Chitchat thread #24

[greenishfing]

Good morning.

It was dark when we returned home from the hearing aid office yesterday. Rush hour too. I took a slight diversion home to avoid the worst of the traffic heading for the M1. I was quite surprised at how many houses had lots of outdoor decorations. Some were really artistic.

When I was in the local Post Office last week a little old lady decided I'd be a good person to rant to about her neighbour who had put lots of decorations in his garden- an eyesore! I was in "contrary Mary" mood that day and I think I more or less convinced her how lucky she was to have a neighbour who cared about his garden and didn't use it for his scrap car collection and to cultivate weeds and have large dogs patrolling and barking.

I am waiting impatiently now for my cooker.....delivery slot 9am - 1pm. I'm sure a 20 year old me would never have believed I could be excited about a cooker!

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

No frost!…that was unexpected.
We filled up all our bird feeders yesterday in preparation for the cold snap and the bluetits, great tits and woodpecker have already started lining up to tuck in. Well, not the woodpecker - he seems to be in charge!
We need to order more peanuts. Since we moved here they have tripled in price. Almost £100 for 20kg fortunately we still have plenty of mixed seeds from last winter!
I need to make a mental note to grow more sunflowers next year for the birds.

Last night Hibou brought us a lovely piece of birch bark for our midnight snack - so sweetBetter that than a mouse or bird!

We have holly in the field next to our house. I wonder if it has lots of berries this year?

Enjoy your day peeps…..

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

I'm off to a local Christmas fair this morning they have really nice homemade cakes and tea, not sure what stalls they'll be having but its usually a good turnout.

Enjoy your day

[Jay22]

Morning, dry here for a change. Think it’s to be dry most of next week so may get into the garden for a clean up, it’s like a bog!! Everything looks so dirty at this time of year that’s why I like to see the. Christmas lights, brightens the place up a bit.
Coffee is on, welcome to join me. Have a great day everyone, hope your cooker comes soon GF!!! x

[Jay22]

Enjoy the fair Bren.
That is a very expensive bag of peanuts Nicos!!!!

[Nicos]

I’ve never seen bird peanuts for sale here Jay - we have to import them or buy over the internet

[bramble]

Good morni g all,
No Christmas decorations up here , I will do it next weekend,
My daughter, granddaughter and myself took the train to Belfast yesterday.
We had a lovely dy out at the Christms market,
We bought lots of goodies and gifts.
Domestics today.

GF ,I am sure you will get many years of enjoyment with your new cooker.

Rary and Snadge, good to see you both popping in.

Jay, I know what you mean about the garden looking messy, mine is the same.

Have a good day all.

[mothhawk]

Morning all.

Good to know Rary & Snadge are still about and keeping well.
Hope the cooker arrival and fitting goes smoothly, GF, looking forward to seeing what you make first!

No decs up here yet, but after vaccuuming this morning, I re-arranged the furniture ready for the tree when it comes down from the attic. Just need some get-up-and-go to get the stepladder out and manhandle all the boxes down. I really need to sift through all the decorations this year, and thin them down to only the ones that are used, instead of keeping them all, either from sentiment, or "just in case".

My next door neighbour covers the wall of his house with lots of lights and decorations of questionable taste, but he does have four children. In true "Anne of Green Gables" mode, I tell myself, I'm glad they are next door (where I can't really see them), better than across the road opposite where they'd be in my face

[Snoop Puss]

Afternoon all.

Pretty miserable day here, weatherwise. But otherwise good.

Hope you enjoy the fair, Bren. It's our village Olive Oil and Christmas Fair this weekend too, but we're going in tomorrow, as the weather should be a bit better (supposedly...).

Not sure what I'll be up to today. Staying indoors mostly, by the look of the weather. I might even read a book.

Out of interest, would the powdery style of chicken feed (not pellets) do for feeding small birds? I can get hold of that locally very readily and it's not that expensive, either. Ordinarily, I don't feed wild birds but I see they're struggling a bit as there are no seeds left on the weeds after the storm. I could make some suet or fat balls as well for the tits, though I haven't seen them since the storm. Hope they survived.

Anyway, have a great rest of the day, everyone.

[greenishfing]

My next door neighbour covers the wall of his house with lots of lights and decorations of questionable taste, but he does have four children. In true "Anne of Green Gables" mode, I tell myself, I'm glad they are next door (where I can't really see them), better than across the road opposite where they'd be in my face

I love the Anne of Green Gables reference. I always thought she was far too good to be true though.

I've been tracking my delivery van all morning and I've now got two workmen in my kitchen. Mr GF's latest idea is Yule log. There's only 2 of us most of the time so maybe a Yule twig........

I am now the proud owner of a gleaming new stainless steel cooker. It's certainly the nicest looking cooker I've ever owned. How long it stays looking so immaculate however is another story. I don't understand people who have wonderful looking kitchens and never use them.

The two men who delivered and fitted it were great. Time to have a browse through the recipe books next.

[Bren In Pots]

Afternoon

It was just a small fair in the community hall but still nice to look around.

Glad to hear your cookers arrive and you're happy with the service GF.
I love browsing cookery books there's plenty to borrow from the internet library.
Its just started raining here so the stoves lit and I'm on the sofa reading.

[Nicos]

Glad you are thrilled with your cooker gf…now it’s just a matter of getting to know it’s little quirks!

I would have thought from the number of people you share your cooking with on a regular basis, then a Yule tree could easily be consumed!

I’ve managed to put up half my Xmas decorations…OH is creating so much dust in the kitchen that it was going everywhere ( open plan)

I did manage to brave the chill earlier on and weeded a load of pots so I’m chuffed with that.

[Snoop Puss]

Congrats, GF. Happy cooking.

[bramble]

Good evening all
A very productive day as I decided to stay indoors.
Hoovering, cleaning and polishing, treehouse smells so fresh.
The decorations will go up next week.

GF, delighted you got your cooker, you must be so pleased.
Off to make dinner and read my book for the evening.

[greenishfing]

Mr GF's latest comment is a proper oven should cook a good Yorkshire pud. Just to pacify him I'll be experimenting tomorrow. I really hope that the first attempt does the trick and stops the "perpetual whinging".