Soop's warm and welcoming kitchen...

Or maybe this Galen

Hang on! How on earth do you lot manage to be so ridiculously busy? Although I have been doing stuff I've only just this minute grabbed some catch-up time. Maw that cartoon is hilarious. Galen will approve.

winterwhite It's lovely to see you in the kitchen. As for cake, well, you may need to bake one for us. Last time I looked in the cake tin it was looking most unsatisfactory. The contents had morphed into a heap of crumbs.
Thank you for asking after our friend. Yes! The flight left on time. I phoned the ward this morning and was told that she was going to theatre. Asked to ring back after two o'clock.
As we were leaving the reception desk at the airport, a lady who had arrived from Glasgow on the previous flight, returned looking totally flustered. She had picked up the wrong set of car keys when she left her brother in Glasgow. She had a spare set at home the other side of Campbeltown. All's well that ends well. We took her home, and during the journey, we learned that she had been given the "all clear" at the cancer hospital. She was overjoyed.

Greyduster Talk about a smart phone! Yours is a genius. Mine is totally old-school...circa year 2000...or even earlier.

Artyfarty My phone wouldn't recognise an app if it saw one. I'm so last century!

Maw when did you sketch me?
Oh well, back to alcoholics, bad backs and Panic attacks.
The number of people who’ve lost their mobility cars due to the change from dla to pip has doubled the number of appeals I reckon.

anno ARRRRRRRRRGH! I'd sooner give birth, (chance would be a fine thing) than endure root canal work. Chin-up and remember...^this too shall pass^.

Maw The mechanic has just this minute phoned and told MacS that he's fitted a spare part in the broken-down car and is awaiting delivery of something to replace the spare part. I asked MacS what that meant. He replied...I don't have a clue!

NonnaW Our spirit level is an antique...a bit like MacS and me.

corner After a very long session of blethering, I lapse into a comatose state and have to rely on robotic nods and shakes of the head. I enjoy peace and quiet above all else.
That doesn't mean that I won't be joining in the chara trip to wallow in mud at N&G's opening of the orangery. I'm a devil for punishment!

Galen I so admire your fortitude.

Sorry to sound smug but I’m busy packing as we are off to Spain tomorrow in search of some sun. Can’t wait, the first thing I want to do is to find a nice bar and have a Mojito whilst people watching.

Artyfarty Sounds idyllic. Enjoy every moment and send some our way.

soop, having been upside down in the dentist's chair for about 40 minutes - he had to reach an upper wisdom tooth with a bent root - I feel just a bit topsy turvey and feel like having an afternoon nap. Having said that, it was painless, though my mouth was full of metal ware and my tooth was wearing a little waterproof cape , but my dentist is certainly easy on the eye which always helps. Unfortunately he is young enough to be my grandson and engaged to be married to some lucky girl! Just waiting for my face to un-freeze, so that I can have a well deserved .

anno I'm relieved to hear that the procedure went as well as expected. Having a dishy dentist helps to concentrate the mind on things other than the metal ware. Do you have a straw through which to sip that well deserved ? Relax!

Just read the "Whats for Tea tonight'. and someone mentioned Scallops. My favourite fish food. Lots on the W coast, hand dived for sustainability.

Do you get them in Kintyre or are they lorried out to Spain.

In my youth Venison was as cheap as chips, and my mum cooked it well.

Mackerel was easy too, just go out in the boat with a 'Murderer', and we caught enough to feed the village, or those who loved them, one was a retired lighthouse keeper from the Shetlands. He did so enjoy them

Doctor has phoned to confirm that the urine sample sent to the lab, has yet again confirmed a UTI. This is an ongoing buggeration. Prolapse in both front and rear passages cannot be repaired. Hey ho... back to Nitrofurantoin.

jollyg I'm a fan of Scallops, 'though I cannot remember when I last enjoyed them. Tarbert is our nearest fishing port. The "Fish Boys" have a regular clientele, their business is tucked away in one of the side streets. I like smoked Mackerel.
I know darn well that it's crazy to say that I couldn't eat Venison. It's just that the deer come to the garden fence and I look open them as "pets", which they are not.

Hello the kitchen! Soop people in your part of the world certainly look after one another - I think that’s very touching!
Anno I’m glad your root canal went well. I had a large back molar done in the late seventies and it also was painless, which is just as well as I was terrified of dentists at the time. I was in the hands of a very capable RAF Wing Commander with a large, rather mesmerising, ginger moustache. I thought they only had large ginger moustaches in Biggles books!
Galen very envious of your garden. I think you’d look just the ticket as the character in Maw’s cartoon!
arty farty enjoy your holiday sunshine and think of us (not) !
N&G Sam is obviously game for a laugh! That picture almost made me splutter my coffee!
We have just come back from a walk in the valley. The sun was out and everything looks very pretty. Unfortunately when I got my phone out to take a photo the battery was flat! It was, as I suspected it would be, very mucky and wet - a stream had flooded the footpath in one place so we were wading. Thank goodness for Gortex! We called in at the pub for coffee and biscuits and then back to the mud. At one point I got rather stranded and only managed to keep myself upright by means of a walking pole. DH was some way ahead by the time I got out. I took issue with him and he said “I would have come back for you once I’d noticed you weren’t there!” I said by that time he would have probably have found only my hat floating on the mire as evidence of my demise! But it was good to be out.
The other kitchen now calls. I will look in later.

Soop The venison were culled , as they breed like 'rabbits' and can graze a hill bare, as well as the moors for grouse, not that I ever venture into that elevated status.

jollyg

Our friend has had surgery and is back on the ward, which is such a relief. I've had fun telling various folk in the village. She has no close family, other than her husband, who is in the care home and most unlikely to ever be well enough to return home.

It is dark, and blowy, and a tad chilly. Never mind, we can relax at the close of an anxious day.

Bye for now. I shall return after lunch tomorrow. Stay safe.

soop that is one awful journey when one is having major surgery. She was very lucky to get there and I am so pleased to hear that it has been done.

It is not that cold here and it will apparently be mild over the weekend- weird weather we are having but I am not complaining.

I had to change my email address last week and it has been a quiet week with one email from a friend all week! Nobody else had received an email telling them of my new email address and because there was no mailer demon informing me of non arrival I was blissfully unaware.

I have banished yahoo and now joined gmail so I have at least received a few emails this evening, having had to wait for some friends to return from work. I was at the end of my tether but hopefully now for the second time I can sit down and slowly get all companies on line. Hopefully never again.

Artyfarty how could you go on holiday and leave {us lot} here?

Galen that sounds a sensible idea and will save you a shed load of money.

Indeed galen my car cost me £634 today for a service, brake fluid change, 2 new tyres, front brake pads and rear wiper blade.
Oh and a “free” wash and hoover out
You could get a lot of taxis for that and a lot less stress.

By `eck MawB, that`s a hell of a bill! Hopefully the car won`t be needing anything more for a very long time. Love the cartoon.
Soop, I hope that your friend is doing alright.
ArtyFarty, have a lovely holiday.
Galen, you`ll save a lot of money, but what about the very cold weather, won`t you feel a little exposed?

Strange about the brake pads; the S.O. took his car for a service a couple of weeks ago and had to have something done to the brakes which cost a lot. We found that odd because the car had only been MOT'd in November and there was no mention of a problem then. I did read that there are new guidelines coming in regarding MOT's so I wonder if they've tightened up the rules about brakes?

I agree Maw that is one awful bill. It does cost us a lot to have the sheer convenience of having our cars close by ready to hop into rather than ringing for a cab, waiting etc. When one adds on insurance and petrol costs I usually do not want to think about it.

Has anyone seen a post from Annsixty? She’s not been in the kitchen since last Friday. Hope she’s okay.

I think I would have a DS or SIL take the car to a garage, wonder if the same amount of work and replacements would be required.