A Dreary Day

It's quarter to five on Sunday afternoon on the 4th November 2012. I'm sitting in the kitchen and the beef casserole I prepared earlier with chunky vegetables, carrots, swede and parsnips with a couple of chopped onions has been in the oven for an hour and a half on a slow peep. It has about another hour to go and then I shall serve it up for Ishbel and I with some creamy mashed potatoes, but not to many potatoes.

It's already pitch black outside and the wind is still blowing and more rain seems to be threatening to add to the constant downpour we had for most of the morning.

What leaves are still left on the trees that surround us, seem to be clinging on as if they really don't want to be dislodged from their branches probably just as we would prefer not to be dislodged from our warm homes and comfortable lives.

Sometimes though we have to wander out, whether we like it or not. I had to go out twice today. Once to take Ishbel to work in the department store she works in, how I hate and detest Sunday trading, there is no need for it and that is not from a religious perspective, just from the perspective that we already work hours through the week and at different times, so we miss each other then too. And I am not particularly commentating on Ishbel and I here either I am talking about lots of family's whose working routines make them miss each other as well.

Then I had to pop out to, also to work, as a building and facility for local people was being closed by the council and people were losing there jobs and losing an amenity. This facility was passing to the company I work for and a new building, but not an amenity, will be built and more jobs will be created, but, it was still a sad affair to watch people who had been employed for years gathering and looking on sadly as the keys were taken from them and the shutters came down for the last time on the place they had invested so much of their own time and effort into over the years, and it is still appropriately dank and dreary on the streets outside covered in their carpet of russet coloured leaves.

Then I learn that one of dearest twitter friends Julia R Barrett, is also going to have to venture out, maybe not in dank and dreary weather, in Northern California, to go visit her parents as she discovers her father has suffered a torn mitral valve in his heart, that news was here, and the dreariness of the day is compounded by the news....

We wish Julia and Oscar her husband and more especially her dad our warmest wishes and hope that those wishes at least bring some warmth to them at this time of family distress.

But all is not dreary with others. Marylin Warner a wonderful blog friend writes the most amazing letters on her blog to her mother who lives a couple of states away in America and who sadly suffers from Alzheimer's and whose memory constantly needs to be jogged. Marylin does this through regular long drives and her blog letters which in all honesty are quite uplifting, as was the one she posted today, read it here,  and then the world didn't seem quite so dank and dreary after all....

And then finally, another dear twitter friend, Jaye Manus, who you can meet here, posted a comment on a blog that our nine year old grand daughter Mollie posted a while back, you can check that out here,  about 'treasuring that child' and wanting to adopt her, bless. We do treasure her and our other Grandchildren Jaye, we really do....And Mollie sent this response back to Jaye " @JWManus Tell Jaye thank u but she can't adopt me because I will miss my mum . Love u and I am having a curry for dinner"

And the day is definitely not so dreary after all as Ishbel has just sent a text to say she is on her way home and I've just turned the tattles on to cook

Hope your day is not to dreary after all......

Guest Blogger - Mollie Ing aged 9 on Books

I had Mollie and her sisters Shannon and Lacey Mae visiting this weekend.  Mollie and I always seem to get a bit of time on our own and this morning we went a walk to the shops, and, as usual we chatted about lots of things and then the conversation turned to books, surprise, not really as we do both like a good read.  So I suggested that mollie do a blog post for you letting us know what she is reading at the moment.  Like Grand dad she usually has a couple of books on the go at any one time and this is what she had to say:

Hi everyone, my name is Mollie and I am nine years old.  After the summer holidays I go into year 5 at Beaufort Primary and I will be learning German!

Like my grand dad I like to read and this is what I am reading now;

fairy dust by Gwyneth Rees the book is really good itself and there is nothing wrong with it .  The main characters are Rosie and her little fairy friends so I will give it a gold :-)

The naughtiest girl in the school by Enid Blyton also the book is very good itself and nothing wrong with it.The main characters are Elizabeth, her friend Joan, Mrs Allen And Elizabeth's teacher so also another gold :-)

My next book is the twilight saga eclipse by stephenie meyer so far of what I read is quite good but could put more information not just about what Bella is thinking .All the main characters are Bella Swan ,Edward Cullen ,Alice Cullen ,Jasper Hale ,Emmett Cullen ,Rosalie Hale , Carlisle Cullen and Esmea Cullen . So i will give it a blue :-|

How to kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee I have only just started it so I cannot write much about it.

I've  read a bit of Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney I think it was a bit much for me but I enjoyed some of it and Grand Dad says I can borrow his copy any time

And last but not least I'm reading Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban it is really good and there is nothing wrong with it the main characters are Harry Potter ,Ron Weasly ,Hermoine Granger my favourite and Albus Dumbledore so I will give it a gold :-)