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Good morning, Rusty!
Cold and frosty here....and earlier it was very foggy.
So I have delayed walking the dog, until the fog lifted.
What sort of day do you have ?
Now regarding "pipsqueak"...there is quite a bit of info in Wikipedia, which may interest you?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pip-squeak
I hope the link works.
You mention the cemetery.......
We shall go to the Crematorium with our Christmas wreath on Thursday, as that is the Anniversary of my father's death.
(I have yet to buy the wreath!)
Right... a watery sun is showing its face.....I shall grab dog and go.......(strike while the iron is hot and all that jazz)
Back in a bit!

Good morning, Elle!
Cold frosty morning here, too!
I have read your link but it is too technical for a thicko like me!
I remember, I think, Lyn MacDonald, telling of Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.
I just wondered why an insignificant person was called a pipsqueak.
I have bought my wreath today, going to cemetery tomorrow.
Meant to be a lot less cold tomorrow!

Hi, Rusty!
We had a great walk...lovely sunshine and a tad less chilly than of late.
Very muddy dog though!
We had just arrived home about 11.30am., when hard on our heels came an old friend!
She said she had come round on the off chance we might be at home!
She was lucky indeed to catch us!
She has only just now left for home!
It was lovely to see her and catch up with her news in person.
My husband has now gone off to see the dentist........he is having a replacement filling.
I finished my crossword early this morning, apart from 8d and 16d?
I have 8d: ?L?E?I?G / ?E?R?S
16d: ?A?E?O?K
Have you done these two?

Hello, Elle!
It is a smashing day here!
That was nice of your friend to call!
I have not looked at my puzzle yet, but have looked at the two you have not yet solved.
8d, Looks like "Bleeding hearts", I'll leave the parse to you!
Now, the other one is an unusual word that I first came across many years ago, reading about the French Foreign Legion, I think it was.
"Havelock", is a piece of cloth coming from the back of the cap to protect the neck from the sun. Simple parse.
Hope your husband gets on fine with his filling!

Hi, Rusty!
Uhm.......Yes, I can see the parse for "bleeding hearts"
B- British
Leeds - city
+ anagram of "the grain"
But I have never come across the term before!
Nor have I heard of "havelock"!
I should never have got either of those, so thank you for your help!
Yes, husband back from the dentist (with tooth duly filled) just in time to accompany me down to the High Street!
We are home again now.... and I am not moving again today!

Hello, Elle!
I would not expect many to know "havelock", just sheer chance that I read about it before.
But surely you have heard of "bleeding hearts"?
It's a disrespectful term for do-gooders.
I bet your daughters would know the phrase?
Well done, the dentist and your husband!
I am not budging again today, too.
Been laying out stuff I need for the cemetery tomorrow.
Will do a bit of trimming and tidying whilst there.
So, old clothes and secateurs at the ready!

Hi, Rusty!
I have just been talking to my daughter on the phone, and forgot to ask her about "bleeding hearts"!
BB finishes school on Wednesday.
He is getting very excited about Father Christmas coming!
The "goodies" to be left out for the reindeer still seem to be causing some concern!
What happened to the good old carrot?
I am thinking you might need "wellies" added to your list for the cemetery?
On my recent visit to our crematorium/ cemetery, the ground was a morass!
"Be prepared" seems a good motto?
I had chicken tikka masala for dinner.
Delicious!

elle
In our house reindeer always got carrots and Father C a sherry (I can't stand mince pies and won't even have them in the house). Last year my son sifted icing sugar onto the hearth and made footprints in it!
My (live) tree is still outside and will be until Christmas Eve. I want it to survive to be planted out in the new Year. My parents never did any decorating until we had gone to bed on Christmas Eve anyway- my father made fantastic streamers from that foldable silver tape used to deflect aeroplanes which I believe he bought in quite large quantities after the war.

Hello, Elle!
I am getting very excited about Santa Claus coming, too!
I think our schools finish on Friday (half-day).
Carrots are fine for reindeer, I'd say?
I have my walking shoes to wear to the cemetery and old papers for the floor of the car to be mud free.
I think I have thought of everything, bottle of water, scissors, secateurs, a firm brush for my shoes, etc.
I am glad you liked your dinner.
I confess to never having eaten chicken tikka masala, that I know of!

Hello Ros, Elle and Rusty,

Hope everyone is feeling fine.

I am ashamed to say that neither reindeer nor Father C got anything
left out for them in our house when I was a child - it just was not
so much the custom in France.
On the other hand, the Christmas tree decoration was very much
a three-some affair: I controlled the bottom third, my mother
dealt with the middle portion and my father decorated the last
top part - Except for the bit Star right at the top which I used to
put on the tree, perched on my father's shoulders (like on a horse)

Obviously, when we were kids, the presents were not put under
the tree until I had gone to bed, but later, they would be under
the tree from the morning of Christmas Eve, and everyone who
arrived for the evening joined their presents to ours, and the big
ceremony of crawling on all four under the tree to find your own
presents started at Midnight, (I mean adults and teenagers!) after having wished a happy Xmas to everyone present with a glass of champaign.

Now, I just have a small false white tree which I have today put
on the bar, and that will do me just fine!