The Lockdown Gang - still chatting ?

Dear Mamissimo what a turmoil for you all. I take heart from the fact you are all strong - and determined Keep smiling.

Doodle the Dean is looking very gaunt these days. I wonder if it's because he's retiring - or if it's come just in time?

Speaking of 'gaunt' (no, BJ not John of ) my friend Phil, is what I would describe as gawky, not a spare ounce on him and I am fairly sure his diet is inadequate too.
As a result of the tumour diagnosis, he's lost so much weight the oncologist has put him on steroid as he's not strong enough for chemotherapy. He'll be assessed after Easter but we all know chemo is, in itself, deadly.
That's all the news I have from him at the moment.

Last night I closed my front door for the first time in 8 months, the rain was absolutely chucking down. Bright and 25 degrees today though.

Grammaretto It must have been a very welcome change of scene to come to you. Poor Cushie needed the break as much as you needed help.

Thank you for your thoughts on Monday. I don't anticipate this will be a sad funeral but I'm looking forward to seeing Jeremy and giving him a hug (oooh, is it allowed under our Red Alert scheme?) I doubt Jeremy will obey those rules anyway

A poshe tea in an hotel eh? Don't forget to stick out your wee pinkie like Ma Broon.

My favourite was always Daphne (aka me).

How would Sparky have any time for spooning? And if he did, you'd see even less of him.

muse when I am dragged return to the UK, may I rent your old cottage? I won't need any mod cons. Simple living with an oil lamp or two, a portable gas ring and a comfy bed is all I require. Oh, and frequent visits from Mya.
My idea of bliss.

I like the powerful poem BJ and can think of a few people to whom I could quote the first two words.

Mr M, DD1, DSiL, both DGDs have covid.......so far I've escaped but all bets are off! Have been reading but bit choked up. Keep your fingers crossed! X

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Evening all. Been busy today. Stripped beds, cleaned bathrooms, walk, hair wash and now relaxing with a cup of coffee.
Grammaretto you and Cushie have been busy. She has been a good helper. You will miss her when she moves on.
Does your Df have stables where the horse manure comes from. 8 sacks sounds a lot but I suppose if you have a big enough garden not to much. I always love a good trip to the dump recycling centre. Like you I enjoy clearing out rubbish.
Afternoon tea with your DMIL sounds nice. I hope you have dainty sandwiches and scones and cake. ?
Kaimoana I am so disappointed for Heather that her wishes aren’t being respected and that many of her friends will be unable to attend due to the distance.
I hope you do get to read your piece for her.
Only thing you can do is remember what a lovely wedding day she and Jeremy had with your help.
Hope Karen is regaining her strength.
Muse there may well be pictures that aren’t so good. We have the same here but you do have some lovely areas and it must bring great pleasure to you going for walks with Mya in the woods.
Boadicea I thought you might like to see a photo of the Dean during service this morning sitting in the greenhouse with the turkeys. Mr Darcy is the father and Jane the mother and they have 3 males and 1 female little (!) ones.
Thank you for the poem.
Yes must remember to get my glasses fixed before our holiday.
Glad your family are feeling a bit better. You certainly have a full week with your Medieval history and your U3A groups.
The food parcel sounds very tempting.
Hope all goes well with the specialist.
Kaimoana just read your second post. So pleased your lovely son will be taking you. Time for a good natter,

How nice that DS will accompany you to the funeral Kaimoana
I shall be thinking of you. Sad times but with very happy memories.

That poem is so special BoadiceaJ thankyou.
My week is filling up fast including afternoon tea at an hotel with DMiL
I'm sorry to raise hopes of a romance. muse. Cushie is getting over a big one so not in the market. Df's son is certainly no romantic. He texted her to say his filling had fallen out. Not an attractive chat-up line and I have given up hope of finding a partner for Sparky. or of seeing him any time soon

Kaimoana - this posting was going to my DS, near Palmie - yes, I know, I know...Beyond The Black Stump ... Here it is, 5.30 pm, just finished my zoom seminar and checked...and it's not been delivered. Quelle surprise...They have little in the house to eat and no-one to deliver.
SO happy your son can take you to the funeral, and that you have the time to chat and laugh and touch base...

I'm astonished you get Customs clearance for fresh fruit BJ - I thought both Oz and NZ were very strict about that sort of thing because of the bugs, mould and bacteria.

Knowing I wouldn't ask my son to take me to Heather's funeral, he's stepped in anyway.

I didn't want to give him an extra burden but in fact it will give him a break.

We'll be able to talk there and back. He's such a lovely person.

What a lot of activity on here! So much to read and inwardly digest, so many interesting and altruistic deeds...

Kaimoana - I love the way you speak of your friends with so much love and compassion. You know so many courageous and heroic people out in our society, who are normally invisible to most, and treat them with such kindness. I’m so happy that Karen is out of hospital, but so saddened that she is forced by the institutions to work when she is simply not able…it’s so very Victorian, so profit-motive driven, so unfeeling. Not the NZ that proudly led the world in social experiments of welfare and care.
What a beautiful bride, and how sad. I hope Heather and her Jeremy had years of joy in each other, and that she can be farewelled surrounded by those who love her.
Lovely that DGS can come for a whole week! I hope you spoil each other rotten – what fun that will be!

Grammaretto -I am so sad for you, coping without your lovely MrG. Another lady of boundless courage and admirable determination. How wonderful for you, that you have such a loving and close family, physically distant though one branch may be.
You and Cushie still working like navvies I see. Heaving bags of manure around is quite a challenge, but the result is always so gratifying, come summer. Good luck with the new specs!The bowls sound beautiful – what a clever lady you are! The pottery day sounds like brilliant fun…lucky girls. And I love the idea of a poetry-reading gathering. People always seem to come up with interesting and unusual poems.
One of my favourites is from “Odysseus” (Tennyson):

Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

It’s very special to MrJ and me for many reasons.

Doodle - another glasses-breaker! I just seem to scratch my lenses, for some unknown reason. They are very expensive in NZ – a fact that makes me very cross, when I can get 2 pairs in Australia for less than half the price – in fact, the difference would pretty much pay for my airfare! Yes, casual clothes are so comfortable, aren’t they! Not looking forward to having to change my shorts for jeans. The mornings are now a little cool, though days are still warm. The bulk of my tiger figs are just ripening now, though so slowly. Roasted with sugar and cinnamon, they are really yummy, though very calorific.

At 4 pm, there’s another Zoom seminar with the Uni of Auckland, which looks interesting, so I’d better go and get organised shortly. Tomorrow to Whangarei again to the specialist, and to have lunch with my cousin and ill husband. Thursday is really full-on, running 2 U3A groups…I’ve spent most of the day preparing materials. Friday is my Mediaeval History group, which I don’t run, just have to sit there and enjoy someone else doing all the work. My covid family are a little better, and will be out of isolation tomorrow, though I doubt that DS1 will be able to go to work, and DIL certainly won’t. I hope their care package gets there today, or the fruit will spoil, and the baking probably squashed. I’ve also ordered a bulk pack of artisanal beef pies from a farm that makes gorgeous ones, using the meat of their own happy cattle who spend their whole lives outside in the sunshine…yes, I know it sounds unhealthy, but they are so delicious that I hope they will tempt the invalids.

Right, up, up and away…Cheers folks x

Thank you Kaimoana for sharing who Karen is. She is definitely one in a million and I'm glad you packed her off home for some more R+R. I did read all your sad news about the dear friends but some lovely memories of that wedding.

It's good to hear news about Panache. Zooming will certainly bring her in touch with many.

I've got my nosey hat on Grammaretto. Please keep me us informed of the budding, prospective romance. I really do not know how many pair of reading glasses I have. There's one special pair I chose from the opticians but the others are cheap ones because I fear I do not look after them very well and leave them in a variety of places from the polytunnel to the car. Hope you get a new pair soon. What an excellent garden day you had getting all that compost. Looking forward to seeing what you have grown later this year.

Doodle the photos of our abode are carefully chosen. Very carefully! There are many that show it in a different light. Think of Steptoe's Yard plus some brambles. MrMuse collects a variety of things. Many are in a state of repair for when he has time and these stand alongside the piles of assorted metals ready for the scrap merchant.

I had promised myself an early night so it's off to bed. ?

Take care Lobstars ?

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Sorry Doodle I forget sometimes.
Maumaharatanga is a memorial service.

Heather's funeral is to be held 30 miles away and was arranged by an aunt who lives 500 miles from Auckland and hasn't seen Heather for over 20 years. Why it wasn’t done by husband Jeremy, who’s arranged everything else, I do not know.

This venue will make it almost impossible for life-long friends from the disabled community, to attend. I can’t get there either but hoping to make a visit to the funeral home, if a lift can be arranged, sometime over the weekend.

If so, I’ll be able to do the requested blessing (also denied by the aunt who ‘doesn’t agree with all that Maori stuff’, if Jeremy wants me to.

It will be unofficial but fulfil Heather's dearest wish that her Maori heritage be honoured.
Odd isn't it that an English woman will do this?

Here's a couple of happy pictures of Heather and Jeremy on their wedding day.

And a shot of their flatmate at that time, Matthew, watching us dash about like chooks without heads, setting up the hall with fancy wedding decorations.

Thanks Doodle for passing on messages from Panache and for giving her our love.
I am glad that she is learning new skills and keeping busy.
I like your purple blob. It looks fine and delicate.

I have given DS the bowls and forgot to photograph them. They were shades of blue and quite large.

Cushie and I did the manure run today. We drove to my df place and filled my car with about 8 sacks of horse manure. There were tiny lambs in the fields. Then we did two tip runs to get rid of a lot of garden rubbish. Sorry to lower the tone but it was most cathartic.

A hot choccie would be most welcome now please Jeeves.

Glazed blob…

Dear Gang, I have just has a lovely message from Panache. She sends you all her love and says her heath is still problematic but her days are full and not long or miserable.
Friends are still around and Panache is learning new skills on zoom. I sent our love in return as I’m sure that’s what you all would wish.
Kaimoana what fun it will be to have your DGS for a week. I bet there will be plenty of baking and fun and games when he’s with you. Planting bulbs will be a lot of fun and I’m sure Miss Gubbins will love being in charge helping. ?
Well how lovely to have Karen back but it doesn’t sound as though she should be out and about. I’m glad it wasn’t Covid but a lung infection is still serious. I hope she has had the right antibiotics to deal with it properly.
You are very kind to take such good care of your support people. I expect that’s why they go the extra mile for you too.
What sort of service/gathering is a Maumaharatanga?
Grammaretto firstly how lovely to give your son some bowls you had made for him and secondly how nice it was that he was so pleased. Have you any photos?
Many happy returns to him tomorrow and to your DGD today.
Not many girls can have a pottery day with their friends. What a lovely thing to do. Wish I could join you, though with my skills I doubt there would be many takers for a glazed blob.!
I think it’s a lovely idea to have a small gathering for your friend and read poetry. I hope it all goes well.

Karen is a trooper! What a woman. I am glad you managed to persuade her to leave the chores alone.
Kaimoana I am also glad you will have DGS for a whole week and perhaps see Gubbins too?
I haven't decided on a poem for Friday. I will think of something. or listen to the others
DS1 came unexpectedly to visit with his dog who has stitches in his head after what they think was a bee sting. Dog not man. I gave him some bowls I had made for him and he said it was the best present I had ever given him! It is his birthday tomorrow. It's his DD's birthday today and she and a friend are coming for pottery during the holidays.

Doodle thanks for your concern. I don't know how I manage without DH. I think there may be some kind of anaesthetic in the brain not discovered yet that numbs the senses for a while. I will probably land with a thud.....

I bought myself some new specs yesterday having managed to break 2 pairs. An arm off the first and a lens from the next!

Great to see you Cherry as always thinking of others. How are you?
Are all our other Lobstars awol?
See you later. Stay cosy/cool whatever is appropriate.

I very much appreciate your message Cherry and the cwtchs were certainly comforting and helpful. In fact I have good news today So thank you xxxxxx

My dgs rang yesterday to say he can't come this weekend but the one after, being Easter, he would like to stay for a week
We talked for an hour and he had me in fits of laughter.

Unexpectedly, Karen walked in this morning . She came out of hospital on Saturday and wanted to work today. She looked, sounded and clearly felt dreadful but insisted she could manage - but I wouldn't let her, she could hardly breathe, let alone work and she’s lost a lot of weight.
It was not Covid after all but a lung infection

The only thing I needed desperately was fresh milk, so when we’d got that, I sent her home, as I did with Mepa on Friday. It’s a measure of how grim she was feeling that she didn’t argue.

If the agency won’t look after my support people, then I have to.

The memorial sounds lovely Grammaretto, what poem will you take?

I have a reading I'll be offering at Heather's Maumaharatanga, I like it because it's not sentimental or too sugary.

The daffodils are gorgeous.

When dgs comes to stay, we'll go to the Mall, have a meal and buy Spring bulbs to plant in the tubs on my deck.

I'd also like some cyclamen. Perhaps Gubbins will help with those?

More news about friends as it comes in......

look after yourselves everyone.

Grammaretto Cushie has obviously been a big hit with your DF son. No Hope for Sparky then.
I’ll have a look at that film. I’m just a big kid at heart.
You fed Sparky supper…….no wonder he keeps coming round. Anyone who works for us gets a tea and biscuit. ?
My DH is my best friend too. Can’t imagine how I’d cope so it must be really hard for you. Glad you have friends to share some things with.
We must be twins. I have broken my glasses too. The arm fell off. Must try and get them fixed next week.
Can you see to watch TV or read without them?
Any idea when your oven will be working?
Nice you’ve had a social occasion with your tenants and you get on with them. Must make things easier.
It’s always difficult to make decisions about care. I know my DILs sister (who has no children) wasn’t keen on her mum going into a home when she broke her collar bone. She only visits once a week while my DIL has a job and two children and a house to care for and ended up doing all the hospital visits physio runs, shopping, ironing, cooking etc.
It really is up to the people who do the caring as to whether they can cope or not. Could MIL have some paid help perhaps?
Kaimoana such sad news of your friends and neighbours.
I am still hoping for better news of Karen. Sometimes these things all come at once and it’s like being battered by a storm.
I hope you are coping with all this sadness. Hope next weekend you get a visit from a certain young man to cheer you up.
Boadicea thank you for your nice comments about my top. It is pretty but the reason I bought it was because it is loose and light. Keeps me cool (when sometimes my internal thermostat goes on a rampage) . Apart from on a cruise when I have to make a bit more of an effort I exist in joggers and T shirt or jeans most of the time. Only change in summer is I have some light loose cotton trousers. Sandals or flat shoes no heels.
I’m more comfortable like that.
Ooh I’m drooling. Figs in brown sugar and cinnamon. ?
Oh I’m so sorry, I’ve just read about your family all coming down with Covid. I hope they improve quickly and you have good news soon. What a worry.
Hope you enjoyed your coffee with your friend.
Please don’t get confused in the kitchen. You brewing horse poo and MrJ cooking Boef bourguignon. ?.
Oh Cherry ? hello. Lovely to hear from you. Hope you are ok and Tiggerish. Take care x

I've just been reading ...

I am saddened to read about your very dear friend Karen Kaimoana, and all the so many of your friends are going through. Life can be so cruel, it almost makes me angry sometimes. I hope Karen is improving and will make a good recovery and your other friends are receiving the best of care, most of all I hope you are bearing up as it must be so distressing for you. Sending you a bundle of cwtches ? x

Doodle, I will get back to ... possibly before you even read this.

Take care LobStars

Hello gang,

Such sad posts to read today Kaimoana . I hope you are not taking it too hard.
Although the memorial for a df was postponed due to covid, a group of us neighbours, friends and a sister are getting together informally next week to have a drink and recite a poem or two.

Sparky was here until 11pm but the kitchen is only a bit further on. He says he will have to come in the daytime to do the noisy sawing. he didn't say which daytime
I had lunch with the tenants yesterday. They seem lovely and have settled in and like the flat.

Plans afoot to move DMiL because the current family " care package" has been deemed unsustainable by her DC.
My adult children are outraged, I am worried but ultimately these 2 ,her DC have had the work and responsibility for a few years now and have the final say and want what's best for everyone.

I hope your poorly family get better quickly BJ sending ((hugs)) and

If you ever drove down here BJ you could get to my home without ever touching 'the big city' as I am north west.
Don't hesitate to fill your boot with figs, avos, mandarins and of course, your DH.






I may keep him

No news of any of my poorly friends, though it seems Mike is unlikely to come out of hospitl but may go into a hospice. I didn't tell you about Mike who lives in our tiny street. My last post was bad enough.

Just in from a morning at the Farmers' Market, and coffee with my friend. Avocados $1 (50p) each for huge ones. Artisan cheeses, locally made-so yummy. A coriander plant, which I must plant a) in the shade - they hate heat, b) where Doreen can't eat it.
Picked up 4 large bags of horse poo on the way back - wonderful stuff. Going to start brewing it in big plastic bins this afternoon.
MrJ has made a gorgeous smelling boeuf bourguignon while I've been out. Yummy.
Family no better today...DS says "It's not a nice bug". Maybe a box of avocados and home-made biscuits will halp a little. Feel so powerless to help.

KM - for the second morning in a row, we've been visited by a piwakawaka in the kitchen...chatting vociferously while perching on a light fitting. Makes me anxious.
(Piwakakawaka (fantail) in the house is a harbinger of death, for the UK crew's info)

Oh Kaimoana - I'm so very sorry to hear of your losses. How terribly sad to lose such close friends. Thinking of you and sending arohanui. xx

KM - have you heard anything about Karen this morning? I do so hope all is well with her. Such a friend is above rubies, that's for sure. Weta don't seem to be anything like as common as they were in my childhood, when they terrified the life out of me. They seemed so huge to a little person. Even now, my pulse rate rises under a ponga tree as I cut dead fronds back. Sorry that you haven’t had your DGS with you this weekend…I wish you were next door, so we could pop in for coffee and a giggle! That big city driving is quite scary these days, sadly

Doodle - your top is lovely...I like the colour combination. What I love about living up here in the north is the informality. No-one dresses up for anything, except the JAFA immigrants, of which there are thousands (JAFA = Just Another F..... Aucklander" - apologies for lowering the tone of the conversation.) All my nice working clothes are in storage - Just In Case, but it will soon be time to pass them on to the charity shop. I like the idea of you in joggers and trainers ...so comfortable and worry-free.

Grammaretto - wonderful that Sparky is back! Do you suppose that romance could be in the air, now that Spring is almost sprung? Lovely about the ballet…so sweet. And nostalgic, looking back at my DD in her costumes. Wonderful that Cushie has done such a good job and that you have lots of firewood for next winter.

Muse - your beautiful garden looks positively Arctic…keep warm and have lots of that ginger wine. All therapeutic, of course. How does Mya react to the cold?

It’s quite sad that we’re back to non-daylight saving, so the evenings are closing in from now on. But I love the bright early mornings, and enjoy my first cuppa in the dawn light rather than the dark. We had a load of firewood delivered, so are ready for when the first chill days arrive…in what is laughingly described as winter up here. I’m a little overwhelmed with figs just at the moment … they have suddenly all come ripe at once. I’m freezing them after roasting in brown sugar and cinnamon, as they’ll be useful in the winter.
We’ve lost another branch off the big mandarin tree – far too much fruit for it to cope with, which is sad. I estimate that we’ve lost about 60-80 kgs of mandarins because of the storm ☹
DS1 contacted me yesterday to say that they are all down with covid. DGD (6) came home from school with it, “fatigued and lachrymose” according to her Dad (you can tell he’s a teacher…). Then DS came down, quite ill, DGS negative RATs, and finally DIL, who is really very poorly. No news this morning, so I hope all is well, though I was very concerned about her, as she’s coping with her DM with terminal cancer, works far too hard, travelling regularly (TV camerawoman). I have a care package ready to go tomorrow morning, with baking and produce…hoping that it will get there in a timely fashion and in one piece, unlike the last one.
Off out to have coffee with a friend from out of town at the farmers’ market shortly, so must get the washing out and tidy up a little.
Keep warm and safe, everyone x

muse I could just do with a good, warming Ginger Wine it's a coolish morning.

Of course she was the best dancer Grammaretto, goes without saying
Thanks for thinking of Karen, it means a lot. Unfortunately there's more bad news. Anyone who doesn't want to read it, stop here.



Yesterday, I rang a good friend of 30 years to remind him we still hadn't had that coffee and cake outing we'd promised ourselves.
If you remember, he's the guy who will be at my door only minutes after I've asked him about a computer problem I can't fix for myself?
He has a malignant tumour on his lung and taking the prognosis quite hard.
As am I.

This morning my phone rang just after 6.30 and I thought one of our kaumatua has died but it was to let me know that Heather, the girl I 'gave away' and organised her wedding (if anyone remembers that far back) had also died.

In the photo you see her at far right, then Grace one of the carers, Heather's husband Jeremy and on the chaise longue, Sue, their long-time carer.
She it was who phoned me.

Photo is of a hilarious tea at my house a couple of years ago.
Heather and Jeremy are also long-time friends, which is why, I suppose, she wanted me to give her away and do the whole wedding.

It was supposed to be in their garden but an hour before it was due to start, the heavens opened and we had to rapidly move all the plastic chairs, tables, a flower-decorated trellis arch and food.

Finding a new venue for 100+ guests within the hour was my job but we made it, setting up the trellis and decorating the table as we still dripped with rain!

It was a lovely wedding, so happy.
Although the groom was a bit cheeky; when asked who he loved, he said 'Lynda' , grabbed my hand and kissed it

The next time I'll see him will be at the funeral.

So April hasn't been the happiest month so far.

Sparky is here, hooray. I have just fed him supper. Cushie is out to dinner. DF son offered to show her around the Borders and they are eating together. Not sure if it's a date.
We watched a sweet film last night. A low budget film probably for children of all ages
My df's DD stars in it. www.imdb.com/title/tt14013304/

You are quite right Doodle and Kaimoana it is so important to have a friend who shares your beliefs and understandings. I don't have one special friend anymore I miss DH but I do have friends to share some things with and others for other things.

I'll bet your small DGD was the best Doodle
Mine was the funniest.
I told the older one that she hadn't put a foot wrong. "Oh yes I did grandma, I fell over, but I got up again"
I said I hadn't noticed which is true so she must have kept in time to the music

I used to bake for the cafe Doodle, when I had an oven....
I have broken my glasses- very annoying as I need them for reading.
I have another pair but can't find them because I can't see without my specs!
Come on Jeeves - pour me a nice drink. I don't mind what but warm and tasting of chocolate would be acceptable.What are you all wanting?