Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 18: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

Here is the link to the prior thread:

Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 17: Calmly through the day

My apologies for letting the prior thread fill up before opening this one.

helena I, too, am impressed by your sportiness!

i just won two times at qwirkle against DD (I usually lose)

The "fuel crisis" continues apace, there are some fuel stations that now have no supplies, even for emergency vehicles. When I drove to work this morning people were queuing out of one garage onto a 60mph road

I have 3/4 of a tank (as does DS) so should be fine for the time being. I would be collected for work in any case if things get too bad, so no panic buying here.

I've just been to a local lecture on local architecture. Such a nice way to spend an hour. Steak and chips for dinner and tv - uneventful but lovely afternoon / evening

DH just sent me a message asking if he should get Burger King or McDonalds after IKEA and the kids prefer BK so he will try and get that. I initially suggested some Swedish food from IKEA but he had already left there. Not sure if I will be able to taste any of it.

DD has just been to cuddle Silkiecat who is disgruntled by DHs absence.

Thanks Prok!

All DC settled down in front of Strictly, bar DC1 who has been saying all week that she would leave all her homework to the weekend so that she had something to do and didn’t get bored. A life lesson, as she is now disgruntled at missing the show!

I have researched St Catherine of Siena with DC2 who is choosing her as her confirmation Saint.

After 5 plus years it’s an amazing feeling day here watching strictly with my little boy asleep upstairs.

Something I never thought would happen.

Sometimes how lucky I am hits me.

Helena That is a very good choice!
(There was a heated discussion if the vocabulary of her works should be included in the first Italian dictionary (of the Accademia della Crusca))

What a lovely thread.
Following.

She was torn between the Catherine’s, Alexandria or Siena. Siena’s writings nailed it for her I think, and she also admires her as a proto-feminist. For a woman to wield the influence and political clout she did, in medieval times, was remarkable.

Welcome, @Pheebs2021, and thank you! It is a bit different for MN. Just for context, I'm an American and live in New York. My role here is simply to greet newcomers, hand out tea and cookies biscuits, and provide news from across the pond.

Every time someone mentions strictly here it takes me a minute to make the connection with the TV show.

Newly jabbed DH is out doing errands. I expect he'll feel a bit poorly tonight. He's still on the hook to grill burgers for dinner.

I tried to get a nap but Dboycat was having none of it. Once he finally got me up I realized he just wanted to be let out on the deck. I'm now having a coffee and feeding the cats while listening to the BBC News Hour on my local National Public Radio station.

The coffee is fab, but the worst coffee I ever had was pretty good.

There's plenty of gas petrol here, no queues. Both cars got filled today. Neither of us has a long drive to work, so we don't really use much. DH keeps about 15 gallons on hand for the generator, so that's out plan B if there's an extended power outage or fuel shortage.

Julian Marshall is the newsreader if anyone cares. I like his voice, and his accent is adorable.

Prok, are people excited about the election tomorrow?

I believe you can find Federweisser in the Finger Lakes area of NY but only in September.

maths That's right - September and October only - after that the stuff goes on to become real wine

Dh said they have wine like that in France called Grenache though he seemed quite disapproving of it. Being French he gets very fussy and opinionated with wine. It also has to be French or its not worth drinking.

Silkie Federweißer is not yet wine, it is very early in the process of becoming wine but not quite and very seasonal and regional. There is no French word - as far as I could find out ("Most" moût de vin would come near)

Asked DH again and he said they do have that in France and its something ending in nache and says it maybe Bernache rather than Grenache. Maybe this
www.wineterroirs.com/2009/09/preys_bernache.html He says his cousins have a vineyard and they drink it before it is wine, dont think it is commonly drunk there as never heard of it.

DH brought Silkiecat to our bed. He put he down and she looked lost then she turned around, saw DH and purred. Then she looked lost again and went to the bedside table. DH took her back downstairs as she looked like a very confulzed Silkiecat. But she was happy this evening when DH returned with cat food as well as the IKEA desk (with metal legs so rabbit can't eat it) and swivel chair (also rabbit proof).

Thank you for your welcome @MissConductUS think you've given me new york advice a long time ago on a thread about new york :-) how cool it must be to live there. Are you in the heart of manhatten area or a bit further out?

Watching Virgin River and contemplating if I could emigrate and live there. Probably not as a) I wouldn't be allowed to work and b) it is not a real place.

@Squirrel26 it's good to fantasise about a life that you can't have and imagine having it with real life practicalities getting in the way.

I've just had a beetroot salad and lattice from cafe Nero I have managed to bag the best chair and I'm looking out over the city. Just quite contemplation.

Actually a small amount of internet research suggests I could work there. I mean, b) 'not a real place' still applies. Also I would have to sell a kidney to ship the dog over.

You are very welcome, @Pheebs2021. I live in an area called The Hudson Highlands, north of the city. It's about a 50-minute train ride into midtown Manhattan. I worked in Manhattan for about 20 years before finding a job closer to home, and we used to go in regularly to do things with the kids.

I have given a lot of advice on MN to people who are thinking about visiting NYC, as recently as last week actually. Did you wind up visiting us, and if so, how was you trip?

Went for run/ swim with running club today.
It was supposed to be a 10km standard run but we were diverted by the sea which was warm and we ended up swimming across the bay.
In other news, DH is planning on cooking venison for dinner which I am looking forward to (with some red wine).
Bath is full of sand which is becoming g a feature of House of Hog.
Wartycat is trying to luck the salt off my fingers but have waylaid him with Dreamies.

@MissConductUS I did!! And I hope this doesn't sound absolutely ridiculous but I left some of my heart in that city. Before we went I spoke to my husband about what he liked best about it as he had been before and he couldn't describe the feels it gave and truly I can now relate to it there are no words for it it's just 'New York!' Have been trying to get back ever since but thanks to covid we've not been able to we will next year though.

Pheebs, that's wonderful, and I know exactly what you mean. E. B. White famously said three New Yorks

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something....Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.

Another famous New Yorker, Aaron Copland wrote this magical piece in homage to his native city and it perfectly captures both the serenity and urban energy of the place:

I love Copland's work. His home is just a few miles from where I live now.

I'm off to church but will be back in a bit.