Soop's very welcoming kitchen...

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Hello the kitchen. I am a late comer today. GS was here overnight and then we spent the morning making the gingerbread house we never got round to doing over Christmas. If I should ever mention the possibility of doing another one, shoot me!! We did manage to get it all out together and then it collapsed - but in the end, with copious quantities of icing, it rose from the ashes! There is no chimney because it was easier to just eat it than try and get it to fit on the b****y roof!! Photo of the Chief Architect doing his stuff and ‘finished’ article! Photo of me with a fly swatter trying to keep his fingers out of the icing are not currently for public consumption!
Ann I am planning to make leek and potato soup tommorrow - hope it is as good as yours is sure to be!
Soop I am glad your friend’s funeral went off well - that is a lovely verse.
Maw I hope you manage to avoid coming down with a cold. I am sure your get up and go has not gone for good, but you are still rolling with the punches and will be for some time. My friend still has sudden bouts of tearfulness, three years down the line, as she did on Thursday when we went to lunch with her. She put lunch out and said “I haven’t cooked this for ages, it was R’s favourite!” And that was all it took. Once out of the way, she felt better and was pretty much her old self and we laughed a lot.
kitty I have yet to receive a item of clothing or apparel of any kind from DH that does not have to either “go back” or be relegated to some dark place from whence it never sees the light of day again! After fifty one years he neither knows what my tastes are nor what suits me. Never had a clue! But he is one of the most thoughtful men on the planet.
N&G I share your love of robins and am in awe of your photography skills. You, Soop and Gq should get together and, as someone said, produce a GN calendar!

Oh, I thought it would be emoticon size

Belated happy birthday wishes kitty
and you're right, the kitchen is a sanctuary

Thank you all so much for the kind birthday wishes! I had a lovely day with lots of nice presents including a lovely silk scarf from DH which cost an arm and a leg and is definitely NOT me. He took the news very well and is currently parcelling it up to send back. Quite why he thought I would wear a glorious black fringed scarf with all sorts of fabulous hand painted flowers, exotic birds and gold thingies on it, I don't know. Maybe he wishes I was that person. I did have some lovely wine glasses, a voucher for afternoon tea (GF!!) lots of flower arranging stuff and a new handbag. So he (and the children!) did well really.

The house is back to normal - all we need now is for the blasted rain to stop! N&G if Grampy would like to 'hover' over this way I'd be glad! I'm sorry to hear about your sister, do they have children?

Maw go easy on yourself - you have had a very difficult and sad time with Christmas on top of it. Just have a rest for a couple of days.

The kitchen seems to be the place to stay Ann, they've run out of Christmas spirit out there.

So pleased the funeral went well soop. I always feel apprehensive prior to funerals yet always come away with a sense of peace. Love the poem! I suspect we will have a funeral coming up before too long. My Sister in Law's Mum is fading fast but she is having to be a huge support for her father, who is not coping well at all.

Off for a sit down in the newly tidy lounge. I'm sure I should be doing something else!

Afternoon all from me too!
Feeling snuffly I spent the morning in bed (???) and am now contemplating the eleventy billion things I thought I might have done once Christmas was behind me.
It has started to rain so the walk I had planned seems less attractive but if I leave it much longer it will be dark (!) I have also earmarked a pile of papers/old bills etc for the shredder which might also be satisfying.
Reading other threads I realise that however low I am feeling, the STRESS of the past months has gone - and possibly the adrenaline which kept me going.
With”space” in my life I feel I could do so much, but as someone said, my “get up and go”, just got up and went!
(I looked at the Inertia thread so I know I am not alone.)
A good old TV film and the last of the mince pies might be what I settle for. Maybe a kick up the fundament is what I need - or a deadline.

Wishing you all a pleasant weekend.

Afternoon all !

A bit late into the kitchen because we popped out to have breakfast in a local garden centre( the pretext was to look for a new bird feeder and some pots ) !!

Lovely verse soop and the funeral sounds what I might hope for ! I have made my plans, written them down and told everyone of note so there will be no misunderstandings. I cannot bear the thought of long faces and all wearing black. I plan on it being a celebration ....with cake !!!!

Ann always remember those who mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind.... stay here and share some of that soup ---- :-) ...pass the rolls.

I have found a lot of threads not for me lately , either too darn sad to handle or too competitive for my taste. There's not much worth getting into a tizzy about in my opinion. Mind you , where as once you could name those posters who were going to be harsh we do seem to have an influx who try to disguise meanness with the excuse that they're ' plain speaking' !!! I put that right up there with anyone who says' I'm only telling you this for your own good!!'

The final decorations came down today and now Grampy is hovering the place to within an inch of its life to get rid of glitter, tinsel and tiny stray bits of wrapping paper.

Then we shall sit down, crack open the shortbread and have a nice cuppa---all welcome. !!

Added a picture of my favourite visitor to cheer you all up--- robins make everything better !!

That is lovely soop I am pleased your friend had a fitting "send off".
I am hunkering down in the kitchen and am not leaving.
Why oh why do I not learn to stay off other threads, but why am I attacked ,as has happened about 3 times lately, by people whose names I don't recognise and who disappear almost instantly.
I am not a " new members not welcome" but I do like when people get to know us a little before attacking.

I am making leek and potato soup for lunch and am going to put some crusty rolls in the oven.
That will keep me out of mischief.

A very happy belated birthday, Kitty. I hope that you had a super happy day.

Wonderful news Sar53 Welcome to the world to the wee newcomer. We hope to see a photo as soon as...

Fennel It will be my pleasure.

I've to prepare myself for our pal's 78th birthday party. We leave in an hour. I cannot read through every message right now, but will do so once I am able to sit still for a good half hour!

Our friend's funeral was exactly what we would wish for ourselves. He was born and bred in our wee village and a number of villagers attended the service. He was cremated at the crematorium in Helensburgh some 100 miles away. From the moment his coffin, white and decked with huge colourful images of Spitfires, made an entrance to the Dambusters March, they were many chuckles and smiles shared with his lovely family and that of, Anne, his late wife. Bobby was funny, gentle and kind. We dedicated this verse to him.

'And in the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter,
and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things
the heart finds its morning...
and is refreshed.' Kahil Gibran 1883-1931

Sounds like my kind of party Jane .

Houdini has been given a stern talking to Corner !

I can’t even begin to work out how they will disentangle their lives Ann . I imagine my BiL has a pension but I would be very surprised if my sister has. She’ll be working forever.

Happy birthday Kitty ??????

Happy birthday kitty???. Hope you have a good day

N&G my D and her H separated 3 years ago, when she was 49, they still aren't divorced. As an aside, it will be to the financial advantage of her H as he has been living with his girl friend for more than 2 years now and I would assume she would like a ring on her finger, he is very astute.
However just to say I wish your S good luck. It is hard to start again, my D had children 15 and 12 so life in that respect carried on and she is still in the house.
She needed and has had a lot of help in every way from us and is starting to get everything together but it is not what she envisaged. They had been married for 23 years.
She doesn't have another man in her life.

A very happy birthday to kitty, hope the germs are letting you celebrate in style.

That is sad news indeed from your sister n&g, it can only be hoped the future will be brighter for her.

So Houdini has been caught. Maybe a reinforced cage is the way to go? Our only foray into hamster owning wasn't a very positive one, or not for the adults involved. It escaped so many times, usually had to be retrieved from behind the gas fire, its party piece was chewing patches on carpets. HopefullySowball will be suitably chastened and stay safely caged in future.

I'm pleased the move is giving you everything you hoped for. The orangery and new bathroom will make life even more comfortable.

Been a bit of a funny day here. News of a funeral next week, been trying to do some catching up but the flipping broadband connection kept dropping out so much frustration. Phoned the supplier anhour ago to be told nothing is wrong, strangely its been fine since that phone call. So on with the catching up.

Sounds a good evening jane, how's your head?

Take care everyone

Soop that is so kind of you re the painting.
I'm having a sort through the photos and will pick a few.

Our dinner guests arrived at 7 yesterday evening and left at 1am! Lots of fun but we didn’t get up very early this morning! And there are lots of empty wine bottles!

Morning all !!

Newsflash : Snowball has been caught !! She has been returned to her repaired cage to finish out her sentence ;-)
The floorboards have been replaced and all is well !!

I can't help but embrace life here 8ann* its all so wonderful . And I don't mean that in a Pollyanna sort of way. Its just that its what we hoped for and didn't really expect it to live up to that dream. Hope you enjoyed your day out.

Your new neighbours sound great soop and you were obviously gracious hosts because they stayed so long. They are lucky to have you as neighbours I think. I hope the funeral goes as well as it can.

ooooh I'd take soop up on her offer fennel she kindly painted Sam for me and it was such a fabulous likeness and is on my wall in the craft room so I can admire it often.

Persie is still my favourite name Kitty , and how sweet do the girls look?

You're right Charley we have found a retired couple who will look after Sam. He will go to visit soon to see if they like each other and then we can go from there.

Hope the new baby and Mum are doing well Sar53 , have you been shopping yet? :-)

Our orangery is moving almost too fast for us, they start work on the assembly next week, along with the fence man who is replacing the fencing and the plumbers coming to quote for a new bathroom.

I think I might need to move out !

Sad news from my sister yesterday , they have decided to divorce after 26 years. I am so sad that they have reached this place. He would like to try counselling but as her unhappiness has been going on for 10+ years and he wasn't willing to change then she sees no point now.

I cannot imagine starting over again at 51 :-( although I know people do.

Anyway, I am off to finish some birthday cards then off to the flooring shop... deep joy :-)

Quick visit from me to wish Kitty many happy returns, and to say congratulations to Sar53 on her latest little girl.

Congratulations, sar, that’s such lovely news. Those of us past that stage are just a teensy weeny bit ! I hope they both do well and get home ASAP far away from any of those nasty bugs. That big sister is going to have a very busy time!
Don’t daughters just love to tell us what’s what, Ann! That was one my mother’s favourite sayings, usually uttered with a pained expression and a cough! It used to annoy my old boy no end.
Those girls are real beauties, kitty. Sounds like you may have another in the offing if all goes to plan, lucky you. Today I discovered we have a bag of baby toys and a travel cot in the attic, not getting rid of anything yet, just in case dd4 ever gets her act together with the lovely boyfriend. Hope you feel better soon, there are so many fierce bugs around this year. I’m surrounded by ailing friends so hope I manage to escape their clutches, the bugs that is not the friends!
Fabulous photo n&g, could you do us a kitchen calendar for next year? Hmm, it seems my old boy is not the only ham fisted lacking in common sense man around. I really did think it was only him. My heart was in my mouth just watching him climb the very narrow and somewhat flimsy fold down ladder into the attic this morning. He will insist on wearing his sloppy slippers and I have visions of him losing his footing and tumbling down on top of me at the bottom of the ladder and breaking something. Maybe my fears come from knowing my dad did exactly that, fortunately my mother wasn’t at the bottom!
Well almost bedtime here, wishing all a restful night with sweet dreams and apologies to anyone I’ve unintentionally ignored. x

Thank you all for your congratulations. I can't stop looking at the pictures I have been sent. Her big sister has always wanted a sibling and after 9 years her wish has been granted. Apparently she is smitten already and I can see her being almost another mother to her sister. I'm so looking forward to seeing them all.

Congratulations sar how lovely ?

Congratulations Sar on the new baby, sadly no more for us until the GGC come along, not yet I hope.
I enjoyed seeing my friend and we had a lovely coffee and chat, we went to a garden centre and I picked up a very nice pre-lit birch twig in the sale.
Now all I have to do is to make it for another year. Actually my plans ," if we are all spared" are already made I am told.
My two GC, C of my daughter are going to spend C in New York with their father and his partner, so my D says she is coming to us.
I don't like long term planning!!!
Lovely girls kitty, it looks as if you may be getting the knitting needles out again.

Wonderful news sar53. Congratulations to you all.

Beautiful girls kitty, hope you are back to your usual self very soon. Flipping bugs.

Mr C prevailed in his negotiations, brownie points for him, so one off the list. Phew.

Hope tomorrow goes as well as it can soop, travel carefully.

Congratulations Sar53

sar53. Many congratulations to you all, what lovely news

Sar many congratulations on your lovely new granddaughter. I hope mum and baby thrive and are home soon so that you can meet her.
kitty your very pretty GD’s are going to set a lot of hearts racing when they are older. I’ll bet grandad is putty in their hands!
N&G I feel the need to stand over DH when he picks up so much as a fruit knife! He is usually an accident waiting to happen. Hope Grampy is recovering! Your photography is spot on - what about an entry in next year’s Countryfile Calendar?
We had a lovely afternoon with our friend today; a nice lunch and lots to catch up on as we don’t see each other that often. We have been making each other laugh for thirty five years and nothing changes, thank the Lord. I needed it today.

Congratulations nanny!! How lovely!!

Almost a netball team!! Hope they are home safe soon so you can get some serious cuddles in!!