Thread 17 - TalkLair: "Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge."

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(Previous thread 16).

Spring is springing, daffodils blooming all over our LairGarden, which have not all been picked by a neighbour's kid...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, cosy rugs are down on the floors looking a bit stained by cat hairball regurgitation. The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics. We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

And I had a lovely yesterday. I've been knackered since Sunday and Wednesday was really hard and I hoped I hadn't taken a downward spiral. I hadn't. I was relieved because I had an exhibition to visit in Lewes - very bad town for the mobilty reduced person. So hilly! - It was a pretty comprehensive exhibition of Vanessa Bell and absolutely delightful. I was even better on my wheelchair although, god love my friend A, but I had to keep telling him he could walk ahead of me. I love looking at art without anyone I know around me for at least some of the time, so I can read the captions - and bits of letters in some of the descriptions but he, and he's not the only one, hovers. Once I'm in the chair the point of it is that it's electric and I can move around in it! That's not to say I don't need help from time to time but I'll ask to go into manual if I need to come out of a lift backward, for example. But I'm being a brat. It was a wonderful exhibition, I managed my way around the museum shop, of course! Snoop had heard of Vanessa Bell but didn't know her work and I knew she would. I wasn't wrong. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and then found somewhere to eat that did chips in gravy. I ordered those A and Snoop were very interested which was great for me because I couldn't eat all of them but had a bit of Snoop's crab and prawn in Marie Rose sauce (I love that we call tomato ketchup and mayonnaise that. It tickles me) and avocado which I might go for if I went again because it was soft enough and felt very light and healthy. I went on to have ice-cream, so local it was from about a mile away. Vanilla. Soothes my throat.

And today a friend is coming with her dog, Milo, one of the most well-behaved dogs I've ever met and he's a cockapoo! We shall take him for a walk because now I can!

"Food" fad today is Werther's Originals.

Top tip: Leon's chilli tomato ketchup makes the BEST Marie Rose sauce. Just a hint of a kick in it.

My parents used to call it Marie Celeste sauce and laugh. I never knew why, as a child.

I have a signed paperback recipe book from Leon (I assume it is 'the' Leon) that I bought at the Cropredy Festival (Fairport Convention) in 1982!

Oh I have Cropredy envy @moto748e! I’ve been a fan of Fairport for decades (went to see them in St Albans when I was in the UK a couple of years ago) but never made it to Cropredy. A friend of mine goes every year to take photos for them.

Somehow I got there and back, with girlfriend, tent and sleeping bags lashed on the back of my very unreliableTriumph Bonneville! Fortunately the weather was fine.

Fairport's version of She moves through the fair is unrivalled. To my shame, I can't remember the name of the album, but I remember a group of us playing it on repeat, on vinyl, sometime around 1968/9. My then-boyfriend's parents were exceptionally relaxed about letting him and his friends use a cottage on their land for parties, No booze, no drugs, no sex beyond a bit of a kiss and cuddle. Ah, innocent times!

A friend was a massive fan, but FC kinda passed me by a bit at the time. I think at Cropredy I was most excited about seeing Richard Thompson. I've been listening to them a bit more just recently, it's great stuff.

Richard Thompson tours around here occasionally - I've seen him a couple of times.

He's fabulous, isn't he? I saw him at the not-called-the-Colston-Hall-any-more in Bristol not so long ago.

Apropos of nothing in particular, I've just been reminded of this remarkable man. metro.co.uk/2018/08/08/man-turned-desert-forest-planting-tree-every-day-40-years-7814241/

Oh, I do love that man @NoBinturongsHereMate . I love that it also shows what can we do with comparitively little effort. I'm not saying that he hasn't done something and anyone could, but he just made a decision, knew it was possible and did it alongside the rest of his life creating something that will live long after him and any of us could find some smaller thing to do that changed something smaller. I'm assuming that will be seen in the Attenborough film, Ocean(?).

I thought Richard Thompson was dead. No idea why. I'm glad for those who admire him that he isn't.

Delighted today to realise that the NYC cheesecake I had forgotten about was still in date and had nearly a whole slice (they're in a pack of two so not huge, but ... ) and it was lush. I've also discovered a brand of Belgian waffles that come in individually packed waffles. I'm not sure they're particularly special but they're full of calories and I find them delicious. I ate four of them yesterday which was a big old bunch of them. I do like waffle from the poshest to Birdseye potato ones with a bit of cheese or eggs or both. When I was a child/young teen I only became aware of other sorts of waffle through tv and then the real life, more please happened.

And today 90s me was filled with joy when my Maharishi snopants turned up. I wanted them so badly back then but they were miles outside my finances and remain so to this day. Mine were somehow picked up for £20 plus nearly a tenner postage and packing on a designer cheaper but not always that cheap website. At the same time a vest top arrived from Vinted and they're just perfect. Vest is a pale green sequined and looks fabulous as well as - luck not judgement - picking up the pale green embroidery of the dragon on the bottom of my Maharishi. I'm in fashion heaven.

I've come to the end of buying clothes though. Not because death but I've got to check my bank account a bit more and there are more important things, but finding bargains like that have warmed my heart. I am going to spend some money on pimping the wheelchair though because I think people will love it and I love flowers and stuff, so that's happening. Guys, all of this sucks so much but I am having some really joyous moments throughout. A local charity shop has a floor devoted to bridal everythings. We're going there on 19th May and they're delighted to host my trying on wedding dresses for an afternoon, so that's going to be another fun moment. I'm just, "Can't this go on for a lot more months please? I don't need all of the fun activities because the memories are glorious. I'm happy to have the weak legs, the chair, the spending a lot of time in bed but also walking to the bathroom, kitchen, blah to keep some strength. Watching TV and films, having a crush on one of the wives in Real Housewives of NYC who are without a doubt the least trashy of all the real housewives. I only watch them now because they argue but in the sort of way normal people might if they argued more than normal people. My crush is peacemaker and I loves her! Yes, insane. I'd happily maintain the level of pain and being less mobile, doing less, but also writing, a bit of drawing, having lost my voice and demand nothing but visits from friends a couple of times a week - I get more but there is a level beyond which I have to have a day or two off - but you know, that might happen and it might not so I appreciate it while I've got it.

And I pray. I have a candle in front of my Mary statue - I've always been obsessed with religious iconography because it's what I grew up with and it can be beautiful. I light it and thank her for what she's done for me that day, then I pray for anyone I know who needs it, with one friend who needs a prayer every day. I don't ask for the impossible, but It's nice just to talk to her. Yes, I have become the cliche, the lapsed who doesn't completely come back, but who finds comfort in what was such comfort when I was a believer. And with me I've always been about the Marian. So, there's that. I also know that none of you would judge me because none of us know where we find ourselves. I still believe that there could be precisely nothing except my atoms continuing on with no consciousness but if that's it then what do we lose except shape and form because me no longer is and therefore me no longer needs to think and feel. Nothing is not pain, it's just nothing. Anyway, sorry if that was a bit much but thank you for reading.

We all read, Fags, even if we unable to offer a coherent response, just being gob-smacked. Well, perhaps that's just me! 😀One thing's for sure, if there is an afterlife, we all know where you're heading!

Three post ... Anyway. Lighter hearted. Obsession. I went to have a look at a Prince Harry thread. I know! It was him going to the wrong house(s) to see a friend. I think wrong house has happened to a lot of people and I told a story, so did some other people. I am stupid. This funny little moment, and I don't mean it in take the piss out of him, as in good starting off point for fun stories was not the point. It was for some people to say "poor Harry, I admire him" apparently because I was told I admired him. But I read some of the posts. My goodness! Let me just say I was genuinely shocked by some of the things that were posted in terms of not being completely sane. I got that some people were seriously tongue in cheek and very funny - I gave them a laughing face - but then it went deeper and "you're not joking". And I took the piss a bit and was rude but vaguely funny. The Royals Folder is a tiny bit like the middle east or GU and Israel/palestine. There are sane people and there are less sane people. And there probably be dragons.

Before my brain remembered that we quietly walk away I said it seemed odd to me that people are more bothered by well someone who's not necessarily the brightest in the bunch and his wife when there's an actual/alleged bad person in the family. I was told that he is not liked and there are threads and I should start one. So that's what I'm going to do!😂😁😁What with that and some people being badly lied to and believing the likes of Trump and to a lesser danger presently, Farage, I understand why we're in the state we're in, but peeps it's both not funny at all and almost hilariously all of the varieties of LOL that exist. Probably including doing a poo laughing.

I give the royal family about 10 minutes more time in my brain than I should, which is to say I give them about ten minutes a week or so if they're on my TV or I see a trailer telling me that there's a programme about how different the new POW are. And I look at their children and think "Oh ffs. No." and move on. Or being shocked to find that life is like that for fans and antifans.

Moments of joy, however they come, are precious and need to be treasured. I love the sound of your vest and pants, @FagsMagsandBags.

i had a lovely moment today - tomorrow is Mother’s Day over here and my son and DIL in New Jersey sent me four bunches of beautiful flowers - one of white tulips and three of a mixture of pink and peach tulips, blue hyacinths and pussy willows. They are now in five vases on every available surface of my living room. They also sent chocolate but the flowers were wonderful. I was out most of the day running a meeting of our state poets society and it was such a lovely thing to come home to.

Flowers always win out over chocolate for me and you have received five vases of loveliness there. I love most every flower. It's great to have a mixture of different coloured tulips and I love the purity of white gently gaining faded up colours. Hyacinths make me happy and the world needs more pussy willows! It's made me realise, as well, that your temperature is a little behind ours. We still have tulips but I'm not sure hyacinths are still around. I'm hoping for more peonies next week. Up until midweek I had the ones that start coral and then as they bloom themselves too wide to retain their petals you have white flowers. I know that different colours are on the way as the season goes on.

I also need to buy small flowers, easier said than done, but I was lucky enough to get a small low bouquet at the event last week. I have the prettiest cut glass turquoise vase that sits in front of my Marian statue and I like keeping it going because it's beautiful to look at and speaks to me.

Happy Mother's Day @Britinme . Do you get both the UK and US one? I do hope so ☺️

I do! I got cards from my children in England on UK Mother’s Day. These are the flowers I got today, if the picture posts.

I love reading your posts @FagsMagsandBags, keep ‘em coming!

Wishing happy Mother’s Day to international mothers @Britinme I got a big bouquet and some chocolates earlier this week for my birthday. Must say, we rarely buy flowers for the house but it really is lovely having them.

The weather today is marvellous, the main road is closed for the Leeds marathon and we went out to cheer and clap for a bit. I feel rather sorry for the runners though - must be horrible running in hot weather like today.

Less pleasant news was an email from our travel insurance, informing us that our renewal would be generously 20% discounted… and this year would be up from £195 to £386! WTF. So we will be seeking some other quotes.

Have you tried the AA? I've been using them for years and a,

"What? That's more than double last year! I've had some emails offering me far lower than that!" results in a few minutes on hold whilst they 'talk to my supervisor...' and a decent rate again.

In other news, we're sheltering near the Isles of Coll and Tiree and I've seen the magnificent Bac Mor - nicknamed "The Dutchman's Hat."

... And I didn't know it's Mother's Day...

It’s only Mother’s Day on my side of the Atlantic @SinnerBoy - yours was back in March.

One of my extravagances is buying myself a bunch of flowers every week because I do love to have them in the house. I knew I was no longer poor when I felt I could afford to do that.

Those are some lovely flowers @Britinme - I especially love tulips as they keep growing and make some crazy shapes as cut flowers. I love hyacinths too but they do make me sneeze. Happy Mothers Day to you!

And @FagsMagsandBags it’s great to read so much joy in your posts.

I got chocolates but not flowers for my birthday this week but I also got a new watering can to help the flowers in the garden. And the peonies in a huge pot by the front door look like they may actually flower this year. I’m not good at peonies so any advance on last year’s one flower would be cause for celebration.

It was my birthday recently and MrPSB got me a hori-hori knife. I test drove it today- verdict - a lovely thing but not that much better than a stainless steel trowel, but it’s early days.

It’s probably very good for digging up dandelions- there’s a common near us that is just covered with them, and at this time of year all you can see sometimes is dandelion down floating about. Consequently, there are lots of dandelions in my garden.

Sounds like my lawn, @PoppySeedBagelRedux ! Currently, as I write, being mowed by our neighbour's teenage son for a bribe. DH's back is not up to it and I don't want to do it.

Now that (the hori-hori knife) looks like a promising Christmas present for our lovely gardener.