🦞🦂 *What are we up to?*🦂🦞

Oh Grammaretto please be careful. Could you get one of those falls alarms? I get on with other grandma too. As you say, nice to share stories.

Grammaretto pleased you said yes and were rewarded with a good time. We had snow this morning but it didn’t last long. Very cold though.
I can’t believe it’s 5 years since your DH died. I remember the time quite well and how desperate you were to get him home.
My 18 months feels like a lifetime to me. I can’t believe I’m still here and functioning to be honest. I suppose like all of us the answer is we don’t have a choice.
Pleased you’re going to stay with your DS. Does he live far away?
Oh NN that so poignant. How you must ache to hold those little ones close. Maybe your DD did want to speak. Do they live near you? Not surprising the tears flow. So sad they won’t engage with you.
Thank you for your kind words.
Kaimoana hoping you’re seeing more of your DS soon.

Oh dear NN that must be so hard. ((Hugs))
Does the estrangement date from when you separated from their dad, by any chance?
If seems mums get the blame if it's being dished out. 😔 😟

I am still chilly. I am making plans to let the flat again. I didn't want to but I almost fell down a flight of stairs and realised if I had, no-one would find me. an awful mess to sort out!

I had coffee with other gran today. It is nice to be able to share granny boasts with someone who actually wants to listen. 😂 🤣

I had my winter vaccinations both in the same arm.

Doodle...a special big hug for you today, I hope you feel your DH very close to you...he will never be far away and that's for sure.
Grammaretto...yuk to snow and ice...I have never been the same since getting stuck for 16 hours in a snowstorm back in 2010. My DD3 was with me and pregnant at the time, after 10 hours were pulled in to a deserted petrol station and had a wee between the open passenger door and rear door....Oooh the relief....it was only when I drove away that I realised we were probably captured on cctv... We comforted ourselves by knowing they would never recognise our faces🤣.

Ixion on Easter Saturday we have the Easter vigil Mass and everyone has a candle that is lit from a bonfire at the back of the church...the back row passed 6 the lit taper to the next row and so on to the front...it symbolises Jesus the Light of the World rising from the dead and is very moving....well it was until in my wisdom I had taken all 3 small (4th not born as yet) DD's and sat right at the front so they could see everything... What I have anticipated was all 3 priests stopping right in front of us and only a lightening reaction stopped DD2 setting fire to the curate. We sat halfway down the church forever after that...

Kaimoana....I share your pain literally...I hope you can get some adequate pain relief very soon...and that Gubbins comes again soon too

*I'm feeling a bit weird this afternoon....It turns out my hunch about DD4 was right...I now have another Darling Grandson ( no 11). I nearly came face to face with DD4 and SIL in Aldi....within 4 feet. I didn't think they had seen me but thinking back they probably had...I kept my eyes down and concentrated on choosing bread and then left. They hadn't moved away and now and probably always will wonder if they wanted me to stop and speak. It's so very hard as DD4 has always been the harshest towards me but there is just something niggling that maybe newly delivered and a softening of heart saw her wanting her Mumma to see and speak to her. And oh how her Mumma wanted to and always will... It's DD3 birthday (42 today too..cue a few tears just now.

It's bitterly cold here. Snow and ice.
I was just snuggling down to my knitting and tele when a friend phoned to say she had a spare ticket to a concert in Edinburgh tonight.
A moment of indecision and then I said yes please.

It was 5 mostly older my age women singing unaccompanied traditional, political and funny Scottish songs.

It was terrific. I'm just home. I had to wade through icy slush at my back door.

The Gaelic class was cancelled due to our teacher having lost her voice.

Is it really 18 months Doodle. Time passes so quickly. So important to feel close to him at the Hospice. I'll think of you both.
Next week will be 5 years since my DH died. I'm planning to stay with our youngest DS.

Bedtime. I'm cuddling my hot water bottle and the thoughtful Jeeves has made rooibos vanilla tea.

Night night.

Have you got snow yet, Grammaretto?
Just rain here, ad naus. ☹️
Thinking tonight of those 🦞s in pain, either physically or spiritually, and hoping that better times will soon be round that corner.

Evening all. Kaimoana wish there was something we could do to help. Sending love and hugs. Xx
Been to sit fit this morning then coffee with a friend this afternoon.
Tomorrow will be church in the morning then I’m going to the hospice on my own for some quiet time with DH. It is 18 months tomorrow since I lost my darling man.

So sorry to read this, Kaimoana.
Thinking of you🌺

That sounds really debilitating Kaimoana, I'm really sorry to hear it and wish I could take the pain away from you. Sending gentle cwtches X

Ixion yes we do do Christingle for thé little ones. The candles are lit but only under the supervision of mum/dad/guardian and then blown out. Safety first as it were.
No we don’t have cake at church on Sunday but we do have biscuits like shortbread. Wednesday we have chocolate biscuits because someone brings them in. Afternoon tea and our bereavement group we have several home made cakes.
We don’t have scouts or brownies in our church. I think local groups probably go to a different church. I must ask around.
Glad you managed to find a good home for your toboggan.
Grammaretto so no takers for your toilets then 🤣 perhaps a selling point for your house could be advertising it as a five plus toilet house.
I’m so taken with your photos that I might borrow them if you don’t mind for drawing practice. I love trees and would like to draw them better.
Kaimoana so sorry about you being in pain. I’m glad to see your sense of humour hasn’t been sat on either. Lots of love xx

Kaimoana, so sorry 😞

Not able to sit comfortaably anywhere yet but....

I'll be back!

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Well done parting with your huge toboggan ixion.

The music people are trying to raise enough to buy the house. If they can't by the Spring I will put the house on the open market. I think they'll get change of use as we had to get permission to turn it back into a house, it having been laboratories for the paper mill for the previous 30 years.

We went for a drive today and came across a new business selling unwanted things to save them from landfill. A business rather than a charity but they hope to become a repair shop in time.
When I suggested they might want the 5 toilets and 5 washbasins currently stored in my cellar, the manager sounded rather less than enthusiastic. 🤣😅

We had lunch out and bumped into Edinburgh friends also on a drive.
We saw an art exhibition and had a nice walk.
My friend leaves tomorrow. I shall miss her.

I haven't been to a christingle service for years but it was a lighted candle back then. However everything is so risk averse that it may be different now.

I also hope all our Lobstars are surviving sadness, pain and storms.

A couple of photos from our day out.

Is there much interest generated thus far from the exhibition, Grammaretto?
Will the Council agree to a 'change of use' for your house - having thrown its proverbial spanner in the works over a new build in the garden?
There must be so much uncertainty for you over everything. Plus your children's lack of enthusiasm.

Please can we have a progress-or otherwise - report on pain status for our suffering 🦞s, Kaimoana, NN and NS ? Thinking of you all.

Any cake today, Doodle?
I was wondering whether your church celebrated Christingle for the little ones, and, if so, whether you would co-opted into helping make them?

Is it true, does anyone know, that each orange no longer houses a lighted candle?

I remember bring in charge of spacing for the procession, so that no Brownie or Beaver would bunch up to the one in front and risk setting fire to the back of her/his uniform or the fabric of the church.

Today my 6' Canadian (4 person) wooden toboggan was taken by a lady for her friend who used to be a 'musher' back home.
She is hoping for sufficient snow to be able to introduce her young family to the delights of sledging over here🤔.

Each to his own, says me.

Evening all.
Ixion i can imagine you finding the little harness and having a memory pang. Hopefully the pram will find a good home.
I love crocuses. Please may we have a picture when they come out
Notwpaghetti what a week you’ve had, the stairlift incident sounds quite traumatic, hope you’re ok.
Grammaretto is your music man looking for funding to help buy your house? Your art craft sounds good. I enjoy trying new things.

So Ixion imagines me and my rocker being blown across the rooftops and Grammaretto imagines me sunbathing in the sunshine. The reality is that I sat in my rocker on the balcony shielded from most of the drizzle type rain in the dark as it was early evening and just rocked away with my memories. At my current weight it would need a typhoon to lift me and my rocker so I was quite safe. Although the neighbours might think I’m a bit mad sitting outside in my raincoat rocking in the darkness. 🤣

NotSpaghetti I only have one remote car key. I believe replacements are available but buying a new car might be cheaper.
Sorry it's been a rough week. 😔
Who rescued whom from the stairlift stuck in space mid flight?

Decluttering is traumatic, isn't it ixion
All the platitudes in the world don't help when something precious to you finally goes.

There are things I still regret parting with from many moons ago.

The music school project fund- raising was launched today in the town hall with an exhibition of their plans.

I went to a printmaking class. We learned "kitchen sink" lithography.

2 hours of fun with art.

I have my friend from the north staying for a few days which is nice though she's out for the day which is nice too!
I may try to rent out the wee flat again really just to have other people nearby.

A lovely image of you in your rocking chair soaking up the sun Doodle
🌞
It's been pretty bleak here since I got home and cold.
Snow on the way....

Thinking of all of you 🦂🦞 and hoping you all have a good weekend
X

Dear All
So sorry I have been away and paying not enough attention to "cakes and more cakes", Irish vacations, excellent embroidery (beautiful birds), Barney's miraculous bladder, tight traumas and so on

I have had a rough an interesting week which included three birthdays, two days of stairlift traumas (one stuck halfway for several hours), trying to decorate a room (that really needs plastering) and lots of physio.

I will be back shortly but now have to sort out the car key fob which has suddenly died - it needs a new battery...*🙄

Gosh Doodle. If you'd sat out here today, you'd have been blown away.
It has been very stormy all day with driving rain. Note to self - contact faithful tree surgeon asap to expedite an assessment of our money pit protected specimens.
We are keeping an eye on Barney who has stubbornly refused to leave the house for a bathroom break for about 36 hours. Impressive.

Did you have a blustery return trip, Grammaretto? You certainly have achieved a lot during your short stay. Was that an early Christmas or will you be meeting up with that branch of the family later?

My decluttering progresses at pace. The pram is being collected by a charity who will tart it up renovate it in their skills workshop and pass it on to a family who needs one. A moment of poignancy when I discovered the pram harness for DC3 and leading rein. So small!
Two toboggans were snapped up - fortunately for me, the reality of global warming passing by the queue of requesters. Snow? what snow?
They are only child sized moulded plastic, so I was tickled by one request which said they would be a great way of celebrating the couple's retirement🤷‍♀️.

I have a traditional wooden four man bob which might suit them better - that's for tomorrow .

In fact, it is so mild that my tub of newly planted crocuses are already beginning to poke their heads above the parapet. I put an end to that nonsense by adding a generous amount of compost over the offending tips.

Grammaretto I’m so pleased for you. So glad you enjoyed yourself. The sweater sounds nice I like Aran.

I went to lunch today with a friend. Then did a food shop. It’s been quite mild as you say so I sat outside on my rocking chair for a while .

I'm home already. Tired but happy. I had a wonderful couple of days and apart from rain of Biblical proportions on Wednesday night, the weather was warm enough to strip to a t-shirt!
I walked a lot partly because the currency became a problem and the Irish way of giving directions even more so! mostly just my poor sense of direction

I bought my DS a fabulous aran sweater. I did offer to try to knit him one but, sensibly, he declined. 😅🤣

Hi Cherry out Tigger friend. Lovely to hear from you.
Been a busy day for me today. Art class (with cake) then afternoon tea (with cake and cake and more cake!) Is it any wonder I can’t lose weight🤣
Grammaretto i do Hope you’re enjoying your time in Ireland. What have you been doing today?

What a wonderful experience that must have been Grammaretto, having only seen a couple of photographs of the book of Kells it looks like an amazing piece of art and devotion, it must have been glorious to see it up close and personal. It sounds like you're really enjoying the rest of your trip too.

I couldn't help spluttering my tea over your tights tales Naughtyneine 🤭 🤣 but be careful, a friend of mine fell over the steps doing something very similar to you.

I love your work ixion, and just like Doodle, I especially love your birds

How are you Kaimoana, are you any nearer to being able to move around a little better? Sending you big cwtches x

I hope you, Doodle, and you NotSpaghetti, are okay.

I've had a very busy week so far and we're only halfway through 😬 - Jeeves where are you, I'd like a hot chocolate please before I end up sleeping halfway up the stairs. Night night LobStars 🌙

Grammaretto i Hope you’re enjoying your trip,
Ixion they’re beautiful. Love the birds. Nice to do hand made things.

As for the Argy, it’s amazing what you can do when you’ve had a few (too many 🥴) 🤣🤣

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Did you do that embroidery yourself ixion? How very clever and good it is.
The book of Kells experience it is
The book is there, rather small and unobtrusive, but the experience is anything but.

We weren't allowed to take photos of the book but we were allowed to in the long hall so I did.
There were interactive displays in another building.

Afterwards I tried to find the national museum. I only found part of it. The prehistoric part.
Still tomorrow is another day....
As Rett Butler reminded us.
Tonight, in torrential rain, we went to an excellent Italian restaurant.

I hope tomorrow will be dry and I plan to go to the Botanic Gardens and later to the rest of the museum.
I do like Dublin, despite the weather.
People are so friendly and down to earth.

Then back home tomorrow evening.

The tights story really is too funny NN sorry 😍🤣😅

You be careful now....
.
.