Soop's warm and welcoming kitchen for kindly folk.

The warmest of welcomes, singingnutty (what a delightful name.) Us lot are a kindly, supportive bunch of pals. You will be treated to home-baked cake and given your own chair with a tartan cushion.

I have been ultra busy all day long. A brain-storm hit just after breakfast. I thought I'll just clear out two cupboards...and somehow finished up blitzing the happy homestead. Such things are a rarity. However, I'm feeling chuffed with the results of my labours and all "done in".
Have just had a shower and am wearing my PJ's. Time to read the Sunday papers and relax.

Early appointment at the surgery tomorrow. Bloods taken in readiness for hospital procedure. Let joy be unconfined.

Sorry not to have more time to spend with you today. I hope to do better tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening in whatsoever way it pleases you to spend it.

Hello. I hope you don't mind if I come in and join you - I am a refugee from Facebook. I have just failed to reply on FB to a horrible post from our local MP about Greta Thunberg which had stirred up dozens of nasty comments about her. Then I wondered why I was looking at all this nastiness and thought I would come here and talk to nice people. DH has been asking me for a while why I read these FB threads and he is right.
Today DS2 has been to visit. We had not seen him for 2 weeks because he got Covid and then his wife got it and one of the GSs. He brought flowers for our wedding anniversary and some lovely cheese and biscuits and port to go with them. We'd had a recommendation about a local cafe which does take-away Sunday lunches so we gave that a try and the three of us had a very good meal. He and DH had a good chat - I can't ever get a word in edgeways because they both love talking so much. However, that was alright today. I was able to make a couple of phone calls I needed to make to friends with problems so everybody was happy.

Telephone call this morning from Wonderful Cleaner (25 years with us, knows us better than we know ourselves) to say that her daughter whom she sees frequently as tested positive; one PCR test inconclusive so another one today, but looks like I shall have to manage without her this coming week. My back is still no better so I foresee a festering week. I know, first world problem and all that but still feels like yet another problem to cope with.

Impressive pumpkins remind me of how hard it was to produce a reasonable result when we tried it many years ago. All this creativity is amazing.

Rip van Winkle slept extremely well from 11 pm to 9 .30 am up only once to the loo. I sincerely hope it will be a repeat performance tonight.

It is wild and very windy here- a day for staying indoors I think.

Well the pillows seem to be comfortable, although I only need one these days after a lifetime of two. Otherwise I too get a stiff neck soop. Another productive day of tidying up and our rugby team had a storming game. ( Sorry BlueSapphire! )
Plenty of ironing to do tomorrow ?.
Sleep tight everyone ?

Quick catch up after a hectic few days. We spent a couple of days with our dd and the grandchildren, which included going pumpkin picking in the most atrocious rain. We installed Dh in the cafe, in charge of the 3wk old baby, and went off to claim our goodies. I chose a white pumpkin, which when I got it home proved to be massive. It didn’t look that big in the field! ? Don’t know what I’ll do with it, I just wanted one.

I also got to bathe the baby, though Big Sis got into the bath in which the baby bath was sitting and managed to get herself soaking wet too. That meant afternoon pj’s time.

Back home, I made a big veggie coconut curry this afternoon to take to a local social event tonight. I was hoping for left overs for dinner tomorrow but people scarfed the lot and now I’ve got to think of something else tomorrow! I also made biscuits, which I haven’t done for years.

Had my hair cut this morning and made beauty appointments for Dec, so I’ll look half civilised for Xmas. Although I’ve just realised I’ve made one appt for the same day as a dentist appt 60 miles away. Which shall I cancel? ?

I’m looking forward to my extra hour in bed tonight. I had the first hot water bottle of the season last night and very nice it was, too.

I hope all who are poorly soon feel better and I hope to catch up properly tomorrow. Xx

Thanks everyone for your kind comments about the pumpkin carving - I have to admit that it was a joint effort with SiL who’s very creative and patient ?
Hope your DGD is feeling much better soon Urms

Busy day here. Still sniffling and voiceless I was encouraged (nope marched!) to do some Autumn garden sorting and as a reward taken for a walk round an independent garden centre which has some fabulous plants. With negative lateral flows and masked I don’t think I was a danger to others. An unexpected visit from our eldest has had me smiling. Germs still lurking but I feel a whole lot more cheerful.

Carving pumpkins is definitely not my forte brook, yours are superb. I tend to carve more of myself. Definitely an ouchie experience. The sun shining through the multicoloured trees is certainly beautiful doodle, we drove past many today. Hope the antibiotics do their stuff quickly urms. Pumpkin looks very regal soop. Your granddaughter is rightly delighted.

My bed is calling. Sleep has been more than elusive, I’m hoping for better things tonight. Sleep well everyone.

That’s a beautiful portrait soop, well done for finishing it at the right time of year . Was he called Pumpkin because of his lovely colour?
brook your cakes and pumpkins are lovely. The one time I tried to carve a pumpkin I couldn’t even get the knife through the skin.

Doodle isn’t it funny, Auntie Biotics to you Anti bees in our family! Nothing against bees of course ???

brook that sounds so nice. A fun time for all.
Been a busy day for me sewing (unpicking, sewing, unpicking, sewing…?)
Long walk by the river. It was beautiful. So mild and warm and the sun shining on the trees. Slight smell of November in the air and some of the trees turning a lovely orangey red. Autumn is my favourite time of year (no I won’t call it Fall as that doesn’t convey the same sentiment to me ?)
Have a good weekend all.
P.s. Urms hope your DGD is feeling better now and the Auntie Biotics start working soon

Clever brook ??

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Soop I love the picture of Pumpkin a beautiful portrait you clever lady!
I’ve just settled down on the sofa with the DGSs for half an hour before their bedtime - DD1 and SiL have gone out for the evening so I’m in charge - let’s hope they go to bed at 7.30 as planned ….
We’ve had a lovely day, they had their swimming lesson this morning and DD1 and I went to a local garden centre. Then this afternoon we’ve been carving pumpkins, baking cupcakes and putting up Halloween decorations for a party tomorrow afternoon. We’ve got some pumpkin spiced gin liqueur to try for the grown ups too … will see what it’s like!

‘Evening All’.

A very quiet, relaxing day here. L’il Miss had an earache which made her cry during the night. Mummy called 111 this morning. A prescription for antibiotics was sent electronically to their local chemist and collected an hour later. When the system works, it’s second to none isn’t it?

Himself has been watching football. I’ve got jacket spuds in the oven and ‘chalk pops’ as my mum used to call them. (Pork chops). No wine tonight but chocolate is in the fridge for later. Quiet in the kitchen indeed. I think you must all be watching ‘Strictly’? Glad you enjoyed the film muse it was quite beautiful wasn’t it? soop I’m blushing here.
☺️

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I don’t think we’ll ever be in danger of floods either as we’re at the top end of a valley. Lower down the hill about three fields away from us, one has been seen under water before we moved to this house. We’ve seen springs gushing from solid walls of rock too but the last few years have been much too dry.
There has been a lot rain all day here today though. So much so that we had to go out to lunch to see some signs of life. It was very noisy and very good as usual. DH brought his chop bones home for Spock, who repaid our generosity by wiping his wet head all over the rug. He doesn’t like wet ears but won’t let me dry him. I can’t say that I enjoy the smell of wet dog or his footprints but he is very funny in his contortions to dry himself without anyone touching him. Not so funny is his need to keep a door open so that he can make a quick getaway if he feels threatened.
We have talked about the need for a shelter for him and think the answer is probably an external clear blind that we can pull down in wet weather which will also protect the front door so that we can unlock it without getting soaked. Of course it all costs money! That’s probably why we keep talking and not doing.

A very quiet kitchen tonight.
I dropped the GC’s home this morning, DD looked quite chirpy considering she taxied home at some hour!
Both children didn’t go to bed until 10 last night, we were half an hour later, Fin was up at 7:15, good job the clocks move tonight! I’m going to look up a restaurant to book for when we are in Poole next Friday, we’ll be watching the fireworks, so an early meal will be needed.
Have a pleasant evening all.

Lovely portrait Soop

Our cottage is at water level but it's the water that comes down the track that causes the problem soop. The french drain takes much of it but we have had a couple of inches downstairs on a few occasions. It is all tiled though. The new build is built higher but that also has a french drain, just in case.

Logging off for today. I will do my best to join you all again tomorrow.
TOYA

I have finished a portrait of our granddaughter's newly adopted cat - Pumpkin. She is very happy with the result. It now hangs on her wall alongside Juno, her previous cat, who has since died.

muse I am sorry to hear that your dear beloved was trench digging into the wee small hours. We have never been in the position of having to deal with rising water levels. Although we live not too far from the sea, the water has always remained close to the shoreline. It must be heartbreaking to have one's home flooded. I imagine that it takes forever to completely dry out.

Urms Congratulations! You have excellent taste.

Nannytopsy Were the new pillows comfortable? I treated us to new pillows a wee while ago. Still wake up with a stiff neck.

Just popped by to say thank you Urms. Amour DVD arrived earlier this week and I watched it late last night. MrM was outside tackling the rising tide! He finished digging another drainage trench at 2:00am. What brilliant actors and such a heart wrenching story.

It was very comfortable Kitty but why did I wake up five times for the loo??

Freshly made beds are lovely topsy but new anything is a leap in the dark. Hope it was a good night.