The Lockdown Gang - 🦞 Lobstars Unlocked 🦞

Nfk sounds like you need to get that pine tree seen to before the storms come. It does annoy me when people are overpaid by accident and then they demand it back as though it’s your fault. Not surprised the odd thing was missed you have had so much to deal with
Grammaretto I would be angry too. These people have all the information they should not makes mistakes and then demand the money back
Not sure I’d like to be anyone’s birthing partner. One scream and I’d be on the gas and air myself
Your lunch companion sounds very calm though. Hope she got there in time
Thats an interesting find. Has it turned into a handsome Prince yet or did you forget to kiss it?
Kaimoana I will be bold as often as I remember 😊. Must be so hard for you with such an active mind not to be able to read so easily
Sorry to hear you haven’t been feeling too good. Could it be some form of asthma that’s affecting your breathing? That sometimes affects the early hours. Do you have any inhalers?
Have you any plans for your quiet weekend or are you knitting more slippers?
DH is snoring gently in the chair so I expect we’ll be off to bed soon as I can wake him up 🤣

Great that your Daring Duck is coming to life soon *Kaimoana I hope we will be able to get hold of copies. I may need to wait until I'm in NZ*

DS's granny annexe is a long way off being started finished though a collection of old rimu wood has begun.
Rimu is a NZ hardwood used extensively for floorboards and probably now threatened.

It's a frog btw. A toad is dark. There is a pond but the frog was a long way from it. It must have hopped.

I keep yawning. Not heard if that baby has arrived yet. I used to babysit for the DM
.
I have heard that one of our yarn group has broken her ankle badly so will try to visit her today as she's stuck indoors.

How are our invalids here?

Checking my facts: Rimu aka the NZ red pine is not a hardwood at all but a medium softwood and now reminds me of your poor pine tree Nfk

"Poor pine tree" G? If it was in the middle of a wild area I'd think it was lovely, but it's all lopsided, leaning, blocking the gutters and sending roots under the house. And it overhangs a busy pavement and road and I live in fear of it deciding to randomly jettison a heavy branch - which they are inclined to do when under stress. It's not a happy tree. I'm awaiting a visit from a tree surgeon to give a report. At least that will, apparently, cover me insurance wise for a year if it does decided to kill someone. DH wouldn't do it before as it'll be around £300 but to me it's like any other insurance. We got the house a bit cheaper as they couldn't sell due to the Tree Preservation Orders so I suppose its fair.

Frogs and toads can travel a surprising distance I believe. Perhaps your garden is lovely and damp with lots of hidey holes? I have a little pond which does produce a few froglets each year and it's a mystery to me where they vanish to. But then an awful lot of things are a mystery to me! Like that woodpigeons look and act stupid, but I wonder. The ones which live in our garden were always a bit shy with us as DH shooed them away. This lunchtime I went to sit on a seat under the pergola and the pigeon sitting on the back of the other one hardly moved. Just looked at me as if insulted that I dare sit next to him! Wait until I get a dog. That'll sort them out!

Did it again - forgot the *. Sorry Kaimoana. But I have an excuse - I just heard a familiar sound. A long skein of pink foot geese heading over. It can't be that time again already. Surely they've come early this year?*

I will get the hang of it!!

Nfk thank you for thinking of Kaimoana. I often forget the *
too but I check in preview before I press post. It’s nice of you to care. Losing your sight like that is such a dreadful thing and something we take for granted. Our dear Kiamoana has been such a help to me and DH. Despite her own problems and troubles she is always looking into things to help us. Are your ears burning Kaimoana? You are a wonderful friend
Grammaretto I’m not sure I’ve heard you mention to the granny annexe before. Is it for his MIL or for you when you visit?
ooh sorry about your yarn friends ankle that will be painful
DH has an appointment with the nurse tomorrow thank goodness. His would seems to be healing well but his leg is still swollen and very painful. I am concerned
Busy week for me with the playgroup and hospital visits for DH. I feel so tired but hopefully a quiet weekend to catch up on some chores
NFK hope you get the tree sorted out ok. One of my neighbours developed a real phobia of frogs. She once had a pond in her garden which once had frogs in it but had it filled in. She had a sort of wild garden which was very pretty but she was terrified to go out there in case she trod on a frog. In the end she moved as she was too afraid to go outside. Phobias are funny things. We all have them and what is terrifying for some causes no anxiety for others
Are you still planning on getting a dog? Any ideas when?

Did I know about the playgroup Doodle? is it one you regularly help at?
You are right about Kaimoana who goes to such lengths to offer advice and solve problems. A wonderful woman

Their granny annexe is just what we are calling it. It's a garden room or sleep out. I think they are called garden offices. It's to be a spare room as their house is small with 2 bedrooms. I won't be sleeping in it. I'll be in the house near the loo, I hope .
I will visit my poorly df tomorrow. I am sorry to hear that DHs leg is still swollen

Frog phobia seems an odd one to have. I don't meet that many but I like them. I like the thought that they eat slugs.

I hope your pine tree gets sorted soon *Nfk are you getting a dog?*

Jeeves I will have Sleepytime tea. Work in the morning

I am overwhelmed by your kindness. I often re-think my posts and condemn myself for interference, so I'm glad you see my advice in the light it was meant. You are such sweethearts.

Frogs are wonderful and about this time of year Grammaretto will be looking for a suitable place to hibernate. I had a pond in Cornwall; a huge stone sink set in the ground. I filled it in as well, as my younger boy was only small. Felt sorry for the frogs though.

Nfk I have just finished reading "The Genius of Birds" in which wood pigeons and their ilk are shown to be anything but stupid.

It is quite remarkable what we are learning about how everything in Nature reacts, communicates and protects itself. If vegetarians and vegans knew how plants responds when harvested, they'd starve.

I think the breathlessness may be part of the aortic stenosis Doodle but there are plans afoot to get me an air purifier as fungal spore are a problem, living as I do just a leaf or two away from the bush.

Beautiful fungi regularly colonise my planters.

I am also slowing down (feel about 109) and not sleeping well; hopefully a temporary issue.

I'm more used to my new glasses now - they force me to have good posture by sitting well back rather than slouching over the keyboard. I can hear my mother constantly telling me to "Sit up straight!".

Trouble is, when I look down at the keyboard, all is blurred If it's not one thing, it's another eh?

The publishers have just urged me to enter my children's book for the Booklover Awards, so I did. Results early in 2024.

My quiet weekend will be spent knitting and listening to audio books. It's rained all week (what a suprise!) is raining now and the forecast is for....guess what?

I've just finished a purple pair for my friend, Bonni. One seems to have a bunion but its just squashed!

Marvellous news, Kaimona! I'm thrilled for you. I have done a bit of Googling research to read up about it and the time frame for 2024. My eyes will be dutifully peeled (What a ghastly expression).

Another one here who was not aware of the Playgroup connection, Doodle. How did you get in at your appointment today? 🤞

An exciting development here on the posh bird bath front.
The Ixion Lido is now open! Our large troop of sparrows (over 12) have finally discovered the joys not just of drinking but bathing in it. So many throw themselves in at any one time with gay abandon and doggie-paddle furiously from one side to the other - a proper free for all. I feel I should be handing out 1 width swimming awards. A joy to watch.

I decided to act upon a suggestion elsewhere on Gransnet to read up on the advice given by Dr. Michael Moseley in his book Just One Thing - How simple changes can transform your Life. An unread copy (says it all really) purchased from an auction site for less than the price of a coffee, I plumped for the section headed Intelligent Exercises. In preference to that headed Cold Showers😳. I arrived at Squats, complete with little line drawings. Ooh, I thought, I can do those! Then I wandered over to Google to see what they had to say. My golly, your bottom has to go HOW low?😱

Bid a hasty retreat.

Grammaretto, the playgroup is actually mums with babies and toddlers and it’s in our local church. I help out now and then. It’s fun seeing them grow up
I would be near the loo too, these days the closer the better.
Took DH to see the nurse today. She was concerned his leg was badly swollen and red. Put a new type of dressing on it and made us another appointment for next week. Interestingly, the Nurse said from now on any cut or break in the skin on DHs legs I must contact the surgery straight away to be seen. Let’s hope if it happens I can convince the receptionist of that
Kaimoana, I don’t think any of us would think your kind advice or suggestions were interfering. You obviously try to suggest things to help people. I’m just appreciative of the effort you put into finding help for us when your eyesight is so bad
Sit up straight and elbows off the table. That is what my grandmother always used to say. Difficult to get glasses for all eventualities. Love your purple slippers. Your friend will be pleased. Hope you’ve got some good books to listen to
Pleased you’ve entered your book for an award. We I’ll be rooting for you. 😊
ixion, I’ve been doing the baby group for about a year or so now. The mums play with the children I just get everything out, sort out food and drink and put all the toys away again (after extracting soggy bits of biscuit from the stickle bricks and Duplo 🤣🤣)
Wow your new bird bath has obviously become a real attraction. I love thé idea of the swimming certificates. Do you have wing bands for those new to swimming?
Dh watched some of those Michael Moseley talks on TV. I’ve very keen on that sort of thing till it actually comes round to doing it. 😱

Ooh sticklebricks Doodle! 😲 brings back memories!

I'm sure you all have a lovely sticky time
Poor dude though. I hope it isn't cellulitis? DH had that and had to have IV antibiotics.

I visited poor df with her leg raised. She's learning to walk with crutches. She is able to knit and is expecting her first DGC in a few weeks

We are proud of you Kaimoana. I hope your book wins.

Ixion your bird lido sounds fantastic.
Aquafit
Dr Moseley would be impressed

If Dr M is suggesting tackling just one thing at a time in order that the bigger task doesn't overwhelm - I beat him to it by about 50 years.

ixion Did you see who was sponsoring this year’s children's book awards? Hilarious!
I think your birds have been watching the stone deaf ones on your bird bath to make sure they were not going to pounce. My ducks are funny too and if I put out something they’ve never seen before (chocolate cake last time), they edge round it, looking out of the side of their eyes. Then a sparrow will nip in and pinch the morsel.
We had a brood of ducklings earlier this year but between continuous horrible weather and vicious Pukeko they didn’t survive. I notice there were few crickets as well; they too will have been literally swamped. Farmers hate them.

I envy your playgroup job Doodle. You may remember I had to give up my involvement with the toddlers when the lady who had been driving me there, moved on.
I am worried about your DHs leg as well. I often think, when the medical profession is prepared to ignore and exclude anything outside commercial; pharmaceuticals, that patients are being denied things which might help.
It’s not even as if these drug companies regularly pour billions into the Health System from their vast profits, which they could easily do when you see how much they make.
Like Cherry drugs have failed me repeatedly and made me very ill at times, whereas what is scornfully dismissed - alternative remedies - has worked like a dream.
The freesias are out and smell divine.

Nfk Every year a similar skein passes over my house – aren’t they wonderful? I can’t tell what kind of geese they are but I always go out and look if I hear them coming.

There was a national Kaumatua Olympics last week. Our team won.

Grammaretto nurse said DHs leg was cellulitis but he’s had a course of antibiotics. She thought the swelling might be related to the bandage being too tight and she seems to be right as now she’s put a different dressing on his leg is much better. However……. Whilst changing his leg dressing she noticed a tiny spot of blood on DHs toe. The size of a pin prick. It didn’t hurt and we didn’t know how he’d done it. Nurse said we had to be very careful with any leg wounds so she dressed his toe too and put a bandage on it. The toe which didn’t hurt before caused him a lot of pain last night and this morning I took the bandage off. Pain gone 🤔. Seems like the bandage had caught his toe nail and was pulling it back. Hopefully now things on the leg front will improve.
having a new baby in the family will lift your friends spirits I’m sure. I wonder if Kaimoana could come up with a pattern for baby slippers 😊. Have you been to the cafe today?
Kaimoana you certainly know how to treat your ducks. Chocolate cake in deed. You would have been a wonderful playgroup person. Lots of ideas. Shame you had to give it up
DH’s leg is feeling much better now. He has a honey dressing on it. I gather they use that for leg ulcers too.
Drugs have been hit and Miss with DH. Some have helped and some caused harm. Many medicines are based on herbal remedies of old though
Well done your team 😊
lazy day for us. Achieved nothing other than watering the plants and a bit of food shopping. DH is very tired due to all the pain killers he’s been taking for his leg so he had a lay in this morning.

I am glad DH is somewhat better now *Doodle a lie in is good thing*.
It's got very cold here now. I haven't done much today. I picked flowers in the pouring rain and helped in the café. It wasn't busy but always nice to see the old guard. We have a French conversation table. I don't go. My cake doesn't sink anymore. The poppy seeds do the trick.

This afternoon I went for a walk with my walking friend who's off to see her family in Canada soon.

Lots of Scots have family in Canada.
Night night Lobstars

The last of the sweet peas and white heather

That bouquet is gorgeous Grammaretto.

Funnily enough Doodle I've just finished 2 pairs of slippers for a 6 month old baby.
Here are the ones I made for Gubbins.

I believe NZ sells the wondrous Manuka Honey to the world and it is better than any othe remedy for burns.

I've been bitten on the forehead by a spider . Not, I hope, one of the dangerous ones but it's painful and itchy nevertheless.

Went to a Family Fun Day yesterday and saw dozens of children thoroughly enjoying old-style games such as Diablo, quoits, skipping and hoops. No screens in sight.

Needless to say, the taxi booked for 4pm didn't turn up but a good friend took me to the Mall where I was able to get one from the rank.

It's sunny here today so I've popped laundry in the machine. Finger crossed I haven't put the kybosh on it.

Those slippers are gorgeous in all sizes Kaimoana lucky weans as they say in these parts.
I've been listening to the British library sound recordings of accents around Britain.

I went out blackberry picking this morning but found none! Potted this afternoon with another potter which was nice. Then she'd to go home and cook for the family. I pretended to feel sorry for myself eating all alone. I actually don't mind that too much. I quite like pleasing myself.
A film tonight. The boat that rocked.
about Radio Caroline.

sounds.bl.uk/categories/accents-and-dialects

Thank you for that link Grammaretto, I shall most certainly follow it up in the morning.
I am 'midst a World Rugby match viewing atm and most certainly in the minority☹️

Does our esteemed NHS run to Manuka honey, Doodle? I would be impressed if it did - it's bluddy expensive here. I wish I could appreciate the various forms of honey: there seems to be a certain cachet in being able to detect the 'clover' or other types of flowers on which the bees feast. Squirty honey, of indeterminate provenance, has always been the staple of the family shopping basket here.
As the evenings close in, I feel Kaimona's slippers knitting pattern approaching. I love Gubbins' ones.

Hope you enjoy the film, Grammaretto. I remember my mother being tickled pink when I came home from school announcing that our 'O' level History syllabus was to be WW11. And here we are, likewise being able to say I lived through that.

Thinking of absent (and present!) Gangsters.

Grammaretto you mentioned sweet peas and my mind went immediately to my father. He loved his sweet peas and used to grow them on trellises in the garden between his vegetables. He would always bring some of them in for mum to put on the table
hope it wasn’t raining for your walk. Nice to have company potting. What did you make?
i had a mountain of ironing to do this afternoon. Watched the Sunday service on my iPad whilst I did it. Had a little sing along with the hymns. Poured with rain here this morning so no need to water the baskets. I’ve been trying to knot but my broken wrist hand isn’t to happy. I can managed it but only for short periods of time.
Hope you enjoy the film
DH is still very tired. He’s going odd to bed now, his leg seems much better but he’s still taking some of the pain killers which I think make him sleepy
Kaimoana I absolutely love those slippers. They are so pretty. Love the white Pom Poms. Not surprised you get requests for them
Oh I’m sorry you’ve been bitten. Cheeky spider. I Hope it’s nothing serious. Your taxis are so unreliable. Nice of your neighbour to help out. Hope the weather lasted long enough for you to get your washing dry

I forgot to press preview. I was knitting not knotting and DH is fine, not odd in any way 🤣
Ixion not sure what sort of honey it is to be honest. Hope it’s doing the trick though. I haven’t got any honey in the cupboard for a dressing. Squirty or otherwise, .….do you think marmite will work the same 🤔?
if my dear SIL were still alive she would be with you in watching the rugby. She was an avid sports fan and would watch everything going

Don't worry Doodle. I would bring her tea and biccies at suitable moments too. That is my rôle on occasions like this. I am a tennis girl.

(I know my place)

My DM was a sports fan which is probably where our DC get their passion from.

I got the ODD Doodle but missed the KNOTTING. I pictured you doing macramé.

Manuka honey is delicious. I tried to grow manuka here but it's too cold in Scotland. It grows like a weed in NZ.

I have my hot water bottle. It's cold and wet tonight. The film was watchable but hugely exaggerated. I can remember struggling to get a decent signal but listened to the top 20 or top 100 on my very crackly transistor .
Or maybe that was radio Luxembourg.

That was my experience of Radio Luxembourg too.
Radio Caroline's signal was fine until evil Anti BeeB began blocking it. Neither of these stations were allowed to play whole songs; their contracts with the record companies was for 'tasters' only.

One of the nicest honeys is Rewarewa, a NZ native.
I can see Grammaretto coming home with an extra suitcase and setting up a Lobstars NZ Honey Bazaar !

I hope the UK isn't going to have a winter like the one we are just tailing off.

Love to Cherry who may be well enough to read.
And of course, like ixion says, all the others who for one sad reason or another, are not up to posting.

The link worked for me Grammaretto but I could see nowhere with a live link to actually hear the accents.

sounds.bl.uk/categories/accents-and-dialects?fbclid=IwAR3Y0vk9prwPFUynwR1e-9XIg0m9UAuUNOWCbhuMzBMwte6NFPb3uCHBsRA

Try this longer link?