The Lockdown GangSTARS still going

Evening all. Yes Grammaretto I’m wondering how all our gang are getting on too.
It would be nice to have more company in the store. Would Friday be a busier day perhaps? Passes the time better and more enjoyable if you have people to talk to.
I might be asking a really daft question here but in my mind I think I’ve read somewhere on another thread that your have bought, stolen or acquired a parachute 🪂. Did I make that up. 🤔. Are you going hang gliding or something?
SSsh, I won’t tell but keeping my fingers crossed that loan makes it’s way to you soon.
Sending Jeeves over with his secret stash of whisky. He wouldn’t share it with anyone except you. 😊
Kaimoana what have you been up to today?
We went for a walk even though it was dark wet and chilly. Just needed to get out for a bit.
Watched a TV programme on catch-up BBC 4 last night called Winter Walks. It was with Selina Scott walking in the Yorkshire Dales. Beautiful scenery and lovely photography. There are several more to watch one is with Richard Coles and I like him so perhaps that one next.
Hope your DD is calming down a bit now Mamissimo. Takes us a while to accept something like that happening.

Where is everyone? I hope you are ok and just busy?
I don't mean you Kaimoana and Doodle but come on Gang. We want all the news!

Mind you nothing much had happened here.
A group of potters came this evening to glaze their pots.
I had a very gentle shift at the store. I was shelf filling, hanging out washing and chatting. Very few customers. The weather was awful so no surprise.
I'm going to change my day to Friday.
I daren't say it out loud but I think I may at last get the loan. I have had a new energy certificate and have sent that in. Surely there can't be more obstacles.

I think a hot chocolate for me or maybe a wee whisky!

Sending love to DD2 Mamissimo - regular sessions of deep, gentle breathing and visualising a wonderful future might help. Can you help her with that?

She needs to work at calm so reassurance from a Mama who has seen it all, suffered much and come through, could be the answer.

Hello Lobstars,

I am glad you are home safely now Doodle I can imagine the dark drive through the wet streets.
Have a really good night's sleep tonight to make up for last night.

Mamissimo Your poor dear DD2. What extra worry.

2 of our sons were made redundant and our DSil. Luckily they all found new jobs but the stress and anxiety was not good.
DSiL lost the tied house too so the whole family had to move, just after Christmas 2019. and move during Lockdown.

I am going for an early night too.
See you tomorrow,

Sweet dreams.

Mamissimo I’m sorry that’s a nasty shock for your DD when she doesn’t need it. Both my sons have been made redundant twice so I know what it’s like.
Sending my best wishes to all.
Jeeves is on his way.

Good evening 🙂

Jeeves needs to get round with the fortified hot chocolate PDQ tonight......with extra marshmallows and nonsenses all round!

DD2 is suffering an acute anxiety attack as her wonderful DH was made redundant today. He's highly skilled, qualified etc so should have options but until they've slept on it it's terrifying. She is spiralling into a hole because she's managed to convince herself that this pregnancy is doomed to failure.

All I can do is send hugs 😢

Had the scan at the crack of Dawn this morning (well 8am) dreadful trip to the hospital, dark roads many of which were flooded. Arrived 20 minutes early only to be told that the department didn’t open till 8 despite them asking us to come before. Went out to pay for parking and the machine wouldn’t accept our ticket. In the end they let us out without paying.
DH’s RLS is bad tonight. Started at 6pm which is very early. Not sure how much longer he’ll be able to stay up for.
Hope all the gang are ok . Didn’t sleep much last night for some reason so may have early night myself.
Take care all

Grammaretto sorry it’s DH who is having the scan (although I might need one too if I get even more forgetful)
It’s all part of trying to find out what’s causing his balance issues.
I’m glad Sparky rings the bell. I wouldn’t like to think of him just walking in on you unannounced while you are practicing the highland fling in your nightie 😱
How nice to have tea with your lodger. Is she a potter too or just interested because you have a studio?
Kaimoana well it’s a big island we live on here but I wouldn’t call it romantic 😊
Hope you have a dry day and the emergency vehicles don’t bring further troubles.
ixion thank you and thanks for the reminder about Nfk’s husbands appointment too. I do hope things go well. Sorry so caught up with DH I’d forgotten.
Happy New Year to you too ixion. Hope things are ok for you and yours.

Dear Ixion how nice to see you and be reminded about the hospital appointments tomorrow. I also hope that they go well.

You are so funny Kaimoana
virtually useless 3A

Thinking of you all xx

Just popping in to wish Doodle and Nfkdumpling the very best for tomorrow's medical appointments.

And to all the Gang, a very happy New Year. Thank you for your presence over the past year - always good to visit and catch up!😊

I'll be thinking about your DH and his brain scan Doodle and you of course and sending supportive vibes.

Oh dear, what have they done to Skye? I totally agree with your DH Grammaretto.

There is something intrinsically romantic about islands.
It sounds as if the bridge and the caravans have ruined it beyond redemption.

I had a very dear friend who spent most of her long life on Mull and adored it.
She and a small band of others fought hard against the influence of money a specious argument for modernisation, knowing what would happen.

We, with 6 others were Founder Members of VU3A in 2009.
We have Lifetime Membership but as it's also Virtually Inactive with 2 messages per year, if that, and no discussion whatsoever, it's also Virtually Useless.
When I think of the months of extremely hard work to set it up, I feel sad.

We've been promised half a day sans rain, so I'm going to to atack the laundry mountain.

There are multiple Emergency Vehicles speeding past - what fresh hell is this?

Sparky still has a front door key but he rings the bell these days since he fixed it
Your story of the bobbin case sewing machine nightmare Doodle had me in stitches feeling very sympathetic

I took the dehumidifier to the art centre which has suffered water damage during the storms (the roofers went away for New year leaving the building open to the elements)
I was demonstrating how it worked when it decided not to.
3 of us were looking up the online manual and eventually it started up again.

Who is having the brain scan? Is it DH or perhaps you?
Good luck with that.

Skye is quite far but there's a bus all the way.
DH would never go since the bridge opened. He said it was no longer an island. It's incredibly popular with caravans and campervans as we discovered in 2021 when I went with DDs family.

I've been invited to my lodger's for tea and then the pottery throwdown.
We did some potting today. She will use the studio in exchange for helping me with keeping it clean and the clay prepared.
We had a good laugh with the other potters. Mostly about our teenaged DC - them now and mine back in the past.

Today has been a crafting nightmare. Having finished my friend’s piece i started on my own. Got some threads caught under the bobbin so had to take machine apart to clean it (something I have done many times before).
I couldn’t get the needle plate back. If I got the two halves to fit together and lie flat they wouldn’t line up with the screw holes. If the screw holes lined up they wouldn’t lie flat. DH and I spent over an hour trying to fix it. I ended up feeling nauseous with the concentration. We had the same problem once before but neither of us could remember how we’d fixed it.
Suddenly it came to me that I had to take the flat bed off first.
Did that and the needle plate went back on no problem in about 10 seconds 😡. No sewing today I still feel headachy and sick but at least it’s fixed.
Up early tomorrow for the brain scan. Been raining all day today so not been out. Been sitting watching the clouds go by.
I’ve never been to Skye. Sounds nice. Is it far from you?
75 that’s big. Worth celebrating.
Glad Sparky’s fixed some of the problems. He must have missed seeing you so often 🤣

What lovely newsy posts.
Your crafting and chatting sounds perfect Doodle and then you did some sales shopping today. Very satisfactory.
Good to have Norway to look forward to.

The Gaelic college is on the Isle of Skye. I haven't investigated yet.
My DBiL will be 75. That's a big birthday. After 70 all birthdays are big.

Sparky came and fixed the sockets and got the lights working. He's coming back to fit another socket. Ooh the excitement!

Kaimoana your day sounds wonderful. I am glad you are better and so is the weather. You are a genius at conjuring meals - bread as well!
A bonus to see your DGD but sorry she isn't well.
Well goodnight dear friends.

Evening all. I’ve been asleep on the chair for the last hour and DH has just gone to bed because his restless legs syndrome playing up so much. I may well join him soon.
Grammaretto we did have a fun afternoon. Not sewing anything fantastic but we made pictures by using the sewing machine to sew patterned stems and then used buttons to make flowers in the stems. Just a little crafting for a couple of hours while we had a chat.
Today we went to M&S to pick up a replacement jumper for me and I spotted a nice pale blue and navy fleece in there reduced to half price. Don’t know where it came from as I’d not seen it in the shop before but it looked cosy so I bought that too.
We are hoping to go to Norway again in the summer. It’s one of my favorite places.
Where is the Gaelic College? Can you go and stay there?
I could easily spend the day doing puzzles too. I like code word. No good at scrabble because I can’t spell. I’ve been doing logic puzzles (not very good at that either but still trying)
Cold and wet today. Not nice out at all.
Is your BIL having a very big birthday? Our eldest will be 50 this year.
Kaimoana we get insurance with Saga who have been excellent up and till now. We will wait and see what happens.
We do have another company that specialises in the elderly 🤣
I always laugh at how quickly you can knock up a meal from nothing. My dear mum was just the same. What a lovely surprise to have a visit from your son.
Wow and your DGD too. What a bonus. Fantastic news about her qualifying . Sorry about her other Grandma. That’s not a nice thing to have. How sweet she wants to look after you too.
A good day I think.

Doodle the sewing with your friends sounds wonderfully cosy.

Perhaps asking an insurance broker (they are free) might get you cover? I'm sure there'll be insurance company who cater specifically for older and disabled travellers? I'd hate you to miss out on your cruise.

My broker (doesn't that sound posh but he's a friend) suggested this when I was hoping to go on a 4-day Food & Wine cruise - which never eventuated.

Gramaretto the sun has just come out signalling the end of the storm. Forecast is still for rain but I'm hoping they are mistaken.

I've had two wonderful and totally unexpected surprises. Having dropped Gubbins at daycare, my son decided to play truant from work.
It was International Shortbread Day so I already had the oven on, so it was easy to roast a chicken and baked potatoes with cauliflower.

As we chatted I kneaded a couple of mixed seed loaves; my son loves real bread so that was polished off later. He asked if I wanted a breadmaker for my birthday - silly boy I AM a bread maker!
It's ages since he was able to stay all day and we talked ourselves hoarse.

Then today Dgd1 arrived without warning and she was already hoarse, having caught some coughy bug.
She stood outside initially, waving a bottle of Feijoa wine and saying she didn't want to infect me.

I told her having survived Covid I was now invincible and made her come inside where we sat, masked like bandits and caught up on news.

She's just qualified as a Quantity Surveyor and is working for a large building firm in Tauranga.
Hard to believe she'll be 30 in May.

Sadly, one of her other grandmas (she has 3) has Motor Neuron Disease. I feel so sorry for her. She's just moved to be near her daughter (dgd's Mum).
Dgd suggested I go live with or near them as well, so they could look after me too. It was sincerely meant but would be impossible to do.

I'm now off to open the wine, hoping it doesn't taste of feijoas which I dislike.

That sounds so nice Doodle. What are you sewing?
Where are you off to this time? You don't have to say exactly 😊 cruise or other?
I hope you can get insured. I was just intending to go to France with DH without special insurance but then covid struck.

I haven't made plans except in my head
I think I'd like to go to the Gaelic college . I've heard nice things about it.

I've also told DBiL he should have a big birthday party for his big birthday in Feb.

No ofcourse Sparky hasn't been and has said he'll come tomorrow.
But I gingerly tried the washing machine in a different socket and it has worked also the dishwasher so Sherlock here has concluded tis the socket at fault .
I've packed my kiln and taken down the tree but otherwise just sat and done codewords, played Scrabble and watched TV . I also cooked leftovers into a big stew.

Hope the Gang are all well or failing that, as well as can be expected at this time of year..
I hope Jeeves is on hand with drinks.

Another busy day here. Had friend round for coffee and we did some sewing together.
Phone call from holiday company this morning. Not sure they will insure us for our trip. They will let us know Monday 🥲
Just have to wait and see.
Has Sparky been yet and are you all up and running again?
Glad you’ve not run out of underwear. If the wind picks up you might get frostbite. 🤣

So glad you are now upright Doodle.
It doesn't matter which method you use as long as you achieve your aim 😊
The wonderful scissors were found!

Disappointing that my deeds weren't there but I ll keep looking.
I've lost my last ball of wool and may have to buy another. Hope a loan isn't necessary.

I've decided January is too long a month. It's taken me a long time to come to this conclusion but I needed to be certain.
I hope your floods have subsided now Kaimoana and your Summer can begin.
Sparky is supposed to be coming later to find why the machines have stopped working in the kitchen but it may be near to midnight.
I haven't run out of clean knickers yet

Grammaretto yes DH found what he was looking for under the sideboard and we both (with a bit of creaking and groaning) managed to get up without falling over.
That’s nice for your DILs mum. A new pup for companionship. That’ll keep her busy 😊 Does she live near you, you could take it on your U3A walks.
Sounds like you had a nice sociable day and a lovely walk. Beautiful photo. Lovely views.
Jeeves is doing the rounds with hot chocolate tonight. I need a brandy in mine.
Crumbs Kaimoana what a stunning colour chert is. Fascinating find. I have a piece (very small piece) of polished jasper. Beautiful veins running through it.
Yes DH did get up with help from me. I get up like a giraffes. Legs wide apart then gradually bringing them closer together. What a pair 🤣
Been on the phone all afternoon sorting out holiday insurance for DH and then trying to sort out his medication at the surgery. Then I found I had lost my wonderful dressmaking cutting scissors. They were an expensive present and so good. Took me 2 hours of searching every nook and cranny emptying both the general and recycling bin, cupboards, drawers, under the sideboard (!) in the fridge (well you never know) . In the end I found them under a piece of material in my stash box ………and before you ask Grammaretto, no your deeds weren’t there with them. 🤣 so pleased to have them back. I need an early night now to rest.

I am so sorry to hear about Honey Beagle. I know you'll look after her.

The Strawberry sounds wonderful

This IS chert, cut and semi-polished and about 396million years old.
One of the geological specimens in my garden.

If I could see it through a microscope, chances are it will contain hundreds of minute, fossilised creatures.

Is DH up yet Doodle?

Ah hello Lobstars.
I hope the Dude has managed to get to his feet. Did he find something under the sideboard?
Christmas tomatoes can stay up another day here.
I spoke to NZ for ages and heard about the floods. It's raining in Wellington too but it's not so bad.
Keep safe and warm Kaimoana

Sad to hear that Honey B isn't too well.
She's in the best place and so well looked after.

I hope DD and the strawberry are flourishing.

DiL's mum has got a new dog and is very happy. Both her dogs died and she was too old to get a rescue dog so she's gone for a smallish crossbred pup. Part Border terrier part something else😃.

I have had a catching up day today. Catching up with all my DC and then walking out into the street and immediately meeting old friends who congregate at the community lunch.
Later I caught the bus to Peebles to explore the sales and walk along the Tweed.

Jeeves can bring me hot chocolate. Thanks.

Hmm Christmas tomatoes….Christmas tomorrow 😲

Kaimoana that flooding looks awful.. it’s been raining here a lot too but nothing like that. The stream at the back of our property has risen considerably and is about 20 ft wide now.
Wow 800th . Yes we’re still here and how lovely to have heard from so many lobstars around Christmas and New Year.
Mamissimo I hope Honey Beagle is ok. I think you’re attitude is right not to put her through unnecessary trauma as long as she’s not in pain. I must confess all 3 of our dogs never ate dog food for long and I ended up cooking chicken and rice for all of them. Hope your DD and the strawberry are doing well. Yes I’m packing up Christmas tomatoes too. The place will look bare without the decorations and lights.
DH is on his knees looking for something he thinks may be under the sideboard. I wonder how he’s going to get up 🤔
Sleep well all.

Not chert......cheer 🙂