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

Yes please JM - am feeling wobbly today, probably due to over caffienation - but have had to have a coffee to get brain cells in gear enough.

I think I need a piece of barabrith to go with it though, as a nod to my weekend in Wales.

UniS Passes Mistle a cup of caffeine free beverage.

Hi Goth and other new people. Would you like a slice of cake?

Weekend away camping was OK, family do on Saturday which was fine, another little boy there for boy to roll around teh lawn with. I took my bike and Boys bike and we went for two rides in teh new forest. I had not stayed on a large campsite in school holidays before. I might not be dong that again in a hurry. 599 other families with screaming shouting children... not my favourite company.

Does anyone know anything about vodka? If I flavor it will it still last just as long? My posts in other places asking the same question have been ignored. One recipe says six months and another says a year.

I've been a bad mother and not given TS a hot balanced dinner. lol He doesn't do well in the heat (like his dad) and the kitchen is hot and his highchair is right in the sun so I gave him a cold picnic dinner in the living room with cheerios & milk, 3 types of melon chunks and yogurt. He had had a toastie for lunch or I would have made him one of those instead of cereal. Last night he was hot & bothered and absolutely refused his cooked dinner wanting only the cold stuff of fruit and yogurt so I figured I wouldn't fight the battle tonight when it's properly hot in here. He's obviously none the worse for it and I swear someone at camp put him on a stretching rack.

Off to find dinner for myself and MrScout -- (homemade) Chinese Chicken anyone?

Oh, JM, I've been to/through Ontario. Tis a very nice part of Canada.

Hi

Hope everyone has a good day.

Scout, I recommend making flavoured vodka, my brother has made some great ones. no idea on how long it lasts though as it gets drunk too quickly!

First day back at work so my brain is fried, still got to play with dd and give her a bath though

Sorry, know nothing about vodka!

I think it depends what you flavour it with - fruit I'd do 6 months, vanilla/ citrus oils a year or more

How was the first day back Steep ?

It was ok, thanks. What amazes me is I can be away for months and the same old stuff is still going on in the office! Think it will bother me less now I have dd to come home too though

Hmmm.... it has fruit (raisins/sultanas with orange zest) and vanilla and nut oil.

Steep, I've found office politics never change and are the same world over.

Popcorn anyone?

Scout - I would guess about 6 months (I looked on another website and it suggested it's good "till it evaporates or fills with dust balls - whichever comes first" if that helps). A friend makes Skittles vodka and it looks pretty grim (and makes me feel very old for some reason - give me a old-fashioned G&T any day).

I don't think there's anything wrong with cold picnic teas when it's hot. Small Bean loves 'fridge mix up' instead of a hot meal.

Steep - Glad that today went well. I met up with a colleague today who is coming back after maternity leave and she was equally amazed that not much has changed - we like to pretend that it's a very fast-moving business but in reality.....

an old-fashioned

::hears English teacher turning in grave::

I have made a resolution to keep out of office politics but we'll see how long that lasts!

Scout- very jealous of your son's cold tea, i was too hot to eat my dinner once I cooked it!

Might have to get my brother to make skittles vodka, I do love an unusual drink...

I visit my old workplace occasionally, and 11 years later, a lot of things are still distressingly the same. It makes me laugh - and was one of the reasons I left

Off to feed dd and try to persuade her that night time is for sleep...

Just went outside to bring my (camp) washing in from the airer and it's soooo much cooler/nicer out there than in here. It's one of those nights where I wish I was camping instead of my own bed. How sad am I?

Scout, vodka with fruit, vanilla and nut oil sounds delicious.

Steep, glad you first day back went well. I hope you have a peaceful night.

I agree that a cold tea is perfect on a hot day. I don't think there is any real reason, other than convention, that a 'proper' meal should be hot.

Its very stuffy here, I have opened all our windows and we have a lovely breeze coming in.

Today was my first day back at work after a 10 day break. I was delighted that the pile of paperwork was not too high. I hope I can keep that 'holiday feeling' for as long as possible.

Stick, it's a Christmas Pudding flavored vodka. No idea how it's going to turn out but thought of a few people it'll make a nice present for. Going to make a test batch but thought if it's nice/good I'd save the bottle/s to use as gifts. (Instead of one 70cl bottle I bought two 35cl bottles and will combine them for making the recipe since it's for a 70cl but really, who needs/wants that much seasonal vodka as a present? I think 35cl would be plenty and the square bottles look cool.)

TS will normally eat whatever I put in front of him so he wasn't bothered by his cold picnic at all. In fact, Cheerios and yogurt seem to be two of his favorite things (behind peas, that is).

So....another "scorcher" day planned here for tomorrow. Want to take TS out and about to do something. Anything. No groups at the Children's Center that we can go to (there are groups but it's ones like for special needs or multiples), swimming lessons are only during term..... I know we should go outside but, like I said, TS doesn't deal well with the heat (and it's supposed to be worse tomorrow) and we've just lived outside for a week. Any suggestions on what I/we could do? Thought about going to the garden center to feed the giant fish and maybe having our main meal at the cafe in the air conditioning so we can have another cold dinner in the evening but that just doesn't seem exciting.

Christmas themed vodka, brilliant idea. Do let us know how it turns out.

I have had several lovely afternoons with DS in garden centres, so I think it is a good plan. Our local one has so much to look at, I have to drag him away from the garden creature homes section. They have homes for everything from ladybirds to hedgehogs.

Do you have any woods near you? You might find it cooler there. Maybe you could do a treasure hunt or collect stuff for a nature table.

Or maybe you could run a cool bath for TS and let him splash around with a few toys to cool off.

I hope someone else can come up with a few better suggestions for you......

How about a toddler scout trip to a museum or art gallery to look at pictures and enjoy the climate controlled conditions.
Forecast here is cloudy morning and sunny afternoon, we have been invited to go swimming at outdoor pool about 6 miles away. Tis a COLD pool, so we shall take wet suits.

For teh Diana Wynne Jones fans- I've just read Fir and Hemlock. I had read it once before, but so long ago I had forgotten how it went. Rather good, Not nearly as "funny" as many of her children's books. makes me want to go and read some of teh books and tales mentioned in it now.

Glad work ok Steep. I find I care soooo much less about office politics than pre-Oxboy. Also most gossip etc done in pub after work which I never do now I have bed and bathtime to rush for!

Scout cold supper is fine. You could always keep some chicken etc from your supper night before and give to boy the next night. You could picnic outside with ease. Let's face it life is meant to be fun!

Mistle glad Wales fun. I love the castles there.

Mary- you get to the front of the legoland Q with three friends? I think you've just volunteered the next tea room meetup!

jm have a great trip

glad we have been an encouragement re a family of three.

Evening to any late people.

For the new ladies - I am in Australia with a 3.8yo DS. We have been trying for some time to have another but without success - am being investigated for fertility ishoos but is more likely to be old age than anything else. :(

Scout, no problem with picnic dinner! We often do those in summer here because really, you just can't bear to do anything hot! And one day with less vegetation than normal isn't going to do a mite of harm so you're fine!

JM - I know what you mean - too cold > wishing for it to get warmer; then it does and > wishing it would be cooler again! On Friday while we were in the Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens, the sun was baking hot when you were in it (and we were dressed for wintry conditions, which is what they were in the shade) - made it quite uncomfortable!

MiniThumb quite likes going to the DIY shops here, because they all have mini-trolleys that he can push around and "help" by carrying the little stuff in it. He likes garden centres too.

For those of you who like Terry Pratchett, have you read the Robert Asprin books? I may have mentioned them on here before, can't remember - they're very good. Fantasy humour!
I don't think I've ever read Diana Wynne-Jones. :(

LOL oxeye, happy to have a Legoland meet. DS and I are also 'entitled' to a carer each (so free entry to Legoland for the carer). In theory though, I am not allowed on a ride without a carer, in case anything happens to me :o

Thumb - I like the Robert Asprin books too.

Personally I don't see why there's any issue about the temperature of the food eaten. We quite often do salads in the summer anyway - and those go with cold meat, cold spanish omelette or dips (humous, guacamole etc) or hot things (dippy egg and soldiers, omeletted etc). I'm quite proud of the fact that MC will eat lettuce (although he's never overloaded with the lettuce bit of a salda) as so many other children of his age (6) seem to view it as if its poisonous or something.

If we were at home and MC was smaller I would have got the paddling pool out today - put him in an old tshirt and sun hat with or without trunks and let him get on with it.... Now, hose trickling down the slide makes it a lot faster, and waterpistol can be quite refreshing . Woods are good too - take the dog out to the woods as its much cooler that way.

There's some tea and coffee and a spiced courgette cake to help to use up some of the glut of courgettes around (although our's are not fruiting quite yet)

mmmm. Just eaten home made pizza - that makes a very good cold dinner as well the next day :). In fact, it's a decent use of courgettes too - because I don't eat tomatoes, I make a pizza spread-mix using minced courgette, mushroom, red pepper, olives, fresh basil and oregano and in today's effort, avocado and cream cheese dip. Very yummy! I have also used pesto mixed into it before now. Then on top of the spread, we had sliced turkey, pineapple, anchovies, and silverskin onions. Other pizzas would be tuna and capers (and anchovies and pineapple - for me, it ain't a proper pizza if it doesn't have anchovies and pineapple!)

Kittenito will only eat cold food: even the things that are supposed to be hot. It's a pain specially here because at 40 odd degrees food takes ages to cool down. I use a fan to speed along this process.
T minus 12 days and counting.

Afternoon ladies!

Yippee! Got more or less all the uniform shopping done! Just need to get some cardigans or those tank top like things whichever my daughter fancies and then stationery and school bag can be bought later!

Made a start on a granny square blanket for her today! Not a clue how long it will take me to do, it may be done for christmas!