Lovely morning chit-chat thread. July 2026

Oh yes they are called Beth and Rip 

OMG Lee, I love that you named them Beth and Rip, so cute!! Congrats on the new canaries, our pets certainly help entertain us when we need it the most. Macy has her work cut out for her with my depression once I'm able to get released, but if anyone is able to snap me out of this endless funk / mood that I'm stuck in, it's her.

~Stacy

Oh bless Leelaloo 

Beth and Rip are lovely xx 

Stacy, 

I'm so glad you got out of the hospital for a bit. You are making such great progress. 

I think feeling down and in a funk is almost inevitable given all you've been through. There's no way to avoid mourning your losses. But your underlying spirit shines through... I believe you can do this and come out better on the other side.

As an aside... wasn't that wildfire smoke crazy? It's hard to imagine how much fire  created it all! 

Hello 

We are back from our holiday at Yorkshire dales. Had a great time as it was not so warm there. Sunny with a cool breeze. Had lots of good food and ice cream . It was quite pricy, comparable to London price. 

Your new canaries look very cute and love their names Lee.

Stacy are you due to go home soon? It has been a long and hard journey , well done for keep going!

Going to friends’ for BBQ tomorrow on the only day it is going to rain for past 6 weeks :) Their house is near a flower farm so maybe attempt to pick some flowers. 

How is everyone doing? 

Stella x

Welcome home,  Stella!

I was surprised to hear that anywhere is dearer than London but there you go. 

I've been quiet for a bit as I was feeling more tired and was admitted to hospital on Wednesday.  A blood test to check I could start chemotherapy tablets had shown some odd results so now it's daily blood tests ( I feel I deserve a steak!) plus scans, to work out what's causing those levels.

Nothing much progresses in hospitals here over the weekend, so I am very grateful for my husband's morning visits with a mug of good coffee!

My sister is home after a girly trip to Italy so she will be in later on too.

Best wishes to all

x Rose 

Hi Rose, it does indeed sound like you deserve a good steak but the hospital budget probably does not extend to providing that?! I hope you get the underlying issues sorted out really quickly so you can go home and enoy the morning coffee even more

Fingers crossed, Patrick!

My sister was quite insistent about bringing me in a steak but maybe I will wait until I can enjoy it properly  

A friend at the Lake of Konstanz just texted to say it's still warm there, but no wildfires,  thank goodness.  What's it like where you are?

x Rose 

A tolerable 27 degrees and no wildfires but the next heatwave is forecast for the end of next week. I am not looking forward to it, I envy those living cooler climates

Hi Susan,

I know the smoke was a lot worse in Michigan, it was just so smoky and hazy here, and our air quality index was terrible, so I can only imagine what it was up north. The clips I watched of Canadian fires were unreal, I can't imagine living close to them in some of those clips. Did you see the news clip of the two trains in the middle of the fire?

Thank you so much for the kind words and compliments, I feel like my candle is slowly burning out though. I'm grateful for the amazing care and love and support I've received from my family and close friends. I wouldn't have made it this far without everyone.

Stella, I'm so glad you had cooler weather and a wonderful time during your trip. I bet the ice cream was really good! The goal is for me to be released by this coming Friday, I'll still require a lot of back and forth appointments as I continue to work through the phantom pain, the new normal with my blood pressure, and the current fit with my prosthesis seems to be okay. I just hope being back home helps my mental health.

Rose, I'm sorry to hear you're in the hospital as well this weekend, but at least we can be hospital buddies! I truly hope they can figure out why you were feeling more tired with the tests and scans, so you can go home soon. Thank goodness for your husband bringing you some decent coffee in the mornings. Have a good time with your sister! 

I hope everyone is having a good weekend! 

~Stacy