🦞🦂 *What are we up to?*🦂🦞

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”

Friday 13 my microwave broke but fortunately I could get a new one for $69 = 30 GBpounds but I realised how very dependent I was on it once it was kaput.

Thinking of you Doodle and all those needing or sending a hug or cwtch, thank you Cherry

I suppose the value of 'treasures' is in what we enjoy and appreciate over our and their lifetimes.

Monetary value doesn't really matter once they become just 'items' - unless you have an antiques shop!

When I was clearing Mum's house, I asked someone, 'What's this worth?' and was told, 'only what you can get for it.'
A dealer offered me $135 for things which, if sold separately would have made 4 times that. I didn't have the heart to go that route - as dealers well know. They all cry the poor tale.

I passed a lot on to the Women's Refuge organisation who help people set up their own homes.

And as I now declutter what little I still have, its only to save my son the work when I pop me clogs.
Nothing is worth anything when you're dead.

That's a great line Kaimoana!!
Thanks for the valentine's card Cherry it's the only one I had.
Thanks to bonbons too.
I was given however a heart shaped donut today when I bought windscreen wash.

I'm having a lovely weekend with the potters. I'm in my element.
I've just come to bed having been firing the kiln for a few hours. Others have taken over now. I'll go back in the morning to see how it's doing.

I promise I won;t bombard you with cutsey sayings but my granddaughter, having been asked to go upstairs to bed said, "Okay but you'll have to carry me because my legs aren't interested"

And cwtches from me Doodle, and for you too Grammaretto X