Chilly breeze this morning, and rain expected, so having an inside day. Managed to get a bit of vacuuming done and as always amazed by the amount of cat hair!!
Daughter had an ingrown toenail procedure on her driving foot, so the last few days I've been driving her for her 6am start. After a good sleep last night, I feel almost human again. Next week she will be on afternoon, which is more do-able if needed. A couple of episodes of crazy driving observed whilst going along at the signed speed. Good grief, in the rain as well!
Looking forward to the weekend with family as Cheery Husband has pulled a few late nights for a work deadline. I can't wait for him to retire and be done with all that.
Mrs BA has now recovered from her broken ankle, but is facing similar toenail surgery to the Cheery Daughter. I have been dealing with yet another infection which came on suddenly as we were on the road home from a very pleasant reunion in the Southern Highlands - an annual event with friends from teachers' college over 50 years ago.
At the same time were frantically preparing for the commissioning of our new rector, who is now settling in nicely. Our parish seems to have a tradition of an enormous funeral as one of the first services and Rev. K experienced her first such a couple of days ago, with most of the village turning out to our country church for a pioneer family member.
Nice to hear from you, @Barnabas_Aus. Hope that everything gets sorted out with your infection and Mrs BA’s toenail. Do you have good overflow arrangements for enormous funerals?
Yes, definitely an inside day, @Cheery Gardener, although I managed to go to my hydrotherapy class in the interval between the two lots of rain.
We’re off to Sydney again tomorrow so our son can visit his grandmother before he leaves the country on Sunday.
Nice to hear from you, @Barnabas_Aus. Hope that everything gets sorted out with your infection and Mrs BA’s toenail. Do you have good overflow arrangements for enormous funerals?
Prayers for fine weather are the best we can do, as we can squeeze 100 in at the absolute limit. The last funeral of this size was a cousin in the same family who was also the long-serving sacristan. The summer day was damp, but the rain stayed soft, so many of the farming men stood around in the drizzle chatting afterwards. A very typical country occasion.
I hope that infection is behaving itself @Barnabas_Aus and that your wife's toenail procedure goes smoothly. Daughter seems to be making a good recovery, for which I'm thankful.
Beautiful day here yesterday. I expected it to be cold, but outside sweeping leaves kept me warm and I got quite a lot done. I just wish I hadn't looked outside late yesterday afternoon to see more of the mess I'd just gotten rid of!!
I am hoping to catch up for a coffee with a friend later this week, so am looking forward to that. I also had a lovely phone chat with a friend on Saturday afternoon and that was very enjoyable.
I've been very glad of recent rain, though I suspect those who live closer to the coast are not!
Very (by Australian standards) cold today. Maximum 10°C, overnight minimum -2.5°C, overcast and now raining, with an apparent temperature of 4°C. Mr WitG and I have now returned from all our excursions round the countryside with our son and he is flying back to the UK. Our lives will be very mundane for the next few months, but we are having dinner with friends at the end of the week, so that will be good.
Glad to hear that leaf-sweeping went well, @Cheery Gardener. Bit of a circular task at this time of year.
Thanks for your good wishes, @WormInTheGrass, I think I may have excelled myself too much as my right leg is not as it should be. Fortunately it's not keeping me from sleeping and I'm trying sitting in different chairs to stay comfortable.
Today is a funny mix, quite bright 2 hours ago and now grey with a chilly breeze. I am grateful for the bright camellias and their cheering mood lifting!
Cheery Daughter now has appropriate paperwork completed having done her basic learn to ride a motorbike course. At the weekend she and husband will look for something suitable to learn on, I can feel the grey hairs sprouting as I type this.
My coffee with friend has not panned out and I think the onset of winter means we won't meet for a while. Phone friendship will have to do!
I've been thinking of you @Huia, particularly after you posted on the furry friends thread about Aroha eating her new cat litter. I hope she is ok and that you have found a good solution to that.
Just popping back in to say, almost too late, Happy Feast Day to @Barnabas_Aus.
Many thanks WITG. It was a quiet celebration on the day - lunch in the vineyards with Mrs BA. Eldest son and grandkids had visited on Monday and Number 3 and his partner are due in a few minutes, bringing dinner with them. Eldest grandchild has is birthday on Saturday and will make his confirmation on Sunday, so it has been a festive week.
Likewise: worked on the day & the day after. Just home after splendid dinner with son & daughter-out-law; bless them both. Starting to feel seriously old at 72.
Not feeling so young today, as a bit of sciatica after lots of leaf raking at the weekend. I did try to minimise it by not doing as much, but once on a roll .... you know how it goes!
Also attended my first getting ready for retirement seminar last week. I won't be official for just over another year, but figured I'd better start taking a bit of an interest having ignored it for most of my working life. As long as the relevant payments were made and the annual statement turned up each year, I took mostly no notice. I made the husband check his account too and fortunately I think we will be ok. I think he plans to work for a few more years though.
Last few days have been a bit grey here. I love our bright clear days and we had one yesterday. Took the chance to get out and work alongside husband in the garden to tidy things a bit. Good to get a few jobs done before we start to hibernate over winter!
Thanks @WormInTheGrass I have been reading but not posting as I got caught up at the end of last week. CheerySon has a teleconference, Cheery daughter wanted after work chats, which I do enjoy. She went with Cheery husband to look at motor scooters and thinks she has decided on an option to purchase. She is hoping it will still be at the shop tomorrow. As you can imagine more grey hairs have sprouted. However, I cannot criticise too much as I used to enjoy riding pillion with husband when we were much younger.
I have to confess too, to watching too much stuff on streaming. It is very easy to while away too many hours there! I need to be more disciplined! I do have a new book to start this week and another to order, so that will keep me occupied!
A wild Cape winter storm coming in through the mountains so I've taken the opportunity to cancel the packing and moving for today and just stay in bed with a book. As I have backache from lifting boxes of (what else?) books, I'm looking forward to a rest.
Hoping a bit of physical rest has helped @MaryLouise and that you're feeling rested. Moving is stressful, physically demanding and also generates admin stuff. So much to think about, wishing you some clear thinking space as well as physical rest.
A wild Cape winter storm coming in through the mountains so I've taken the opportunity to cancel the packing and moving for today and just stay in bed with a book. As I have backache from lifting boxes of (what else?) books, I'm looking forward to a rest.
A rest sounds a good idea even without the co-operation of the weather. You've not had an easy year at all, and a few days stepping back should help all around. It's a glorious bright and sunny morning here, great just sitting in a bright room doing some casual reading. We'll go for a walk after lunch (or maybe to lunch and then back home!).
Yes, @MaryLouise, enjoy your rest and your book, both being sources of renewal. Sunny but chilly here. Very frosty and somewhat foggy in the morning, with minimum of -6.2°C overnight and still only 6.6°C now. Have been for a very short walk, but feet still got cold even in thick socks.
Glad to see the sun shining this morning with blue sky. A few times this week, it's been grey until lunchtime, with the sun popping out for a couple of hours before the light cloud has returned and the day begins to cool down.
Nice and not so nice happenings at ours. Cheery daughter and husband went to the bike shop to collect the motorbike she test rode last weekend and organised to purchase and register during the week. Thanks goodness this morning they remembered they had not taken out insurance and got that organised just in time to make the collection. As on the far side of town Cheery husband rode the machine home and daughter drove home in car. She has had 2 practices since being home. One which gave her a bit of a scare as she felt not quite in control, but followed up with a much better one. I am sure things will improve as she becomes familiar with the machine and fortunately we have a very quiet area where she can practice safely. I am sure it will be quite some time before she ventures out onto the open roads, much less commuting to work.
Bit of a family upset underway in Cheery husband's family. Fortunately very sensible brother and sister in law are much closer than we are, they are monitoring the situation and dealing with issues as they arise. Unfortunately they have needed to do this many times in the past and even though they are familiar with the complexities, it must be a strain on them.
Yes, @Cheery Gardener we have had a cool week, haven’t we. Although today has been a bit more sunny. At least the shortest day has happened. I find the weeks when it’s completely dark shortly after 5pm harder than the cold itself.
That’s helpful for Cheery Daughter to have somewhere quiet to practise her riding skills.
Hope things in Cheery husband’s family aren’t too chaotic.
@Piglet, I know daughter booked to do two courses, one was a pre-learner course, which I think was the theory and road rules stuff. The second was an afternoon of practical instruction and practice on bikes supplied by the training provider, so a few hours of instruction to get the basics. Displaying her L plate she will be legal to ride on the road, but a lot more riding experience needed. The idea of her being in the middle of busy traffic at this stage, fills me with the horrors and after yesterday's bad practice, probably her as well.
I was glad that after half an hour of recovery she decided that other than to stop all together, her only option was to get back on the thing and give it another go. Much more successfully and very cautiously. I imagine today will feature another try also. I have to pretend it's not happening, because I think that there is so much more traffic on the road than there was 30 years ago when we moved to this city, that I don't know how much she will realistically be able to get road experience in safety. That's just my opinion and I'm sure husband's would differ.
@Piglet, I know daughter booked to do two courses, one was a pre-learner course, which I think was the theory and road rules stuff. The second was an afternoon of practical instruction and practice on bikes supplied by the training provider, so a few hours of instruction to get the basics. Displaying her L plate she will be legal to ride on the road, but a lot more riding experience needed. The idea of her being in the middle of busy traffic at this stage, fills me with the horrors and after yesterday's bad practice, probably her as well.
I was glad that after half an hour of recovery she decided that other than to stop all together, her only option was to get back on the thing and give it another go. Much more successfully and very cautiously. I imagine today will feature another try also. I have to pretend it's not happening, because I think that there is so much more traffic on the road than there was 30 years ago when we moved to this city, that I don't know how much she will realistically be able to get road experience in safety. That's just my opinion and I'm sure husband's would differ.
When I was learning to drive, some 60 or more years ago now, I had lessons from a driving instructor, but my father also took me to new subdivisions where I could drive with virtually no other traffic. That was great as I go accustomed to the various controls and the general feel of driving. Not many such areas around here now.
Finding somewhere which is big enough and yet safe, is a bit of a challenge @Gee D. There are some new subdivisions not too far from us, so will investigate those. It's hard as often getting access involves using major roads and as you've said, there is traffic everywhere now!!
Today has been a chilly start and cats have been very demanding of treats. One is sitting under a low table in our front room, having just enjoyed watching 3 magpies coming to our water feature for a drink. The feature itself is not working properly, so I've balanced a 4L ice-cream container on top and I keep it filled, so the birds can come for a drink. Now that I've started doing it and the birds are aware, I think I'm locked in to keeping it up. They reward me most days with a burst of song, from our roof.
The ice-cream container is not particularly classy looking, so I might look through the cupboards and see if I can find something that will hold as much water but look a bit better!!
Can you fix your water feature, or would that be at a prohibitive cost?
There would still be new subdivisions if you went many kilometres away, rather than the mile or 2 when I was learning. Another choice would be a semi-industrial area.
Possibly on the other side of town @Cheery Gardener, but our son had his initial driving lessons in the car park at GeoScience which is quite large and very quiet at weekends. I also did a bit of driving there when I started to recover from cancer treatment and had no confidence at all.
@GeeD I am sure husband will get the water feature working eventually, but he's taken up with other jobs at present, the icecream container is just a temporary fix. I've also been contemplating moving the water feature and in the current position, installing a bird bath that I can just top up with the hose which is close by.
Thanks for the tip @Gee D semi industrial area not too far from us might work in time when confidence and skills are a bit more consistent.
@WormInTheGrass I like the sound of GeoScience, but I might suggest that new rider try one of the higher education campuses which are closer to us and potentially very traffic free at weekends as another alternative, but your suggestion did make me think, where could we acccess safely and those came to mind. So thanks for setting me on the path, both @Gee D and @WormInTheGrass
Thinking of you @Huia this week, hoping your computer has not died the death.
How is everyone else doing? We've had a very quiet week, done a little bit of walking in the sunshine, more leaf sweeping and finished reading a novel. I finally got around to opening my magazine, which is delivered monthly and that I always enjoy when I get around to looking at it. Actually opening it on the day it's delivered is a rare thing!
We are gearing up for the celebration of Cheery son's birthday tomorrow. Pressies are organised, husband getting the cards and paper today. Cheery sister is supposed to be doing her shopping today and tomorrow morning we'll organise a cake. Unfortunately the weather is not predicted to be pleasant so that will limit our options for celebrations, but we hope the son's girlfriend might join us at least for part of the day.
From listening to local radio there appears to be a couple of accidents on local roads this morning, feeling for those involved, rushing off to work and now stuck in traffic (first world problems, I know).
After the festive week, the plan was to take some time to finish long-planned tasks. The best-laid plans! Within a couple of days I was wheezing and sniffling and then tested positive to COVID, so the tasks still await completion once I regain some energy and breath. Fortunately this dose has not been as severe as the first, so hopefully in the near future.
After the festive week, the plan was to take some time to finish long-planned tasks. The best-laid plans! Within a couple of days I was wheezing and sniffling and then tested positive to COVID, so the tasks still await completion once I regain some energy and breath. Fortunately this dose has not been as severe as the first, so hopefully in the near future.
Not good, and our thoughts are with you. We've been lucky, as have others around here, and avoided it.
Sorry to hear that, Barnabas - it really does seem to be having a bit of a resurgence (and, it would seem, on both sides of the planet). Two elderly ladies in church have got it (mercifully both quite mildly), and it ripped through my office a few weeks back.
Hope you get well soon @Barnabas_Aus, rest up as best you can!
Husband and I took a RAT/LFT this morning prior to son's girlfriend coming to visit. Her G'ma is in hospital and her G'pa staying with her family at present. I would hate us to share the nasty with them! We didn't make Cheery daughter test as she's been on the night shift at work, where she works pretty much alone, so I think we are ok!
Cheery son's birthday is going well so far. All gifts appear to have been appreciated and I believe some Lego building and video game playing might be on for the afternoon before cake and later pizzas for dinner. I think in anticipation of eating some very naughty chocolate cake, I might give the pizza a miss and have either some soup or a piece of salmon tonight.
I had to laugh this morning as the young person rose at about 8am and that's almost unheard of, so still some excitement and anticipation on their birthday, I guess that's what being young is! We are thankful for this and all other birthdays!
It's quite breezy here this afternoon and I think some rain is coming overnight but at present the sky is bright blue and the trees are just blowing gently.
Not so happy to find that after being out in my car to purchase cake, the minute we got home that the car just appears to have "died". I am very grateful though that this happened on our own driveway and not at the traffic lights on the way to cake or back again.
Thanks @Piglet, he really did have a lovely day. He was quite tickled with a birthday card from his sister, which had a dog on the front in Darth Vader costume and when you opened the card the Imperial march was barked at you. It gave us all a giggle.
I've just come inside after giving the cat a short walk on her lead. She wanted to roll around in the wood chips and was settling down for a nice rest in the sun, but I needed to get inside to attend to the washing.
I took a photo of our garden decorative rain gauge as it appeared to have an iceblock inside after the -6 temp last night. However, I was saddened to discover the gauge had broken as the rainwater expanded. I was lucky not to have knelt on the broken piece, so have put it aside to show husband after work. I suspect we'll have to look for a tube to replace the broken one. It's possible it froze a day or so ago, off to the multicoloured website to search for a replacement!
That sounds like an excellent birthday for Cheery Son, @Cheery Gardener. Hope you find a new tube for your rain gauge, but maybe you should wait until these cold days have passed before installing it. I meant to take a picture of our frosty lawn a couple of days ago, but got distracted. Has your car recovered?
I was fortunate and did see a selection of tubes online, I just have to measure up tomorrow to make sure I get the correct size. That is a good suggestion @WormInTheGrass, I'll put the new one(s), in a safe place until spring. I thought I might buy two or three just to have on hand in case of breakages due to clumsiness. I had been very proud though, that I'd managed to not drop it right up till now!
Husband had a look at the car and both battery terminals had not been tightened sufficiently, so when I parked the car, the connection must have been lost. All is fixed now and car going well, thank goodness. I was worrying that it was going to be something awful like the alternator, but very grateful it was something so simple to rectify. It's interesting as I'd only been thinking last week that I must get the car off for a service, and had I been more organised it would probably have been detected in the car service.
Cheery son has been really delighted as he received some belated text messages yesterday and has been enjoying all his gifts of Lego and watching the dvds I bought him. Good activities for cold days!
I'm not coping well with the very cold weather at present. It was -3 last night and probably the same tonight plus widespread morning frost. Thankfully we fly out to somewhere warm next week and will be away until the end of July.
When I was younger I used to love the cold weather, but now I am becoming less of a fan and am grateful I don't have to leave the house at 7.30am any more. Those frosts and organising all the stuff to clear the windscreen and side mirrors and rear car window, not fun. The frost does seem heavier this year, but I could be making that up!
I do hope you enjoy your time in warmer parts @rhubarb and being away until August does sound very nice!
One of my sisters in law was in Qld, so my inlaws used to do similar to you, take a long break there and have the opportunity to catch up with family and enjoy the warmer weather . My Aunt is there and I think she has been wearing shorter sleeves as I ponder digging out my singlet for an additional layer!
Took a walk in some pale winter sunshine out here, still coughing and spluttering so avoiding any street contacts. But saw camellias in flower and the lilac and mauve buds of the magnolia opening, along with some clumps of scented paper narcissus, the season turning at mid-winter. Indomitable nature.
@Mary Louise, glad you were able to enjoy a walk, being in nature is therapeutic and moving around can help to shift the nasty stuff that comes with bronchitis. Don't go overdoing it though!!
Today is not as cold as previous mornings and I think today might be more leaf sweeping as wet days are coming at the weekend. I can hear the groans of parents at the start of school holidays already! I always loved wet days on school holidays particularly if staying with our G'ma as we had ready access to all the Aunt's old books and I loved all her old Enid Blytons and Chalet girl books.
Very happy to report that I found some replacement glass tubes for the rain gauge, I have not ordered them yet, but will do so in the next few days.
I hope everyone else is having an OK week and avoiding all the nasties that appear to be going around at present.
We're doing well thanks - had the flu shots early on and they may be working. You never know if they're working or if you weren't going to catch the flu in any event. Still worth having them and of course at our age, they're free.
It's a chilly 10 degrees here but still good for a walk. Dog used like this sort of weather, made him feel like a young pup again, I think.
Comments
One of my great-nephews has my Dad's (his great-grandfather's) name, of which I'm sure Dad will be approving from Heaven.
One of the loveliest things is that all the cousins seem to get on like a house on fire - it's so nice (if somewhat noisy) when they all get together.
Daughter had an ingrown toenail procedure on her driving foot, so the last few days I've been driving her for her 6am start. After a good sleep last night, I feel almost human again. Next week she will be on afternoon, which is more do-able if needed. A couple of episodes of crazy driving observed whilst going along at the signed speed. Good grief, in the rain as well!
Looking forward to the weekend with family as Cheery Husband has pulled a few late nights for a work deadline. I can't wait for him to retire and be done with all that.
Mrs BA has now recovered from her broken ankle, but is facing similar toenail surgery to the Cheery Daughter. I have been dealing with yet another infection which came on suddenly as we were on the road home from a very pleasant reunion in the Southern Highlands - an annual event with friends from teachers' college over 50 years ago.
At the same time were frantically preparing for the commissioning of our new rector, who is now settling in nicely. Our parish seems to have a tradition of an enormous funeral as one of the first services and Rev. K experienced her first such a couple of days ago, with most of the village turning out to our country church for a pioneer family member.
Yes, definitely an inside day, @Cheery Gardener, although I managed to go to my hydrotherapy class in the interval between the two lots of rain.
We’re off to Sydney again tomorrow so our son can visit his grandmother before he leaves the country on Sunday.
Prayers for fine weather are the best we can do, as we can squeeze 100 in at the absolute limit. The last funeral of this size was a cousin in the same family who was also the long-serving sacristan. The summer day was damp, but the rain stayed soft, so many of the farming men stood around in the drizzle chatting afterwards. A very typical country occasion.
Beautiful day here yesterday. I expected it to be cold, but outside sweeping leaves kept me warm and I got quite a lot done. I just wish I hadn't looked outside late yesterday afternoon to see more of the mess I'd just gotten rid of!!
I am hoping to catch up for a coffee with a friend later this week, so am looking forward to that. I also had a lovely phone chat with a friend on Saturday afternoon and that was very enjoyable.
I've been very glad of recent rain, though I suspect those who live closer to the coast are not!
Glad to hear that leaf-sweeping went well, @Cheery Gardener. Bit of a circular task at this time of year.
Today is a funny mix, quite bright 2 hours ago and now grey with a chilly breeze. I am grateful for the bright camellias and their cheering mood lifting!
Cheery Daughter now has appropriate paperwork completed having done her basic learn to ride a motorbike course. At the weekend she and husband will look for something suitable to learn on, I can feel the grey hairs sprouting as I type this.
My coffee with friend has not panned out and I think the onset of winter means we won't meet for a while. Phone friendship will have to do!
I've been thinking of you @Huia, particularly after you posted on the furry friends thread about Aroha eating her new cat litter. I hope she is ok and that you have found a good solution to that.
Many thanks WITG. It was a quiet celebration on the day - lunch in the vineyards with Mrs BA. Eldest son and grandkids had visited on Monday and Number 3 and his partner are due in a few minutes, bringing dinner with them. Eldest grandchild has is birthday on Saturday and will make his confirmation on Sunday, so it has been a festive week.
72 is a good age! Or so I keep trying to convince myself! :-)
Also attended my first getting ready for retirement seminar last week. I won't be official for just over another year, but figured I'd better start taking a bit of an interest having ignored it for most of my working life. As long as the relevant payments were made and the annual statement turned up each year, I took mostly no notice. I made the husband check his account too and fortunately I think we will be ok. I think he plans to work for a few more years though.
Last few days have been a bit grey here. I love our bright clear days and we had one yesterday. Took the chance to get out and work alongside husband in the garden to tidy things a bit. Good to get a few jobs done before we start to hibernate over winter!
I have to confess too, to watching too much stuff on streaming. It is very easy to while away too many hours there! I need to be more disciplined! I do have a new book to start this week and another to order, so that will keep me occupied!
I hope you have some old favourites at hand.
A rest sounds a good idea even without the co-operation of the weather. You've not had an easy year at all, and a few days stepping back should help all around. It's a glorious bright and sunny morning here, great just sitting in a bright room doing some casual reading. We'll go for a walk after lunch (or maybe to lunch and then back home!).
Nice and not so nice happenings at ours. Cheery daughter and husband went to the bike shop to collect the motorbike she test rode last weekend and organised to purchase and register during the week. Thanks goodness this morning they remembered they had not taken out insurance and got that organised just in time to make the collection. As on the far side of town Cheery husband rode the machine home and daughter drove home in car. She has had 2 practices since being home. One which gave her a bit of a scare as she felt not quite in control, but followed up with a much better one. I am sure things will improve as she becomes familiar with the machine and fortunately we have a very quiet area where she can practice safely. I am sure it will be quite some time before she ventures out onto the open roads, much less commuting to work.
Bit of a family upset underway in Cheery husband's family. Fortunately very sensible brother and sister in law are much closer than we are, they are monitoring the situation and dealing with issues as they arise. Unfortunately they have needed to do this many times in the past and even though they are familiar with the complexities, it must be a strain on them.
That’s helpful for Cheery Daughter to have somewhere quiet to practise her riding skills.
Hope things in Cheery husband’s family aren’t too chaotic.
I was glad that after half an hour of recovery she decided that other than to stop all together, her only option was to get back on the thing and give it another go. Much more successfully and very cautiously. I imagine today will feature another try also. I have to pretend it's not happening, because I think that there is so much more traffic on the road than there was 30 years ago when we moved to this city, that I don't know how much she will realistically be able to get road experience in safety. That's just my opinion and I'm sure husband's would differ.
When I was learning to drive, some 60 or more years ago now, I had lessons from a driving instructor, but my father also took me to new subdivisions where I could drive with virtually no other traffic. That was great as I go accustomed to the various controls and the general feel of driving. Not many such areas around here now.
Today has been a chilly start and cats have been very demanding of treats. One is sitting under a low table in our front room, having just enjoyed watching 3 magpies coming to our water feature for a drink. The feature itself is not working properly, so I've balanced a 4L ice-cream container on top and I keep it filled, so the birds can come for a drink. Now that I've started doing it and the birds are aware, I think I'm locked in to keeping it up. They reward me most days with a burst of song, from our roof.
The ice-cream container is not particularly classy looking, so I might look through the cupboards and see if I can find something that will hold as much water but look a bit better!!
There would still be new subdivisions if you went many kilometres away, rather than the mile or 2 when I was learning. Another choice would be a semi-industrial area.
Thanks for the tip @Gee D semi industrial area not too far from us might work in time when confidence and skills are a bit more consistent.
@WormInTheGrass I like the sound of GeoScience, but I might suggest that new rider try one of the higher education campuses which are closer to us and potentially very traffic free at weekends as another alternative, but your suggestion did make me think, where could we acccess safely and those came to mind. So thanks for setting me on the path, both @Gee D and @WormInTheGrass
How is everyone else doing? We've had a very quiet week, done a little bit of walking in the sunshine, more leaf sweeping and finished reading a novel. I finally got around to opening my magazine, which is delivered monthly and that I always enjoy when I get around to looking at it. Actually opening it on the day it's delivered is a rare thing!
We are gearing up for the celebration of Cheery son's birthday tomorrow. Pressies are organised, husband getting the cards and paper today. Cheery sister is supposed to be doing her shopping today and tomorrow morning we'll organise a cake. Unfortunately the weather is not predicted to be pleasant so that will limit our options for celebrations, but we hope the son's girlfriend might join us at least for part of the day.
From listening to local radio there appears to be a couple of accidents on local roads this morning, feeling for those involved, rushing off to work and now stuck in traffic (first world problems, I know).
Not good, and our thoughts are with you. We've been lucky, as have others around here, and avoided it.
Take care, and get well soon.
Husband and I took a RAT/LFT this morning prior to son's girlfriend coming to visit. Her G'ma is in hospital and her G'pa staying with her family at present. I would hate us to share the nasty with them! We didn't make Cheery daughter test as she's been on the night shift at work, where she works pretty much alone, so I think we are ok!
Cheery son's birthday is going well so far. All gifts appear to have been appreciated and I believe some Lego building and video game playing might be on for the afternoon before cake and later pizzas for dinner. I think in anticipation of eating some very naughty chocolate cake, I might give the pizza a miss and have either some soup or a piece of salmon tonight.
I had to laugh this morning as the young person rose at about 8am and that's almost unheard of, so still some excitement and anticipation on their birthday, I guess that's what being young is! We are thankful for this and all other birthdays!
It's quite breezy here this afternoon and I think some rain is coming overnight but at present the sky is bright blue and the trees are just blowing gently.
Not so happy to find that after being out in my car to purchase cake, the minute we got home that the car just appears to have "died". I am very grateful though that this happened on our own driveway and not at the traffic lights on the way to cake or back again.
I've just come inside after giving the cat a short walk on her lead. She wanted to roll around in the wood chips and was settling down for a nice rest in the sun, but I needed to get inside to attend to the washing.
I took a photo of our garden decorative rain gauge as it appeared to have an iceblock inside after the -6 temp last night. However, I was saddened to discover the gauge had broken as the rainwater expanded. I was lucky not to have knelt on the broken piece, so have put it aside to show husband after work. I suspect we'll have to look for a tube to replace the broken one. It's possible it froze a day or so ago, off to the multicoloured website to search for a replacement!
Husband had a look at the car and both battery terminals had not been tightened sufficiently, so when I parked the car, the connection must have been lost. All is fixed now and car going well, thank goodness. I was worrying that it was going to be something awful like the alternator, but very grateful it was something so simple to rectify. It's interesting as I'd only been thinking last week that I must get the car off for a service, and had I been more organised it would probably have been detected in the car service.
Cheery son has been really delighted as he received some belated text messages yesterday and has been enjoying all his gifts of Lego and watching the dvds I bought him. Good activities for cold days!
I do hope you enjoy your time in warmer parts @rhubarb and being away until August does sound very nice!
One of my sisters in law was in Qld, so my inlaws used to do similar to you, take a long break there and have the opportunity to catch up with family and enjoy the warmer weather . My Aunt is there and I think she has been wearing shorter sleeves as I ponder digging out my singlet for an additional layer!
Today is not as cold as previous mornings and I think today might be more leaf sweeping as wet days are coming at the weekend. I can hear the groans of parents at the start of school holidays already! I always loved wet days on school holidays particularly if staying with our G'ma as we had ready access to all the Aunt's old books and I loved all her old Enid Blytons and Chalet girl books.
Very happy to report that I found some replacement glass tubes for the rain gauge, I have not ordered them yet, but will do so in the next few days.
I hope everyone else is having an OK week and avoiding all the nasties that appear to be going around at present.
It's a chilly 10 degrees here but still good for a walk. Dog used like this sort of weather, made him feel like a young pup again, I think.