General Chat

Hi everyone.. Been a while since I was here..

Teresa So good to get the good news about Bob.. Big hugs for him and you.. The new house sounds lovely and the cows at the bottom of the garden just beautiful...I would love to live in a country town but John wont move,,He is a city boy..lol..

Edith Sounds like you are having a Indian summer...bet the snow will come with a vengeance when it arrives..keep warm,,are you still feeding those foxes..hee hee ..Did you have a nice bit of retail therapy..does one good ...but don't bend the plastic to much...lol

Fred.. Sounds like you had a safe and interesting trip..Its amazing how old school friends change with the years..some people just don't weather the years to well..hee hee hee...not like us,,hee hee he...

Christine What sad news about your husband uncle I do hope he has a full recovery,,Don't give up your family history,,keep branching out to the smaller twigs and see who you can find that is unexpected..I found a tree with one of my uncles in it and when I searched the persons tree he had Winston Churchill in it ..Am quite sure its not on my side of the family..trouble is he has so many mistakes in the census he has added to my side of the family I cant believe it..I have the correct ones and he has them way up north of the uk somewhere..They never left the south..Ah well he did have on his tree a picture of my uncle so I snatched that and added that to my tree..seeing as how he had added all the certificates and records I had photographed to his tree...fair exchange..lol..

Les.. You busy sewing again..why don't you put a symbol or a type of trademark on your aprons so that anyone copying them can be suied..lol..at least the buyer will know they are copies...keep warm ,,,

Well am going to go to bed..sleep well..

Love Mary xxxx

Morning all. Returned from the "shopping"trip. Prices were already being cut, so did get some bargains. The real bonus tho' is the weather,NO
snow and its Nov. we have now shortened winter by a month. In our part of the world that is a big plus.
Great to hear from you Teresa and the good news about Bob.
Fred as usual you are a busy bee and thanks again for the pics. Time to slow down tho' now with Christmas coming and just put the tired feet up and sip a hot toddy.!!!
Les, still sewing??? I think you have been getting some of our winter weather. You seem to have had a lot of the wet stuff. How is Bella holding up or does she enjoy running in the rain.? Hope you and Norm are well.
To all the others stay well and let's hear from you.Hi J.A. will try to call you soon. Bye for now Edith XXXX

Just a quick one before i go to prepare the dinner all, we got back safely at 7 oclock last night had an instant cuppa soup ,while we made a fuss of Hissy and waited for the house to start heating up.
I found my grandads grave this time ,and left him a Poppy cross ,and some flowers with apologies for taking so long to find his resting place.
I also found Junes plot [she is buried with her parents] and Alans ashes will be buried in the same plot,so i left flowers for all of them.
Then on to dads grave way up on the hill,and noted that from there all the graves were set out in a triangle and could be seen from my dads plot ,so,that seems to mean that little extra to me.
We missed the snow showers on the way down too and all went well apart from roadworks everywhere.
Got a pleasent shock too [two of them actually] the first being accosted by a fella in the pub where the buffet had been put on ,this bloke says to me [you don't recognise me do you?] and of course i had to say no.
My name is Rodger Newton he says ,and my mouth was gobbed ,lol,i used to go to Spring Gardens and Hatters Lane school with him.
When i then found out that he was married to cousin Sue ,my mouth dropped open ,he he ,small world aint it?.
The next shock i got took some getting over,because cousin Shaz' had brought loads of photos that she had scanned onto her puter and now wanted rid of to save space,
I picked out one of Alan in his Royal Marine Uniform ,andreached into the box because i was sure i recognised the vessel in the photo because i already had one from Lizs Dads photos,and i was right ,a Picture of the aircraft carrier Impaccable,.
It was the ship that Alan was posted to in 1942 on completion of his trade training,the very vessel that picked up my Father in law from the p o w camp in singapore and took him to Sydney in Australia before going on to, Canada and then home to england,Both my uncle ,and dad in law ,on the same vessel ,at the same time all the way home ,not knowing that they would be distant relations one day how weird is that,lol?.
The hotel was very comfortable ,only a few miles from the M 25 and the road home.
We were lucky too in that only a hundred yards ,on the roundabout is Tescos ,so ,we filled up the car ,and ourselves with a nice evening meal,so good wasit that we went back for brekkie the next morning ,saving ourselves a good bit on eating prices lol.
Have to get on with the dinner now ,the bairn wants mince and dumplings[again].
Catch you later all,Fred.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Canucks all
Teresa, such good news, been wondering how you were both going. House and cows sound sooo nice, know what you mean - will look forwrd to hearing about the garden you are green fingered growing!

Blessings wished for all

JA

Hi Everyone,
Gosh, it's been ages since I have posted on here. I promise to do better in the future.

Well, we are all settled in our new home with only a few boxes left to sort out. They are mostly pictures that I am determined to scan before I bury them in the storeroom for another 15 years.

So far, country living is great! We get up each morning and watch the cows come to the stream at the bottom of the garden. I know some of you in the UK are used to having animals close by, but we have lived in the city the whole time we have been married so having cows at the end of the garden is a big deal for us! While our house doesn't have the mountain view, all I have to do is walk two hundred yards to the end of the street and the view there is awesome. Right now they are covered with snow and look fantastic. We don't have snow here yet, had a little the week after we moved but since then have had it quite warm, supposed to be 11 degrees today. I am sure it will cool down soon though.

Bob went to the cancer center the week after we moved expecting to have Chemo and was told he was done. We are thrilled of course! He ended up having 11 of the expected 18 treatments. He had a follow up visit yesterday and is now off all meds and doesn't see the Doctor again until January. Fingers crossed that we don't have to deal with this again.

I have promised myself a day of family history research so off to do that now.

Love to all

Teresa

Good morning all of you lovely peoples,a little on the wet side here but sunny with it ,could be a lot worse,and i ain't complaining .
Hey J A you contemplating the future says it all ,time to do a Fred lady,slow down ,put you feet up ,and let the world pass you by ,you have more than done your bit ,AND more.
Had an amazing bit of luck J A ,Liz had a cousin doing a bit of clearing out up in the loft last week and came across two addresses for our Rileys in Australia ,both in N S W ,one in Bathhearst and one in Carey Bay,so i reckon that's where the pic was taken on the beach at the B B Q,
Now ,i hope ,with help from you peeps ,i may at last find out where Walter is burried and put the record in order,and who knows ,i may now find out where his children now are.
Liz and i are going to be a tad busy over the next few weeks what with the funeral this weekend ,and the run up to the festive season.
Firstly ,mid December we are off down to Lyneham to help Sean unpack all his gear from Cyprus ,and get the married quarters sorted out before Marta [the boss ] flies in from Poland.
They will be here for Christmas day only,going to friends all boxing day,so ,seeing as we are ALL going to the youngest sons for Christmas day for lunch ,and tea it will make a change for me ,no cooking at all ,yeeeeees.he he.the missus dosn't know it yet but SHE is doing my brekkie this year bacon,egg and beans .
I have brought Liz a nice little slide film converter, so that she can put all my forces days slides of Malta ,Gibralter,Spain,,and aden onto her computer.
I am getting her to do this because ,to be honest ,and blunt ,she has the knack of sizing cropping and recolouring pic's that i can't do nearly so well,i just takes them and hands them on ,lol
'Cides i do all the puter programming ,so it's a partnership ,fair doo's
and all that.
We are off down the sons shortly to drop off all the bairns pressies and bits and pieces so that ,at last ,we have our space back,and the gear will be delivered while the bairns are at school.
We are having a very quiet Christmas this year ,our turn too ,to chill out ,relax and enjoy our retirement,and me ,to make a fuss of our lovely Hissy,who has by the way ,three Christmas stockings ,and NO ,she is NOT spoilt [not much] he he.
catch you later, Fred ,Elfing his self this Holiday time.

Hello Canucks International all, stopped in to read while doing the looking after the parents bit in the UK for six weeks - been back a week and into high thirty degree heat for a few days and then coll on Monday Tuesday and hot again to day

I finished work in the public service before I left and am now contemplating the next stage of my life lol - and in the meantime sleeping heaps and doing FH
Take care all

JA

Hello all, Back home from Christmas shopping. A lovely choice of gifts
Much better than our small town. Bargains already as the stores are hoping for a better season than last year.Enjoyed a seafood meal too!
Our weather is unbelievable, no snow yet and even tho' the mornings are cold it is easy to drive on the roads.I know we will get snow but for now I am enjoying life without it. I see Mary amd J.A have hot hot hot down there
you have all my sympathy as it is just not my cup of tea. Hope the fires stay away. Enjoyed Fred's pics and his stories of the trip.
How is everyone else???well I hope. Bye for now. Edith XXXXXX

Hi all,Hope all are okay what with the weather and all,old Fred is thankful that the north east seems to have got away with it yet again ,and more thankful than ever that he decided to stay put and not move west.
The wind was that high last night ,that the roof was rattling well he he ,but what the heck ,that's now't and i am insured just in case.
Mary ,J A and the rest of the oz bunch have much much worse ,along with the Carlisle Cumbria lot ,and even parts of Canada coping [i hope] with flooding,so .i for one am ot going to whinge about a bit of a blow.
Liz and i are thinking about all of you and hoping we never have the same miss fortune as so many around our big community.
We are now in the middle od taking out tons of veggies ,blanching ,and getting it all in the freezer for winter use ,lol.i am beginning to feel a bit like a squirrel hiding nuts.
We are off out shortly to get Sean's Christmas ,come thank you for having us,present,a nice combi.mic,oven that has a convection ,oven ,as well as ,mic,and grill,we thought it would be ideal for them when he comes in off shift ,lots quicker and cheaper than using a full size oven.
Any oven that can fully cook a jacket potato in 30 minutes is good in my book,that being a nice crispy skin with a lovely fluffy inside,just the job ,for a quick meal before going to bed.
Being a tight assed Scot ,if i buy it this week from Tesco [no shopping done at Aldi anymore] i would get my double points,plus a cheap tank of petrol from the forecourt ,not bad , eh?.
Hope you all had a nice weekend and don't forget all 4 weeks and counting[ducks to avoid flying objects ,he he.Fred.

Ah Fred, you always make me feel hungry. As I write I am simmering the carcass from yesterdays chickan and tomorrow will make veg and split pea soup plus corn muffins....yummy. Tonight is Norman's cook night and he is going to make chinese for us...s and s chicken, chop suey, a little chinese noodles and rice...more than yummy...even better...I don't have to cook it!!

Hey Debs, good to see ya...how are ya?? in this wonderful wet BC that we live in. Our rainfall here in the Alberni valley is almost on a par with the stormy year of 2006. Lots of flooding, a little snow and hopefully a clear day tomorrow so I can get the rest of my veggies out of the garden.

Keep cool Mary. Let's hope that you don't get those devastating fires in the spring.

Hello to everyone else...
Lesxx

Good morning all you fair people,Fred has now taken the frogman suit off and hung it back in the shed ,and has managed to get out into the garden and rescue some carrots for dinner as they came up for the third time he he.
Seems as though Hissy has settled down back into her routine at last ,but i notice i now get an escort where ever i go,outside the house ,and in ,if i shut a door she will let me know she is not amused and dosn't like being locked out of where i am,this could be a little awkward at Christmas ,although we are not planning to be going anywhere.
Nearly caught up with the housework now but of course ,the garden is at a standstill because of the weather ,lol,it could be a lot worse ,this could have all come down as snow.
To think Liz and i nearly moved to Carlisle 5 years ago ,instead of moving here ,the mind boggles .all those people flooded out ,and the damage done to property and homes ,i feel so sorry for them,as i do for all the people in oz with the heat and bushfires raging out of control.
I remember my time in the gulf where the temperatures were that high ,that we could put a square of tin on bricks ,add a little fat or butter and cook bacon ,sausage ,and eggs ,no bother ,so i know that our Mary wasn't joking about the cooking.
Liz and i have done well since getting home ,nearly all the Christmas shopping is done ,food and pressies ,well the food was easy ,there are only two of us this year ,so a small joint of beef ,pork,and lamb,plus a small turkey crown,and a medium chicken ,all done and dusted.
The ham? ,well ,we cheated again and brought a honey roasted ham joint from Aldi ,and have sliced it and put it in the freezer until needed.
.I take it that despite all the bad weather ,all you bods are gearing up ready for the festive season,so that if the weather turns really nasty ,you can all say b****r it ,close the doors and chill out as best you can.
I am doing a small kalgannon for dinner ,using up the mash left from yesterday with a little grated cheese thrown on the top,and i have taken the left over meat from the last B B q from ther freezer ,chopped up pork chop.burger ,snags ,and bacon strips ,which i will put in a rich gravy .
Weeeell ,we need to start getting some room in the freezer ,ready for all the spare veggies as they come out of the garden,lol,we have all sorts ,tons of leeks ,brussel ,calabrese,beetroot ,parsnips ,all nice and juicy .and of course ,two huge barrels of potatoes,no matter what ,we will not starve over the winter ,i even have a good stock of yeast and flour in case we do get snowed in.
We have caught Mary disease reading about all her meals out with hubby at the club ,and have found a very nice place to have a meal out once in a while ,and have to say ,you had a darned good idea,Mary a chance to join a few friends ,and eat out at the same time.
.We have decided on either a Ford Focus or Fiesta as our new battle wagon,both very comfy and economical ,deisel for lower pollution levels ,the focus doing at least 70 mph,and the Fiesta doing nearly 100 mph,
Both cars come with the diesel engine as a standard option where as Nissan and Kia you have to pay an extra £400 ,so ,it seems as though Ford have got it together.
I got the sat -nav out last night and updated the maps ,which i don't have to pay for as i took the extra payment on board when i purchased it ,now i can ,if i need to ,update every month to keep it up to date.
I thought i had better do it ,because ,going down to High wycombe for the funeral this next friday ,i don't fancy the west coast route with all the flooding ,and don't know the way down the east side very well ,so the sat nav will be veeeery handy.
It's a pretty long drive to Chipping norton ,then through to wycombe ,so i have booked us in to stay overnight at the Premier Inn in Loudwater overnight,then i can slip back to Wycombe and the Cemetary the following Morning to pay my respects to the family before coming home up the m1.
Have to go now peeps work to do and all that ,lol.have a good weekend all.Fred.

If someone in a Home Depot store
Offers you assistance and they don't work there,
You may live in Canada .

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
You may live in Canada .

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation
With someone who dialed a wrong number,
You may live in Canada .

If you measure distance in hours,
You may live in Canada .

If you know several people
Who have hit a deer more than once,
You may live in Canada .

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C'
In the same day and back again,
You may live in Canada .

If you can drive 90 km/hr through 2 feet of snow
During a raging blizzard without flinching,
You may live in Canada .

If you install security lights on your house and garage,
But leave both unlocked,
You may live in Canada .

If you carry jumper cables in your car
And your wife knows how to use them,
You may live in Canada .

If you design your kid's Halloween costume
To fit over a snowsuit,
You may live in Canada .

If the speed limit on the highway is 80 km --
You're going 90 and everybody is passing you,
You may live in Canada .

If driving is better in the winter
Because the potholes are filled with snow,
You may live in Canada .

If you know all 4 seasons:
Almost winter, winter, still winter,
And road construction,
You may live in Canada .

If you find 2 degrees 'a little chilly',
You may live in Canada .

Hi all.. Well as you lot are freezing and getting blown away we are cooking...it is going up into the high 30c's and low 40c's...anyone need anything cooked..will just leave it outside for a weee while and it will be done..lol

Just waiting for some idiot to light a bushfire as when they say it is a fireban day it is like all the funny farm people come out and light one..never fails..plus we have storms coming for the next few days and the lightening starts many fires, as the ground is so dry...

Been trying to subscribe to FMP but their payment system wont accept me,,have no trouble here in oz using my credit card but their one says no..missed out on the 20% discount ,,contacted my bank twice and still they say no..Have emailed them to find out what the story is,,Has anyone else had problems with them..

Better get ready and take John to the club for lunch..Have a nice day and hugs for all..

Mary xxx

Winter is truly here. Gale force winds two days in a row. Yesterday in the late morning a chunk of my neighbours roof flew into the front yard. Her brother was over, putting her fence back up!!! and he re-nailed the roof panel back in place. I was awake from about 1 to 3 last night watching the wind howling down the street and, amazingly, my neighbours roof is back in the front yard again this morning....must like it there!!
Today they say it will be a bit sunny until the next system hits us tonight or tomorrow....but its not white!!!
Invented a new spud dish last night. I layered thin sliced spuds with onion slices and tomato slices ending with the spuds. Drizzled a little olive oil over the top, fresh ground pepper and put in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes....it was amazingly good!!
A sewing day today as I am in another fair at the end of the month.
Keep well.
Lesxx

Funny thing Edith I did wonder if I should continue you blogging but reality sets in......most days I am a quiet girl....could ya believe that????
We are in the middle of our first winter weather warning....monsoon type rain. Our front gutters are overloaded and it looks like Niagra Falls out there. BUT I will not complain if it stays wet....don't want to deal with all the snow we had last year.
Today is day two of the first fair. As I suspected I have just about saturated the city with aprons and lots of ladies came to tell me that they were still enjoyoing the ones purchased previously. As lovely as that is....it don't sell any more does it??? Also heard yesterday that someone else in town is selling their aprons this year....ticks me off a bit especially as I was told that they purchased one of mine and have copied it....grrr!!!
I keep telling Norm to win the lottery and then we wont have to be bothered with all of this and could lol around all day sipping mint juleps......as if!!!
Lesxx

Welcome back Fred, will wait patiently until you get the pics ready.
Sorry Mary, you have my sympathy when it comes to hot weather. I am tickled to see our winter starting and really do look forward to the cooler temps. Never can figure what to take off after I get down to the bare skin!!!!!
In winter I can always add warm woolies.!!!
We are late getting started this year and are just now getting the first real
snow cover. Temps are still above normal so perhaps we are in for another warm winter.
Will be away to the big city next week, going shopping for the holidays and to get a bit of "culture" hee hee.
Our thread is very quiet isn't it? Is everyone too busy or perhaps onto new
projects. We have to get Les away from the sewing machine as we need some more stories.Do miss your "blog" .
Hope everyone is well and look forward to seeing you soon. Off to get some breakfast and then clean the snow off my car.
Bye for now. Edith XXX

Hi everyone. We have hot.hot.hot and I am waiting for winter to return already..thank goodness our winters are not like the uk and canuk ones..our winters are lovely and mild..

Fred so good to see you haome safe and sound..Bet the cat wont leave you alone again in case you disapear again..she obviously missed you ,,so I will be interested to see how Mr,D goes when JA gets back to OZ..LOL.
Hope your leg improves and do rest it as much as possible..Am sure Martin will be happy to give you a hand with the hedges. Hope you and Liz enjoyed the holiday and have come home rested..

Les..You still sewing..hee heehee..that basement is sure gonna be full with you all and Bella and Emily sharing this year..lol..

Edith. How are you my lovely..hope you are well ,,are you still feeding those foxes..hee hee hee..

Christine.. The 1911 census is going to give up a few family secrets me thinks..hee hee..I am hoping to get into it soon..still cant find out how my Dad got from Scotland to Singapore ...Cant find him on the passenger list so bet he worked his way out,,But cant find him listed anywhere..wander if they have a 1911 scotland census and if it is going to be opened up for searching..would be so good..

Hope all are well and have a lovely weekend all..

Love Mary xxx

ps..to find this thread quickly click on Bookmark This ,,,and then when you come on just go to the green patch on the left and click on My Bookmarks..done..

Sorry to be so long Les but i had a whole load of things to see to when i got home ,but anyway i iss here now lol.
We had a good flight back home and noticed a brigade of Canadian troops waiting to board the buses for two days relax leave before heading home in their canadian c 17s,all troops returning to cyprus [the staging point for afghanistan and iraq] have two days to use all the ammeneties at Akroteiri air base such as the swimming pools bars naafi and other clubs to wind down.we have seen the french,brit's ,yanks.italian and other countries troops coming through here all going to ,or coming back from their tours.
Well done to your lads Les ,the cheer they got as they came through the doors to arrivals left them in no doubt as to what the sight of them meant to all the people there.
Getting back home ,wow ,what a welcome Hissy went mad ,lol we had tons of loves off her and as soon as i got the basics done and sat down ,whoosh ,plonk ,there she was on my lap ,purring like a demented sewing machine,even sat here typing ,she has come in out of the garden and is parked on my lap aSLEEP ,LOL
No way will she sleep down here ,coming to bed with us ,curled behind my knees all night.
This windows 7 is well recommended by me ,lots faster than xp ,easier to multi task with than vista ,and a very stable platform to work from.
I now have all the discs but windows 7 upstairs ,,97,, millenium. xp ,vista ,so i am well sorted as to seeing to my own repairs ,no more shops for me .lol
I had an apple off our tree out back for supper last night ,an unusual shape and colour ,but veeeery sweet and juicy ,a good choice by the wife lol.
I have lots to do over the next few days to get back to normal ,lots of cropping and freezing to see too,but i will be lurking about in the background.
Stay safe all ,and be carefull in all you do.
I am now going to batten down the hatches to get ready for the coming storms tonight,see ya later ,Fred.

I am busy sewing but thought I had better rescue you us from oblivion....or wherever the heck we were.
Hope all are well....lets see some posting eh??
Lesxx

Hi,
Christine I did the last class yesterday and two of my group had already joined GR and had hot matches...I thought that was pretty cool!! Some of the folks in my class were just "looky loos" and I don't think have any intention of doing any work....maybe they thought I would do it for them? Anyway it was good fun and now its just back to the aprons.
The weather here today is atrocious, howling winds and driving rain. We left an upstairs window open last night and this morning we had a paddling pool....not too good for the wood floor.
Our dishwasher broke and so today a man came to put in the new one. He is from Wales near Swansea so we relived a bit of England together.
So who knows about Grandma Battys???? Unheard of in this country so today I will make two bowl sized yorkshires, one for each of us, and fill them with home made beef stew...good meal on a cold, wet winter night.
Take care you lot
Lesxx