🦞🦂 *What are we up to?*🦂🦞

The bookcase has been sold to a new bookshop. Ixion It's being collected on Monday. Hence the pressure to empty it and try to make it possible to get it out.
Another work party tomorrow has been planned.

I went sale shopping today and bought furry boots and merino socks.
I only hope the ferries aren't cancelled. I looked on the Calmac website and there are none today on my route.

The problem with holidays in warm climes is that eventually you have to come home. 🥶
It would be nice though. Several of my friends are in Spain right now.

My gardening girl is not one of them. She went abroad once and that was enough for her. She goes to Dumfries and the Wye valley which she loves.

I had an enquiry from a Helper who wants to come in April but wants to bring her 2 cats. I said no. Isn't that a bit odd to travel the world with 2 cats? She's Canadian.
I thought it odd.

The rest of my toilets will go tomorrow to someone building their own house.

How are Lobstars doing?
I may have my herb tea and fill my hottie now. It's far too cold to sit up.
My hands begin to freeze and I can't knit.

Oh Kaimoana that can’t be true you lovely lady or perhaps your suitors were all too shy.
My that’s a sizeable bookcase Grammaretto. Beautiful picture from your walk.
Ixion sorry your “people” have abandoned you. Perhaps it’s time for the housekeeper (you) and the head butler (himself) to have a little holiday? 🤣
I’ve been out for lunch with my art class. Lovely day and lots of chat,

Wow, that's some bookcase, Grammaretto!
Is it modular or one long run? I hope it finds an appreciative home.
Happy Anniversary, New Hip. There seems to have been no stopping you over the last year.

How great to get a date for your revision hip, NN. Let us know the visiting hours😉. Here's hoping it all goes well for you.

Pleased you made the decision to hold your family Christmas celebrations whilst holding dear in your hearts your DMIL's memory, NS. I hope the necessary paperwork isn't too long in being processed - everything on hold is less than helpful really, isn't it?

We don't, as yet, have the threatened bad weather. Watch this space!

Envying those who are holidaying in warmer climes - my window cleaner in Dubai, my excellent Evri courier in Cape Verdi Islands, Gardening Services (AKA the Mow and Blow team - I cannot bring myself to refer to them as gardeners) in Spain somewhere.

And our Kaimoana too. 🌞 surely?
(I wouldn't have known about the significance of the fireworks either).

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202601/medium-5byp56-1000038099.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202601/medium-b0d905-1000038096.jpg

Hooray! Naughtyneine that's brilliant news.

I am so pleased for you.

Jan you sound upbeat too. Lovely to be with the family.

I did have a very nice evening at my friend's house. She'd invited a few of us for a meal and good chats. I was poured a hefty dram of whisky which I managed to down eventually but that'll do me till next Hogmanay.

Today I was keen to get out for a walk in the sunshine. While I was gone my DD and family called round to help with the bookcase. They didn't tell me they were coming and left a note on the kitchen table before leaving. Grr.

A local couple popped in to be my first footers and stayed for an hour at least. 😃

Pictures are the empty bookcase and my walk today.

I didn't know fireworks were a signal for drug dealers Kaimoana. You learn something new every day on here

I'm just reading a book in which someone finds a cache of 70 love letters.

I've never received even one love letter in all my life.

NN you’re moving (or not as it happens) in high circles. Hope you get fixed and ready to go again soon.
Good news about your op. Obviously anxious but will be good to get it done.
Thank you for the lovely message.
Jan nice you’re getting to spend time with family, Hope this is a year of gaining strength and more mobility.
Love the card ixion happy new year to you too.
kaimoana lots of fireworks here too. Poor dogs and animals. Our son’s dog was so frightened.
Notspaghetti Grammaretto and all hope you’ve had an enjoyable New Years Day and all good wishes for 2026

Don't all laugh...we are in the grounds of the Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury's Estate in Dorset ( with permission). We were with friends in the village for NYE and in MoHo Maeve overnight.....currently waiting for the AA to arrive. DH furious as apparently Maeve is different to Henrietta and the radio runs of the starter battery and not the leisure battery so leaving the radio on for the children was not a good idea ......Eek.
I can't be cross, it's not his fault and anyway I got a call from Admissions on Tuesday, I'm booked in for Jan 28th. Both surgeons will be operating. I am the first to have an operation under this OPS protocol. I'm terrified but cock a hoop that I might soon get my life back on track.

Happy New Year Everyone. Hope 2026 is a good year for Everyone and most importantly a Healthy year. We have just had coffee and huge yummy cheese scones in our local cafe! Eldest daughter so pleased to find a vegan cake there!! Youngest daughter- who is actually 53! - was very quiet as still missing her little dog but she came to meet up with her sister who lives in Nottingham.
Think a lazy few days are in store apart from taking the Christmas decs down. Not that I will be much help with one working leg and arm!
Enjoy the beginning of 2026 everyone and once again hope its a great trouble free year for all.

I like a lot of the "Rosie" cards Ixion

And, lowering the tone, from me -
🫣

Thank you Naughtyneine - how lovely!

Happy New Year Lobstars.... Wishing you all health, peace and happiness in abundance in 2026.

A quiet New Year’s Eve for me, except for the late-night fireworks, which I don't really mind.
For some reason, they are let off on many weekends and
I used to think this was for children’s birthdays etc but t they now explode in the early hours.

It happens so often that the many local dogs no longer bark, although they will at everything else: cats, possums, pedestrians, falling leaves…

A friend who moves in circles alien to my naïve self tells me it’s a signal drugs have arrived.

I didn’t know Chemist shops kept such late hours.

Happy New Year dear friends.
🎆🎇

Wishing my 🦞buddies the very best for 2026 ❤️

That must have been a bitter sweet occasion Notspaghetti but I’m sure she would have wanted you all to go ahead. What a. Nice treat she had planned.
Have a lovely evening Grammaretto. Ive just been for a meal with my friend. I feel sad at the thought of DH not being here to celebrate with me. I miss him every second of every day but sometimes something will cause that extra pang of longing.
I’m going to my friends for a drink soon so will buck myself up.

Happy New Year all you lovely lobstars. Thank you for your companionship and support for so many years now.
May 2026 be a more peaceful and happy year for all

Grammaretto I expect it's comforting to feel MrGrammaretto close by. Especially when you are relentlessly sorting and sifting.

We have still got 1000s of books MrSpaghetti put in his mother's (admittedly dry and "sound") garage with the intention of clearing it box buy box (originally a box a week)...

We brought a couple of hundred home a little while ago in a fit of enthusiasm madness and now we can barely squeeze into the dining room as we have done nothing with them and I have dumped put my little loom in there and moved the computer down from the study too!

I know some are valuable and most are not books we really need to keep being largely academic - but the sifting is not a great fun task!
Soon we will have no option as we will have to empty my mother-in-law's house

I wonder if my lovely middle daughter would like to take a box or two away to deal with???
🤔

Oh definitely she would have approved NotSpaghetti it sounds a super celebration.

I felt the presence of DH today strongly. I tried to get a work party together to clear the bookcase without much success. DS said why did I give him zero notice.

But I was across at the community store and realised it was Wednesday so sat down for the community meal. A young man at my table said he had to leave to get his bus so I said, in the spirit of DH, if you come back and help clear books, you can eat your lunch and I'll drive you home. So I did and not only that but he managed to find a supply of boxes for the next lot of books.
Then my df who had been carefully sorting through the papers in the room with the books, continued to help for a couple more hours and I'm beginning to feel on top of it a bit more.

She encouraged me to throw out a lot of photo albums, not mine but belonging to DH cousin who died 10 years ago but had no family.

My df even managed to find a couple of books she wanted so win win!

Tonight I've been invited to a not very near neighbour's for food and celebration.

The man came for the toilet set and gave me some money for it though I told him he was doing me a favour.

The only pity is it's raining except that might stop the fireworks, which we don't want.

Happy New Year to all of you and may all your resolutions and wishes come true.
🍾 🎊 🥂🍹🍸🍷

Hip hip hooray Grammaretto!
🦴🦴

So sorry to hear so many of us have had bereavements so near Christmas. Mr Doodle, My husband's sister and mother, my father, my friend's husband.. so many anniversaries and sadness
Obviously we miss loved ones all the time but I think we miss them SO acutely when we "should be" happy.
I know the absence of my parents at my son's wedding last year (nearly 40 years since they had died) really unexpectedly pulled the rug out for me for a chunk of the day.

On Monday my mother-in-law had booked a family meal at a restaurant she liked near her home. There should have been 20 of us. It was her "Christmas treat" so very difficult to decide if we should go to be honest.

It's only a modest family run Italian restaurant with maybe 50 or 60 seats in total but so friendly and so accommodating. They don't usually open on a Monday but with it being Christmas I think they thought it might be worth it (as we guaranteed 20 people) - so I was reluctant to cancel because i feared they would make a loss! I confess my heart wasn't in it though.

...however, once we got there it was really lovely and we all felt warm and happy with our cracker-hats on. I took the chocolate Christmas coins she'd bought for her great-grandchildren to have on boxing day (when they were due to visit) and they had those at the end of their meal.
🪙🪙🪙🪙🪙
Everyone was in good form... I think she would have approved.

Coffee with your friend sounds very nice Doodle and tomorrow's church.

I took the orders in our community café this morning. It was good to see so many friends enjoying eachothers company over coffee and scones.

I got very cold again this evening. It is cold. Minus 3 or 4 and my fire refused to light.

The man didn't come for the toilet set either so that was annoying. He may come tomorrow. A woman has now written to ask me if the basins and toilets have all their fixtures and fittings.

While sorting through books today I came across one I had presumed lost as I'd not seen it for years. It was written by a gt grandfather of mine - a successful NZ farmer who came to Europe with his wife and some of their grown up DC in 1910 and it's his story of the trip! It's quite funny, especially when he talks about the sheep, cows and crops which is his main interest, comparing them with his own.
He also talks about Victorians. It took me a while to realise he means people from Victoria in Australia not old fashioned people.

He compares Scots farms with English, favourably.

Tomorrow is NYE the first anniversary of my new hip. This year has gone very quickly.

Night night Lobstars.

Grammaretto i find the passing of time hard too.
Pleased you had a good day out in Edinburgh. I’d love to go there it looks lovely in photos.
I met a friend for coffee in costa this morning and spent the afternoon knitting but didn’t get much done.
Church in the morning

I feel the same Doodle every day, however pleasant it is, is another day further away from my beloved.

I'm glad you'll be with DS1 on NYD.

I have no plans for Hogmanay but I daresay something will turn up.

I'm doing an extra shift at the community shop tomorrow and someone is coming to take one of the toilets and washbasins found in my cellar!

I enjoyed an exhibition in Edinburgh today. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to see such incredible works of art so close in every sense.

Drawing the Italian Renaissance: The King's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse share.google/G3nlkaLarIyV6Cw1h

I'm sorry you are sad, Doodle.
Sending hugs 🫂

Evening all.
Had a lovely afternoon with my friend and her friend. Lots of laughter and Christmas leftovers,
Meeting up with another friend for coffee tomorrow. dS1 has invited me for lunch on NYD. Can’t believe another years passed, it makes me feel so sad to think of how time is passing since I lost DH 😢

Pure linen weaving is a true skill.
To weave tight and smooth by hand it should apparently be woven slightly dampened.

I've not tried weaving 100% linen but have helped a friend spray her warp with a plant spray as she wound it on.