General Chat

Fred is home again,lol,having had a few days back at the van.The conditions there are much better now and i got the dvd and flat screen lcd tv set up ,so we have a few dvds up there to watch if the tv is full of old programmes again.
I ,like many others have had a good chuckle at the mannequin lol,.think it might have been good to put it in the boot with the legs hanging out ,lol.
Nice to hear that your weather is nice Mary,lol,your temperature at the minute is about as high as we had all season,and that was only for a few days,so i am Jeal ' he he.
There is one heck of a mist here this morning ,not good drying weather ,so i am hanging on a while before i hang the washing out.
At long last ,i have got a connection to Oz via this website [yippee] seems Caroline Barnes born 1839 Married in Islington London,and then emigrated to Oz with her hubby so all i have to do now is find out where they went to.
Still want my connections to Canada though,but that lot are still hiding lol.
Just a week to go now ,and Liz and i will be off to Blackpool for two weeks ,yippee,at last i can see the illuminations for the first time.
Have my two lucky dips on the european lottery for tonight £40.000.000 going begging [i should be so lucky lol] i,like 99% of the people on here have had to work all their lives to earn a living but it would be nice to win a little ,to see me ,and the bairns right for the rest of their lives.
Off to do a little work now,my poor heather plants for the rockery are still waiting in the greenhouse for me to put them in their new homes.,Catch you later peeps.Fred.

Hi Gang,

I am in Salmon Arm tonite on my way to Calgary. Norm left Emily lolling in the window with her body covered up with a quilt. That should keep the neighburs guessing. We drove up thru Whistler thru a monsoon but as soon as we reached the Cariboo the sun came out. Just took Bella for a walk and a huge train went by only feet away....very exciting for a small dog. We did stop for Norm to take pics somewhere in the mountains and Bella went crazy barking at the tumbleweed.

Tomorrow we will be in Banff and off to the hot springs....I am due a bit of "pruning"!!!

Christine I like the idea of the hens and rooster, maybe you could chuck in a goat as well....you know the whole Good Neighbours bit!!! LOL

More later.
Lesxx

Morning all, its very foggy here at the moment and I'm hoping for a little sunshine later, lots of tidying up outside to do!! It is a good one about the manequin isn't it. We have two neighbours, one who are really nice and there if you need them but the others who never speak, never make any contact at all but watch everything. I used to feel bad because I thought it was good manners to speak when you met someone so I would say "hello" but they would not simply reply, so even though I do feel nasty I don't speak now. Stupid isn't it, lifes too short....Anyway have a good day everyone Take care ............ Oh nearly forgot yes Lesley I have sent an e mail to RCMP they have replied saying they will get back to me as there is a high influx of enquiries, so never know might get some news!

Morning all.. We have a beautiful day here and going up to 20c odd.. I love our spring in OZ as it is such a nice time of year with lovely temperatures that are just right...

Les Have a nice time away and love to Cathy.. and Teresa if you get to see her..

Fred Hope you are away in the van or relaxing somewhere..

Am having a nice relaxing day today as it was a busy one yesterday.. Might have a swim...or perhaps do some shopping..My colour ink for my printer has run out and I am having funny printouts,,so had better go find a new one..

Nice to see Dorothy and Christine back and you must all be getting ready for winter,, We are so lucky in OZ not to have such severe winters.We dont even get a frost here in Sydney near the sea...

Hope all are well and and having a nice day..
Edith You will be happy the cold weather is comming,, Got ya bikini out yet...Have you seen any bears or have they all gone to sleep..might be a bit early yet..

Not much happening here, a quiet life..lol

Love Mary xxxx

hi how is weather in all the places people are from here in barrie ont it was a lovely day sunny high of 23 and the leaves are starting to turn, sped down the 400 highway to-day to have lunch with some friends in brampton it was good to catchup on everyone's news, once the snow starts up here I don't see friends till the spring, any idea's those of you who live in calgary what type of weather I may find in oct just wondering regards dorothy

Where is eveeryone....all gone into hiding again!!

My story today is about my nosy neighbour who we will call B!! Last nite my next door neighbour called me and said can I ask you a question?
I said sure.
She said have you and Norm split up?
Er!! no (at least not when I was looking!! Why?
Well B saw a man bringing the bottom of a mannequin into your house and she thought perhaps it was for Norm.
Well by now, guys, I am in hysterics. Nosy B thinks my Normie is having a relationship with the bottom of a mannequin....pmsl!!!!!
So, in an effort to be neighbourly, Norm and I took the bottom of the manneqiun and stood her upside down in the window so that when you look in you can see her feet sticking in the air...another huge LOL.... from me!!

Thanks for the card Mary. It was just another day. Norm and I spent the afternoon going thru old VHS tapes that we had omitted to put labels on and so had no idea what they were...we had a few good laughs.

Diane did you try emailing that RCMP address?? I can sure try to help a bit if in fact he was in the police.

Keep out of mischief you lot.
Later
Lesxx

Hello all, hope everyone is fine! It has turned a bit cold here, time to get out those winter woolies I think, although I never put mine away this year!! How romantic Lesley, your husband meeting you with roses, I think thats lovely, I have mentioned it to my hubby (just in passing, as you do) but I think he may have selective hearing!! Take Care

Hi everyone.. We had a really hot day yesterday and today it is 20c ,,10c deg. cooler..still we got a bit of rain which we needed so thats ok..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LES.. GLAD YOU HAD A LOVELY ONE..is it 21 again...pmsl..
Are you going to visit the lovely Cathy.. Great,, waiting for my laugh..Sounds like she is in good form still,,,tell her from me..dont change,,she brings a lot of smiles into peoples lives..

Fred. YOu can have some of our sunshine.. we dont mind sharing..Just tell that cat of yours that you dont want to fall down the stairs and break ya neck,,to go find a safer place to sleep..or its light rashions....lol

Well am off to bed so have a nice day /night all..

Love Mary xxxx

Hi Everyone,

Well I am home again...had a fabulous time with the kids and Rhian. Bella suffered from separation anxiety for the first two days I was away so she was overjoyed to have her mummy back.

Vicki and I went to see Carol Burnett on Thursday nite. She was wonderful, and at 75 looks amazing. She showed some clips from her show with Tim Conway and Harvy Korman....I laughed unitl I cried.....good time!!

Spent two days with Nicki. We went to check out the largest Walmart in Canada....not impressed. It was huge but very understocked. Afterwards, for us Canadians, we went to the Superstore and decided that it was just as big, was overstocked, so a much better "shop"!!! Here in PA we have a mini Walmart which is just fine with us. Anyway, like I said, I had a great time and when I walked off the ferry Norm was waiting with a dozen roses....can't get much better than that!!!

For those of us that watch Little Britain, Norm got me a manequin (spelling) for my birthday. She was hiding in the furnace room when I got home. I have named her Emily Howard!!!! and she is a lady!!!!!

Today is sunny, nice Fall day. I am going to clean up the garden and then try and persuade Norm that we need to go away to visit our Kathy for a few days then for sure I will have tales to tell!! Altho I have one now.....Her daughter and hubby had ordered French doors for their house. Well they didn't arrive, didn't arrive so about two months later Kathy talks to the door company, gives them a right rollicking, and gets the doors delivered. Well!! she lets the door company in, doors are there, daughter comes home and says Mom what have you done.....we changed our minds!!!! pmsl Last time I chatted to our Kath she was off to the DQ to buy a huge icecream cake as an apology!!!!!

More later....Lesxxx

Morning everyone ,and a special hello to our Edith,seems like you had a nice coffee morning ,wth plenty of interesting things going on,like you lass ,we have just about got all our stuff out of the greenhouse and are fighting to get room in the freezers for all this tomato soup we will be making.
The peppers this year have been spot on ,and we took a couple down to Stephen yesterday and his eyes stuck out like organ stops when he saw them,we really must try some chillies next year ,weather permitting.
Can you send me and Liz a jar of your sunshine please Mary,we have forgotton what it looks ,and feels like,not one day this year has going out caused me to raise a sweat or get sunburn.s'not fair lol.
Nothing special for dinner today,just chicken and stuffing out of the freezer,plus veggies from the garden,calabreese ,cauli cabbage and carrot..
I was walking from the kitchen to the front room this morning when i got Hissied good style,i forgot she likes to sit on the fifth tread up on the stairs,and as i walked past with my breckie [two slices of toast and butter] she launched herself at me ,landing round my neck like a stole.
My toast and plate landed on the floor ,and i had palpitations lol,Hissy ,realising that i wasn't amused ,shot off upstairs to hide [little baggage],she will have a late breakfast this morning ,grrrrrr.
Well,time to go ,i need to do the lawns for the last time this year before going back up the van tomorrow afternoon.
I did mean to do them yesterday ,but i spent the time using my new toy to clean the car ,it cleans very well ,so it should also do for the van when it comes back off site too.Hope everyone is having a good weekend.Fred.

Edith.. I have to laugh when that chap said no he was from Tasmania...There is a foklore gripe with the Tasmanians that when someone draws a map of OZ they are inclined to leave out Tasmania..Poor Tassie people ...I understand their grievance..lol..Our Tassie is from Launsenton in Tasmania,, and they have a rivalry with Hobart, which is in the south east and Lonnie as they call it is in the north..They seem to have a dividing line half way between the two...lol...

Having a lovely lazy sunday and dooing some of the dreaded housework..my maid has the day off...pmsl...

Hope all are having a nice weekend..

Love Mary xxxxx

Hello all. What a small world we have!!!In one of my volunteer"jobs" I do an afternoon of serving coffee etc. at our Seniors Centre. Yesterday a young lady came in and ask if her Mom could use the facilities even tho' she wasn't a member. In they came and a gent stood waiting. I introduced myself and back at me came a voice sounding like Mary.!!!!!!I I asked if he was from Oz and he said no from Hobart Tazmania !!!
Turns out he had married a girl from Dryden 60 miles away and had come over to visit as wifes Mom will be 90 on Monday so a party is planned
The Mom was born here but had moved in 1941 and this was her first trip back. As the afternoon progressed several residents came in and were delighted to see her again. Her father had owned a grocery store here on the late 30's and some of the men had worked in the store. The history that they talked about was really great before we had paved roads, electricity, water works etc. I was wishing I had a recorder because it was living history that so many don't know about. The reporter from the local paper came and took her story and a lot of pictures
David and Heather from Tasmania were delighted that Mom had met so many friends and school chums and were very happy people.
A routine afternoon turned into a history lesson,coffe party plus,meet and greet and a thumb nail sketch of Tasmania. A day to remember and journal about.

All the toms are in the house now as we are getting down to 0 and +1 at nite. Got some beets at the farmers market today and once they are pickled that the end of the season for me. Just read a good book and wait for the snow hee heee.
Hope everyone is well. See you soon Edith XXXX

Morning all,,butter....its afternoon...how the days fly...31c today and lovely and sunny,,anyone want our weather,,, well ya cant have it,, we like it..though we could do with some rain..as JA says ,,its rather dry..

Only a short note today as I have the son and family arriving any minute,,told him not to bring a bun for afternoon tea as we are trying to diet...doc says my colestrol is a bit high so am trying to lose some weight..and mind what I eat..

Glad all seem to be hale and hearty..

Love to all

Mary xxxx

Hello to everyone, good to read of all the escapades and news. Veronica lovely to hear from you -sounds like some fresh air time coming up for you.
beauitful if windy Saturday afternoon here - we desperatley need more rain though, especially as the wind is so drying - all the spring flowers are out which is lovely a big garden bed of 8 camelias - all different colours, water them from the down pipe off the roof so they are in better shape than the rest of the garden. OH has decided it is time to spring clear out some cupboards -I have just rescued my knitting wool -he said I haven't knitted for years so why keep it -says I, I might knit in the next many years when I have time - wool now back where it belongs. I think he will clear the next ones out when I am at work lol
Have a good weekend all
VP so good to hear the time with Rhian has been nice and that you are off with them until Sunday.

JA

Just q quick message for Fred, Hello!! just reading back through and noticed I forget to mention to you that there used to be some Barnes' in my area. If you want I can try to get some info for you.

Morning all.and a special one to Christine after hearing about the sat nav ,and Manchester.
You should have explained to people in the sticks about the mancunian way Christine ,it can be a bit frenetic owing to the computer changing lane flows at different times of the day,i found it very confusing,and i delivered there on a regular basis.
Tell you folks ,it can be very disconcerting to come round a bend to the first set of lights to find that the offside lane that WAS going in your direction the last time you used the road ,was NOW going the other way [muuuuuumy] he he.
Still it's all good fun isn't it ? lol.
Anyway ,when i go down in January it's to the airport and i won't be going into the city just by passing it on the M 62 to the airport,in fact ,i may very well go acrosss to Carlisle ,and down the M 6.
I am quite looking forward to Blackpool now,realising that i can catch a bus to Leeds once or twice,it will be so nice to visit the city centre and all the shops.it will have changed no end since i was there last.
I may even find out when the market is on and pay a visit that day,i could do with a couple of new pairs of shoes he he.
.
Time to go for now ,i have to go to the clinic shortly,and THEN,it's time to play with the new toy,my jetwash,firstly the car,which will save me a fiver at the car wash,and then ,the van when it comes back off site,in two weeks.
Hope everyone is looking forward to the start of their weekend,be back this afternoon.Fred.

Good Morning All, and when I say Good I mean it!! I know I sound shocked don't I? but the weather in the North East has been awful lately, and this morning the sun is shining beautifully and its making me feel loads better (haven't been too well lately and struggling a little to get by).
Its very nice of you Lesley to try and help out on my quest!! I think its gonna be a tough one. It is nice to read everyone's comments and though I may not join in very much I will keep popping in. Take Care

Hi and Welcome Brenda

You could not wish for a nicer bunch of folks on this thread. Like JA, I have been working too hard covering a MAT leave to post regularly on the thread.

These folks have been a source of inspiration, laughs and solace through the years.

Mary - It cost me a lot to get a professional researcher to do my Northern Irish research and I am satisfied with what I have got for my money - but having said that, its not a lot, but it does confirm a lot of the disparate threads I had gathered from various sources in the family and from folks on the Records Thread over the last couple of years.

Hope to drop by a little more often over the next little while.

Fred - sounds like nothing changes with you- still up to all your old tricks and keeping us laughing with your stories of everyday life.

All for now and a wave to all wherever you are

Veronica in Dundas

Hi Gang,

Just got a wee minute to pop in and say HI!! The lovely Rhian has had us all hopping. Man, she is quick. One blink and she gone. All day yesterday I could see the head of my son as he ran this way and that to catch her. She quickly found out how to open the gate into my little garden and had to be hauled out of there. We filled the pool and that was a great success for about an hour or so....just a very busy little girl. Hopefully I will have some pics to share. Now today I am going back with them and wont be home until Sunday. Not too happy to leave my Normie but he will be OK I think.

Great news about Cyprus, Fred, Sorry too about your Mom, Dorothy. Visit any time Brenda. Hi Mary, what did the doc say??? Hi JA, I know about you and that work....LOL!! Christine I am the satnav in our car (LOL) and you should hear the fights!!!

Diane, when I get back I will also have a look for your family and see if I can find anything. If the RCMP site proves to be a go then you might know where they lived. Then you could always try the city library and have them search the obits from the local papers. I have just been doing that myself and it has worked amazingly well. Of course there is a fee...but its only money....right???

Must go, Normie is yelling breakfast!!

Luv to all
Lesxx

G'Day JA,
How are you?
Greetings to everyone from a rather wet & windy northern Perth. I've been waiting on a phone call from the FH centre to tell me my new film has arrived but it looks like I've got an evening off.
Still I should really catch up on some housework and some paperwork.

Ian