Soop's comfortable, cosy, friendly kitchen...

Panache I shall join you in a visit to Kitty's house. I like the sound of what's on the menu.

Callgirl1 Have yourself a happy celebration meal. Birthdays can be like buses...several arrive together. Same thing happens in our family.

It's hot. Ventured outside for a cup of tea and realised that, in the space of ten minutes, my skin was being fried. Hastened back indoors.

The midges are emerging. Little blighters. Thankfully when there is a good breeze they tend to lie low. Anytime soon we shall be itching and the bumps will pop up in the most unlikely places. .

I'm about to log off. You lot know the drill. I shall be happy to join you after tomorrow's stroll through the bluebells. They are particularly profuse this year. The hills have a blue tinge, which is delightful. Any day soon the wild iris will be blooming. We've scores of them in the so-called wet garden.

Just to let you know, our Baggs has been visiting her mother and brother. She will hopefully drop in with a huge plate of her famous flapjacks sooner rather than later

Keeping to my earlier promise,here I am.........and about to dispel any one feeling rather “Down in the dumps” this weekend.

As I have become a member of your warm kitchen community,with a big thank you to Soop and company for having me...........
I am fully aware that many of you are struggling through great difficulties, many of them very different but so very problematic .
Whilst there are others putting on that brave face but offering a helping and uplifting hand to those others now having a hard time................be it with illness,operation,the stress of caring and nursing a beloved,...........and the aftermath of death......and/or combinations of all these.

So I can but say from my heart, I hope that each one of you can find that little oases of peace and calm,those special moments of serenity which helps in giving you the will to cope and press on..... a space with which to recharge those well worn batteries....

Life is like that hump backed bridge..............never smooth sailing!!

Whilst tomorrow, if I may,I will wax lyrical about my Wales, since so many of you have shared with me your thoughts on visiting my homeland.
I refuse to feel sorry for myself..............and anyway I shall be having a nice catnap...........so what is there to be worried about?

Sun has decided to shine,very warm ............ and so the day is fast improving!!!...........and then there arrives a few spots of the wet stuff............ah! well this is Britain after all!

I think I may head over to yours for my meal tonight Kittylester..........sounds delicious!

Rest well my new friends.

I've just popped in to wish panache good luck with her procedure - I'm sure it will be fine - sorry to disobey orders but I couldn't not say anything.

soop, I'm so sorry that you are suffering again - any pain/discomfort is wearing so you must be completed peed off by now. You are so stoical and thoughtful - I'm sure we all wish we could help in some way.

charley, I hope your pain is abating somewhat and that Tara is stepping up to the plate.

I do love your photos gq and envy your talent.

GD, I am of the same opinion as gq said, maybe some poor woman had triplets, couldn't cope and gave them up for adoption, otherwise how would they all behave similarly.

ann, as gq said, you may have to accept 'good enough' for DH because your health is vital for his well being. And, he will forget if he didn't like it after just a few minutes.

phoenix, because he's a man and it seemed just right for the job.

Having spent the day in the garden together, DH and I had a slight contretemps regarding the blessed peonies - he was all for digging them all out as they look dreadful when the petals drop which always seems to be about 2 days after they come out. I persuaded him that they were worth keeping and then he spotted the peonies that I had bought from the florist this morning.

We think our cat may produce kittens anytime soon - it's quite stressful as she keeps going next door despite all the lovely, cosy 'nests' we have made for her around the house!

(((hugs))) to anyone I have missed who may need one.

Anyway, I can't linger! DH and DS2 have a very small window when they are able to eat today, what with 2 football matches and and an ongoing Test Match which seems to be very upsetting!

Teriyaki chicken and egg fried rice tonight!

Mia sleeps in my bedroom in various locations, but if I get up in the night, she sits at the top of the stairs until I come back up, then settles down again.
Soop I hope you`re feeling better today.
I`m off out tonight, one of my grandsons was 18 on Thursday, and it`s his celebration meal out tonight, at the Spirit of Endeavour in Boston. My granddaughter is 26 today, and youngest grandson is 10 today.

Well done Tara!
Never ever underestimate the love our animals have for us. ??

Three hearty cheers for Tara. The companionship of a cat is priceless. Charleyg Do keep the landing light on (until you are fully mobile). And do take great care of yourself.

phoenix that did make me laugh- using your pastry brush. Mr. P can come here and clean my lights, I would be so grateful that I think I am beyond caring what was used!

Tara gave me the cold shoulder yesterday but only for minutes and stayed with me for a few hours to make sure I was okay once my friend left. She popped out but hopped in again around 3pm to check I had not left the house. She spent the entire night on my bed, a rarity but was woken when I went to the loo and switched on the light which I do at present for safety. Once she realised I was not jumping out of the loo window and returned to bed, we both settled again. She really is adorable.

A bonnie, sunny good afternoon dear kitcheners. It's a warm 'though blustery day.

phoenix big

Charleyg Thinking of you as you travel the road to recovery.

GQ Super photography. The oyster catchers on the beach across the way, have a tough time protecting their eggs from marauding gulls.

Panache I like Maw's cartoon character. She appears to be formidable. Shades of us lot when, like you, we need to rise to the occasion. Keep us updated, please.

Hello all! Popping in to see if Charleygirl has posted, and I see she has. Sory to hear that you are less than tickety boo, wish I was nearer, would be glad to help.

Just went down to the kitchen to make some coffee, and found Mr P up a step ladder cleaning the light fitting above the dining table.

Admirable,but why is he using my pastry brush?

PS I think Paw had an ERCP some years ago, his “plumbing” having been more than a bit rejigged after his liver transplant.
He was well looked after and fine so let’s hope your chaps/chapesses do a good job on you.
Personally I am a great believer in GA, like the American comedienne (Joan Rivers?) whose preferred method of childbirth was “Wake me up when the hairdresser gets here”

Like this Doodle?
Panache wishing you a smooth “procedure” (don’t you just love hospital speak?) and a speedy recovery too!

`Morning to my kitchen friends........... and first and foremost may I thank each one of you for your caring words and understanding for my fears on this coming Tuesday.

However although having had more than my fair share of cancers, please let me hasten to add, this `op is NOT a whipple (as yet).
I think it was Jane whom assumed this.
It is in fact an E.R.C.P. that I wrote about in Health,having had the procedure under sedation just before Christmas....... which sadly failed.
Now I am having it repeated under G.A as with the excrutiating episodes of pain and losing over 4 stone in weight......(3 stone + in some 4 months)............there is much trepidation about what is going on inside...............hence the above.

Whilst very appreciative of your kindness please may we move on to pastures new and pleasurable thoughts!!!
I shall be back!!!

That should have read “pictures”

Lovely picture GQ!

Gq ?. Lovely photos as always. I recognise the bridge! Have a good journey home. Sunshine awaits your return, I think!

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201805/medium-490297-2cfed3ba-9d61-461e-8c46-56c334795a59.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201805/medium-960090-c9b82c72-60b3-441d-a8bb-3b7b3660e7c1.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201805/medium-259103-44d4b039-9cf1-4841-9be0-66a92a58870f.jpeg

Well the last evening in our favourite spot in Wales, it’s been a good week with more sunshine and dry days than we dared hope for. We’ve walked, relaxed and soaked up the beauty all around us. The photos were all taken a stones throw from the front door. I laughed at the oystercatcher snatching a few moments away from nest duty! I always feel restored after time here and having arrived feeling unwell am certainly returning home in better shape than I when I came! Interesting to see how many others have special Welsh memories too.
soop I hope things settle down a bit for you, coping with such things on an long term basis must be very wearing for you. Sending you a gentle hug and
Ann. I’ve been wondering how things are for you. I don’t know how you’re managing to put 1 foot in front of the other with all that faces you at home. I do hope you’re able to settle on a suitable respite facility for your dh. Sadly you may find yourself having to accept something that’s not perfect but is “good enough” to allow you a chance to recharge your own batteries. Much easier, I know, for me to say than for you to do, naturally you’ll want the very best for your dh and somewhere he seems happy with too. Thinking of you. x
Greyduster, I’ve suspected for sometime now that you may be married to a relative of my dh, who also does the eye rolling thing when I offer an opinion on plumbing/diy etc. I noticed a tiny mark on the ceiling in the downstairs loo, we have a leak in the bathroom, it’s wet behind the cistern says I. Nonsense, says he rolling his eyes it’s just condensation! The following morning I point out the much larger mark on the ceiling..... I hear him calling the plumber, telling him how he’s discovered a leak in the bathroom....!
Panache that sounds like very complicated surgery that you are facing. I do hope all goes smoothly, including negotiating bank holiday traffic to get there.
Charleygirl I hope you’re feeling stronger and able to do a bit more every day.
n&g I hope you have better reports of Sam, are you sure he’s not milking it to ensure his place on that cosy bed?
I sympathise with your delicate digestion corner, my own plumbing is unreliable and gets in a muddle at the least provocation.
Well it’s my bedtime, so apologies to anyone I’ve unintentionally ignored! Wishing you all a restorative nights sleep.

Well what a horrid dreary day it has been weatherwise. It has not stopped raining all day and so cold! We went for a swim this morning. The pool was quiet and the water was a lovely temperature, like a baby’s bath. I didn’t realise how out of condition I was. I started out doing reasonably proficient, classic strokes and ended up floundering up and down the pool like a demented jellyfish! More swimming is to be the order of the day. When we came out of the pool, DH wanted to walk into the village as it was market day, but I said I would wait in the car. “Oh well, I’ll just have a look at the plants then” he said. Aha, I thought, I know exactly where you are going and sure enough he came back not with plants, but with cakes and a Cornish pasty from the bakery! He got a right royal flea in his ear.
soop I am so sorry you are feeling poorly and, as another whose dodgy undercarriage is living on borrowed time, I have every sympathy. Please do rest and look after yourself.
Corner I love Caldey, too! They have the most wonderful watercress beds, and my children used to love the beach with huge shells that seem to be bigger there than anywhere else.
Charley I hope you are feeling better, and that Tara is a tonic now that you are reunited.
Ann I hope it will not be too long before you get some positive help with your DH so that your constant uphill slog will flatten out a bit and give you some respite. In the meantime, you are always in my thoughts ?.
A peaceful good night, one and all.

For many years when my C were pre and teens we would be packing tonight for a week in Abersoch, we loved it.
So many happy memories.
We eventually bought a caravan in Rhyd-y- foel in N Wales,so many of us seem to love the area.
We only gave it up when H started his memory problem.

panache please do not make your recovery on a speedway..b****y autocorrect

I'm doing the exercises too but not as often as I should.
Hope you feel better soon soop
aggie my condolences too
panache no wonder you are feeling anxious. It sounds like a big op. Hope all goes well and good wishes for a speedway recovery. Let us know how you get on.
ann sorry you are having problems finding somewhere your DH will accept, that will accept him! So difficult.
charleygirl hope you are ok too. Tara will forgive you....in time . Might need some treats in the meantime.

OK, so someone turn off the tap in the sky that has been following me all day. Where did the sunshine go? Whoever has it please send it back for tomorrow.

Don’t like to think that you’re uncomfortable soop, hope tomorrow is a better day.

Wishing you well for your surgery panache, unsettling times for you.

Oh dear, charley, sounds like a food parcel is needed. I know, unreasonable of me to complain about lunches out, wish I could share some. Tara sounds very forgiving, our last dog used to turn his back on us and walk away when collected from kennels.

Pleased Flynn is back in top form maw, those chicken spots have a lot to answer for.

Sending love, ann, thank you for the update , just wish there was an answer for you both.

Hope the case if the mysterious leak is soon solved greyd, right nuisance.

We’re also fairly regular visitors to West Wales including Tenby, sorry panache. I love it, out of high season for preference but any time really. If we can get a trip to Caldey Island it’s even better, next trip not until September if I can hold out that long.

Bit weary tonight so an early night is ahead, other than that it’s feet up with a Friday glass of chilled white wine.

Take care everyone.


.

Soop - so sorry to hear of your continual troubles with that dreaded problem.
I have similar, but not so severe TG.
Try the exercises with the uteral/vaginal muscles ( if they still exist.)

Tara is loving being at home.

Panache sorry to hear that you are having a Whipples which is mega majoe surgery but if you need it- all the very best of luck.

Ann H is not going to like anywhere you visit because it is not home. I do not know the answer I am afraid.

*soop8 sorry to hear that you are feeling unwell, you have to be 100% for the rest of us mortals falling by the wayside.

N&G loved seeing Sam so comfortable. I do hope that his eye improves soon.

First of all, Soop, take exceedingly good care of yourself, I hate to think of you being poorly.
Ann, my thoughts are constantly with you, even though I don `t say a lot.
Aggie, so, so sorry.
CharleyG, you must be so pleased to have Tara back with you, I hope you`re soon on the up and up.
Panache, all my good wishes for Tuesday..

I'm feeling a little under the weather. The cystocele/rectocele is giving me jip. Sixteen years is a long time to need to deal with such unpleasantness. Thing is, it's not life threatening. I realise that in the greater scheme of things, I'm the lucky one.

I shall wish you all a pleasant evening. I look forward to visiting our kitchen tomorrow.