Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Glad you've finally got some warm sunshine @Busy-Lizzie

It's been quite warm here too and a little bit damp but not as much as I'd hoped. Good session at crafty club this pm and a good turn out given that it's the school hols here - 2 weeks at Halloween and people tend to have their grand kids. Lots of laughter and exchanges of info and advice too. had to go to the fabric shop for interfacing for my new blouse and they had a clearance sale on. Found some wool challis at 75% off so less than 5€. Some came home with me.

Sounds like your trip won't be too bad then @Liriodendron. I hope the crossings are calm for you.

Possum now has to wait anything from 3 weeks to 3 months for her results which seems excessive to me but we can now watch the Strictly results as she has the rest of the week off.

Have a cosy evening everyone.

 

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What a set of wonderful pictures to wake up to - thanks @Busy-Lizzie. That does seem an unnecessary long time to wait for results @Obelix-Vendée. Did Possum say anything about how she felt her presentation had gone? She will be able to relax a little but making someone wait so long seems very cruel.
Well I doubt very much will get done outside today as the rain is still falling. I am making some parkin for next Sunday and I must remember to order some extra milk. I hope @Liriodendron has a smooth sail today.

 

Good morning. We have light rain which is unexpected but welcome. Should clear soon and then the rest of the roses and my broccoli can be planted before proper rain arrives tomorrow and Thursday tho who knows? The forecasters have been mostly wrong and change their minds a lot.

Possum thinks it went well @Ladybird4 but the whole process has been exhausting and she's still asleep, recovering. I'm planning a Parkin for our 3/11 sewing session but there'll be no fireworks.

I have a couple of new bites @lizzie27 and some older ones that have woken up but that's what they do. Should be over soon. Valamine lotion hasn't helped me in the past, just anti histamines and cortisone cream. Vicious things.

Hope everyone's slept well and has a good day.

 

Morning all.
Not giving a definite date for the results sounds like torture, @Obelix-Vendée
There is a programme on BBC4 tonight at 7, A garden in Snowdonia (Bodnant)
Loving your photos @Busy-Lizzie
Rain stopped all play in the garden yesterday, but I hope to make up for that later.
But first, coffee!

 

Shall definitely watch the Bodnant programme @Penny_Forthem , such a gorgeous garden. Remember reading the Beverley Nichols account of his stay there and his jealousy of the rhododendrons.

 

That programme sounds good @Penny_Forthem , thanks for the heads-up. I would have liked to have gone when we were staying near Harlech but ran out of time and it was a bit too far.

That's an astonishing wait for results @Obelix-Vendée, poor Possum and very poor organisation I feel. Hope it's 3 weeks not 3 months. Wool challis is beautiful, lucky you. What colour did you buy and what do you think you will make with it, a blouse?

Hope Lirio has a good crossing.

We managed to fetch the paper without getting too wet, although it's tipping down now. Forecast is for sunny spells this afternoon - I do hope so as I've get things to do in the garden.

 

Good afternoon to you all!!

Autumnal here too. Some sun. Some showers. Overcast.

Calm and tranquil pictures @Busy-Lizzie and @Liriodendron Autumn is such a lovely month anywhere. Glad those reptiles are behind glass!

Soooo French, isn't it @Obelix-Vendée to make candidates wait for results!!

Need to make some curtains for the lounge. One ranch slider side and one window side but I just can't seem to get motivated as I'm not sure if I want ruffllette or something else. Maybe go and stand in a material shop to stimulate my motivation.

Fizz has been on red alert this morning for her bike:run which I haven't done because it was
wettish. So we are off as the sun has come out for a peep!!

I hope you all have a pleasant day.

 

The rain has stopped but we've only just finished lunch so will digest a while before heading out to do lots of bending and lifting.

It's a pale sage green @lizzie27 and I bought 4 metres to make a dress and a top. Pity they didn't have any other colours as it's a lovely, silky feeling weight.

@Tui34 this is her second course at this college and she had to wait 2 weeks last time but I agree the inability to predict more precisely and be so slow is not admirable.

I have the Bodnant programme already set up to record @Penny_Forthem as it'll be on at our usual dinner hour. We should flag it on the TV thread.

 

Already done, @Obelix-Vendée
Friends of ours worked for Lord and Lady Aberconway - she was the chef and he was the butler and general factotum for the late Lord. They lived in the 'servants' quarters, but we did have private guided tours of the house. Prior to working for them, our friends worked for Royalty in the middle east. They had fascinating lives and interesting (and sometimes juicy!) tales to tell..

 

Finally heard from the tree surgeon, who is hoping to pop in this afternoon amd look at our silver birch tree, which I am now certain is dead. It may have a TPO on it, and anyway, our garden is included in a conservation area, so we have to get permission to anything to the trees.

It’s very dull and damp out here. We have spent the morning looking at renewing our broadband and phone contracts, very boring and stressful! We need to hang on to our landline, as the mobile signals isn’t very good round here. Phoned Utility Warehouse, our current provider, to look at renewing, they want a higher amount, and no deals for existing customers! Huh! Now examining the competitors offers.

@Tui34, I always use pencil pleat tape for curtains, although I just gather them like standard rufflette tape. I find the extra width and structure of the tape give the curtains a neater look. I remember a friend bringing back curtain material from France, and telling me that the designs were often printed sideways on the fabric, and the ‘width’ was the same as the standard length of a typical French window. So for a wide window, she could buy a single length of material and just have a vertical seam at each end, rather than have to juggle several sections of material, and having to match the design as we do here. Is that the case? Sounds very sensible, if the measurements are right.

I’m getting motivated to make OH a cotton kimono! He has two, made in Japan ( but bought in Epcot!) and the older one is looking distinctly faded and worn round the edges. I’ve found a supplier in Birmingham, www.japancrafts.co.uk, who does mail order fabrics, and they do look lovely!
Hope @Liriodendron is having a smooth journey home, and getting to enjoy some scenery?

 

Afternoon all, from the train to Dublin from Belfast. My journey is going according to plan (thanks for your good wishes!), though the weather today has been rather damp. Low cloud meant that only the bottom half of Ailsa Craig was visible, but there was some lovely autumn colour in the trees. This was a big contrast with the Oban area, where Storm Amy had blasted all the deciduous leaves to shrivelled brown.
Just one last photo, taken through the kitchen window a few minutes before I left yesterday morning...

 

@Liriodendron that shot should be in the October photo comp.
Glad the journey went to plan.
We have been up to the van to drain it and switch off the electricity. When we next go there to stay, we'll have to go a day or so ahead and put heating on and fill the internal water tank. It was very bleak there today.

 

Lovely photo @Liriodendron ! Pleased your journey is going well.

I fell asleep after lunch so we didn't get outside till 3:30 but have managed to plant some more roses. Only 5 to go now but we stopped as it's getting dark with heavy rain clouds heading our way from the west. I hope they don't just pass by.

Still quite warm so things are still growing. Some of the roses already planted are producing new shoots and 2 are flowering so I think they appreciate being out of the pots in proper soil with loads of muck for encouragement. Even one of the clematis is producing new shoots at the base.

I quite like bleak @Penny_Forthem on a crisp, sunny day. Not so much when it's wet and windy or just dreich.

 

Love that picture @Liriodendron. It has rained virtually all day today which certainly hasn't suited His Majesty. The cat flap has had some serious thumping. I'm hoping that tomorrow is drier. I heard the news I have been dreading for a while and that is that the second building application for houses on the fields at the rear of my house, which was once more objected to by the council, may be going ahead as the government have overruled the objection. Words fail me. The initial overrule was supported by the NHS as they do not have sufficient cover in this area. The infrastructure is inadequate, the schools are full and little concern has been shown for the wild life. Sorry, rant over. I will enjoy watching the new series of QI tonight.
See you all in the morning.

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Hello everyone. Hope you all had a decent sleep and are ready for whatever the world throws at you today. I had to dispose of a corpse this morning from the crime scene (kitchen) prior to doing anything else. Luckily it wasn't mangled in any way and the prime suspect acted oh so innocent after he showed me where it was. I thanked him and told him what a good boy he was. Hey ho.
Tonight will be exciting - praying for clear skies - as it may be possible to see Comet Lemmon through binoculars, which was last seen over a thousand years ago and won't be seen again for another 1300 years. There is also an appearance of the Orionids, a meteor shower. Busy night skies!