Soop's warm and welcoming kitchen for kindly folk.

Thank you all kitchen pals, I’m now safely home after an easy, uneventful journey. Even Gatwick airport which is usually my least favourite place wasn’t too bad. DH picked me up from the airport here, whisked me back home in 10 mins and then made tea and toast. I don’t know why but travelling always makes me tired so I’ll be off to bed soon 😴
Pleased you enjoyed your lunch out Jax and hope the garden is doing well despite being east facing
Blossoming hope you sleep well and grannysomerset hopefully no adverse reaction tomorrow
Grandmabatty just one more day to go! You’ve worked so hard this week with your two little treasures. I hope the other GPs are enjoying their holiday and reciprocate the favour for you some time when it suits
Take care all x

Good evening dear Kitcheners. I have been busy today having a paperwork clear out. I can’t work out why, when all my accounts are online and supposedly paperless, they still send me enormous loads of bumf through the post! It’s physically and mentally tiring.

Hope you’re home safely now Brook.

Lovely to hear from you Soop, sounds like a successful gathering and that’s a beautiful photo of you all.

You must be exhausted Grandmabatty, I admire your resilience.

I’m not looking forward to my Covid jab GrannySomerset.I haven’t had a call yet so maybe I’m becoming less ‘at risk’!

Lovely to catch up with a friend Jax. MrB has been out watering and fussing over his plants, though he calls it ‘nurturing’. I just wait for the pretty flowers to appear . Joking aside, I have had a few nasty falls in the garden so I just sit in it now.

Early night for me, review with my financial advisor tomorrow.

Love and best wishes to you all ❤️

Fantastic picture soop sorry to hear you’ve a bug and about your fall.
Your stamina is admirable Grandmabatty a deserved glass of wine. I hope you’re ok after your jab GrannySomerset.
I had lunch out with a friend, it was very busy with all ages, but no children, we had a good catch up.
The sun is out, I’ve just watered the pots and baskets, our back garden is East facing, so no sun there, I’d like to move the house, just slightly.
brook should be well on her way home.

A lovely family photo Soop, you all look so happy. Mr Soop looks to have lost weight since I last saw him.................wish I had, lol!! I hope your fall didn`t do any lasting damage?

Lovely report from Soop despite news of a fall. Hope she is not too battered by it. About to go for my covid jab and hoping to have no reaction as I have things to do on Thursday and don’t want to be laid low - several GNetters have reported an adverse response this time round. Lovely sunny evening so will enjoy a glass of wine outside when I return from the surgery.

Oh what a beautiful family photo soop no wonder you’re thrilled - special family memories to treasure
Welcome home, we’ve missed you!

Soop that's such a lovely photo of most of you. Not so good about a fall though. The boys are with me at the moment. The sun has burst through the cloud and it's a lovely afternoon. Dgs1 is about to get ready for football training and dgs2 is eating cheesy puffs before going back into the garden. I did a washing last night and it's outside drying. I've tried to tidy as I go today because I'm too tired to leave it all to tonight. Brook I hope it's an easy flight to Inverness for you. Salad for dinner tonight.

Ta da! I am back with you lovely lot here in our kitchen.

I shall need a lot of catch-up time, as I see that there are numerous visits since I left for the family gathering

What a wonderful, noisy, eventful few days we've spent in sunny Rutland. This morning, in the post, a book arrived containing all the photos that were taken during our visit. We haven't stopped oohing and ahhing. I could not be more thrilled.

Mr Soop has motored approx 900 miles. The journey to Rutland was peppered with long tailbacks on the busy motorway. The return journey was less stressful.

We were treated to days out and visited some delightful locations. One of the best was Barnsdale Gardens which Geoff Hamilton was inspired to create. Both daughters-in-law went to a great deal of trouble to host parties.

I have returned home with a wicked sore throat and hacking, chesty cough. No family member appeared to be unwell. We have stayed in two Premier Inns and also had coffee at busy motorway stopovers. So, there have been plenty of people who may have passed on a germ or two.

The weather during our visit was hot and sunny. The last hour of our journey home was through a deluge of rain and road spray.

I have about thirty photos and have selected just one to share with you. Grandson Will and his partner are absent from the shoot as they needed to return to London. Torben was seated in the shade as he felt a bit off colour. I shall share photos featuring them on another occasion.

There is a mountain of laundry to deal with. Mr Soop is cutting the grass.

Forgot to mention that I fell on the driveway of the cottage in which we stayed. I could not get upright. Mr Soop asked the lady who owned the cottage to assist him. Between them, I was rescued from having to remain prone for the remainder of the day.

Thank you grandmabatty and Jax I’m just getting the train to Gatwick soon. It’s a direct train from Cambridge so really easy
Hoping to hear from soop soon
Take care all will catch up later x

Safe journey home tomorrow Brook.

A gorgeous garden llfl thanks for the pictures
DD1 and SiL are out this evening so I’ve been busy with the DGSs, they’re both in bed now fast asleep. I’m heading home tomorrow afternoon after having had a lovely few days here. Your turn very soon SueD!
Good choice on the chairs blossoming they look super comfy!
Hoping you’re feeling much better soon Scalpa1 what a shame catch that on holiday 🙁
Pleased you’ve had a much better day grandmabatty
Take care all x

Oops sorry Dustyangel, mixing the names up!

Hi YiaYia, not Stressless, we have had those in the past and they are lovely. They were amongst the ones we looked at over the weekend. Unfortunately they’re just a bit too low for me. Very comfy to sit in but I can’t get out of them! The new ones are by SiSi Italia.

Such a shame about your holiday bug Scapal, I hope you’re feeling better now.

Been a miserable wet day in Central Scotland. We are safely returned from our French River cruise on the Rhône. As usual with Viking the food was very good and everything well organized. Lyon, Arles and Avignon were very interesting cities with amazing architecture. We did think though that the Rhône River was not as scenic as say the Rhine or the Danube. Unfortunately I managed to catch a bug from a woman who was sitting next to me on the flight from Amsterdam to Lyon. She coughed and spluttered the whole flight! Two days later that was me still managed all the excursions but have been left with a horrible cough and feeling tired. The ironing will have to wait 🤣.

Those chairs look gorgeous Blossoming . Are they Stressless ones? I think I’ve got the name right. We nearly bought two a few years ago but in the end decided to have our present ones recovered.

Hi all, a lovely mature garden LLFL ours is still a youngster.
I have chair envy Blossoming well worth your research, they look really comfy.
Only 6 sleeps now SueDonim🙂
I’ll think of you Yia when we’re in Dorset!
Good to hear from you Grannmarie but sorry there are still health concerns in your family.
I took a few more pieces to the charity shop today, including a faux fur coat (€8 in Françe), I loved that coat, but haven’t worn it for three years, so off it went, I also got my toenails painted, hence the cloud all day, had a tussle with the pharmacy dispensing machine and now I’m feet up with a shandy.

Good to hear from you Grandmarie Sorry you’re so stressed.🌹
Your new chairs look great Blossoming, bet you can’t wait to get them.
Thats good you that you had a better day *Grandmabatty.
Not long SueD are you packing?
We go to our happy place (Corfu) in a couple of weeks,really looking forward to it.
A grey day here,enjoy your evening everyone.

Good afternoon dear Kitcheners.

Love your garden LadyLFL, ours is full of salad crops and tomatoes in cloches and frames at the moment.

I’m glad you had a better day with DGS2 GrandmaBatty.

I have lost track of who is where at the moment, I seem to recall that travels were being planned by quite a few people. I hope all those plans are going well.

Love and best wishes to you all ❤️

I love your ceanothus! Mine is only just flowering. My mini azaleas are just flowering too.
Today was a much better day for dgs2 and I. I managed his behaviour better and he responded well. So we left each other on good terms.
An early start with the boys tomorrow. I have them for an extra two days so I'm limiting what I do this week. Enjoy your evening Kitcheners.

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My garden is looking very blue and purple today! Our gardener came and spent nearly three hours weeding, pruning and planting a new purple fuchsia for me!

Good to hear from you Grannmarie. It sounds like a stressful time for you.
🤞 So far dgs2 is being his best self. He's playing with toys in my bedroom/his bedroom and quite happy..

Yet again a flying visit from me. Today has been full on. After traipsing around several furniture shops and sitting in lots of chairs MrB and I have made a final choice, placed an order and these rather lovely Italian leather chairs will be delivered in early July. I’m so glad we took our time and looked at all the options.

I also signed a few documents and read lots of paperwork from my financial advisor. My eyes are so tired I am struggling to read. Love and virtual hugs to you all, the warmest people in social media ❤️

Good to see you grannmarie sounds like you’ve been really busy, hoping the worrying health problems improve a bit soon
DGSs are now both fast asleep and I’ve come through to bed to give DD1 and SiL a bit of time together. We’ve all enjoyed salmon for dinner with a nice salad with lots of different things in it - I’m not sure what they all were but it tasted great!
Hoping tomorrow is much better grandmabatty , if not you’ll need a double gin and orange and a darkened room …🤣
Not long now SueD - love the jazzy socks idea - perfect!

Just seven sleeps now, Grandmarie! I’m busy getting things organised, mainly in my head, if I’m truthful, but it’ll all get done. Your Sunday sounded lovely. I hope your Dh is feeling better now and there’s good news for your other loved ones.
GMbatty I think every child we saw in town today was wailing or having a tantrum! There must be something in the air. 🤔
Good luck in the quiz, Jax!
Your visit sounds delightful, Brook though maybe without the early morning wake-ups. We’ve just agreed to have both our GC overnight later this summer. We’ve not had them both at the same time before. 👀
I hope the Soops weekend has been fun for everyone. Looking forward to hearing about it all.

We had an enjoyable visit to the garden plant sale on Saturday and I came away with some treasures including Hawkshead fuschias. I intend to go back as they were selling three or four foot tall rowan tree saplings for £5! Unfortunately we were in dh’s sports car and it wouldn’t fit inside. 😂 I met a new friend yesterday for coffee and it was lovely getting to know someone new. It’s heartening that we can still make connections even as life moves on.

Today was all about preparing to go away, buying presents (I’ve resorted to jazzy socks and t-shirts as my imagination has gone awol.) and bits and pieces such as sunscreen as mine had gone out of date. I also took a phone call about the repairs on our house. They’ll start in June, almost six months since the flood. It’ll take about a month 😱 and at the moment I still don’t know exactly how it’s going to be tackled ie the order of things.

There’s been a bit of rain this evening, enough to dampen the soil but that’s all. I may have to water the garden but that’s tomorrow’s job.

Sweet dreams, everyone! Xx

Hello kitchen people. The boys are not yet reconciled OH is much better today! I spent the day in n London at the V&A attending a study day on Textiles. It was brilliant. I’m worn out now though and went to bed at 9 pm,