those .

Gwyn hope your gradually getting there now and feel better ,have your schools finished now ? ours finish on Tuesday.

Not doing much today as Sundays a day of rest :-)
Still doing these crochet squares for Katie's blanket I'm on number fourteen, not sure how many I'll do I think I worked it out to about forty eight :-0 then there will be the sewing up and doing a border of some sort .