Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2024

Friday, 7AM here. nice and cool 72. Lovely already sitting on deck with coffee. Watching some morning doves waltzing about on the roof.
@lizzie27 , wasps, yes they are less active at dusk. Get the slab ready, you mentioned, and two cups of regular vinegar, pour the vinegar down the hole, shove in the slab, see if that works, as close to the house as you say it is that would be the least invasive to the house. I get wasps building nests on the back curve of my deck bench. So I have to flip the bench and use a long handle something to dislodge the nest and fling it somewhere. Meanwhile the wasps are looking for their nest in the area the bench had been. Such a home wreaker I am Recently discovered yellow jacket ground hive in my garden bed, have to douse that with some gas and a match. You'd thing with the 10 acre woods behind us they just go there and leave my flower bed alone. SMH.

Yesterday, finally , went up to get my NPO blood work done, fast results appeared last night, looks like I am in good health. Cholesterol awesome, and other markers within normal. So moving on. Did I tell you all I have really cut back on Alcohol, it's been coming in my head, that I needed to, just to see what would happen, so since June I have probably had maybe 2 glasses of wine, no martinis yet. I think I have lost some weight, and my face is sliming up. I am also pushing more water.
So we shall see what happens. I am popping some Chickweed sometime, that helps liver function.

I think we both are relieved we are not going on the trip. Looking forward to self care, garden stuff, house things or doing nothing. Take care all.

 

Just to add to the confusion - the Orange in his title refers to the Principality of Orange which is in southern France near Avignon.

 

Some time for self care is so important @redstar - we all need to book in some time for that. In that spirit, I’ve treated myself to a pretty yellow Strawflower plant from Diddly-Dee today. I wish I had bought a few now (so I might nip on way home from work tomorrow.) It was busy in the SM, presumably pre sunny, summer holiday weekend combo.

Have a lovely afternoon folks.

 

The lion mount at Braine l'Alleud which commemorates the battle of Waterloo was built by locals at the spot where the then prince of Orange was wounded when serving with Wellington. He went on to become part of the negotiations to give what is now Belgium its independence from the Netherlands, much to the annoyance of his father, the king of the Netherlands.

The Belgians tend to be Catholic or secular/atheist and bon viveurs. They always joke that the reason the Dutch flag has horizontal stripes is so that, when it wears out with all the flapping, the more parsimonious/thrifty protestant Dutch can just trim the end rather than replace the whole thing.

Grey day here but blue bits are showing and it is very still. Expecting to get to 36C on Monday!

Happy Friday everyone.

 

Good afternoon all. Had a busy baking morning once I got in from Tesco. Made a chocolate and a lemon drizzle cake for our coffee morning on Sunday.
@Goldenlily26, I do agree with @lizzie27 in that your marmalade sounds yummy. I'm a big fan of home made marmalade.
@AuntyRach, the Olympic opening ceremony starts at 17:45 on BBC1
@Ergates, several years ago that happened to my neighbour's bin. What is really annoying is that the bin men must have been aware of the damage to the lid yet no-one made any attempt to knock on her door and apologise. I contacted the council for her and they did send round a new bin for her the next time they were due and took the damaged one away. I have two green bins as I produce a lot of 'stuff'. I asked the council for an extra one and they sent round a man to look at my garden. I was given a half size bin to go with the full size bin I already had.
@lizzie27, that was kind of the delivery man. I hope that you do get your bamboo screening fitted the way you want it.
@Obelix-Vendée, I found your explanation of the lion mount very interesting.

 

Afternoon everyone,

Quite warm here today, but still on the cloudy side at times.

I walked to the hairdresser this morning, and was glad to take my jacket off when I got there, it was so warm.

My cold has all but gone, but OH is still struggling with a troublesome cough and croaky voice. He was supposed to be helping me do the raffle tomorrow, but that’s not happening.

@lizzie, I too, would be concerned about where the wasps still within the wall might go when you prop up a slab to block the entrance they are using. They will find a way, and you really don’t want them building a nest in the cavity by finding another exit/entry point. As you are allergic, it might be better to seek professional advice to deal with them - well worth the expense, and actually, might cost less than if you block up where you see them and they find an alternative route in and out which might prove trickier to deal with.

Good to hear that your health results appear good @redstar, and well done on cutting back on the alcohol.

Try as I might, I can’t work out which store is being referred to by “Diddly-Dee”. I’m sure it’s obvious, and I’ll say, “of course” - but it’s got me stumped . The old grey cells are not top notch on this one .

 

@redstar, I had to look up yellow jackets as it is not a term I am familiar with. It did create a picture in my mind of lots of miniature road workers in their high viz jackets digging holes all over your garden.

 

@Blue arbour, I think @AuntyRach means Aldi. I guessed at that some time ago and she confirmed it though I do guess it could apply to its brother store Lidl.

 

@Ladybird4 when we first moved to Belgium we rented a house not far away in Lasne and the mount loomed large every time I drove across former battlefields (now sugar beet, maize, potatoes and wheat) to get to the SM. When we bought our own house it was just 40kms away and lots of visitors wanted to see the Lion....... Apparently the Prussian army marched past our house to get to Waterloo and the Allies chased the Germans past it in 1944 after D-day. The old small pavés have tank tracks gouged in them.

It is getting very mugy here now. I've been messing down the veg patch and been stung by a wasp cos I disturbed a new nest while raching for a tray to hold all the basil i've just picked for pesto. The hens have hoiked up a newly planted dahlia so i've rescued it and planted a bigger one with an obelisk over it to keep the girls off.

Lots of watering done but no courgettes picked as they're still tiny. I'll go down again in a bit and get some Swiss chard for a gratin but first job is pesto.

@Goldenlily26 I like making marmalade too - so much better than bought - but have enough from the last batch to last us about 10 years. We rarely eat bread and there's a limit to how many B&B puddings I can make in a year, despite what Possum thinks.

@redstar sounds like a good decision to stay home and have me time.

@Blue arbour I loathe going to the hairdresser. I don't want a style that needs "dressing" every day and they never understand about my needing a practical cut so I can see when I bend over to garden so I keep it at shoulder length for tying back and do the fringe myself. Once every 2 years - when there's enough to cut off to send to the people who make wigs for cancer patients - I get a chunk cut off and they always mess up the fringe.

 

Yes! I use that term for both, although it’s usually Aldi for me @Blue arbour.

 

Thank you @Obelix-Vendée

 

My wife has a lovely crimson woollen cardigan. Today, in my haste, it accidentally got put into the washing machine at 40°C and fast spin, instead of 30°C and slow spin.
I only noticed when I emptied the machine. I know she's only petite, but, this will now probably fit a five year old!!
Ooops!!
Maybe I'll be forgiven, since I have sawn up the conifer by hand, AND cut the lawn.

 

A very quick goodbye as I'm off to the Olympics now. See you all tomorrow when I will comment on the latest posts.

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@RowlandsCastle it willmake a great liner for a hanging basket!

 

It's like summer's evening here... that's a surprise, isn't it?
We're having chilli pork and pinapple kebabs on the bbq, with a side of butterbeans, with oodles of our herbs, garlic, peppers and EVOO and a drizzle of balsamic.
Having done all the prep., himself is in chef mode.
I fell into a discussion with the GC owner.
I'll post as a separate thread.
French v Russian tarragon. He maintained he'd grown French from seed.
Huh?