Feeling the Sundae lurve ... Yesterday she cooked my dinner even though she is home in Yorkshire. I snaffled out of the freezer the last portion of pork chop and mushrooms that she had cooked for us while here. YUM. And today I lobbed the great gobbets of Yorkshire steak she had brought with her from the freezer into the slow cooker and we had a delicious dinner of braised steak. YUM.


Sent by thought transference

Thank you! I should have pushed to cook more. I was so lazy.
But I was pleased with the pork (although I worried it would reheat a little dry...)

Oh, btw Mum wants to see you.
She can't get that you'd be in HW and NOT want to make the trip to Aylesbury.
"I'll even buy her and [Mr Limey] lunch at Mendoza's!"

She does mean it from a place of love. If she could drive, she'd come and see you, just to thank you for taking care of me. Just be grateful that she can't ;)
I said I'd extend the invitation, but you will only have limited time in the area.

Don't worry - she is also determined to see Carruthers over Christmas. She's an equal opportunity Mama Bear in some ways.

I'd be terrified she'll descend on him one day with a home-made cake, but she'd never actually break the sacred rules of privacy in that fashion. Mum's generation were like vampires in that sense - once you were invited in, you could enter any time you pleased. But a formal invite was officially required the first time (unless the post and milk bottles started to accumulate!)

Thank your mum for the invite but it really is a fully occupied flying visit. We also have no car with us - travelling by rail. The pork was divine! So was the steak. X

Sent by thought transference

I got word from my sister yesterday. She's only in contact with my parents in order to keep messages to a minimum. You see, she's deep in the mountain wildness of the Northwest Territories and her only communication is an InTouch satellite texting device that costs a buck per text and eats batteries like crazy. So she's trying to limit incoming messages to only emergencies.

But she sent out a handful of updates. She and her two climbing partners are attempting a mountain climb that has never been done before. In fact there are no clear photos of the mountain face they are climbing. Only grainy Google Earth pictures.

They got dropped off by helicopter three weeks ago and set up camp next to a lake at 61.872662, -127.69862. They have been attempting to climb the Western face of Mt. Nirvana since then. It's a cliff face, so it's very technical climbing.

In a week or so, the helicopter will come back for them and fly them over to the eastern side of Mt. Nirvana, and they will attempt the climb from that side. That side has been climbed before, so they know it's possible, and there are tons of pictures of it.

Then after two weeks of climbing on that side of the mountain, the helicopter is coming back for them and taking them about 20 miles to the north, to Lotus Flower Tower. This is a very famous location in the climbing world, and they are going to climb this:
Attachment 52586

But I'm happy today because I hadn't heard from her in a month, and it's good to know she's ok.

Aha, so mental illness runs in the family, that explains a lot. :stickpoke :haha:

Just kidding, does she have a family? It sounds like a very expensive operation that might take months of preparation, even for an experienced climber. I hope they have good weather, and no bears.

No family, just a boyfriend/partner who shares her hobby.

They both teach at MIT, so they have the summers free to do this stuff. They really take the attitude that they work to make money so they can climb.

I trimmed a really tall tree once.

:sadpace:

Ah, young, healthy, with time and resources, to do the things we read about and say that's so cool. Even things we say, nope, that's nuts, we admire others for doing. The kind of things that give an adrenaline rush, and give parents ulcers. :notworthy

How cool. Love their attitude.

Got a letter from Publisher's Clearing House telling me I've practically won $5,000 a week for life. With odds of 1,700,000,000 to 1, I'm a shoo in. :yesnod:

Oh, and I get to name someone else to receive it for their life, after I die.

Noooooo ! ..... You're going to die ???

What are the odds ?

One to one.

It's not looking good.

Life. Nobody gets out alive.

On a long enough time line, the survival rate drops to zero.

But everyone told me I'm immortal.



No.. wait... that was immoral. nevermind