The Lockdown Gang - carry on chatting ⭐️

BJ I've so much missed your chatty posts. Glad to have you back.

Mamissimo As before, we'll all be thinking of your DS2 and hoping, hoping for a good outcome.
And, oc course, best of luck to you as you enter into A Time of Challenge

Thank you Doodle for offering to spring me from the glasshouse - what kind of cake would it have been?
I'll post a pic of the earrings when I get them.

When I was young and sprightly I used to say I'd rather have a short and exciting life rather than a long and boring one.
Along with several of the Gangstars, we're having the best of both worlds: a long and exciting life.
I don't think anyone here lives a boring one.

A backward house which eats Deeds and turns them into breadboards; a dog who will eat everything in sight and quite a lot that isn't; a little house in Cornwall which turns out to be beautiful showpiece.
There are even ancestors with notable histories.
Who could ever be bored on this thread?

Despite the photo, they are actually very small, about 10 mm but lovely.

Thank you for your kind words, Kaimoana. Your earrings are gorgeous...and perfect for an etherial Aquarian. And you are so very right - how lucky we are to have lived this long, still with things to do and people to meet, memories to look back on and memories still to be made, God willing.

French group this afternoon, and everyone has requested that for the duration, we meet at ours, rather than at the cafe. There have been no cases of omicron reported up here, but as the whole district has been swarming with holidaymakers, this weekend is a bank holiday, and the weather looks good, another wave of visitors is expected. We can sit outside under the shady pergola here, and not be too closely packed. I do look forward to our meetings, and the others say the same, because of the non-stop hilarity.

Right, sun is up, chickens demanding, tea consumed in quantity... the day begins in earnest. Bye y'all.

Grammaretto shame about your viewing again but no you don’t want them coming after testing positive.
Oh a new boiler. That’s sounds expensive. Why do these things always happen at the same time.
Is your boiler just for hot water or does it run your heating too? I hope you have other forms of heating if it’s going to be out of action for a while. That reminds me, is the cooker working yet?
So your back door might have been the front door at some time in the past. I didn’t realise you’d been there that long or that you had to convert it back to a house from a laboratory.
It must have taken a lot of work to resort it.
Have a lovely zoom Burns night.
Boadicea I always loved stories with a bit of mystery to them. Things that had been buried for years then uncovered a bit like you. I loved it when libraries were quiet places where you could go to browse and read a bit. These days our library doubles as the council offices and is far from silent.
How lovely to have such a fluffy welcome home. You were obviously missed. ?

Kaimoana those earrings are lovely. What a special gift.
What sort of cake would it have been? ……with my baking skills a rock cake of course. If the file didn’t work we could break the windows and make our getaway. ?
When are your family coming over? Is your son cooking your birthday meal?
Boadicea have a lovely time with your group. It sounds like fun. Bonne nuit (well it is here) a bientôt (I hope that means what I think it does) ?

Ah Doodle you are such a lovely joker. You made me smile
I am holding on the line to Home Energy Scotland and have been for a while it seems everyone wants to speak to an advisor right now.
I want to apply for a loan to buy a new boiler which hopefully will save me money in the long run. Sorry you have to hear about my endless house problems but you are such good listeners!
They are going to answer my call as soon as possible. I think it's jazz I am listening to.

I love your earrings Kaimoana. Are they greenstone?

I heard some sad news at my yarn group. My neighbour is seriously ill but wanted to stay in his own home. but he has been taken into hospital and we think he will never come home again. He was born in that house and has always lived there and looked after it so well, especially his garden.

Still nobody has picked up the phone.

How sad about your neighbour Grammaretto I hope he will be able to come home again, even if just to end his days in peace.

Doodle Yes, those earrings are green, what the jeweller calls 'laboratory created emeralds' so just a wee bit better than glass

I have a mystery and things from a past age for you Doodle.
Next door to where my son lives, a developer pulled down a house so old it didn't have electricity. As the diggers worked, they turned up human remains.
Maori elders were called in and after blessing the site, a whole group of officials arrived to investigate, just in case it was a crime. It wasn’t.

It seems it was a local pà site, a fortified village or stockade.
They have found Maori artefacts from hundreds of years ago but the mystery was why bodies were buried so near to the rua (food storage pit).

It seem this had been a settlement, possibly as early as 1200 AD when the bodies were interred, and the storage pit was dug 200 or 300 years later, the people being unaware part of the site was tapu (sacred).

My DS and DGS are absolutely fascinated by all the things the archaeologists have found and one of them has promised to visit to explain in detail, with some of the finds ( my DGS was hoping for a skeleton….).

Last time my DGS was here, he saw a huge piece of obsidian on the shelf in my garden and asked if he could take it home (we both collect geological samples and fossils).

He showed this to the archaeologist as Maori used obsidian for weapons. He was able to tell the boy exactly where it came from.

So exciting!

Aha, Kaimoana - how fascinating! Where my parents used to live, on the edge of the Tauranga harbour, was the canoe landing spot for the ancient Maungatapu Pa. The beach there was used for obsidian knapping. When my kids were littlies, we spent so many happy hours at the DGPs' place, picking up buckets of obsidian flakes. My DD, aged about 4, showed them to the archaeologist from the Historic Places Trust whom I used to work for, and told him very seriously that he needed to hold them up to the light to check the colour, and if they were green, then they were from Mayor Island. He pretended that that was news to him, and was very complimentary to my budding historian.

Grammaretto have they got to the bit where they say you’re a valued customer yet? That always makes me fume. So valued they don’t answer the phone.
It’s good to hear about your house and what’s going on. This thread is really just about us chatting and our daily lives and giving the odd comforting support if we can. Not earth shattering stuff but I find it interesting to hear what others are up to.
That’s a good idea about funding for your boiler, I think there was some sort of deal in England when we got ours because we went for a combi boiler.
That’s so sad about your neighbour. So many want their last days in their own home and I can understand that. Hopefully, wherever he is, they will make him as comfortable as possible. Does he have any family nearby?
Hope you like jazz.?
Kaimoana I think it was Grammaretto who asked about the colour of your earrings. They are really nice. Do you get them on your birthday?
Wow that is a good story. I wonder if there are any more artefacts lurking under your son's house or garden.
I love the fact that you and your grandson share so many interests. Nice for him to find something out about one of your pieces.
Whenever I go to a church, castle or some very old stone building that’s been around for a long time I love to touch the stone and wonder about other people who have been there before or walking on worn away stone steps and imagine all those who have climbed them.

Ooh Boadicea you sneaked in while I was typing. ?
I expect having an interest in the history of the land, you enjoyed working for the Historic Places Trust. Is that a bit like the National Trust here that look after historic sites and maintain them?

Of course, the earliest settlement, before pa were constructed, would have been buried under the Rangitoto eruption ash layer, in the 14th century. There would be no way of knowing that the site had been occupied previously, and that it was tapu.

How fascinating and exciting Kaimoana for DGS who lives next door!
I wonder what else he/they find.
A TV programme here fronted by comedian Hugh Denis has neighbours digging holes in their gardens and showing the finds to experts. Apparently several young people have followed careers in archaeology as a result.
or geology, or in your case forensic science?
www.channel4.com/programmes/the-great-british-dig-history-in-your-garden

Like you Doodle I love to touch the stone and wonder...

Someone picked up the phone eventually, took my name and address (with difficulty) and promised I would get a phone call within 5 days.
I am now dreaming of getting solar panels and double glazing. It wouldn't be a grant just an interest free loan.
Over 75s only for grants. Why am I never the right age?.

A cousin of mine, now sadly deceased, wrote several books and one was about the surveyors of New Zealand. If I hadn't known it was by her, I would never have bought it but it is a really good read. Some of those early surveyors were incredibly intrepid
www.bookdepository.com/Caught-Mapping-Janet-Holm/9781877270864

I’d love to dig up an exciting find. Whenever I watch a programme like Time Team (which I really enjoyed) and they dig up a piece of pottery about and inch square, covered in mud and go into raptures about it, I always think I would have thrown it away as it looks like nothing to me. Obviously the eye has to be trained to spot something special.
I once picked up a pebble on the beach and when I turned it over, it had the words I love you, written on the bottom. That was a surprise ?
Hope you get your phone call back Grammaretto 5 days seems quite a long time to wait.
That’s interesting about your cousins book. What a great picture on the cover.
Been for my haircut today and a catch up with my friendly hairdresser. I’ve had the same hairstyle for about the last 20 years or so. I have very thick strong hair so not much can be done with it.
I made some cauliflower rice yesterday for the first time. I am having some for dinner tonight. I wonder how it will turn out ?. Take care all

Mornin' all,
You know, you guys in the UK are so lucky to have such amazing history all around you. And all those wonderful history/archaeology programmes that may or may not make it here. We have history too, but so much shorter a time scale, and sadly, the stunning achievements of the Pa builders are seldom recognised. Grammaretto's wonderful house is an example of "casual" age, if you see what I mean. Oh, it's just 150/200 years old. And to have letters pertaining to the lives of the inhabitants of the house-well, that's stunning! I hope you hear back well before the 5 days are up, Grammaretto. How frustrating for you. What a good idea about the solar panels and double glazing. I hope that's a dream that can come to fruition. You just need to hurry up and try harder to get to 75 for a grant. Your cousin's book looks fascinating. Imagine trying to survey those rugged mountains and valleys! Some of that land to this day has had no human footfall. Ever. That's awesome, truly.

Doodle - I'll swap you your lovely thick hair for my fine, wispy stuff anyday! My 7-year old GD has the most beautiful hair, down to her waist. She didn't get it from her granny Thick and wavy and a deep chestnut colour. Her older sister puts in in two fancy braids, each as thick as her wrist. She has the Black Scot colouring - olive skin, dark brown eyes, but fortunately, not the Black Scot temper. I hope the cauliflower rice was tasty - it's so very versatile. The story about the Loving Stone was sweet-I wonder who wrote it, and whether they still feel the same. We used to go to Portsmouth quite often, it being MrJ's spiritual home, and loved going to Portchester Castle. All over the beach around it there are Roman pottery sherds, eroded Roman roof tiles, all sorts of things. My American niece picked up some bits and pieces of pottery and took them home to Minnesota. Years later, she showed them to her history professor, who recognised one piece as being of some significance. That was enough to trigger her fascination for archaeology, and she completed her PhD at Bradford a couple of years ago - she and her DH have a company doing geophysical investigations - such an interesting career.

Kaimoana - how lucky is your DGS to have had such an experience, and to have family who encourage his interests. A granny who collects wonderful treasures is indeed abover rubies. Long may his fascination last.

We had another hilarious French session yesterday. One of my ladies needed a little break from the awful time she is going through, with her DH having only days to live. He usually comes to the classes with her, despite being 90 and very hard of hearing. He had a massive heart attack a couple of weeks ago, and will have another, fatal, very soon. I have never seen two people so in love, after all these years. She really enjoys the fun we have and the support everyone gives her in the group, but then has to return to their home to look after him in his last days. Life can be so tragic, can't it. We read a letter left by a 13-year old girl to her mum, saying that she was pregnant, had run off with her 44 year old tattooed boyfriend to live in a caravan in the woods and to grow dope, to raise lots of children, and to get married so he could get French citizenship. Horrifying stuff, until the end.
PS, I'm kidding Mum, I'm at the neighbours'. Just so you realise that there are worse things in life than my school report, which is beside your bed.
Cue lots of relieved laughter.
Off for coffee with my 89-year old physiotherapist friend. Byeeee

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202201/medium-360575-1-img-1592.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202201/medium-343455-1-img-1593.jpg

Just look at this magnificent surprise!

Thank you so much BJ and MrBJ

I LOVE them and they are beautifully fragrant too.

Glad you like them Kaimoana. I love peonies, and we rarely get them up here, sadly. I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and it sounds as though it has started already, with DGS there to get the ball rolling, in the way only 12-year olds can.

Had coffee with my 89-year old friend. So sad, she knows she has to move from the lovely house she and her late husband built 50 years ago, but just doesn't want to. Her DC are organising a family meeting to make the decision for her. She lives way out in the country, though her DS lives quite close by, in a cottage on the "farm" she owns. She says that it hasn't been said, but the DC would like the mega$$ from the house. As she showed me to my car, she pointed in the distance and said "I'm just off up to the top of the hill to check out the view." I glanced where she was pointing, and probably about half a mile away, through the bush, was a large, steep-ish hill. Even 20 years ago, I would have hesitated to tackle that hill in this heat.

I've noticed how sociable the virus has made everyone, and how happy to meet up and have fun with friends. Perhaps it's the siege mentality of the Far North. Tonight we've been invited to the Cruising Club for dinner (!) How posh is that! Neither of us has anything smart enough to wear, though I suspect it's probably shorts and tee-shirts, but compulsory shoes - that seems to be the dress code in the North. Shoes are an optional accessory up here. Tomorrow to one elderly neighbour for coffee and a stroll around his rose garden, of which he is immensely proud, and on Sunday, more coffee with the lovely German lady who lives at the back of us.

All just one big social whirl.

Thankyou for sharing the beautiful peonies with us all Kaimoana
We shall all celebrate with you.

It's NZ ds birthday too and he is holding a barbeque. 25 people is the limit and he is thinking of demanding they have all been vaxed.

I am sending him a book but the postage/shipping is impossible to predict so I have told him in advance what he's getting. He says the siege mentality in Wellington is empty shelves at the shops but they have plenty of courgettes in their garden......

I can't get over the image of a 7 yr old's thick hair to her waist BJ
Your dear friend too. It was the cousin who came last week who told me the reason she sold the family home with 4 acres, which they had built, and moved into a city flat was because she wanted to do it while she still had the choice . It wasn't someone else's decision.

Good plan but then how would you know?
I think never get too attached to a place?

Good Morning All. I'm getting rather predictable now. Once a week post but I do try. Today, I feel I can sit back and relax a little as there is little more I can do to plan and organise for the kitchen and utility room in a new home to be. We are waiting for the electrician and fitter/chippy to ring and we will be with you on ... ...

The gardener is here for his one day a month session. Two hours have past and he's done more weeding than I could do in two days two weeks.

I've had a look back for a post from Panache. Hope she is coping.

Did you keep the pebble Doodle? Hope so ?

Oh! Kaimoana . I've located my photograph album. My daughter has it. I lent it her a few years ago apparently. She is visiting in the Spring and will bring it with her.

What beautiful peonies Kaimoana and BJ. I planted my first one last year. I do hope I get blooms like that. A friend, surprised me with sending me some Isle of Scilly narcissus a few weeks ago. I wasn't celebrating anything - she thought they would boost my flagging spirits. Yes - they did - when I stopped crying. Was your birthday yesterday? My belated good wishes for you.

Good luck with any grant you can get for those home improvements Grammaretto. We have single glazing in our little cottage and it's shocking how much warmth escapes.

?I love the story of the 13 year old's letter BJ. I had me, all the way to the end.

Who could ever be bored on this thread?. You are so right Kaimoana. I'm going back to read all that has been said since my last visit.

Good afternoon ? and a belated Happy Birthday to Kaimoana ?

As we've been volunteered to board out DS' roof this weekend we decided to have an early weekend. I'm sitting doing nothing as Ive got a teensy bit of a hangover if it's Sunday afternoon.
We went to friends for dinner last night and had a splendid time as Mr M was designated driver

DD1 has exchanged on the sale of her house so the move back to her home area is on. It will be nice to have the DGC a couple of fields away ? apparently they are looking forward to helping Granny do her planting said no child ever ! I think their Mummy is hoping Granny will provide endless entertainment.

And now for a snooze......

Well, Mamissimo I'm not quite sure if you are renting the roof out to a flock of pigeons, a set of protestors (who seem to like the odd roof to perch on with placards) or whether the homeless situation is so acute in your area that you've advertised, "Open plan penthouse for rent"

I have allowed for drink taken.

Thank you for the birthday wishes, I have another day of being 74 before I reach three score years and fifteen on 30th.

Hari Huritau hoki ki to DS Grammaretto.
Yes, half-empty supermarkets here too.

muse good news about the album

My homecare didn't turn up on Friday, so no fresh food or library books or the takeaway treat my dgs was looking forward to.
The agency didn't bother to ring and tell me why Mepa wasn't coming.
It's a long weekend here, so no homecare on Monday either.

Fortunately, as the family is coming on Sunday, they can at least bring milk and fresh veg.
But the agency didn't know that.....

Dgs is still here and creating fun for me - he had pancakes for breakfast, not gluten free because, as he said (at 6am and still groggy from sleep) "It makes my numb go tonguey".

Boadicea when I was younger I didn’t appreciate my hair. It was so thick and took ages to dry sitting in front of the fire. Home hairdryers we’re not around in those days. Today I’m grateful it’s still there.
Your granddaughters hair sounds a lovely colour.
The cauliflower rice worked fine. I have bought two more whole cauliflower and intend to make rice from them and store in the freezer.
Your French session sounds such fun and a bit of light relief for the poor woman whose husband is so ill.
Your French story had me agog believing it was true until the end. ?
Really sad about your friend having to leave her home. She sounds a very fit and active lady. I hope her children are thinking more of her welfare than the money side of it. I expect she will miss the house a lot.
I wonder what sort of activities the Cruising Club gets up to? ?
Kaimoana what beautiful flowers, how lucky you are and what a nice surprise Boadicea.
Happy birthday to your son too Grammaretto hope the BBQ goes well. Wow, 25 people . He will be very busy on the BBQ. Hope they’re having something other than courgettes ?
muse always a pleasure to hear from you.
Have you chosen your kitchen units now, do tell, what colour?
I did keep the pebble (in fact I gave it to DH). Not sure where it is now.
Hope all your fitters come soon so you can finally move into your new home.
Yes I hope Panache is managing somehow. We miss hearing from her and Cherry
Mamissimo well I hope your son will cook you something nice for dinner if you’re helping boarding his loft.
How wonderful to have your DD and family back close to you again. I’m sure the DGC will love being able to pop round more often ?
Kiamoana ah I get it…..boarding out. ?
Oh dear, what happened to your homecare. The agency should have let you know.
It’s lovely you still have your DGS with you. I hope you have a wonderful birthday weekend with the family too.
We are still working on our DGDs photo book (I keep adding more pictures) . It’s lovely going through them and thinking about the fun times we had.
Have a good weekend all

Hello gang-stars,

I had a small emergency today. I had to rescue DMiL as they had a power cut which was to be all day. Although only a few miles away, my house was spared.
There are frequent power cuts in Scotland and yet we are encouraged to be all electric. Beats me, the logic.

I agree muse This thread is never boring. It is a rich seam in the mine of accumulated knowledge or as my DDiL used to say A mind of information.
That's when we discovered eggcorns . Do you all know about these?
DiL invented her own. It's when there was a word you didn't understand or hear properly but you thought you had and invented a meaning which described the object or action even better.

Eggcorn being the word for an acorn.
Puss jewel for pustule
Off his own back, rather than bat. etc.
Towing the line instead of toe-ing.

Your photo books sound wonderful Doodle
DS had a great party thankyou and looked very happy in the photos. They ate haggis and he wore his kilt.

I will send round my sparky muse when he has finished here

Well, well, our little town has achieved notoriety! The Town that Stopped Jacinda. Our PM and our Guv (Governor-General) both have to isolate owing to being close contacts of an Omicron case on a flight from Kerikeri to Auckland. So the Plague has at last reached our remote outpost. Pull up the drawbridge, time for affirmative action! I’m starting with pickling the lovely beetroot gathered from my garden yesterday.

I’m sitting here in the early morning light, slapping mosquitoes as big as…well…sparrows. Truly, they are enormous. The price of the wonderful rain we had last week. I even have woolly socks on to protect my ankles. What a picture, in my PJs and socks, clutching my second cup of tea.

I hope you are having a great birthday Kaimoana, and that you have a wonderful, love-filled family lunch, and are really spoiled with treats. I bet your DGS is making quite a fuss of you.

Doodle -Yes, the Cruising Club’s activities could definitely be a bit suspect, couldn’t they, but here was I thinking that it was a bit like Hyacinth Bucket’s – it isn’t. It’s a pleasant, woodsy clubhouse overlooking the Bay of Islands and all the yachts and pleasure boats at their moorings. Everyone is very relaxed and casual, though every person there WAS wearing shoes. We occasionally used to go to dinner at the Game Fishing Club at Whangaroa, where all the huge marlin and sharks are brought in. Now there, shoes were definitely optional. But the fish and chips they served there were so unbelievably good -straight from the water, fresh as could be, and chips that were not frozen, but made from scratch by the ladies in the kitchen.
Interesting place, the perfect, unspoiled gem that is Whangaroa harbour – pristine, bush-clad hills, by British standards, actually mountains, surrounding water that is as clear and blue as anything anywhere in the world. So many people from all over the world live there for the Northern winter, in their bush and water retreats, then back to London/New York/Moscow for their summer. We met a couple from London at the club – they run their several UK businesses from their Whangaroa home, accessible only by water, and fly back to oversee things 6 or so times a year. Well, they used to…not sure what happens for them now.

How the other 0.0005% live, eh.

I have to go out shortly and find out what’s going on with my quail. Yesterday, the brown one was being incredibly aggressive towards the black one, chasing her round and round the cage. I checked online what makes formerly friendly girl quail so nasty, but everything seemed to be in order. They have plenty to eat, not crowded, not too much sunlight, no draughts. I put the brown one (amid huge flappings and protests) into a cardboard box on her own, with straw, food and water to try to calm her down and give little Olga time to recover. If she’s still making life horrible for Olga, I’m not sure what to do. Honestly, it’s like dealing with year 6 girls…the notorious year, where they are jostling for power, on the brink of puberty...”She hates me, Miss…she doesn’t want to be my friend…she was nasty to me…”.

Time to go and sort out the girls out.

Have a lovely evening, everyone.

Wishing you an incredible birthday Kaimoana ?. Enjoy your lunch (with plenty of treats thrown in, I hope) with your family.
Sending you a big birthday cwtch x

I'm glad your DS had a great (birthday/pre-birthday) party Grammaretto ?

Thinking of you all x

Lovely to see you Cherry!!

I also hope, and am sure, that Kaimoana will enjoy her birthday. Congratulations!
???♥️?? ☀️??

It is an achievement and like DS I am sure you enjoy having a Summer birthday.