Today we went to Collioure, which is reputed as the most picturesque village in these parts. We lunched off some very tasty tapas, then wandered around the Napoleonic fort and went to the beach for a little bit. We returned with a few of the local specialities (anchovies, notably, and Banyuls vinegar). Later on husband en rouge is cooking some of the local fish.
I had a lovely and very long lunch with A (my boss's wife and one of my longest-standing friends), for part of which we were joined by her sister-in-law, and it was Most Couth.
It's been another lovely day, and allegedly is going up to 19° in the next couple of days! 😎
Have done the square root of diddly-squat since I came home, but now have to pootle over the road for a Vestry meeting. How many more years do I have to do this? 🙄
Apropos nothing at all, can anyone recommend a book on chess for a ten year old, bright but a little lazy. We want to drag a grandson back from electronic games.
Youngest grandson (5) loves reading and his school have started an after school book club. The children read the same book then do activities related to it. What an excellent idea!
In other news, I started a new Pilates class this afternoon which has exercised me well . I’ve been doing online classes through and since the pandemic so it was good to be there in person.
Maybe head to the library and see what they have in the way of chess books @sionisais.
Having thought I was on the mend, this morning I felt a bit rubbish again and didn't do much for most of the day, though I did manage a council meeting this evening.
Out town has the Knife Angel in the Market Place for a few weeks. It was amazing to look out of the window before the meeting and see how everyone was really engaging with the statue. It is a really powerful testament to the futility of knife crime.
Delighted to hear of Captain P's exemplary behaviour and his love of reading. Am I the only person who regards him as a sort of adopted Ship's Nephew? It sounds as though the rouge family are having a great time.
I hope you feel better soon @Sarasa , it's horrible when these things drag on - almost worse than feeling terrible for a few days and then getting consistently better.
Here in the Wilds of Wiltshire the sun is bright but the wind is bitter. I am off shortly to the weekly coffee morning at the village hall. After that we plan a trip to a furniture emporium in Nearby Town to see if we can move forward on some things we keep talking about getting but haven't done anything yet because we can't decide. I am also planning a Large Spend at the local garden centre but that won't be until next week.
Yesterday we made some progress with the sorting after I made a bit of a fuss about the log jams of boxes in various places. Mr Nen also earned a good number of brownie points with a neighbour by fixing her leaky sink (which involved a dash to ScrewFix for the necessary part).
So glad you seem to be settling in so well to your new house @nenya. I too need to visit a well known furniture store to investigate storage for my study. I'm fed up of things rolling around in drawers and want everything to be better organised.
I feel a bit better today, which is just as well as we're off for a few days with friends this afternoon. We stay in a very old farmhouse with paper thin walls. My husband was threatening not to take me when I was coughing so much yesterday. I'll probably not be around till Sunday, but I'll catch up with everyone's news then.
I was just getting grips with paperwork when my daughter turned up to do an hour’s seeding whilst we chatted. Struggling to get my brain back in gear now.
I have a rare free day, and another one tomorrow, now that I have rearranged my hygienist appointment, because of a very sore mouth. With a concert to sing in on Saturday it needs to recover, not be made even more uncomfortable.
Yet another glorious day here; socks have been abandoned and sandals applied. After a suitably lazy morning I ambled along to the Cancer Research shop with a few bits and pieces that I'd bought online but didn't fit, and couldn't be bothered faffing about sending back.
They had a set of rather nice, quite substantial wine glasses, and despite needing them like a hole in the head*, I bought them.
Cold meat and salads for supper again.
* I suppose one can never have too many wine glasses, but still ...
S, lovely lady from local salon, who's been cutting my hair for yonks, kindly paid a home visit to shear Mr F who was beginning to resemble Wild Man of the Woods.
Particularly kind, as I will not be putting business her way for the next few months.
Mr Nen looked like that for a while after the house move as we couldn't find the clippers; it got to the point where we met someone we know whose first comment to him was, "Your hair looks like it belongs to someone who's just moved house." The situation is now remedied and he looks much tidier.
Some years ago I finally managed to train him not to rely on me for haircuts and to go to a barber instead - they do a much better job and there's no mess to clear up. Then Covid happened and we had no choice and since then he has not even responded to my "Barbers do a much better job" hints. I am convenient and cheap. So to speak.
Cloudless blue skies over the Wilds of Wiltshire, Wash Ing on the line and WINE in the fridge for later.
Mr W tried to go back to the barbers (actually the unisex hairdresser we both went to before Covid), but found the whole appointment/booking app/parking thing much less convenient than just getting me to do it. He’s been doing my hair since Covid and it is better than most hairdressers, who tend to give me a little-old-lady cut or an odd bouffant blow-dried job. I will have to bite the bullet if I want to change the style, I think, but maybe Mr W would be able to carry on from there!
Yet another glorious day here, and Properly Warm (according to the Met Office it got up to 18°, but I'd say it felt warmer than that).
I ambled down to the station around midday, and thence to the Gyle shopping centre, where I met my sister* for lunch, a chinwag and retail therapy (I found a lovely red linen top to replace one that's getting a bit scruffy).
We parted company at M&S, and I felt as if I'd walked miles by the time I got to the tram stop, but it was such a lovely day I didn't really mind.
Much WINE has been quaffed this evening - we were online with friends and downed a whole bottle of white during that time, then of course we had to have something to wash the meal down with...
Hairdressers... I'll need to find one at some point, now that we've moved house, but I'll be trimming my own fringe in the meantime having learned to make a passable job of that during Covid (thank you, YouTube).
Warm here. I have spent several busy days writing tutorials, attending meetings, marking essays and I had an evening tutorial on Tuesday. Current essays are on family policy. I have also written my dissertation conclusion and just have the summarising paragraph left to do.
The excitement here today was the delivery of a pile of laminate flooring. Mr Heavenly intends to prepare the hall walls this weekend, paint the hall in the week and then lay laminate flooring to replace the carpet next weekend.
Eldest son and vegetarian boyfriend were supposed to be here this weekend (having cancelled last weekend) but couldn’t make it. Consequently, we have a house full of veggie meals. Tea was a spicy potato, broccoli, chickpea and paneer bake with yoghurt dressing. Followed by white wine.
Lovely day here. I got up at 6:30 and did all the things that needed doing. Now I'm eating breakfast and perusing the Ship. Then, to the garden for the rest of the day!
Just when I wanted to feel energetic for a busy day ahead, I was awake from 4.15 to 6.40am. I did manage to nap for 40 minutes after that.
Today is a big day for my local choral society as we join forces with two other choirs, orchestra and soloists to perform in Lincoln Cathedral. Home probably by 11.30 pm. We heard last night that there is a tractor event on our route this morning, plus the usual shopping and football traffic of course.
We have limited rehearsal time as the cathedral are installing a Canon Chancellor at Evensong.
A blue and gold Sun-Shiny day in Arkland the Dry, where the beasterly easterly wind has at last abated somewhat. 65F today, so They say, but the nights are still chilly...
BAKED SALMON with Chips is cooking in the Dragon, now reduced to a lower level of heat, and there is a helping of Mushy Peas to go in the popty-ping in due course.
Tea was a spicy potato, broccoli, chickpea and paneer bake with yoghurt dressing. Followed by white wine.
You drink wine after a meal rather than with it?
We have stir fry for tea because Saturday. Both white and red wine (in that order) will be consumed.
It's been a bit of a nothing-y day - too hot for me in the garden apart from to water the flagging plants and a dispiriting and profitless effort to sort some more boxes. I did, however, manage to tidy the airing cupboard. Things got thrown in there during the week of the move and I haven't got to it until today because there's always something else to sort.
Tomorrow we are going back to where we lived previously for Mr Nen to speak about his charity work and it's going to be a formal "Goodbye to Mr and Mrs Nen" as well so I hope I don't blubber. Then I'm seeing a friend for a catch up and Mr Nen wants to visit another furniture emporium nearby. So it's going to be an early start and a long day.
A wee bit cooler here today (only 12° according to the Met Office), but very pleasant all the same. After a post-lunch snoozette, the sun has come out, so I went for a little amble beside the loch, which was lovely.
Have now set some laundry going, so I won't have to do it tomorrow.
Really tired today for some reason but I have swum, shopped, dug out a small patch of invasive plants in the garden, and mowed and edged the lawn. I did have a bit of a siesta though!
A beautiful day here so spent some time in the garden. I’m handwashing the clothes till my washing machine is repaired next week and it all dried well on the line.
Lots of butterflies spotted on my walk, including 14 holly blues.
Younger daughter had us round for a barbecue as advance thanks for looking after youngest grandson (13 months) tomorrow. Very pleasant day, sunny but not hot and the garden is sheltered, perfect for littl’uns.
Tea was a spicy potato, broccoli, chickpea and paneer bake with yoghurt dressing. Followed by white wine.
You drink wine after a meal rather than with it?
Mr Heavenly seldom drinks wine unless it is a special occasion so we don’t often open a bottle to drink together. I might pour a glass when cooking or have one when I am relaxing afterwards; I don’t have any particular routine. That’s probably a good thing for a manic depressive as we are prone to addictive behaviour and I wouldn’t want to end up drinking every day.
I’m still recovering from yesterday but it was so worthwhile. The whole day in Lincoln went well. Not a perfect performance but an exciting one, putting across the drama of Elijah’s story. Our own MD conducted and was much appreciated by the other two choirs. I got home at midnight so I was pleased that I slept all night - and I did not wake up in time to go to church. My legs did not want to get out of bed this morning, but I needed to rehydrate and re-energise. At 11am I joined a couple of other singers at the Librarian’s home to rub out markings on copies which need to be returned by Tuesday.
At the next rehearsal on Wednesday we start on something completely different: songs from the shows for a flower festival concert in a month’s time, then Evensong in June, both in @Sarasa’s home town.
Tea was a spicy potato, broccoli, chickpea and paneer bake with yoghurt dressing. Followed by white wine.
You drink wine after a meal rather than with it?
We do. We eat our evening meal at about 7:00 p.m.. the wine is opened at about 8:00 p.m, after I have done all the clearing up and dishwasher filling.
We had a wonderful preacher at church today. He's 96, his voice is as clear as a bell and so is his mind. I told him he's the David Attenborough of preachers.
I gardened until about 3:00 p.m. and then it got too hot. So then I cleared out under the sink. Very satisfying - now it's done!
Our holiday has moved onto Sète. We got here a couple of days early, and have been scouting everything out. We have dipped our feet in the Mediterranean but the water's not warm enough for swimming.
The other members of the group (half blind, half sighted) turned up this afternoon.
I'm just back from a very interesting talk about Linlithgow in the Edwardian era, with accompanying pictures which had been brought to life with AI.
I'm usually rather dubious about some of the uses of AI, but this was absolutely delightful, with children playing, horse-drawn carriages going along the High Street and steam trains arriving at the station.
The sequence of pictures was accompanied by The Land of the Mountain and the Flood by Hamish McCunn, which suited it perfectly.
Tomorrow we are going back to where we lived previously for Mr Nen to speak about his charity work and it's going to be a formal "Goodbye to Mr and Mrs Nen" as well so I hope I don't blubber. Then I'm seeing a friend for a catch up and Mr Nen wants to visit another furniture emporium nearby. So it's going to be an early start and a long day.
It was an early start and a long day - but less emotional than I was anticipating. I did not blubber. I thought the visit to the furniture emporium was trying to fit too much in but we have ended up ordering a sofa we both really like for our family room area, and as they had it in stock we should have it within a fortnight. It was also a lot cheaper than the ones we're planning to buy for our lounge, so Mr Nen was happy .
I’m not familiar with the concept of needing to wash your food down (and I’m an ex-nurse). But if I wanted to have a drink while eating I would get a glass of tap water (or milk if it was an over spicy meal).
I'm back from my weekend away. The weather was really good and yesterday was a fabulous day with a good walk in the morning and a cream tea on the lawn in the afternoon and lots of chatting and general catching up with people in between. The not so good bit of yesterday was one of our number injuring his hand at breakfast time and having to go to A&E. He ended up being unable to drive, and as his wife doesn't drive we were working out how to get them home. In the end my husband drove them in their car from Sussex where we were staying to their home just off the M25 in Essex. He came back on public transport and someone picked him up from the station. He then had to drive us back home to the East Midlands. Its good that he actually really likes driving.
Glad your day wasn't too emotional @nenya, and you've found a sofa you like.
I'll probably be at the flower festival @puzzler, so see you there.
We now have a house of dust, with random drawers and shelves in the lounge and piles of coats and boots in the spare room. Mr Heavenly has prepped the hall walls (odd bits of sanding and filling). He had hoped to get the radiator off the wall and capped but the heating system wasn’t playing ball so he will have to paint around it. I’m hoping he will start painting tomorrow so we can get the flooring laid next weekend.
Mochi is unhappy that the hall runner is not there for her to roll on and everything is in the wrong place. She keeps complaining loudly at us.
Mr F suffering the last few days with cramps and diarrhoea. Spoke to the hospital this evening who said Come in. So that's him off in a taxi at gone 10 at night. Expect they'll keep him tonight - at least I hope so, as I rather think I'll go to bed now.
I hope Mr F is at least comfortable @firenze and they managed to sort out the problems. I hope you start to feel better soon. Losing weight is all well and good but not for the reasons its happening to you.
We were going out to check on the walk we are leading this Wednesday, but as well as our friend hurting his hand one of my husband's crowns fell out. He has nabbed an emergency appointment at the dentist but that means if we do go walking it'll be this afternoon. Unfortunately, the weather is lovely at the moment, but heavy rain is forecast this afternoon. We may just go and drive to the lunch stop to make sure that there are picnic tables.
Sunny, dusty, and dry again in Arkland the Sandy - but RAIN is forecast for overnight, which will lay the dust and cheer up the riverside foliage.
SHEPHERD'S PIE & Mushy Peas for lunch.
Meanwhile, apropos of nothing in particular, except maybe as an antidote to the general shite floating around the world, this appeared a few days ago on my YouTube feed. One commentator describes it as 'wonderful and precious', and FWIW I think they're right.
Context - a recording session (hence the informal attire) but this is a love duet sung by two singers who actually were in love at the time, and (AFAIK) are now engaged to be married:
Comments
Awesome! Of course, I blame the parents.
The Sun-Shine is welcome, though.
MEAT PUD n'ROAST SPUDS for tea.
It's been another lovely day, and allegedly is going up to 19° in the next couple of days! 😎
Have done the square root of diddly-squat since I came home, but now have to pootle over the road for a Vestry meeting. How many more years do I have to do this? 🙄
In other news, I started a new Pilates class this afternoon which has exercised me well . I’ve been doing online classes through and since the pandemic so it was good to be there in person.
Having thought I was on the mend, this morning I felt a bit rubbish again and didn't do much for most of the day, though I did manage a council meeting this evening.
Out town has the Knife Angel in the Market Place for a few weeks. It was amazing to look out of the window before the meeting and see how everyone was really engaging with the statue. It is a really powerful testament to the futility of knife crime.
Hope you feel stronger soon: it sounds like you’re ready and willing.
I hope you feel better soon @Sarasa , it's horrible when these things drag on - almost worse than feeling terrible for a few days and then getting consistently better.
Here in the Wilds of Wiltshire the sun is bright but the wind is bitter. I am off shortly to the weekly coffee morning at the village hall. After that we plan a trip to a furniture emporium in Nearby Town to see if we can move forward on some things we keep talking about getting but haven't done anything yet because we can't decide. I am also planning a Large Spend at the local garden centre but that won't be until next week.
Yesterday we made some progress with the sorting after I made a bit of a fuss about the log jams of boxes in various places. Mr Nen also earned a good number of brownie points with a neighbour by fixing her leaky sink (which involved a dash to ScrewFix for the necessary part).
I feel a bit better today, which is just as well as we're off for a few days with friends this afternoon. We stay in a very old farmhouse with paper thin walls. My husband was threatening not to take me when I was coughing so much yesterday. I'll probably not be around till Sunday, but I'll catch up with everyone's news then.
Wash Ing (in the form of Trowsers) is about to be put out.
(*H P Lovecraft's version of the Gobi Desert)
I have a rare free day, and another one tomorrow, now that I have rearranged my hygienist appointment, because of a very sore mouth. With a concert to sing in on Saturday it needs to recover, not be made even more uncomfortable.
They had a set of rather nice, quite substantial wine glasses, and despite needing them like a hole in the head*, I bought them.
Cold meat and salads for supper again.
* I suppose one can never have too many wine glasses, but still ...
Particularly kind, as I will not be putting business her way for the next few months.
Some years ago I finally managed to train him not to rely on me for haircuts and to go to a barber instead - they do a much better job and there's no mess to clear up. Then Covid happened and we had no choice and since then he has not even responded to my "Barbers do a much better job" hints. I am convenient and cheap. So to speak.
Cloudless blue skies over the Wilds of Wiltshire, Wash Ing on the line and WINE in the fridge for later.
Gentle hugs to you and Mr F, @Firenze .
I ambled down to the station around midday, and thence to the Gyle shopping centre, where I met my sister* for lunch, a chinwag and retail therapy (I found a lovely red linen top to replace one that's getting a bit scruffy).
We parted company at M&S, and I felt as if I'd walked miles by the time I got to the tram stop, but it was such a lovely day I didn't really mind.
* eventually - her bus was stupidly late.
Hairdressers... I'll need to find one at some point, now that we've moved house, but I'll be trimming my own fringe in the meantime having learned to make a passable job of that during Covid (thank you, YouTube).
Crawling into bed now.
The excitement here today was the delivery of a pile of laminate flooring. Mr Heavenly intends to prepare the hall walls this weekend, paint the hall in the week and then lay laminate flooring to replace the carpet next weekend.
Eldest son and vegetarian boyfriend were supposed to be here this weekend (having cancelled last weekend) but couldn’t make it. Consequently, we have a house full of veggie meals. Tea was a spicy potato, broccoli, chickpea and paneer bake with yoghurt dressing. Followed by white wine.
Today is a big day for my local choral society as we join forces with two other choirs, orchestra and soloists to perform in Lincoln Cathedral. Home probably by 11.30 pm. We heard last night that there is a tractor event on our route this morning, plus the usual shopping and football traffic of course.
We have limited rehearsal time as the cathedral are installing a Canon Chancellor at Evensong.
Hope it goes well.
BAKED SALMON with Chips is cooking in the Dragon, now reduced to a lower level of heat, and there is a helping of Mushy Peas to go in the popty-ping in due course.
We have stir fry for tea because Saturday. Both white and red wine (in that order) will be consumed.
It's been a bit of a nothing-y day - too hot for me in the garden apart from to water the flagging plants and a dispiriting and profitless effort to sort some more boxes. I did, however, manage to tidy the airing cupboard. Things got thrown in there during the week of the move and I haven't got to it until today because there's always something else to sort.
Tomorrow we are going back to where we lived previously for Mr Nen to speak about his charity work and it's going to be a formal "Goodbye to Mr and Mrs Nen" as well so I hope I don't blubber. Then I'm seeing a friend for a catch up and Mr Nen wants to visit another furniture emporium nearby. So it's going to be an early start and a long day.
Have now set some laundry going, so I won't have to do it tomorrow.
Supper will be prawn-and-veggie pasta.
Lots of butterflies spotted on my walk, including 14 holly blues.
I'm not sure how long it'll last, so I'll probably have supper beforehand (cold meat and salads again).
Weather still nice! ☀️
At the next rehearsal on Wednesday we start on something completely different: songs from the shows for a flower festival concert in a month’s time, then Evensong in June, both in @Sarasa’s home town.
We do. We eat our evening meal at about 7:00 p.m.. the wine is opened at about 8:00 p.m, after I have done all the clearing up and dishwasher filling.
We had a wonderful preacher at church today. He's 96, his voice is as clear as a bell and so is his mind. I told him he's the David Attenborough of preachers.
I gardened until about 3:00 p.m. and then it got too hot. So then I cleared out under the sink. Very satisfying - now it's done!
So now it's coffee, snack and Ship time. ☺️
The other members of the group (half blind, half sighted) turned up this afternoon.
I'm just back from a very interesting talk about Linlithgow in the Edwardian era, with accompanying pictures which had been brought to life with AI.
I'm usually rather dubious about some of the uses of AI, but this was absolutely delightful, with children playing, horse-drawn carriages going along the High Street and steam trains arriving at the station.
The sequence of pictures was accompanied by The Land of the Mountain and the Flood by Hamish McCunn, which suited it perfectly.
It was an early start and a long day - but less emotional than I was anticipating. I did not blubber. I thought the visit to the furniture emporium was trying to fit too much in but we have ended up ordering a sofa we both really like for our family room area, and as they had it in stock we should have it within a fortnight. It was also a lot cheaper than the ones we're planning to buy for our lounge, so Mr Nen was happy
Crawling into bed now.
Fizzy water 🙂
Glad your day wasn't too emotional @nenya, and you've found a sofa you like.
I'll probably be at the flower festival @puzzler, so see you there.
We now have a house of dust, with random drawers and shelves in the lounge and piles of coats and boots in the spare room. Mr Heavenly has prepped the hall walls (odd bits of sanding and filling). He had hoped to get the radiator off the wall and capped but the heating system wasn’t playing ball so he will have to paint around it. I’m hoping he will start painting tomorrow so we can get the flooring laid next weekend.
Mochi is unhappy that the hall runner is not there for her to roll on and everything is in the wrong place. She keeps complaining loudly at us.
We were going out to check on the walk we are leading this Wednesday, but as well as our friend hurting his hand one of my husband's crowns fell out. He has nabbed an emergency appointment at the dentist but that means if we do go walking it'll be this afternoon. Unfortunately, the weather is lovely at the moment, but heavy rain is forecast this afternoon. We may just go and drive to the lunch stop to make sure that there are picnic tables.
SHEPHERD'S PIE & Mushy Peas for lunch.
Meanwhile, apropos of nothing in particular, except maybe as an antidote to the general shite floating around the world, this appeared a few days ago on my YouTube feed. One commentator describes it as 'wonderful and precious', and FWIW I think they're right.
Context - a recording session (hence the informal attire) but this is a love duet sung by two singers who actually were in love at the time, and (AFAIK) are now engaged to be married:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP9V7_fevgQ&list=RDfwxDHXLmY4Y&index=2
I keep coming back to this, when feeling low. I wonder why - any thoughts?
(ETA - over three million views so far...)