Chitchat thread #24

[Nicos]

Morning n’alln’all
My daughter and granddaughter have a real fairy tree in the lane next to their farmhouse. It’s basically a tree with a hollow split at its base.
It’s decorated with bunting, shells, decorated stones , sea glass, pretty leaves….They walk past it most days, and over the past couple of weeks some of their neighbours have added to it! Isn’t that sweet?
I bought some bamboo picinic spoons yesterday so we can decorate them ( when she’s over this summer) as fairies so she can leave them there! ( that of course is IF the real fairies in there are happy with intruders)

More weeding today. I’m clearing them from the gravel in front of the front doors and all the pots at the front.

Enjoy your day peeps- and fingers crossed my fellow insomniacs finally get some sleep!

[greenishfing]

Morning
It's not that warm is it. Also showery

No, it is not that warm and it is raining. I am snuggled inside one of Mr GF's oversized fleeces.

The postman has just been and delivered something that I had ordered as part of my sister's birthday present.

I have already done a few duolingo lessons. Sometimes I seem to be able to zap through them and it tells me that I have got 100 or even more exercises in a row correct. Other times I can't seem to get one right without multiple attempts. No rhyme, reason or logic to it.

My sister was very happy with the books that I took her yesterday. We have very similar tastes in authors. She was very sad that she is working this weekend.

Depending on the weather, and whether I think the field it is held in will be waterlogged, I would like to go to a car boot sale tomorow morning. It is a rescheduling of one that was cancelled due to rain a few weeks ago. The swelling on my knee has now gone down and the bruise has faded to a fetching shade of yellow/green.

[Nicos]

Glad to hear your knee is improving GF… sounds like you’ll be up for a bit more of a wander around the car boot sale!
Its our village one tomorrow - a very small event but it looks like the weather won’t be kind for the stallholders.
The last time we had a stall there the heavens opened…what a mess trying to cover everything up and pack away. I think, all day, we got about 30€
Not really up for a wander yet…especially after the gite preparations. Pah.
Well done with you Italian!…might the difference be due to lack of sleep?

[Nicos]

I was just thinking….its the D-Day ‘celebrations/memorial’ today…..it’s really windy and gusty here- I hope it’s not this bad near the coast or the parachutists will be cancelled.

[Jay22]

Afternoon all, gosh it feels like winter today!
I saw the reports on TV this morning Nicos on the D-Day celebrations, weather doesn’t look too good at all. Such a shame.
Glad to hear your knee is getting better GF, enjoy the car boot sale if you decide to go. Not something you see here anymore.
Enjoy your day folks, whatever you’re doing! x

[greenishfing]

Good morning.

I can hear the pre-dawn chorus already. I have tried several times to drop to sleep. All were unsuccessful. I have now given up, wandered into the kitchen and made a coffee and brought it back to bed. If I'm still awake shortly before 6 am, I'll get up and go to a car boot sale. I don't know why sleep has been so elusive tonight. I've not even been yawning. I've tried reading and watching a boring programme on TV. To no avail. I 'm not hungry, thirsty, too hot or too cold, just wide awake. It will be daybreak soon.

I hope nobody else is sharing my insomnia. It is so annoying.

I'll be back later.

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

Joining you in the crocked knee group, GF. Not last night but the night before I tripped over a piece of wood somewhere it shouldn't have been. My fault for not seeing it, but I was really lucky it was just my knee and not my head. I'm walking OK, just about, but it's a big bruised lump at the moment. Jack's long walks are curtailed as well, which is doing neither of us any good.

Off out to do a bit of watering now. Catch you later.

Have a great day, everyone.

Edited to add: Hope you get a better night's sleep tonight, GF.

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Bruised knees are not nice, hope yours gets better soon Snoop and that yours holds up round the car boot sale GF. Dull here. I'm off.out for a pub lunch with all three Golden Girls as a birthday treat. Have a good day

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

I've been out it the garden doing a few bits before the rain starts. Even put a few organic slug pellets around a courgette that's been nibbled not sure if it'll pick up though.

Hope you knee soon heals Snoop, not good when you need to be out and about.

Enjoy your birthday meal Flo xx

[bramble]

Good morning all, the weather is still the same, totally unsettled.
Off to the church shortly and then having lunch with my son and family,

Snoop, hope your knee gets better soon, it can bewuite painful.

GF, there is nothing worse than lying awake, makes the night seem endless.

Flo, have lovely lunch with your golden girls.


Have a good day all.

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all
I think we have the reasonable weather today…. Thin cloud and gentle breezes.
I over did the gardening yesterday…but strangely, I’ve woken up and walking with less of a limp!…so something clearly got stretched in a good way!
Sounds like we’re passing the ailments around from one to another! Sorry to hear about your knee now Snoop. Maybe it’s a good moment to get ahead with your office work? Just a thought.

There’s a vide grenier in our village today but I don’t feel up to wandering around. One way of saving money!
Let us know if you treat yourself to something GF- sounds like you deserve a bit of a treat

Pub lunch Flo?…yum! Steak and kidney pie for me please with a side of chips?…I’ll be along later if that’s OK?
Enjoy your outing x

Have a great day everyone…And let’s share those smiles!

[Nicos]

Our washing machine conked out yesterday…it’s been threatening to for a while now - all sorts of things such as door not opening, leaking, stuck on one minute for 20 minutes … soap not always emptying…rubber door seals failing….that sort of thing..so we’ll be ordering a new one tomorrow. 15 years is a decent age in my mind seeing as in the summer we’ve had to do up to 20 washes a week!
We’ll get one with a bigger 9kg load. .
Fortunately we have a back up one which is 20 years old- but they are 3hr cycles

Cant believe the extra features available on the top of the range- Bluetooth…ironing reduced steaming… just bonkers and more to go wrong!
I’ve never used more than half the facilities on this old one… I guess things have come a long way from my granny and her dolly and tub and scrubbing board. How much more can/will technology improve when it comes to washing!?
We see a lot of restored communal covered outdoor washing areas next to streams in most villages here. I even bought an old kneeling board they would have used to stop their skirts from getting splashed and a beating paddle. Many were used still during WW2…only 100 years ago. Very humbling when you think about it.

[greenishfing]

Good afternoon.

I missed my car boot sale as I must have eventually fallen asleep at around 5am. I awoke at 10am. Maybe I didn't miss too much as it is chilly and windy.

Nicos, I misread your post and for a second thought you'd found a washer that ironed too. My brain obviously refused to believe that, so I did read it again. Can you imagine. Now that would be wonderful. 99% of the time I use the same programme on my washer, the 45 minute 9 kg full load.I don't know anybody who uses a lot. Have you caught your mouse/mice yet?

Snoop Puss, I hope your knee is improving. Thank heavens it wasn't your head! Take it easy for a couple of days at least and let it heal.

[greenishfing]

I've just got a memory in my head of my mother on wash day, always Monday irrespective of the weather, in the early 1960s. She had a single tub electric washer with an electric wringer on top. If I was there it was my job to start feeding the hot sudsy clothes through the wringer. I can still remember being petrified that it would grab my fingers and take them through too.