🦞🦂 *What are we up to?*🦂🦞

Well I'm very happy Kaimoana that this has been quite a positive time for you -even if you don't think the new book is 100% right yet.

The tables on wheels are great - and not just over the bed. They are a good height for chairs too - and a seat for the shower will future-proof it as you say

How lovely to have the visit from your granddaughter - and so nice to meet her boyfriend too. I think she must really care for you and value both of you if she wanted you to meet.
What a lovely time you had reminiscing 🧡

I am plodding through the probate paperwork with MrSpaghetti. I did my mum's and it was so much easier than this. MrS is so fed up with it all and I'm trying to take some of the weight off him. He has a solicitor as a co-executor that my mother-in-law appointed in 2012 - so now she is very senior and costs ££££!

Her home has been valued now and so, as I think you know, we need to clean and sort it for sale. We did wonder if we should "buy out" the other beneficiaries and move in ourselves - but the 2/3rds we'd need to find means we'd have to clear and sell our own house first. 😱So that's a NO!!!

It's a fairly ordinary house but does have a lovely garden with fruit trees - and is 3 minutes from a huge park and 5 minutes on foot into a pretty town with lots of independent shops.
If it was easy, we might do it

Doodle, I don't think you are alone with the knit and natter unpicking problem. I think I'd have to just keep a scarf or similar to only knit there. I can't believe I'd have anything left if I was knitting and nattering. My mother could do this but I'm sure I couldn't!

Naughtyneine - thinking of you. By now I think you'll be feeling much more comfortable. 🤞 ... and I hope Naughtytide is enjoying the job.

Now the spring is coming along here. The daffs are up - they aren't open yet but the snowdrops are still looking lovely and the tiny irises are in bud. We have lots of life (including squirrels digging things up)!

Have a lovely weekend my friends
🌞

Interesting few days for me.
A woman came who wanted to know if I needes any aids in the home. We discussed various option and although I don't really need them right now, the day is not far hence.
She advised I should get them as it could be 12 months before she's back. Good idea.

So I shall have a seat for the shower and a table, similar to those in hospitals which can go over the bed but this will sit beside my chair and wheel away if I wish.

Then my elder grand daughter visited with her latest beau (and beau he was too!) and spent several hours chatting and catching up.
She's a quantity surveyor and is about to take advanced training as part of her BA.

It was lovely to see them, she and I have been very close since she was born and she reminisced about all the lovely thing we did together in her first few years of life - all good memeories and clearly remembered with joy. I get some things right then )

Next week its the ECG prior to my op., althought I don't have a date for it yet.

I shall be glad of it, I am finding it quite hard to breathe now and wake about 2am feeling I am breathing through thick pillows.

Submitted another book idea to a publisher but I don't think it was my best work, so I expect it to come flying back on negative wings.

I should have refined it a bit more. Still, I never mind rejection, its all part of the job and gives one a chance to do better.

Ha ha Ixion- neither did mine last week
I did the ones from 2 weeks ago instead.

Just coming in to wave, lest we drop off the 'last day' page.

Hope everyone has had a good day.

Helpful session with young physio over my knee - but a reprieve as he hasn't forwarded the exercises and gruelling planned exercise schedule.

Will rest up for the weekend instead.

What a wonderful circle Ixion with your au pair's son helping with the next generation!

I love mashed neeps with black pepper and butter.

I had an energetic day beginning with yoga. Then a U3A meeting. An excellent talk about the fire service. Edinburgh had the first fire brigade in the UK. Tonight was ceilidh dancing. A welcome addition was a young American engineer who has moved here recently. It's always good to have younger people.

Enjoy your day of action tomorrow Doodle.

Night night Lobstars. 🌙

Gosh, Doodle, that's some social calendar!
It must be helpful to have so much going on to fill your days🌺. I quite understand- tho' I did have to do a double take on your comment on getting ashed. 🫣
Memo to self - read with glasses on in future.

I too loved the sound of your German dish, Grammaretto.
Was it prepared by a German resident/visitor?

I remember vividly one of the first meals we shared here with our new (at the time) German au pair when I served mashed swede (yummy, with butter and black pepper - is that a Sassenach crime against neeps?). She was horrified, making it clear that said root vegetable was only ever given to cattle back home. And then, to add insult to injury, we couldn't source Quark for her cake making.

She was our bestest au pair, her elder boy replicating his mother's success spending a summer with DS helping with their two young sons and improving his English. Full circle!

Our Lenten roses are a welcome addition to the perpetual gloom here.

Grammaretto i love the sound of that dish.
Been to church again today for bereavement group. Lovely service finished by lighting a candle,
Art this morning . Walk and talk tomorrow.
I’m off to bed now, very tired. Sleep well all

^Himmel und Erde^ - Heaven and Earth!
Maybe still fitting for Lent

The daffodils here in Scotland are also known as the Lenten Lily.
Mine are in tight bud.

At the community meal yesterday we were served the most delicious dish. It is a German recipe called Himmel und Erde.
Mashed potato and apple, with caramelised onion flavoured with fennel and with barlotti beans.
Pudding was chocolate cake.
Not exactly fasting but delicious 😔

Goodness me, is it Ash Wednesday already? Doesn't seem two minutes since it was Christmas.

How Jesus managed in the wildnerness for well over a month on just Locust Beans and honey, I do not know, although it sounds delicious.

Is Locust Bean the same as Carob used in chocolate confectionery?

"Lent" is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning Springtime - and lest you think I'm being a Smart Alec/Alexa, I had to look it up!

Of course, here in NZ, it's not Springtime at all, but midsummer and moving, eventually, to Autmn on March 1st.

and thence to dreaded winter

ixion i find if I go to knit and natter I spend a lot of time unpicking too. I can do one or the other but not both at the same time, 🤣
I’ve got a set of those crochet hooks too. They look so nice. Trouble is they don’t do the crochet by themselves, you have to guide them.
Notapaghetti what a lovely afternoon you’ve had. Sounds cosy and fun.
Yes sending all good wishes to Mr and Mrs NN too Kaimoana
Grammaretto hope you’ve had a good day.
I’ve been to church and got ashed ? Attended the lent course Come and See. About 25 of us went so quite a lot of discussion.

Thinking of Mr & Mrs NN and sending love

Hello.
Hoping everyone is doing OK and especially Naughtyneine and Naughtytide with their new hip/ new job scenario!
🤞 hope both are proving a great success
We've just come in from a very jolly afternoon/evening of board games, soup and pancakes at our oldest daughter' house and it was so lovely
I feel really privileged when I'm blessed with days like this.
and even though it was a game I've never played before, and even though I was tired before I'd even left home to go there and really would have been happy to stay at home with a mug of tea - I had a lovely lovely time.
😍

I hope all of you have this most precious feeling soon.

Far more sedentary a lifestyle here, Doodle. We knitted and nattered and did a bit of unpicking.

May try crochet next week under supervision. Have bought a lovely pack of 9 assorted hooks with beautiful silicone moulded coloured handles, now must try to put them into use.
#easily led astray

Plus cake, I have spotted the non-knitters' tables with gi-normous plates of gateaux.
Roll on next Tuesday😆

Oh wow Grammaretto . Blue sky and sunshine. Hat a lovely photo. Quite cheered me up. Glad you had a good day.

I went to sit fit. Can hardly move tonight 🤣🤣. Sunny day but very cold. Church tomorrow. Hope they’ve got the heating on.

I hope everyone is getting sunshine today.
I came into Edinburgh because my classes aren't on this week and I needed to do some messages Scots for shopping

I bought some beautiful wool to knit DD a slipover/vest. By the time I've finished it I will have forgotten how much it cost. 😂

I went to my friend's exhibition and sat and had coffee in the sunshine in Leith.

There's a song Sunshine on Leith

How was DH's first day NN?

kaimoana I’m sure Gubbins will love the things you’ve put aside for her. What a good idea.
My best wishes to NNs husband too, hope all goes well. Thanks for the reminder ixion
Grammaretto sounds like a lovely trip and a special time round the camp fire at night. Glad you enjoyed it.
Jan glad the snows gone. It’s very bleak most places at the moment but we’ve actually had some Sun here today but very cold winds.

ixion I've been adding to their Legacy Boxes over several years and they have had to be changed to larger ones but so far, the only things I've taken out, are books I chose for Gubbins at birth, specifically for their gorgeous illustrations. She can't read them yet but she's on her way.

Woke up to a snow free garden except for a little bit left on the lawn! Our garden looks so dull and sad at the moment but we have loads of tiny tits chasing each other around! Lovely to watch!
Yes the Mart is here for 2 weeks and as its half term I expect very many children are looking forward to going! Can remember when mine were small standing around absolutely frozen while they tried to hook a duck, win yet another cuddly toy or ride the galloping horses!
Happy days but I dont think I thought so at the time!

Hello Lobstars,
Good wishes to Mr NN for his new job . Hope he likes it. 🤞

I drove home safely thanks. Only I could stop at a motorway services and forget to get petrol, so I was driving on almost empty and just made it to a petrol station in Edinburgh.

DS in NZ is being battered by storms.
DS in Ireland is having worries about the world.
My 2 other DC are spending half term together with their families which is lovely 😍. The big girls and the little girls.

I took "my" potters a big box of bojangles chocolates as a valentine's gift.
I didn't sleep much on Saturday night Doodle as we chatted around the camp fire.

Sorry that the Mart opening was spoiled Jan but hopefully it's there for a while and cheers everyone up on the darkest days.

Just popping in to send Mr.NN love and best wishes for his new job tomorrow.

Hoping Grammaretto gets back safely from her firing.

Sorry to hear of your snow, Jan and the disruption to the town's festivities.
Is it clearing now?

Gubbins remains a treat and a tonic to us all, Kaimoana. Do you ever change your mind and remove from, or add to your set-aside box of delights for her?

Wishing all 🦞s a peaceful night. X

The things I want to pass on to Gubbins, were sorted and packed away, well labelled Doodle.
Nothing of any real value but I think she'll enjoy my collection of miniaute houses, all beautifully detailed.

Oh dear Jan that sounds cold. Hope you don’t get more snowfall. Here it’s just constant rain. Got soaked again today.

Thank you bonbons
Oh Kaimoana that girl is hilarious. She so much takes after her grandma.
I hope you’re not getting rid of all your treasures. Do you have any that you can pass onto Gubbins?
Grammaretto so pleased you’re having a good time and enjoying yourself. You’re staying up very late. Have you been sitting round the camp fire?

My news today - we have had snow! Heavy rain was forecast but snow it was! The sort that comes down in huge flakes and settles for a bit but then decides to turn into a slippery slushy mess!
We have something in out town called the Mart which arrives every year at this time. It’s basically a fair with rides and stalls etc etc. its arrived every year since the 1800s and takes up two big car parks in the town so everyone moans about how they cant park! It also has a name for bringing bad weather so from this afternoon when it should have opened but didnt because of the snow the whole town is muttering about “Blinking Mart weather”