Soop's comfortable and convivial kitchen.

Oh goodness galen. I’m so sorry, what very sad and difficult news and a horrid way to hear it. .

I’ve just learnt via Facebook that my transgender son/daughter has testicular cancer and is refusing treatment for it as they ‘just want to die’

Log off time for me. We've had a wicked afternoon. Spent most of it doing all manner of bookings. Any savvy person would have achieved what we managed in a fraction of the time. I cannot repeat the language aimed at the booking websites. It was a darker shade of purple. Not for repeating to the likes of you lovely lot

MacSporran still coughing and feeling jaded. We won't be Campbeltowning tomorrow. I shall do the weekly shop with our pal on Saturday. At the same time, I shall have the opportunity to visit her husband in the care home.

My love to you all. I shall be back tomorrow.

ann We all bags a portion. It won't go to waist waste.

Mmmm Ann a bread and butter pudding with a hint of marzipan could be a serendipitous delight! At the very worst it may be a little solid and comforting. Do let us know how it turns out. If you don’t like it I’ll help you out ?

Blimey Panache! Mowers?? It must be mild in West Wales! Glad to hear you sounding more chipper, in spite of the fact that your physical problems don’t seem to be abating. It must be helping your morale considerably that your DH situation is improving. My best wishes to you both.
Ah, Syn, would that togetherness was allowed. He flies solo on his excursions into the kitchen and I am banned! Until, that is, there comes a plaintiff cry of “which bit of this scales do I have to read?” “What do I line the tin with?” “Where’s the mixed spice?” and so on.
Ann go for it! You might have discovered a delicious new dish!

Dear Panache you are a real trooper ???

Panache

Well done Panache for keeping your spirits up and for keeping us informed.
Please, please, look after yourself as well as your H, it is vitally important.
An example of my very wooly head, I have had 2 lovely fresh soft boiled eggs for my lunch and when thinking about tonight's meal, I remembered our discussion on Pannatone B&B pudding and decided to make one, I had cream going to waste in the fridge.
I sliced and buttered, placed in a small dish, mixed eggs, cream and milk with a drop of vanilla extract, poured and waited for it to soak.
The liquid still sat on the top and I was pondering the mysteries of life when the penny dropped with a clang.
I have made it from Stollen left over from Christmas.
The Pannatone is still in it's tin.
I will bake it later and see what happens, nothing probably.

Panache You are a darling.

My dear friends I have to make some time to offer my heartfelt sympathy to you Ann and The Lesters ......indeed barely into a new year and so upsetting hearing these troubles are not only progressing but worsening.
I sincerely feel for you Ann and Kitty.............whilst also you dear MacS.......... do get the better of that virus pronto!

I have barely time to brush my teeth let alone have the luxury of a zimmerframe on wheels Charlie, but thank you for suggesting this .........and again considering my welfare.
Quite frankly I am a danger to all within any distance of me, although I literally fall into bed at 6.30 would you believe.............however the sad thing is I barely rest from all my various problems ........my spine giving in was the final straw!

However my lovely man is making good improvement and now has Hospital appointments stacking up week after week,it would seem they are truly trying to make up for lost time!!!

Once again love to you all,hope all those aches and whatsoevers soon leave you free to enjoy this nice dry spell of weather...........mowers have even been on the go!!!

6us lot6 appear to be keeping the NHS going all over the country- what would they do without us? I have 3 hospitals on the go at present- two are permanent fixtures.

kitty I do hope that the tests are done quickly and treatment can be started. Plumbing problems at any age are not good.

GreyD I think it is key to make cakes together. The one we made has the fruit soaked in tea for 24 hours (or more if you are too tired to carry on!), which gives time to weigh everything out and then it is all chucked in, stirred and bunged in a lined tin. Very yummy and no fuss! Just taken it out of the oven and it is looking good.

kitty I have just this minute caught up with your husband's need for a cystoscopy. I would like to send my very best wishes to you both. And, yes, bravo for the wonderful NHS. What on earth would we do without it?

Doodle and maddy chronic pain in any joint is a buggeration...in the hand and wrist...that's a buggeration too far. I also remember my late Nana's old fashioned mangle. It stood proudly outside her kitchen door. The rubber ringers were a magnet to my childish curiosity. The number of times I tested them with my fingers (that managed to get trapped) is legendary.

EllanVannin. I agree that cats sense another's disquiet. They are one of the most theraputic of creatures. Had I wealth and space, I would enjoy creating a sanctuary for needy cats.

Greyduster That's sounds like a cunning plan. Are you certain that you have some left-over chocs? If so, may I ask you to save one with a hard centre pour moi.

Synonymous Your Smokey sounds very like our late Rory. Whenever we went away, no matter how short our absence, he went bonkers with delight on our return. It was tail up and the loudest purrs imaginable. Music to our ears.

Charleyg Tara is a feline. Felines have their own agenda. We would give a lot to have Rory paw MacSporran into wakeful-mode.
Tabitha hasn't visited in some time. We still keep a watchful eye on the wee chalet...just in case...

Synonymous Just before Christmas DH said he would like to have a go at making a fruit cake, so I bought all the ingredients and we are still waiting for him to get started even after a bit of prompting from me. He “talks” a good cake. Whether we’ll see one remains to be seen!
We only put our cat in a cattery once. On her return she let us know at every turn how upset she was and clung to us like a shadow. She would follow DH down to the newsagents and he would bend down for her to jump up and perch on his shoulder like a parrot on the way back!

Kitty like others, I hope there is reassuring news when your DH next visits the hospital. Everything crossed for him.

Soop I hope that MacS is feeling better today. I’m sure with your tender ministrations he’ll be up and at ‘em in time for your big bash!

We have the school run this afternoon, and GS is not going to be a happy chap as we are resuming our drawing lessons, after a bit of a recent homework project trauma! We shall start simply, by drawing an apple. I will not produce the apple until we are about to start in case he eats it in an attempt to scuttle our efforts ?! I shall take him the last of the Christmas chocs to soften him up!
I will look in later.

Have found the time I need to join our lovely Granspals in the kitchen.

Ann like so many of your friends here in the kitchen, I hope that now your husband's diagnosis has been made, your family will support you in whatever decision is best for your husband. I can hardly imagine how distressing this is for you. You have coped brilliantly with ongoing problems for what seems like forever. Now that your husband is under close supervision in the care home, you will thankfully not be solely responsible for the additional stress of hour by hour care for him at home. That would be an impossible task. I am lost for the words that adequately express my sadness.

I am amazed that there have been 10 pages of posts since I last posted on here on 1st January! So much going on that it is impossible to pick too many out so I will just say that I wish all those bugs and pains away for all of you suffering from such.
Hope all the botherations at 'chez soop' will all clear away very soon and that you will both be able to get on a better footing healthwise soon.
So pleased that the situation at 'chez Panache' may be on the way to being sorted at long last and I don't think I was the only one feeling incandescent with frustration!
Ann I hope that you and your family will be able to work out the best way forward for your DH and am so pleased you have your dear little cat for company, she is such a cute little thing. They quickly work their way into your heart, don't they!

We got home safely a week ago but I was pretty shattered so have just been quietly recovering since then - no option really! I am glad to report that Smokie was very pleased to see us and has been very loving ever since, having Himself on a string and playing for as much and as long as we have energy. In the past we have been 'sent to Coventry' by a cat returning from the cattery which was an interesting experience!

I have been enjoying all the seed and plant catalogues and could easily have spent a fortune on the lovely things on offer. We did succumb to one purchase of a tree to go near the path to our front door. It is called a Cercidiphyllum japonicum and is known as the 'caramel tree' or 'candyfloss tree' because of the perfume the leaves give off in the autumn when they are trodden on and the leaves have beautiful colours throughout the year before they fall and little flowers in the spring. Hope it will be as nice as it sounds but we won't know until it arrives in the summer.

I am off now as we are going to make a cake together - me instructing and Himself being the 'stirrer'! DD would say "typecasting, eh?!"

Kitty and Ann my dad had plumbing problems for years and years. They never actually told us what was wrong but he would go for 6 weekly checkups. He had a permanent catheter, enlarged prostate, crystals in his bladder which used to burst the catheter balloon so it was always coming out. The specialist spoke of an operation when he was 95 but my dad decided against it and he lived to be 97 and died of something else in the end.
I hope this is some comfort to you both.
Thinking of you x

I slept like a log last night but Tara decided I should get up around 7.30am by purring and then pawing my face. If it were not for her I would possibly still be asleep. I do love her really.

It is 1 degree C here, too cold for Tara to go out at present so she is slumbering on the back of my chair. That really is the life- a bit like your friend Ann, nice if you can get it.

I really didn't dose myself off!!!

I just love cats. Such calming and affectionate companions who also have a knack of feeling your pain too. They're a marvellous therapy.
Molly looks as though she's adapted beautifully and will be a great comfort during this time of uncertainty.

kitty how strange that our H's are currently in the same situation.
I wish you both well and hope you get some reassuring news.

Thankyou all for your kind messages and compliments about Molly, she is a little darling.

I have had a poor night and eventually dosed off finally, waking at 8.45am.

I will have a lazy day today, my age really is catching up with me, something I must come to expect.

Very dull and damp here.,no incentive to go out, my Thursday friend leaves today for a 22 night cruise round the Indian ocean, having returned from the Caribbean on Dec the 17th, hard for some isn't it?