Soop's Kindly Kitcheners

A chip butty would be grand, hildaJ xxx

I'm off. Will call in again tomorrow. Bye for now.

Thanks soop. I have been here before, but it is quite a while ago. Hey no need to make tea. Mr. hjj has just brought chips in, they were a thank you from a lady in the chip shop, who he brought beef burgers for as she couldn't get to the butcher. Lovely hot chips, yummy.

hildajenniJ Welcome to our kitchen The very thought of freshly baked bread makes my mouth water. Way back in the 1940s, our village baker (Mr Followell) would take in the villagers' uncooked Yorkshire puddings and bake them in his large oven on a Sunday morning. My father would collect the pudding and put a tea cloth over it in readiness to take it home...but not before he took a large jug to the Bold Dragoon and had it filled with real ale. Then we ate our Sunday lunch as we listened to the "wireless"...happy memories!

Hilda!

loopylou The Jack Russell was lucky that the irate swan didn't do her a real mischief. I can well imagine how concerned you must have been.

On the subject of baking, I've just taken a loaf of bread out of the bread maker. The paddle is well and truly stuck inside the loaf. I have always been able to remove it when it has happened before. No chance this time. We will have to remove it when we get to it!!

rosesarered The delicious aroma off freshly baked scones is very difficult to resist. I could so easily stop what I'm doing and sample one or two for you...

Soutra Yes, I have been told that greyhounds are savvy.

janer Staying up late to watch the election results worked in your favour. Good result!

I love the scent of bluebells, pity they don't last longer when picked.

soop that elderly lady's comment made me laugh! Bless her indeed!

Dogs and water.... The very gobby Jack Russell I sometimes 'babysit' is a fiend for mud and water (other than baths). We took her for a lovely walk around Castle Coombe and she tried catching a swan (she has very overinflated ideas of her size and abilities) having thrown herself in the Bybrook.
The swan regally paddled away, just keeping far enough away and off they disappeared down the stream with her yapping her head off and us fruitlessly yelling at her.
About half a mile further on, both of us breathless and furiously trotting along the bank, she gave up when the swan turned around and started chasing her, and came charging back to be rescued.
That was the last time we ever let her off the lead.

I have just made a batch of scones ( not virtual ones, real ones) and they are now cooling in the kitchen. Mr Roses is on the prowl as he wants to eat one, but he will eat two or even three( and then won't want any dinner later) honestly, men, what are they like?

Greyhounds have a lot of sense.

Labs and water, eh? not like greyhounds. When we took our last greyhound to the beach for her first experience of the sea some years ago, she approached the water very cautiously, sniffed it, but when a tiny wavelet trickled over her paw she shot back and wouldn't go within yards of it again!

A bummer indeed, loopy. I wish I could pop some bluebells in the kitchen for you all, I have just filled two huge vases full of them, picked in rain I hadn't expected, to try to keep them from multiplying and taking over the world I have to pick every flower. Such a hardship. The smell in here now is wonderful, a lighter version of hyacinths.

But for you all.

I had a 'bad day' two days ago, my dishwasher broke down, I dropped dinner all over the carpet, and I sat on my best reading glasses at choir and broke them in pieces. But I returned from knitting club at 10pm to find that DBH was still up, way past his bedtime, and had fixed the dishwasher for me. It needs a bit more time spent on it over the weekend, so is stuck in the middle of the kitchen, but I no longer feel like a wee slavey and I think I will keep him.

How are all the poorly OHs doing?

dustyangel A very amusing story. Loved it.

Ta dah!!! Home again having visited both the Care Home and Campbeltown hospital. Our dear friend who has lung cancer is back there for the weekend. Her twin is a resident in the Care Home.

I was sitting with the four lovely ladies with whom I've managed to establish a rapport. They all talk together. They mostly talk about a much-missed time when they were young, fit and feisty. On the subject of the election...one lady insisted that she had "no idea that there was
an erection yesterday". She solemnly added..."I don't much care for such things..." I gave her a kiss on the top of her head. Bless her!!! And then they all wanted a kiss.

loopylou That is a bummer. Folk that take flight knowing they've damaged someone's car seem to be without conscience. However, you are right...there is some seriously sad stuff happening to other people.

Mishap Cheers! I'm taking advantage of Bofoff's generosity. I'm extremely pleased that he has returned the fold.

What a lovely story dustyangel

I had so much to catch up on that I forgot Iam's post. It made me laugh and reminded me of our very well behaved Golden Retriever. One hot weekend, the whole family went for a walk round Virginia Water. Before we went back to the car we let him cool his feet in the shallows. When we adopted him we had been told that he was afraid of water. No such luck, he saw the ducks and suddenly dived after them. Of course as he got nearer they swam further away and he just swam after them completely ignoring our increasingly frantic calls. We'd been told that he couldn't swim and we were getting worried that he might get tired and realise where he was. There were other families around and everyone, children and parents, joined in calling him by name. Every time he got near the ducks they swam a bit further away until at last it seemed that they had had enough of teasing him and decided to fly off. It felt as if he was in the middle of the lake by then but he kept his cool and turned round and swam back to us. Very full of himself and shook cold water over us and got a round of applause from everyone else.

How upsetting loopyloo. Is it a scrape that can be 'polished' out?

You could have knocked me down with a feather Bogoff, I had no idea of your previous incarnation. Although I did feel that soop wasn't her usual self. Maybe she doesn't like keeping secrets. I'm glad that you are still with us even if I did take a completely irrational dislike to your new name. I'm sorry, I said it was irrational, it's the pedant in me, I can't stand the expression "for free"
I shall take a glass of wine later to toast your health. I haven't tried English wine for about 15 years.

I'm glad to hear that mother and baby are doing well Mishap. I hope Grandma is as well.

I meant to say loopy that I love bluebells. We have lots of blue wild flowers here at the moment but nothing that compares with that lovely mass of blue. The nearest I get is the cloud of blue borage that shouldn't really be in my garden.

Mishap that is a beautiful photo of a handsome young man. He looks so content.

You are so right loopylou. I alwys try to remind myself of that too.
bogoff. You are hilarious (re comeback)!

Great to hear mum and baby doing well Mishap, am quite envious
Have a and put your feet up!

There seems to be an astonishing number of bluebells around this spring, the hedgerows around here are a beautiful blue haze - a bit like the air when I found some b........r has scraped my 'new' car in Sainsburys car park!
I'd deliberately parked where there were umpteen empty spaces so pretty cheesed off (needless to say they didn't leave any details...)

Never mind, it's very small fry when I see and hear what too many other people are going through.

Phew - no politics here! - a haven indeed! Thanks soop.

DD is looking good (huge, but good - heaven knows how she will get rid of that enormous bump!). Milk came in after 36 hours and babe is now sucking well and taking real nourishment. A bit less jaundiced today and vacuumed head is looking normal now. DD a bit sore down below and I have taken over a rubber ring this morning. Best of all her mood is good - having had a DD with a serious ante-natal depression, I am on the lookout for problems - but she is great! Big relief and great joy!

He is a lovely little boy and we are proud of DD.

Hurray! at this time of day is needed, as I did stay awake for most of the day because I was so worried that UKIP would get seats.

I'm hoping that the grey skies don't mean more rain, I would like to get outside for a couple of hours this afternoon, but pruning soggy box hedging is no fun.

Just taken delivery of 5 cases of English wine so plenty of for everyone.

But Nellie, you just mentioned it twice !
No one is discussing it, just comenting on what we have been doing.

Now I need lots of coffee before I fall asleep. Not a happy bunny this morning, just moved a door that I painted yesterday and ruined it. GRRR
More patience needed.

There is a politics thread for anyone who wants to discuss the election.
This should be a politics free zone. No references at all on here.

Please please please stop go over to the politcs sites for that.