The Soop Kitchen

soop I've been out in the garden and have cut some budding japonica twigs for the kitcheners' table. In time they will flower. Every year I've done this the buds develop into cream blossom indoors, not the coral pink when left outdoors. A mystery - perhaps it's something to do with the water . Very pretty nevertheless.

Today's visit to the care home was not a happy-clappy event. M's best friend of ninety years (they started school together) has died. We sat and held hands. M describes her friend as being "genuine"...a perfect epitaph.

Just popping in to wish all our Kitcheners a peaceful evening. It promises to be a chilly night. Stay safe and keep cosy.

I shall catch up with you just as soon as I return from my visit to the care home late tomorrow morning.

Good morning dear Kitcheners...seeing familiar visitors and catching up with your news pleases me no end. The endless grey is a tad depressing.

Thank you for thinking of us lot kitty. Calorie-free chocolate brownies will go down a treat.
You have more than your fair share of family worries at the moment. We are wondering whether or not our lovely neighbour (with dementia) is being transferred to the care home today. If so, we shall feel a mixture of relief and sadness.

Tizliz At last your mother-in-law is at peace. I really do feel for you and your husband. I'm so sorry that you have the unpleasant task of having to take one of your dogs for an endoscopy. If the result isn't positive, then I'm sure that there will be a painless closure. My heart goes out to you. And, yes, I agree that families should meet up at least once a year, in order to celebrate the good things of life.

Alea the cost of Grace's treatment is eye-wateringly high. I know for certain that if Rory was to need special care, we would find a way to cover the costs. When he first moved in with us, he had an encounter in the forest. We think that he was attacked by either an otter, a mink or a fox. He returned to us in a very bad way...damaged leg, wounds to his ear and neck and absolutely terrified. I think that the cost of antibiotics and stiches amounted to about £120. Never mind, we had to do our best to help him to recover. Had he remained in the forest, he would have died.

annsixty My goodness, your mother was extraordinarily tough and fortunate not to have spent time in a hospital bed (until her final fall.) A fall is a severe shock to the system of an elderly person. I agree that she would have been less traumatised had she been treated in the familiar confines of the home.

dusty It is a rag rug. I like the jolly colours. It is used when we light the fire. Sparks have been known to damage the wood flooring.

Kitty we had a similar experience with my mother. She had never spent a night in hospital in her life as she was a tough old lady and as we were on our way to visit got a call to say she had had a fall and was on her way to hospital. We diverted and went straight to the DRI which I am sure you knew well. After spending all day there she was discharged back to the care home and she was so confused by it all she never really recovered and died ,3 weeks later.

Morning all. Sorry to hear about your MiL tizliz, as Alea says, any loss is sad for one reason or another.

And, what a lot of poorly animals - a good job we have the kitchen to come to. I have made [only virtually!!] a batch of flourless chocolate brownies - totally calorie free of course!

We are having a bit of a stressful time too with DD1 moving and having glandular fever, DD2's FiL has just had major heart surgery and my Mum has not recovered from her stay in hospital which cured her infection but improved nothing else at all. We won't do that again and are giving instructions that she should only be treated in the home. She was 92 on Friday and spent our visit asking us if we minded having to speak English all the time!

tizliz every sympathy However expected a bereavement, it is still a wrench and for your DH a break with his past. I totally sympathise about feeling torn between a poorly pet and a family funeral gathering as well as being there to support your DH, you can't win.
Do you have pet insurance? They never pay anything like the full amount especially on separate vet visits which always seem to come in at under the excess (£130 for Grace) and even for ongoing treatment we only get 80% as she is an old lady, but as her treatment this time is already around £1000 I am hoping I can look forward to something to put back on my credit card.
Any luck with your wallet thatbags? Even without huge financial loss so annoying and inconvenient, plus a worry that someone has access to your cards (even stopped)
I always mean to take redundant pieces of plastic out of my purse and leave them at home and then find that I am in Waterstone's without the gift card a friend gave me for Christmas, or Waitrose/JL without my "free" coffee card, or near the library, and yes, the library card is at home.

*Oh soop, you've got my kitchen mat! Or it's twin brother at least. Mine is seriously in need of wash, it is also quite old and tatty now, time I bought a new one I think.

I'm glad to hear that Grace is recovering from her operation, hopefully it will heal quickly and not be too itchy.
All the kitchener's animals,including Grace, sound as if they have their owners exactly where they want them, just sufficiently under their paw to obey their every whim.

Nice to meet you in the kitchen Tizliz. I hope the endoscopy finds something easily remedied, definitely more important than the taxman!
I'm sorry to hear of your husband's loss, it's always a sad to lose a parent even when it is an end to their suffering. By the way, my DH does come from a large family and all the cousins recall my dearly loved MiL's funeral as one of the best family 'parties' ever.

Had a lovely quiet weekend, boring for most but a change for me. Mil died yesterday morning which was a relief - she has being dying for days, I am not being nasty. OH can't see out his black eye after his op so didn't want to go anywhere but we gave the dogs a long walk in the snow, and admired our new view as a friend has chopped down a row of small trees threatening to knock our wall down.

Still back to stress next week as one of the dogs who is seriously ill is having an endoscopy - very expensive and can't really afford it so the tax man will just have to wait. Then OH will have to fly down south for the funeral - I am on dog sitting duties (no objections from me), will help when we know the date. The only thing I will miss is that our children and grandchildren will all be there - it is a shame when funerals are the main time you see family. Actually last year my family agreed that we would not allow that and had a family weekend where 35 of us stayed in an old youth hostel. My OH found it a bit much as he doesn't come from a big family.

Just off to cook a nice piece of venison for dinner.

{grin] That's animals for you...x

soop what a life Rory has! Tara is not allowed in wardrobes because she used to take live mice there, leave them to die and I would find a corpse eventually.

The snow has almost gone from here, thank goodness. I dare not venture out because it will be slippery.

I have to board the bottom of the living room door because Tara can open it and has managed to break it for the second time. She is not tall enough, even when on hind legs to open it using the door handle but it does not stop her trying.

I have given up closing my bedroom door because she scrapes at the laminate outside and eventually pushes the door open.

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Snow on the peaks and cat on the mat.

A cheery good Sunday morning to you lovely lot.

Charleygirl Still no sign of snow in this part of Kintyre. The close proximity of the sea does help to keep the temperature up a notch. Or so I believe. Goodness me...the sun is shining. Everything looks so much lovelier. I'm rather fed up with the daily dose of grey.

number Rory also knows how to open an almost closed door. He's also taken a fancy to going into the wardrobe and sits among the shoes at the very back. Two eyes glisten when I take a look after dark. Last night, having spent the best part of the evening snuggled down on MacS's lap, he retired to the rug in front of the fire. I took a photo to add later.

I cannot believe that we have snow in London this morning. Apparently it fell early morning but although dry now the sky does look "snowy"- there is a lot more to fall.

It certainly has not stopped Tara from going out- I only hope that as it is so cold that she will come home earlier. As there is ice on the road, I will not be going anywhere.

We have one of those draught excluders along the bottom of the door to the stairs, one of the sort that slides along the bottom of the door and covers each side. Mia has discovered that now it`s cold and draughty and we keep the door closed, if she hooks her claw over the ridge in the excluder and pulls a few times, she can get the door open and trot off upstairs! The other night she was waiting outside the closed bedroom door as I was on my way upstairs to bed, just before I got there, shev stood on er hind legs and gave the door a shove, and it was open, she was just waiting to show me that I can`t keep her out!

Alea Animals Do know when they are doing wrong. I watched a short video on Facebook not so very long ago. A cat pawed open a bottom drawer and tried all manner of crafty moves to reach in for some treat or other. The moment that the cat was aware that it's human was watching, it's demeanour changed. The look on the animal's face spoke volumes.

Charleygirl Rory nudges MacSporran awake at whatever time he wishes to eat. MacSporran doesn't mind in the slightest. In fact, he remarked that he was pleased to feed Rory, no matter what time of the day or night. It will be when Rory doesn't have a healthy appetite that will concern MacS and cause him to lose sleep.

Devious animals, our furfriends, aren't they? Reassuringly intelligent too, they obviously get that from their humans.
Grace hasn't been able to get at her tail partly because it is bandaged, partly because of her lampshade (and my eagle eye) and partly because it is a lot shorter. What I really hope is that she has not felt the need to worry it because it is neither itching nor hurting. As you say, every day she can leave it alone is one more day along the healing journey. She does occasionally turn to look at it and gets a quick "uh-uh!" from me, then she looks sheepish and hangs her head. They DO know when they are doing wrong don't they?

From 5am Tara was trying every trick in the book to get me out of bed but did not succeed. When I eventually came downstairs she decided that she was not going out today and was having a restful day at home! She has now moved to my bed and no doubt will stay there until her tummy rumbles for food. I only hope that she does not want to go out tonight because I have no idea when she will come home.

It is sunny here but very cold. The kitten is having a very pampered life, just like her father.

Alea I know that it is too early to know if Grace's tail is healing but hopefully she has not been worrying it too much. Every day it goes untouched by her is a bonus. With luck she is still sleeping at night, as are you!

Alea Grace appears to be responding well, bless her. It's good to know that you have managed to have a restful night. Like you...I would be in a proper tiz-woz if such a disaster happened to Rory.

Tortoiseshell kitten spent a cosy night in her new "lodge". We discovered a floppy straw basket in the loft. I bought a small, washable, pseudo sheepskin interior for it. The bed is on a small raised platform at the rear of the lodge. I lay fresh newspapers at the entrance. If the weather is bad, the bowl of food stands just inside the entrance and is kept dry.

Hearty congratulations Jane10 I'm thrilled for you. I shall take a look at the Amazon Site. us lot in the kitchen are chuffed for you.

???

Reading Amazon reviews before the book group meeting? Can't imagine who'd do a thing like that Alea?

"Retreading"?? rereading!

Well I am really into it.
It would make a terrific TV series too. That chapter with Jamie, the young security man, !!!
My book group insisted on The Miniaturist for our next meeting on Monday. I read this several months ago and absolutely did not like it, but of course as it was so long ago I have forgotten the names of the characters and many of the details, but I just can't face retreading any of it! Would it be cheating just to read a few Amazon reviews??

Grace is much calmer and quite accepting of her lampshade (plus basket muzzle at night or if I am out) with the result that I am calmer too, and actually getting some sleep at last. I don't cope well with poorly children, grandchildren or pets. Husbands? Well I have had more practice!!

It's on my wish list until I have finished the book I have to read for our local book group which is failing to 'grab' me so far!