General Chat

Hello Everyone and a very Happy New Year to you all.
I have had trouble with my computer again over Christmas and have only just been able to download Christmas cards and messages from friends so I would like to thank everyone now for their Good Wishes. I hope you have all had a very Merry Christmas.
Norman is not at all well and seems to be fading away slowly. He is not eating much at all and sleeps a lot of the time and the doctor is just trying to keep him free from pain with Morphine liquid which he can take as much as he likes . It is so sad to see him like this and not be ablt to do anything to help.

I must go now.
Happy New Year and love to all

From Sylvia XX

Wishing all the lovely Canucks a Happy and blessed 2009
JA

Hi all... from sunny WARM Sydney..in fact ruddy hot...

Its a lovely day and I have been out to check on the prawns that we are gonna have for dinner tomorrow night..As we don't now go anywhere I have decided that we are having a nice meal tomorrow night while watching the fireworks on tv..Prawns, seafood sauce,,bread stick(french style), champagne. and a nice desert..yum...
Went out to post a nice calender to Fred,,of our lovely beaches near us..would like to send one to Les and Edith so could you email me your snail mail addy please..just want to skite about our lovely area and beaches..especially in the nice warm weather we get..hee hee hee...
Well done Fred with all that work with the meat..You deserve a medal.. just cant believe that you cant buy it in the shops though..It is so common here in our butcher shops, and very popular...Isnt there a old English song about ,,,Corned beef and carrots.......lol..
Hope all are well and ya diddny eat to much over the Christmas period..which I think I did,,hee hee hee...

Life is back to normal now and cant see us doing much for a while..Still no improvement in Johns legs so still praying for a cure of any sort..

Love to all
Mary xxxx

Hi Y'all,

Well ya know it thawed a little over the last couple of days and finally we could see our front path but no!!! got up this morn and it is snowing again. All of Norm's digging and salting have made no difference to the paths or patio....snow!! I am so sick of this, you cannot imagine. Took Bella for a longish walk yesterday. It was very icy because it had frozen again overnite. Anyway we trudged along and Bella was totally p.o'd with the snow as it was very crisp and no longer fluffy....came home in a sulk.

Fred could you email me the name of the salt petre company. Maybe they would send me their online recipe book also??? I am interested in the sausages as we purchased a sausage make for the Kitchen Aid.

Veronica, isn't it nice when the kids "do" a celebration. Both of mine are really good cooks and Nicky is the queen of all things kitchen. If there is a gadget you want...just ask, she has 'em all. I am peeved that they don't have their pressies yet as my theme this year was food and the kitchen and I got some neat stuff for the two girls to try.

Mary, send the sun....now!!! Talked to JA yesterday and it was going up to 30C.....grrrr!!! Me....I want it!!!

Love to everyone else...keep on posting, make it our NYR to post often....LOL

Take care
Lesxx

Morning all ,on this cold ,crisp morning in Newcastle,where the birds are having their brekkie,while i have Hissy indoors ,lol.but the birds are okay,the cat has a bell on her collar ,and as soon as she goes out the door ,or comes over the gate ,the blackbird warns the other birds that she is around.
She likes her new bed ,and spends half an hour each evening as we settle down in bed ,plumping hers up before settling herself in the middle ,with a self satisfied smirk on her little face.
Christmas went very well,the corned beef ,and Turkey wenr down well,and even the new style poast potatoes were very well recieved ,light ,fluffy ,but golden and crisp at the same time.
You really started me off on a mission Mary ,with this corned beef ,lol,but i ain't complainig ,and well done you,as you will see in a minuete.
The firm who supply me with the salt petre is a french one,located at an old fashioned farm and family bussiness.
They have sent me an online bookery book ,all to do with home curing meats ,from bacon,pastrami ,palma ham,and full gammon joints .
I can now cure my own back,middle,and streaky bacon,full gammon hame that can be hung in an outbuilding or kitchen for weeks and even a couple of months ,just like in the old days before fridges and freezers.
I also have the recipes for many kinds of sausages,from all over the world ,made with best quality meats ,and not rubbish like you like as not get from the shops.
I am well pleased old chum,guess where i will be spending loads of time now retired ,in the kitchen and garden having ooodles of fun,trying new stuff he he.
Fred is on a mission this morning ,having to go out into the sales to obtain some bits for the wifes new cam corder,some rewritable discs for it,a stick for stills,and a spare heavy duty battery,and maybe also ,an independent charger ,totally free of the camera.
Liz is well pleased with it finding it easy to handle,and easy on her wrists,so i can now get rid of the older heavier one.
It won't be going to a charity shop now ,funnily enough ,Stephens old camera gave up the ghost at Chrismas as he put it down after filming the bairns opening their pressies ,so i will give him the old one for his own use.
This new year ,we are spending at home,having Stephen and bairns for dinner,on request from the bairns for it to be a party dinner,sarnies cakes sausage rolls and the like,me ,it will be easier that way,and i can save my energy for the next Christmas dinner which will be when Sarah,and Sean come back with us from Cyprus for the week.
Hope everyone is looking forward to the new year?.fred is now looking forward to spring [sorry Mary ,but you have had your turn at all the sun] time for the Canadians Netherlands and Brits to have their go.
Catch you all later,By the way Mary,some of your rellies left Scotland in the clearances's and moved to Ireland,and vice ,versa.
Some of your pattersons have turned up in Manchester as a visitor in the 1861 cencus having some connection to my Rowans [the plot thickens ,chuckle].
Have a great time all ,love From Newcastle ,Fred,Liz ,and the Boss.xxxxx

Hi everyone..and a Happy Christmas to all...May the New Year bring Health, and happiness to you all......

Left for Orange last Sunday and returned yesterday sat. We had a lovely Christmas and it was nice to catch up with friends..the trip up was not to bad but the trip home was very heavy traffic due to lots of peeps going away for the Christmas New Year break..It is the big school holidays here and the main period that people take the kids away for a holiday as they don't go back to school till the first few days of Feb. so for us its a good time to stay at home.
It was lovely to catch up with the grandies and boy they are growing..taller than me some of them..
Fred How did all that cooking go,, Bet it was all gone in 5 minutes... Those Grandies would have made short work of it ,,,lol..I was so busy cooking that I didn't get any photos but never mind it was a lovely day..the weather stayed nice and cool most of the time so that was a bonus.

Sounds like you Canucks are suffering from global cooling...whatever happened to the global warming..hee hee hee...perhaps its all down here...lol.

Hope all are well and those snowed in keep warm and stay well...Love to you all..

Mary xxxxxxx

Well I hope you all survived yesterday and had a great time with friends and family.

i was very proud of my youngest daughter, she managed to provide a very good Christmas dinner for all our family and for all her partners family - total 22 people. You needed a shoe horn to get another body in the house and we where seated cheek to cheek so to speak!!!!! Its the first time in almost 30 years that I haven't been heavily involved in the cooking - just did my bit as asked, but I kept thinking I had forgotten something.

Bless her heart, her and Bruce can hardly move today they are so tired but she says it is a very happy tired.

The snow is disappearing rapidly as the temps have risen above freezing and we had lots and lots of rain on Christmas Eve, by New Year most of the snow is forecast to have disappeared - but I suspect we will get several more blasts in January.

made some fresh bread today so the house smells lovely - my oldest daughter wanted one to take home with her when she leaves tomorrow, so Mum obliged.

Enjoy the rest of the holidays

Veronic

OK sometimes enough is enough.....and this is enough already. We are now officially snowed in. It snowed on Christmas eve thru to the 25th. And now today, altho they are calling for freezing rain, it is snowing like a pig!!! Walked to the grocery store with our Belle and ambled back (make that staggered) thru the field in front of our house. There were places where you could only see Belle's head, the rest of her vanished in the snow....and we are not talking drifts...just snow. Today is the first day I would say that the ploughs cannot keep up. There are some people about in their cars but not too many. The roads are treacherous.

Normie and I had champagne with our brunch yesterday and we liked it so much we had a little more with brunch today...how decadent is that!!

Hope you all had a great day. Glad the pinny was OK Edith.
Kepp safe and warm/cool.
Lesxx

Morning "Boxing Day"

Hope all survived all the goodies from yesterday. We had a lovely day,the temp was up to -11 with a clear blue sky.
Enjoyed the antics of the dogs, for some reason the big guy decided to guard "all" the toys, The pugs even tried ganging up on him, no way was he giving up. It was like watching a bunch of kids.!!!!!
Many of our local uni and college kids had loads of trouble trying to get home as both Toronto and Vancouver had horrid weather and planes were cancelled.
The "gift"was a real hit Les and fit very well. Hope you survived the yuck hee hee.
Waiting to hear from Fred and family after all the cooking he had planned.
Off to do some visiting to-day so will get a move on.
Edith

White Christmas coast to coast....first time in 37 years. We got about another foot today....yikkity yuk!!
Merry Christmas you lot. Keep well,warm and happy. Here's to a smashing 2009 for all of us.
Lesxx

Merry Christmas Everyone,

I wish you all good things for 2009.


Teresa

Just wanted to wish you all a
VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY HEATHLY AND PEACEFUL 09
love brenda from friends and Neighbours worldwide..

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas and 2009. Keep safe and warm Canucks.
Thank you being here

JA

And speaking of cook books I have a much used (by me) Pearce Duffs cookbook that my Gran got with her new stove about 60 years ago. Somehow it ended up with me and altho getting a bit tatty...I still love it. It has the best almond tart recipe in the world!!

Calling for more snow today and tomorrow. We are not going to risk the journey over to the mainland so will just be Normie and I. We went out yesterday and stocked up on DVD's and all manner of snacks.

Bella and I have been walking the fields for the last few days. She does a great impression of a snow blower, loves to bury her snout in the snow and generally frolics like a kid. She is so much fun that I almost lay down and made snow angels with her....and then common sense kicked in!!

Favourite xmas song this year??? "I want a hippopotomus for Christmas" it has been played so often that I almost know it word perfect.

OK my loverlies I am off to do stuff. Dont over work in the kitchen Fred and the rest of you keep warm or cool depending on where you are.
Lesxx

Hello All, Just a short message to wish everyone a lovely Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year... Take Care

goodmorning from barrie we are expecting another blast of snow to-day will it ever stop good for the ski hills but not for me, talking about cook books I have a stork margarine cook book that I won in 1957 !st prize form 4a for domestic science as it was in those days the only prize I won at school the cake I made was a coffe walnut sponge cake, this book has travelled the world with me and I still use it from time to time. my sister in calgary has kept me updated with the cold and snow that she is getting I gather this is the first time in many years that all fo canada will have a white xmas I wish all of you a merry christmas and a happy 2009 bye for now dorothy

Morning all,and a Merry Christmas to ALL our readers ,lol.
Cor ,Who mentioned bero cookery books? ,lol,mine was my mums ,still in very good condition and funnily enough ,i will be using it today to make my pork pies ,which i make every christmas because i can cut down on the fat ,and enjoy a half one at tea time.
I thought i had better come in here this morning before i get started,because the wife is Banned from the kitchen while i gert started.
I have Salmon and parsley rosties to make for the tea tables,sausage rolls to do,but no mince pies ,i buy those while i make more important things.
I will get the stuffing put together this evening [dry] so that i can actually mix it [adding force meat Christmas morning ],i have the turkey to pluck ,and prepare ,pork ,gammon ,and beef [corned] to cook,enough to keep four families going until boxing evening.
The missus keeps well out of the way while i get cracking ,but ,i enjoy my cooking and apart from one year when i had to take to my bed because of the ticker and flu,my best half hasn't cooked at Christmas /,new year for well over thirty years
Reading about Edith's, Les's ,and dorothy's weather am i glad i live in britain,has any one seen the satate of Maine,/portland on the news,ice storms,temperatures below 40c,and ,on top of that thunder and lightening snow storms dropping three inches of snow in an hour ,brrrrrr .
Well ,i'm off peeps,lots to do and all that ,see ya' tomorrow [i hope ],
Have a great time everyone ,Fred.xxx

Just popping on to wish everyone on the Canucks thread a Happy and joyous Christmas.
Safe travelling during the festive season, to all who are out and about.




Cheers.
Tony.....:>)))....... ( Ozzie Wattlers thread )

Hi from me in a very cold (minus 11) and very snowy Port Alnerni. We awoke this morning to white out conditions, couldn't really make the houses out across the field in front of us. Brrrr!! Lucky Edith, we must be getting all of yours. At this point we don't think we will be able to get to the ferry terminal and so may have to stay home alone for christmas. Yesterday the roads were ploughed from here to a small place called Whiskey Creek. From there the roads come under the Nanaimo Regional District and apparently they have used up all their snow removal budget and have not ploughed....so the highway was impassable. A friend in Nanaimo tells us that the roads are not well ploughed either and conditions are more like a skating rink than anything else....wonderful!!!!

I went yesterday and stocked on a few essentials just in case we got stuck....'cos if ya can't get out then no-one can get in!! funny how that works eh?? Stocked up fresh veg and milk...we should be OK. Norm can always bake bread if we run out.

I am going to wrap pressies today....maybe that will cheer the Gods and the snow will go away....don't think so!
More later
Lesxx

Hi All from very very snowy Dundas!!!! with more forecast today

We are buried under at least 14 inches of snow today. Friday was horrendous and Keith and I hunkered down for the day - got the wrapping done and also watched the continental Cup curling tournament on TV. yesterday I got the urge to bake - don't know why so I made a fruit cake out of the BERO Book - remember those Fred. I have 3 editions of it and it is interesting to look at the changes. The first one I have is probably from the very early 1950's and then I have edition 35 & 37. I am all sorted to make mince pies today and chocolate chip cookies and some of my favourite oatmeal raisen ones as well.

All this to be achieved in between the 2 final curling matches on TV today.

Keith has done very well since his surgery and was signed off by the surgeon last Thursday. He has permission to fly so we will be taking our Grandson on his solo trip to the UK in March break holiday.

Glad to hear that everyone is safe and well and that holiday plans are well in hand. I don't get to do Christmas this year which seems a bit strange we are all off to our daughter and her partners and will meet his family also that day (22 of us in total)- but I have been warned NO ANNOUNCEMENTS will be forethcoming. AH Well!!!!

off to make coffee and grab a hunk of that cake and settle in for the first curling match - bye for now

Veronica