Trying to get to our group a message popped up saying that MFP was suffering from an influx of calls. Maybe everyone is getting fit during the pandemic, lol.

I'll get fit, or die in the attempt if I follow through on our local garbage men and their rules. Explanation, an enormous branch blew off the towns tree which sits across from my front window and on town property, and thus, being theirs I expected the garbage men to haul it away. Uh uh. They've very thoughtfully dragged it onto my front lawn, presumably for me to chop into small pieces which we are supposed to do with OUR tree branches. Just debating phoning their headquarters to borrow an axe. Being in my 80s I don't possess one.

Talking of trees my 10" high poinsettia from last Christmas is now over 3 ft and just as wide. Looking it up I have to place her in a dark cupboard for 14 hours for the next 8 weeks if I want the red "flowers", and then haul her out into strong light for the remaining 10 hours daily. I wonder what such a large bush would cost from the florist? When she was a scrawny 10 inches she cost me $5.

No Michael today because he had to go into work on his day off. However he's coming tomorrow and I've been told to forget cooking because he's made a surprise dish for our lunch which he's bringing over.

Oh and my grocery order which I ordered for 9 - 11 delivery was delivered at 7:15 AM. I was eating my porridge in my pyjamas when a cheerful West Indian dropped the order off including a Brita jug.

Ah, PATSY, I miss SAO [Salvation Army Organization] our Aussie stray puss born on an old sofa outside the store and his addiction to chewing cat mint. Those stories weren't half bad says she modestly, but we might have affected a few developing brains with them had they gotten published! Meanwhile, my grandson Derek is making pocket money selling games on the internet. I've given him a few ideas.

And I guess that's all folks. Still a few hours to get into mischief.

Anne and her indisposed woofer, Jilly the Beano.

Another mild, dry day that began with an enjoyable long walk. The car park was nearly full and I still wonder where all these people come from and why at this time of year. As we set off towards the stone Hurlers I could see a long, rather straggly line of hikers walking toward us from the right and quickly realised we would be colliding quite soon. George made me laugh because he stood very still as they passed in front of us then followed them a little way before stopping again to watch them disappear into the distance. A lady towards the back of their line called out that one of my dogs (George) seemed to have gone on strike so I pointed out he is more used to watching a line of sheep or ponies on the move than people. Betty and I then went on our way while George kept an eye on them.
On the way home I detoured to town for a few items of shopping then was just about to put my car away in the garage when Chrissie phoned to check if I would walk with her and Bella after lunch since I had offered a couple of days earlier. Bella is gaining more confidence each day and is at a point when Chrissie feels confident to take off the lead once we are in an enclosed field. It was lovely to see her finally able to race at high speed and on the whole, come to us if we called or whistled…. for a treat of course. At one point she slipped through a gate into the next field so I had to move quickly to follow her but thankfully she hadn’t gone far and came to me when I called her. I stayed for tea and ginger cake while Chrissie told me about her time living in Kenya before coming home only to find George was in the garden having slipped out through the cat flaps at some point. He was very pleased to see me as was Betty who had to endure time on her own once he had gone out. Patsy, Betty is fully housetrained thank goodness and will stand by the door and bark to let me know if she needs to go out or if I’m on the sofa watching tv, she parades back and forth in front of me with a look over her shoulder that says hey, look at me, I’m telling you something important!

Some grand teapots recently Lin with a Brown Betty thrown in.

Close to midnight so I must get ready for bed. Both pooches are fast asleep so won’t much like being woken up to go outside!

Jackie 🥰

It was another gloomy start with low clouds hanging over us so I didn’t rush out with George and Betty, in fact didn’t arrive at the usual car park on the moors until after 10 and that meant meeting a long line of dog walkers that I know. I did more talking than walking but it was an enjoyable hour and George behaved himself remaining sociable enough by his standards except when his groomer and her family drove into the car park, then he very quickly walked away and hid under a picnic table! Debbie Woof Woof and husband have taken in another foster for the charity that looks after pets while abused partners who find the courage to leave a violent relationship get settled in a new home. It’s a stunning long haired German Shepherd balled Bruno that was very excited to meet my pooches.

It’s going to get colder next week so I spent time cutting and splitting wood for kindling while my neighbour continued to fiddle with adjustments to his beer garden! 😁. I can’t imagine I will receive an invitation to join them for a glass of cheap beer and because I’ve never received an apology for his behaviour and tantrum would hope not to!

Sandy, I often find Amazon prices are more than other outlets so always shop around. A couple of weeks ago I saw a pair of slippers I liked so went straight to the manufacturer to check the price and although I had to wait for new stock it was worth the reduction. They arrived today so cosy feet again.
I feel our friendship is a mutual thing as you have taught me how tolerance and forgiveness go a long way to accepting situations beyond our control; never one of my strong points!

Are you working on painting projects in your dungeon Patsy? I know lockdowns put a stop to exhibiting but hope you still have other incentives to get those paintbrushes working.

Lin, rats are the bane of my life around the chicken run but the sachets of poison do keep the numbers down so I don’t often see signs inside the run and if a hole does appear it gets stuffed with the nastiest stuff!

I came close to buying a Christmas Poinsettia yesterday until I remembered what a disaster I had last year so will leave such plants to the care of the likes of our green fingered Anne!

Anne I would certainly make a phone call to the local authority that owns the land the wayward tree sits on. I’m sure you pay taxes that cover such costs but hopefully the refuse men already made a call to head office and told them about the branch.

I too remember our dear friend Buzz often Patsy and wonder what she would make of today’s world. She would certainly have many pearls of wisdom to impart.

Last night I sat through a ridiculously violent movie called London Is Down in which a constant run of gunfire, explosions and dead bodies falling at every turn had me laughing at its silliness. I should have switched off after the first 10 minutes! Tonight I will definitely be more discerning!

Take care everyone and stay safe. Crazy news about, whether it’s violent riots in Austria or a teenage vigilante shooting people in America so I’m so happy to live in the middle of nowhere.

Jackie 🥰

Hello! A sunny day and the temperature has risen to 50+ degrees F. Pretty good for November.

I have been sorting through sentiment stamps for Christmas. I just cannot decide what to put in the snowman cards. I was thinking of stamping a sentiment on a separate piece of cardstock and then adding a colored backing paper to it before finally adding it to the card. Then if I change my mind before using the cards, they will be more flexible. Or I could just wait until I want to use them and then stamp. While looking, I threw out some cards I made a few years ago. I was never going to use them. Good idea but they never worked out.

Sandy, I love Lisa’s hair! Gorgeous. Bryanna did a terrific job. I hope the repairman showed up and all is well.

Jackie, you have been so helpful and it is amazing how well Bella is doing now. Wow! And all the people in your area, all I can say is it must be a magnet for tourists. People are wanting to go somewhere. A couple of my friends are on a week + cruise right now and are stopping on the way home to do a day of sightseeing in Washington D.C. This is the second cruise in about a month for one of them. Germany and Austria are shutting things down again right?

Time to do my lunch dishes and get back to trying to make decision or two. 😄

Hello Anne and Patsy.

Be safe everyone.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

A Lenox teapot I believe.

Cold and sunny, George’s favourite weather, so we walked to the top of the moors and back. Fresh pot of coffee on the go while I make a plan for outdoor activities. Mucking out the hen house is top of the list. Also been looking through a catalogue that arrived with my new slippers and am very tempted to buy a pair of top right boots!


Not sure I’d fancy a cruise at the moment Lin unless everyone onboard, including the crew, had to pass stringent tests! I heard Austria will insist every person is vaccinated but I’m not sure how that works in a democratic society!

Patsy, I’m sure you and John are aware just how lucky Katie was that you chose her from that large litter and adjusted to her needs rather than the other way round. Not everyone would have patience and caring souls to understand her insecurities. I doubt George got to know his siblings or the finer aspects of socialising before being handed over to his first owners who obviously didn’t know what his needs were. Lucky me to have found him!

Hello and happy Sunday to Sandy and Anne. Coffee finished and already gone midday so must get on.
Jackie 🥰

Another Monday comes round and this one is sunny but very cold; definitely a porridge morning with spoonfuls of stewed plums and Skyr Yogurt which is made the Icelandic way. I set off to walk to the top of the moors but soon discovered why the sheep and large herd of ponies were sheltering on low ground when a freezing easterly wind hit me. Both pooches raced round and kept warm but I still decided to detour round a lower section and was pleased to get back to my car.

Plans today, once I’ve finished my coffee, are to clean the kitchen and shower room before lunch then try to cut the lawns that continued to grow in recent warm damp weather. The cold wind is doing a reasonable drying job.

Lin, I love your new slippers with their doggie design. They look lovely and cosy. My new pair is keeping my feet warm but I’m having to wear them in a bit as I normally buy a half size bigger but couldn’t find any I liked. The larger boots in the catalogue are tempting but I doubt I’d get much wear out of them whereas the smaller ones above could be used daily. The mustard colour jumps out so perhaps…! I used to own a mug on feet from the same set as your teapot but gave it away to a friend who admired it. Also bought my dad and stepmom a sugar bowl but it soon disappeared and I guessed got smashed by a certain lady who had a temper!
Never sick of your snowman cards that are adorable!

Sandy, I’m delighted with my new electric water heater that is tucked away in a corner of my new loo. Sounds as if your landlord keeps an eye on any problems you might have but I’m guessing he isn’t as speedy as your previous landlady. She was a star!
I was once driving home from a store with neighbour Louise in tow and did just as you have, catching a corner of the kerb, and received a look with raised eyebrows but not long after she did exactly the same with me as passenger so I had to give her a similar look but of course we laughed about it. A reminder to renew my driving license arrived last week so I have to answer a list of questions but thankfully my eyesight is 20/20 after cataracts were removed and I think I’m still mentally capable, far more than some crazy kids that drive dangerously around our narrow lanes!

Oh dear Patsy, I do hope you don’t have a long wait for the stove part. There’s nothing like a real fire to cosy the place up.
Have you woken refreshed after a good night’s sleep? Something woke me at 4 am this morning and after tossing about I got up and wandered in bare feet round the cottage sipping sparkling water. Finally went back to bed and the next thing I knew it was nearly 8am but a good reason for me to keep myself busy otherwise I’m sure I’d snooze mid afternoon.
Talking to a fellow dog walker yesterday we admitted our pooches have been a Godsend, more so than normal, with all the weird changes to our lives since the pandemic began. Before George arrived in my life I would have said it’s just a dog to anyone fussing theirs but goodness, they are most certainly family.

Where’s our Anne gone? Not locked out again surely although she does usually email to let us know she is alright. I’ve never managed to get back in through my iPhone and this morning was a struggle on my tablet so was about to change my password but then thought type a post first just in case!

Kitchen and shower room to be cleaned so I’m away.
Happy and safe Monday everyone.
Jackie 🥰

Oh golly gee! It is bitter cold , damp and dark! The wood stove will be inoperative until after thanksgiving. So the dining room will remain rather “casual” with tools and stove pipe parts stacked around the perimeter of the room. It has been the nature of my married life. Damon said he remembers growing up in a happy construction site.

John, armed with my list for thanksgiving dinner shopping, battled his way through the supermarket and Costco. Bless his heart! He bought way too much but I can share with Andrea. Our son can really cook great things but hates cooking for one. So he dashes into a deli or a Mexican restaurant for a fast meal. He only eats once a day to keep calories under control. He sips some nasty looking tea kind of thing or coffee in the morning. I never understand a bachelor lifestyle. I do believe they are like that comedian said, bachelors are like bears with furniture. So many women have made it clear they would marry him. Damon is nervous about commitment. He had a strange divorce.

The thing about a restless night is, it messes up my day. But if I can just take a small nap to get by, then sleep a bit longer the following night. Good plan but it often goes crazy.

Sandy: my problem with driving is that I am driven to look at the passing scene, I get very scared when those huge trucks pass me or I have to pas one of them. I don’t go fast and a lot of cars whiz by me. John says I drive like a rusty gate! Consequently he will never let me drive when he can do it instead. And I have poor judgement on parking. Parallel parking is often just beyond my capabilities.

Jackie: will you have house guests for the holidays? Now that your decorating is finishing up your wonderful new additions and improvements, it will be interesting to entertain. I would be very proud of your cottage. You have done a marvelous job. I remember back when you decided to add a sun room. What a project and it has been a lovely addition. Then the stairs and then the loo and then the new walls and your wood stove. All that and your painting the walls rather expertly. Very impressive and well done, my friend!

Lin: the snowman cards a delightful. With your choice of backgrounds and message, they really can be very personal along with that charming happy snowman! A creative a fun holiday craft. It would be fun just having all their smiling faces in various stages of completion sitting about your craft room.
Are you like me…I seem to involve every room in the house when involved in a project. Total chaos!

Anne: where are you dear girl? We worry about you among the construction efforts at your house. Exciting and yet impatiently wanting completion. Be careful, come back to us and tell us all ur news. We miss you terribly. The holidays are coming and you will need to get your amazing poinsettia out into a place of importance. She might serve as your Christmas tree. Some little paper chains and snowflakes as decor?

Another thanksgiving thought…I am very grateful the sneakers have, so far, survived the horrible pandemic. We have been careful and wore masks, kept social distance, got our shots and stayed home. Not easy when we have people we love and want to see.
Patsy☘️

Hello girls. I'll read everyones posts later because me and the pest have just woken up to minus one feeling like minus five and are consuming our porridge and chicken respectively.
I've been a-missing because of a hectic weekend of visitors, leaf raking etc plus a bit of a tummy upset.
Sunday arrived and I was so looking forward to Michaels arrival with his home cooked meal.
FORGET THAT! he turned up with a brown paper bag and his friend Sandy in tow. Nothing against Sandy [well not much, she's the one who gave poor little Cinders leash to her six year old grand daughter which ended up with little Cinders being run over and killed by a car]. Anyway, Michael was heart broken at the time, broke friendship with Sandy, and we ended up acquiring little Bean with Sandy and Mike going their separate ways. She ended up moving to another distant town and she bought little Amber a white curly haired small dog. They have resumed a platonic friendship but I was still quite surprised to see Sandy crawling out of the car.

The home cooked meal turned out to be fish and chips bought miles away in Sandys town so it was somewhat cold and greasy by the time it reached my humble abode. Warming up did little to save the congealed mess. Sandy is inclined to be bossy and tells me what I should do all the time so I wasn't surprised when she marched off to the basement stairs whilst Mike was walking Bean. "I want to see what Marks been up to" she announced as she disappeared down the stairwell. I followed because it is a disaster zone down there with loose planks and nails etc. and I didn't want her to get harmed even if she was starting to irritate me a bit and I've also been asked by Mark not to go in that area for those very reasons. We had no problems though with Sandy announcing she would like Mark to give her the kitchen cupboards once dismantled.

I unfortunately having a big mouth let it drop to Mark that Sandy had been in the basement without asking and he was pretty annoyed. Anyway the day passed with me being told how I should conduct myself and what I should do now that I'm long in the tooth and various other tid bits she had gleaned from Mike about my ex which I would rather have been in blissful ignorance of, lol.

Then, after they departed, my yeast infection kicked in, lots of bloating and pain etc which resulted in a sleepless night with me not in the mood to do much apart from becoming friends with the bathroom.

So dear girls, there you have it, a much lighter Annsie.

I do hope I haven't bored you all to tears. Life goes on and I'm back to my old pesky self doing exactly what I've always liked doing with no help from short tubby bossy females. Phew!

Back to my old sweet sensitive soul [lol] I send you all big hugs.
Anne and my normal sized dog who I was told would get fat as she nibbled on a treat!

Good morning, there is faint hope of a bit of sun. It has rained in the night so things are wet and cold here.


So happy you are back Anne. We missed you as you well know. And things sound remarkable busy and in process. I confess I would really not be inclined toward a friendship with that woman who wants to get her claws into Mike. She sounds like trouble. Mike is just being nice and she is being controlling and bossy. I hope you can carefully discuss this with Mike. Believe. Me! I discuss Damon’s girlfriends with him. In fact there is one now that I would like him to forget her phone number. We’ll see….I see trouble there.

Jackie: your Christmas sounds lovely. John would like it too. He is not inclined toward large noisy gatherings. I grew up with a huge multi-family gathering at Christmas. Too much food, too much alcohol, too many people, lots of music and dancing. This was Christmas every year until we moved too far away. My family got angry at me for moving away. My favorite brother actually yelled at me to come back home! Right now! He is gone now but he was the sweetest and most adorable little brother! He was the family favorite.

Anne: dear friend, so glad you are back. It does sound like you have had your hands full. I hope you are feeling better. I believe you could have a piece of my pumpkin pie. It is yeast free and no sugar. The sweetener is a little bit of maple syrup. Not much. Katie is the tubby girl. She runs around everywhere and has a thirty minute daily ball game but she is a piggy at heart. It is a problem with labs. And poodles as well. So she is true to her breed. She eats everything, both good and bad.

Checking on my pie….
Patsy☘️

Hello! I am spending a lot of time reading. Took a break to go to the library to pick up several holds. The library closes early tomorrow and my holds were going to expire. So all set, driving home and had to go through a construction zone. I have been doing this all year long. But this time some kind of concrete breaking up machine using water hit the road hard as I was driving by. OMG! At lest a third of my car was splashed with watery concrete slim. Horrible. Got home and started working. In about a half hour I had scrubbed and rubbed it away. What a messy job though. Didn’t want it to dry on the car and didn’t want to wait I a car wash line forever.

Sandy, best wishes at the dealership. No kindness as pertains to free services I would imagine. Are you feasting with the family on Thursday? My on sale soup was shipped from New Jersey but only made it as far as Chicago. No idea when it will surface again. Darn. And I hope Robby feels better.

Anne, thank heavens we heard from you! I am sorry for the encounter with that woman. I just really do not understand why your son inflicts her on you. Sorry, if I am being unfair.

Jackie, two years!?!?! I don’t know how you made it through all of that disruption. You are quite amazing! And all of your critters are so fortunate to have you looking after them.

I heard from a friend this afternoon. She finally revealed that her husband has had Covid for 6 days and she got sick yesterday. They both tested so it is not a maybe situation. She said they are both tired and achy. They haven’t tried to get any monoclonal antibiotics or anything. Just staying home, getting lots of rest and trying to stay hydrated. She didn’t elaborate their symptoms.

I hope they don’t get worse.

Well, back to my reading.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

I've taken a photo of the once scrawny poinsettia on my old iPad but don't know how to transport it to the laptop which I now use. Any suggestions? Maybe Michael can help me out on Friday.
Oh boy I think I've managed it, Anne.

Wow Anne, she’s amazing and looks so healthy… clever you! The best I could manage is my dad’s Christmas cactus that’s now flowering in spite of being scrawny.
You might not want to will the gorgeous Jilly Bean to me when I tell you what happened today. Chrissie phoned to ask if I would walk Bella because her cleaner is unwell so she thought she would attempt to vacuum and wash her own floors but wouldn’t manage a walk on top. I took Bella to the fields armed with treats and a squeaky toy and once we had walked halfway round let her off. She raced about and each time I felt she was going to far from me, squeaked the toy and she ran back. We did this for some time but then big mistake on my part when I threw the toy into the air for her to catch which she duly did but then ran hell for leather straight out of the field and by the time I got out to the road she was gone! I guessed she was running home and when a lady walked from that direction I asked if she’d seen Bella and thank goodness she had so I phoned Chrissie to warn her to look outside then rushed back. She immediately rang back to say Bella was already at the door and when I arrived we had a cup of tea while Bella lay on the floor destroying the toy! At least we know she will find her way home and it is a quiet area but cars do occasionally drive through so best not to let it happen again! Her she is looking serene before dashing home!


http://radio.garden/listen/liskeard-radio/Dqcyx0Of
Lin, Liskeard is my home town but they do play some pretty heavy music at times so my favourite is a National station called Mellow Magic or occasionally Classic FM. What an amazing website your friend found… I could play for hours!

http://radio.garden/listen/magic-fm/TyE6Nc5u

Sandy, I think we can all be blinded to red flags when meeting someone new. I did the same in my late 30’s and wasted too many years going nowhere until I finally ended it. I met him socially about 5 years ago and wondered why on earth I had been so besotted!

We had a long, long walk this morning and at one point I stopped for a while to watch flocks of Fieldfare birds arriving overhead from Scandinavia before landing amongst the bracken.


Incredible that they travelled so far to land in the same piece of bracken then after resting a short while, took off again and headed for wilder parts of the moors. As I walked on a single bird arrived, late for the party, and I worried it wouldn’t find its friends but when it realised they’d flown on it rushed off to catch up, much to my relief!
I returned home to find Robbie the smithy looking at an ancient wrought iron gate at the end of my footpath out to the garage that needs some TLC so he’s carried it off to his workshop. Fingers crossed it won’t cost a fortune!

Late for bed again and I have to be up early to go grocery shopping so will bid you all goodnight and stay safe.
Jackie 🥰

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND. Both sides actually. Any excuse for a fun day!

JACKIE, BELLA is turning out to be a very intelligent girl, but it must have given you an awful fright when she took off for home!

Interesting day yesterday in the written world, the theme being - moving on from relationships going nowhere and when I put the radio on this morning for early news it was all about domestic abuse in the home which is increasing at an alarming rate over here with the police getting two calls every hour from frightened women. We of course mentioned moving on and flourishing. I met my ex at the same age as Patsy and John but in our case far too young, so I am full of admiration for PATSY and JOHN. Even my cousin in Australia sent an email yesterday about how her charming husband of years ago rings her up regularly to tell her about his latest conquest! And then later when he's taken fright and dumped some poor lady. She said she is amazed her marriage lasted as long as mine, i.e. 20 odd years. Me as well!

But here we all are today wondering what on earth what was that all about, immersed as we are in hobbies and interesting pets, whilst our exes and following boyfriends are either pushing up daisies or tottering about discussing hernia trusses etc! So today lets raise our wine glasses to John who restores our faith in mankind. and by the way to Damon who is tackling a turkey and not bringing over congealed greasy fish and chips, lol.

No Mark today. He is off to buy insulation after finishing the support strips along the wall. Just in the stairwell and hall to help keep me and Beano warm. When he took the old stuff out it was extremely thin and pretty well useless so now we are wondering if the whole house is lined similarly. More exploring! AND I must tell you before I go, lots of complaints from house buyers in this country from people not using house inspectors because of the HOT housing market here and ending up with mainly leaky basements! Mikes poor friend Sandy I have now found out bought a house about four years ago with a host of problems. Mainly window replacement and electricity not connected properly so the lights flicker etc. She's on a generator now whilst the workmen try to find the faulty cable etc. I guess thats why she wanted to see what Mark was doing in my place! A silent apology sent, don't want to get her too excited, lol.

Have a wonderful day counting our blessings,
God bless from Anne.

Be good sweet maid and let those that will be clever,
Do noble deeds not dream them all day long,
And so make life and the vast forever,
One glad THANKSGIVING song.