Good morning everyone

 

At present it's a nice sunny day here but heavy showers are forecast for the afternoon.

They managed to finish the rendering next door yesterday. It still needs painting but that will be in a few days time once the rendering has dried. I think that will be done by the man who lives next door and the girl's father.

 

There's a company in New Zealand which sell rainbrellas

Good morning everyone. Dry here atm - edit, the sun has just appeared.

I bet you are glad the rendering is finished, El, it's a messy and noisy job.

I have council workmen repairing potholes in the road today, and boy is it noisy! I've had to shut all the windows and turn up the TV - and it is still very loud.

Dog sitting for Big H today, and he's back on Wednesday/Thursday for a sleepover.

An update on my blackbirds ( I know you are all waiting with baited breath). Both are still visiting every day and eat raisins on the window ledge outside the kitchen. The female is quite brave and comes down to eat before I move away, whilst the male waits until I go back indoors. However, a couple of days ago, I had left both the kitchen door and back door wide open, to allow Keira to sunbathe and wander in and out. I heard some chirping, looked up and there was the male blackbird on the mat, inside the kitchen! I think he got fed up waiting for his raisins. Neither of the chicks seem to be around but perhaps they go off to find their own territory?

 

Good morning everyone, we've had a bit of rain but I think it's mostly dry for the rest of today.  Lovely to hear about your blackbirds again Yogi, hope the potholing workmen (had a mental picture there of them disappearing down a cavernous hole ) won't be around long to bother you.

 

You can certainly see the difference in the trees round here with all the rain we've been having they are lush now.  I first noticed it coming down my drive yesterday under my 2 giant conifers, their branches have come down so low now they were brushing and pressing on my rainbrella and they are looking so green and so are all the trees on the opposite hillside, so one good outcome from all this blessed rain.

One of the 4 men who got gold for GB in the rowing on Saturday is Alex Gregory. As with all the other gold medallists Royal Mail has painted a post box in his home town gold. I'll have to keep an eye out for it next time I'm in Cheltenham.

 

Evie Chambers sat on a golden postbox in the High Street, Cheltenham, to mark Alex Gregory's Gold Medal at the London Olympics.

evening! Busy day late finish, crammed a kettlebell workout & still need to walk bramble Hope everyone had a good day

I wish I had half your energy, Summer.

 

Signing out for the night, catch up tomorrow.

I think for me, the trick is to just not stop..!

Sweet dreams yogi sleep well

Good morning everyone

 

Last evening when it was dusk I was drawing the curtains when I saw clouds in the east which were quite striking as they were caught by the sun setting in the west. To give you an idea of this, here's a photo I found which shows it (though substitute houses in place of the mountains),

The clouds for a few moments looked as if they were on fire.

 

Today, it's cloudy but dry, though rain is forecast to start in the next couple of hours and is likely to continue for the rest of the day.

 

Good morning all. Weather is dry and sunny. Forecast is good for the next few days, too. Great pic, El. Out and about today, will be back later

One of my clients hadn't been in touch with me to do her accounts and tax return. She's normally fairly prompt and I would have heard from her some weeks ago. So this morning at 9.43 I checked on the HMRC website to see if her tax return had been filed by someone else. It hadn't and was still shown as outstanding.

 

At 9.52 she rang me

 

Hi all, my brother and his daughter are in town so spending some time with them. 

Weather good , hope it lasts  

Good morning everyone, quite a miserable morning here.  Hope it's better where you are Skylark and that you really enjoy your time with your brother and your niece

 

EL I have noticed that your special powers seem to include being able to think of someone and immediately they telephone

 

Have a good day everyone I will try and pop back later.

Skylark, I hope you have a nice day with your brother and niece and that the showers stay away for you

 

Squiggle, I hope the weather cheers up later on for you - it's coming my way so I think it could be quite damp this afternoon. Early tomorrow morning fog is forecast for my area but should go once it gets lighter, still forecast to be damp tomorrow morning.

My psychic powers are a bit haphazard and I have little control over them

But on the Friday evening when the Olympics started I was at the church bingo evening. The prizes are incidental, we have the bingo to raise money, in this case for the Childrens Society. During the evening there is also a raffle. There's a total of about 22 prizes given out and there were about 70 peole there. The only one I felt drawn to at the start of the evening was a bowl of fruit. For most of the evening I got nowhere near getting a prize but when it came to the fruit I had a feeling that this was my turn to win. And I did win

By the way, I have yet to experience the thought that I would win the lottery jackpot and don't buy tickets, so don't rely on me for announcing that I've won millions

Afternoon Sunny here, it's been beautiful. Squiggle I hope your weather improves soon Another very busy morning, I'm just grabbing a little sit down

El- not yet, you may get that win the lottery feel sometime in the future

Maybe one day, just don't hold your breath

I think, like me, that EL might find it's a bit difficult to win the lottery when you don't enter 'You've got to be in it to win it' and I'm not

Lol yes it would be required wouldn't it I enter the Friday draw if I remember, it's been a few weeks now since I actually bought a ticket!

Oh- by the way.. Look who's had a fur trim! (stripped, not cut)

Well done, Summer,  I hope Bramble behaved herself and didn't squirm.

Bramble looks very pretty with her new hairdo Hope you are having a lovely time with your brother and niece, Skylark. Been out with hubby and eldest son today, had a nice lunch (tried to be good ) El, if you should ever get any psychic feelings regarding the lottery and don't want to put on a ticket, be sure to let us know which numbers you would have put on

I love lunching out, what kind of place did you eat at yogi?

Skylark, I too hope you're having a lovely time x

We ate at a restaurant which serves a bit of everything - steaks, fish, pasta dishes, curries, vegetarian etc. The food is always nice, but it was busy so the service was slower than usual.

Hi x
had a lovely day, wandered around and had a nice lunch (Chinese Buffet) Very busy in town with the festival starting, my brother was laughing saying that was nothing, i should see London (where my brother lives)!
I promised him and niece i would cook a steak pie for them them before they go visiting further up north . We do it here with puff pastry, apparently Londoners make it with shortcrust, and thats not right! (so he says) 
Lovely pics Summer! x
Hope you have all had a nice day 
 

Hi Skylark, glad you had a good day.

I agree with your brother about the puff pastry, I always use it to top my steak pies.

Aww just reading about your blackbirds Yogi 


 El, i didnt know in New Zealand they sell rainbrellas ! Strange you mentioning that too, my dad lived and worked there in the 60,s . We were talking about that today. You are definitely spooky!! 


Signing out, shattered, sweet  dreams all  

Goodnight Skylark, sleep well.

Off for a bath. If you are still around Summer, goodnight and sweet dreams.

Sweet dreams all Pardon me yogi, I popped out to pick up a cake from SIL's, and intended on being home long before I actually got here

Good morning everyone

 

Cloudy but expected to be dry here today.

 

News today that parrots are as smart as young children. Proof that I'm in my second childhood

 

lol good morning El, I don't think there's anything wrong with having a second childhood I'm aiming for 4 or 5 myself Dry, mild, cloudy here. It looks like its going to rain though. I'm finally at home at my own leisure on my day off so it's housework/lazing/Olympics for me today!

Summer, there are those who say I never got out of my first

Good morning everyone, drizzly again but brighter weather for a few days from tomorrow I think.

 

Glad you had good days out Skylark and Yogi.  I agree that puff pastry works well with steak pie and steak and kidney pie.  I used to do shortcrust pastry with my chicken and mushroom and chicken and ham pies which also works well.  And of course suet pastry for steak and kidney pudding a real winter warmer - gorgeous.

 

 

*looks at squiggle with hopeful eyes*

Good morning all. Weather is dry and sunny.

Summer, enjoy your day off and I hope you get time to relax.

Squiggle, your post made my mouth water. When my diet is over, I shall make a huge steak pie.

El, second childhoods can be even better than first ones - or so I'm told!

Workmen are still repairing the potholes in the road. At the rate they are working, it is likely to take them another week.

Yogi, at least they are repairing the pot holes. There are so many in Gloucesteshire that although the councils do work on them, they are years behind.

 

El, I should be grateful because the avenue was in a terrible state. We have a farm at the top of the road, so there are a lot of heavy vehicles use our road eg tractors, milk tankers, animal feed lorries etc, which damage the road surface and repairs were desperately needed.

However, there have been three workmen sitting on my wall for the last 30minutes, having a good old chinwag - and for the last two days, their lunch break started at 11.20am (they are late today) and didn't finish until 1.15pm. They are the slowest bunch of workers I have ever seen.

As I type, they have toddled off for their extra long lunchbreak!

I'll join you, as I live on my own now I don't get to do much of this type of cooking, I would adore any of the above especially steak and kidney pudding, steamed for hours so that the gravy is luscious and thick -