🦞🦂 *What are we up to?*🦂🦞

I think the triple mahogany wardrobe came from a country house sale. We inherited it from our last house where it was too big but useful as it holds so much.

There's also a giant bookcase another one and a massive sideboard with a mirror above and several mahogany chests of drawers.
I don't want to store them. I'd rather they found new homes.

I just heard that DGD arrived home tonight but she's in great pain. Poor lamb.

Happy birthday to your DS Doodle I hope he had a good day.

Night night Lobstars. Sleep well.

Oh my goodness - what a great idea ixion! How clever of your mum to think of that!

Have you considered iron tablets Doodle?

We often lack iron as we get plder and when we are stressed. We cannot always process what we need from food -however good the diet

I would consider a specialist auctioneer if I had glorious furniture like that.

Endless sunshine here - can't remember the last time it was overcast or rainy and some of the wet stuff would be welcome right now.

I have a very sore ear which is affecting all the right side of my face.
First available doctor appt 3 weeks hence.
I told them not to bother.

I have a wheat bag and panadol, it'll put me right.

Grammaretto..I am glad that your DGD is home. That was a long operation for an appendix no wonder she is in pain. Children do bounce back though far more quickly than their Mums from worrying ( and Grandmas too). Have fun with your potters.. I'm with Doodle I'd love to have a go. There used to be a pottery at Aylesford Friary in Kent and you could watch the potters at work and buy items too ( which I did....goodness knows where they are now though)

*
I think sometimes the National Trust take items of furniture if they have local connections...Dunster had lots of things donated by local residents. It may be worth asking...*

Kaimoana..ouch I hope the wheat bag and panadol work soon...is it definitely your ear? as tooth problems can cause pain up to your ear too.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone...it does make you feel so much better doesn't it

Thanks Ixion DS1 was working yesterday, his birthday, but he was off today and has had a nice relaxing day,

Grammaretto pleased to hear your DGd is home but it’s a shame she’s in such pain. Did they not provide some painkillers for her. Hope she feels better soon,

Kaimoana I’ve had iron tablets in the past but stopped taking them as they made me feel so ill. I had a blood test recently and all seems ok. From my bereavement group it seems to be a common theme that we are all tired .Sorry about your ear. Hope the panadol and wheat bag help

NN a beautiful day here. Went for a walk by the river then had to go to hospital for a pacemaker check. All ok but sitting in the same waiting room that I’d been in so many times with brought back upsetting memories,

Oh Doodle...I hope today is filled with sunshine and lots of happier memories to chase those of yesterday far away. ♥️♥️♥️

I hope all our gang are doing something nice today.
Having viewed a most unsuitable flat this morning, I am relaxing in my sunny garden.
I was going to take stuff to a fundraising market but it's been such a busy and stressful week I've changed my mind.

I'm watching a pair of crows using the crow steps on the next building to eye the world.
😄

I had a good chat to DGD yesterday who was recovering in a hammock in their garden and told me all about her time in hospital. So she must be on the mend.

I hope you are too Kaimoana with your earache.

A poignant time for you Doodle

Grammaretto i have always wanted a hammock or one of those garden swing chairs. Never got round to it while we had a garden and can’t have one on a balcony. But I’ve got my rocking chair on the balcony and have been out there today rocking away in the sunshine.
Hope everyone has a peaceful and restful weekend.

Getting into (or is it clambering) a hammock would fill me with dread.
I fancy a set-up where the hammock is spread on the ground and then hoisted aloft by stalwart winch-men. Then they could fan me with palm leaves.

How is your ear, Kaimoana? I think ear ache pain is one of the worst ever.
Is your wheat bag soothing? Here's hoping for an improvement🌻.

I couldn't see you in a flat, Grammaretto, to be honest. What's the timeline for placing your offer on the bungalow for modernisation? It's all very exciting to us on the sidelines!

I am pleased you got to have a chat with your convalescing girl and hope her pain is well controlled now. I remember vividly when my DB came home from hospital, having had his appendix removed when he was 3.

There is 6 years between us and, at 9, I had little patience for him, regarding him as an irritation most of the time. He had a little child's toy suitcase and he proudly, but wordlessly, showed me his stitches folded into a piece of gamgee. My heart went out to him temporarily.

How is Mr.J, Jan? I hope you are both coping at the start of this difficult new journey.💐

Hoping for more sunshine for us all tomorrow, both literally and metaphorically.

Good morning fellow crustaceans
Thank goodness your granddaughter is recovering well Grammaretto

We have been trying to sort out lots of practical things at my mother-in-law's house in readiness for putting it on the market. My son has asked for one of the ceiling pendant lights 🙄
We are happy he is interested in something but I wish it wasn't something we are now going to have to replace... grrr
His little daughters came over and chose a torch and a magnifying glass.
So the house is emptying in tiny steps it seems... a manicure set, torch, magnifying glass and now a light fitting!


We met my daughter and granddaughter in a forestry centre not far away yesterday and had a bit of a walk with them. It was actually rather nice and mercifully quite relaxed. I was very nervous beforehand as didn't want to "start anything up" after the previous time when she left.
Thank you all for being so kind about this.


Today (later) I'm off to buy shoes with my son and his youngest daughter. She has a birthday soon and is desperately wanting shoes "with butterflies on them" 😬...

Going to Clarks - not holding out a lot of hope... I wonder if she will settle for butterfly something else?
It's near a Waterstones... maybe a book?

Must just say, I am loving all this sunshine.
Hope you are all enjoying some bright and mild weather - and that life is generally brighter in general too
🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

Lots of proper girlie shoes in Next, NS.
'Proper girlie', as opposed to 'proper shoes', that is.
Pinks, whites, sparklies, butterflies ad naus.

Oh for a DGD!

2 beautiful sunny days and now back to normal.
Why was I so stupid as to sow trays of seeds yesterday! I now think it was far too early.
The greenhouse is only marginally warmer than outside.

Dear friend's last day so I will light a fire and we can watch the other Bennett sister.
She doesn't have a TV so we watched the first 5 episodes. Now she's reading Persuasion.

DGD is recovering so well she hasn't even needed Calpol. Brilliant. I'll send the picture of the hammock which I don't think will impinge on privacy and just be proof of glorious Highland weather.

Glad you had a lovely day out with your DD and DGD NotSpaghetti. It sounds as though you have done what you could in the circumstances and she's able to go it alone now.

As for MiLs house clearance. I am jealous.
You must instruct me how to do it as mine looks much as it did when I began years ago.

Ha ha, Grammaretto. Please don't be jealous- there's so much still to do.

Ours will be harder as I tend to keep stuff "in case" - my mother-in-law, on the other hand has been "death clearing" since about 1978!
#Swedish roots!

Grammaretto, like Ixion i can’t see you in a flat. You’ve had a big house and garden to roam in. Whilst I’m sure you can cope with something smaller I think a flat is a step too far.
Hope your DGD is feeling better today.
ixion. Hmm I see your imagination is going overboard again. Sturdy men and palm leaves indeed. You’ll be wanting to be fed grapes next 🤣
Notapaghetti how nice to have a walk with your DD and DGd. Did you find the butterfly shoes? I can remember going shopping for my Clarkes sandals for the summer. The same ones all the other girls had. I think they were universal at that time.
Kaimoana how is your ear today? Hope it’s improving.

They weren't the ubiquitous Clarkes' Joyance sandals, were they, by any chance?

I used to have to choose between red or blue every summer.
And a white pair, too, for summer, which I was expected to keep free of grass stains when watching my DF play cricket.

Aha, I see that they were first produced in 1933 - so my mum was right. She did wear them herself as a child😱

Love the hammock photo, Grammaretto.
So pleased she is doing well❤️

I had those sandals too but in my day they only came in brown.
I can still remember wearing my new sandals to the beach (we lived in NZ then) and burying them in the sand while I swam.
When it was time to leave I couldn't find where they were buried and we had to leave without them 😔

I have applied for new helpers today and had 2 replies. Neither can come until July.

When I lived out in the country (ah, those dim and distant happy days ) I had a hammock.
I (sort of) mastered the art of getting into it by straddling it backwards and opening it out in front to sit on, then slowly and carefully bringing one leg in after the other.
This seemed to work after many attempts to throw myself in (supposedly taking hammock by surprise) , then a go at getting in face first - impossible to then turn over without once more falling to the grass.

It took a while to find the right action and involved many face-plants (or the opposite ) onto the lawn.

I had those sandals too. The Clarkes shop had an x-ray machine in it and when you had the sandals on you were x rayed to make sure they fitted properly. My Mum was really upset when the assistant said she thought I would develop bunions. My feet are a bit squiffy now but as that's over 60 years later so Mum needn't have worried.

Grammaretto... I started catching up on the thread by reading the latest post first and thought we were having a discussion about shoes...( Flats) and was just about to write about my very expensive trip to the garden centre with DF that resulted in the purchase of no plants but 2 pairs of shoes from the newly opened huge Pavers outlet. DF also bought 2 pairs

I agree with the others about a flat for you. My in laws downsized from a house to a flat and almost immediately regretted it mostly because they didn't have a garden and now live in a bungalow with a small front and rear garden and are very happy.

It's lovely to hear that your DGD is healing well too and managing to get in a hammock. You made me remember that our neighbour gave us her hammock when she moved last year. I feel so much more confident now both legs are the same length I might venture into it this summer.

Notspag...I hope your DD continues to turn to you as she negotiates a different future and that she will find happiness again. And for your DGD... It's said...better to come from a broken home than live in one. I think there is a lot of truth in that

I have heard that my eldest daughter is possibly moving back South and is currently having a trial separation from her husband. I really wish I could be there for her. I was reminded that she was incredibly unkind to me at my sister's funeral but in the end none of that matters when one of your children is suffering.

Apparently DD3 has had a traumatic time at work and has left teaching and again I'm wishing I could be having a cup of tea with her like we did daily and be an ear to listen and shoulder to cry on.

Talking of ears, Kaimoana how is yours?

Ixion....I did giggle at the picture on my head of you laying flat out on the ground and then being winched up by presumably 2 hunky men. ( If the thread police are reading this I am not being in any way un pc merely imaging my friend in a Carry on film scenario so don't shoot me down in flames)

Doodle a rocker actually does sound a much safer bet all round methinks

I've got a gyne appointment this afternoon...such fun darling as Miranda's mother used to say. I'm running out of bits of body and orifices to be inspected and can only hope that there isn't a repeat of the last visit when having removed necessary items of clothing (I'm not as bad as I used to be...when having my first DD the nurse said to me...R you are going to have to take your knickers off to deliver this baby) I walked out of the cubicle straight into my friend from church who was the covering nurse in clinic that day. Thankfully she got a colleague to do the procedure instead as goodness knows what would be going through her mind when she saw me at Mass😱

I too join the sandals group! Pretty certain my 2 daughters had them too but can vaguely remember them refusing to have them once they got to around 8!
DH is fine at the moment apart from the fact he has alledgedly gone deaf in in one ear. Honestly you have never heard so much fuss! Of course its not just that he possibly needs hearing aids oh no. Is it connected to the immunotherapy or maybe his ear is full of wax or possibly when he goes to see the GP today they will send him to Audiology or A and E etc etc. or even admit him to hospital!! In the end he came home with a spray for his ear as they couldn’t find anything wrong! Another 30 minutes was spent reading the instructions for the spray! Bless him.
Luckily we then had an unexpected visit from a very talkative lady from the Fire Brigade. Tragically a week ago there was a fire at one of the houses in our road. A lady and her handicapped son lived there. Obviously both taken to hospital but we heard the 80 year old mum was released and ok but the son was critically ill. The fire brigade lady said they had great difficulty getting the son from the house as the door was locked and no one knew where the key was. Unfortunately we have no idea about the son or whether he has recovered. The house looks dreadful with half the roof missing and the police sealed it off.
So the fire brigade were visiting all the houses in our small road making sure we had fire alarms and carbon dioxide meters etc.
We are now the owners of 2 new fire alarms as apparently ours were donkeys years old and one new carbon dioxide meter. She was very helpful and informative but we definitely needed a coffee when she left! So that was our excitement for the morning and after lunch we have friends round for drinks and nibbles! Plus a lot of gossip and putting the world to rights!! I just wish someone could do just that. Have a hood day all

Sorry all. Feeling really poorly tonight, got very bad hayfever I think and everything aches. I’m off to bed. Hope all are ok

Ear ache still present but better. Eyes taken a turn for the worst today (but may be different tomorrow), SO hard to see anything right now. Sending love to you all.

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The shoes.