Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Good morning to you all!

Dismal, but the radio tells me that there is sun on the horizon - just for today!! Yayyy.

Red lace dress @Obelix-Vendée Sounds hot. How about a photo? I am sure you enjoyed the dance, but we love to hear the newsy bits. Won't it be difficult @Liriodendron for your OH to sing with his cough? I hope you get the vaccination @Ladybird4 if you have a persistent cough.

Giblets are yum for Fizz too @Penny_Forthem - this week, she has enjoyed the chicken bodies and sinews that I boiled up for soup. Their claws and necks plus 4 mackerel heads (cooked) - and we're only Wednesday!! That's it for now. I don't like keeping stuff like that too long in the fridge.

I am posting this photo today that I have just received, as I thought it appropriate with what happened this weekend.

I wish you all a good mid-week day.

 

Good morning all. Thanks for your messages about my OH - yes, he would indeed find it difficult to sing with a cough, and has decided this morning that he will declare himself unfit for Thursday's concert. And unfortunately I woke up this morning with a sore throat and no voice, so that's me out too...

Yesterday at 8am the temperature was minus 2. Today at the same time it was 10.3 and rising! What strange weather... the warm night didn't tempt the hedgehogs out again, though their food wasn't wasted - the one-eyed vixen and a fat cat polished it off. It's definitely time to reinstate the hedgehog feeder, maybe with the addition of an external tunnel to deter the ninja cat, though not needed to keep out last night's weighty visitor, who is owned by neighbours and definitely not in need of extra food!

 

What a shame, @Liriodendron. I do hope you are recovered by Christmas.
Sounds like some spoilt pets out there, @Tui34 and @Penny_Forthem. There is a black and white cat who regularly comes to check out the badger / fox supper. He looks as if he is well fed at home, so I’ve no idea what is appealing about peanut butter sandwiches.
Last rubbish bin collection before Christmas yesterday. They are only collected every three weeks, which is perhaps why a big toad has taken up residence underneath the bin! We have to be extremely careful to check before wheeling the bin out. Sure enough, he/she was sitting underneath. I retrieved a piece of terracotta pipe which we had dug up from the garden, wedged it in the corner with a big stone, and ushered him into it. I hope he’ll get the hint, and shelter in there in future.

 

Good morning.
Really pleased to hear that my 17 year old grandson passed his driving test first time yesterday.
He's a sensible lad and doesn't drink so hopefully will be ok.

I'm slightly annoyed as it is raining and cold so I don't feel like gardening as planned. Might have to do H/w instead.

That is such a shame @Liriodendron, I'm sorry you have caught it too - inevitable I suppose when it's two of you in the house. Hope you both get better soon. My OH met his old colleagues yesterday for their annual Xmas pub get together in town, then came home on a bus crowded with schoolkids - if he goes down with a cold before Xmas I shall scream.

I can't stand toads or frogs for that matter @Ergates, hate the way they suddenly jump which is the main reason why I don't have a pond.

 

G'day. I really like that photo @Tui34. Dreadful events for all affected directly but worrying too for others. Time for reasonable, rational folk to show solidarity.

I'll try and take a photo of the frock later. It is, of course, completely see thru so I wore it over a white petticoat/under dress i'd made for a linen voile dress last spring. Pretty broderie anglaise border and just as well as salsa is very twirly. Dance classes were good fun but not everyone had got the red message and even the teacher forgot! OH's red Xmas silk tie was much admired - lots of Santas elves and the French don't do ties so were impressed. One of the couples we saw competing in September is doing the salsa class but haven't a clue about all the armography, hand changes and spins so goodness knows how they manage to learn other routines for their competing.

Xmas prep h*work today and OH has already started emptying clutter out of the living room and clearing surfaces ready for Xmas toppers. He's also carried the enormous Syngonium podophyllum upstairs to take way for the Xmas tree. It's gone bananas since I started watering it with my banana skin and orange peel solution. Normally it lives in the dining room but its space is needed by the Bird of Paradise which is flowering so needed bringing in from outside.

Possum thinks you can have too much greenery indoors but she hasn't seen those overwhelming indoor jungles featured on GW this year. She finds GW etc very boring but likes things like Traitors and The Aprrentice and Graham Norton which I loathe so I don't know where I went wrong. The first 2 are definitely OH's genes.

I'm sorry about your concert and sore throat @Liriodendron. So disappointing and frustrating. Odd weather here too. Supposed to be sunny spells but we have deep mist instead. Very murky and damp.

@Ergates I haven't seen any toads this year and not a lot of frogs so well done for helping yours. Our dogs loved peanut butter - rich, tasty fats and proteins for critters. Haven't tried it on our cats but I expect they'd like it too.

 

That really made me well up @Tui34 . Thank you for posting it, it sums up the whole situation and the response.
I have relatives in Oz, and visited Bondi many years ago.

 

Afternoon everyone. It’s a horrible weather day here so I’ve been hibernating under a sofa blanket since coming back from seeing my Sister. I took a lovely Christmas jigsaw (charity shop find from last year) for her and my niece to do on a rainy afternoon and I took up some Portmeirion pottery ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ bowls for their Christmas entertaining. They were our Mum’s bowls and we circulate to whoever is doing a festive dinner/party. We both have some gorgeous Spode china plates, platters and mugs in the famous Christmas Tree design too.

Time to think about some dinner now so have cosy evenings all and I hope those with germs soon feel better.

 

I am trying to decide if I'm 'coming down with something'. I got really cold at lunch - we'd booked a table by the fire, so I wore a fairly light top; the fire wasn't lit and it was very cold. That'll larn you, as they say.
However, my venison casserole was delicious, though would have been better with a dollop of mash, rather than slices of crusty bread - and I didn't like the dumplings!

 

Mission accomplished - all gifts wrapped. Slightly hindered by Cricket who just wanted to know what I was doing and he just HAD to investigate the sellotape. Its hair do day tomorrow at Bestie's and I do have to say that my hair seems to have grown much longer than it did between the last two hair do sessions. I was sorry to read that you haven't managed to avoid the cough and cold @Liriodendron. I hope both you and your OH recover very soon. Uh oh @Penny_Forthem I do hope that you are not coming down with anything major. Here's hoping we are all fit for Christmas! Signing out for this evening. Keep warm everyone. See you in the morning.

​

 

Evening all. @Liriodendron's news prompted me to dig out my Vitamin D prescribed in September and take that along with other vitamins and minerals to boost the old immune system. I'd forgotten how horrid it is.

Anyway, much cleaning of windows and mirrors and cobwebs in between visiting the chooks and cooking. OH has cleaned all the Xmas brasses and vacced. Possum has been hiding in her room staying out of the way and forgot to remind me I was making flapjacks for her to take to class tomorrow. They are now in the oven - home-made orange marmalade version so a bit grown up really. Haven't met any Belgian or French who don't like them - yet.

Definitely need to stay fit @Ladybird4 as we're off to Nantes for the Xmas market next Tuesday - lunch, raid on the Asian and Caribbean store for spices then a big shopping centre for a raid on IKEA's fishy bits and free parking before catching a tram to the centre in the hopes of avoiding any revolting farmers disrupting access and then easy access to an M'way to get home.

I'm fussy about dumplings @Penny_Forthem - have to be light and fluffy, not soggy and with a crispy top so I stick with home-made, not that I'm likely to find them on a French menu. I was looking at a restuarant in La Roche for Possum's birthday in January. It has a Welsh chef with a French partner and, when I tried to book it for our birthdays was fully booked over 3 weekends. Now I know why. It's just gone Michelin and now only does a 5 course tasting menu for 88€ or 7 for 112€ plus 35€ for 3 glasses of "harmonised" wines or 44€ for 4. We'll save that for a significant celebration.

OH and I always used to do a puzzle over the Xmas hols @AuntyRach but Possum isn't interested so we haven't done one for years.

 

​

A very good morning one and all. @Obelix-Vendée I have been taking prescribed Vit D combined with calcium 'pills' for over 8 years now. They are actually very pleasant to take - resembling a fruity sherbet sweet. I take one twice a day, dissolved in the mouth (not to be crunched) and they are just part of my daily routine now. That restaurant sounds very nice and I will have to look up 'harmonised' wines as I am not altogether sure what that means though I guess it might mean having an appropriate wine to 'suit' the dish being eaten?
As per my usual hair do days, the weather is horrid. Ho hum.

 

Good morning all.

I take vitamin D every day. Capsules from the pharmacy in France, easy to swallow and very small pills from Sainsbugs in England. They are much cheaper in England.

We are going to friends for lunch today.

@Obelix-Vendée can't you and OH do a puzzle even though Possum isn't interested?

 

Misty out and quite spooky this morning. We are planning to visit the local garden centre for bird food this morning, with a stop off at the whole food shop nearby for a coffee and maybe some cake. I don’t buy much food in there, I should, as it’s all cooked in their kitchens from good quality and mainly local ingredients. However it is all so very wholemeal and high in fibre, that it can be a bit of an ordeal to plough through it. I might treat myself to a Homity pie though.
After reading recommendations on here, I’ve been taking daily turmeric and black pepper tablets, the brand I'm using also contains Vitamin D, so that’s helpful. No untoward effects noticed, and apart from my wrist tendons, Im otherwise free from aches and pains. Annoyingly, I can’t remember how I felt before I started taking them, but I see no reason to stop!

 

Afternoon all.

Really wet and miserable out but I have a cat on my lap and my puzzle books handy so that suits me.

My SM shop order didn’t have the gammon I fancied so substituted it with a plain one, but twice as big. I have a refund voucher for the extra cost so I can make that work. I must remember to buy apple juice to par-boil it in. Then it will go in the oven with a little glaze on top. I usually do a marmalade one.

I hope everyone is doing ok and fighting off or dodging germs. Vitamins are well worth it over Winter in particular. I think there’s some research coming out that we all need much more Vit D than previously recommended.

 

Yesterday I went Foodie shopping at Shady Maple Farm store. it is gigantic store. I usually only go 3X a year. Very overwhelming, need better shoes next time. But this video will give you a flavor of its size. Its only 30 minutes drive from me, a lovely drive through beautiful Amish farm lands.