🦞🦂 Lobstars 🌟 still shining bright 🦞🦂

Wishing you a very happy birthday, Grammaretto! 💐
Have I got that right?

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday Grammaretto 💐.
I hope you enjoy your foraging and, especially, your posh afternoon 🍵 🍰 later xx

I have asked this question before but no-one has answered it. I am really curious, so please can someone put me out of my misery?
My question is……..
Why are lots of phrases crossed out? As you can change what you are writing as you go along, it seems strange. Sometimes there are several in one post. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me being picky?

Grammaretto happy birthday. 🎂 many happy returns of the day 🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂 🎂 🥳 . Hope you enjoy your afternoon tea and have a great day, x
Kaimoana that sounds like a very annoying alarm but necessary I suppose. How lovely you will see Gubbins again soon. 😊
Crossstitchfan it is a form of joke. Difficult to explain but it’s a bit like using brackets around an extra bit of information in a joke form. Sorry I can’t think of a good example at the moment.
Cherry and ixion love and hugs to both. Hope you’re ok

I suppose Crossstitchfan, sometimes we mean the opposite and as Doodle explains, it's a bit jokey... like enjoying something (through gritted teeth).

So you might have a visit from a friend with an annoying lively grandchild in tow.

Happy day today Grammaretto.
Hope you don't have too many treats!!

And how lovely to have a visit organised, Kaimoana. I'll be thinking of you.

We have just come back from a week by the sea with our motley crew. 🥰
Exhausted but happy.

Thank you all for clearing up the crossing out mystery! Still don’t really like it though! 😏

Notspaghetti glad you were able to explain things better than me. How lovely to have had a week by the sea. Glad you had a good time.
Grammaretto i Hope you had a fabulous time on your birthday and a lovely tea,
I’ve been to the hospice today with three friends from church. Had a nice catch up . Church tomorrow

Crossstitch I suppose irony is very hard to portray in text but (to me at least) that's what the crosings out are.

I have had a visit from a friend 3 times in two weeks. She talks about herself all the time and always the same thing.

Moreover she arrives about lunchtime and stays until dark.
I enjoy my solitary state and these visits seriously discompose me maybe I'll hire an assassin

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202508/medium-gljt5-1000032144.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202508/medium-a2irzn-1000032216.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202508/medium-bivioq-1000032235.jpg

How tiresome Kaimoana the friend who never leaves.
I am very pleased that a visit from Gubbins is pending and that you were rescued from power cut hell by Mepa. Hooray.!!!

Thanks for all the birthday greetings. I had a brilliant day. Foraging morning, posh tea at a beautiful house/hotel and in the evening another meal cooked by the wonderful helpers.

So glad you had a lovely birthday Grammaretto. What a beautiful place it looks. I saw a picture of your food on GM this morning. I couldn’t see any scones…….had you already eaten them 🤣
I had toasted tea cake at the hospice for lunch. One of my favourite treats.
Kaimoana oh dear I wonder why your friend has started turning up like that. Has something happened that makes her seek you out.

We had a wonderful Gubbins morning on Sunday.
Had a shared brunch of mini croissants with ham and cream cheese.

Mila did some lovely art work with glue and glitter.
Her absolute favourite though is to make volcanoes (BP & Vinegar) in various colours, so thats a fixture on each visit but she was too shy to show me her ballet progress -

Mum says she's doing very well and Madame wants her to continue to the next class.

It was so quiet when they went.

Oh Kaimoana yes. I can imagine that quiet, loving hole in your heart. ❤️

Dear Kaimona my heart is overjoyed at your news. So pleased you have spent time with your precious girl. It’s lovely when they have something they like to do “at grandmas”.
Our three had a game they made up and only ever played it here but they loved it.
Yes I can imagine the quiet after but how lovely to have the memory.

Grammaretto Im wondering if you’ve made it back from your 6 mile walk 😱. Hope you had a good time. At the moment I’m lucky if I can manage just over a mile.
Lovely church you visited with your Italian helper. Is she staying long ?

Kaimoana such joy for you. It's always sad when they leave but she'll be back.

My 6 mile walk was infact 7½miles . Luckily it was mostly shady and I had my poles and sunhat. I have just emerged from a long soak in a bath with Epsom salts for the old muscles.

It's the Danish girl's last night so I bought vegetarian haggis for a classic Scottish meal. The Italian girl will stay another week and overlap with an American lady who has some great reviews and experience of decluttering houses.

Grammaretto that is some walk. Well done. Not surprised you needed the Epsom salts.
I have a small corn on my little toe. Had it for years and it’s so painful. It puts me off walking much. I have decided to tackle in and every day it gets a corn plaster stuck on it and I’m beating it into submission.
Had a lovely day with DH’s brother and his wife, nice meal and coffee by the river. Very pleasant.

Sorry about your sore toe Doodle
Too many of us are in the sick bay 😪

So glad you had such a lovely day with your in-laws.

I'm waiting in for a clay delivery but actually having, or trying to have, a quiet time while I have the house to myself.

I was given some chocolate covered blueberries for my birthday so have broken into them.....

It's quite cool here now, compared to how it was. Is your weather changing?

Never heard of chocolate covered blueberries Grammaretto . Strawberries and oranges or nuts. I would have thought the blueberries to soft to coat with chocolate……mind you, anything covered in chocolate is worth a try 🤣
Had a nice day out either friends. Unfortunately the garden centre we chose for lunch is having a refurbishment of their cafe which meant a lot of drilling and banging made having a conversation difficult. We had a good wander round the rest of the shop and bought a few bits and pieces then decided to go to another garden centre the opposite side of the road for a much quieter cup of coffee.
Tomorrow hospice I think.
How is your clay delivered, does it come in a big slab?

Yes Doodle the clay arrives in plastic sacks. I'm trying a new kind, hoping it will improve my pots 😂🤣😅
The chocolate dipped blueberries came from Canada and are very more-ish.

DGS passed his driving test today. First time so he's delighted. We are all pleased for him.

Glad you got a quiet coffee and tomorrow you have the Hospice. It does sound like a supportive refuge.
Do you visit patients there or go to the Chapel?

Well done your grandson Grammaretto i bet he’s so pleased. Will he have his own car.
The hospice I visit is where DH died. It is a beautiful setting around a large tranquil lake. It was purpose built and is an amazing building. So quiet and peaceful. There is a quiet cafe there and large area for outside seating. My friend and I go there every week and have lunch, I also go on anniversaries to spend some quiet time by the lake where I talk to DH and or just sit on a seat and look out over the lake and think my thoughts.
It is very hard to describe but it is a place I find great comfort .
DH wasn’t there long but it made the world of difference to us. If he’d have died in hospital I would never have forgiven myself. I wanted him home like you did your Dh but that wasn’t possible, The Hospice was a safe haven for me and the family.

The Hospice sounds so lovely Doodle
No wonder you go so often.

My English DGD2 sent me her GCSE results. She has passed and is off to
college. I'm very pleased for her as she doesn't find exams easy. She had already been accepted but I am sure she will be relieved and happy now.

Even more lovely news Grammaretto well done to your DGD. Do you know what she will study?
Feeling sad tonight, never goes away does it. Need to find something interesting to watch I think.

Just popping in really as I've been enjoying finding out what's been happening but not really contributing.

So this is what I've have been doing today ahead of my hip operation next week.
Physio, then a "sports" type deep tissue massage to try to wake my left foot up a bit (it has become a bit "clumpy" since I've hardly been swimming recently). The massage person said my left calf muscle was really tight. I don't really understand it but when she worked on it my left toes really responded!