Not Locked Down but may need to be locked up

Thankyou for the birthday wishes.
How very dare you suggest I take 30minutes on a bottle of wine Ixion shock horror 😂🤣.

I have been given 3 bottles today and since I had already bought 2, how am I ever going to get through them all!

DDiL came out to see me with DGS. He was playing the organ in our local church so played Happy birthday, jazzed up, for me.

I am cooking for my little dinner party tonight.

DD is coming to Edinburgh on Sunday so I will go somewhere with her and the girls.

I am pleased that DS has family in London, Kaimoana. That will indeed be a comfort for you.

Come on our team, girls. Bring out the pompoms and the drums.

Gramaretto Happy Birthday and hope you have a great party tonight. As for 5 bottles of wine - no problem. Sure there won’t be many left after the party but if so we will all come and help! Been a lovely day here and looks like a great evening ahead.
Poor Cherry and Kaimoana. Burns are so painful.
Doodle you are doing so well. I always found weekends the worst probably because I was still at work. xx

🎶 Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Grammaretto, happy birthday to you 🎶.
Can't compete with your DGS, which sounds lovely, but the thought is there.
How to get through 5 bottles of wine 🤔 - you'll find a way I'm sure 😁. Enjoy your dinner party tonight.

Back later maybe hopefully.

Ooh Grammaretto hope I’m not to late to have some cake wish you happy birthday 🎂🎂🎂🎂💐💐💐🥳🥳🥳
Im always available to help out with wine disposal 😊
What a lovely birthday treat to see you DGS
Enjoy the dinner party and seeing your DS Sunday
Cherry I often burn myself on the oven. So painful. Glad it wasn’t another seizure though.
im meeting up with four friends tomorrow for coffee. Spent today with neighbour on our model kits, had fun gluing our fingers together.
Kaimoana I am trying to keep busy to avoid thinking too much. Some things are easier but it’s hard to keep motivated.
Im so sorry you burnt yourself, I’ve not tried honey on burns I usually just use ice and cold water,
Your DS sounds as though he will be very spoilt by family
Ixion thank you we are pleased for DGD. She is looking forward to spread her wings a bit.
Ooh new manager and players. I will be ready to cheer them on. When’s the first game?
Jan yes weekends are a problem but I am lucky in that my neighbour is on her own too so Saturdays we normally do something together.
Shouldnt complain really but I do miss just being contented
Have a good weekend all

🤦‍♀️ I'd forget my head if it wasn't screwed on! I left the room earlier without your 🎁 Grammaretto, hope you like it it's very versatile, it can be almost anything 😁.

😟 Kaimoana, not you too. I'm pleased the honey has helped. A friend of mine swears by using a baking soda paste. I just ran mine under a cold tap and used a cold makeshift bandage.
By the sound of it your DS will be well looked after by your family in London Kaimoana, even if they can't reach to pinch his cheeks anymore 😁.

The PL footie season has actually kicked off tonight ixion 😯. How has that come round so quickly?! I've spruced up my pompoms and costume, been practicing our usual routines and come up with a tweak to one for us to try out tomorrow 😬 😁. With a new manager and all these new signings do you think we'll be a Superteam 🤣.

H9w are you Jan? It's been a glorious day here too. We've been out and about -only locally, sitting on the sea front.

I must be late then gramm I have your birthday down as Saturday.
Wishing you all the very best nevertheless and I'm sure the wine lake will evaporate to good effect

Here's a jolly birthday party song for you.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTfAtCwIm6Y

ixion late answer, sorry. No, haven’t heard anything about the carpet yet. The very instant I do, I shall despatch a runner to GN with a message in a cleft stick.

I‘m going to try and make a traditional Maori feathered cloak in miniature this weekend.
This one, like all the others is mounted on canvas. Mine will be just a little garment; easier to pack.

⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️
Sometimes my wonky eyes can give me a moment of amusement.
I see these symbols as flowers and can just imagine 11 burly men tripping lightly across the sward, occasionally stooping merrily to pick a blossom from beneath their dainty feet.

Libby has a whole series of Just William books, read by Martin Jarvis and I'm working my way through them.
Yesterday I found more treasure: Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings and Darbishire
So mischievous schoolboys will keep me company as I craft.

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When I open the sliding door to my deck a glorious fragrance rises from these cyclamen and the mass of wild violets which grow all around the base of the deck.

The birthday wishes were happily received. I toasted you all!! 🍷 🥂 🍷

My small dinner party was extremely small as twas just me and my Friday friend who had forgotten it was my birthday but brought wine anyway. We had fresh salmon. While I was lifting the potatoes from the garden, I managed to burn the pavlova. Yuck! Burnt sugar is not nice. I'm surprised that none of the 17 heat/smoke detectors didn't sound. Must have words with Sparky.

I love cyclamen Kaimoana.
I love sweet peas too but mine are so late this year.

Good luck team!! New manager eh.
Could win the championship 🤔

Well Cherry and Ixion how are we doing with the football? Hope your Pom Poms are in full working order and you’re all set for cheering our team on. I am ready with my Pringle stash
Kaimoana that looks tricky but very lovely. I like your vision of the men picking the flowers 🤣
love the flowers, wish k could smell them.
*Grammaretto oh you should have asked us. We would all love to have joined you for Pavlova burnt or otherwise.
Hope you enjoyed your day anyway.*
i had one of those very wobbly days today. Perked up a bit this afternoon when I went for coffee with 4 friends which was nice.

I'd never thought about it but now you come to mention it I can see why your eyes tell you that ⚽️s are flowers Kaimoana. They do in a way. Don't think footballers would be allowed to bend down and pick them (boo) - theyre not meant to touch them with their hands unless they're a goalie, and only then when in the penalty box 🤣. Love the way your mind works though 😅.
Doodle's right, that cloak looks very tricky to make. If your turns out half as well as the one in the picture it'll be lovely.

Bad luck on the pavlova Grammaretto, one of those 🤦‍♀️ moments I have lots of them. I love salmon though and would be happy to not even have a dessert if I had salmon 😋.

Sorry to hear that you had a bad day today Doodle, I pleased, though, that going out for coffee helped. Sending warm cwtches to you x

Our team played this evening. Unfortunately, we didn't exactly get off to a good start we lost 🤦‍♀️. Sack the manager I say, and get some new players in 🤣.

Ah, flower picking sportsmen. One of our DSs, more^ cerebral than sportif, used to loathe cricket and always, somehow, got to position himself as an outfielder right up on the boundary line, where, luckily, he would have very little to do. He could be spotted daisy picking and trying to make daisy chains. Sports Master not terribly impressed, as his school reports showed. (He was only little!)

The cloak is fascinating, Kaimoana, please give us a blow by blow account of your progress. Can the feathers be variable in colour? Otherwise I guess the dark would be really hard to work on. And 'packing'?🤔
Sorry to hear your carpet issue is still not resolved, pretty poor as a safety hazard.

How are your hip and hand, Grammaretto? Is the biter still at large? Muzzled now when out, possibly? And are you still attending your joint physio classes? Do you know how far up or down the waiting list you are?
Bummer about the LNER strikes if you were planning on heading south. My West Coast Line has been similarly cursed for the last couple of years, causing planned travel to be a bit of a rollercoaster. I do hope and pray that Sparky sorts out your smoke alarms pdq.

I'm sorry today was one of wobbles, Doodle. Good, tho', that you are sticking with your socialising, even if it takes a tremendous push to get out there. Baby steps🌻.

Yes, pretty poor performance by Our Team this evening, apologies. Still, early days. Actually, I think that the tweaks Cherry made to our routine may have been a tad, er, distracting. Surprised we weren't arrested. Anyhow, shan't be doing those again. Not at my age.

Thought I too would have a wobbly day as well Doodle and we’re allowed to have them if we want. aren’t we?
As you know, I didn’t think DS and I would be meeting again but he wanted a typically NZ gift for our UK family but too short notice to shop. I have some of my old carving put by so he said he’d come over and look.

About 11am the bell rang and as Gubbins loves ringing it, I was sure t’was her but when I opened the door it was to DGd1 from Tauranga unheralded but very welcome.
Ten minutes later, DS arrived with DGS, now 6ft and broad, and of course wild Gubbins.
So a surprise and joyful family reunion which couldn’t have been better.
DS chose a traditional Maori manaia and stayed longer than anticipated, explaining to DGd1 the plans for UK.
DGd1 stayed with them when she too was living-working in London just before Covid.
I was especially happy to see my dear GS as last time he wanted to stay, I wasn’t well enough.
So a happy, boistorous hour together after which the 3 left (no tears, we were all fizzing happily about the wonderful coincidence) and DGd1 and I went out for lunch.
She left about 1pm to drive back to Tauranga, so short but very sweet visits, which took away all the wobbly.

DS is at the airport and sending bulletins

This is the carving he chose to give to my sister, Dang Tuyet Van.

What a fabulous carving Kaimoana
I hope D sis appreciates it.
Such a great time you must have had with your DD and DGC. How lovely not to part on a sad note.

The show we went to yesterday lived up to, and exceeded, expectations.
Mairi had been awarded a Fringe 1st since I booked so the theatre was full

I chuckled at your DH daisy picking cricket career ixion. How sensible he sounds.
So you are the sports fanatic of the family? 🤣

It is a nuisance about the trains but perhaps the dispute will be resolved by then. Or I won't go.

Sparky hasn't been seen but I had to call the plumber yesterday. I was putting clothes in the airing/boiler cupboard and was met by a puddle of water from a leaky joint in the pipework.
I left a message, not expecting a reply but got "I'm on my way". I had to phone him to say I was about to go out. I left the door open and he seems to have fixed it in my absence.
I wish all jobs around the house could be done as efficiently.

I hope Doodle you are having a much better day today. I'm glad you had coffee with your friends. I would join you if I was a little nearer.

I couldn't resist buying this potted cyclamen.

The cyclamen

Yet another one of those SMS from me as today hasn't been a good day. I've had four nasty seizures, have a swollen foot and as for the brain fog 🙄.

Just wanted to say that I hope that Doodle has had a better day today and that the rest of the lobStars have had a good day.

Hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep tonight and be bright and breezy tomorrow 😁.

What fascinating artefacts, Kaimoana. Much nicer than purchased gifts -DS bringing a little bit of you across the miles to a new home. There must be a little emptiness in your heart at the moment - hugs.

Doodle, hoping you had fewer wobbles today. Hopefully you were kept engaged with good company to get you through.

Beautiful cyclamen, Grammaretto, one thing I just cannot keep. Think I must overwater them🤔.
Glad that your trip to the Fringe was a good one.

Cherry - whatever is going on?😱 More seizures? You were fine yesterday at the match: I blame that new routine you devised - far too overstimulating if the crowd's rapturous reception was anything to go by .
Take care, have an early night. Thinking of you🌻

Oh dear our team haven’t done very well. Perhaps the new members are just bedding in.
Cherry and Ixion I was very impressed by the new routine. That bit where you do cartwheels whilst whirling your Pom Poms at the same time is very impressive
Cherry I’ve had a better day today, went to church this morning and had an invitation out for lunch. Spent a very nice afternoon in the company of a few friends and it was very pleasant.
ixion I’m trying my best to get out and do things. Sometimes I’m way out of my comfort zone. I’ve met some really lovely people who’ve been very kind to me. Lucky to have family close by too
Kaimoana that’s a lovely gift. Hope the family take good care of your precious son. Must be sad thinking of him being so far away.
Grammaretto glad you enjoyed the show. Oh no not more leaks. Glad this one was so quickly resolved.
Yes I did have a better day today thank you. I would love it if we could all meet up. Wouldn’t it be fun. Bet we’d all be talking at the same time 🤣
What a beautiful plant
Dear Cherry so sorry to hear about all those seizures. I hope you have a good night. What happened to your foot to make it swollen? Hope it’s not too painful.
Have a good night all

It's going out of your comfort zone which makes you such a brave lady Doodle - these are not easy times. DH would be so very proud of you...we all are.

A gorgeous cyclamen, beautiful, ruch colour Grammareto does it have a nice fragance too?

Your show too sounds fabulous... and an award winner too.
Glad you got your leaks quickly repaired. Do you have Duct tape handy for quick fixes, magic stuff.

I used to keep it and some basic tools to do all these sort of jobs.

Oh Cherry, I wish there was more the medical profession could do to help. It all sounds so frightening. Many warm cwthes to you

Yes ixion you're right but I won't let it get to me. For many different reasons, DS needed to do this. and I support that completely.
Apparently Gubbins had a bad time last night when Daddy wasn't there, the first time in her life, to get her ready for bed. But a Facetime session helped.

Dsil is going to find it all a very hard learning curve over these next months.

DS is currently 5 hours from Dubai where he has a 90 minute change over, then 7-8 hours Dubai to London.
Then the adventure begins!


The weather is "adventurous" here at the moment, our 3 rd day of wild, gale-force winds, lashing rain and cold which sneaks into the bones.
Wheelie bins bowling frantically down the road and the poor children on their way to school being similarly treated.

Where are you NfkDumpling, NotS, Mamissimo? I miss you.

Hello - just here! Kaimoana.
I lost (another) enormous post 3 or so days ago and became fed up about it. I've no idea why it happens but I think it's only me as nobody else is posting on the "aw snap" thread now.

I have missed your birthday Grammaretto. Apologies.
It does sound like you had a bit of a celebration without me though! Hope the year ahead is a good one. 💐

Hope the burns are healing. I still have some minor skin damage on the back of my hand from a burn 20 plus years ago. It was my own fault but I can't remember how I did it.

I did manage to pour boiling water over my thumb about 6 months ago 🙄. I was stirring the teapot as I poured the water in!

I was NOT stirring the tea with my thumb
I was holding a teaspoon!

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I nearly joined the scalding club this morning. I fished my boiled egg out of the water with my bare hand instead of using a spoon

Gosh Kaimoana! Bad enough having your own heartache without having to watch Gubbins and her DM sadness too. How long is DS away for?

I went on another walk today and kept up. The others were pleased to see me back doing the walks again and think my physio sessions must have helped. We did the walk to the bridges today. It was reasonably flat and didn't rain.

Yesterday I met DD and the girls for a scary Edinburgh Fringe show. It was in a stuffy basement, crowded and felt very unsafe. As soon as we escaped the kids just wanted to run about in the fresh air and so we walked onto the Meadows. In the Festival this popular space is full to the brim with picnickers, bikers, buskers, icecream vans etc
Unfortunately the older one ran on ahead and disappeared from view. DD went in search but returned without her. I kept the little one beside me as DD went off again through the crowded park.
Little one was in tears 😢. She didn't want to lose her sister. She would miss her.
I was trying to reassure her that it would be fine but praying it would be. DD phoned me to say she was about to call the police when she tried the swing park and there was DGD, completely oblivious that she had caused so much anguish.
Then reunited we were all in tears.

Have you ever lost a child in a crowd?
I was recalling how DS2, now in NZ, was always escaping and terrifying us.
Once at 2 years old he toddled off to the local primary school crossing a big road. It was a Sunday so not so busy but he gave us a fright

I am still losing posts NotSpag but not as many. Touch wood.

Grammaretto my 2½ year old disappeared at a swimming pool. The sort with flumes and a wave-machine

She had followed my husband into the gents and was hiding in there (moving quite quietly) under the dividing panels in the changing area

The next year, determined to have ice cream she slipped away at the zoo and was found by a ranger in the queue on her own. When we found her she was happy as Larry- with an ice cream.

Luckily it was summer as they opened the fire exits and made everyone go outside (in there swim suits)... There was a foghorn blaring and staff on the exits looking for her and staff checking the pools

3rd paragraph should be at the end! Sorry