Soop's Kitcheners...

Went to a neighbour's funeral today. That's the second in six months.
We're all looking at each other and wondering?

Good afternoon, my day started with an amusing story from MacSporran. As you may know, MacS sleeps in a reclining chair in the sitting room, in his jimjams and wrapped in a duvet. Almost before he is settled, Rory climbs on to his lap and stretches out for the night. This dark morning, at around 5am, they were both awake and listening to the sounds of the night. (We know that there is a moose loose somewhere aboot the hoose.) After a while there was the sound of something rattling on the floor nearby. MacS switched on a torch and found a wee conker on the floor next to the chair. He and R both stared at it in puzzlement. MacS switched on the light and shone the torch around the room under all the furniture, but there was nothing to be seen.....other than the conker. So they both returned to the chair and waited. Eventually MacS noticed Rory was staring intently at the floor, and he just spotted a small furry face, and the conker disappeared. Once again the torch was shone around under the furniture, but this time there was nothing to be seen. Shortly after this there was a sound of something rattling around inside the base of the Ikea bookcase, but at that time of the morning MacS didn't have the inclination to dismantle the bookcase.
Rory decided to sit in the middle of the floor and have a wash, so MacS returned to the reclining chair. It wasn't long before the mouse appeared, ran around the back of Rory, on to the hearth, and disappeared into the log store at the side of the woodburner. Rory just caught sight of this and went over to investigate. However, the mouse was hiding between the logs, and Rory soon lost interest and returned to washing himself in the middle of the floor. Meanwhile, MacS was staring intently at the logs. The mouse must have decided it was time to return to the bookcase, and cautiously stuck his head out a few times. MacS was trying to catch R's attention, and was half out of the chair, furiously pointing to the logs, to encourage R to do something useful, but R just stared back wide-eyed, not understanding the message. Having had enough of that R went and sat on the top step leading to the kitchen. At that moment, the mouse decided to make a break for it and headed along the bottom of the skirting board towards R. MacS thought the episode would now be brought to a predictable conclusion. However, the mouse shot around the bottom of the steps and disappeared into the bookcase corner of the room, with Rory looking slightly puzzled, and MacS tired and frustrated.
We presume that the mouse had lifted the conker from a bowl on the hearth and had taken it into the log pile. We have now purchased a humane mousetrap and some peanut butter!
I hope that this wee tale brings a smile to your faces.

Bella is in my thoughts.

Baubles I'm pleased to hear that you are not in too much pain.

Galen

Marelli 'Nickle and Dime' had suffered with flooding overnight. Water everywhere. Some of the stock, including rugs, sopping wet. Such a shame. The iron that they were selling was £10 more expensive than the iron in the Co-op. We bought the less expensive model. The pile of clothes waiting to be pressed hasn't received any attention since I last looked. I guess that it's time to test both board and iron. How much excitement can a girl take!

Soop that cat is too well fed!

Rory is as much use as a mouser as my Molly by the sound of things.

Marelli I can type pretty quickly with two hands and, it seems, only slightly less quickly with one. It is easy on a touch screen though.

Getting dressed - now that's a different story altogether!

I'll have to look up trapezium.

Hello everyone. I need a quiet reflection corner please. I had a bit of a shock yesterday when DH suddenly announced that he has decided to leave his body to medical research. He does not want us to have a funeral, a wake or a memorial service or anything of that nature. Not only that but when I came home from a WI morning today he had been in touch with the Universiity Medical School and had had the necessary consent forms e-mailed through.I felt a bit shell shocked by it. It's obviously something he has thought about and decided on and of course I will abide by his wishes. BUT.....

I can't help feeling it's a bit unfair to deprive me of the support of our loving family and many friends at a sad time. I think someone's passing should be marked as a way of drawing a line in the sand. I see a funeral as something for the bereaved not the deceased but he is adamant and says he trusts me to follow his wishes and I will. But I feel very uneasy and sad about it all.

I have told him that I want a green burial in a wicker coffin covered in wild or spring flowers and with a gathering of all my family and friends. I think he will do that if I go first but just in case I am going to tell my DC what I want and ask them to make sure that is followed through. It doesn't look as though we shall be together in death however and I feel really confused and upset about that.

Dandelions, thistles and chickweed Gaga?

Baubles its named after its shape. It's a small bone in the wrist

There's a trapezium and a trapezoid bone

Gagagran That's tricky one. How about not having a wake for him but a short time later on hold a "let's enjoy and remember Mr Gagagran party for his friends instead.

TBH that's what I would do. Then it's your party. Wakes are always for the living anyway.

That does sound like rather a shock, gaga. Have you any idea why he doesn't want anyone to 'indulge' in a celebration of his life to help those left behind come to terms with his death and his permanent absence?

Gaga MacSporran and I both wish for an inexpensive cremation with ashes scattered on the beach. We would also like the affair to be "low key" with family and a few friends gathering together for a jolly send off. No fuss. Wild flowers only. Maybe a glass of Champagne. Certainly no church service. I do feel for you regarding your husband's wishes. However, if that is what he chooses, then that is what he should have. The business of whether you have the companionship of family and dearest friends by your side (for an informal gathering) should be your prerogative and I cannot see why you should not be able to "celebrate" the life you have shared. Sorry if this all sounds a bit muddled. What I'm trying to say is...compromise.

Hello (bags*...you pipped me to the post.

Galen I really do approve of thistles. Very Scottish and beautiful with it.

...I'm off to start the ironing.

I also looked into donating my body to medical science but the university I contacted appeared to want a perfect body so rule this one out please.

Bella is also in my mind- I hoppe that everything went okay today.

soop I really think that Rory needs a teacher- that mouse would have been Tara's breakfast. I tried to let a mouse go free a few years ago, leaving the French doors wide open but it still hid away somewhere. I thought that a blast of air would have encouraged it to move.

Do not worry, we will do the moving and organising. Rory may overlook proceedings but no more.

DH and I have both arranged for our bodies to be donated, Gagagran. The family have been informed and are happy to respect our wishes. Eventually there will be ashes, but before that happens, we'd like them to have a bit of a party to celebrate having us as their mum and dad. I (or DH!) would like to attend one of them!

Rory you will have to shape up as the song goes, or you will be getting the sack! I will send Belle to let you know how it's done. You may like her, she is very young and pretty.

I had thought about donation, Gagagran but quite honestly I don't think that I would be much use to anyone. Your DH surely would not mind you having some sort of gathering if and when? A toast, perhaps, to some wonderful medical breakthrough which he may help to bring about? Perhaps if you put it that way he will agree.

ps my uncle left the local hostelry £500 so that we could all have a drink and a nice buffet afterwards. A very good gesture, I thought.

Thanks for your comments everyone.I feel a bit calmer about it now. He has completed the forms - one to be posted to the Medical School and one to be kept with our wills.

I have to say that the prime motivation in his decision is that he missed his Mother's funeral, a month after he started at university because his Father did not let him know she had died. This was in the days before mobile phones, email etc. (1960). He only found out about her death when a neighbour wrote to him to send condolences. It took him a long time to forgive his Father. The only funeral he has ever attended was his Father's in 1979 and there were only 3 of us at that, by request.

The secondary motiviation is the cost of funerals, which he regards as a rip off and also all the fuss and emotion involved for the bereaved. He is a bit of a Puritan about such matters. I do understand and respect his wishes. It just took me by surprise.

I am quite content Galen to think of my wicker coffin covered in dandelions and thistles and sundry other wild flowers. I love all flowers. I just don't want to be diced and sliced in a lab.!

Are there any expenses incurred at all when someone donates their body to medical research? We have thought about it, but are not sure what is involved. It`s especially relevant right now, seeing as half our funeral fund is now paying for the new bathroom to be done,lol!

Galen I hope your stiff blue cock brings more success than your orange one Nellie, we are kindred spirits

Gagagran I can see why you would be upset at your DHs decision as it's so different to what you had in mind. Whilst he should do what he wants with his body, surely you could reach some sort of compromise about a family gathering where you could celebrate your life together.

number, there are no expenses involved. There are some circumstances where the body cannot be used but not as many as some might think. There are differences to the rules between Scotland and England, but if you check online you'll get all the information you'll need. It's really easy to follow up.

Love the mouse story soop. Rory sounds just like our Zim. She doesn't seem to know what a cat is supposed to do when faced with a mouse either

DH has had good news. His scan showed the tumour has shrunk and doesn't seem to have spread to anywhere else, apart from the gland in his chest which they saw last time. He isn't to see the oncologist for three months.

I had a traumatic afternoon. We had torrential rain, roads looked like rivers, and I couldn't find where I had parked the car. At one point, I stepped off the kerb into the swirling waters rushing by and fell flat on my face. I got a mouthful of filthy water and was completely soaked. DD2 and her friend had to come and find me and they helped me to find the car. What a fiasco.

On the bright side I clocked up 14,000 steps on my FitBit from all the walking, and all is well again between my DD's after our contretemps of last week.

Goodnight to all you dear granspals and thank you all for thinking of us. I'm sure all your positive vibes helped a lot.

Bellasnana, we've not spoken before, but I'm just so pleased to hear your news.