Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2024

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Good morning everyone. True to form it is raining here this morning which will make those parading for Remembrance day uncomfortable. We have a coffee/tea morning this morning and I was baking yesterday for it.
@Penny_Forthem, do they still hold those wonderful market days in Ruthin. I remember going to those with my Mum and Dad.

 

Good morning everyone!

I hope you all have a pleasant Sunday.

 

Good morning @Tui34. Have you managed to get your flat tyre replaced/mended yet? Bet you can't wait for that first ride. My sis-in-law had her second knee replacement last Sunday. She came out of hospital on Tuesday and is settling down to recovery at home.

 

I also watched the Remembrance Service, which always reminds me of my great grand father and grandfather who were life time soldiers. Both of them served in both world wars, never did anything exceptional. Old Contemptables. Just ordinary tommies, no heroics or wonderful medals. My great grand father served in World War 1, was posted to India during partition and eventually came back to England to work in the War Office until his retirement. My grandfather signed up as a boy soldier at the age of 14 against his father's wishes, he went from being a boy bugler to a gunner in the Artillery, to being a sergeant major, they served their country and were proud of themselves. I always end up in tears thinking of the thousands of men, boys and women who didn't come home, as well as the thousands who did come home mentally and physically damaged by what they saw and went through.
A huge sacrifice on their part, we are so lucky to be able to live with democracy in as safe a place as Britain.

 

Just as my dad and his dad never spoke about their war, the older Belgians I knew were also very reticent about life under occupation tho I did learn that the chappy who bulldozed about our ex pasture garden to scoop out a natural pond and make things more smooth had an uncle scheduled for execution in Namur citadel for helping allied airmen escape. He was saved because they swept thru just in time in 1944 and the whole family has loved the Brits ever since.

Our nearest neighbours also hid airmen in their loft and barns as they moved along the escape route back to Blighty. They weren't caught but risked their lives too.

I also met an elderly man talking about forgiveness at Gembloux's Armistice Day ceremony. He'd been one of a group of teenage boy scouts captured spying on German troop movements. Being 14 at the time and not a soldier he wasn't covered by the Geneva Convention and finished the war as a slave in a German factory in appalling conditions.

All that to say Remembrance Day is moving and meaningful for many, not just the combattants but those who helped them in the world wars but also all conflicts since.

Suitably dull and grey here with clouds sitting barely above the tree tops early on. I have to prepare some plants for the swap tomorrow and get the mulled cider and sausage rolls ready to cook quickly when I get up tomorrow.

Hope everyone's OK, whatever the weather.

 

@Goldenlily26 I'm sure they "did their bit" even if they were never mentioned in dispatches. Just as my Father who joined the RAF at 19 before war was declared. In his words, he was determined not to become cannon fodder in the trenches like the first one, but of course it wasn't fought that way. He was never aircrew or front line, though he did volunteer for it, and often said how lucky he was. One of his older brothers was a gas engineer in London and my father used to say that his brother and for that matter his mother had a tougher time than he did. There was so much luck involved, all his family survived, others were wiped out, many here at home.

Well the little bit of brightness soon disappeared , and eventually turned to drizzle. I got some Rose pruning done in the front garden before it really set in, I won't feel quite so guilty about sitting down most of the afternoon now.

 

What a horrible cold, wet day it's been. Just as we started out with pooches this morning, the rain began. Of course, I wasn't wearing my waterproof overtrews, so I got well and truly soaked. Took me a long time to get warm.
Ruthin Market Hall - Neuadd Y Farchnad Rhuthun @Ladybird4, though I suspect you mean the outdoor market that was in the square. The best (in fact the only) street market now is Mold and it's thriving.
The forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday looks good, so I'll be able to plant the tulips and bring the last of the dahlias into the greenhouse.

 

Good Evening everyone.
Classic Sunday here - did few jobs, MIL visit and chicken dinner cooking away. It was a bit ‘warmer’ today but still cloudy and damp. Cosmos going strong in the garden - very late this year but still plenty of buds.

I hope everyone is ok and the upcoming week is kind to us all.

 

We went to the Remembrance service in the village where we go to church where we had our first cottage in Norfolk. The church was packed and full of Brownies, Scouts etc. Then we walked to the village green where the war memorial is and the lovely lady vicar did a short service there and people laid wreaths.

Tomorrow we will go to the small ceremony at the memorial in the village we live in when we are in Norfolk.

My father was in the Royal Engineers in Burma in the 2nd World War and my mother did de-coding at Bletchley Park then Japanese de-coding in Colombo in Sri Lanka. I've probably said before. We remembered soldiers from both wars and the Falklands and Afghanistan at the ceremony.

 

Dry here, and it looked as if the sun might make a brief appearance, but didn’t. A day at home, I did several lots of laundry, although not best pleased to find evidence of a white tissue in a dark wash. Luckily all the bits came out in the tumble dryer. OH found some rugby matches to watch, so I paid the water bill, and caught up with emails to the family.
It has been very noisy with fireworks last night, and again tonight.
A trip to the dentist this week, I have broken a piece of filling off a tooth, but it hasn’t fallen out. It’s still stuck half in, half out, and when it’s half out, it’s interfering with my bite and the tooth below is complaining. The joys of getting old, all my ancient fillings are wearing out!
I got into conversation with a Belgian lady in Bruges earlier this year, while sheltering from the rain. When she found out I was English, she immediately told me how much the British efforts in the war were appreciated, and gratefully remembered. She was younger than me, and couldn’t have been around then. I didn’t watch the Remembrance service, I’m too prone to tears, so I tend to avoid things that provoke them.

 

Good evening all. Well @Ergates I have been an emotional wreck most of the weekend. I cry at EVERYTHING and this weekend is always special to me because of Dad having been in the RAF. The Church hall was decorated with Remembrance Day bunting and Union Jacks. I had taken in my 'There But Not There' statuette and a Remembrance day wooden cross. We paused at 11 and I was able to play the chimes of Big Ben on my phone so we could observe the 2 minutes silence. Very moving.
Yes, @Penny_Forthem, I did mean the market in the square in Ruthin. Happy days! I am signing out for this evening - wonder who will be leaving Strictly tonight. Catch up with you all tomorrow.

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I have been painting a tribute to our granddog, Frodo.
Not quite finished.
But I hope looking Frodoesque.

 

Good morning all. I have just one word for your picture of Frodo @Penny_Forthem and that is 'beautiful'!

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I am going to start work on my C*******s cakes today - hoping I have enough sherry for fruit soaking. I'm a bit late starting this year but it won't take too long to catch up. I only have 3 to do.

 

Good morning everyone!

Sunny here with 22°C this afternoon - THEN - the bottom drops out tomorrow with a cool 12°C but I believe it's going to be a sunny, but cold week.

 

I have just put my home made candied peel to soak under rum, ready to use in my C*******s cake. It takes a good few days to dissolve the sugar and soften the peel ready to use.

My daughter and son in law called in to help plant my tulips and wash some grit to use when I plant my new lily bulbs. I found a good home for my surplus old tulip and lily bulbs. My daughter has bought some tulips for naturalising so she is adding my bulbs to them. They both got very damp as it didn't stop mizzling all day. Last years tulip bulbs were already showing their noses.
I am going to have a go at overwintering my geraniums in newspaper under the bed. An old fashioned technique. I am a bit loathe to dig them up yet as they still have a few lovely scarlet flowers on them, a touch of colour at this time of the year. You can do dahlia tubers the same way. The weather is supposed to be turning much colder next week so that will probably knock the geraniums on the head.
Today is supposed to be sunny? Not yet but I might get outside if it clears up.