General Chat

Morning all, Time to bring us forward again. Guess the "summer" weather is keeping everyone busy :-D Yesterday we went from +11 at 8 a.m to +23 at 4 p.m. This week-end we are expecting 33 to 35, no wonder folks are getting sick.
I don't think the human body is made for such quick changes.
My wee garden is getting better by the day, should have edible toms soon and green beans next week. all the herbs are great and have now made 4 batches of pesto. Will start freezing the next one for winter.
Our Blueberry Festival is coming up at the end of the month so will be kept busy helping with a few of the venues.
It is 10 days of fun for our town and we do get a lot of visitors, family reunions and school reunions too. Next year we will be a young 100 years .
Time to get busy as I want to get out this afternoon so must get the rear in gear. Will be back soon. Stay well all. Edith <3

Hi Edith i have had the morning off after having a very nasty tooth removed ,but i am already feeling a good bit better,after the injection wore off.
We parked the car in Aldi ,which allows the surgery to use the car park seeing as the surgery hasn't one ,it being right next to the road.
Coming back after i had the tooth removed ,we did the usual ,and went in the store to do a little shopping ,and i am so glad i did.
We brought a lovely spring cabbage ,and cauli flower,at a knock down price ,the two for under £1 ,and picked up a nice piece of Dutch cheese which i use for my jacket spuds, ;-).
on the way to the cash point i noticed a lovely little generator unit ,light but powerful ,just what we needed for the winter and the power cuts,so we brought one of them for £49 ,which will give us power to run the emergency heater ,one of these halogen ones ,and run a couple of lights if needs be ,must keep the women of the house warm ,lol :-D.I have already cleared a space under the bench in the greenhouse where it will sit until wanted.
You are well ahead of us Edith with the sunshine and heat ,all we can manage is a miserable 18 to 19 c ,and that only for a couple of days before the cloud and rain come back,so i don't think i am doing too badly ,i isssss gettin' there slowly. :-0.
Time togo and turn these jackets ,then get a filling made ,be back shortly ,Fred.xxx :-D

Hi everyone.. Cant believe it is 10 days since I last posted.. Time just flies these days.
We have some lovely rain at the moment so my pot garden is very happy and my water tub is filling up again,,not by much,,about a inch . but that is better than nothing..My citrus trees are sprouting new leaves and little branches and my silver beet is coming along fine..
Got a loan of a wheelchair for John so we will see how he goes,, There is one more specialist we wants to see before we give up totally,, That wont happen for a while yet as we have to get a letter to see him. Seems he specialises in people like John,,impossible cases..
Les Great effort with your garage sale,,well done..
Edith.. Hope your garden is now producing and you are enjoying nice fresh toms..cant wait for spring to start mine..

Been doing some FH and added a few names of great Uncles and Aunts.. I remember meeting some of them when I was young but they were never close..a very dysfunctional family..

Have a lovely weekend all..
Love Mary xxx <3

Good morning Mary,Les,Edith,and anyone else who decides to give the thread a gander.
So dark here under the clouds that i still have the little light over the keyboard on,and poor Hissy is sitting by the patio door looking really teed off ,the rain coming down so hard ,she won't even go out in it .
Something tells me ,we are in for as bad ,if not worse winter than the last two we have had because the sea and land are not even getting the chance to warm up.i have visions of my winter fishing taking on a Canadian slant ,you know ,lol, mittens on ,woolly had down over the lugs,seal coat on ,short rod ,and a woood saw ,used to cut a circle in the ice :-S.
My beans of all sorts are loaded with flower and the crop looks promising ,i have now ,some calabrese heads ready ,courgettes ,and cucumbers,asking to be picked ,and lots of herbs,so the news isn't all doom and gloom ,not here anyway.
Nice to hear that your citrus trees are doing well Mary and i'm sure my orange tree will be a lot happier in the Winter Gardens after i drop it off next week,but my Nectarine ,they are NOT getting it being a good bit hardier for up here ,and that is throwing leaves ,left right and centre,it being small enough too ,for me to get it into the greenhouse in the autumn.
Going to try your chicken today Edith ,i found a lovely corn fed free ranger at my mates farm up the road ,so by the time i have found your recipe ,added your rub in oil/herbs to the mix ,i reckon we will have a great dinner today :-).
Liz is still a bit worried about her increasing lack of mobility ,but i have pointed out ,she ,like John,is no longer a spring chicken ,and at least she KNOWS what the problem is which is a hell of an advantage ,so i bucked her upp a bit ,pointing out that that is what her car is for ,and i selected it with as wheelchair in mind it having a huge boot ,and like Mary ,she need worry only if Mary and i can no longer push the chair for them,and if that ever comes about ,i will invest in a motorised one that will carry two ,so that we both can terrorise the predestrians in the town, ;-).
Been doing a lot of family history this last week to peoples,in Mary's old country ,Wales ,and the home counties ,where i have picked up a few snippets,so it's about time i uploaded my genes tree and merged it with my gedcom ,in case genes goes belly up ,which ,if they carry on messing about with their mainframe computer may very well happen.
Yep ,the old addage keeps haunting me about this site ,[if it ain't broke ,leave it alone] ,he he.
Think i will reacivate the other site i am on.[F T F] but i do hope i never need it,this one though so slow at the minute seems easier to use,and there are many people i would miss chatting to.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend ,take care ,Fred.and his long suffering missus he he ,well, she does have to put up with me after all :-P,Fred.xxxx

Again I tried to post amnd it is gone. :-PWhen they fix it I will try again.

Very unhappy Edith

I haven't had any problems so far?

My neighbour has gone to visit her folks for two weeks and we are looking after her dog. Cute thing, maybe a bit of a sheltie/collie cross. But oh! is she missing her Mom. I take her to her own home at night so that she and the neighbours cat (aslo looking after) will be company for each other but gotta tell you it is hard work. My Ollie really likes her but she whimpers a lot and is not comforted by his gentle tail on her face. Bella is jealous and we are only on day two!!! Ah! well!

We are now on day 7 of wet weather. The garden is growing like crazy along with the weeds. Never had any weeds until we dug in the compost this year...am a tad ticked by that. They do say that we may get a little summer in August...you are right Fred. Its going to be a hellish winter.

I think I am going to make a lasagne tonight and some garlic toast?? Sounds like a good lazy day meal to me. Nothing else to tell.
Later Lesxx

Morning all.. We have a lovely day with sun and they say perhaps showers..later..

Les.. You sound like you are having a great time with all the dogs and cats..hee hee hee..keep up the good work... :-D :-D

Edith I to have been having problems with this site,,Lost a big post recently and if it is not losing them its having trouble posting them and then they get posted a multitude of times,, :-S

Fred..FTF Still has a lot of the old people from GR on it..quite a nice site..
Your garden sounds like it is coming along fine..all you need now is some sun.. :-)

Having a me day today.. Was going to do some of the dreaded but decided it can wait till tomorrow..no one will notice....I hope..

Love Mary xxx
in Sydney

Morning all, Will try again to post. We are again on a weather roller coaster. Hot, hot and more hot then thunder etc. now smoke from many many fires nearby.
Looking at all the news it seems everyone is having trouble of some kind.
Would be nice to hear some real happy news for a change!!!
How was the chicken Fred? I look forward to more of that recipe as I will have lots of herbs for it. :-)
Not going to take a chance again with a long story so it's bye for now.
Edith <3

afternoon to Edith and Mary ,from a still wet and windy north eastern England ,lol.at least with all this water my onions are going mad ,swelling nicely after i threw some feeder on them a couple of days ago.
Despite all the water ,we now have calabrese ,runner beans ,courgettes .and cucumbers ready ,and the summer cabbage are not far behind;
Inotice there are broad beans and dwaff climbers coming in too ,i will be interested to see if the dwarfs are as good as the bush variety,but running these ones up canes ,tney take up far less space than the other sort. :-).
The Chicken was a real eye opener Edith ,just shows you can teach an old Fred new tricks he he ,so ,any new ideas as to new recipes ,will be well received.
Time to find something for the tea now,i think i hear a jacket spud coming on ,lol,catch you later peeps .Fred :-D xxx.

Hey Edith, you must have our summer 'cos it's still cloudy and rainy here. Yesterday we had sun for about 3 hours. I took the two dogs for a walk...what a palava! One walks and sniffs (Teela) and one charges ahead (Bella) I think I was a bit frazzled when I got home. I had planned to have them with me in the basement with the back door open so they could go in and out. Well Teela doesn't like the basement and walked around for an hour so I gave up and went upstairs.
Meanwhile when I took Teela home at supper time she sat by the gate and was still there 2 hours later. I don't know what to do about that. And the kitty seems to be missing most of the day and that is a worry also. She is not a house cat so could be anywhere. I did bash a dish and call her finally. She saw me and hissed but then let me get her a rub. I am thinking I may have to sleep over there but Norm is not happy about that.....ah! well! :-\
I think we will have ribs tonite. Don't have any fancy recipes them, Fred. We always use back ribs. I simmer them with couple of bay leaves for about 45 minutes and then bake them in the oven in a garlic bbq sauce that I buy at the store......they are yummy tho.
Hope you had a good "me" day, Mary. I need to do that myself I think. Maybe trot off to Nanaimo and wander the stores, I shall have to plan for that.
More later. Les <3

Might try that Les' never thought of infusing meat like that ,to give extra taste ,keep the ideas coming ,all donations greatfully received amen .lol
Well ,we are under sever weather warnings again over the whole north east,and to be honest ,i don'd remember ever seeing a worse summer ,we have the heating on yet again ,it being down to 17c this morning at 8-30 am.
Three nights ago we had a little ground frost,which luckily did no garden damage to any plants.
Yesterday ,the wife had a snooze in the afternoon and i slipped out to the moors 10 miles away to see what the weather was doing out there ,by 'eck ,i wished i hadn't ,he he ,soooo much water has come down in the last month that the peat can no longer absorb it all ,and the old lead mine workings have flooded to overflow ,and we have water coming up to ground level ,contaminated with lead and iron,which is actually killing the vegetation.
Poor Hissy won't go outside because she hates getting her feet wet ,and just sits under the patio tale as it persists down,he he ,she is one miserable pussy tat.
Afraid Teela is Pining for her pack leader Les' so it's a case of doing the best you can until the owner comes home ,i expect the more little thing isn't eating much either,ive had some and know how difficult it was,looking after my dear mums Sheltie while they were away ,looking after Shandy was bad as well,lovable as she was.
You will have to make it known that you can't be expected to do this again,once is more than enough ,and when your boarder won't even mix with your own pets ,it is a most difficult situation for all :-\.
Hi Mary ,nice to see you having a day at home to yourself :-),it makes a change for you, and glad that you little trees are performing as you expected.,my nectarine has loads of leaves on it now ,some coming out of the trunk which i hope means some new branches.
I will be having a look at the other website you mentioned too ,quite interesting ,and i think i will be looking to join..
Our Edith seems to be hogging all the sun :-S lucky her ,he he,i am even thinking of setting up a sunlight in the garden for my fruit trees ,but if i do ,it's a pound to a penny that i have all the birds in creation sitting under it having a sun bathe ,lol :-(.
Well ,that courgette i was talking about a week ago ,is now cowering under it's plant leaves because it knows i will be out with a knife in half an hour ,to cut ,slice it don the middle and stuff it full of veggie and rice ,yum :-D.
Catch you later all .Fred.xxx

Morning all, Can't seem to keep us all happy !!! The weather here is brutal.Temps for the last 3 days are 30+ with a humidex of 39 to 40.
If you don't have A.C you are in big trouble. Now the forests around us are on fire and the air is filled with smoke, so all in all we too are ahving a baaad summer.
Even the pets are staying inside, and police are checking for kids and pets in vehicles.
Needless to say the plants are loving it except the green beans are a little too hot so will shade them to-day.
Edith is heading down to the parking lot to do a rain dance and praying for cooler weather. See you soon. Edith <3

More doggies.....well today Teela wouldn't even come in the house and Norm had to carry her in. She is terrified of our wood floors, she seems to slip and slide all over and then just sits and shivers, very upsetting. Bella is being nice to Teela no barking or pushing. Norm is being nice to them both, he gave them slices of salami yesterday...I ask you!
The cat was sleeping in the house yesterday and had eaten her food so that was one less thing to worry about.
Fred I used to simmer my ribs in a pot of water with no seasoning but I have to admit that the bay leaves do perk up the taste a bit. Tonight I am going to make openface hamburger sandwiches. We make our own "hamburger" (mince to you I guess) by grinding sirloin roasts...only about 7% fat and very moist. Anyway for each sandwich, I will garlic a large wedge of bread, put the cooked patty on top, then load it with caramelized onions and then lashings of gravy. I rarley make this at all and so it will be a treat and cold enough today (again) to enjoy it.
We switched our cable TV server yesterday from Shaw (Rogers maybe with you Edith??) to Telus, our phone company. What a difference in the picture. Now we have a small satellite outside. We get about 120 good channels, all of which we were able to choose and some of them in HD. We spent the entire evening glued to the TV, something we rarely do. Edith we get Corrie and Rick Mercer in HD...more then cool!
We have to take in the car to get the brakes looked at this afternoon so I am off.,,,,catcha later Les. <3

Morning to all ,Fred is chuffed :-D we have sun ,wahey ,and the wife ws out of bed and downstairs like a whippet [for her anyway :-) ] washing machine on ,and rotary line up ,ready ,so it is a race between the machine and the promised rain showers he he,i give 3 to 1 on the wet stuff coming back :-0.
Yes Les ,we tend to make our own burgers now ,specially for Jordan because i can add her special bread as a binder to make them safe for her,we can buy special burgers at Asda ,and Sainsburys ,but they are very expensive .
We use steak mince and only other healthy fresh produce from the garden,but i'm afraid ,no garlic ,though i love it and grow my own ,the wife ,and grandkids hate the stuff ,so i add mine after the stuff is cooked.
Looking forward to another B B Q ,and watching the weather ,lol,i have brought an indoor electric B B Q unit which ,coupled with the George Foreman griddle i can use any time of year :-P to the rain ,lol
My Spinach is now ready too ,so i can do Sag Alloo next time ,instead of Bombay Potato.or i might just do both .
We are now using the French climbers and runners out of the freezer as fast as we can ,because we will be snowed under with the new seasons stuff very shortly.
Poor Teela has real problems , indeed the poor mite is only going to get worse,the animal can't cope with the new surroundings at all ,she is either getting on in years and is fretting ,or she is naturally nervous ,neither condition being good at all ,just hope her owners come back ,before long.
Knowing a fair bit about the breed ,my sister breeding collies and crosses of all sorts ,keep a weather eye on her Les ,she may even become snappy under the stress she is under.
Glad to hear the cat is settling anyway ,they do trend to adjust far easier than dogs ,you may even find yourself adopted by her ,and find she dosn't want to go home.
You could also try some Pork burgers Les' mixed with a tad of red onion [garlic is too strong] chopped apple and mixed herbs ,they are very tasty too.
Sorry to hear about those fires Edith ,they must be very worrying for you,and the smoke can be just as bad,we can see the smoke of the fires on the moors to the south ,but the fires can't get anywhere near us because the Tyne River is blocking it ,just like a natural fire break.
The cat is making noises again ,she is sitting by the window ,looking at me and complaining ,lol,i think it's time for a coffee out there to keep her quiet, pets ,and who would have 'em :-).
Catch you later peeps ,take care all .Fred.

Well it is our wedding anniversary today and I, as usual, forgot. Norm however remembered with red roses, bless his heart. So here I am lolling in my PJ's when a knock at the door brings a man who wants to put my neighbours new windows in her garage and would I give him the alarm code....er! no! So I have to rush around and get on my clothes. Poor Teela is running in circles inside because of all the noise and then the garage door wouldn't open.
Anyway windows are finally in the garage and Teela now is at our house...busy start to my day!!
Norm is making bread, and I am working up the energy to walk the two dogs.
Weather is cool and sunny witha bit of a wind blowing, How is it with you, Edith, supposed to be Ontario's hottest day of the year. Wonder if we'll get any summer.
Les <3

Morning all, Aaahhhh, at last the air is breathable and cool. The hot stuff has moved east and we have a cool spell.
The fires are still raging but more are under control. If we can get enough rain they will be reduced. There are a lot of people who have been evacuated to other areas, most of them are from more remote areas of our north.
In all the heat I lost my green beans, it was just too hot on the balcony. The toms etc. loved it and are doing very well. First fresh tom sandwich yesterday and oh it was good!!!!
Glad you liked the chicken Fred, it is a favorite recipe of mine. I use rosemary a lot when I cook chicken it seems to make it extra tasty.
Nice to feel like eating again too, that hot weather all I wanted was salad.
You folks out west are not a happy lot I hear. The Aunt and cousins say they are planning a long visit here if the summer won't come there :-)
Will have to put up a tent beside the parking lot hee hee.
Time to move and get some food etc. so bye for now.
Edith <3

So on our anniversary we went to a local restaurant and I had the "Heavenly Halibut"...it was amazing. So yesterday I got to thinking about that fish and tried to copy. This is what I did, maybe you will try it. I used a salmon filet for Norm and Halibut for me.
I made a cup of regular white sauce.
(1 tbs of marg/butter melted. Stir in 1 tbs of flour, cook and stir, then gently add 2/3 cup milk, cook until thickened.)
Once the sauce was thickened I stirred in a half a red pepper finely chopped and a whole bunch of green onions, roughly chopped. I divided the mixture in two. Into one half I stirred a tsp of ancient grains mustard and then spread it over the salmon. Into the other I added 1/4 cup of parmagiano cheese and a touch of pepper. This I spread over the halibut. Baked them tented in foil at 350 for about 10 minutes and then about 15 minutes more open. I think my halibut was actually better thatn the one in the restaurant.
So there you have it...pretty yummy stuff.
Well we sold our van so we are now without a vehicle. We have rented a car and tomorrow we are off to Nanaimo and Duncan to look for our next adventure. We are leaning more and more to a mini van big enough to tow a small trailer. It will be an exciting day!!
The sun is shining and I think we will spend the day lolling outside just in case this is our one day of summer!! Can never tell here.
Later Lesxx

Morning all ,Les',Edith and all else who happen by ,lol love the fish idea Les ,and that will be on the menu very shortly ,maybe with a good chunk of Halibut ,or even Skate ,both easy to get hold of over here.
Well our Autumn has already started ,and i have been busy this morning cutting the primary heads off my Calabrese ,and freezing them down for winter use ,and i have my first pickings of the runners ,which will go very nicely wit hte dinner ,mash ,onion and liver ,yum.
My fruit is still a few weeks away ,but in the meantime i have my Rhubarb growing like a good'un so i am eating plenty of crumbles,lol :-).
Today is a stay at home day ,so i am off now to finish the dinner off by mashing the tatties ,but will be back this afternoon Fred.xxx :-)

Good Morning all, :-D This is Edith this a.m. I have many ripe toms to-day seems they are all going to be ready at about the same time. Our hot days last week have given the plants a great "boost" .
The sweet basil is hanging out of the pot so it's pesto time this afternoon for sure.
Is everyone away??? Les may be stuck on the mainland :-) Has winter weather kept you in Mary?? Are you and Hissy busy in the garden Fred??
Our weather is settling down and we are getting a bit of rain then sun so it is much better. The forest fires got some rain as well so they are not as dangerous as they were. It will take a few weeks to clean up the mess and get the people back to their homes.
Time to get on with my day, have a great day all. Edith <3

How is everyone this morning ? on a nice ,sunny morning ,NOT ,lol,still,one musn't grumble ,at least i am not sitting in Iceland near that biiiig volcano [Katya that is threatening to erupt ,cor ,with a 7 mile wide caldera that will really make huge clouds of ash when that decides to come out to play.
We landed up with ash on the car and garden after the last ,smaller one went up ,he he ,so i am hoping the wind will blow the other way this time.
Not able to play out there with Hissy much Edith ,the weather is too iffy ,lol,but at least ,i got the hedges done ,and the lawns trimmed last week before the rain came back.
Having a lot of family bother here ,what with my daughters marriage collapsing do do a ruddy useless son in law ,who won't pay a bean into the house ,expecting her to pay all the household bills ,while he gallivants all over the country doing nowt useful,a qualified engineer ,who would ,and does, sit on his arse at home instead of working where he could be earning £160 a day.
She has to go out to work ,to pay the mortgage ,feed the family,do everything around the house ,while he whinges about him having no pocket money ,and why can't he have this ,and that grrrrrrrr.
He wasn't pleased last week when i called him a waster ,neer do well,and idle git ,all in one breath.
Any way ,the daughter has been to her bank ,cancelled the direct debits ,and informed the mortgage firm as to what she is doing ,and is moving back here ,next week,with the two children.
The council have put her at the top of the housing list ,for a home ,because the son in law is very unstable ,being a violent wife hitting git,who has hurt my daughter in the past ,and if he does once more i will have charged by the police and barred by the court from ever coming within five miles of her .
again. :-(.
We did a good clear out of wardrobes ,drawers and the two needed spare rooms over the past few days ,and are now ready for their arrival,about Tuesday next week.
Hissy was following us everywhere ,poor mite ,lol ,i think seeing us up and down the stairs with bags ,cases and whatever ,she thought we were off on holiday again,but when she saw us come back from the big recycle place down the road she realised we wern't going to do a runner on her ,and settled down again. :-).
Hi Mary ,and Les ,both busy as usual i see ,one chasing round after doggies ,and pussy cats the other ,Mary,among other things doing a bit of research for Fred, looking at the wifes Larner Family ,trying to get back into Ireland to find out where her gt gt gt grandad was born ,no luck there ,suprise suprise ,but she did find us some cracking stuff about the wife's Tyneside family that i hadn't found so again old friend ,thanks a bunch ,you are a real star xxx :-D.
I think i had better put a coat on now ,and take a cuppa outside with Hissy ,who is sitting by the patio door looking daggers at me ,but ,at least her ears arn't laid back ,yet ,lol.so i had better not push my luck any further.
Catch you later all,Fred :-)