soop's kindly kitcheners and pampered pets...

daphne what a happy little chap Flynn is. What a busy day you've had. Time for a or even better a

That little girl has a very cute smile.

She's a very cute little girl.. it's always so difficult to know when to stop isn't it. One fell swoop of ochre and it's all over... hope you enjoy doing it. Just received three packs of Arches paper from a friend so I'm over the moon take care

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Vroom, vroom!!
Oh I do hope all you poorly or recovering Kitcheners will soon be bouncing around like you were before.
I am frankly exhausted. I drove DD and Flynn back to London today on the dreaded M1/25/11 in atrocious weather (and also brought back a couple of bags of washing from them as DD is off to Sweden at 3am on Friday leaving SIL in charge until Saturday night when she gets back) As you do. It was lovely having them here, but it is tiring isn't it having a baby around?
SIL's sculpture commission is being collected from the studio on Friday for shipping to the Far East and he will be working flat out until it goes. Then they are having a wee break in Wales to recover and celebrate their first wedding anniversary before coming to us for Christmas
Now one of DH's rellies who is visiting family nearby wants to come for lunch tomorrow!

Isn't Jackson a lucky boy, having such a helpful and skillful Nana!

Am supposed to have a 'procedure' on Saturday under general anaesthetic to clear a blocked sinus but I now seem to have another cold, involving a harsh cough and don't like my chances of having the said procedure unless I get a miracle cure by Saturday.

Evening all !

I am busy cutting 30 reindeer lolly holders for young Jackson to give to his 'children' at the end of term. It would appear that they are all now family and get a gift .

Its been a grey old day here and I am tired- no good reason. Just tired !!

Hope you are all feeling better although it sounds like some friends have a way to go , so sending some positive thoughts to them.

Sorry to hear about your hearing loss soop but I think you can use that to your advantage

More tomorrow when I am feeling a little more lively xx

The photo doesn't please me. The painting did. I think that the colours are distorted somewhat. Well, that's my excuse.

Visit to the care home tomorrow morning. I shall pop in to catch up when I return home. Stay safe and warm.

kitty A brand new me...

Hello nancyma, I feel very fortunate to have the services of the NHS. My late father was stone deaf. He was a Sgt Major in the Royal Artillery. A shell burst in the magazine of a big gun and ruptured his ear drums. Mind you, he also knew when something good was being said about him...he would pay attention when it suited him to do so.

I'm about to upload the latest water colour of a sweet wee girl. This is the second painting that I've done for her doting grannie. I may include it before I log off.

Soop sorry to hear about your hearing although sometimes when DH call from upstairs I pretend that I can't hear; alas I can hear the rustle of a chocolate wrapper at 50 metres. I just hope that your knees are holding out !! I am often guiltiy of overworking water colours, I really do think it's one of the hardest mediums and very under rated. I loved jacksons statement 'out of the mouths of ......'. I really hope you continue to feel better and are super fit for Christmas

You'll be brand new soon Soop!

Nellie Wow! Your sunset images are glorious. Our best sunsets occur between spring and autumn.

kitty We always dressed a real tree until about two years ago when we bought two bunches/bundles of white twigs with lights. These stand in a heavy-based pot vase (covered with sparkly white tissue paper)...all the decorations from bygone days hang nicely from the twiglets. Our room is fairly small. The display fits snugly on a wee table in the corner where it looks very pretty.
I can understand that the father of the young man who has died from alcoholism, feels almost relieved. It is a ghastly disease. He will have witnessed his son go through a form of living hell.

Charleyg Ladders! Your poor nephew has suffered a major mishap. His family will be very concerned until he turns the corner and begins to mend. How many serious accidents result from unsuitable ladders? Far too many. Whenever MacSporran mounts one, my heart is in my mouth.

anno The visit from your granddaughter and her partner will have cheered you. So far, every partner that we've been introduced to by grandchildren, has been "so right"/suitable/

corner Did you enjoy the visit to the theatre? What was the production? I'm hoping that your cough is showing signs of disappearing.

callgirl! I'm pleased to hear that you treated yourself to something special. Like you, I feel happiest covering my wobbly tops of arms. When I was young and an active competitive swimmer, the flab was muscle. Hey ho! As bags would say.

I've been to the "hearing loss clinic". It appears that the left ear now requires the assistance of a hearing aid. One in both ears. Two replaced hips. Old age isn't for the faint hearted.

Kitty, I hope that your family are on the way to recovery very soon, it`s awful to be ill anytime, but especially at Christmas.
Lovely sunset pictures Nellie.
Yes, Soop and Kitty, the service was lovely, quite a lot of people attended, I hope the hospice funds were well boosted from it. They`ll be receiving their share of the donations from David`s funeral any day now, so I hope it helps.
I went shopping with daughter 3 today, we went to the Springfields shopping outlet at Spalding, I got a few presents and more cards, plus I treted myself to a new top. There was a lovely dress, massively reduced to £30, but there wasn`t enough sleeve to cover my flabby arm tops, pity.

I'm sure your tree is lovely, kitty, could you just need to get used to it? Or perhaps hear some better news? I know bad news changes how I see everything. There certainly is a lot going on in your family, hope there is positive news of Teddy's Mum and your brother in law to come. I share your sadness for the young man, his father seems to have found a way to cope, there is now peace for his son.

Oh dear, Charley, that sounds so similar to the accident our first friend had. Three months on she continues to be able to do very little. I hope your nephew recovers well, I'm never sure if age is a factor in the recovery process.

The sunset is lovely, ours was less spectacular but definitely bodes well for tomorrow , maybe . Theatre trip for us so inside but the travelling is better without rain. Not sure my cough will be welcome but there's no way I'm missing it.

No butterflies here today but we did have some very welcome sunshine. Didn't get the walk I had planned, got bogged down with outstanding paperwork and a desire to load some CD's onto the computer. What an exciting life I lead

Take care all, sending get well wishes to everyone who needs them.

Sunset this evening was amazing.

Nellie, lovely sunsets. I missed that because my DGD came to visit with her partner whom I'd never met before. Lovely to see them especially as they will be on holiday abroad over Christmas.

One of my nephews by marriage fell backwards off a ladder and is now being ventilated, has # of his cervical spine and lumbar spine as well as other bones. He has a chest infection to cap it all. Since my ex and I parted I have not been in touch with that family but that is horrendous. His mother displayed it on Facebook where it was noticed by a niece.

That sounds a lovely service Callgirl - I hope it helps get you through the Christmas period.

Lovely stories of nativity - aren't little people wonderful?

I'm quite depressed! Our tree looks cr*p and I have decided that next year we will have a real one, bu**er what dh says!

Seriously, we have a couple of funerals to go to this week, our neice has some huge issues going on, Teddy's mum has a bad viral infection and DH 's brother is to have his back op this week - assuming the stars align correctly - third attempt And, we heard of the death of a young man who was an alcoholic. His father was releived that he was no longer 'tortured' and at peace. So sad.

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Ok Soop I am taking over from you today taking glorious sunsets from my bedroom window.

These were taken today about 16:15hrs in East Cheshire.
The houses were rather in my way but I could not have got anywhere near to a good view when I realised how good that show would be.

Swanny I shall fetch my plate. Just a wee large slice for me. I'm on the mend and need the nourishment.
You are so right - seeing early blossom is uplifting. The weather here is mild and moist. There is still a good deal of colour in the garden. The purple heather is looking at it's best.

The portrait remains pleasing. I may ask MacSporran to mount it for me...it could go into Campbeltown with us tomorrow. If so, I shall not be tempted to tiddle and spoil the freshness of the watercolour. Good plan, methinks.

I've an appointment with the audio clinic at lunchtime. I shall therefore pop in for catch up in the afternoon.

Big group (((hug))) and

Lovely afternoon here so I've been out for a walk and come back with a smile on my face. The early flowering cherry trees in a nearby street are in blossom. Hurray! I get very miserable as the days shorten and it seems to get worse each year, but having seen those trees I feel energised. Lots of buds on a neighbour's camelias too

Bought a cake while I was out - anyone fancy a slice of a Gingerbread Latte sponge?

NanaandGrampy Jackson's response made me laugh. Such wisdom from one so young.

NanaandGrampy I'm guffawing. The perfect Nativity play demands a nose-picker. Thank you for that memory. Jackson's response to your nicely put request, made me hoot.

Galen Take care of it. We've a large moth lodging in the kitchen.

Hello my lovelies...had a walk, supping coffee, and reading all your messages.

callgirl1 'The Light up a Life service sounds perfect. It must have been very moving and comforting at the same time.

Back to Wobbly and the huge box containing mostly packing. Isn't it crazy that Amazon do such a thing. We keep the packaging but rarely need to re-use it. Also, if you haven't your wits about you, it would have been easy to discard the box and the treasure inside. Anyway, pleased to hear that the gift was located and has arrived safely. Remember to pack it beautifully. Us lot like pretty packaging.

mumofmadboys Management will be delighted to be landed with the rat invasion. Important peeps for important tasks. I've only ever seen one rat. Thankfully, it had expired.

corner I have a vague recollection of being an angel in a school nativity play. I seem to remember an itchy halo of tinsel that fell over my eyes. Sweet memories of bygone times.

Charleyg I know that it seems daft, but, I would sooner be in a room with a live rat than a huge spider.

Swanny I attended a Convent for my sins and was banned from singing in the choir. Sister Gabriel decided that I was 'tone deaf'... I was very much better at choral speaking. In fact, our form won a prize. My father sat in the front row of the audience and pulled silly faces. Daft as a brush!

This is December isn't it? I've just had a butterfly flutter by!

Morning all ! erm afternoon ! Where does the time go?

Its true Anno I would have liked to cuddle Jackson but his teacher tried to comfort him and we did go and see him once it was over. It didn't help

soop glad to see you're feeling a touch better. The fragrance ads leave me stunned.... they certainly don't encourage me to buy the perfumes they are representing .

Daphne great picture of your cheeky chappies !!

Talking of embarrassing memories of nativities ...I have on video- youngest daughter as the perfect Mary at preschool. Sat with the baby Jesus on her lap whilst the wise men arrived. She then proceeded to firstly poke the baby Jesus eye out !! And then pick her nose ....oh the shame but the delight in having it on video now she is 32 !!!

Greyduster love the picture !

We had Jackson and Cooper overnight and they were very good ! I did get told off by Jackson when I shouted first one to get upstairs to clean their teeth is a winner...he looked at me seriously and said ' Not everything in life is a race Nana' !! That's me told !!