Turkish Tearoom? Turkish Bath? Anyway, a Turkish delight awaits...

[MaryBS]

Picture the scene...

From the edge of every terrace and every step hang brilliantly white stalactites, and you can hear the joyful splashing of the waters of the hot springs as they cascade down over slopes where their flow is impeded only by clumps of oleanders.

Nearby is an oasis of refreshments, in our Pamukkale residence, air conditioned and with white washed generously proportioned rooms, with Mellors at the ready, to offer Turkish Massage to anyone who wishes.

The NMBs are in their element, whereas the bishops seem to have found their speedoes again.

Priest's hole is at the back, in a quiet shaded area, stocked with What Car magazines, Turkish rugs and Turkish delight

Sounds fantastic Donki (well, apart from the mozzies!)

Donki, hurrah re trip!
Welsh Borders were wonderful thanks. Lovely friends, splendid house, very good local pub serving food. And lots of time to catch up on some thinking and planning, too.

Serpent - we were all excited about Arrietty also but have just found out that it's not released everywhere and the nearest cinema showing it is 4 hours away!!! I'm really annoyed about it, we loved ponyo and my neighbour tomatoro.

Mistle -That is worrying. LittleO is death obsessed but has never spoken about killing himself. With regards to sport, I took littleO to a football training thing and had to remove him almost instantly, he was biting and hitting kids to get the ball from them . Unfortunately his first reaction to anything he doesn't like is to hit out. This has been going on for years.

Wow Donki - That sounds amazing! I went to Alaska some years back and thought it was so beautiful.

Scout - Urgh, teens are horrible!

Amber - Glad you had a good time!

Tee -how do you like Ireland? Does the weather not bother you? I have been to Belfast a couple of times, but years ago when I was a teen and there were soliders behind sandbags with machine guns.

More anyone?

AandO I love Belfast. I hate hot weather and we get a reasonable amount of sunny days. I lived in San Francisco before I moved here and the weather is exactly the same. I've been here 8 years on 1st September and there have been no sandbags, soldiers or machine guns the whole time. We have had alerts, but mostly I have witness the dismantling of the security around City Centre, where I live. Including replacing the bomb proof fence and restricted access around the courts and replacing it with a beautiful pedestrian area.

Are you Irish, AandO?

Amber that sounds lovely!

Donki I have always wanted to visit Alaska. I even have a cousin up there!

The one time I take TS to the park/playground without my camera I really could have used it. D'oh! I thought "no, Grandmom and GrandadScout don't want any more pictures of Toddler on the swing, I won't take my camera." He tried four, yes FOUR, new pieces of equipment at the playground today, mostly by himself and I certainly didn't stop him from trying all by himself (but was nearby enough to help if he wanted it). Kicking myself for not having it but glad TS was a brave boy having fun and that I got to run around playing with him.

MrScout is at a geek thing this weekend so I'm treating today like a normal weekday -- going to the park, out for walks, to the grocery store for a wander and maybe a drink.

Yay for Amber's trip to the lovely Wales. Well, I'm assuming Wales is lovely, I've never been (closest I've been is to Bristol and the Bristol area).

Maud, oh Maud, where are you? I saw something in the music shop window in town yesterday that made me think of you.

MT, no advice regarding MC but would like to offer hugs and .

Tee - I'm English but moved to Ireland when I was 8. I've been between the UK and Ireland ever since. Dh is Irish, we are here right now as he can get phd funding in Ireland but not in the Uk. Also LittleO is attending a steiner school (from Sept) and they are free over here but fee paying in the UK so it's cheaper for us to be here. Although if we were in the UK we might not feel the need to keep LittleO out of mainstream schools .

Lucky you liking the weather. The weather may also be a bit better in Belfast than in South West Ireland. It's chucking it down here and it's 13 degrees. What's it like there at the mo? There are something like 60 days more rain a year in the west of ireland as opposed to the east. The weather was better when we lived in Dublin, well, slightly. We have lived in London and Cardiff, we loved London weather and even found Cardiff much drier and warmer than here!

Donki - how lovely! glad you had a good time :)

Amber - you too!

Scout - ain't that always the way

Mistle - that does sound a touch worrying - miniThumb has a thing about his animals killing each other all the time but has never said anything in relation to himself. Have the school suggested anything useful for him? :(

I had a mostly child-free today - MrT took miniT over to MIL's for the morning, and then MIL took miniT off to visit friends who have smallish children as well, and MrT came back here. We had a useful afternoon, procuring a very nice tallboy for half price; but by the time it started to get dark, we were missing out little boy! Daft buggers we are . He didn't get home until gone 7:30 and was a tad wild; but he went to sleep ok, not even that long after normal time. Bet he's shattered tomorrow though!

It's about 17 at the moment, AandO, but grey and rainy. I'd rather it was 13!

We just got back from W5, the interactive science museum here in Belfast. LCT's a tiny bit too young for it, although he enjoys running around and pushing buttons!

::accepts and offers cake in celebration of TS going to bed at 615 and quickly asleep and LCT going to bed and quickly asleep at 710::

WAHOO! Good boy, LCT.

Mmmm.

Grant it, he was up overnight for a stupid amount of time and only had a short nap so not surprised Toddler went to bed easily.

I'm still a geek widow. Even though MrScout kept saying before "oh, I'll probably come home for dinner" (the event is being held in a local hotel, maybe 3/4 of a mile from here) today it was "dinner's around 7-ish with events/activities well into the night but I won't stay TOO late."

at the idea of being a geek widow!

at Donki's trip to Alaska!

to celebrate all of the sleeping pre-schoolers/toddlers!

We saw Cars2 and it was great, the cinema was almost empty and Small Bean managed to stay in his seat for nearly 2.5 hours which we were were very surprised at proud of. Actually, I think I should make a habit of spending Saturday mornings in a comfy seat with a large coffee - it was strangely relaxing!

The weather here is pretty miserable also. AandO - we lived in the west of Scotland for 6 years and I suspect it was similar to SW Ireland. We couldn't believe the difference when we moved here - the rain was relentless up there and we were never without waterproofs, even in August.

Being a geek widow meant I got a couple of things done tonight and have spent the evening watching US Crime Drama on tv.

Good morning!

Mr Bean is cooking breakfast for all this morning so place your orders....

Anything fun planned for today? Weather here is windy/rainy/yucky so wondering what we can do indoors that doesn't involve a shopping centre!

Morning! Still in my dressing gown and drinking coffee . There is torrential rain here today but the circus is in town so we are going to that. LittleO has never been before.

Where do you live now Bean?

I suppose there is soft play, cinema or cafe in miserable weather. We spend alot of time in cafes

Bean, remind me how old Small Bean is? MiniThumb was ever so good at Cars 2 when we took him a few weeks ago; so good that we took him to see Kung Fu Panda the following week, and a couple of weeks later to see Mr Popper's Penguins. He seems to have taken to the idea of a cinema with no problem, except that he likes to have the arm up between our seats so he can lie/lounge/sit on me.

A&O - we had Big Rain here today as well - but we needed it! Hasn't rained for 20d straight, and everything is just starting to come out (spring here) so it was a bit desperate.

Yay for TS going to bed early. I kind of wish miniThumb would but then he'd be up earlier in the morning so it works out ok for us at the moment. He's napping less in the day but when he doesn't nap, he starts to fall asleep around 6:30, which is usually just at the tail end of dinner time, and he has been struggling through it. Grrrr. Still - he gets his full complement of sleep, even if it is a bit later than most people would find acceptable, so I'm not worried. :)

I can't believe it is a whole year since CMOTD's riding accident that squashed her wrist - hasn't it flown by?

Thumb, Small Bean is 3.5. We did take him to the cinema about a year ago to see Thomas but it was just an hour. I can see us going more often now. As much as anything there are quite a few films that I'd quite like to see!

AandO, there is nothing wrong with chilling in your dressing gown on a Sunday! We are in Yorkshire. It was one of those moves that was just going to be for a couple of years but we never got around to leaving and actually we're really settled now. And when Small Bean starts school next year I think it is even less likely that we will go anywhere.

Today actually turned out to be very nice - went out on bikes for an hour or so and got some gardening jobs done. Also managed to book a holiday for next month so hopefully some sunshine then .

Sorry, just realised I mixed up people chilling in dressing gowns .

Time has flown Thumb - I never imagined a year ago that I'd be where I am now with it. I was still gaily thinking that a fracture/dislocation was going to need a couple of operations, but it would be ok after . Seeing an elbow surgeon on Weds to see if my lack of pronation/supination is up there and if they can offer a solution.

I have watched in awe today as friend used the minidigger in our garden - he is totally amazing with it. I had the kids all day, so went out and pretended to be mum of twins

Hi ladies, apologies for my absence for a couple of days. I have had an unexpectedly busy weekend (enjoyable though).

I am trying to keep up but failing a bit. However I am going to stick around in the tearoom if that is ok- hopefully I will get better at keeping up over time!

I think it's about 10 days since I first visited the tearoom and I have had far far fewer sad thoughts about DS being an only since I joined. Not really sure why, but who cares- it is a brilliant feeling. So even though the weekend is almost over I am cracking open a bottle: anyone?

CMOT, yup. In a lot of ways, the disabilities I was born with are a lot easier to deal with than the ones I've had since. I'm not about to say anything glib about any of it. Bloomin' well hope that the elbow surgeon has some good ideas.

Chemo again tomorrow. It's my last one, but for whatever reason I'm just sad rather than happy. Maybe because the holiday is over and there's the scary surgery ahead. Not sure.

Meantime, and on a lighter note, FineLad was booked to be a bouncer for a poetry event this evening. The mind boggles!

I'll have a or two, I think.