Good Morning Monday 17th November 2025

Good morning from a dull but dry Suffolk where sun is predicted later…we’ll see!

The lanes which had standing water on them on Friday are dry now and talking to our DGs over the weekend,one west and one north east,our bit of the country seems to have suffered much less than other parts.

It will be another quiet,peaceful day at home with only a library visit this morning before a busy week with meet ups with different friends most days.

Hope all have a good day especially those dealing with worries and/ or ill health.

Good morning all from a chilly 0deg. in Glasgow where the forecast is for a sunny, calm day. Not so tomorrow which is predicted to be a washout with the return of heavy rain.

Spending some time in the garden, full of sunshine yesterday was the perfect antidote to shake off being stuck indoors due to bad weather and shorter days. Once bits of admin are done, the day is my own. I cooked a smoked ham hough yesterday which I will strip today and left mixed broth steeping overnight, carrots and leeks to prepare for a large pot of ham broth. A mouth watering aroma will invade the kitchen as it simmers today. 🤤

Best wishes to all for a good day.

Tuinoma

I had trouble posting this as the red Preview button works perfectly but the Post button is unresponsive...is it my phone or does anybody else find this??

I frequently get this. It is due to our flaky Internet connection. i

Kalu you have my mouth watering this morning - one of my all time favourite dishes!

Thanks Marydoll, yes my first response is always checking and refreshing our flaky connection but everything else workef fine, just the post button didn't want to know..

Good morning from dry South Lanarkshire.

We spent another couple of hours in the barn yesterday sewing the crochet squares on the tree. One more visit should finish it.

I really must start thinking about Christmas, this month seems to be hurtling along. Perhaps I’ll buy some cards, that would be a start as I used up all my stash last year.

Wishing everyone the best day possible.

Morning all from a sunny but cold Kew. I took my granddaughter to school this morning for 8.10 am! She’s in the choir and they have an early practice every Monday.

I’ll have some breakfast shortly and finish packing. I’ll wait until around 10 am before heading home as the M4 would be a nightmare.

Have a good day. I’m thinking of the FGT2S who I believe have an important hospital appointment this week.🪻

Good morning all from the Black country, sun shining after overnight frost.
Had along chat with my elder brother yesterday caught up with family news.
No plans as yet for today will see what DH wants to do once he is up.
Have the best day you can everyone whatever your plans and may you all find a little bit of ☀️.

Good morning from N. Bucks where it is chilly but sunny.
DH is off to golf and I am going on a Christmas reconnaissance trip. By which I mean a wander to get ideas . So much easier on my own. I shall also have some lunch and hopefully see the film Choral later this afternoon.
Hope all trials and tribulations demonise and a good day wished for everyone.

Oops, deminish not demonise !!

Good morning everyone from south Manchester where it’s zero degrees Alexa tells me but will be 7°C later and sunny.

We are off to Christie’s at noon, my wonderful brother in law picking us up as always. Such kindness. We tell him often how much we value his support.

I’ve done all our Christmas present buying. I went to the Trafford Centre with a friend on Friday (trust me to go then - I didn’t realise it was Black Friday!).

The queues to get into the free car parks were massively long so off putting but luckily we were on the bus so just strolled in!

We are only a small family so 9 presents bought - Clarins, a Lacoste gift voucher (easy), Lego from the store etc. A very satisfied me coming home on the bus. Just the wrapping to do and the cards. I send out a hefty number but I’ll wait till nearer Christmas to write them. I don’t want to hex anything by adding the name of Himself to them. Sad and silly me but there it is.

I love reading this thread every morning. I don’t post regularly at present but hope in my heart to do so if/when our situation plateaus once more and my anxiety could be parked. You are all such a lovely bunch of coconuts. xx

Good morning from a colder Sunnyside sandhills northwest coast.
Nice day yesterday visiting two Christmas fairs, adding to my little pile of stocking fillers plus some home baked goods. A walk around my favourite park and in the evening to my friend’s open mic where some serious talent was on display. I gave her and another friend a lift home in my little car.
Plagued by cramp again in the night. Maybe my heeled boots were to blame or the one gin and tonic partaken. Whatever it is, it’s a blinking nuisance as it was a late night and I was really tired, not wanting to be up and down like a blue *ed fly through the night rubbing magnesium spray on the affected parts…

Housework and music study today. Thoughts to all🌺

Fgt2 x

Good morning all, 0°C here in Glasgow.
Yesterday was even colder. DH scraped the ice off my car twice, then I had to scrape it again.

Yesterday was a particularly busy day. We washed one hundred and twenty three cups, saucers and tea plates, umpteen glasses and I had the unpleasant job of cleaning a very mouldy fridge. It had been switched off and the door left closed.
I kept going back and forwards between the parish hall and presbytery, looking for things.
I apologised to the ladies in the kitchen for my diappearances, in case they thought I was skiving, There response, You work harder than anyone!.
I always thing, people look on me as the parish busybody, so that immediately lifted my spirits.

My main task was to find the key to the secret alcohol store, which no-oe apart from the PP, myself an one other parishioner knew about.
Pre pandemic, we use to run functions with a bar, but it gad been forgotten about,
I had an idea which key it was and went into the presbytery to look for it.
I encountered the young curate in the kitchen and he offered to help trawl through keys.
I knelt down on the floor to look at ones, which were at the bottom of the keyboard and couldn't get back up again!!
The next thing, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders and being hauled up by my gilet. The young curate to the rescue. How undignified! 🤣 Bang goes my, chic, sophisticated image.😉
I did find the key and found a store full of alcohol, untouched for years. We we will be able to use it to boost our fundraising.
We have already cut a year off the loan repayments in less than a year.

On my way home, I stopped at the local hardware store to get hazard tape and keys cut. It is like something out of All Hours, a local institution.
An hour later, I was still there chatting!! I always meet someone I know. I forgot to put on Live location, but DH wasn't worried. He knows me well!!

Despite feeling shattered, I decided to make DH sticky toffee pudding. He has been going on for years about it, but I thought it might be tricky.
DH who never compliments, said that it was, better than fine. A compliment indeed.

Today, I'm off to church again, it's counting day. Firstly, I need to pick up a suitcase of meds and try elsewhere to get the keys nade. All the parish keys seem to gave unusual locks.
Later, I plan to meet DIL at Dollie's drama club, to give her Dollie's presents for tomorrow.

I wish you all a pleasant day and as always, those in need are in my prayers. Sometimes it is more difficult being the carer, than the cared for.♥️

I will come back later to read properly, need to dash. X

Fgt 💐

Good morning from a sunny, cold W Kent where I am waiting for my cleaner to arrive and have. Go at the kitchen. Later another look at cards and lists as I am hoping to go shopping later in the week. Otherwise it after a very happy day out to DDs for lunch and tea.
Best wishes to all

Good morning Mick and all GN's from a very cold but dry North Yorkshire. Another rubbish night - so whats new?- but when I hobbled to the loo about 2am found that the radiator in the hall was going full blat. So this morning , I need to get myself going first so that the brain is working well, then find all the instructions and make sure it is set right. It was certainly taking the chill off the cold night, but as I was in my bed quite warm, cannot afford for it to be doing that , adding more to the already awful electricity bill!

Yesterday it was cold and miserable all day and didnt even cheer up enough to go walking round the block, so by default became a very domestic day. I did have DID and Private Passions to help me on my way, and a rather fun afternoon play on 4 with a wind in the willows take from the view of a weasel! A very cheering reminder of old listenings to the actual Wind in the Willows and reading it to my son when he was little. It helped me to continue sorting things out as I had got slower and slower and more disheartened by plodding along through things and not having another human to speak to to cheer the day.

I seemed to spend quite a long time catching up with bits that were left from the day before too, but was pleased to actually go through the fridge, throwing out odd bits and pieces, collecting up vegetables and eating left over bit of curry and lime rice for lunch, and then getting down to making a (hopefully) delicious mince with my good bargain Aberdeen Angus minced steak, so it was getting all the veg , with plenty of onion of course, and a fair bit of celery all cleaned and chopped and then onion fried - I always think that fried onion has a very different flavour to raw onions dont you? - and meat browned, very little fat coming off it, and all added to the good gravy saved, and so quite a nice smell in the kitchen as it cooked and rather a satisfaction to have used up all the odds and sods of veg and cleared up the fridge.

But in the contrary way I seem to be feeling at the moment, just didnt feel like eating any that evening and so had a fish pie, which I usually enjoy. However in the end , after all my exertions , I fell asleep in the chair for a while, and then when I had the pie, wasnt very hungry, so had less than usual. However that can be my lunch for today so another thing sorted. That meant that on the kitchen front quite a bit of progress, with food sorted and washing up done and surfaces given a good clean. But that was more than enough. Between my wretched back and knees which never stopped hurting all day and the will to do anything else waning, the ironing and paperwork were left and I was glad to read the paper, make notes about things worth visiting and to pass on to the womens group etc. So the plan of attack today is to make the most of the freezing cold day by doing a warming job, and with food all sorted out I shall finally set up my plan of campaign on the ironing front.

I will go through the ironing basket and sort from hot to cool, put up board and the stool to sit on and the clothes horse at the end to put things on as I do them. The drawers will be checked through and hangers found from the backs of cupboards etc. I intend to ruthlessly now remove all blouses and summer stuff from the wardrobe as any pretence that I might wear them again now, apart from my linen trousers - that I told you before I wear with my polar long johns underneath- has gone. Dont think for a minute that I shall get to the end of the mountain, but it should be cheering by the end of the day to see tidier wardrobes with at least a choice of winter stuff at the ready. The cashmere jumpers will be coming into their own and by the looks of today the very warm jacket I bought to go to on the polar trip will be coming into play so that I can still be "gangsta granny" and go down the market on the buggy. Today if I go out at all it will definitely be by car only! This way I shall now hopefully keep myself warmer, without the use of the radiators, end up with a choice of clothes that I actually like, to wear, and a little more towards trying to generally tidy up and organise myself more.

I sent an email to Louise asking her advice about the calendar with 300 paper planes to make. My grandson is autistic, but also very bright. This means that he can see what he wants to do with things but also physically a little clumsy, so can get very frustrated with things as he knows what he wants to do , but can be foiled by his ability to do things. I was worried in case making up all these planes would prove a problem for him, but she said it sounded a great idea and so hurrah, I now know what to get him, and can pick one up from Waterstones, the next time I am down the town. For any of you looking for presents the calendar has 300 planes to make up from it. It is in a sealed package so cannot open it and look, but have been told it is popular by the staff there and have seen that it is meant for all ages so it might suit someone you know, as you have both the planes themselves at the end that you could make a possible display with , such as a sort of mobile to hang in the bedroom, and the actual making up of them , which would definitely be something a bit quieter for them to do on boxing day or christmas holidays if the weather is not good. Dont know how hard they are to make but probably something that adults might like to get involved with too. At this time of year, any good present ideas are welcome arent they? If the actual idea is no good, it can lead you on to other ideas that might be.

This week , weather permitting, it is a catch up week all together. Am planning to go to the games night and the whist, both of which I missed last week. Then if we can organise our oh so exotic social diaries I hope to meet up with a friend , who for the last few weeks we havent been able to find a day when we are both free. Whatever we tried to get organised one or the other of us had a hospital or doctors appointment or other things that did not fit together. We seem to have patches like this , where we can meet every week easily, followed by this sort of a patch , but at least when we get together there is plenty for us to catch up on! On thursday it will be the womens group, where we will be finishing off our raffle prizes and I need to have a quick check round for anything else I can donate to that. Hopefully that will encourage my more ruthless mood today to either give away to charity , or throw away things that I have kept for months yet not actually used in the end. So a cold and chilly day is hopefully going to get me finally sorting quite a bit out. We shall see - watch this space - .

I have finally opened the curtains as the sun is coming out, it looks very cold out there but still and dry and have just seen squirrel 1 race along the fence and up into the tree, but no signs of pigeons. They havent been around for quite a long time. Not a lot of birds around lately. Have enjoyed watching the storks on the tv wild life programme, that are making a comeback to britain. Hamza is a great photographer and I enjoy seeing the wonderful pictures he gets. It would be lovely to see things in real life but if not these great pictures give much pleasure, with the new photography gadgets and night vision stuff we are lucky to be able to see and understand so much more about the wild life here. There are red squirrels up at the top of Wensleydale but unfortunately it is quite a walk to get to where you can see them and I cant manage that any more. When I was over in the Lake District, working for the national trust I used to see them quite often in Grizedale forest and every time I saw one it was such a joy. These days my way is to drive somewhere and have my trusty binoculars to watch out. If you keep quiet and wait, you become part of the scenery and the animals carry on their life. The last time I was up at the top of swaledale I had a stoat come almost parallel to the car, and was able to watch it for quite a while. The countryside , for me, is better than any pill or medicine. Whatever is worrying me, whether physical or mental, to be able to walk a little in swaledale or even sit in a car with the windows open, listening to the sound of the trees and grasses and animals is the most calming , soothing thing I can do. All worries recede as I let myself just be in that moment where you can just feel part of everything surrounding you, even though you are like a minute piece of sand, you still feel that you belong exactly where you are. How I wish I could bottle it!!

On other fronts, I need to really find my flanders and swann book and begin to plan my talk/singing date for the 24th November. This also means that I now need to get back to regular vocal exercises and scales to get myself at least a little more practised and ready to sing what I have chosen. dont think that they have a piano there and so it is going to be a cappella music and I need to think about what key to sing in for those pieces that they will be joining in the chorus or singing anyway. Think I shall have to look up several of the songs online just to check the verses, as it is easy to find you have forgotten one of them. I would dearly like to do the great Victoria Woods song of Barry and Freda , but although to the listener it sounds quite simple, she actually goes up a key for each verse and of course the piano accompniment is part of it too. Do you all know it ? If not I do recommend you look it up on u tube. It will make you laugh I am sure. Where Freda asks him - amongst other things - to beat me on the bottom on the hostess trolley, and his reply is always that he - cant do it - he has some grouting to do. Be warned , you will have an ear worm all day of his excuses why he "cant do it".

There is going to be a Charles Makerris day today on radio 3. He would have been 100 today and was a great favourite in Britian and at the proms etc. He was an australian who came over and became a popular conductor, and I remember him alongside such people as Sir Malcolm Sargent, and Adrian Boult. Wonderful proms with the likes of Janet Baker singing Elgars Sea Pictures and Benjamin Brittens Billy Budd. Ah takes me back to happy shared times with other music lovers and the last night of the proms etc etc.

Hope your delivery came early Mick and you are able to get out on the bus as usual. Try and get a bit of rest today GrandMattie as you need to be ready for the Teflon attack later in the week. Power to your arm as they say (think that comes from using a bow and arrow, but this is meant to be metophorical!) Grandmabatty hope your day goes well and you get a nap at some point. Tuinoma, hope you get a good day out in the garden, it is already bright and sunny here but very cold. If you put the leaves in a black plastic bag, stick a few holes in it and dampen the leaves then just leave it over the winter you will end up with some useful leaf mould that costs you nothing. Enjoy a bit of getting outside anyway. RoseandLilac that roast lamb sounded very good, nice that you have another artistic friend that you can talk to about painting. I have to have like an art gallery here, as used to have a big house with a long hall out of the sunlight which was great for watercolours etc. I am glad to have more sunshine here but it does mean that I can only put pictures up in certain areas , so have to change them round every so often, as I cant bear selling or giving away precious paintings bought and painted over many years and chosen with my lovely husband. So it can be a bit like a child in a sweety shop trying to decide which one goes up on the wall this time! Bellasnana , good news that he is at least back home, and can rest and recuperate. It will let your goddaughter calm down and relax to have him safely home. My father used to say that the first cup of tea was the best of the day and even a second cup from the same teapot didnt taste the same, so that christmas I found and bought him a lovely very large china mug, so that it was most of the teapots content in that first cup, which he was pleased with so that his first cup just became a larger cup! Sar53 do hope that they are able to find the problem with S. So frustrating when it is something elusive, but hope that many things are at least being ruled out on the way to finding what is the problem. Hope there is a eureka moment soon.

Well, my leg is starting up with a cramp again ..... ! Need to move carefully about and hope to ward off the worst of it. Time to get the kettle on and begin the mammoth sorting and ironing. Have a good day everyone and keep warm

Good morning all from the Scottish Borders. Icy cold here but sunny.
I was in Dublin last week staying with DS. While he was at work I explored the city, mainly on foot. Boy am I tired. I loved it and hope to return in the Spring.

My pal from North of Inverness has been staying so yesterday we went on a country drive through the Borders.

Back to my old routine until next week when I'm visiting another DS in England.

Are you new to GM Tuinoma? if so 👋 and welcome. Is there a NZ connection? tui?

I hope all goes well today FGT
Have the best day possible everyone.

Good morning from a sunny W Kent. Waiting for my cleaner to arrive and afterwards more card writing and list making I find I need to keep at it now. I think I might be getting to the point where I need to cut back a bit.
Very best wishes to those with appointments today

A cold but sunny morning and I should be going to a U3A meeting but simply lack the energy to get in the car and go. The friend I usually take is doing something else. Plenty to occupy me here at home but I disappoint myself sometimes.

Good Morning from a bright cold Co Armagh , heading out shortly,
my big winter coat is new last year and fitted ok , there was room for a jumper under it , very cosy tweed ,
This year I can fit two jumpers under it and still room to wriggle ! I know I’m losing height but I didn’t think I was shrinking sideways !
I’ll wear it anyway , I was putting it in the charity shop bag , but changed my mind
Wishing a good day for everyone

Are you new to GM Tuinoma? if so 👋 and welcome. Is there a NZ connection? tui?

No Gm i have been a lurker for quite some time.. and no NZ connection but NL

Good morning everyone.

Sending good wishes to you and himself fgt for this weeks Christie visits. xx

You made me laugh with your coconuts comment 😂

FGTlove it ! I remember my dad sing „ I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts „ from Danny Kaye .
Wishing Himself good results at Christie’s today . I know It’s a rollercoaster of feelings .