General Chat

Fred is in Liverpool this week ,just back from Southport after a nice day out ,taken a few pics and found a nice Scottish cafe that does very good meals ,even ones with veggies instead of chips ,lol,which pleased the missus no end :-).
Tomorrow it's a full day in Liverpool ,three museums to visit ,a tour of the river on a ferry with stopping off points [bit like a bus really] and a special trip round a ww 2 submarine if we can get down the ladders he he.
Hope everyone is okay and enjoying better weather ,see ya tomorra'
Fred & Liz <3 xxx

Well ,here we are ,home again back to the housework garden and tons of catching up to do lol ,i needs a holiday to get over the holiday :-) ,but we did have a good un , :-D.
Poor John must have been exhausted by the time you both got Home Mary ,something to be said for our small country i suppose ,places being that much closer together ,but i still envy you in these vast countries where you can breathe clean air and see countryside without having to go many miles to see it .
Hope that smoke from the fires has gone by now Les' and that it has cooled down a little for you .he he ,you can send some here if you like ,cor it's still plurry cold here ,though ,it has to be said ,it is a lot drier now ;-).
Nice to see you back in the fold Edith ,i do hope it lasts .you have been a miss on the thread.
Our hotel was basic ,but clean ,well run ,and the staff were fantastic ,as soon as we arrived and they saw that Liz was struggling even to walk in across the car park ,they changed the room to a disabled one with a large wet room with a sit in shower,and boy ,did we make good use of it.
The hotel was on the edge of a retail park ,with ,a Mc Donalds,Burger King ,Frankie & Bennys,and a good range of food outlets such as the Coop,Iceland ,Aldi,and B & M.
There was a multiplex cinema, a night club [Isis] and a large play park for the children,all well thought out,and Yes ,we will go back ,probably in mid September to the same hotel or the Premier Inn just up the road on another retail park,depending on prices and availability.
There was a good bus service to town ,running every ten minutes ,going right through Liverpool City centre right onto Mann island where the docks and main museums are to do with sea faring .
The new museums are built on the old White Star ,and Cunard docks were ,and the old Pier head where the Lusitania ,and Titanic left from.
The tour bus left from here too ,which meant we could go round the city ,getting on and off the bus to visit museums and parks as we wished ,cutting down any walking for Liz to a minimum.
We had a nice trip on the Mersey Ferry as well ,but left the trip to the old ww2 submarine until the next time after finding that we hadn't time to do it ,but we did find out that the tail of the sub had been cut off and reorganised so there were no ladders to climb ,[a bonus for us ] .
One of the museums of life had a huge totum pole in Edith ,darned thing was nearly 30 feet high ,some northern Canada indian tribe ,but for the life of me ,can't remember the name of them ,took a piccy though ,so you may know the name from it ,and cn fill us in on that one. ;-).
We got through to Southport twice ,again on the bus ,and had a darned good time ,pity though ,that the sun wouldn't come out for us although it didn't rain too much.
Every time we felt a few drops ,we sidled off into the nearest cafe till it stopped ,cor ,by the time we got back in the evenings we were sloshing as we walked ,he he.
Plenty of seats in the streets too ,which meant we could sit every couple of minutes for the missus to get her breathe back,and she done pretty good :-).
Coronation walk off the sea front to the main drag ,came up with a lovely tilltls scottish cafe called The Highlander where they did some lovely meals from a full scots breakfast complete with two fried bread and toast with marmalade for the cuppa £4-50 and lovely two course meals ,beutiful soups ,and a main course with real veggies [not the ever present chips ]like most sea side places,complete with roast tatties ,and new ones ,carrots ,peas ,and cauli'
£4-60 a head ,very well cooked ,and the staff very friendly and helpful we will def 'go back there again.
Got tons of pics once i upload them all off the two cameras .
The garden is looking a little better from the two days of watery sun it has had ,some calabrese is ready to use ,some of the runner ,french beans have flower at last,and my rhubarb is growing fast showing it has taken :-D.
Going to slide off now and make a couple of coffee's ,my turn this morning ;-).
catch you later all ,hopes you are all relaxing this weekend ,Fred & Liz <3 xxx.

HI everyone..Haven't been in for a while as nothing much happens here that is interesting..Leading a quiet life as usual and decided to do some FH..
Weather has been nice but our peace has been broken by the people in the unit above us deciding to redo their kitchen and bathroom..So the hammering getting the tiles off the wall and floor have just about deafened us ..At least John can take his hearing aide out and its not to bad but its so bad you cant listen to the tv or phone..So decided to go out the back to do some gardening and fertilized my plants.. Took off the 2 lemons on my tree as the gardening experts said until the tree was mature not to let it fruit and to take them off,,Sorry about that as they were nearly fully grown, but the tree needs all it can to do some more growing ..got a sprig of Daphne which the gardener gave me so planted that and hope it strikes..so while I was out there fertilize all my plants and it stank to high heaven..After all the noise I had to put up with during the day I thought I would get my own back and send up a wiffy smell for them,,They might keep the windows shut which helps with the noise.. :-D :-D :-D :-D OOOO I am naughty... :-D :-D

Sounds like a nice holiday Fred.. Glad they looked after Liz and gave you the bigger room..those meals sound like a bargain..

My carrots are coming on and so are the spring onions..The spinach hasn't shown its head yet ..early days...there is a meal of Chinese greens so must find a recipe..stir fry coming up..

Well a quiet week..next doc visit is early August.

Take care all and hope you can still get into GR Edith..
Les when is the big trip..hope all is better for you both..

Love Mary xxx <3

Morning everyone :-) After a few tries I is back!!! We are still in the hot zone as for weather. The days have been very hot plus the humidex adds to the dicomfort. Of course Edith is a winter person so hot does annoy me :-D
The worms have gone from the gardens and left little behind them, some of the flowers have survived, but the veg and herbs haven't. Oh, well try again next year.
Loved the pics Fred, that is a beauty of a Totem. Can't tell you what tribe tho'. Perhaps Les living on the west coast is more familiar with them than I.
Glad you enjoyed the holiday .If you like hot weather c'mon over :-D :-D
I will trade houses for a bit if you like!!!!!!
Had an interesting meal over the week-end. My youngest son brought me some elk meat. 2 lovely steaks and with veg and a salad it was a great meal. Very tender meat and quite dark in colour. It is farmed near where he lives and says it is not too expensive.
Hi, Mary, I know what noisy neighbours are like, had a gent who walked
about his apartment in cement boots I think. What a racket until I asked him to take the boots off at his door.
Looking forward to our Blueberry festival again this year, lots of "stuff" going on and a lot of folks coming back to enjoy the ten days with us.
Seems to get bigger every year.
Time to get a move on so it's bye for now. Edith <3

Hi Everyone. We have been busy with visitors on and off. After our fisher friend was here then Norm's son arrived comlete with his small dog. Bella was not best pleased about that and right off had a little nip to show who is the "house owner". Poor little Misha, but she soon rallied and managed to growl at Bella at every opportunity.....stressful visit for me!! Then the kids arrived with Rhian. They left her with us for the first day, it was great. We filled Bella's pool and gave Rhian the hose, she had a smashing time and we all got very wet. Then Norm let Rhian have free reign on the strawberries. I think she ate at least a half a pounds worth....pics to come today.

Then Norm had to go to Nanaimo for some more tests and we took the opportunity to have a nice lunch at a bistro and do a little shopping. Since then the weather has turned colder and rainy. I am not complaining. Like you, Edith, I can only take so much heat and then I am just plain exhausted.

Our trip plans have changed and we are now going to take the train once again. Norm was not up for the driving and it was a difficult decision to make as we really like to be off in the trailer. However we got an amazing deal, 60% off regular fares. So we will have 4 days each way of gourmet meals, fresh linens and the most amazing country in the world sliiding by our windows.

Edith I have checked the train schedule and the times have altered so if it is on time it comes thru Sioux L. at close to midnight or five in the morning. I guess on the way back if it is running late I will try and call you like I did last time.

This time we are going right thru to Toronto and will rent a car so that we can continue on and see all of Norm's family. Norm has already promised me a day when we will go to the two cemeteries and photograph all the family head stones.

So that is me for today. Some bu---r last night emptied someone's garbage can in our front yard. We could do without the agro, believe me! Norm has taken pics especially of the bank statement, a police citation.....some folks are so stupid and have never heard of a shredder!!
Later Lesxx

Mornin'yuall .lol .from a chilly again East of england ,i think we had our summer yesterday afternoon ,when it got pretty warm and sultry ,so much so that both of us were wilting by 6 pm and ready for it to cool off a little. :-).
Sent you an email coupled with the one i sent to Edith ,Les' and Mavis Mary ,but it bounced , i didn't forget me old mucker ,and will resend it later on .
The garden is now coming on a lot better,cabbage ready shortly ,calabrese in use ,the onions and leeks doing great ,and the other stuff still slow but moving along in it's own good time.
The greenhouse is doing very well now ,going to have tom's coming out of there by the basket load ,a bumper soup crop i think ,and the cucumbers ,wow ,i think i will be giving loads away just to get shot of them ;-).
The diabetic review went well ,so well in fact ,the practice nurse was all smiles ,he he ,i half expected her to give me a sweetie ,so i did us a special tea last night to celibrate.
I sliced two Pannini's down the middle ,and layered both sides with green Pesto ,to which i added a generous few leaves of my Apple Mint which i chopped very finely and added to the pesto ,olive oil mix ,and wow ,it was amazing.
I put a layer of Leerdammer onto the base of the pannini .followed it with home cured wiltshire ham ,thinly slice onion rings ,ditto tomato , thin strip of chicken breast ,and another layer of cheese,put the halves to gether and banged them into the press for 5 minutes ,took them out when done ,cut them in half and slid them onto tea plates ,one for 'er ,and one for m'wah ,lovely it was too .
We even finished the meal off with halved strawberries ,and low fat cream :-D.
The two troughs of Pak Choi are now finished and i will be going out back shortly to replant them ,half a side with Apache ,spring onion ,and the other with pack Choi which i will start in cups this time before using my planter to shove them into the troughs as they become big enough.
The train is probably the way to go with the visit Les .a hell of a long way to drive especially with a sore hip ,i kids you not ,lol.
I is away to get these troughs done now ,and then i will come in to make dinner.two butterfly chicken breasts ,filled with Philli' cheese and chive,wrapped in panchetta ham ,yum.
Think i will do some new potatoes and a couple of baby roast [Apache] potatoes. some spring cabbage. swede, Calabrese from the garden,and a few beans.
Catch you later all take care ,and be safe.Fred,Liz,& the furry one xxx <3.

Hi everyone.. Sorry haven't been in but get so tired these days..
We had another trip[ to the specialist today and one more test now ordered and then the physio and then the clinic..All these things to look forward to..
Fred Do hope Lizz goes ok at the hospital.. make enquiries re oxygen at home..save you tripping into the hospital.
Your garden is looking so good..makes mine look puny..LOL.. but cant do much with so little sun..
I don't go onto Facebook much ..only to see what the kids are doing..They all arrived home this weekend from Spain..The 3 girls via a Contiki bus trip around Europe then home and daughter and husband on a trip home via the States and Hawaii..not a bad holiday if you ask me..

Les That train trip sounds fantastic..

Edith Hope the puta is not playing up any more..

Made a breakthrough on my fathers part of my tree.. the second time one of my ancestors has changed a surname ggggfffff
..The mob that I found in the north of England in the 1911 census living in that 4 room house were also living another son and his wife and child..16 living in that house...it must have been dreadful..but I am making a little headway with this clan..and finding them slowly..crazy mob...

Well better go cook some dinner for tonight..Keep well all..

Love Mary xxx <3 <3

Sorry guys for not being on here much. Life is just not a bowl of cherries at the mo. Like you Mary, we are faced with tests and more tests and many of them a long drive away. The weather however is looking up and supposed to be back at about 30 degs by the weekend. My broad beans have lots of beans on them but they only grew to about 2 feet this year rather than the lofty4 feet they usually end up at. My zukes however are healthier than all get up and have masses of flowers and
squash on them....lucky neighbours!!!

Busy going thru the house sorting out stuff for our annual garage sale. Really trying to downsize this time. Sorry Fred, I am going get rid of some of my bears for sure.
Sure hope that Liz's tests go OK and I agree with Mary, perhaps you could have oxygen at home?? My Mom had that. We had to put stickers all over the place outside so that folks would know not to smoke x amount of feet close to the house.

Mary, we leave on Sept 11th. Am looking forward to this break a lot. I am a little sad that we are not going to take the trailer but there is no way this year we could have driven the distance. Norm just isn't up to it. Hope when you are feeling tired that you puts yer feet up, gal.

Edith hope all is OK with you. Don't hear much about your neck of the woods on the news so I am guessing that there are no forest fires etc??

OK that's me for today. Lesxx

Morning troops ,better day for us ,sunny but with a chance of the odd shower ,better than normal these days .
We don't know if this hospital visit is for setting up Liz's exercises ,or if it is to see if her saturation oxygen level is so low that they are going to put her on oxygen for a couple of hours a day ,this being at home of course ,we aRN'T SURE BECAUSE HER APPOINTMENT WITH THE CONSULTANT IS STILL ON FOR THE 15TH OF THIS MONTH ,LOL, IT SEEMS THINGS ARE THE SAME THE WORLD OVER ,HOSPITALS KEEPING THEIr patients quessing ,lol, a bit like a game for them :-).
Edith may be out of luck as regards the internet at the moment ,but it may be that she is ultra busy ,her town having a 100 year from birth celebration this month ,and all the women are running round like headless chickens organising parties ,get togethers ,and baking cakes and what ever ,he he ,the very thought makes me tired ,lol :-).
You have reached the stage Mary where you need to put your boss on the puter in the afternoons while you go for a lie down ,for a couple of hours ,no matter if you snooze for a while ,or just relax ,the point being you need the extra rest,and i'm not ashamed to admit ,i do this very thing most days.
In case it interfears with night trime sleep i use camomile tewa to take to bed ,last thing at night ,and luckily ,with this bedtime drink with no milk or sugar works like a dream :-.
D.
Les ,hope the sale goes well ,and you get a load more room in your garage for the growing hoard of cups and saucers he he ,,but no way will i be following your lead and getting rid of any of my little bears ,perish the thought,we have even ,now got a little white rabbit mascot that goes out in the car with us ,i use the excuse that it keeps the young grankids quiet in the car ,but seeing as the youngest is now 7 years old ,that excuse is getting a bit thin. :-(.
Hope the train trip goes fine for you too ,maybe the scenery on the way will relax both of you ,sounds as though we all need a little R & R,at the moment.
Well Edith ,iif you do manage to get on the thread to at least read it ,we have started to harvest our herbs ready for winter ,and as it is so damp in the greenhouse ,the kitchen ,and little dining area are being pressed into service for the drying of ,at the moment i have dill, chives ,sage ,and the mints everywhere ,leading to many interesting aromas in the air ,okay for now he he ,but when it gets to the stage of dying onions ,both white and red ,and garlic bulbs ,the wife won't be too chuffed ,he he ,but if she complains i will threaten here with henbane too ,that will keep her quiet ,lol. ;-).
My climbing french bean are at last showing flower ,a lot later than normal ,but at least we should get some beans to make the growing of worthwhile,and the runners are now doing very well.
You may be doing a lot better than us with the broads this year Les ,but with the extra row next year ,we may just do as well as you next year :-P.
The fig is growing fast ,so we should have a more diverse fruit crop next year with any luck ,the new Rhubarb roots are going well ,and hopefully we will have apples again ,and our first pears ,should be a good year [he says hopefully] ;-).
Have to do a shoot now ,we are due at the hospital at ten this morning ,and it takes an age to find a parking place.
Take care all ,be safe ,and take it easy ,we none of us are getting any younger ,if you get my drift.
Catch you later when i know what is going on as regards the missus .Fredxx <3 :-D

Just a quick post. It is Port Alberni's 100th. anniversary today. We did a tour of several venues but had to head home...just too hot. 37 degrees here today that would 98 farenheit!!! I am thinking about plunging my body into Bella's pool....mmmm!
More later. Lesxx

Morning, As usual the first post has gone into cyberspace.!!!!
I have a few free minutes between running out again to another event so here goes. We are now into the Blueberry Festival as well as the Anniversary so it adds to the race :-) Yesterday we had a Blueberry Cheesecake tea and served over 200 folks in 2 hrs. They came from all over the world, some from New Zealand, Australia. Britain, Norway, China and of course the U.S and Canada.
A lot of our former residents came home and they really are a global lot of people.
The "girl" helping to organize the School reunion lives in Port Alberni Les.
Fred I think I will head over there to do the gardening. I have lost most of my herbs to that D---n worm. They are not coming back at all. The thyme is just sticks
in the pot, no sign of life.
I will have to go to the Farmers market and buy what I need :-P not happy but I do need the herbs.
Wishing all the best for Liz and John hope the treatments work for both of them and you caregivers are staying well.
Les, if you phone here in the early a.m I should be home and as you know I can get to the station in about 3 minutes.
Time to start running again, so will see you soon. Edith <3

afternoon peeps time for a few lines before i go for my afternoon snooze ,lol ;-).
Had a very early morning start ,both lawn edges done ,and ditto to both front lawn cut outs ,one being the rockery of course.
watered the main stuff in the greenhouse ,and then decided to mow the lawn so that i could put the feeder on,made it too with a few minutes to spare as it's now drizzling.
:-).
Believe it or not Edith ,i am already planning my seeds for next year,as regards the calabrese ,not to thrilled with either of the breeds i had in this year,so i am on the lookout for some older seeds like ,Trixie ,or Comet ,both good growers ,but i would prefer Trixie ,it being a club root resistant breed.
Been lucky again with the rain ,missing the heavy downpour that hit the south west,but we are supposed to have thunderstorms later doday ,which is why i decided to put the feeder on the front lawn ,the best sort of rain to take it straight down to the roots.
We had an early ,light dinner ,stir fry ,and will be having a posh tea later than usual ,,KFC chicken bits some mini pies from Morrisons and A little ham ,cheese & onion flan.and starting it all off with open bun sarnies topped with egg ,cress and onion in a little Mayo. :-).
Think i had better shut down ,it is getting very heavy out to the west ,and is getting blacker by the minute.
Hope all are getting a rest today ,specially in the heat over in Canada,but spare a thought for all in New Zealand where it looks as though White island is going to cop it ,with a threatened volcanic eruption ,not looking good over there.
Take care all ,and have a good evening,Fred Liz & Hissy.xxx :-D <3

At 7 last night it was 42 degrees in our sunroom and about the same on the patio. Norm put the fan on at full speed when we went to bed and even Bella and Ollie got up to enjoy the "breeze". Norm got up early this morning and opened all the windows to cool the house off. It is supposed to be more of the same today, maybe even hotter!

Edith they say that the train now has high speed connections all across Canada so I may even to be able to email you. I know the outward journey will be a bust as we roll into Sioux after midnight and I will be asleep hopefully. But the homeward journey is calling for about 5 am and if it is running late we may get lucky!! I will try phone and let you know.

Sounds like you had a good supper Fred. We went to the deli and picked some goodies for ours...no cooking for us yesterday. We had assorted cold cuts, potato salad, thai salad, broccoli and grape salad, and coleslaw. Today I have taken ribs out of the freezer and I am hoping that Norm will be able to bbq them. Perhaps we will have to haul the bbq under the plum tree to get some shade. Not that I am really complaining because soon enough we will be heading into our rainy, misty, cold winter.

Ok it is not too hot at the moment and I am going to try and bath Bella in her pool. We left the water in all day yesterday so it should be warmish. I have some pics to send you....will try and get at that today.
More later. Lesxx

Morning to all ,sounds like two mirrors set under the B B q grill Les' and you won't need to light it ,just use the sun ,lol.hard for Liz and i to imagine heat like that it being dull and damp here yet again :-),but at least i scored putting the grass feeder on yesterday morning ,in time for the 2 hour thunderstorm and heavy rain ,to take it straight into the soil :-D.
Your meal sounded a bit of all right ,and we did enjoy ours quite a lot and today i am doing a stuffed Marrow after buying a lovely one for £1 at Morrison's two days ago,i made it up this morning after clearing up the kitchen,before setting the washing away.
I made up a packet of savoury rice ,mixed in with half a red onion ,and a tad of Garlic, added a few drops of Hendersons sauce ,,coarse ground pepper,a 130 gramme tin of Tuna ,finely diced radish ,and red pepper,mixed it all well together and whacked the whole lot in the scooped out marrow halves ,fixing them back together by putting them in foil wrapping well to stop it coming apart.
This will go into the top oven on 195c at the same time as the roast tatties,while the rest of the veggies go into the steamer. ;-).
Found a new recipe too for jackets ,which i am going to try this week,four jacket tatties which are sliced fery finely ,about as thin as potato crisps ,leaving the cuts a little short of completely through so the potatoes look a little like a fan,this is drizzled with a little olive oil ,and then covered with a mix of breadcrumb ,chopped onion ,salt .pepper and parmesan cheese before putting it in the oven,wrapped in foil for half an hour ,,removing from the foil for the last 15 minutes.it should taste a bit of all right .and is called Hastleback Potato.,and i have put the recipe on my computer for future reference [providing it tastes fine ,of course ] lol.
We have our next weeks holiday booked back at Liverpool ,at the same place as well ,so we can cover more places ,and fill in some gaps ,4 more museums to syart with ,another Ferry trip ,but this time including the Submarine centre,and a few more visits to Southport ,where i hope this time ,it will be a little sunnier :-).
Hope you enjoy your trip Les ,and it would be nice to be able to meet up with Edith for a short while ,her Being a very early bird ,like me ,i think both of us in an earlier existence were nocternal he he ;-).
I think i have twigged your Chinese greens Mary think we call them Chinese lettuce over here,we have had one once in a while ,and have used them in a salad ,and had them cooked , i won't grow them though ,preffering Pak choi which is half the size and grows far quicker,,when yours is half grown at 8 inches ,mine are in the pot he he .
We are doing well now ,i have broad beans on the plants ,the other two sorts of beans are flowering well ,and we have finished the main heads on the calabrese and are starting on the cabbage.
The greenhouse is going like a bomb at last cucumbers coming out of our ears ,oodles of green tomatoes ,and even the peppers are starting to flower.
All we are waiting for now ,are the turnips and beetroot to fatten up,and for our onions and leeks to do ditto.
Time to go peeps ,i have to hoover upstairs before we slide out to the COOP to collect a few offers ,he he ,back later,Fred ,Liz and The furry pest who is doing her usual washing day trick he he ,in through the window ,which is open for the drier hose ,and out the back door ,over the gate ,and in through the window again ,little bu**er is making us dizzy,lol. :-D <3xxx

Well it was as hot yesterday and perhaps a degree or so hotter on the patio. In the morning I did persuade Bella to come with me in the pool and gave her a quick bath. She loved it, guess the water cooled her off a treat. I also clipped all of her "pretties" as we call them, all the curls that cluster around her ears and the back of her legs. So now she is trule a pretty girl....and she knows it! !!

Ollie escaped into the front garden while Norm was out there watering and so has howled for the rest of the night and even this morning in disgust at being dragged back into the house. He has to be a house cat. He was a stray in a former life and was 3 when we got him, so likely that life style is a bit ingrained. Anyway I will give him cat nip today, that will cheer him up. I grow it in the greenhouse and then take it back there to recuperate after Ollie has ravaged it to pieces...lol!!

It is cooler this morning only supposed to go to about 28 today. Now thats a nice summer day for me. I think I will be able to sit outside with a book and we will be able to bbq tonight....yippee!!

Fred I have made those spuds before. If you put the handle of a wooden spoon next to the spud when cutting it makes it easier so that you cannot cut all the way thru. They do not take long to bake and tend to dry out quickly....guess that would be my only comment. Since trying those I now take a medium spud and make three equal cuts in the same manner, not all the way thru. In the middle cut I place a thin slice of onion and in the other two a thin slice of cheese. Norm likes his with gorgonzola (yuk!!) and I like mine with either feta or parmesan. I wrap them in foill and bake until cooked. Pretty yummy also.

Ok off to make some brekkie. More later. Lesxx

wahey ,nothing wrong with stinky cheese tell Norm ,lol,outstanding ,spread on crumpets instead of butter,and on tatties too [i might just try it on the new ones ,and put the mix of Parmasan and breadcrumbs on Liz's.
Had to chuckle at the mention of Ollie and his protests at being carted back indoors ,a true Tom That's for sure .
The pic's are great by the way ,you can see that Bella is having a great time in the water,and probably dosn't want to come out.
Hissy likes to play with the knitted balls which are filled with cat nip and spends hours holding them in her front paws ,and kicking at them with her back legs,apart from these balls ,she only plays with her little duck ,which she wraggles by it's neck,cat instinct i Guess ,he he.
We have been having really funny weather here these last few days ,floods around the town again ,roads and rail services closed all around us but as yet ,we are still getting away with it,one place down in Yorkshire was hit by a Tornado ,more and more in this country now ,but unheard of when i was a lad [somewhere in the middle ages ] he he.
It has come to light that many so called [thought] black death out breaks in the middle ages in Britain ,were in fact after carbon dating and dna tests were found to be the result of volcanic activity ,the people starving to death in the volcanic winters ,where not enough light was produced to let crops grow ,makes you wonder if we are now heading back that way.
Don't know what to do for the tea today ,but have a Kedgeree lined up for tomorrow ,after finding a lovely big bit of smoked Haddock for sale at the fishmongers ,a treat for us with the price of fish here.
Hope all are having a good week,catch you all later ,Fred Liz ,& Hissy.xxx:-D :

Hi everyone.. Been busy with the OH and just didn't have the oomph to get on and post.. been feeling very tired..
Nothing much happening here.. More tests coming up and more visits to the clinic..Skin doctor next week to fix a small skin cancer that OH has. Nothing to worry about. then another test the following week and the clinic about the week after.. its getting harder and harder to get him about and it will be a wheelchair soon..
Fred Hope Liz goes well at the hospital and tell her she will feel a lot better after the visit..bet you are scoffing all those vegetables from the garden,,What a joy to have so many fresh veg. Do wish I got more sun on my back patio.. perhaps in the summer it will be better as the sun will be lower down our way..
Les and Edith.. Hope all is ok with you two.. Lovely photo Les.. What a peaceful place ..pity about the critters.. the big one that is..lol

Take care all and have a lovely weekend all..

Love Mary xxx <3 <3

Hi To all ,been a good day today ,up at 5 am to get the front garden border and rockery done before the rain started ,got that finished at 6 am and had a coffee with the gaffer ,[Hissy ] who follows me as i go ,you would think ,to make sure i have donwe it to her satisfaction,he he ,she is a poppet .
Decided to dead head the roses after i had finished coffee ,and then put all the rubbish into the waste ,garden bin ,then finished off by feeding the tomatoes after cutting off the dying leaves ,low down on the haulms.
That's it in the house for 7 am work outside finished for the day.
Doing a meat and potato pie for the dinner,with a medley of greens from the garden ,Calabreese through to beans including the first of the little Turnip.
Are their any shopping centres within a mile of you Mary ? it might ,if there is ,a good reason to be getting John a mobility scooter to give him a bit of independence ,and give him a chance to get out and about.
There are a few good ones out there that give a range of 10 to 15 mile on a single charge ,some of which can be loaded into the back of a car for transport,though not in your case ,unless you can find a very light one for you getting it out of the boot.
I have found a suitable one here ,and it's only 20 kilos ,once put together,which takes 3 minutes.
If i get the missus one of these ,i feel sure she will make good use of it,being able even to go to the local shops ,and the doctors on her own ,and even go around the Metro Centre in it once i get it out of the car for her.
Think tea today will be a chicken nibble one with frozen stuff taken out of packets ,KFC chicken nuggets ,mini breasts ,and some home made bread,a nice laid back tea.
Haveto get the cat her tea anyway ,she is making a pest of herself batting her own tail over the side of my puter stand so i can't even reach the mouse ,lol.
Catch you later all,hope all have had a good weekend despite the hassle and concerns ,Fred & Lizxxx :-D <3

Afternoon to all ,and a pretty nice one it is too ,nice bit of sun ,and pleasant breeze,yusssss ,time for an ice cream on the patio for tea i think.
Been attacked by 633 squadron yesterday while working among the cabbage with the hoe ,,i would never have thought i would be bitten 6 times below the knee by mosquitoes ,but there you go ,he he,bit like being back in Aden again.
I landed up at the surgery this morning getting a course of anti bi's from the doc' i have never seen bites come up as fast before,,all mattery and 'orrible ,lol, that will teach me in my old age to venture out into the garden in shorts ,the thought of being attacked in a slightly more sensitive area makes the eye's smart . ;-).The news from the hospital yesterday is not as bad as it could have been ,a short term oxygen at home trial at first to see how it goes ,before long term plans are thought of if these don't work.
The wife phoned the number they gave her this morning ,and someone is coming out on Thursday morning to make arrangements as to the delivery of the oxygen cylinders and the run down on the use of ,this ,we expect to be ,the use of before climbing the stairs at first ,and use of after getting out of the shower while her breathing settles back down again,so ,by the time we go back to Liverpool i should have an idea as to how many bottles i will need to take with us ,hopefully only the one.
She is getting a card from the hospital too ,so that if we run low ,we can get replacement bottles delivered to the Caravan park ,or hotel ,,so it isn,t so bad. :-).
Going to have a treat while down this time ,i intend tracking down a traditional Lancashire Cheese pie ,the last one we had at Fleetwood was to die for .
Hope everyone is okay ,nothing of any note happening here ,so i am going to make a couple of sarnie fillings for tea.
Catch you all later ,Fred & Liz.xxx <3

Hi Everyone. It was Norm's 70th. birthday on Saturday and all the kids came over for the weekend. We had a great day, not too hot, lots of laughs and Bella in heaven with all those extra folks to play with. I gave Norm a trip on the Francis Barkley down the Alberni Inlet as his present. So we went yesterday. The boat leaves at 8am and we got back at 7 in the evening. The trip took us down the inlet, then west to Sechart and then on to Ucluelet where we stopped for an hour. We walked up to the main street and had fresh fish and chips (halibut). On the journey back we encountered a thick sea mist that reduced the boat to a crawl and then whales...lots and lots of whales. The captain went off course for awhile and followed the whale boats and sure enough tails and spouts all over the place even a Mom and her baby....Norm got some good pics. On the outward bound journey the crew did a delivery at sea with a small boat that had come out from one of the resorts. It was pretty cool to watch. The Barkley took back all the empty totes and then loaded the little guy up with supplies I guess enough for a week. When the small boat was loaded it headed back towards land listing at the back and we could see the two men juggling with all the packages and boxes to try and get it levelled out a bit. Too scary for me.

If you are interested you can Google the Barkley. She is a working boat which takes supplies and mail to all the remote communities up and down the inlet. She has a passenger capacity of about 100 and it was pretty full yesterday. I managed even with sunscreen to get a sunburned nose, chin and forehead....aloe time!!! We had a quick bite to eat and then, pretty tired, headed off to bed. Of interest to Fred, the boat is programmed and steered by computer even tho it has a captain and a sic. They can over ride the computer if needed which they did when we followed the whale boats for awhile. Then just head back to where they are suppposed to be and the computer takes over. They do manually leave and land tho.

Today is the start of amassing all the stuff for the yard sale. This will likely take us all week. We usually pile it all in the "library"!! and then we only have to haul it out the front door. We have three tables of our own but I think this time we will rent a couple of 8 foot tables so that we will have a lot more room to put stuff out. We have a lot od stuff. I will try and take some pics.

More later. Lesxx