You just sent me down Memory Lane again Doodle.
A song which always made me cry when I was a little girl.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bUJJVSPdp4
I'm not much better now 
Doodle the mould spores are all around, in the bush, rotting leaves, detritus, fungi and humidity all add to the problem.
As you know, I am 2 inches from the bush and spores blow in the open windows and doors, so it's affecting my breathing.
This fungus, Plantpot Dapperling (Leucocoprinus birnbaumii) is only one of several currently squatting in my my rose tubs.
They are beautiful, I really love fungi so wouldn't do anything to harm them.
It's toxic if eaten but I'm never that hungry 
Hope you are home safe Grammaretto and your new, red stove is installed.
muse and Jan how are you doing?
Hello Gang-stars, I haven’t been well for about a week, so have been reading intermittently.
I had a nice email from Panache, who is facing her many challenges.
Now that the Mayor of London has declared Omicron a ‘major incident’ in London, we are battening down the hatches and have cancelled all diary commitments. We will be doing some Zoom drinks with friends and probably a Zoom Christmas lunch with family.
As I am a person previously classed as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable, we are continuing to shield.
We are warm and safe indoors, the freezer and the wine rack are full and I have emergency meds, incase I need to increase my doseage of anything … so we’ll stay where it feels safe.
Sending all good wishes and seasons greetings to all Gang-stars, whether present or absent. ??
Lovely to see you Nortsat and your beautiful tree - sorry you've been unwell.
You are very wise to take all precautions.
A surprise Christmas tree Grammaretto how wonderful, you are obviously a well-loved lady.
Although 19 cases of Omnicron have been detected in NZ, all have been at the border where people are still required to go into managed isolate on arrival here.
Experts say if it can be kept there, we will have no leakage into the community. I'm not so sure; the Delta variant got in despite all measures.
Winter helps because there's less socialising and movement.
We are the opposite as summer is icumen in and that means everyone wants to be outside. After such a draconian lockdown, it's impossible now to stop 'stir-crazy' people taking a very necessary holiday.
We are down to only double figures per day now, 63 yesterday, 42 of them at the border, largely because we've achieved a 90% vaccination rate - and rising.
Like the UK, we are a sailing community with many small harbours and beaches - there just isn't the manpower to police them all.
I've heard iwi up North are doing a sterling job of trying though.
There's no comparison to the lovely trees featured here but I'll share the lights I put up in my bedroom so it looked cheerful.
It's blurry because they're twinkling!
Lovely twinkling lights Kaimoana and Nortsat very festive.
I traced the elf . He said he had stolen the tree but it was very small - more of a side shoot.
I love it
I should be writing cards but I keep falling asleep. Zzzz
No news of the kitchen Doodle I promise to tell you when there is. It's even less like a kitchen now that the plumber has been
So sorry you have been unwell Nortsat
Do stay safe.
Good that you have spoken to Panache . I hope she is well cared for .
Such a lot of sadness it seems alongside the celebrations.
Is it time for hot chocolate?
Good evening ?
I'm almost sorted for Christmas but I'm a tad concerned that if the offspring can't come Mr M and Honey Beagle will be eating the 7kg bird till Easter. We're all on daily LFTs to make sure we're clean.
We've made the DGD a shadow puppet theatre to distract them a bit this week.I had great fun with some baking parchment, a torch and an old A***on box. Made me think of my old theatre that didn't make the cut when I left home and then disappeared...☹️
Photos are my big tree and the joy of my Christmas - the magical candles we hang in the kitchen. I find myself standing there looking at them with a soppy grin.....
Good Morning All!
It's meee! I don't know where the time has gone considering I've not been out much, but somehow I've missed catching up with you all. I've attached photos of one of the reasons. I did eight teddy bears and a dozen mini Christmas tree elves and fairies in the end for the Salvation Army Food Bank. But it's been the Cinderella Doll which has taken me over. She was a lot more time consuming than I thought she'd be and she missed the boat, so to speak. She'll have to go into next years batch. I shan't be doing another one! It's used up most of the left over wools I had and most of a large bag of stuffing which was lurking unopened in the attic.
I shall have to think of a new occupation for the lockdown which seems to be lurking on the horizon. I've only read back from the top of this page to see what you've all been up to. Love the magic candles Mamissimo, Harry P would be proud of you! We've chopped down a small pine tree which wasn't growing as it should so our tree is the top of it in a bucket of sand. We bought it especially for the lovely purple pine cones it had, but there hadn't been any for several years. We discovered why when it was down. The squiggles had been eating them all! Just thin candles left with no cone bit! So we now have a proper Christmas tree and a bit more sky.
Do take care Kaimoana with those spores floating around. It sounds worse than hay fever, not knowing what you're inhaling, which are bad and which are good. A friend found a fungus growing locally which he can't identify. White with a frilly edge and rather lovely to look at. Either an artistic mouse or he's discovered a new species.
I hope you're feeling better now Nortsat, I'm sending positive vibes out in a large westerly arc in the hopes they reach as far as you and the other lobsters who're not firing on all cylinders at present. And really pleased you're in touch with Panache. I think of her often, please pass on a virtual cuddle / cwtch from me next time you message her.
Now off to read back further before Mr NfkD surfaces.
Oh what lovely teddies and dolls NfkD and thank you for your positive vibes, which are radiating in my direction.
I am adding a photograph of the Santa Rabbits my cousin makes as part of the fundraising for her church. They are so cute but each unfortunate creature has a Chocolate Orange up his b*m!
I thought they might make the Gang-stars smile ?
These are my little light up houses from M&S.
Good Morning Lobstars,
The fund for Soop has reached its goal I believe Doodle
I am putting off clearing out the freezer cupboard. The electrician came last night to finalise where the wiring and pipes will need to go to save lifting floorboards and demolishing a wall.
In doing so he came across a "find" in the attic. (It was an opening behind the water tank in the attic which he had to crawl into). It is an ancient rusty brazier containing the remains of a hat box and what could be broken shards of a chamber pot.
The hat box lid has the words Camille and Valentine, Modes, rue de la Paix, Paris. (I have looked it up and the internet tells me it was a very expensive shop in Fin de Siecle Paree.
There is also a strip of very thick wallpaper.
Enough info for a best selling thriller?
If you are looking for a lockdown occupation Doodle you could write the best seller? 
I don't think I will see my little DGC over Christmas . Boo Hoo. But we will have a family quiz on zoom which they may join.
Your shadow puppets sound great Mamissimo
Happy Solstice everyone.
Oh Jeeves!!
Yes Grammaretto great news about the fund.
Ooh how exciting. Your house is fascinating. So many nooks and crannies. Do you ever wonder if you’ve missed something….like the deeds. A posh hat shop it does sound intriguing. I wonder what the hat was like and who it was for.
Sorry you won’t get to see your DGC over Christmas. Perhaps soon in the New Year?
No letter here Mamissimo must be because of your immunosupressed status. I hope you don’t need any treatment but at least you know you will be given the drugs should you need them.
? That Honey beagle is a little minx. I bet she wolfed down her extra breakfast before you had a chance to take it away.
How is MrM doing, is he back to his usual self feeling better now?
Nfk I think knitted teddies is one of the best pastimes I have heard of. What could be better than providing a little boy or girl with a teddie. I always loved teddies. My first teddy was an orphan. He was found lying in the road uncared for. My Aunt picked him up and took him home, washed him and gave him to me. I had him for a long time.
Saying you acquire leftover wool makes me wonder if you knit other things for yourself. Is that the case?
Like Mamissimo I hope your DH doesn’t need these drugs but I have heard they work really well.
Hope your feet have recovered from your shopping trip. Did the young lady end up with a pair?
Kaimoana ?. The question if does he have Rudolph’s red nose under that mask?
Here is a photo of a cheekily little chap who was in the Dean’s garden today stealing Leo the cats food.
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