Not Locked Down but may need to be locked up

Evening all. I’ve had such a busy day today. Been out all day. Had coffee with two different groups, lunch with another and art this morning. A really enjoyable day.
Sitting relaxing and suddenly in floods of tears. I miss him 😢
Kaimoana so glad you got to see the lovely Gubbins and got on well with the GP
Hope all the lobstars have had a good day 😊

Kaimoana I know you will remember and maybe some others too, I used to watch the Dean of Canterbury every day in lockdown. He held a morning service in his garden at the deanery, rain, hail, sleet and snow he was out there and didn’t miss a single day. I was saddened to hear today that he had died age 77. He’s only been retired 2 years. 2 days ago he was on a tour of America preaching and I was watching the video last night. He was someone I could listen to for hours, beautiful voice and so interesting to hear his sermons.

Hee he Cherry

Well, the whopping Porky wasn't a sausage

We had lamb chops, mashed potato and carrots followed by Mr Kipling's "exceedingly expensive" Bakewell Tarts, a favourite and a quick substitute for a proper pud I didn't have chance to make as I was at the docs.

Holiday time is approaching and I shall have a relief homecare worker today and all November.
I am hoping for amiable persons.

Oh no, what a shock!
Yes, Doodle I too went to the Garden almost every day and very much enjoyed watching the year go round and listening to the stories.
Poor Fletcher will be devastated.
Thank you for posting these sad tiding as I never access news and wouldn't have known.

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Hello all
I wrote a nice long missive yesterday which disappeared so sorry.

Doodle I wonder if the news about the Dean has added to your sense of being alone yesterday - although my dear friend says she still has weepy moments sometimes when she comes home to an empty house. You are not alone.
I expect the contrast between the day and the hours ahead was also momentarily in sharp contrast. I know I would be regularly having weepy moments.

You have been so strong and are surviving and spreading a little Doodle magic day by day. Be kind to yourself.

I have just woken in the night and realised my Mr Spaghetti s in hospital after his surgery. It all went OK thank goodness 🙏 but I still wondered where he was for a minute just now.
I came back from the hospital exhausted at 8pm last night and after making myself eat I'm sorry to say I just came to bed.
Anyway, I hope he will be home soon.

Now here is something nice - I thought I'd share my grandsons' mushroom discovery from yesterday. I love the three colours - yellowy orange, black and pinky lilac. How beautiful nature is.

Finally, I fiddled with our heating system yesterday - it was supposed to be timed to come on a bit in the evening. When I went to the hospital yesterday I changed it so that when I came home from hospital the house would be warm and a bit more inviting.
*Well yes, it was - and still is! I had somehow selected "permanently on" and the bedroom is like an oven - even with the

...window open!

Goodnight friends
I hope we all have a good day tomorrow (today).

Hello dear friends.

Sorry to hear about the Dean, Doodle. I was truly just thinking about him and those videos, recently.

While my wee DGD were here yesterday, the inner glass door of my cooker exploded! It was very loud and scary. DGD jumped onto my lap for a cuddle while her big sister asked to go to her other gran as there was too much going on 😮

Before the explosion, we had been happily painting pottery and designing a new house for me with 2 extra bedrooms for when they come to stay
I told them I will show their plans to the architect, and I shall.
I particularly liked the room for a robot who will do all the housework and a pottery studio next to a greenhouse so I can watch my plants whilst I'm potting.

Those mushrooms are fabulous NotSpag
I hope Mr Spag is doing alright and will be home with you soon. 🙏

Kaimoana things are looking up again for you, by the sounds of it.

I had better get ready for work, it's Friday....again.

I wouldn't class myself as a Christian Doodle, but after you'd said you did, I watched the Dean sometimes, simply because he was a lovely person, loved by his menagerie. He had the ability to sooth the soul. He will be sorely missed.

(I still have those waves of bereftness catching me out of the blue most days. But now I'm used to them and except them and am getting good at pushing them back in their box)

Good news that Mr NotSpag came through his op well. I hope he recovers with speed and gets kicked out and back to your ministrations as soon as possible. Full recovery is faster at home. And those mushrooms just don't look real. There's been some beauties this year, but I seem to miss the unusual ones. Even when they're bright yellow!

I shall now get dressed and take Kira for a walk. It's too nice a day here to miss it.

Such sad news about the Dean, Doodle. He was such a stable and reassuring presence during the turmoil of Lockdown. He had followers far and wide, for sure. He was eagerly followed, on my recommendation, by a young(ish!) seminarian acquaintance in Toronto, who was wildly enthusiastic!

Thank you sharing the photo of our poster girl, Kaimoana😍. I hope you are buoyed up by her visit and that your temp cuts the proverbial over half term.

A lovely mental image of NaughtyN's desire to cook à la Gubbins, beware those flailing 34Gs we've heard about as you bend down to the oven😮.
I bet you're glad you're snuggled down on a train journey home tonight, rather than a long drive home after a long working week.

Are your lodgers still with you, Grammaretto? Will the lack of functioning oven be a problem over the weekend?

Hoping Mr.S is on his way home soon - possibly crossing Mr.I who, complete with bubble wrap cocoon, will be en route to his Big Day on Tuesday. crack of dawn

Sadly that is the only free time our Istanbul friend can manage on before they fly back in Wednesday.

Never mind, she said, we can always chat on WhatsUp ...

Our Team play on Sunday. Wish us the luck we need.

Kaimoana that meal sounds lovely except for the Bakewell tarts. I have never liked them though I know many who do
yes I knew you would remember the Dean. Such a wonderfully expressive man with the ability to talk off the cuff without an er, or um or hesitation. A joy to listen too
Notspaghetti I am not to bad coming home. I try to remember this was a happy place for us both. We loved it here so I’m trying not to associate anything sad with it. I bought some picture frames today. Thought I would put some pictures of DH in them and get one of our sons to put them on the wall for me.
Glad Mr Spaghetti got on ok. Hope he’s back with you soon
Goodness Grammaretto how lucky no one was hurt. What a shock for you. I love your granddaughters designs. Please can I have a robot room too.
Nfk yes he was a special person I think. A truly good man. I’m sorry he didn’t get longer to enjoy his retirement. Feel so sorry for his partner
Thanks for your encouraging words. I’m definitely better than I was
Ixion I hope all goes well for Mr I on Tuesday. Are you going with him? Do you know how long he’s expected to be in for?
Shame about your friends from Istanbul.
Hmm team playing Sunday. I will be at our sons for Sunday roast. I might make it back later but start without me. Don’t worry about the Pringles. If his Sunday roast is as it usually is I won’t be eating for a week
Have a good weekend all

NotSpaghetti
Way back at the beginning of 1972 when my father died unexpectedly, Mum in her distress cried that she'd never be able to tackle the complicated central heating system which needed checking every day. Only Dad had ever dealt with it.

Today's are much more sophisticated, computerised and self-regulating, ours was not and each room was on a different timer, with a dashboard of dials to manually twist and set.

But astonishingly, it all adjusted itself for many weeks, turning down on warmer days, and up again in the bedrooms on cold ones.

When, eventually Mum felt up to getting out the manual and coping with all the dials and switches, it continued to correct her mistakes until she got the hang of it.

To the end of her life, Mum said it was Dad who did that and she was the sort of person who'd spent her life scornfully denying anything supernatural or arcane.

Several months lafer, I was to support a friend who wanted to see a medium.
Like Mum, I was was extremely sceptical of such things but prepared to help a friend.

It was evening and I switched on the standard lamp beside my chair - it flickered alarmingly.
Mum said Dad had intended fixing it but hadn't got round to it.

So I took the lamp to pieces and fixed the loose wiring as we watched Coronation Street

My friend arrived and off we went to the medium's house.

I sat in the kitchen with the lady's husband, chatting about old movies while my friend went into the sitting room for her interview.

When they both came out, the medium said to me, 'I know you're not here for a reading but your Dad says thank you for mending that lamp for your mother - does that make sense?'

Well, no not really.
It was true but certainly didn't make sense as I hadn't mentioned it to my friend.
Somehow that medium knew.

Nfk good to see you posting

I still wonder how Mamissimo is. If you're lurking and reading, please drop a line or two.

That is quite a shock about the Dean, Doodle, I know that his sermons during lockdown were like a ballast to you, a stabilising force. I'm, as you probably know by now, am not religious but I think many people, of different religions and none, were soothed by his sermons in lockdown.
I hope you have been more settled today 💐.

NotSpaghetti, I'm pleased Mr Spaghetti's operation went well. I hope he's back home recovering well very soon 🤞, and I've got my 🤞 on the other hand that your house is no longer like a furnace.

😯 😬 Grammaretto, that's not meant to happen! Your poor DGD, it obviously gave her a shock I bet it gave you all a shock 😟. You haven't had that cooker that long either have you, no more than 2 or 3 years isn't it? Is is still under warranty or extended cover?

🤞 You get a good relief homecare worker Kaimoana, I know how hit and miss that has been in the past.

It was a lovely day here too Nfk, I hope you enjoyed your walk.

I hope you're keeping Mr I's bubble wrap in tip top condition in readiness for next week, ixion.

We've had our own venture to the local hospital today, at least my WP did as he had a chest x-ray. Hie GP only referred him just over a week ago, it came much sooner than we thought as there was a cancellation.

Not you as well Cherry keeping these hospitals busy! I hope WP (wallpaper?) doesn't need surgery.

Such a lot going on in Lobstar Land.

My emergency lodgers have left me now that their own house is habitable, though the battle with Scottish Water continues.

The Cornishman has moved into that room and out of the sitting room. My DS came to visit last night but didn't stay long . We were having a dinner party and he didn't want to interrupt. It was tricky without an oven but we managed.

The wee girls are coming again today so I may take them to the Gaelic café and show them off. They can reel off the days of the week as if it's a race! They sound like natives which I suppose they are.

I would love news of Mamissimo too.

So sorry so many are in and out of doctors and hospitals - it's obviously necessary but takes up too much of our lives on exhausting and/or worrying and stressful phases

MrSpaghetti is home now... 💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿🎉
I feel exhausted but truly blessed

So glad MrSpaghetti is home and hope you can both rest awhile.

Latest youngest daughter news. She now has Covid which she must have picked up at Papworth Hospital she has now been moved to an ITC ward.

Oh no Jan16
what a disaster! I do hope she recovers quickly but steadily there - and uneventfully.

Thinking of you

So sorry to hear this, Jan. Thinking of you and all the other Gangsters needing moral or physical support.

I am just back from the start of my whirlwind few days of planned maintenance- teeth, feet, bloods, shoulders (now arms, full length).
Turned the corner in our neighbouring town where our Dentist is, and came across an earnest but untalented young man with his sound system massacring rendering a version of Nessun Dorma.
Then, sadly, took off with Amazing Grace. Nearly seven years since my Mum died, but I walked the Precinct with tears streaming down my face. It doesn't take much, does it, Doodle? 😢

Kaimoana wow that’s an intriguing story. Does make you wonder doesn’t it?
Cherry, yes the Dean was a wonderful speaker to listen too. I knew how old he was but he always seemed so fit. It was quite a surprise.
Had a good day thanks. Helped out at church this morning then had coffee with a few church friends. Came home and did some mad tidying before meeting neighbour for coffee then back home to make some brownies to take to my grandson tomorrow.
I do hope your WP is ok and the results of the X-ray are fine. Did you have to wait long?
I had a knee and shoulder x rays during the week. I was in and out in no time
Grammaretto, will you miss your lodgers or are you glad to have a bit more space again?
Wow a dinner party without an oven. Did the Cornish man make it?
Have a lovely time with your girls. I hope they impressed everyone at the cafe.
Glad to hear Mr Spaghetti is now home. Nothing like your own bed and a good nights sleep to make you feel better, hope he makes a good recovery.
Oh Jan what a shame. I hope your DD is ok. Trouble is covid is around everywhere. I hope she is being well looked after and at least in ITC she will be monitored all the time. Hope she improves soon.
Ixion, no it doesn’t indeed. Hope your health MoT produces all good results. When I first read your post and came across (now arms full length) I did wonder if originally they were shorter than they should be and you’d had them lengthened.
Sorry!

I have tear-trigger songs too ixion.
Even as a toddler, apparently I cried when I heard 'Bye bye Blackbird' - still do.

'The Skye Boat Song' and 'Bright Eyes' from Watership Down (which I've never seen) are very painful because my DH used to sing them to our babies.
And I'm totally unable to hear 'Walking in the Air', made popular by Aled Jones.

Glad to report Cherry that twice recently I've had substitute homecare workers, both of whom were lovely.

Karen is away all November, so I'm hoping that continues.

It's a public holiday here, Labour (long) Weekend and as such no care is offered on Monday. I'm well stocked up so it doesn't matter.

Gubbins sent me a video in which she's jumping up and down shouting, 'I love you Grandma' - that too made me teary.

After 2 days and nights of rain and wind, Sunday has dawned calm and sunny.
A blackbird is singing nearby; there are multiple blossoms on the climbing roses and the Banksia s absolutely covered with a cloud of tiny, golden flowers.

How very worrying Jan. 😟
I hope she's better soon.

My DGD was very sick on our outing yesterday. We were on a bus but it wasn't travel sickness. Luckily I had 2 carrier bags with me and tissues.
Not the best day. She's OK today thankfully.

I shall be enjoying my extra hour today although I guess it will be dark by 5pm.

I'm so glad you've been having some nice days Doodle
And Kaimoana too, with Gubbins' love coming your way.

Wishing you all a sunshiny day

That brings back memories, Grammaretto. Visiting my great grandma on the Green Line from Victoria to High Wycombe. The brown paper bags were just not big enough. And being passed up the coach to the parent who was not sitting at the bumpy back. Ignominy.

It is glorious here this morning, I feel I should be doing more than basking in the sun at the kitchen table, being self indulgent on the iPad. Possibly my tax return? Maybe tomorrow...

Must get some Pringles ready for Doodle after lunch as it is the day for another round of ⚽️ frustration and humiliation.
Are you match fit, Cherry?

My journey to the hygienist yesterday saw me leave, I fear, with one less filling than I went in with. Always thought he was a tad overzealous. Hey ho, another task to add to Monday's list.

How is your daughter, Jan? Hope there is some improvement.

Unfortunately no improvement for DD yet. Had a shock first thing today when I looked at my iPad to find a message from DDs partner outlining a conversation she had last night with hospital Dr. We knew that DD had a goitre but had no idea how big in had become. Apparently it’s affecting her breathing and the Covid is affecting this too. I really don’t understand it all and there’s so much scary info. Basically they can’t remove the goitre whilst she has Covid as it’s too dangerous. Anyway that’s the basic info and all we can do is keep fingers and everything else crossed

That's a terrible shock Jan!
I suppose it is better to know what they are dealing with - but I can imagine the terrible worry.
I do hope the covid clears soon and the goitre can then be dealt with

Such a dreadful worry Jan.
I hope your DD can have the operation soon.

A better day today. I went to DS and we cooked lunch together. Their little dog seems much better but looks odd with his body shaved where he had his ultrasound. He's on antibiotics and steroids! All because he drank from a puddle apparently 🙄

DGD went home today and she is better too.

Nosferatu at the cinema tonight!