Unsure, to be sure

Picture the scene; Julie and me will be having a chat. Suddenly, a wild Gem appears. Julie uses Baffle! It's super-effective!

OK, Pokemon-style shenanigans aside, I will often have to override that little trip-switch in my head so I can get my thoughts together enough to be able to write the Gem down. Following that, we will often talk about the Gem or what was going through Julie's mind while the mouth was off doing it's own thing.
That's the point, you see; Julie has said this to me often enough, and I am quite prepared to believe it; her mouth has a mind of its own and doesn't like to take instructions from the brain. Unfortunately, this is often just as confusing for my wife as it is for anyone she might be talking to at the time.

And, to be perfectly honest, it doesn't help when Julie's mouth decides to chip in when she's trying to explain herself. Seriously - it's like she's having an argument with herself. Don't believe me? Try this Gem for size...

You know, I don't think I was part of this conversation...

The illegible type

So we had our friend around to visit, which was lovely. Pierre, however, had never experienced Julie in full-on Gem mode in person. Also, he found out first-hand just why there are bits of paper scattered around the place - because you just never know when a Gem will occur.
Naturally enough, since there is no way you can suppress a talent like Julie's for very long, our German friend did find himself wondering if it was a problem with his understanding of English, or if logic had indeed done a bunk and left the conversation.

Me? I was scrabbling for one of those handy bits of paper, and reassuring Pierre that his commendable grasp of our language hadn't slipped, I hastily scribbled down what Julie had said.
As I have said before, there are often occasions when I will be writing a Gem down, but Julie will use that little gap in the conversation to come up with yet another Gem. Sometimes, it gets so that I'm struggling to keep up.
Fortunately, it wasn't that bad this time - only one more Gem was produced. But, boy, was it a belter...

Pistachios; nuts, not seeds, but very possibly seedy.

Sorry about the delay, folks; I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things...

When my German friend came for a visit, he arrived bearing gifts - mostly food and drink. It turns out that he had also been informed by a mutual friend that I am rather partial to pistachio nuts, so he bought three bags for me. Two packs had the shells on, but one was salted and the other simply roasted. The third pack contained shelled pistachios. Shelled and skinned, but unroasted and unsalted.

(In answer to your unspoken question, yes, they are meant to be green.
They're also one of the healthiest nuts you can eat and they last ages.)

When I opened the pack of shelled nuts, to see such a vivid green was interesting. Julie was a tad perturbed, until I pointed out that was how they were when free of shell, skin and salt.

I tell you - I nearly choked on my nuts.
Um.
Perhaps I should rephrase that...

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For more information on pistachios, drop by this site.

A generous, axe-wielding howler of a Gem

WOOHOO! We're back!
Many apologies for the absence, and I hope you haven't all drifted away through boredom. I promise you that we are now back on track and ready to post at our original rate of three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), with possible extra posts when we feel like it.

Since we last posted, Julie felt as though she needed to store up her reserves, which meant the Gem rate wasn't particularly high. However, that's not to say that my darling wife was entirely silent. In amongst everything else that had been happening in our chaotic couple of months away, we had a visit from Pierre, a good friend from Germany (something that confused Julie's already dubious geographical knowledge). It didn't help that she - for some reason - seemed to mentally default his name to Piers...

Anyhow, the day came, and we sat in the lounge, waiting for Pierre to arrive. Since we had never met in the flesh before, this was going to be an interesting meeting, and Julie was a tad nervous.

Now, was it nervousness that made Julie confuse psychopath, philanthropist and philatelist, or was she just getting back into Gemming with a fine old start? Whatever it was, welcome back, Julie!
As for Pierre, well, he proved to be a great guest, and it was fun to have him around for the weekend; pity it wasn't for longer... It also turned out that he had left his axe at home and has no interest in collecting stamps. However, he IS a rather generous person. While not precisely of philanthropic levels, we were stunned at the  basketful of goodies he brought us...

Booze, chocs, meats and - mmmm! - lots of pistachio nuts! As you can see, my friend is substantially taller than me (and rather cautious of camera flashes), but he was a gentle giant and it was a pleasure to have him as a houseguest.
Salud!

On hiatus.

Hi folks.
Sorry, but those circumstances really are not good. We're going to be on hold for a while.
See you soon!
Spike.

A pause and a change.

Hi folks, Spike here. Just to let you know that circumstances beyond out control are forcing us to slow down on the posts.For the next few weeks, there will be posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and maybe one or two extras.

Sorry about this. We love you all.

That's what I'M talking about!

Here in Britain, we have been gradually switching our TV signals from analogue to digital. Essentially, it should give us more channels and a clearer picture. What it really meant was a lot of people suddenly finding that they can't watch the four or five channels they were happy with. Well, not unless they either forked out a small amount for a digital adapter, or for a new TV and/or aerial.

What with all of that, we were discussing whether it was worth our while switching our phone line/internet provider to someone that deals with TV too. We looked at details for a while, bit it evidently all got a bit too much for Julie. all those details, comparisons, offers, etc. Julie looked at me and tried to tell me what offer may have been the best - or was it that she wasn't bothered at all? Or maybe she meant something else? I was completely lost, to be honest. And it seemed I wasn't alone...

Uh....
...what..?