🦞 The Lockdown Gang still chatting 🦞

Grammaretto So sorry to hear that you have decided against your purchase but honestly at our age do we really want a big house to look after? Think of the upkeep, decorating the heating etc etc. Really hope you find the house of your dreams very soon. Moving is such an upheaval and so stressful as I am sure you are finding out. Fingers crossed for you in your search
Its so hot in Norfolk today Im sure I am going to spontaneously combust! Last night was so hot in bed I was tempted to get up and go downstairs and open the patio doors! Theo would have been very pleased!
The so called eclipse was uninspiring! Not sure whether it was just here or all over the country. Yes it went eerily dark for a bit but it was soon over. Certainly wont be here for the next one!
Hopefully it will turn cooler next week and please please some RAIN! We are off to the Norfolk Broads in a couple of weeks when it very probably will rain but never mind as we will meet up with Norfolk Dumpling and hopefully join her on a ride down the river.
Hope everyone has a good weekend

An architect in Ireland once told us that "doing up" is a bit like weddings.

If you can afford a £10,000 wedding you should be budgeting as though you can only spend £5,000 as you will then spend 10.

So basically double whatever you think it will cost.

😕 Sorry Grammaretto we really wanted that to work for you.

Thank you all for your birthday wishes. I’ve had a nice day at church and the hospice.
Grammaretto i think you should decide hat you want for yourself but from my experience having done a doer upper bungalow it eventually cost about twice as much as we were quoted and by the end Dh was so fed up with it we moved .
I would love you to find the perfect place for you. Hope it comes along soon. X

I'm sorry folks but I have chickened out and withdrawn the offer. My sensible friend had a serious talk to me about finances and doesn't think I can afford it. The project is just too big and fraught.
Also the DC are not supportive at all so it would be a lonely journey.

Not sure how I feel now but relief is one of the emotions.

Isn't it funny, NS, how we, as parents, are expected to endorse - or at least exhibit good grace to - ideas and crackpot plans our adult DC may have?

Yet, the older we all get, it doesn't seem to work in reverse, does it?

Go for it, Grammaretto!

BTW, are you OK, NN?❤️

Oh Grammaretto!
I am excited about your possible new home and in spite of your daughter 🤞

(...those of us with adult children have just got to accept that we may make decisions but know nothing!)
👯‍♂️👯‍♂️👯‍♀️

Yes.
Happy Birthday!
🛍💐❤️🌼🍷🎊🕺🏼🎖🍰🍥🧁🥮🥞🫖☕️

Happy birthday to you dear Doodle🎉🥳
🥰

Happy Birthday to our Doodle💃 xx

Oh Grammaretto.
Soooooo pleased!
🏡

That's so nice to hear her voice Doodle. Did she sound reasonably content?

Also nice to have your DS nearby. ❤️

Oh dear. I have made an offer for the do-er upper!
I think I may have estranged myself from DD as a result. She is so angry with me.
I think she's being a drama queen. It is my decision after all and it's not as though it will affect her will it?

Anyway it may fall through. I am going to try to find some financial advice.

I'm having a G&T , have made plum jam and have been knitting furiously.

My helper has dug the garden, mowed the lawn and set off to climb a hill.

Grammaretto yes Im lucky to have both sons nearby. We don’t see each other all the time. They have busy lives too but I know they’re there if I need them
Lovely to hear Kaimoanas voice. So gentle and soft,

Good crop of grapes Ixion mine are still tiny.
I had a call from the agent for the do-er upper today. They have had an offer but ofcourse won't share the amount with me.

The sweep who cleaned my chimneys this morning and has lived in this town since he was a lad, told me he's spoken to tradespeople who wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. So there's my answer.

Now I just need to find the perfect place for me......

That's good that you have heard from Kaimoana, Doodle. I hope she's ok and the future looks brighter.

Also good that you've had some time with your DS. They both live near to you don't they?
I'm a bit jealous but I don't think it would be wise for me to take up residence close to any of my 4. Unless maybe NZ 😂😅😍

My helper picked a lot of plums yesterday so I am making jam but I've given away most of my jam jars.

My Danish rescued chairs have gone to a very good Glasgow home and been painted.
They're looking wonderful now.

The taste would put hairs on your chest, as DF used to say.

Personally, I blame the wrong sort of terroir.

Great strides, Doodle.
Hopefully the hiccups will be ironed out and that'll prove a great opportunity to keep in touch and swap news.🤞

A gardening day today, at least til late afternoon sun drove me indoors.
Mr I continues with his viticulture .
Sadly the end result is always in inverse proportion to the effort put in. See pic.

I always manage to look suitably impressed and make encouraging noises.

NB - they are but thumbnail size☹️

Evening all. Just popping in briefly this week as I am out so much and very tired, I am so lucky to have so many invitations for lunch my birthday week I’m having more birthdays than the Queen did 🤣
At last I have received a voice message from Kaimoana with Ixions help i have been trying for a while, unfortunately she couldn’t hear mine, so I have tried again.
Hope everyone is ok

​I don't remember about how it got through customs but have just googled this and discovered that during the 1970s it was common for travellers to bring back "bare-root" cacti or plant cuttings as it was a common belief that removing the earth made it legally acceptable.
It was bare rooted. Just wrapped in newspaper.

​And of course, imaging (such as x-ray) for organic matter didn't exist , so I suppose our friend had, in effect, smuggled it.
It obviously wasn't unwrapped for customs!

I can't see that he would have done much by way of paperwork for it as he'd been hitching about all summer!

Gracious Notspaghetti that cactus is a fearsome object. The others are very pretty though.
ixion so pleased you’re in touch with Kaimoana please tell her I’m doing my best to contact her but still not getting anywhere with messenger. I do hope she moves nearer her son.
Grammaretto i Hope you make the right decision on your doer upper. Did your friend give any valuable advice.
Met up with. dS1 and family this afternoon. Lovely to sit and catch up.
So tired I can’t keep awake l. Sleep well all.

Will do, of course, tho' not sure when I'll hear back.

However did your cactus get through customs as plant material?
Maybe no one was bold enough to unwrap and investigate.

I hope having something to focus on is at least good for Kaimoana - I do hope she will be somewhere nearer family in future.
Please say we are thinking of her and wishing her the very best for the move.

So funny about your cactus though ixion.
Made me smile.
Xx

...I hope he either gets out or is able to be rescued on Tuesday.
😬

The cactus came from a guy at the side of a road selling from a truck apparently. I think it was in Arizona.
It arrived here totally dry wrapped in newspaper.

Sorry, crossed posts.
Perhaps if I typed faster or wrote less.

Have a good sleep over the do-er upper.

You poor pigeon is in for a rude shock on Tuesday😢

Gosh, NS, your picture of the cactus brings me out in a cold sweat.
For many years, my father had one banned to in his greenhouse. It was particularly unprepossessing and really only of interest for its great (5'+) height.
My DM was thrilled when DF gifted it to DS1 in his cactus and succulents phase, tho' transporting it back 200 miles in the footwell with 3 small children was challenging.
You couldn't even kill it by ignoring it.

Despite a concerted attempt to off load much out of fashion brown furniture, I have found the chair of my -current- dreams and successfully made an offer.
A high back ash and elm Windsor chair, beautifully and sympathetically restored.
For use on heatwave afternoons, by an open bedroom window, book in hand!

I heard from Kaimoana this evening. She messages when she is able, I guess eyesight permitting. She is trying to pack up in the hope of moving nearer to DS and Gubbins with another assessment coming up shortly.
I sent our love to her, but don't know when she will read again.

Thanks for the pictures NotSpag you have exotic plants!

I have a pigeon in the chimney. I can see it but can't lure it out. Luckily the sweep is coming on Tuesday.

The anti bird cowl is missing from that chimney pot.
More expense. 😕

I haven't made up my mind about the do-er upper. I'm going to sleep on it and hope for a Eureka moment. 😊😯

My pal, who lived here for a while when their house was out of action due to a serious flood, came over today and shared her thoughts over tea and cake.

Aussie helper was in Edinburgh for the day. She wants to tackle books tomorrow!

I hope all the Lobstars are doing ok?