That's a very cute dog,*soop*, even if the picture isn't yet to your exacting standard. I hope you get a better answer from your consultant tomorrow. You deserve the best.xx
Good Morning 1st May 2026 "May Day"
I found the key that soop left.
I must complain that getting down to retrieve keys then getting up again is very tricky! Please leave them in a more accessible place in future.
Anyway here’s a bottle of Dom Perignon and a large iced bowl of caviar to open the kitchen!
( we’re going posh this time!
That's a very cute dog,*soop*, even if the picture isn't yet to your exacting standard. I hope you get a better answer from your consultant tomorrow. You deserve the best.xx
Brook2704 safe journey and have a lovely time with your family
Hope all goes well tomorrow dear soop
Have a lovely time Brooke
To my inexperienced eye your dog portrait looks to be perfect, but you are the expert soop.
I hope the hospital treat you well tomorrow and can offer support, a different approach maybe to the dropbot problem, and you return home feeling it was all worthwhile. X.
kitty I hope you have received an update from your SIL?
Kitty
It’s been another lovely sunny day here in Inverness, we’ve not had much rain at all recently, but I’m sure it’ll be here soon enough. I’ve been pottering in and out of the garden most of the day. Got loads of washing dry too ?
I hope there’s some better news today on your brother kitty
Tomorrow late morning I’m on the Inverness to Luton easyJet flight, I should be at DD1s house in Cambridge by mid afternoon, maybe even in time to do the school pick up! I’m so much looking forward to it and especially seeing my two DGS again.
That’s great Soop as always.Be thinking of you tomorrow.
That cake looks wonderful Muse bet it’s all gone!
I’m sure you had a wonderful lunch Grandmafrench we are all waiting to hear about it.
Today we visited Slapton Sands strange name?but a beautiful beach.Do you know it Soop? It is nice discovering the U.K again,Cornwall tomorrow.
Take care all thinking of Panache and Kitty
Very good luck tomorrow soop. I know what I would like to do with the drop bot but I do not think the surgeon would agree!
I am so pleased Fern popped by for a hearty meal and wash and brush up. At least she feels confident to do the latter on the premises and does not fly off the minute she has filled her tum.
Hope all goes well tomorrow soop will be thinking of you
Good luck for tomorrow Soop
Good afternoon lovely kitcheners - just popping in to say hello and special thoughts to all with worries and sadness in their lives ?
I think it's lovely Soop. Very detailed. Good luck tomorrow.
anno It's been one of those days.
I have messed up the portrait. Have just this minute completed the sketch for my third attempt. A pic will follow of the second attempt that has not pleased me.
Computer has played up...on and off during the afternoon. So, what's new?
Good news is that Sweetie Pie (*Fern*) has visited and polished off a full tin of salmon cat food. She stayed long enough for a thorough wash and brush up. After which, she strolled back into the forest. She left us with a smile on our faces. That's a very good result.
Early start tomorrow. Appointment with the drop-bot surgeon. I am not expecting any new revelations. Like many of us lot we have to take the rough with the smooth. There is no alternative.
I shall return tomorrow and try harder to catch up with all the latest happenings in our kitchen. TOYA

Oh dear, soop, I've just heard the news about your favourite, Rafa. He has decided not to compete at Wimbledon or represent Spain in the Olympics. He says he has to listen to his body. I'm now watching Andy. Hope his body isn't telling him anything untoward.
Just lost a message because I turned back to the previous page to see what I had missed, and my post has vanished!
Kitty, I hope the medics have managed to get back to your SiL. The uncertainty is soul-destroying for both of you.
So far, no rain here in North Cheshire. I must be careful what I hope for. A downpour that is too much for the drainage system has caused recent floods that carried away all my perennials and more. The authorities (whoever they are) say they've been working on the problem, but it's a long time since I've seen one of the drain-clearing machines around here.
Ann, it's lovely to have an invitation to stay with your friend. You will be able to arrange assistance at stations between your home town and Nottingham when you book your tickets. I've had assistance several times and will do so again next time I travel. I've seen many people older than us being met and helped when they change trains.
Muse, a mouth-watering cake - fresh strawberries too. Glad your construction work is progressing. A new loo will be a good reason for celebration.
Time to get moving. I need to go and buy a new hose. I ditched the old one yesterday; it was hopelessly kinked and there wasn't much chance of any water getting through. But you can bet that as soon as I attach it to the tap, the heavens will open. ?
We have had about a 90minute break from the rain Pittcity but it’s started again (S E Essex) it’s still hot and sticky (or it could be me that’s hot and sticky?)
Glad you've got sun,*Soop*. It's persisting it down here in North Essex.☔
Just a quick pop in to say thank you to every one of you for completing our kitchen. It cheers me no end.
A gloriously sunny day. A portrait to work some magic on (I hope) and a short walk to clear my mind before I do so.
I shall not be far away. You are with me in spirit, so to speak. I shall return later. 
I have just heard the rain start here in Suffolk and I can smell it too. Just what we need for the garden. A hose doesn’t do the job.
We went to Ely today - nothing like a cathedral for cool shade! What a place.
Lunch out too - so that’s what retirement feels like!
I have told DH to choose our next outing ?.
? for Kitty and anyone else with sadness and worries.
Lovely trip to plan, Ann and you really would benefit from a change of scene, I'll bet. I believe that you can get lots of help and information with rail travel now if you're anxious about connections or have some disability. I just wish I could remember who was travelling recently on a long train journey and had lots of advice on this Forum. Wonder if it was Maw who gave the advice?
Sorry to hear about your tum, Jax. Hopefully you are in bed by now and catching up after a bad night. When stomachs are bad you feel bad all over, don't you.
I suppose I've missed some of that wonderful cake, muse. It looks delicious but I expect one of the Kitchen's disorderly queues formed far too quickly and cake was swallowed in a trice! I'm all behind this evening....Watering the garden took forever. Speaking of which, those photos! Looks like some lovely home you are building. What a treat to look forward to - not least some luxury loos!
Amazing celebrations afoot, N&G. Enjoy all those long-overdue little pleasures. You deserve it and do try not to explode - such a waste. Estranged Daughters flinging blame about? Well it's actually not her funeral, so she just needs to be quiet and respectful and not make a fool of herself - that's not the way to impress family or friends.
I was at the Dentist yesterday, anno. I take off my hat to you having such an early appointment. I always avoid morning appointments. The whole experience is surreal enough without someone fiddling about with my teeth before I'm properly awake and into the day. So pleased that your lunch date finally worked out. It's not really surprising these days to turn up anywhere and find that they're closed or shut down or somesuch. Lovely to be able to catch up with an old friend after so long.
Blossoming Saturday?. soop Friday?.
I knew immediately that was a peony rose, GrandmaB. How clever are you and how dismissive you are about your efforts, so it's very good that your talent is encouraged. I have a friend whose DH gave up art classes because he just couldn't tolerate the rudeness and the smart arse remarks of the 'lady' teacher. He had some talent but never admitted to it. She had some talent but thought she was Monet - and that everyone else was not.
Wishing for better news - or any proper news - for your SiL tomorrow, kitty. Being worried is one thing but not being able to get an update on a loved one in hospital is pretty hard.
Glad that little Sam is better and never came to harm with the glass, Lins. Remember when one of our dogs was young - 1 year old - going out shopping without her. She was always as good as gold in her basket in the kitchen. We returned and, shock horror, she was sitting in her basket surrounded by broken glass and wine! She'd rolled a bottle out of the bottom of the wine rack. Totally bizarre. It had dropped onto the floor and smashed. We were so fortunate she wasn't hurt (or drunk). We moved the wine to a safer place but she never did anything like that again.
We're out to lunch with friends tomorrow. First meal out since March 2020. Yaaay! The French Restaurant economy would definitely be struggling if all their customers were like us. I shall keep a careful note of my menu choice to hopefully make your mouths water tomorrow when I shall be ignoring all advice concerning extra Lockdown weight.
Sleep well, Kitchen peeps. Sweet dreams and maybe some night time rain too? ???☔️ Thinking of you "Cherry" and you too, Panache ??
Hugs from French France - and ?♀️?♀️to Doodle & Urms
I wish it would rain here.
It is raining here in NW London- storms forecast- I will be in bed and asleep if they ever materialise and I doubt if they will wake me.
Blossoming all the very best for Saturday- please think of it as your very last. I have had one so know what you are going through and it is not pleasant.
Hot and sticky here, my D near the south coast has just said it is pouring there, to be very truthful I wish it would do so here.
I keep watering bits of the garden but it isn’t enough.
I hate losing plants but finding it hard to keep up.Lovely surprise today when a friend living near Nottingham rang and asked me to go to spend a few days with her in July.
I have tentatively agreed but feel anxious about whether I will cope with the train journey which entails changes and if I will manage.
Still something to plan and look forward to.Sleep well everyone, storms permitting.
Thank you lovely kitchener. My sil has been waiting for medics to ring since lunch time. A nurse rang 10 minutes ago to say that the doctors will ring her tomorrow. I realise they are busy and he is only one patient but she only has the one husband.
This discussion thread has reached a 1000 message limit, and so cannot accept new messages.
Start a new discussion
Get our top conversations, latest advice, fantastic competitions, and more, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.