The Lockdown Gang still chatting

Mamissimo you're a powerhouse!

Have the BZ introduced you to Brazilian food yet? It's very good Grammaretto. I have a dear BZ friend who came here with no skills and is now a chef de cuisine at a large and very elite cafe in the city and teaches a cookery course to budding chefs.

Well, it's been a disastrous day for me and Karen - and Kawhe Kaumatua is cancelled tomorrow - and it's still cold and of course, raining. Will it ever stop?

I do hope this sort of winter doesn't circle round the globe and hit the UK.

Despite all this negativity, I think I feel a little better in myself today. Might even tackle the book.
It seems my story has been short-listed for Flying Solo, despite my defying the weird editor

Edinburgh castle this evening

Genealogy can be fascinating can't it Mamissimo Do you do it on line or do you have to visit places to see the original documents? Like in WDYTYA?

I hope your chemo is bearable. Sending ♥️

Thanks for the reminder Ixion that not all foraged food is edible. I saw some of the coverage of the Australian poisonings.
Poor folk. It can't be a pleasant way to die
Though I did read that death cap toxins are being used to kill cancer cells in mice.

Good luck for DH tomorrow Doodle

I went to a wonderful concert in the Usher Hall today in which my df DGS was singing. Afterwards we, parents, DGP and siblings had an Italian meal in a very busy restaurant.
When I got home, I'd been locked out!
BZ had double locked the door. Luckily I phoned him and he seemed to understand and let me in.

Thanks for the nice hot drink Jeeves. Not sure what it is but it's hot and wet. I'm hoping for a gentle day tomorrow.

grammaretto believe me I have thought more than once of buying DH some Beyoncé padded pants to enhance his nether regions.
Good you didn’t lose much in the freezer fiasco. On a quick read through I thought kilt sock flashes in the freezer was something you’d gathered in your foraging the other day along with the ink caps and jelly fungus. 🤔
Mamissimo good description about the people in the weather house. It’s like that here.
Hope your visit to chemo goes well. Does it have any bad side effects? Nice of you to take your friends out.
Your genealogy searches seem quite extensive and very interesting. Are people amazed when you tell them what you’ve found out?
Gracious they must be desperate doing it out in the open in this weather.
ixion a draw is better than a loss so double Pom Pom practice from your and Cherry is needed I think.
Has MrI decapitated all your flowers thinking them to be weeds I wonder.
Kaimoana hope you’ve had a lovely day with the doggies.
Hospital visit again for DH tomorrow so up nice and early. Still it’s a good place to have lunch after his treatment,
Sleep well all.

Dogs and Gubbins, Kaimona - how lovely. Feast or famine I guess? It seems to be a feature of many singletons that they grow up amazingly articulate and self-assured. I don't know how frazzled their parents are with so much one-on-one!

Your foraging does sound fascinating, Grammaretto, tho' I am mindful of the tragedy befalling the Scottish laird a decade or so ago who picked the wrong sort 😱 .
More sinister motives currently being attributed to the Australian cook and hostess ...

What fascinating commissions you have on the go Mamissimo. My lot were particularly unadventurous but, therefore, easy to locate. I was particularly aggrieved that (nice) homes in Pimlico were not retained, especially now googling the addresses, but I daresay we piled umpteen into a couple of rooms and struggled to find the weekly rent☹️.

Our team played its first match of the new season yesterday. We drew be grateful for small mercies, think me and my Match Buddy will have to try harder with the pompom shaking.

I finally managed to persuade Mr.I that the time had come to get help in the garden or move, a no-no, apparently.
We have 'help', of the Mow and Blow School of Horticulture kind.
Think Edward Scissorhands minus the expertise.

Good morning 🙂

I've been up a while and have ordered the bored beans to sow in October for next year - and the shallots, garlic and onions. I need to do some serious harvesting but the darned weather keeps defeating me as damp veg go off rather quickly. I feel like the little people in the weather house because every time I stick my head out it rains.

It's going to be a quiet week for us for a change - it's my turn in chemo unit again and we need to take some friends out to lunch because they're post surgery and can't drive for six weeks and are becoming crabby bored with each other 🙂

I have several genealogy commissions on the go at the moment including a fascinating family Dutch family from Barbados who married other people's slaves and a local family whose DNA seems to be all from within a ten mile circle. I've got them back to Tudor times and am unlikely to get back much further because the church records run out..... I reckon if you scratch them chalk streams would come out rather than blood!

Yesterday DD1 and family were walking in a pretty valley in Shropshire when she spotted a couple in the throes of being very naughty in a public place extreme passion. She quickly turned to the DGDs and told them to yell ''DADDY" at the top of their voices.....and was very pleased to see the couple grab their modesty belongings and run for cover before the girls spotted them. DSiL says he will take a pea shooter next time they go rambling!

It's raining yet again so I'll get cracking with the Barbados mob...

Hello again Lobstars,

I hope you enjoyed the time with the little dogs again Kaimoana and please let your DS know that he is more than welcome to stay here next year if that means I'd meet Gubbins

I'm probably in some guide books anyway!! 😅

I'm quite surprised you haven't already made DH some padded trews. Doodle
you are so ingenious and clever on the sewing machine. 😅

Nothing much lost from the freezer. I don't eat meat so there's mostly fruit, veg and bread which I refroze. There were some kilt sock flashes being saved from moths and some ice-cream tubs filled with unlabelled and unappetising soup which I was more than happy to chuck

You are quite right about the G&T needing ice meant I found out quickly 😉

Kaimoana hope you enjoy your doggy visit.

Don’t know what’s happened to my iPad but the print on screen is tiny. I can hardly read it.
Grammaretto DH is turning a lovely shade of purple. He’s ok. I should really get him a pair of padded trousers and a motorcycle helmet to keep him out of danger.
Oh dear, I hope you didn’t lose too much from your freezer. Good job you were having a drink or you might have not caught it for a while.
I love your foraging photos. Enchanters nightshade sounds like something the wicked witch would use on Snow White.
Your guide must be very knowledgeable in these things.
Jelly fungus sounds like a cross between dessert and mould.
Whatever does it look like?
Kaimoana how lovely another visit. What a chatty young lady Gubbins is. You must love your little conversations now she’s older. Ooh I hope they stay close to you. You would miss them so much.

I hope so too Grammaretto. DS also said they plan to spend Christmas 2024 in Edinburgh.

What kind of day? Do you need to ask? Rainy.

But to be fair we did get spurts of sun now and then. Still bitterly cold though.

I use Linden often, it makes a beautifully light soporific tea.
Elder is the sacred tree and useful for so much - if you can get at the berries before the birds.


I had a whole series of Flower Fairy books with lovely folk names in them. Bacon & Egg for Bird's Foot Trefoil made me laugh.

Your nightshade which isn't, is Fuinseagach in Gaelic. I've no idea how to say that It was once used to allieviate gout apparently.

The dogs are coming today.

Gubbins wasn't a baby for very long. She is so wise beyond her years. I hope she's not spirited away to the UK Kaimoana I really do

The foraging was fun as usual and so informative. We learned all about alder , elder and linden. We found ink caps and jelly fungus, burdock and meadowsweet.
Here's a photo showing enchanter's nightshade. I don't suppose it's edible but don't our plants have wonderful names.

Tomorrow the BZ are going to Glasgow to meet their next host. They will be looking after someone's house and pets while they are on holiday. I am going to a concert in the evening.

What kind of a day has it been for you all?

Grammaretto what sort of things do you usually find when foraging?

We have a directory here, not just of wild places to gather food but gardens which have agreed that people can come and pick.

Currently, NZ is awash with lemons and Karen brought some. I meant to make Lemon Curd but haven't felt up to it.

Wonderful surprise today when DS and Gubbins visited again after her monthly portrait session.

Although still shy, she chatterred away to me exactly like an adult.
'Grandma, do you know where the hammer is for my piano (xylophone)?'
DS had promised her a trip to the playground but as she explained, 'It's not the big playground, I'm too little to go there and I'm too little to go to football as well.' What a joy she is.

Then, when they'd been here a few hours, 'Okay Daddy, I've had enough, let's go to the playground.'

The UK idea is on the table again

Good evening Lobstars,

I hope everyone is ok.
A good thing you left Mr scary sweary to his own devices, Doodle and his loud music. A good thing too that his partner has got away from him!

I don't know what to suggest for bruised DH. As long as he isn't in pain that's the important thing.
My DH wouldn't have gone to a spa but the hot pools in NZ were bliss for him
I think being in nature was the important thing.

I did some gardening today and harvested peas and beans. I was about to start cooking but thought I'd pour a G&T first only to find no ice!!! The freezer was rapidly defrosting. BZ had accidentally turned off the freezer while he was charging the lawnmower battery at the same sockets ..
Thank goodness I found it before everything was ruined. As it was I threw out quite a few things but hope the fruit and veg and bread will be ok
Imagine having to drink my G&T without ice. Scandalous.😞

Poor Mr BZ he was very apologetic. They had climbed Arthur's seat today and found it quite a climb.

Tomorrow I am going foraging again with my df and about 20 others. I wonder what we'll find.
Jeeves I had better stick to tea tonight. ... or hot chocolate.

Thinking of the rest of the gang and hoping everyone is ok.

Kaimoana at last we have had some sun here.
Yesterday (whilst still at the coast) we found a delightful quiet car park overlooking the sea and sat there for a quiet bit of reading. All was well for about an hour then another car pulled in with its music blaring out. I did feel like going and asking the driver to turn it down but in the end was quite glad I didn’t go near him. Having turned the music off he then made a phone call to his estranged partner /wife/ mother of his children maybe. Every other word was F this and F that at the top of his voice. Shouting and swearing and getting very heated. All about their split up and how it was her fault. We packed up and left him to it. Couldn’t stand it any more.
DH not feeling too good this morning so we had a restful day at home. He seems better now but tired,
It’s a good suggestion about the spa/ pool but it’s not DHs sort of thing to be honest. His bruises are now coming along nicely but sitting down is painful. I’d send you a picture but it wouldn’t be acceptable 😱
Grammaretto your BZ are certainly keen to work. Hope they leave your bees and butterflies alone.
Oh I agree. I hate it when people answer the phone in shops and then leave you standing there. That must have been an interesting conversation. Were you asking whether his chickens were sweet smelling? 🤣

East west home's best as they say Doodle but I'm glad you enjoyed the vitamin Sea.

I hope your poor DH has a fall free weekend.

I have had to rescue my meadow from being chopped down by over enthusiastic BZ.
It's for the bees and butterflies but how to explain that?
The shop phone kept ringing while I had a queue of customers today and I insisted on not answering it. One of my bugbears and I have a few is when you have managed to travel to a shop and just as you are about to be served their phone rings and the assistant says "I'll just get this if you don't mind" and proceeds to keep you waiting while the caller is attended to served before you
I eventually picked up the phone and thought I knew the answer but it turned out I wasn't dealing with the supplier of sweet potions (scents and sensibility) but rather pasture poultry.
We had a very interesting discussion at cross purposes.😅

Spud is a delicious pixie.

No, Doodle it's still raining, but often has teaser sun, just enough to make you think it might be fine and could even dry the laundry, then 10 mins later it's throwing it down. Good job I have a fig tree in my garden.

I really should have suggested this before: our kaumatua go to the spa pool for therapy. Is there anywhere your DH could go to sit and soak for a while? I'm sure it will help.

Grammareto That's a novel way to get a good evening's sleep!

Back home tonight after another nice day. Did enjoy it but really looking forward to being in my own bed tonight.
DH is suffering with aches and pains from his fall. Getting in and out of the car didn’t help.
Mamissimo that boy is lovely. Such a lot of hair and his ears are really cute. Spock was always my favorite.
How lovely to have a visit.
Grammaretto I have the same problem and promptly fall asleep if I’m comfortable enough. Hope you enjoyed what you did see.
Carrot cake is one of my favorites. How long are your campers staying?
Kaimoana we’ve had two days or real sunshine here and lovely beach walks. Has the weather improved with you?

Mamissimo he is gorgeous. I am quite jealous. No more babies here.

I left everything and everyone with instructions yesterday and went to Edinburgh to enjoy the Festival and catch up with a friend. She had to dig me in the ribs to wake me during one play. I'm sure it was excellent but give me a warm, dark room and a moderately comfortable seat, add music and I can't keep my eyes open.

I was on the bus with my campers so heard a bit more of their stories. They love our double-decker buses. Perhaps they don't have them in Germany.

BZ did some more cleaning, some gardening and he made a carrot cake which I had to taste when I came home.
They had got the bikes going pumped up the tyres and cycled the old railway line.

Kaimoana - they're a little like Mr Spok's ears from Star Wars - and also just like Spud's Daddy's. 🙂

What adorable ears.

Good evening 🙂

We have a surprise visitor tonight 😍 DD2 decided that they should try the journey to us when it wasn't for anything important - and Spud slept all the way. Here he is in all his milk drunk loveliness!

Needless to say all the rest of the family swarmed over and we had an impromptu supper together. Altogether lovely, lovely day!

kaimoana I can visualise you walking round your home with a pair of apricot Danish pastries strapped to your feet 🤣🤣
You are good to stick to food that you know will help keep you pain free. It’s easy for anyone to slip if it’s something they particularly like.
Grammaretto yes DH is on blood thinners but only aspirin at the moment because of his recent bout of anaemia. He is as they say “a bleeder”.
What wonderful news of your DGS. A very clever lad.
Do hope you get your op in September that would be good.
Hmmm. 🤔 not sure I’d be so accepting as you are if a strange couple just turned up and wanted to park in my garden . I find that a bit presumptuous.
I have a friend with a camper van. They go exploring all over the Uk and beyond.
Hope you had a lovely day with your friend. I wonder if you will have food tonight.
Nfk yes DH is on aspirin. He too has blood cancer so has to be careful of his meds.
Fabulous weather today. So hot. We spent the day by the sea interspersing short walks with a sit and read, coffee and ice cream. Really enjoyed it.
Well done on fixing the camper bubble. Fancy them not telling you about the master switch.
I don’t like the sound of the wild camping if it involves wild pooing as well 😱

They are lovely to drive, at least mine is. It's high up so you can see well - and other drivers can see you and don't carve you up (too much!). They do rattle though - every bump is magnified as the cutlery all jumps!

We did see some people wild camping in a permitted spot the forest when we came to Scotland a couple of years ago. They really put me off trying it as it was a VW which obviously had no loo. The toilet was a folding effort which looked like a chair with a hole, positioned over the edge of a steep bank overlooking a loch. No sign of a poo bag!! I've no wish to wild camp where people like that have stayed however good the view!

Brilliant result NfkD!! Camperbubble is now up and running again.
You are more than welcome to stay here after all it's probably in a guide book by now
I guess in their position, driving from Germany, they assumed that in Scotland you can wild camp anywhere.
People do but it's fast becoming a problem in certain tourist hotspots as litter and worse are left behind

I am getting campervan envy though.
So is my tenant. I had to explain to her what is going on but at least it was in English.

Since I don't drive much at all now, it would be a foolish idea. But we can dream