Oh SANDY, good and bad news. Please dear friend stay safe. Of course we are worried about you! and the news on the radio just now wasn't at all optimistic with the new variant in Canada.
JACKIEs advice is so good, stay home, stay warm and cosy. and get tested if you get the sniffles. I'm sorry I was a little hard on your friend. This period of time has us all on edge and not quite ourselves.
So happy for your son and his bride to be, a bright spot in what is becoming a cheerless world.
There is good news because as Jackie says most people come through it all after suffering a very bad cold so with your vaccinations all should be well for you and yours. Virtual hugs sent from me to a very loving Grandma, mother, mother in law and friend.

Anne.

Hello everyone.

Sandy, I understand that this is a breakthrough case for Lisa. And thank heavens everyone, who is able, has been vaccinated. Even though it is mild, it is probably a very good thing to have everyone tested and to isolate for a few days. That way you are doing your best to keep from spreading it, albeit mild, any further. And I trust all will be fine for you and yours. Congrats on the wonderful news from your son. I hope they will have a happily ever after. They certainly did not rush into anything. Happy happy days ahead!

Anne, happy Monday to you. Any chance one of your family members could take a look at your iPad to see if it can be revived? I hope your weather is ok. I thought I saw a photo somewhere of snow on the ground in your area. Could have been just a photo but not recent.

Jackie, wow, I hope you can get more heat without tripping any breakers. Argh! The first floor in my house is a bit chilly all the time now although the thermostat says all is well. Upstairs is always more comfortable. Odd. I am wearing a shirt, a flannel shirt and a hooded sweatshirt. That is warmer.

Patsy, still visiting with Damon or has he headed out?

My iPad is running out of battery.

Back later perhaps.

Be safe everyone.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

Oooh, Christmas is coming as evidenced by this teapot, shared online today.

There weren’t many visitors to the moors this morning but then it was very cold. I let the pooches off lead before we left the car park which was a bad idea because there were just soooo many blades of grass for George to sniff after a weekend of doggy visits and Betty does tend to stay with him which is good. I found myself standing waiting for them to catch up several times. We walked quite a way once we got going but had to dodge a herd of cattle that constantly drifted then ponies with a couple of small colt that raced in circles but thankfully the dogs had the sense to stay out of their way.
At one point George lumbered on to a large boulder but Betty decided it was too high so posed instead!


Robbie the smithy arrived to check adjustments on the beautiful new gate he has forged so we chatted for a while before he returned to fire up and do the fiddly bits, then it was a quick lunch before I drove to a local general store for a few items including a pair of curtains for my dining room because I’m sure heat is being lost through the double glazed window. New homes generally go for triple these days! I will hang the curtain rail tomorrow. I’d only been home a few minutes when my friend Linda’s son the builder phoned to ask if he could pop round to look at my requirements for trellis/ fencing to hide the sight of next door’s patio and beer garden. He had a good look and will take advice about the height I’m allowed since the neighbouring garden is much higher, then do some calculations and let me know so that will be another job out of the way.
After all that it was time to light the fire and reheat bean casserole. Some has gone into the freezer but there’s still enough in the fridge for another meal.

Anne, did the expected snow arrive with the new variant? It’s wonderful that you already feel a difference now insulation has been installed. Just heard on the radio news that people snowed in at the highest pub in North Yorkshire see no sign of being rescued but I’m guessing once they run out of beer things will change!

Lin, I feel draughty breezes downstairs at times whereas the heat rises so it’s never cold upstairs but I do like a cosy bedroom when I get up. Hopefully more time to set up the heater tomorrow but meanwhile I wear a small vest and two tops, a knitted sweater over a roll neck. Cute teapot today. 🎅🏼

Oh dear Sandy, what’s with the political backlash over the Covid diagnosis i wonder? Never mind, I promise I won’t tell a soul! 😷. Hopefully none of you will feel bad and this time next week it will all be over. 😘

Is Damon still with Patsy and John? More leftovers!

I’ve finished my evening meal so will settle down to more of The Crown. I’ve watched Series 1 and halfway through series 2 so Phillip is home from his naughty 5 month world tour jaunt and Margaret just met Anthony Armstrong Jones. What a sad life she led!

Stay safe everyone. I’m amazed how many shoppers still don’t wear a mask when there’s nothing difficult involved.

Jackie 🥰

Marks here measuring the downstairs front bedroom which had the outer wall insulation and wall board removed.
Yes, I saw the pub up on the high moor was snowed in for three days. That happens regularly and I remember one Christmas it was snowed in for a week and a helicopter had to drop Christmas cheer for the stranded merry makers. That was a wonderful Christmas I bet. We used to go there with the boys when they were young because the old Roman paved road is up there as well, and Mike takes after me with a love of history.
Still feeling a bit homesick after my time with the television country vets.
Annsie.

You beat me to it PATSY! 0h DO watch All Creatures Great and Small. I'm watered down a bit but you will get a rough idea of what my family lot were like! Not the INs. They tended to be a bit posher than us peasants. But the peasants were the most fun and very down to earth. A spade was called a spade if you get my drift. If I'm reincarnated I'm going to be born again in North East Yorkshire, keep well clear of dark handsome aircraft engineers and stay PUT. AND keep my unfashionable northern accent!

I think I'm slowly getting over the shingles. It would help if I could stop Jilly Bean pulling my socks off and licking my ankles! which are very itchy and red. She means well I guess. Or I'm salty tasting.

Take care you lovely folk, Avoid shingles, virus's, handsome men and things that go bump in the night [apart from George, Betty and Brady!]
Annsie.

I enjoyed the first episode of All Creatures JACKIE. So far just as good as the first and I'm looking forward to the arrival of Diana Rig as Mrs Pumpfrey and her little dog, Tricki Woo. Her last appearance before she died is apparently her best. You had an aunt who lived in Thirsk!!!!!? Oh my, small world and we used to holiday in your PRESENT area. Our paths crossed but we never met as you left Canada when we arrived. I have James Herriots books and also a book of photographs of James Herriots Yorkshire. I think my favourite story was the one about the old lady who brought in her very sick budgie. Well he died, so they bought her an identical one to keep her company and pretended he was the original. A few days later she arrived at the office saying she didn't know what the vets had done to perform such a miracle on little Joey but he couldn't talk when she brought him in and now he could.
What a good job you didn't join your Aunt in Thirsk. I would be hammering on your window like Catherine Earnshaw's ghost yelling "let me in". lol. Remember my cousin Vals husband Roy Cook who died of the Corvid? Well, Captain Cook was a past relative of his. I think the connection was the great mans brother because the good captain had no children. Too late to ask him!

Our weather warms up tomorrow but more snow today.

Well must stop living in the past and wish everyone a good day today, particularly Sandy and Lin with her sinus's.

I gather the Corvid was an escaped lab experiment but of course the Chinese won't admit it. When will the world stop mucking around with nature!

Anne.

Crazy time! I can’t find all the rings, end knobs or brackets for the curtain pole so no curtains hung. I have looked in every feasible place so now to the ridiculous! The hen house was cleaned out though, then I brought my DIY kit and power tools up from my garden shed only to discover I don’t have the correct size screws for the heater brackets. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow after a coffee and cake trip out with Linda of the allotments.

Anne, I did have a good look round North Yorkshire when I returned as I considered settling there but having experienced Canadian winters, didn’t fancy putting up with more snow so Cornwall called! Yes, I think we have been the proverbial ships that pass in the night!

Sandy, it’s ok, the squelchy mud didn’t come over the top of the wellies I was wearing and at one point further on, I crossed a tiny stream because George decided to go that way, and washed most off so didn’t have to bring any home although one hand got muddy when I had to balance climbing the bank.
My fingers will be well and truly crossed for you Thursday when you test but the main thing is you remain feeling well. ❤️

A while ago I completed a diet questionnaire on the Covid App I contribute daily to about whether my diet changed during the pandemic and during August and September 2020 I was rated 11 when anything 12 upwards is considered excellent so I’m guessing it was the extra chocolate I found myself eating that let me down. Remember the Kit Kat’s? They are no more! 🙃

Kettle on then perhaps a couple more episodes of The Crown. I see The Bahamas has come out of the Commonwealth to become a Republic this week and our Queen wished them well and sent Charles there to smile graciously. How times they are a-changing!

Jackie 🥰

Not much to report on yesterdays activities. The snow melted and the folk next door disappeared. They got rid of Harrys log burning stove and now we are wondering if the heat didn't come on from his unused furnace. Meanwhile Mark and Mary Jo had a debate and decided not to patch the basement here and there but to go the whole hog and start again from scratch. So much ripping up of floorboards and tiles etc, and me feeling a bit better from the dreaded shingles joined them to be the sweeper upper. At the end of an afternoon session Jilly the Beano got taken for a walk and I was going to join them except the ice put me off. Hopefully I get to go today. I think the little one thought she was being kidnapped because she kept looking back at me standing at the window, and wanted to come home after all duties completed.

JACKIE your mud squelching reminded me of the nursery rhyme "Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain. He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle and never went there again." Don't you think good clean Yorkshire snow beats southern mud!? Just joking of course and at least you had nice tall wellies.
LINDA working her magic again. I really do have to get off my bum and join the human race again. Mark said when he had shingles it knocked the stuffing out of him and he was tired all the time up to just recently.
PATSY, can't find you! and SANDY, hope you are still feeling good with no sniffle.

Time to talk to cousin Helen in Aussie land.
Hope today is good for us all,
Anne.

Pass it on LIN, Anne.

Back to cold winds so this morning’s short walk was minus Betty because she turned her back and curled up when I encouraged her to come out and I wasn’t going to force her. She had done all necessary toileting when she first got up! Linda picked me up from the end of the track and drove us to the coffee shop on top of the moors where the cold wind was even stronger but we were shown to a table tucked in a corner so were cosy. Chocolate and orange cake with our coffee and 3 hours later we finished catching up and making plans for any future problems from the man at the allotments who continues to upset some people.

When I returned home I had another search for the missing curtain rail attachments and finally found them in the back of a cupboard in the spare bedroom so then spent too much time trying to fix it to the wall with a lot of naughty cross shouting when it kept coming away. I think it’s attached now but have paused for a cup of tea while I calm down! 😤. Hopefully the little plastic hooks I need are still attached to the old curtains that got pushed out of the way into a drawer when the building work began. They are destined for a charity collection box. Now that just leaves the heater in my bedroom but tonight I’ll leave the door ajar so heat from downstairs will drift in.

Wow Anne, now you’re all literally letting rip in your basement but I bet it will look wonderful once finished. Will the work be completed by Christmas do you think?
Yes, I do remember Doctor Foster who went to Gloucester, then there was the hippopotamus song, mud, mud, glorious mud, nothing quite like it for cooling the blood and I also remember a poem that went something along the lines of nobody else but the rose bush knows, how nice mud feels between the toes!!

What a stunning tea set Lin, so bright and cheery and another one that would match my dining room perfectly. Lucky you with that warm weather. Just heard on our news that some people in Scotland who lost power during the weekend storm will hopefully be reconnected by Christmas which is terrible because some have no other form of heating, never mind hot water!

Tea finished so I’ll hunt out the curtain hooks.

I trust Sandy and Patsy are ok.
Jackie

Where did my big long post go? Bummmmmer!
Patsy☘️

Oh, what nice weather. I would so like to have weather like this year round. Sigh. Just a lovely dream.

I made a trip to the post office and now the calendars are all winging their way to my friends. This time the clerk weighed and measured and prodded and then sold me stamps. I then had to move over and affix one to each envelope. And then return them to her. The last few times I was there, the clerk printed a label with the extra postage and the clerk would find an acceptable spot for that label. Everyone has different methods I guess. The post office removed all of the stickers on the floor, you know, the ones that showed exactly where to stand to stay the 6 feet apart. They also moved the customer work counter where you can fill out forms etc. to the lobby area outer lobby area. Still only one person is available to help customers.

Then on to the library to return books and pick up a hold. A lady and her child were hogging two self-checkout stations so I wandered around a bit. They hadn’t made any progress so I went to the station that had been just an online search of resources and surprise, it had been updated to checkout materials and the keypad even worked well! Yippee!

Home for a snack and then off to a grocery store. Lots of traffic on the streets, even more road construction, and a relatively busy store when I finally arrived. I purchased a few things but returned home without hitting the last store I had wanted to visit. Tomorrow perhaps.

Patsy, oh gosh, I don’t see your long post anywhere. Has it emerged for anyone? I was going to mention that I have the Lee Child/Andrew Child book “Better off Dead.” Has John read it? He reads the Jack Reacher books right?

Jackie, good job. You found some of the missing items. You are a brave soul. I would have called someone to mount something on the wall. I would ruin the wall and of course, I wouldn’t find a stud and just make holes in the drywall. 😄 So you have a colorful vocabulary from time to time. Love it! On the farm, we had knee high rubber boots to pull on over our shoes or work boots. (You can get into some horrible muck on a farm with lots of hogs.) I don’t think they manufacture them now. We would say, where are my Tingleys? 😄😃😄 a bit sillier than Wellies.

Anne, I would love to ship you some warm weather as long as we can keep some of it as well. And best wishes for the continuing home improvements.

Sandy, best wishes on your test tomorrow. Glad you got most of your Christmas decorating completed. I hope you can wait for Bryanna to help with the large wreath. Are you turning on your lights every evening? A number of my neighbors have outdoor lights this year. It is lovely when they are all on. Makes a trip down the block to the mailbox more pleasant especially since it is warm!

Time to make my evening veggies.

Be safe.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

A very unique teapot!

Morning! The good news is this very old dishwasher won't flood us out again! AND I've a super clean kitchen floor. Havent been downstairs yet.
Annsie.

Another cold, grey day which is nothing like the forecast bu we managed a walk for about an hour on the moors between showers and after I dropped the pooches back home I drove to the hardware store and bought a very basic heater for my bedroom. I’ll see tonight if its timer and thermostat work. if not happy I can swap it with the one in my garden room that’s sturdier. I bought a pasty on the way home then I’ve done some housework vacuuming and written the majority of Christmas cards.

Lin, my new walls are cement rendered on to the original granite stones so hit and miss when drilling holes. There is some tidying up to be done before the curtains are hung but I’ll do that when more rings for the rail arrive. I read somewhere once that shouting or swearing when things go wrong is good for the blood pressure…. That’s my excuse anyway! 😁🤭

Oh dear Anne, your dramas continue but hooray for Jilly letting you know something was wrong. I seem to remember we were pleased to see the back of 2019 but things went downhill after that so I won’t be wishing for a new year just yet!

Lin, I love the idea of Tingleys but no one would know what I was talking about!

Hopefully Sandy is now tested so just has to wait for the result. Thinking of you sweetheart ❤️

Let’s hope Patsy manages a post without it flying into obscurity.

Gone 8pm so time to relax although not sure I can take much more of The Crown for now!
Jackie 🥰