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Hi, Rusty!
It is a lovely evening!
I sent you the link for "If".....did it work?
Thank you for your help with the two clues....
Yes, I know of "Niall of the Nine Hostages" .....he was a very long ago Irish king.
I did not think of the name though in connection with the clue.
I would never in a million years have got "banjaxed"!
It will remain imprinted now on my memory!
I talked to my daughter earlier, on her way home.....she is looking forward to their holiday!
BB has already packed his case!



Hello, Pigale!
Cat, dog and goldfish all doing well at this end, thank you!
My younger daughter is only going as far as Swanage next week, although in October they go to Ireland for a wedding.
Elder daughter and family are off to Turkey for two weeks, just before the start of the new school term.
No, I doubt they will get chance to meet up now before Christmas or New Year.

Good evening, Elle!
Fine evening here, too.
Yes, "If" worked.
I am very impressed that you knew of Niall of the Nine Hostages!
"Banjaxed" is a great word.
Used a lot in Ireland.
When do the family arrive?

Elle, just in case you (or someone) is interested, here is a link
to the French version of IF - TU SERAS UN HOMME MON FILS
YOU'LL BE A MAN, MY SON


https://www.rudyard-kipling.fr/Media-kipling-si.html

rusty

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting, too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

Is how it begins. This is from memory so I may not have it absolutely correct.

I had a lovely surprise today. My cousin sent me some family treasures including a stunning photo of my grandmother aged 17 , her sister and brother. Also a letter of 1947 from America. The lady (who had a shop) had been asked for stockings and underwear by her family in England, but had none for herself or her customers. She said many, many things were difficult to get hold of, especially beef. I didn't know there were shortages in the USA.
Good to hear from you, pigale. Is the temperature better? We had rain all yesterday.

Good evening, Rusty!
I think the plan is for the family to arrive on Saturday....or it may possibly be Sunday?
My daughter has a habit of moving the goal posts.
We are very much looking forward to seeing them.
I am hoping for lovely (but coolish) weather, so that we may get out and about.
I must think of something exciting to do!
Another book arrived today.
Well ahead of schedule!



Hello, Ros!
Wow! Very well remembered!
I am most impressed!
If you click on the link I put up earlier , you can see the poem in its entirety...…



Thank you, Pigale!
I shall see how far my French takes me....
I am much better at reading it, than hearing it spoken!

Hello, Elle!
They will come in their own good time!
You are doing well with your books!
My priority tomorrow is the cemetery.
It's my Dad's 30th anniversary.
Got a fine bunch of flowers in ASDA today.


Hello, Rosalind!
You have a fine memory!
There are little bits of "If" familiar to me.
Thank you for the poem.

Hello Ros,
Nice to hear from you too -

Our weather is fine, the extremely high (top high!) temperatures
have lessened now, leaving us with a pleasant range of 28 to 30 C
which is perfect, with nights cool enough for a good sleep - this was
the worse part of the recent heatwave.

We have little or no rain - just some on Saturday after a thunderstorm -
We really could do with some as our drought is rather severe and we
are on Water Restriction (not the farmers though, they are allowed
to water their fields or else there will be no crops!

How is the cake-making 'Cottage industry" going?

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, I am, aren't I?
And the books are in excellent condition, too.
And I also received some Storm Sure glue that I had ordered.....
My Nubucks are more glue than original boots, these days!
I hope you have a fine day tomorrow for your visit to the cemetery.
Your dad must have been quite young when he died?
I know he had lung cancer.....
My father has been dead for fifteen years, and was 93 when he died.
It is good how folks keep the graves and memorial stones in good order and take their flowers and plants as tributes.
But I fear this is mainly done by people our age?
I don't see many younger people there?
I wonder what the future holds......I hope this custom does not die out.......

Hi Pigale again

I have retired from cake making! Except for family occasions of course, and a gingerbread house with choc drop roof tiles at Christmas. I made my granddaughter a unicorn cake for her 6th birthday, the inside being layers in the colours of the rainbow. I was very proud of this because I had to figure out how to make a white sponge so the red layer stayed red (not orange) and the blue layer stayed blue (not green, normal sponge mixture being yellow from egg yolk and butter). The gasps of the children when my son cut the cake was worth all the effort!
I'm glad your heat has gone and hope you have some decent rain soon.
My neighbours feed the local foxes and badgers. I have recently spent a great deal of money to sink iron bars into the ground by 2 feet and 3 feet above (at 8-10 cm intervals!) to keep them out of my garden. I think I have been successful as the plums are dropping to the ground and there's no evidence the badgers have got in.

rusty
For many years I learned 10 lines of poetry (or Shakespeare) every Sunday evening for pleasure. I haven't forgotten these poems, but I couldn't do it now. I tried recently to learn the short speech beginning "The man that hath no music in himself" and I had to look up even that line just now!

Me again Ros!
Your unicorn sounds a mammouth task, but it also sounds
absolutely beautiful! Yes, you must have been both proud of your
efforts and pleased with the reception of the final product!

I remember your efforts for fencing out the badgers and am glad
that you seem to have succeeded - that also was worth the effort
(and money well spent!)