Chicken roasting here as well. But a steady drizzle falling.
A quiet day in, getting a lot of crochet done. But, as I said elsewhere, motivated to start doing watercolours again. Rather than wait for some exciting subject to turn up, I'm wandering the house picking random objects. Once you start looking closely at something, and trying to work out how to translate it on to paper, everything becomes interesting.
I agree with the others, NEQ; a quiet word (or phone call/email) with the numpty, pointing out that your PVG is out of date, would be the best plan.
I suffered an outburst of goddessishness and cleaned the bathroom this afternoon, followed by cooking chicken with a creamy garlic and mushroom sauce and orzo for supper, and thereafter had a nice phone chat with a friend in Newfoundland - Facebook Messenger chat is a wonderful thing!
I suppose I ought to sort out the laundry before going to bed ...
I surprised my wife by buying tickets for the Cymanfa Ganu (community hymn-sing) at the Eisteddfod. It was a lovely evening wandering around the park in Pontypridd, with a wonderful atmosphere, and then to be in a crowd of 1500 (I guess) singing Welsh hymns - finishing with a rousing rendition of "Cwm Rhondda"! It was all in Welsh, so I could I only hum rather than sing properly; there was however simultaneous translation via headphones of the words and prayers in between. A good evening, rounded off by hearing the second half of a splendid set (in a different venue) by our favourite Welsh folk group "Calan".
Oh yes - it's true, tipsy Welshmen really do sing hymns, in harmony - as evidenced when we passed one of the bar tents on the way back to the car park!
The community sing sounds lovely, and rather like Beer and Hymns, my favourite thing at Greenbelt. After communion, 1 or 2 thousand people get themselves a beer and spend an hour belting out hymns.
9 am and already 19°C. I've taken out the bins and am having a quiet pant while Mr F makes the breakfast coffee.
I should do the garden, but the outstanding tasks really require a stepladder and some vigorous hacking. I did a bit of that a couple of days ago and it was painkillers at 1 am.
The community sing sounds lovely, and rather like Beer and Hymns, my favourite thing at Greenbelt. After communion, 1 or 2 thousand people get themselves a beer and spend an hour belting out hymns.
The Cymanfa Ganu is more "organised" than that with seating, an organ, a choir etc. - and no beer! (That was later, by the bar tent!)
No organ at Greenbelt, obviously, but we do have musical accompaniment and outbreaks of folk dancing at appropriate moments (Lord of the dance). It is a scheduled event held in the beer tent with lots of in jokes and we even have a drinking themed homily. Strangely, it was the only bit of lockdown Greenbelt that worked for me, and that was because we were singing along at home to a recording of a previous Beer and Hymns and when the screen flashed up our individual cameras we raised a glass to our friends. It felt like a community together despite our distance.
@la vie en rouge I once went to a Welsh funeral where one of the Scottish relatives of the deceased was heard to complain: "Call themselves Celts and they have a dry funeral!"
My birth mother (aka as Ma) was of Scottish/Irish ancestry, and so her funeral in Scotland in February 2005 was by no means a dry occasion. In fact, I don't think I've ever consumed quite so much in the way of single malts on one occasion...
Of course, drinking the WHISKY in the land of its birth meant that I suffered no ill effects whatsoever.
Nenlet2 is Mr Nen's whisky-drinking companion when he is home, as he was recently. Nenlet1 buys single malts for Mr Nen's birthdays and Father's Days and always tells the Helpful Man in the Whisky Shop that "My dad likes his whisky really peaty." Consequently, one evening during Nenlet2's visit, I heard the chink of whisky bottles and then Nenlet2 making various "Phew!!!" noises. I asked whether he'd tasted it and the answer was no - he'd only got as far as smelling it at that point .
I am not a great fan of whisky. I used to like gin, but it carries a terrible headache for me now. So bad that it's not worth it.
In other news, I have my real life book group this evening where I will be fed, so it's a no-cooking day for me: yay! Having said that, I am leaving Mr Nen with a plateful of Most Delicious Chicken Roast for his tea here, plus the remainder of the bottle of white wine from yesterday evening, so I am hoping the menu this evening is at least as delicious. This has happened before and once the book group menu was haggis which is far from my favourite so I spent the evening thinking about the plateful of roast lamb that Mr Nen was enjoying.
I have Wash Ing on the line but am keeping a close eye on the weather as for the first time in many days it Looks Like Rain.
I'm back from a lovely few days up north. Lots of interesting travel by train as well as visiting two places I don't know well. Definetely going back to explore some more, but maybe an AirBnB next time.
My husband and son like peaty malts too @Nenya. Not my thing at all, I'm more of a gin person when it comes to spirits.
If your gentlemen like their malts peaty, may I recommend Highland Park? Even if I may not, I'm going to anyway ...
West Lothian today achieved that rather unlikely meteorological pairing: muggy and windy. You'd think the wind would blow the mugginess away, wouldn't you?
I had another rather irksome day at work: the printer was still playing silly-buggers in the morning, and things were taking me twice as long as they should, which is Not What You Want when you've got an ever-increasing queue of things waiting to be done. I stopped in for about 45 minutes and got a fair bit done, but I've no doubt there'll be more in the morning ...
Don't get me wrong: I do love my job; it just sometimes comes in the form of a famine or a feast.
Talking of feasts, I stopped at the ICE CREAM shop on the way home, and I also have blackberries.
Supper was some ready-to-eat salmon with salads. Memo to self: resist the urge to buy a different brand of potato salad just because it's cheaper. It's also much less nice.
I’m not much of a whisky drinker but my choice would be a glass of Talisker or Laphroaig.
Not much done today, I’m in a bit of a limbo between tasks. Tea is a mix of things that need using up so burgers, sausages, red pepper and onion. We also have lots of blackberries and will be having them with yoghurt.
I've been on cooking duty for both houses since the twins came home, leaving the au pair to deal with laundry; I'd forgotten just how much washing two small beings can generate.
I think our neighbours have acquired just one infant - but that's three clothes lines of small sheets and nappies.
V warm and sunny here. The city papered with posters and billboards; weaving my way to the Health Centre through pop-up village of over-priced food stalls and beer gardens, swerving the flyers as I go. Still, better than riots.
Scottish weather in Arkland, Jewel of the South - windy and muggy...
Maybe it's the general mugginess that's making me feel rather tired and drained, even though there has not been a Pilates session today (because school holidays).
I shall shortly totter to the Fridge, to see what culinary delights I can rustle up for Lunch. I think it might be FISH n'CHIPS, because use-by day, but that's easy enough. 30 minutes in the Remoska! and then all is ready for a bit of salt and vinegar, and some tartare sauce.
I've been on cooking duty for both houses since the twins came home, leaving the au pair to deal with laundry; I'd forgotten just how much washing two small beings can generate.
Lovely that you are supporting them in that way @TheOrganist .
It's both hot and breezy here. We had rain in the night but not really enough to help the gardens much.
Chick frick for tea. I know it's not Wednesday but that's how the menu has fallen this week. I did have a very delicious meal at my book group last night, followed by warm rhubarb cake and creme fraiche which was also delightful.
Mm, I might do chick frick too as chicken is at the top of the pile and I have some cream to use up.
Overcast and almost drizzly today, though the sun is now out. I had an online meeting and have done a little writing. Family online games this evening.
This morning I went to visit my sister in her Home, and this afternoon Gardening has been done, mostly by my daughter, but I did mow the back lawn and trim some shrubs.
Daughter is fundraising for a charity in readiness for the Berlin Marathon next month, and has now done 3 x 2 hours gardening for me, baked cakes, run a weekly fitness class, hosted a book club event, and frequently delivers eggs from her hens and bunches of flowers from her garden and wild flower meadow to friends and neighbours. All that on top of running two holidays lets, one next door, the other 70 miles away.
I feel very idle in comparison.
Hello - is there a Greenbelt thread anywhere here. We are returning after a long break and wondered if there is a shipment planned - or are we all in the other place now?
No Greenbelt 2024 thread as far as I'm aware @geroff . You could start one.
Overcast and wonderfully cool here this morning, with some very welcome rain. I stood outside in the garden for ages, to the bemusement of Mr Nen who inquired why I was out there just getting wet.
I'm just back from a very nice walk with the Ramblers. Its amazing what we discuss while ambling along.
The weather is overcast but warmer than I thought it would be.
Tonight my writing group has an extra meeting to try and knock our next project into shape. I really ought to go and think some more about what I'm actually doing.
No rain in Arkland the Arid, but some occasional Sun Shine through the Cotton Wool...
⛅
A small amount of Paint Ing has been done, but O woe! how tiring even a few minutes' worth seems to be these days. The remainder of the afternoon will be given over to Lunch, restage, and snoozage.
Again, mostly sunny but a wee bit breezy here, and a little cooler (which is No Bad Thing).
Work was a bit of a bollocks today; the same bloke from the printer-mending people who had actually made things worse last week came back, and although he eventually seems to have Got Things Working (crosses trotters and anything else crossable), he used up an hour of my time which I could ill afford, and then (after he'd gone, obvs), a different cock-up happened: the caps lock froze "on", and I was only able to get it to go off by making a new blank document into which I typed lower-case gobbledygook and then went back into what I'd been doing.
There was some rather bad language deployed, much of it of an Anglo-Saxon derivation ...
By the time I was leaving (around 5:30) I couldn't be bothered cooking, so the Bamboo Inn it was (and very nice too).
The rouge family is onto the next stage of our grand tour. Yesterday evening we flew to Munich, and after an enormous German breakfast, spent a couple of hours wandering about this morning. A very nice place, which we need to come back to sometime.
After that we got on our train for the Tyrol. There was a bit of harassment, when the one we were meant to get at Innsbruck turned out to be running two and a half hours late. Fortunately the nice lady in the information centre found us an alternative and quite picturesque route via some random little Austrian villages followed by a bus. Then we lugged a couple of suitcases up the mountain that both weigh as much as Captain Pyjamas and now we're happily installed for the week, far away from the heat, the mosquitoes and the Olympic games.
A German hotel breakfast involves charcuterie, cheese and SAUSAGES. Also interesting bread, fruit, muesli and pastries. Walk off with a couple of bananas, and you don't need anything else until the evening. Just the thing when you're spending the middle of the day on a train.
Hope you feel better soon @Baptist Trainfan , When I had it I quite enjoyed not being able to go out and do things. Hope you continue to feel okish.
I'm just back from my volunteer bookshop shift. An nice afternoon of sorting through books, Froggy's Little Brother for instance.
I should be reading up on Karl Marx ahead of my philosophy group tomorrow, but I can't say I have a great deal of enthusiasm for the topic.
I decided to make myself keep my Thursday day off, and didn’t check into work. Coffee with the yoga ladies this morning (no yoga over the summer) and a quiet afternoon reading.
For tea I made chicken and purple cauliflower korma.
Poor you BT - hope you don't get it too badly, and get better very soon. Try and put as many zzz in the sleep bank as you can; I'm still finding myself feeling more tired than I'd like to be, two months later!
Work was much less of a scutter today: I even had time to do an online cyber-security training thingy that I'd missed when I was on holiday and update the admin log. Then got soaked on the way home, but mustered up the energy to make a paella for supper (with plenty leftovers), before going to get some much-needed facial waxing.
Hope you continue to not feel too bad, @Baptist Trainfan . There is, as the saying goes, A Lot Of It About. I've a couple of friends who came back from New Wine with it. I guess lots of singing in a Big Top is a classic super-spreader event.
I've had a nice day and am not long back from my meditation group which is a real anchor in my week. Tomorrow Mr Nen and I are heading out early for lunch with friends. These friends are some of Mr Nen's car friends and as I've had to cancel my usual Friday arrangements I am Not Best Pleased. The upside is that we'll be getting lunch out so it'll be a No Cooking Day for Nen.
Comments
Liking someone doesn't stop them being a numpty. I have several such in my acquaintance.
Roast chicken is close to being served up at Casa Nen. It's Turned Out Nice Again this evening so I think we'll be eating outside.
A quiet day in, getting a lot of crochet done. But, as I said elsewhere, motivated to start doing watercolours again. Rather than wait for some exciting subject to turn up, I'm wandering the house picking random objects. Once you start looking closely at something, and trying to work out how to translate it on to paper, everything becomes interesting.
I suffered an outburst of goddessishness and cleaned the bathroom this afternoon, followed by cooking chicken with a creamy garlic and mushroom sauce and orzo for supper, and thereafter had a nice phone chat with a friend in Newfoundland - Facebook Messenger chat is a wonderful thing!
I suppose I ought to sort out the laundry before going to bed ...
Oh yes - it's true, tipsy Welshmen really do sing hymns, in harmony - as evidenced when we passed one of the bar tents on the way back to the car park!
I should do the garden, but the outstanding tasks really require a stepladder and some vigorous hacking. I did a bit of that a couple of days ago and it was painkillers at 1 am.
Of course, drinking the WHISKY in the land of its birth meant that I suffered no ill effects whatsoever.
You may think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
I am not a great fan of whisky. I used to like gin, but it carries a terrible headache for me now. So bad that it's not worth it.
In other news, I have my real life book group this evening where I will be fed, so it's a no-cooking day for me: yay! Having said that, I am leaving Mr Nen with a plateful of Most Delicious Chicken Roast for his tea here, plus the remainder of the bottle of white wine from yesterday evening, so I am hoping the menu this evening is at least as delicious. This has happened before and once the book group menu was haggis which is far from my favourite
I have Wash Ing on the line but am keeping a close eye on the weather as for the first time in many days it Looks Like Rain.
My husband and son like peaty malts too @Nenya. Not my thing at all, I'm more of a gin person when it comes to spirits.
West Lothian today achieved that rather unlikely meteorological pairing: muggy and windy. You'd think the wind would blow the mugginess away, wouldn't you?
I had another rather irksome day at work: the printer was still playing silly-buggers in the morning, and things were taking me twice as long as they should, which is Not What You Want when you've got an ever-increasing queue of things waiting to be done. I stopped in for about 45 minutes and got a fair bit done, but I've no doubt there'll be more in the morning ...
Don't get me wrong: I do love my job; it just sometimes comes in the form of a famine or a feast.
Talking of feasts, I stopped at the ICE CREAM shop on the way home, and I also have blackberries.
Supper was some ready-to-eat salmon with salads. Memo to self: resist the urge to buy a different brand of potato salad just because it's cheaper. It's also much less nice.
Not much done today, I’m in a bit of a limbo between tasks. Tea is a mix of things that need using up so burgers, sausages, red pepper and onion. We also have lots of blackberries and will be having them with yoghurt.
V warm and sunny here. The city papered with posters and billboards; weaving my way to the Health Centre through pop-up village of over-priced food stalls and beer gardens, swerving the flyers as I go. Still, better than riots.
Maybe it's the general mugginess that's making me feel rather tired and drained, even though there has not been a Pilates session today (because school holidays).
I shall shortly totter to the Fridge, to see what culinary delights I can rustle up for Lunch. I think it might be FISH n'CHIPS, because use-by day, but that's easy enough. 30 minutes in the Remoska!
Lovely that you are supporting them in that way @TheOrganist .
It's both hot and breezy here. We had rain in the night but not really enough to help the gardens much.
Chick frick for tea. I know it's not Wednesday but that's how the menu has fallen this week. I did have a very delicious meal at my book group last night, followed by warm rhubarb cake and creme fraiche which was also delightful.
Overcast and almost drizzly today, though the sun is now out. I had an online meeting and have done a little writing. Family online games this evening.
Daughter is fundraising for a charity in readiness for the Berlin Marathon next month, and has now done 3 x 2 hours gardening for me, baked cakes, run a weekly fitness class, hosted a book club event, and frequently delivers eggs from her hens and bunches of flowers from her garden and wild flower meadow to friends and neighbours. All that on top of running two holidays lets, one next door, the other 70 miles away.
I feel very idle in comparison.
Still warm and mostly sunny, but much less muggy, with just a sniff of a breeze, and consequently much more pleasant.
Supper was most of the rest of the salady things, with cold ham and chicken (have finished the Not Very Good potato salad, and won't buy it again).
ICE CREAM to follow; sadly no more blackberries, as I ate them all.
Overcast and wonderfully cool here this morning, with some very welcome rain. I stood outside in the garden for ages, to the bemusement of Mr Nen who inquired why I was out there just getting wet.
The weather is overcast but warmer than I thought it would be.
Tonight my writing group has an extra meeting to try and knock our next project into shape. I really ought to go and think some more about what I'm actually doing.
⛅
A small amount of Paint Ing has been done, but O woe! how tiring even a few minutes' worth seems to be these days. The remainder of the afternoon will be given over to Lunch, restage, and snoozage.
Work was a bit of a bollocks today; the same bloke from the printer-mending people who had actually made things worse last week came back, and although he eventually seems to have Got Things Working (crosses trotters and anything else crossable), he used up an hour of my time which I could ill afford, and then (after he'd gone, obvs), a different cock-up happened: the caps lock froze "on", and I was only able to get it to go off by making a new blank document into which I typed lower-case gobbledygook and then went back into what I'd been doing.
There was some rather bad language deployed, much of it of an Anglo-Saxon derivation ...
By the time I was leaving (around 5:30) I couldn't be bothered cooking, so the Bamboo Inn it was (and very nice too).
After that we got on our train for the Tyrol. There was a bit of harassment, when the one we were meant to get at Innsbruck turned out to be running two and a half hours late. Fortunately the nice lady in the information centre found us an alternative and quite picturesque route via some random little Austrian villages followed by a bus. Then we lugged a couple of suitcases up the mountain that both weigh as much as Captain Pyjamas
I've had some good holidays in Tyrol (and other parts of Austria), but they were A Long Time Ago. I daresay the Air is still as fresh and bracing!
* beer, bread & sausage
🙏
Hope you're soon better...presumably, you're confined to barracks for the time being?
I'm just back from my volunteer bookshop shift. An nice afternoon of sorting through books, Froggy's Little Brother for instance.
I should be reading up on Karl Marx ahead of my philosophy group tomorrow, but I can't say I have a great deal of enthusiasm for the topic.
No cake due to it being a sin. 😂
Very annoying. Get well soon
Especially if you happen to be Pastor of a busy church - hopefully, there are lots of Helpful People to, umm, help...
I decided to make myself keep my Thursday day off, and didn’t check into work. Coffee with the yoga ladies this morning (no yoga over the summer) and a quiet afternoon reading.
For tea I made chicken and purple cauliflower korma.
Yes, Others will have to conduct Sunday worship. Of course some of most helpful are Away!
Work was much less of a scutter today: I even had time to do an online cyber-security training thingy that I'd missed when I was on holiday and update the admin log. Then got soaked on the way home, but mustered up the energy to make a paella for supper (with plenty leftovers), before going to get some much-needed facial waxing.
I've had a nice day and am not long back from my meditation group which is a real anchor in my week. Tomorrow Mr Nen and I are heading out early for lunch with friends. These friends are some of Mr Nen's car friends and as I've had to cancel my usual Friday arrangements I am Not Best Pleased. The upside is that we'll be getting lunch out so it'll be a No Cooking Day for Nen.