The Cybergarden - Midwinter Edition

[shodatin]

Hope this is Post No. 1001 equivalent, having just used up the thousandth space and feel I shouldn't ask Madmouse to organise the next one again.

Have just looked into summerhouse to check fire is burning gently, tray of [brew} organised by upward to turn into one's favourite hot drink of the moment is standing ready for visitors, along with a few pounds of chocolates from huge box sent by DSis. (Before DB eats any more today)

It's usually tianc, upward and hob who remember to be hospitable and also remember to send good wishes to previous visitors, including said madmouse and mouselet, kizzie and family, NanaNina, Butterpie and another name which eludes me just now, but am hoping you'll find your way to this new part of the Cybergarden
and continue visiting in the New Year, along with hob's time-travelling cat Her Felinity and her welcome associate ndt (next-door's-tom), who visit us quite often, bringing gifts of when they remember, instead of the usual dead rodents which they know are unwelcome in the cybergarden.

Have just had lovely large lunch, plus Skype visit from rest of relatives, so will have a little potter round RL garden, hoping all is well and welcoming now in cybergarden's summerhouse.

Thank you so much , shodatin ! Was just PMing all to ask whether we should have a new thread for the time being , So sorry couldn't post til now
< HF brings shodatin a very early yellow blossom from RL bush which seems related to forsythia , but a double bloom >

So lovely to se you , tianc ! I know what you mean about thinking of usa all - The lovely people on this thread are real day- to -day companions now.
Hope you are able to enjoy some of the ways you like to spend the holiday

You are a most generous hostess and thank you so much for magic and DB choccies

Not trying to have a proper Christmas Day here as both been done in by virus earlier in month and we should to visit our Mums for a bity today - we'll have a present - giving and loafing day later in the week

Snoozed till noon and been bustling about after HF since , doing wrapping & food etc -extra fuss and treats for Christmas fo HF and ndt of course

My favourite thing about this day is the feeling of many people at once enjoying a certain atmosphere

Thank you so much , was lovely outside church , and dh thought to use my rather tacky battery powered Xmas candles as torches through long churchyard , which always has some lanterns lit in remembrance on that night , and even a few Christmas trees .
Had a "good long mass" on TV , shodatin , big Catholic church in Southwark with prayers in different languages

grooooooan at your soaking taties , shodatin - did you have to have mash insstead of roasties

Hi all - have a very blessed Christmas

shodatin funny thing is I was looking at this thread last night and was wondering whether to start a new one. But I haven't posted for so long that it felt a bit intrusive...

hope you're all ok. Mousling is busy playing with his new toys. Still has presents to unwrap but is too happy with what he has for now to bother with those

Thankyou for glimpse of mouseling with all his presents madmouse - hope you're all enjoying Christmas and have a good year in 2012.

Hope you're both feeling better soonhob, and can enjoy family time today at least - such a shame to be unwell at this season. Hope you don't mind that I started a new ?continuation? but could just let it lapse if you'd rather, however, I too feel we have some worthwhile relationships going here and would miss you all if we closed down the cybergarden.

Taties were only soaking to preserve for a day hob, then parboiled and roasted with oil as usual - only the parsnips were creamed and seasoned as no room to roast.

Please thank HF for lovely flower, such a nice surprise.
Hope everyone's enjoying the holiday.

Sending good wishes to all

< waves excitedly > Thank you from me , upward - hope you're having a lovely time & hopefully feel well enough for there to be good memories of it all

Great to see you , madmouse , and thank you too . How brilliant to give us a "peep" at mousling enjoying the first batch of presents so much he didn't need to open the rest Hope you can all have a very restful time after this busy one - and of course you'd have been welcomd to satrt the thread , good grief ...it's nice to that shodatin did so , who I tend to think of as the one who has held the thread steady over the months , and kept us smiling

Ah , I see , shodatin - I was envisaging a Christmas where you forgot to retrieve the taties ! Creamed parsnip sounds very comforting

Of course the new thread is right , thank you for even querying it . Totally agree this is very worthwhile and I so value the friends I've found here

Are rushing about doing visits now - thinking of us all
< lights candle bridge in summerhouse >

< HF settles at shodatin's and DB's feet >

Lovely to have news of you again upward, and glad you found new route to cybergarden. Hope you're enjoying the break with your family, and feel able to relax your so-effective diet at this time, for just a few days. Wishing you a better year in 2012, and hope there are lots of good things left for you in this year.

Wishing a very happy and healthy Christmas to tianc too, and hoping you'll soon be recovered enough to visit cybergarden (and check it's all in decent order).
Here's to 2012 ! Cheers!

Sorry hob - seem to have crossed posts with you, but thankyou for letting us borrow HF while you're away visiting, and hope you and DH enjoy your time with the mums and then enjoy your own special Christmas later.

DB is resting just now, having a break between meals, but he deserves it after finding me a really lovely gift (and a couple of extra afterthoughts).

Wish to announce here that gift of traditional gnome for garden was very well received (so there...)

Just dropping in to check all is well in summerhouse, no wild parties taken place this evening and no cats about to be shut inside when I close door for the night, although it's still available for stargazing, meditating, toasting cold feet on banked-up fire, of course, but am now off to bed, hoping everyone will sleep well.

Am overjoyed at gnome news , shodatin Thank you so much for what is certainly a first and best cyberChristmas for me

Good evening , thank you , though we only went to my DM in the end ( ILs weren't expecting us ) as I was so slow and MIL gets sleepy very early - you can imagine how guilty I feel , but I hadn't expected to manage a visit to them ( they weren't expecting us ), and my Mum hadn't had her cards / pressies in advance .
DM has showered us with gifts and food and quirky things , despite all pleas to save her modest income .... her little flat is packed with cheery little nicknacks & is the most welcoming place possiblees

Am joining in with your thoughtful wishes to upward and tianc ,

Sounds as though you 've had a brilliant festive weekend , no doubt very cheering for DB . I hope you find 2012 full of good news and many good times with friends and DB

Had a lovely couple of days here too - much less irritable and frantic than I 'd expected - hope has been the case for all

Peaceful night to all < warms rugs for stargazers and hopes tianc has had some nice time today>

Glad you managed to see DM, and certain it was a lovely surprise. Managing the finances to find money for presents for loved ones is probably a pleasure for your DM, and certainly part of Christmas spirit; it's lovely.

Am so pleased it's been less irritable and frantic for you, and hope it continues - been surprisingly good here too.
Definitely off to bed now - night.

Tis I, a name changer.

Ah, what a welcoming, festive new thread! Did I see fairy lights as I came in? Sounds like good Xmases have been had, for us all I hope. Wonderfully quiet and relaxing here - and flat in the best way on the sofa.

Sleep well all!

Morning namechanger! Very welcome too, for cleaning out pot, which I suspect was yet another little domestic chore undertaken by tianc (always relied on the overnight fairies for things like this). Please, may I have a clue? Or reason for letters in new name? (Feels like HF with new names, although sure ndt has few reservations about newcomers, if friendly).

Hope everyone has a good day, sun shining here and about to plan expeditions, but will arrange first.

Morning all ! Thank you for , shodatin , after kind cleaning by
< HF hops onto sofa with Nilgiri >
I think she knows this namechanger well , shodatin !
Hope you and DB have a restful day & the weather allows a potter outdoors too .Glad weather started fine and outings attempted

Hope we all have lovely day - hope time on sofa is filled with holiday silliness

Argh , big family day here with kind SIL's family , which means a lot to dh even though it's torture .... chores first < swaps seat at table with with less grumpy person >

< reassures Nilgiri about HF's allergen free cybercoating >

Have a lovely day with family hob!
Just been out for unsuccessful trip - should have checked for event this year- but sun still shining and plan to get some sea breezes after lunch.

Hope everyone else is happily occupied, with or without non-allergenic pet.

Sorry about event not being held this year , shodatin , and hope you both enjoyed seaside visit

Thank you for kind wishes - MIL too poorly to go , sadly , so we're sitting with her for a while -nice to have quiet time - then off to meal etc

Hope all relaxed and content this evening
upward's magic

Didn't get to seaside hob, DB having watched horrible "Strictly" on TV then napped after lunch, it didn't fit in, but could have been worse. Just spoken to old friend limping with arthritis, who has managed to have two (male) friends to stay over Christmas, despite her DH now being almost blind - very sad, also for your MiL being too ill to join in as wished.
A mug of upward's magic and yet another of DSis's endless chocolates of course, not bad at all, and glad it;s OK to relax now.
Hope you (and any other visitors) enjoy this evening.

Nilgiri is an area of India producing a particularly fine !

Will PM everyone so you can be confident who I am (tho don't think you'll have too much trouble guessing!). And well done, hob, and thank you for remembering I'm allergic to cats!

But sorry the big family day was such hard work. These things are lovely to have done, aren't they, although sometimes a bit much while actually doing?

What a shame the event wasn't on this year, shodatin. But wow that you got a glimmer of sunshine!

Upward hope your busy family Christmas is going well, and you're not exhausted! I'm sure the lovely small person/people have been clambering all over their treasured auntie with great glee!

madmouse that's such a lovely, lovely image of mouseling so engrossed in his first presents as to forget he had more!

An inspired choice of name for our threadThank you so much , will look for PM

Sorry for your determined friends , shodatin hosting for Christmas against all odds , and for worrying you about MIL- she sounded horrifically ill on phone with lung problems , but better in person , and was actually able to stay awake for our company ! We had a lovely quiet time with her . Just got back from family meal now - our poor hosts were off to their beds including beagle

Agree Strictly is yucky < fan of the proper old Come Dancing > You must be pleased to have provided such comfort foor DB , and I hope you're not in too much discomfort from extra efforts

Hope we all have sweet dreams .... sorry not a propwr post as just got in

So glad you've managed to post again hob, and so pleased you've had a good time with MiL despite her ill-health.

Am really tired (hate to cook) or wouldn't have been so rude about "Strictly". Bet your friends' beagle was looking forward to being in a bed too, so thanks for the mention, and hope HF managed to enjoy the day too.

Good night all - hope upward is managing to sleep better at family home, and is catching up on sleep now.

Poor MIL, hob! Glad to hear she was better in person, where more can be done with just smiles and gestures rather than talking. Do hope she's stable at the moment, and not in distress or discomfort.

at weary beagle wending bedwards! I bet HF is tucked up warm, too! Though ndt surely the sort of crittur to be out roaming at this time of night...

Hope that's the hard culinary graft over for a week or two now, shodatin. Leftovers-sandwiches and chocolates constitute a balanced diet round here... How wonderful to have made Christmas such a good, memorable day with DB, and put last year firmly behind you both.

Hope madmouse, Upward and any visitors have had a good day, and sleep well. Night all.

Morning all, and many thanks to Nilgiri for arranging refreshments for late-nighters, tianc used to see to these arrangements, rest of us forgetful sometimes, but never tianc, so am pleased that Nilgiri is with us and hospitality continuing.

Wish everyone a good day, whatever weather throws at us (and here it seems to be brooding/brewing something nasty), but will aim at sea-side and good restaurant anyway, before getting DB to train. Thanks Nilgiri for mentioning last year's experience for/with DB - had honestly not thought of it, and it's not been mentioned either, so good.

Another disappointing excursion due to closures, plus nothing of interest in sales (DB inspected ladies' garments in M&S and commented on lack of fashion, so didn't like to look closer or purchase), but had good early lunch and time on sea-front, amazing number of people frolicking on beach despite dampness and drizzle.
Gnome was much appreciated, and will fit in well with rest of collection, I'm told, but don't suppose Nilgiri likes gnomes somehow...

Hope everyone's having a nice, relaxing day and enjoying the holiday.

Sorry, I'm just non-gnomic...

How disappointing more excursion-y things were closed. Glad lunch was good despite drizzly day.

Definitely dark and threatening here too - lights on all day. But mild, so safer for all the people travelling, which is a welcome relief after the last few years.

Nice to visulise mousling with his presents. I hope you have a merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year, madmouse :)

shodatin and hob, it sounds like you're both having a good time, may it continue :)

Nilgirl, I'm glad you had a quiet and relaxing time :)

I seem to have crashed today :( Couldn't stop crying for 2 hours

Sorry you had a difficult day upward, possibly relief after such a difficult run up to Christmas. Hope your family were understanding and that you feel more relaxed now and able to enjoy rest of your stay.