Yes, fresher here today, too - though I don't think I'm quite up to running. Alas, the leg muscles are still not behaving themselves, and I've been hobbling around very slowly and painfully for a few days now...
Happy new puppy, Boogie! BF's right - send pictures!
It's still v. hot and rather sticky here: 29° but feeling like 35, but at least the Heat Warning and Air Quality Watch* have now ended. They've been replaced by a Severe Thunderstorm Watch - we heard a rumble or two at lunchtime. You could never accuse our weather of being boring ...
Despite it being over 30° yesterday evening, I had a walk across the bridge and back, and really rather enjoyed it - there was just a sniff of a breeze, which was nicely on my face on my way back.
* Smoke from forest fires in Quebec was blowing down towards us, but appears to have gone away.
I use a stick, BF indoors and out. Useful in crowds.......
Hope new puppy learns quickly, Boogie, and is a joy to have!
Went out to try and tidy the garden last night, when it was fractionally cooler. Found that most stuff was crispy and just came away in my hands! All dead! Including the weeds
But I'm a bit worried about my lovely Rosa Glauca which is looking brown at the edges and very unhappy. Hopefully the roots will be safe and Spring Back next year if I cut it back.
I use a stick, BF indoors and out. Useful in crowds.......
Hope new puppy learns quickly, Boogie, and is a joy to have!
Went out to try and tidy the garden last night, when it was fractionally cooler. Found that most stuff was crispy and just came away in my hands! All dead! Including the weeds
But I'm a bit worried about my lovely Rosa Glauca which is looking brown at the edges and very unhappy. Hopefully the roots will be safe and Spring Back next year if I cut it back.
Yes, I have a stick, for indoors and out, and it is indeed useful in crowds. I'm afraid I play that card for all it's worth, though I hope it's only for the time being, until my muscles decide to behave.
Re crispy plants - O Woe! And Lack-a-day! The lovely wild pink flower in the church garden has gone all crispy, too - but I guess it'll survive Until The Rains Come Again. I might try trimming it back a bit...
He arrived at 12:30pm yesterday and had about an hour to get his bearings before the two big dogs came home from their walk with Mr Boogs.
He was starving and only allowed re-hydration gravy until 3pm - a long wait!
When two big dogs came home Tatze was beside herself with excitement and Keir was woofing, so Spencer was rather overfaced by it all. But he soon found his feet and was confidently trotting round them, ‘tho he didn’t play much - I’m sure he was tired after a very long journey from Leamington. He loved his meal and was looking for more the rest of the afternoon! He made up for his lack of play yesterday by hoolying like a good-un with the big dogs today.
What a beautiful trio! I'm amazed that you got them all to sit still at the same time -- and looking in the same direction! (What do you do to get their attention? I've noticed this in a lot of your pictures over the years.) I love the "furry pillow'' definitely the best kind.
Ha! He looks as though he's Taking It All In, and not just snoozing!
Thanks for the pics, though...what a bonny wee feller he is.
LVER - I trust bebe's dungarees are suitably red ?
Meanwhile, I shall go outside, array myself as per an OT Prophet, and call down RAIN upon the earth, in opposition to the Prophets of Baal etc. etc., who clearly are in Unholy League with the Powers Of Sun-Shine.
What a beautiful trio! I'm amazed that you got them all to sit still at the same time -- and looking in the same direction! (What do you do to get their attention? I've noticed this in a lot of your pictures over the years.) I love the "furry pillow'' definitely the best kind.
It's a lovely day here: 26° with no humidex! We took a wee jaunt out into the country to a little roadside caff that we rather like for a cup of coffee/tea and a piece of PIE (their speciality).
I think D. got the better deal: he had a very nice piece of rhubarb PIE, and I had a piece of chocolate cheesecake, which was OK, but I think I could have made a better choice.
After we got back, D. decided he wanted to do some practice, so I went in with him and had a lovely little amble across the walking-bridge and back - it really is the nicest way of getting a little exercise!
Well, cute things are good, and cheer us up on what is, after all, a Black Day for our country (kicked out of the footie, and with Tr**p treading our dear soil underfoot).
What beautiful dogs, Boogie! Many, many years ago when I were a teenager, we had a black lab. She was utterly crackers and totally adorable.
It is a bit cooler today and I have been dashing about like a mad thing so am sitting down with a cup of TEA - hoorah for it being cool enough to drink TEA at 5pm!
One of the things I bought whilst dashing about like a mad thing was a sequinned top and some glitter body paint. If I get my act together and we make it to the Trump protest tomorrow, I’ll be super spangly.
One of the things I bought whilst dashing about like a mad thing was a sequinned top and some glitter body paint. If I get my act together and we make it to the Trump protest tomorrow, I’ll be super spangly.
The weather has cooled down here too, which I’m very happy about. Today is humid, but the temperature is only 23, so I am feeling much better than I did when it was 28.
I have actually been drinking hot black tea the whole time it was very hot - I find it refreshing. Today I picked some wild raspberries from my garden, and I am drinking black tea with raspberries in it.
Yesterday I did something I learnt from youtube - put a bottle of fizzy drink in the freezer for three hours and then take it out and pour it into a cup. It pours out as a slushy, and is very refreshing.
Spencer is a cutie. How long have you got all three of them? You must have to be super organised not to decend into chaos.
My husband took me out for a bike ride last night. He is very worried about me on roads on my bike becuase of my hearing but the route we took was mainly cycle paths or off road and off course the England match meant there was very little traffic out there. I really enjoyed it, maybe I'll try and get into biking again.
I'm enjoying the slightly cooler weather and the fact we might get rain tonoght or tomorrow. It rained at Wimbledon, which is about four miles away, but not here last week so we are due some.
It’s the little things which make the difference when puppy raising. A big, sensible dog at home to show them the way and entertain them (I train, Tatze entertains). Having ‘areas’ to separate the dogs when needed. A well stocked and to-hand pile of puppy pads, cut in quarters for mopping up accidents. Poo bags in every pocket. Toys on every surface to put in the crocapup mouth. Everything chewable out of reach. A good routine for bed times, meal times, mornings etc etc
Much, much easier than raising children. Dogs want to please you, children want to please themselves.
Cooler here too. Yesterday grey morning, sunny afternoon. Today it's taken much longer for the clouds to clear. Apparently we are due rain the beginning of next week - what I really want it to do is cloud up on Sunday so it's not so sunny.
Definitely cloudier today. Was out with friend and godsons today, mooching around the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and we could put a picnic blanket out without melting away. Played a bit of football, spotted some ducklings, looked at (and climbed on when appropriate) the sculptures. A good time had by all.
The weather has cooled down here too, which I’m very happy about. Today is humid, but the temperature is only 23, so I am feeling much better than I did when it was 28.
....
Yesterday I did something I learnt from youtube - put a bottle of fizzy drink in the freezer for three hours and then take it out and pour it into a cup. It pours out as a slushy, and is very refreshing.
Just be very careful and don’t forget that it is in the freezer. Otherwise you may end up cleaning freezer of a horrid sticky mess. Same goes for cans .
Just be very careful and don’t forget that it is in the freezer. Otherwise you may end up cleaning freezer of a horrid sticky mess. Same goes for cans .
My husband and I discovered many years ago that you can freeze beer in cans, but not soft drinks.
We used to freeze canned beer and put it in cooler chests along with frozen food when we went camping for several days.
However, thaw the beer before you open the can. To be on the safe side, point the can away from you when you open it.
And definitely do not store your bottled beer between the inner and outer doors to the balcony on a night the temperature drops 15°. Not unless you have a use for brown slush.
We used to freeze canned beer and put it in cooler chests along with frozen food when we went camping for several days.
I've never frozen beer, but one of the very few helpful hints I ever received from my father was if you're buying meat on a hot summer day, also pick up some cold beer. (There was a liquor store -- the only place that sold beer in those days -- right next door to the butcher shop.) You'll need the beer anyway, and it will keep the meat cold until you get home. (He told me this several years before I was of the legal age to buy beer, but I stored it away for future use.)
The weather has cooled down here too, which I’m very happy about. Today is humid, but the temperature is only 23, so I am feeling much better than I did when it was 28.
It was a little cooler here today too: we met up with some of the choir for supper and afterwards I had another amble across the bridge and back, by which timw it was about 20°, so really quite comfortable.
If I was an archaeologist at the present time, I would be trying to recruit as many people with drones as possible and get them to do line passes over as much of the UK as possible taking photographs straight down. Then persuade some owner of a big machine to loan it to you while you stitch them all together. You could produce the most comprehensive and detailed image of those markings for the UK ever.
Didn't similar things happen during the Long Hot Summer Of 1976? Technology has advanced exponentially since then, of course, so Jengie Jon's suggestion is a Good Idea.
I spent some time in The Netherlands during the summer of' '76, and one abiding memory of that well-regulated country (thanks to the Rijkswaterstaat*) is the fact that they still had green grass, whereas the UK resembled the back end of the Gobi desert (or somewhere equally barren).
I blame Tr**p - he not only obstructs our skies, but steals our weather.
We don't really have an equivalent set-up here. That's not a criticism of the UK - the situation in The Netherlands is different, what with the country being so low-lying, and all.
There was a time (round about 1989/1990) when there was a strong possibility of my going to live in The Netherlands, at least for a while.
It has its attractions - GIN (jenever - especially oude jenever, that is to say, old GIN, preferably served in a frozen glass), apple PIE, CHEESE (proper Dutch CHEESE is much tastier than the soapy stuff you get in UK shops, IMHO anyway), strong COFFEE, lots of TRAMS (at least in the major cities), GIN (O sorry - mentioned that already)......you get the picture.
Add to that a public transport system that works, lots of churches with wonderful Organs (and Organ recitals), neat little houses, busy canals and rivers, a generally liberal and inclusive ethos (apart from Geert Wilders - the Man With Mad Hair), a language which is one of the easier European tongues for an Engelsman to pick up ....
If any Dutch Shipmates are listening in, please feel free to comment! Them as wot lives in a place may have different opinions to them as wot doesn't.
A few years ago I turned a work conference in the Netherlands into a holiday staying extra days in Middelburg (which reminds me a little of Whitby) and then going to Rotterdam for 5 days. A Dutch colleague couldn't figure out why I'd go to Rotterdam but it's not only a good base for train/tram travel to other parts (Delft and The Hague in my case) but a striking destination in it's own right. Having had the crap bombed out of it in WWII the city decided to use it as an opportunity to create interesting and cutting edge buildings and communal space, not just concrete it over.
The whole holiday was a stand out for food and art galleries/museums and I'd happily go back.
O yes, indeed - I've stayed in Middelburg, and it is indeed a delightful town. I recall breakfast in a modest hotel, overlooking one of the main waterways into the country, with the morning rush-hour outside consisting of hundreds of bicycles, overshadowed by an immense cargo steamer passing through...
Rotterdam is a good base for travel, as you say, but it certainly has its own appeal, as do other Dutch towns rebuilt after WW2.
The Netherlands do FOOD and Art Galleries rather well, IMHO.
Ahem. This is the British thread, you know - but it is indeed true that The Netherlands is (are?) a country where Brits/Britophiles can feel comfortable, as well as well-fed.
Mind you, the same could be said of many other countries.....Austria springs to mind...I spent a couple of weeks in 1986 commuting each morning into the delightful city of Innsbruck (on one of which I attended a Mass in exactly the sort of Baroque church setting for which that estimable young Mr. Mozart intended it).
I remember a touching incident. We were visiting the Netherlands and Mr F broke a tooth. We were directed to a local dentist, but the receptionist was doubtful if they could fit us in. A woman stood up: ‘I remember the war. We thought no one would come for us, and the British did. Give him my appointment’.
While buying some items for lunch in Amsterdam, the clerk asked where we from - when we said Canada, the young mother in the line behind us paid for our food and drinks. It was completely unexpected - all involved were too young to have been in the war - and on our part undeserved, yet so very touching.
I have a Facebook friend who's originally from Northern Ireland, but lives in Holland, and the other day, when I replied to a post she'd written, I was surprised at how easily I could make sense of some of the Dutch replies, considering I don't speak a word of it. I did German for five years at school, which may have helped, but it was nearly 40 years ago!
We had an interesting concert in the Cathedral today by a group called Combo a la Carte (fiddle, cello, harp and piano) who did quite a variety of music, from Shostakovich to Abba and Waltzing Matilda to Moon River.
Oh, and in keeping with the last few posts, the fiddle player was Dutch.
* adds all these cities in The Netherlands to places I must visit *
(only spent a few days in Amsterdam once; I was riding a bike on a tour and someone came up behind me and shouted, "I'll get you my pretty...and your little dog too!" )
Just catching up on several days posts here - Boogie, Spencer is a real cutie, and if you have got him posing like that then he has got the hang of fish cubes already! (Tangent - do you make them, but them or what???)
It was cooler but has got hotter, much to my disgust and personal comfort. I find it all too much and think I must be one of those vulnerable old people that we are asked to look out for!!! Neighbours one side away, on the other he is a hermit.
The grey dull weather on Wednesday and Thursday was a snare and a delusion, getting my hopes up that we might have lower UV levels over the weekend, but no such luck. I got out to do outside chores by 11am and am now in to do inside things, whether I like it or not.
No Folk by the Oak for me tomorrow at this rate, which is pissing me off mightily. At least I haven't bought tickets, having left it until I saw what the weather was like.
So sorry you’re missing Folk By the Oak, Curiosity. We’re not going to make it this year either. Maybe next year. I’m also toying with the idea of FolkEast this year - I’ve never been though friends have, and describe it as weird but fun.
In other news, I did get my act together and took children B&C to Trafalgar Square yesterday for the end of the anti-Trump march. Sadly no photos of me (sorry, Pigwidgeon) but the sequins were worn, and much glitter by all 3 of us. There was actually a sign saying “Less guns, more glitter” so clearly we weren’t alone in our outlook!
Well done, Jt9 and B+C. I doubt if the Big Toddler noticed anything, but that's not the point, ISTM.
Protests were made, and Glitter (and subversive T-shirts) worn!
Today's continuing hot weather brought a few folk to Our Place's Summer Fair, where cream teas and fruit punch were greedily consumed. I think the fruit punch may have contained GIN...
I hear that water falling from the sky may possibly happen on Monday!
FolkEast sounds amazing and is another festival I want to do, but not this year. Not so keen on Cambridge this year, so am not upset I can't go, but Shrewsbury and FolkEast both look good.
@Bishops Finger Yeah, water is forecast to fall from the sky on Monday - I just want it to do so a day earlier.
I know I'm sulking, I'm also sulking because I'm putting some very fiddly paperwork together for w*rk, which I volunteered to do, so I had something constructive to do. It's now got to the point that it would be quicker to have built it as a database rather than the 20 pages of spreadsheet that needs updating and sorting out from the mess my successor made of it, along with everything else. (I left it sorted out and would have updated it as I went along, rather than trying to sort out 6 months plus work altogether - I now have no conscience in naming and shaming my successor as the reason there are gaps. )
Comments
IJ
It's still v. hot and rather sticky here: 29° but feeling like 35, but at least the Heat Warning and Air Quality Watch* have now ended. They've been replaced by a Severe Thunderstorm Watch - we heard a rumble or two at lunchtime. You could never accuse our weather of being boring ...
Despite it being over 30° yesterday evening, I had a walk across the bridge and back, and really rather enjoyed it - there was just a sniff of a breeze, which was nicely on my face on my way back.
* Smoke from forest fires in Quebec was blowing down towards us, but appears to have gone away.
Excellent, Boogie. Fingers crossed for A Very Good Boy.
Hope new puppy learns quickly, Boogie, and is a joy to have!
Went out to try and tidy the garden last night, when it was fractionally cooler. Found that most stuff was crispy and just came away in my hands! All dead! Including the weeds
But I'm a bit worried about my lovely Rosa Glauca which is looking brown at the edges and very unhappy. Hopefully the roots will be safe and Spring Back next year if I cut it back.
Yes, I have a stick, for indoors and out, and it is indeed useful in crowds. I'm afraid I play that card for all it's worth, though I hope it's only for the time being, until my muscles decide to behave.
Re crispy plants - O Woe! And Lack-a-day! The lovely wild pink flower in the church garden has gone all crispy, too - but I guess it'll survive Until The Rains Come Again. I might try trimming it back a bit...
IJ
I am reminded of that scripture about how Elijah was a man like us
Clearly you need to say your prayers like an OT prophet.
PS it's cooled down here. This is a good thing because it means baby en rouge can wear his very cute dungarees
He arrived at 12:30pm yesterday and had about an hour to get his bearings before the two big dogs came home from their walk with Mr Boogs.
He was starving and only allowed re-hydration gravy until 3pm - a long wait!
When two big dogs came home Tatze was beside herself with excitement and Keir was woofing, so Spencer was rather overfaced by it all. But he soon found his feet and was confidently trotting round them, ‘tho he didn’t play much - I’m sure he was tired after a very long journey from Leamington. He loved his meal and was looking for more the rest of the afternoon! He made up for his lack of play yesterday by hoolying like a good-un with the big dogs today.
He’s sooooo tiny compared to Keir!
Tatze, Spencer and Keir.
Here you go - furry pillows are the best pillows.
Thanks for the pics, though...what a bonny wee feller he is.
LVER - I trust bebe's dungarees are suitably red ?
Meanwhile, I shall go outside, array myself as per an OT Prophet, and call down RAIN upon the earth, in opposition to the Prophets of Baal etc. etc., who clearly are in Unholy League with the Powers Of Sun-Shine.
IJ
Fish cubes!
They’ll do anything for a fish cube
Well, I never....
The Beauty Of The Ship is that one learns summink new every day!
IJ
It's a lovely day here: 26° with no humidex! We took a wee jaunt out into the country to a little roadside caff that we rather like for a cup of coffee/tea and a piece of PIE (their speciality).
I think D. got the better deal: he had a very nice piece of rhubarb PIE, and I had a piece of chocolate cheesecake, which was OK, but I think I could have made a better choice.
IJ
It is a bit cooler today and I have been dashing about like a mad thing so am sitting down with a cup of TEA - hoorah for it being cool enough to drink TEA at 5pm!
One of the things I bought whilst dashing about like a mad thing was a sequinned top and some glitter body paint. If I get my act together and we make it to the Trump protest tomorrow, I’ll be super spangly.
We need to see pictures!
I have actually been drinking hot black tea the whole time it was very hot - I find it refreshing. Today I picked some wild raspberries from my garden, and I am drinking black tea with raspberries in it.
Yesterday I did something I learnt from youtube - put a bottle of fizzy drink in the freezer for three hours and then take it out and pour it into a cup. It pours out as a slushy, and is very refreshing.
My husband took me out for a bike ride last night. He is very worried about me on roads on my bike becuase of my hearing but the route we took was mainly cycle paths or off road and off course the England match meant there was very little traffic out there. I really enjoyed it, maybe I'll try and get into biking again.
I'm enjoying the slightly cooler weather and the fact we might get rain tonoght or tomorrow. It rained at Wimbledon, which is about four miles away, but not here last week so we are due some.
It’s the little things which make the difference when puppy raising. A big, sensible dog at home to show them the way and entertain them (I train, Tatze entertains). Having ‘areas’ to separate the dogs when needed. A well stocked and to-hand pile of puppy pads, cut in quarters for mopping up accidents. Poo bags in every pocket. Toys on every surface to put in the crocapup mouth. Everything chewable out of reach. A good routine for bed times, meal times, mornings etc etc
Much, much easier than raising children. Dogs want to please you, children want to please themselves.
Another cute photo.
Spencer will miss his fluffy pillow! (More importantly, you'll miss a lovely dog in whom you've invested so much care and love.)
Cooler here too. Yesterday grey morning, sunny afternoon. Today it's taken much longer for the clouds to clear. Apparently we are due rain the beginning of next week - what I really want it to do is cloud up on Sunday so it's not so sunny.
Just be very careful and don’t forget that it is in the freezer. Otherwise you may end up cleaning freezer of a horrid sticky mess. Same goes for cans .
My husband and I discovered many years ago that you can freeze beer in cans, but not soft drinks.
We used to freeze canned beer and put it in cooler chests along with frozen food when we went camping for several days.
However, thaw the beer before you open the can. To be on the safe side, point the can away from you when you open it.
I think you’re supposed to shake it before you put it in the freezer, and I forgot to do that. I’ve done it before and it opened more easily.
UK heatwave reveals long-hidden archaeological sites buried underground
I spent some time in The Netherlands during the summer of' '76, and one abiding memory of that well-regulated country (thanks to the Rijkswaterstaat*) is the fact that they still had green grass, whereas the UK resembled the back end of the Gobi desert (or somewhere equally barren).
I blame Tr**p - he not only obstructs our skies, but steals our weather.
IJ
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijkswaterstaat
We don't really have an equivalent set-up here. That's not a criticism of the UK - the situation in The Netherlands is different, what with the country being so low-lying, and all.
There was a time (round about 1989/1990) when there was a strong possibility of my going to live in The Netherlands, at least for a while.
It has its attractions - GIN (jenever - especially oude jenever, that is to say, old GIN, preferably served in a frozen glass), apple PIE, CHEESE (proper Dutch CHEESE is much tastier than the soapy stuff you get in UK shops, IMHO anyway), strong COFFEE, lots of TRAMS (at least in the major cities), GIN (O sorry - mentioned that already)......you get the picture.
Add to that a public transport system that works, lots of churches with wonderful Organs (and Organ recitals), neat little houses, busy canals and rivers, a generally liberal and inclusive ethos (apart from Geert Wilders - the Man With Mad Hair), a language which is one of the easier European tongues for an Engelsman to pick up ....
If any Dutch Shipmates are listening in, please feel free to comment! Them as wot lives in a place may have different opinions to them as wot doesn't.
IJ
A few years ago I turned a work conference in the Netherlands into a holiday staying extra days in Middelburg (which reminds me a little of Whitby) and then going to Rotterdam for 5 days. A Dutch colleague couldn't figure out why I'd go to Rotterdam but it's not only a good base for train/tram travel to other parts (Delft and The Hague in my case) but a striking destination in it's own right. Having had the crap bombed out of it in WWII the city decided to use it as an opportunity to create interesting and cutting edge buildings and communal space, not just concrete it over.
The whole holiday was a stand out for food and art galleries/museums and I'd happily go back.
Rotterdam is a good base for travel, as you say, but it certainly has its own appeal, as do other Dutch towns rebuilt after WW2.
The Netherlands do FOOD and Art Galleries rather well, IMHO.
IJ
Mind you, the same could be said of many other countries.....Austria springs to mind...I spent a couple of weeks in 1986 commuting each morning into the delightful city of Innsbruck (on one of which I attended a Mass in exactly the sort of Baroque church setting for which that estimable young Mr. Mozart intended it).
IJ
Nice one.
IJ
We had an interesting concert in the Cathedral today by a group called Combo a la Carte (fiddle, cello, harp and piano) who did quite a variety of music, from Shostakovich to Abba and Waltzing Matilda to Moon River.
Oh, and in keeping with the last few posts, the fiddle player was Dutch.
(only spent a few days in Amsterdam once; I was riding a bike on a tour and someone came up behind me and shouted, "I'll get you my pretty...and your little dog too!"
It was cooler but has got hotter, much to my disgust and personal comfort. I find it all too much and think I must be one of those vulnerable old people that we are asked to look out for!!! Neighbours one side away, on the other he is a hermit.
Keep praying for rain, Elijah!!!
No Folk by the Oak for me tomorrow at this rate, which is pissing me off mightily. At least I haven't bought tickets, having left it until I saw what the weather was like.
In other news, I did get my act together and took children B&C to Trafalgar Square yesterday for the end of the anti-Trump march. Sadly no photos of me (sorry, Pigwidgeon) but the sequins were worn, and much glitter by all 3 of us. There was actually a sign saying “Less guns, more glitter” so clearly we weren’t alone in our outlook!
Protests were made, and Glitter (and subversive T-shirts) worn!
Today's continuing hot weather brought a few folk to Our Place's Summer Fair, where cream teas and fruit punch were greedily consumed. I think the fruit punch may have contained GIN...
I hear that water falling from the sky may possibly happen on Monday!
IJ
@Bishops Finger Yeah, water is forecast to fall from the sky on Monday - I just want it to do so a day earlier.
I know I'm sulking, I'm also sulking because I'm putting some very fiddly paperwork together for w*rk, which I volunteered to do, so I had something constructive to do. It's now got to the point that it would be quicker to have built it as a database rather than the 20 pages of spreadsheet that needs updating and sorting out from the mess my successor made of it, along with everything else. (I left it sorted out and would have updated it as I went along, rather than trying to sort out 6 months plus work altogether - I now have no conscience in naming and shaming my successor as the reason there are gaps.