I am in a really surreal place.........

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261

Good morning Clare.

I know what you mean about your village mates. My village mates, met at toddler group and the reception school gates 22years ago now have supported me through surgery, chemo and now rads. Propping me up walking the dog on the moors or walking him for me when I couldn’t manage. My BC has had the odd but nice effect of bringing us all back together, when the kids we little we caused chaos together visiting parks and stuff with all our unruly children running wild. I have always had the untidy house, animals and mud and stream to play in so all the kids used to hang out here, it was lovely and miss them all now they are at uni. We are honoured to have swallows come back year after year to our old wooden stable in the garden plus bluetits who have a box as well. I can watch them for hours. The cats stay away from the stable when my elderly Dales mare (in her retirement) is in and the birds will even sit on her back as an extra perch.

Wishing you a good day, full of big and small pleasures. Your sister sounds some woman and you must be so glad that your daughter and son will have her love as well.

with love and admiration Julia xxx

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Happy birthday to your daughter, Laurie. I know what you mean, as I’m sure we all (secondaries) do about the what’s and ifs :frowning: Unfortunately it goes with the territory doesn’t it? My diagnosis of a regional recurrence was the day before my YD’s 17th birthday, not a happy time. However she’s 21 next month and it’s certainly something I didn’t expect to be around for during those dark days in Feb/March 2008!
Nicky xx

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I just spotted this article on the BBC website - did you know that a lover of snowdrops is called a “galanthophile”?

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16789834

Enjoy.

CM
x

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Hello Clare

glad you are feeling a bit more at yourself. Have just been reading the recent posts and glad to report that I have a speckled woodpecker that comes into my garden in the morning. He is just lovely to watch and since my cat is far to lazy to chase anything she does not bother with the wildlife in the back. Spotted a rather slendid fox in the field behind my little cottage last night and hope he might keep the badgers away from digging my garden over every night. I don’t have any dislike against badgers but my grass is starting to look like Emmentaler Cheese.
Hope you have a good meeting at the school. I can’t put it into words how much I admire you and your spirit.

All my love Alanaa and Cat

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Hi Clare , I hope the wobble in the legs hasn’t caused too much of a problem today. I remember my legs giving way with Tax…and it is a horrible sensation.
I wish I was computer literate like Nicki. I really must learn how to put photos onto this site. I live quite near to you (Brill) and the windmill and the common look lovely with the crisp frosts. Having spotted violets and snowdrops in Devon I searched our garden today and found a few.
Talking of badgers, my daughter came into our bedroom one night scared that there was somebody downstairs. My husband tried to pretend to be asleep but we made him investigate. Half way downstairs he too heard a noise and crept back up to arm himself with a cricket bat. He made lots of noise going back down hoping to scare off the intruder. However the noise continued and there in the kitchen larder was a badger eating oats. He must have come through the large cat flap.
Lots of hugs and thank you for sharing your thoughts
Cackles
Xx

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Hi Clare,

I’m here to wish you a restful good nights sleep, and hope you are feeling fit enough to make lunch with your friends tomorrow.

How did the tutor meeting go, did you sort Aisling’s school future out? Your sister sounds a treasure, how very comforting for you.

I don’t have water tablets Clare, but I must make an appointment to see my GP for some as my ankles and feet are getting bigger by the day, they are most uncomfortable and flipping ugly.

It’s been a cold but beautiful day here in Yorkshire, very crisp and dry. I hope the weather with you is good for your day out tomorrow.

CM, I know ironing is a bl**dy swear word, but my OH is a chef and I had fifteen chefs jackets waiting to be ironed, HAD to make a start. I did four, four aprons and two pairs of chefs trousers, goodness I was proud of myself!

Hope you don’t join the ‘UP all Nighters’ Clare. I’ve just taken a piriton so waiting to feel drowsy, hope it works.

Catch up with you later,
Lots of hugs, Libby xx

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Omg cackles I would have poooped myself i think… I once got the fright of my life when the outside light popped on sitting next to the patio doors to be confronted by a badger on the door step… Think it got the fright of its life too when it saw me we both kinda screamed and ran away. LOL.

Clare hope Aislings tutor appt went well… And hope the sleep fairy comes tonight… She’s been visiting me all day I keep nodding off lol.

Libby I was on water tablets but had to stop them just before Christmas as my onc thought they were contributing to my side effecs on tax making me feel lightheaded, get palpitations and breathlessness… I still get these SEs but not as bad… And as I’m sitting with my feet up a lot I’m not getting such swollen legs anyway.

Love Lulu xxx

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Hi Cackles, OMG, I don’t know what I would have done if I’d seen a badger in the house, probably hid with the cat lol. I remember a friend of ours saying how they’d found a dead rat in their utility that their quite young cats had brought in. I just envisaged these two rascals pulling and pushing this huge rat through the cat flap, one in front and one behind so they could show off their trophy :wink:
Regarding the photo it depends if you have any stored photos on your pc, or know where to get an image from. If you do you can add it to your profile on the forum by editing your profile and choosing that image name. If this is too much maybe see if someone can help you? Btw my godmother lived in Brill, unfortunately she died last year after some complications. I didn’t get to visit her whilst she lived there but I’m told it’s a lovely part of the country. I’m in sunny Hampshire.
Clare - hope the meeting went well for all concerned :slight_smile: Have a peaceful day.
Nicky xx

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Morning Clare,
As everyone has said, I hope the meeting was a really positive one for both of you. Hope too that you’ve had a resful night and wake refreshed this morning.

Very frosty here in Scotland but no snow (yet) where I am.

Did you see on the BBC website yesterday an article about snowdrop spotters? Have they been spying on us all?! bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16789834

Take care, wishing you snowdrops and spoons and sunshine and love

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Well good morning to you all :o)

Sorry I didn’t post last night, I dozed by the fire all evening, popping my head up if anything happened on TV lol. Its the first time my legs and feet have been totally warm, it was bliss. Then I slept all night too…

I feel good this morning, we have a very sharp frost, no snow, its about -5 outside, so wont be venturing out soon.

I was so encouraged when I met Aislings tutor, she really is so enthuiastic about Aisling and obviously has her best interests at heart in her work and also in her growth as a person. Just what Ashy needs, especially in the time ahead. I had another embarrassing ‘I can’t get out of the chair’ incident My XOH had to pull me up, my legs just seem to give up. I am to have a seperate meeting with the tutor so I can discuss Aislings support at school when I have died and I’ll introduce the tutor to my sister too.
The tutor, kindly says she will come to me.

Jamie, my son, still hasn’t booked any driving lessons, so thats my task for the day, He is so laid back he’s horizontal, the kids are like chalk and cheese but because of the 5 yr age gap luv each other to bits as they have never had to compete for my attention. Its his 19th birthday on Saturday, he wants a thomas the tank cake :o) every year I make the most wonderful (blow ur own trumpet) novelty cakes, its part of their birthday surprise to have one. I’m usually up all night creating it, so they can’t see it. One year Jamie wanted the italian job bus hanging off the cliff in the final climax of the film, various harry potter ones, lions, tigers and thomas the tank…

I am going to attempt lunch and have been pondering on how i will be able to get up if the chairs are low, so I am going to take a cushion with me, in the hope I can be a bit higher and get lift off!!!

I love that fact that we have all become ‘galanthophiles’’ I bet you thought yourself safe with me, but now you all have the ‘bug’ Good spotting CM it was a good article and its nice to know there are more spotters than just us…I am reassured that no dirty raincoat in necessary, or stalker hats, so we wont look so stupid.

I was bought a brace of Partridge ( my favourite) Jamie met one of the farmers who gave them too me, soo I will have to deal with those to make a scrummy dinner for tonight.

I hope you all have a good day today, either splodged out on the sofa warm or out galavanting, just wrap up warm…

I’ve just seen my daughter off to school, so am going 2 sneak a few hours in bed with brekie to get myself rested to enjoy my meal out :o)

Have a good 1

Clare xxx

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Oh Claire, this post brought a tear to my eye this morning …

My Dad died 19 years ago tomorrow … it’s so nice that he made room for your Jamie to come into this world!

My brothers & me are descending on Mum tomorrow night for a Chinese, to raise a glass and have a good laugh & reminisce … Just as Dad would have wanted!

Have a good day

Axx

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Clare, sounds like you had the snoozes and rest you deserve. Glad you’re not in the up all nighters thread again. And your daughter’s school is really supportive, which must be a huge weight off your mind.

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Hi Clare
What a lovely uplifting post from you, thank you for sharing all with us, I hope you know how much good you are doing us, well, me at least :wink: Bit worried about the dirty raincoat and stalker hat, should I ditch mine? Lol
Wow, your cake making, along with all your other skills put me to shame. Coffee walnut cake is about my limit, artistically decorated with walnut halves of course :wink:
Have a lovely snooze and a great day. A big Happy birthday to your son for tomorrow, Thomas the Tank Engine? What is he like? Having said that my ED is 23 and still in ove with Tinkerbell, but that’s a girls thing I suppose.
Lovely message from Annie :slight_smile: a special day for you as well.
Nicky xx

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Brrrr, it’s a bit nippy out there today! I had to resort to my yeti coat today - huge mock-fur jacket that everyone wants to stroke when the see me in it. It’s not exactly flattering but fantastically warm.

It sounds as though your nice cosy day did you good Clare, so I hope you wrap up really well today – don’t let yourself get chilled (apart from anything else, being cold makes me wee more and if you’re anything like me you don’t want that, do you?)

I’m sure both your children will do you proud. Your son sounds just like mine - on another planet most of the time! What is it with boys? Maybe we just mother them too much! Aisling’s tutor sounds lovely. I should think it’s very reassuring to think she’s going to be looking out for her and supporting her and your sister.

I finally managed to get some snowdrops yesterday for my “Clare’s Patch”. They’re in pots so I’m not planting them out yet - I don’t think they’d appreciate getting frosty toes (and the ground is probably rock solid anway). I’m going to look after them really carefully and hope they’ll multiply as well as the Lily of the Valley that my neighbour gave me a couple of years ago. That’s another of my favourites but I’d never been able to grow it before.

I also bought a couple of extra bird feeders - this is a pretty thin old time for them, now that they’ve scoffed the berries and there’s not much else around. We’ve had woodpeckers on our feeders as well and we often get pheasants in the garden as we live in a little village with several nearby pheasant shoots. they make a dreadful noise and I’v enever forgotten seeing our old cat stalking one. It was twice his size - goodness knows what he’d have done if he’d caught it!

Speaking of animals getting where they shouldn’t, a couple of years ago I heard our dog Monty going bonkers so I went downstairs to have a look and there were a load of hounds running around the garden! The local hunt had been going parallel to the main road when some of the pack decided to take a diversion up our lane. They were everywhere and it took ages and much blowing of hunting horms to herd them all off the right way.
The same pack were once special guests at another nearby village’s fete. They were being kept close to the tea tent so of course the inevitable happened. They caught a whiff of the cakes, made a bid for freedom and proceeded to create absolute mayhem amongst the Victoria Sponge and Lemon Drizzle. Never mind “bull in a china shop”; “hunting hounds in a tea tent” is far messier (and funnier!)

Those dogs seem to make a habit of disgracing themselves!

Well, I suppose I’d better get on with some work… the next software release won’t wait unfortunately!

Hugs to you Annie - what a lovely thought about your dad and Jamie.

Jane xxx

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That was a lovely comment Annie about your Dad, I’m glad you still have that special time with your family , its nice to think of you all remembering together, He was obviously a big man, and appreciated and well loved.

Here’s my little birthday boy, looking a bit ruggeded, its the only photo I can find on here as we have all the photos just on an old lappy, so we can scroll to our hearts content.

Nicky, please, not dirty raincoats, we galanthophiles should be at least a few steps up from these. Perhaps pretty scarfs, I have a number of these, so all are welcome to them, so we don’t look too daggy while grubbing in the overgrowth :o)

Only 2 ladies for lunch, so far, am drumming them up slowly, with the tempting open fire at the pub :o) So armed with cushion I will depart in the hope nothing embarrassing happens today lol.

Clare xxx

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Hello Clare,
Your boy is lovely hope he has a wonderful birthday with his wonderful mum.
I love reading your daily stories and do think of you often.
I hope you enjoy your lunch today and dont get stuck, that pub with the open fire sounds very tempting.
Enjoy
Love Fran
x

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What a handsome lad!

Please wish him a very happy birthday on Saturday. I’m glad my son doesn’t ask for complicated cakes - as long as I’ve made it and it’s covered with all things chocolate, he’s happy. Mind you, he’s a good cook and is perfectly capable of making his own, so if he asks for anything OTT for his 18th in April I’ll tell him to make it himself.

Sending lots of love and some extra spoons (pre-warmed of course in this weather), —O —O

Jane xxx

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What a ruggedly good-looking son you have… hope he has a lovely birthday tomorrow and that he enjoys his cake. You are never too old for novelty cakes imo.

Quite agree that as gorgeous galantophiles we should have lovely scarves and not a single mucky mac in sight.

Have a wonderful weekend Clare.

Here’s a special birthday celebrating spoon with a twisty handle just for you

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Your sons Thomas the tank cake reminds me of my daughters 18th… She wanted a fairy party for her and her 18yr old freinds complete with wings, wands and tutus…she’s 21 this year so don’t know what her party are going to be for that…

My son is 17 and got driving lessons for his birthday but hasn’t had any yet and he’s now decided he wants a motorbike… I’m not keen… Especially as I’m the only driver in the family i really would rather he learnt to drive a car so he can ferry me about after all the years of me being on taxi duty but don’t fancy his offer of me going pillion.

Hope you all enjoy is birthday celebration tomorrow… And enjoy your lunch by the fire.

Lulu x

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Hi Clare

Delighted to report back that I have some snowdrops in my garden although they seem a bit behind & sluggish! I shall look forward to them blooming. Just hope the bunnies don’t treat them as a tasty snack!

Lots of warm winter hugs for you

Twinky x x