MRS B

Jill, hope the bird survives the night, probably been attacked by a cat - oops

Haha Beekay, those little plates are now designated as hog plates and they’re almost 30 years old.

Jill, so excited we have seen the new baby and what we think is the mom together tonight. Look how cute they are!

Dear Lizzie, so sorry to hear about your hubby who we all met at the last reunion. Hope the medics can come up with a solution. Scary times for you both though. Take care petal.

Melissa do you chop up the onions small and raw and add them to the mash, milk and butter ? Sounds very Irish (with scallions” as they call them) I have loads of spring onions ready to harvest at my allotment so this would be good to try. Be nice to have as a bubble and squeak type thing the day after too if you made extra.

Remember when corned beef tins were really difficult to get hold of during the Falklands War?

Jill, the baby has been out again early tonight in the same spot 2 nights in a row which is great. No sight of the bigger one tonight.

I remember Stuart’s dad Chris playing too. What a great end although we didn’t retain the Ashes of course. I was a little concerned when I checked in at lunchtime and Stokes had dropped Steve Smith’s catch but all good at the end. Pity we didn’t have more “oomf” at the beginning of the series

Jill, tracking the progress of our hogs, the baby who also has a lot of growing to do comes out every other night we’ll before dusk for food, the bigger one is out every 3 nights after dark for food. Don’t even know if they’re related but nice to have them both.

How can you not like a song written by Prince? Also huge talent, gone too soon. Look at the tribute to George Harrison where he just rocked up on the stage. I always think that artists with huge mental health issues, treated usually by eventual addiction, write and sing from their experiences and from the heart. I went to see Whitney Houston in Birmingham on her last round of concerts and she was diabolical, what a great waste of talent. The music industry, the availability of drugs and associated media coverage must be so tough to cope with.

Phil, that’s the beauty of making your own, you can adjust the sugar. I much prefer redcurrant jelly to either cranberry or medlar. Great with ploughman’s or poultry. Talking of which, Thursday I had probably the best ploughman’s of my life at the Plough at Normanton on Soar. Would highly recommend. Next time we go we are going to order one between us.

Lizzie, yep great player and also bloomin good looking! I shall miss him really for his cricket skills and humour. Reminds me a bit of Botham back in the day. Am sure that Harry and him will gain their goal of 6 pubs in the area now he is retiring, they already have two.

Jill, we’re still feeding our little one too, we have named it Harold, my two cats are interested but no more than that. Florence my little cat clearly thought it was time for a BBQ earlier! No comments Beekay.

Margie, you can stuff them as Jill says. If you Google “stuffed patty pans” (LOL) there are loads of recipes. The pictures give you an idea what size they should be as well.

Margie, you should harvest Patty Pan squash when they’re between 2-4 inches across. Any bigger than that they can be a bit tough. Why don’t you try one and see? Leave a good amount of the stalk on when you cut them off the plant and that gives you something for them to rest on for storing them. They should store quite well. Great for soup.

My father used to love Moira, he was an absolute stickler for the english language and she had the most beautiful speaking voice. I can remember Trevor Francis being sold for £1m, it seemed an awful lot of money in those days when we were all struggling. Very sad about George, he had struggled so much but never gave up.

Sustainability and recycling Beekay.

This is tonights visit, obviously hungry and no Beekay not fattening it up for a BBQ.

Think I might “unfriend” you if you carry on. I know you’re only trying to wind me up - very funny. How do you know it’s a fella? Might be a lady.

look at this little hoglet so cute, surely must be this years Jill ? Beekay you clearly didn’t wash your mouth out yesterday.

Beekay as Jill says wash your mouth out. Lovely creatures that remind me of my childhood at Tollerton when they were a normal occurrence in the garden and we used to put down bread land milk for them, Now not the thing to do with hindsight but they survived at the time. Now they are so rare to see. Am so lucky to have them.

Also very noisy Jill. I’m very pleased too. The way forward for me is dried catfood especially with a bit of rain on it. They certainly let you know when they’re around.

Have put dried cat food out as spotted a large hedgehog earlier which is now on its second plateful! Hopefully it’s the momma.

It’s quite small Jill. I have the same problem as my cat is in the garden, just been eating grass and now being sick on the patio - lovely! Fur balls I think but I don’t want her eating the hedgehog food at the mo.

Yeah I watched too, amazing. Let’s hope the Aussies don’t have the same result on that wicket in the second innings.