The Lockdown Gang - Keep Calm and Carry On

And it's a great big sunny morning from me!

Reasons to be cheerful-
The Oxford vaccine has been approved ??
The sun is shining ?
I didn't have fish in parsley sauce for breakfast ?
There are no deer in my garden - they eat the roses and everything else as well. We can see them in the paddock, which is fine and dandy but now use lion poo to keep them away from Mr M's beans, otherwise they'd be Deer Beans and the deer would be Has Beens!
The robotics for my eye have arrived at the pharmacy
I feel smiley - hope it's catching!

Top Support Threads of 2020 - the top 5 includes our Lockdown thread, quoted in Lara’s newsletter on 28th December.

A big thank you to Doodle for starting the thread and to all the gang-stars for helping and supporting one another through this extraordinary year.

I have so enjoyed being part of this thread and being the recipient of your kindness, humour and support.

It looks like Sky has sorted out the WiFi problems, although I did get up at silly o'clock to send off the photobook I've been putting together since before Christmas. I wanted to get it sent before too many people came on line and overloaded the system! I've been doing an annual one for about ten years - and 2020 has been rather different to the others. Lots of pictures of the garden!

Then I made a batch of bread before DH came down and stopped me. I can knead one handed! No problem! the wrist isn't as bad as last time (as yet). I wonder if I have carpel tunnel problems. No point in bothering a doctor yet.

I've caught up with all your news now ... so pleased Mr D is improving fast ... love the photo of those glowing white deer bottoms ... we don't get deer where we live now as we're too far into town. I'm summoning up the courage to start my Christmas jigsaw. After the March Lockdown puzzle my DD1 sent to keep us inside, I've rather gone off them. And I like jigsaws, really I do!

I've just received a late Christmas parcel. The box reads 'IMPOSSIBLE MYSTERY PUZZLE'. I thought I'd post the latest in jigsaw wars (now declared as war) from DS2. That leg of frozen lamb will not be big enough - I want a whole sheep!

I hope this raises a smile. Yes, there are lots of reasons to be cheerful.

That's cheating!

Trailing in at a very slow pace to say Congrats gangsters all for helping our Queen Doodle gain one of the Top Support Threads here in GN..........very deserved too.
A BIG Thank you for your initial start up Doodle.......you always were a lady with the big heart.

Another big apology for missing out but sadly following a decent Christmas Day our "festivities" collapsed.
For all nights since we have both not slept,my dear one pacing the floor at all hours trying to relieve his pain............i am standing by helplessly, but there to offer support.

Our Palliative Nurse had promised to call on Christmas Eve after my desperate phone call days earlier.She never made it.
Therefore we were left short on some pain relief measures including morphine.
Only 8.30am yesterday morning an irate phone call to her got things moving.
She has contacted both his consultant,clinical nurse and Surgery.......... all phones mainly unmanned and therefore impossable to get help.
This is causing me the utmost distress.
Yes the bone scan results are very poor, so now we await further instructions.
The Surgery rang this morning so at least pain relief is again both doubled and on its way.
The Palliative Care nurse is calling tomorrow.

Needless to add I am struggling being so very overtired,but my dear one still tries to lighten our mood,however it hurts so very much to see the enormous fight he is putting up,and the back up and support is just no longer there.

Sincerely trusting that you have each made the most of this odd Christmas season and that the New Year ahead will bring improved health,life and new,hopeful beginnings to you all.
You remain very much my beacon of light during these dark days.

Panache, I am so upset on your behalf. I can't imagine how difficult a time you are having. You and your DH are in my thoughts.

I’m new on here but just to say I’m so sorry that so many are either poorly themselves or have relatives who are struggling. Panache I really hope your poor husband gets some relief from his pain soon and that you manage to get some rest.

Oh dear Panache and your beloved. I weep for you. Pacing the floor unable to sleep. It is not right.
How can you be left alone over Christmas, it defies belief, but now at last it looks as if help is on its way.
Get well thoughts, prayers and some magic is being sent your way.
Here is a photo of our snowy hills today.

Just popping back to send sincere good wishes to the Panaches. I can’t offer anything useful or helpful dear girl, but have shed tears for you both ... which is no help either.

I think of you both often and hope your dear one gets some relief soon. ?

Panache what can I say? I am so sorry you are both suffering as you are. I do hope your DH can get some relief from the pain and you can have some rest. These are dreadful times.

Oh Panache*, my heart goes out to you. Watching a loved one suffer so and being so helpless is horrendous.

I hope a miracle happens and you get the much needed pain relief today so you can maybe sleep a bit tonight.

Panache holding you in my thoughts and prayers. You are certainly not getting the care and support from the NHS that you need so badly. I am so saddened that such a born fighter as you is having to dig so deep to access services. Please try and sleep a little yourself because then you can be strong enough to fight for your tomorrow.

Late evening visit from me. We had a call yesterday asking DH to attend hospital to have his Cath eater out at 8.30 this morning (just as I was getting to grips with it ?)
Bradfordlass hope your DGS is on the mend now.
I haven’t had parsley sauce for years. Now you’ve reminded me, I want some. I would also like the sunshine raspberries and cream too please. ?
Grammaretto I am useless at puzzles. I cannot judge the shapes properly to fit them in. I too would struggle with the 20 piece ones. ?
I agree, we could do with some holiday snaps.

Mamissimo you sound bright and bubbly today.
Hope the new robotics start to work soon.
Yes it is good news about the vaccine. ?
Nortsat wow, fame at last. ?. The thread was actually Cherry’s idea. I seem to remember we were both in soop’s kitchen at the time and the conversation went something like You start it and I’ll join in ?. I love our thread. All of us have made it what it is by being here to support and care for each other. It seems strange to have such a bond between people who have never met yet that is what we have. A bond of caring and friendship. ?
Nfk oh the times the air has been blue here when DH has been trying to send of his photo books for processing ?. Glad yours has finally been uploaded. Another jigsaw addict. What do you do with it when you’ve finished one?
Missedout that is incredible. How on earth could anyone do that? I do hope you’re going to give it a try. ?
Panache I am so sorry for you and MrP. Seeing my own DH in such pain recently I am aware how it feels to watch someone you love suffer like that and not be able to help. What makes it worse is that help is there but you were unable to get it due to unmanned phones and Christmas holidays. I can only imagine the frustration you felt trying to get him help and not being able to rely on the very people that should be there to care for him. I am glad the pain meds have been upped and I would hope now the focus is on keeping MrP as pain free and comfortable as possible.
Dear Panache I have to thank you for taking the time to PM me about my DH while you were so exhausted looking after your own. I hope the increased dose allows some rest for you both tonight.
grammaretto what a lovely photo. It looks beautiful. Is it near where you live? One of the things DH and I like about snow is the quietness it seems to bring to the land.

Seems like everyone's having a duvet day so I'll tiptoe around.

The big question today is whether to do some housework because I've furloughed the cleaner whilst shielding is back. Should I start the year all clean and sparkly, just do the necessary evils or say s*d it and go and sort my seeds out?

I think we will be seeing in the New Year in bed as usual tonight.....I find I can't quite face awful celebrity led false jollity and fake excitement and as it will be just us we've decided to celebrate with a bean salad Chinese takeaway. We live miles from our favourite so it's a rare treat. I predict we will eat too much and be snoring purring gently by eleven.

Made my mind up about the cleaning...think I'll leave it till next year! ?

Mamissimo - I too am ignoring the cleaning! Off for a short drive to the beach then a socially distanced walk - possibly a very short one! - then back to the car for a flask of coffee. Beautiful day in Norfolk sunny and very frosty. We too will be in bed for New Year.
Hope everyone has a good day as possible and all those who are poorly begin to feel better.
Happy New Year everyone!

Hello gangsters,

Ooh how nice Jan a walk along the beach.
There has been fresh snow and a deer in the garden here so apart from a dash across the road to buy milk and something for supper, I'll stay in.

Yes those are the Pentland Hills Doodle which I can see clearly if I walk about 10 minutes from my house. From where I was yesterday I could see the sea (just) to the north east and the Moorfoot hills and the Lammermuirs to the east. It's a "thing" around here to run along the tops of the Pentland hills on NY's day if you aren't loony dooking in the Firth of Forth. Although even that's been cancelled .
www.facebook.com/loonydook/
Be reassured not all of us are loony. I have done neither myself.

DD's highland road has been closed by snow - someone nearly died trying to navigate it yesterday.

So this evening I shall light the fire, pour myself a glass of something and join a zoom call with as many of the family who can make it.

I shall drink to you all and hope and pray for a much much better 2021 for all of us..

No, not a duvet day for me Mamissimo .... but that doesn't mean I'll be doing anything strenuous like sparkling the house ?. Oh, I see you won't be either, good choice ?

I know I've been awol, again - it's an intermittent frustration! I had bad pre-ictal symptoms ("build up" to seizures) and then the night before last I had two horrible seizures and fell out of bed (again ?) both times. I've got bruises on bruises and where yesterday went is anyone's guess, my mind was like a clod of mud rather than a pebble ?

It's my youngest great nephews' birthday today, I can't believe that he's three years old now! It's so long since I've seen him, videos etc. are all very well and good but not quite the same is it.
Unlike you Mamissimo and Jan (welcome btw - I haven't had the opportunity to do so until now) we will stay up to greet the 1st January. We always have and this year won't be any different as we always celebrate into my WP's birthday. Two birthdays tomorrow, his and his sister's. They're not twins. They're not even much alike, they've inherited their looks from different sides of the family, they like different things and their personalities are poles apart. Definitive proof that astrology is hocum ?

Aha Mamissimo now we know why you had a glut of running beans, we can point the finger at a certain Mr M ?. Have you ever done the baked been jigsaw by any chance? Has Mr M? If he doesn't like enjoys jigsaws it's a good one ?. A leg of lamb or even a whole sheep may have an impact but .... it doesn't take as long as a jigsaw ?

Grammaretto, I haven't had the opportunity to say how lovely it was to see the photo of the three little deer bums. It's not a sight we get to see here ?. We see plenty of sheep as they often escape from the common which is less than a couple of hundred metres away. Sometimes we see the odd goat, buzzard, sparrowhawk, crow or raven, bats and the family of foxes but no deer. They're such pretty animals.
Lovely view of the Pentland Hills too. You are blessed where you live I think ?
I think your plan for this evening's festivities is a lovely one. You've had what can only be described as a heart wrenching year, it will be good for you to join in the family zoom ?

Glad to hear that Mr D is doing so well now that he is home with you *Doodle ?. I must admit to a bit of a titter over your trials and tribulations with the cath eater and the fact that you have called it that. All the Caths out there need to be aware ?.

Panache what a situation you've been facing. I can only imagine how difficult it is for you. My WP has chronic pain and sometimes is "rattling around" until 4am but it's nothing compared to what Mr P is going through, and with non-existent services because of Christmas and this dratted virus. ?

I will be back ... I'm not ignoring all you wonderful gangsters I promise.

Good to hear from you Cherry but sorry to hear you have been suffering again from seizures.

I am hoping that Mr Doodle is continuing to do well at home and Missedout's hand is bearing up.

Welcome Jan to this lovely thread.

Beautiful views Grammaretto!

Panache I can only hope you had a more restful night and your DH has the pain relief he needs and deserves.

Sending love to you all and wishing you a better year next year. I had a trying 2019 and hoped for better things in 2020 but that was not to be. 2021 has to be better for us all.

Our lobster gangsters have achieved fame or would that be notoriety Nortsat ? ?. Again our Doodle is being modest, the conversation in soop's was pretty much as Doodle says, though I recall saying that I'd "break in" if she started the thread. I chickened out (?) of starting the thread myself! As a relative newbie as I was then I was too scared coy to start it. Our support, sharing and caring for one another wouldn't have happened without our Doodle ? .
What a beautiful goodies basket Nortsat, a wedged in tight gift wrapped cat ?. I like your fireplace too, the tiles are lovely; as are the flowers sat on the hearth.

I think you had the most precious Christmas present BradfordLass. What a wonderful, warm and loving DGD you have, a testament that what she says about you is true ?
Thanks for the picture of the snowdrops. It's an oddity in our garden that we have one, just the one, that comes up every year.

dragonfly, you've gone through a heck of a lot in the last two years. An experience not disimilar to my own but more extreme. You must have been glad to see the back of 2019 and hoping that 2020 would be an easier year, a happier time. A delay, a replacement bus, an unwanted and highly inconvenient diversion 2020 has been. A better time is ahead for you in 2021 I'm sure.

Missedout those jigsaws ?. I don't think the beige one is inside out or upside down but could it be sideways on ?. Not really that easy to tell ?. Your DS2 is not playing fair methinks, a see through jigsaw ?. I wonder if you can get hold of a plain grey one with 10,000 teeny weeny pieces ?. Alternatively you could send him a tub of dust particles and tell him it's a jigsaw ... ?

Glad your WiFi and your photo book are sorted out Nfl ?. I imagine it's nice to do an annual photo book, I don't take nearly enough photos, except of family get-togethers and as we all know there haven't exactly been many this year. I live in a beautiful part of the world and love the Gower coastline but I tend to stop and view and watch and breathe in all around me and rarely "snap" what I see. I must do better I think, I'd like to have more photos of the fantastic landscape all around me.
I have to ask ... what on earth are you doing kneading bread dough when you've got a bad hand? You naughty lady ?. I hope you're not telling porkies when you say you didn't use your bad hand ?.

Sound like a nice way to while away a bit of the last day of the year Jan. I hope you enjoyed your short walk and a leisurely coffee.

Was it you who asked about my new art kit Doodle? It's a bit of a mixed bag, sketching pencils, watercolour paints and coloured pencils. I've also got some stencils, yet to practice with.
I haven't done very much with it yet Grammaretto, pre-ictal symptoms and then the seizures knocked my "playing" on the head.
Maybe I will show you some of my non art BradfordLass but give me until the end of the decade ?

I'm off to check out that newsletter and my emails now, I haven't checked them for over a week I think ?

May 2021 be a better year for us all ?

Oh yes a late start for us today. I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed.......until my son phoned to say he was bringing round a cake. Then it was all systems go ?
Lovely chocolate cake made by our DGD. They just drove round and dropped it off in the garden. Lovely to see them if only for a short while.
Mamissimo good for you. Leave the cleaning for another year ?. Hope you enjoyed your take away. No beans...how will poor Mr M cope. Have a good evening. We will try and stay up although DH was asleep in the armchair by 7.30 last night. ?
So Jan you are in Norfolk too. How lovely to live close to the beach. I would love a beach walk whatever the weather. Happy New Year to you too.
Grammaretto your description of your local area sounds lovely. To be able to see the the snow covered hills and the sea sounds just my sort of place. Looney Dook indeed. That water looks very cold.
I hope your DD and family stay safe. Snow is lovely to look at but dangerous to drive in. I hope you catch up with lots of people in your zooming. ?
Cherry I’ve been wondering about you. Sounds as though you’ve had a couple of bad days. Hope you’re not badly hurt.
Please send your WP best wishes for his birthday tomorrow from me and DH. How funny he and his sister both have the same birthday. I expect the whole country will celebrate their birthdays with fireworks ?
Your new art kit sounds good. I’ve always wanted to paint with watercolours and have tried a few times. I usually end up with something beige. I look forward to seeing your efforts, ?
dragonfly hope you are doing ok. I hope 2021 will be a better year too.
To all the lobster gangsters, I have enjoyed your company this year. I will raise a glass to you all at midnight (if I’m still awake) and hope this new year brings better times to all ?

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202012/medium-272030-wullie.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202012/medium-98064-hogmanay.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202012/medium-384479-black-bun.jpg

Happy New Year to you all

Hari Tau Hou ki a koutou katoa
Happy Hogmanay Everyone

Happy New Year everyone. I've raised a glass to you and hope that 2021 brings comfort and hope for good health and better times.