*Soop's kitcheners*

anno Our pal [well into the vagaries of computers] tells me that the reason why some appliances are competitively reduced in price, is because they are not meant to last. We paid in excess of £400 for the wretched thing. That may not seem way-out expensive to some...but it was as much as we could afford...and I'm a very unhappy bunny.

Just catching up.... Marmight hope it's going well with the outlaws - can't imagine you being intimidated! Glad you had that precious time with your DDs all together.

Marmight I totally agree with janeainsworth...you are a one-off classy gal, we all think so.

Well said soop and jane!

Don't we all know people who just do make one feel like that!

Umm...*crafting*, I haven't even started the ironing yet. It's sitting on the ironing board looking reproachfully at me!

In my own defence, I am knitting blanket squares for this hospital in Addis Ababa which treats women who suffer from obstetric fistula. Addis is very high and is cold at night, hence the blankets. Each woman has her own which she takes home with her, so a constant supply is needed. My friend had bought the yarn and thought it would be a good idea for me to knit it - not sure why!

anno Keep knitting. A good cause.

anno I am very interested in what you are doing; firstly because I knit blanket squares too and at the moment don't have an outlet to send them to and secondly my DiL has had a fistula since the birth of her daughter 14 months ago. Despite very good care and 8 operations since the birth ,she has still not completely recovered. She suffered pain and discomfort for a year ,was unable to sit for any length of time or do anything very much for her daughter. All this has left her very tired and unable to enjoy the baby as much as she should. And this is in the UK.
I can imagine the problems are so much greater in the developing world .I would like to help and wondered how you go about sending the squares to the hospital.

I knit blanket squares for love-in-the-language-of-yarn.blogspot.co.uk/, the only thing is they have to be posted off to Turkey to a lovely lady called Dianne Jones. She and her friends sew them together to make blankets for Syrian refugees. Help with their transport costs is always most welcome as well.

Although I knit for my own grandchildren sometimes, I find I can knit a square in an evening without thinking about patterns, etc, perhaps whilst watching tv (eg the match which DH wants to watch this evening!).

I do hope your DIL recovers well soon, hope that she is bonding well with the baby despite all this.

I'll get back to you on that, Greenfinch. Will pm you when I have the information from my friend. The squares are 6 x 6 inches and the blankets are 6 squares x 8 squares. I'm knitting them in strips of 8, to be sewn together. I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter's condition. It's a strange thought that the centre of excellence for these fistulas is in Ethiopia.

However long they are here for, Marmight, it is never long enough! I hope you will be able to visit them soon.

anno, I haven't seen the 2nd two episodes about the tigers at Australia Zoo, so looking forward to watching them. We were lucky enough to visit the Zoo last year and really enjoyed it, particularly the interaction between the keepers and the tigers which is essential if they are to survive as a species. We were also lucky enough to be able to feed the elephants! Quite an experience.

Bez, not a lot of room in the freezer as we are freezing fruit from the garden, but if you need any help eating any icecream etc, I am sure we can all help you on here!

Soop, hope MacSporran will soon get his results and the correct treatment to make him feel on top form again. To everyone who is feeling under the weather at the moment and full of vitamin D.

Last two episodes (grammar!!)

I have only been away for 36 hours but feel I have so much to catch up on. I have been visiting DD who toook me out to dinner at Cote beside the canal in Brum and then to see Dawn French in her one-woman show (brilliantly funny but also moving) Then this morning it was granny heaven 1 little boy either side of me in bed at 6.30 and a pile of books to read to them! Went to watch littlest fella have his swimming lesson and have a catch up with DD who I won't now see until shortly before DGC 3 is due at the end of August as they are off to France on an extended holidqy. V proud of DD who as of tomorrow is a qualified secondary Maths teacher - no mean feat with 2 preschool boys and pregnant!

marmight just keep thinking about all the memory makers shared by you, your DDs and your DGC and stand tall amongst the outlaws. The love of your family is more important than anyone who may try and intimidate you.

Poor McSporran. He must be so fed up waiting to just get back to normal. Soop please! please do not tell me any secret. I am hopeless at keeping them, try as I might, I really am the last person you should tell.

I didn't put any requests in Gagagran but I always enjoy listening to whatever you fancy playing. For next time though, can I request The Autumn Leaves. I have been singing it all day for some reason.

Thanks for your kind thoughts "rosequartz". Fortunately my DiL was able to breastfeed and still does which was a great help. Also there was lots of time for cuddles with them both lying on the settee but the little one is very much a Daddy's girl as he has done most of the caring for the past year.
"anno" I didn't realise Ethiopia had such a good record for dealing with fistulas. Certainly the consultants here were baffled and were not quite sure how to proceed. Nobody seemed to be a real specialist in that area. Hopefully she is beginning to improve at last.

annodomini I have finished the huge pile of ironing and am now indulging in large feeling smug! Done yours yet? (do admire your knitting though, very worthwhile cause)

Greenfinch I am so sorry for your DiL. I have had a much minor problem with my hip which has made sitting painful (nothing like as bad as your DiL) and it can make you really miserable. I do hope she feels better soon.

Sorry. Forgetting how to do names .Should be rosequartz and anno

Thanks Crafting Her main problem now is that the doctors have told her she needs to walk but she gets so tired.

I do hope the situation with your hip improves soon You can't always be lying down or standing up can you? I don't think we realise how long we sit for until it becomes difficult to do so. Eating meals must be a bit of a problem for you.

Thanks to you too Greenfinch. I'm much better now thanks to some physio but when it was bad I just had to give up and go to bed and prop myself up with pillows. It must be so difficult for your DiL having a baby to look after too. Hopefully getting some warmer days now might make her feel better and less tired.

Just back from the 1st concert of the festival. DD sang a solo - she kept that one close to her chest. It was lovely, only spoilt by a member of the audience collapsing., so big evacuation of the Church where the concert was being held. The singing continued in the churchyard which was just wonderful on a perfect summer's evening while the patient was resuscitated by a medic and carted off in an ambulance. Outlaws ok - I let DD's MiL change our mutual GS's nappy as a treat!
Time for sleep. Bonsoir tout le monde

Marmight Presumably the Outlaw Gran isn't on GN?

Morning Soop and everyone. I. Am. At. My. Wits'. End. So I'm going to hide in here all day. Littlest will be with me but won't be a minute's trouble I promise. Dear Dad, 91, has just phoned expecting me to pop over and take his hearing aid to be mended. I can't. I'm expecting youngest GS any minute so that DD can go for yet another job interview. Dad is miffed. His hearing aid has been broken for days. The audio technician is only at the local health centre every other Friday for an hour from ten am. Why didn't he ask me yesterday? I might have been able to sort something out. I'm left feeling mean and so, so guilty yet again because I've had to say I can't. Please give me a cuppa and a cuddle and tell me I'm not a lousy daughter...

Dragonfly You are NOT a lousy daughter. You just have to accept that at 91, he doesn't always remember or think as logically as he used to.
Just smile sweetly and reassure him that his hearing aid will be fixed as soon as possible.

You can only do your best [cuddle]

Dragonfly, what a perfect example of the 'sandwich generation'. If you can't deal with your father's hearing aid, then you simply can't. He will just have to deal with it. It's because you aren't a lousy daughter that you are feeling bad about it. So here's another ((((cuddle)))) for you. Shelter here for as long as you like.

Dragonfly. You are human, not super human. You can't do everything for everybody and you are certainly not a lousy daughter. (((cuddle)))