General Chat

Hi Badger , the rain continues and yes many places are flooded and at least 4 people have drowned, most because they have tried to drive accross flooded causeways.
All along the east coast is flooded and also western area's of Qld. and NSW.
Here in Bathurst it looks as if the rain is easing the clouds are breaking up so hopefully we wont have any more rain, for awhile.
I received an email from a cousin with pictures of Russia and the winter they have been having, not inches of Snow but ten to twenty feet of snow the pictures are amazing I dont know how one could live in those conditions. One picture was of a man with grapling hooks and climbing boots,, climbing up the wall to get to his flat through a top floor window.
I will say Bye now
Kindest regards,
Marie

Arvo.

Just popping home for a bit of lunch, in between house calls. Busy, busy,busy and everyone wants everything done before christmas.!!!!...lol

Don't know why?.....as Christmas day only last 24hrs, and then its over...:>))

Bit of a sad day yesterday for me. At a funeral
My cousin died last Friday after a battle with cancer,and she was my favourite cuz ( my mums niece ) growing up as a kid.
69 years young and i have a great pic of her carrying me on her shoulders when i was a 1 year old. She was 7 years my senior and a bit of a tom boy as a young girl. Loved to climb trees, and kick the football around with the boys in our street in th early 50s. I remember the first tree house and rope swing out of a used car tyre she built me in the back yard when i was a 6 year old living in 386 Church street Richmond. House is still there today, and both her family ( my Aunt and Uncle ) and my own family lived altogether in the one house. It was a big double storey and we lived down stairs, and they upstairs............before my father bought our first home in 1952.
Back then my cuz ( Carmel ) every saturday, would take me to the fish n' chip shop up the road, and buy 3d worth of chips, and then take me to a park and we would sit and eat them on the swings. Ater that we went to the local Milk bar shop and would buy an ice cream with her chores money she earnt during the week. Mum of two grown up daughters now and 4 grandkids........and will be sadly missed.
At the least, she left me with some good childhood memories....something you cant buy, and something no one can take away from you.

Marie. No there is no Air-con in these block of units operating as yet. Well....there are Air-cons, but they are not up and running as yet.The units are all empty, and only just been built,( brand spankin new ) and ready for renting out or for sale. Power is not turned on until someone buys/rents or moves in to them. There are 12 units per level, and 4 levels. Built with all the mods and cons, and bells and whistles ( elevator ). Most are open plan living ( no hallways or divided walls ) Kitchen ( breakfast bench )looks straight out onto the large family/lounge room.....and most are two & three bedroom units with ensuites. Top floor is a bit more up market ( penthouse so to speak )Glass windows celing to floor, and step out balconies facing west in the afternoon, and thats my job to see that they are covered with blinds and awnings. 347 of them....lol

Thinking of all those caught and perished in these floods we are getting from as far south as Victoria, right up the east coast into Queensland.........and still more rain to come they tell us. Last year and before we were crying out for water to put the blahdy fires out, and this year we have so much water peope are drowing in it.
Only in Australia.....and like one of our icon poems says:
I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges, Of ***droughts and flooding rains****. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea,
Her ****beauty and her terror*** -The wide brown land for me!

Take care everyone, whether your trying to keep Warm from the snow, Dry from the rains, or Cool from the heat......And in this big Country of ours we call Oz .... we can have all three on the same day,somewhere!.....:>))

Av a good un.

Tony....;>))

Dear Tony,
I am so sorry for you ,we always want to keep the ones we love, no matter how old or young they may be . May Carmel rest in peace .
Remember her suffering has all gone, this is what I try to remember when any of my dear loved ones pass away.

The rain seems to have finished ,but the water is still oozing out of the hills above us running down through our land .
Many of my plants are now dead. If we don't get any more rain in the next week or so we may dry out---Hopefully and I will then try to replace some of my plant's.

I will be sending you a Xmas news letter, please let me know if you receive it as we have had some difficulty sending it. My Grandson suggested that you file it so that you can read it.
You may not have any trouble as you probably are better at this than we are.

Regards to you and Barbara
Marie.

Morning to Marie and Tony ,where Fred is having a well earned rest having cleared the last of the snow away ,he he ,just before the next load arrives at the back end of the week.
sorry to hear your news about the cousin Tony especially as there was a special link between the two of you,hang on to those memories Mate ,they will be a comfort to you in the days ahead.
It sounds as though that house was much like my grandads place in Chestnut Road,just up the road from Richmond Park,a longish narrow house like most Edwardian ones of that era ,five rooms downstairs ,and four bedrooms up.
My sister and i spent many happy holidays there with fluffy [the dog ] and a nameless cat. just after the wars end.
.I can remember three pennorth of chips too ,with scraps thrown in as well [batter off the fish] if you were a regular customer ,cor ,those were the days .lol.
Seems the weather is going to pot all over the world ,even Russia are having a tough time ,with the Ukraine having lost it's potato harvest due to flooding as well,and a very miserly grain harvest.
We are off out shortly to top up on supplies in case we get hit hard again ,he he ,no Christmas B B Q on the patioTHIS year [perish the thought],but i just might put the wood stove to good use instead.
Hope everyone had a nice weekend ,as i'm sure our Mary did after the good news from her hubbys' doctor ,what a result after all the agro and worry.
Catch you later all ,Fred.

Hi everyone.. Don't faint its me again..We are so lucky that we are nowhere near all the floods and in fact we have had very little rain..not like poor Marie, who has copped the lot..

Merle Butter about the other knee.. Twas bad enough with the first one so you reeeely didn't need this with the second one..big hugs my lovely..xxx Glad you are enjoying doing the cards, you are very creative and the poem is lovely..keep me informed re the hospital treatment,,xx

Marie Thanks for the Christmas news and photos ,,They are really lovely and you did a great job of it..Will be in Orange for Christmas, so will let you know when..

Fred,, Hope that snow is off my chalet,,, don't want the glass to break..

Well we have some good news ,,John has seen a new doctor and he has put him on prednisone and he is starting to come good at last,, The poor man has been through the mill for the past 5 years so its good to see something positive happening..He is quite happy to go to Orange for Christmas which a few days ago I thought we wouldn't make it this year..

Tony How was the funeral,, Hope it was a nice one.big hugs..

Well am off to bed.. Keep warm you Uk'ers and the Aussies keep dry..

Love Mary xxx

Dear Mary , such good news about John .
I hope the recovery continues.
Mary I am flying to Brisbane on Tuesday 21st of Dec .
Thanks to my very Generous daughters Barbara & Kathleen also Brian my son-in-law. It was part of my Xmas Present
God Love them they have such generous hearts, is a pity my sons don't have half the compassion as Barbara & Kathleen.

I must get to bed as it has been a very busy day as we had our Xmas tonight as they will all be away for Xmas.

Best wishes to you all Marie

Evening to all from Fred [de snowman] from frozen north.where i have already battened down the hatches on returning from town yesterday afternoon.
Enjoy your Christmas Marie ,somewhere dry and sunny for you i hope,but no matter ,you will be with your family,and that's the main thing .
Your chalet is safe for now Mary ,a tad cold in the veggie stores but still standing against the white menace ,lol.
The forcast yesterday looked a little unsure ,so we both went to town ,and Cramlington while the roads were clear,and we struck lucky,Sainsburies had irish beef on sale which i thought was apt seeing as i was going to corn it,and i got a lovely piece of topside for £12 a huge piece for the price which just fitted in the bath to soak,in the new fridge [ no need to use the chalet anymore] ,lol.
We also found a beutiful gammon joint for £10 also pretty big ,which i will roast in a water bath ,giving some lovely gravy for making soups,so ,what with those two purchases ,plus a big top upon the veggies ,we came back well chuffed.
Just as well too seeing as when i got up this morning it was snowing again ,a day early,but the heck with it ,we is warm ,dry and ready for owt ,as they say up here lol so it can please it's bessie.
Made a lovely red Thai Curry for dinner and a nice pot of Carrot and Celery soup for tea .
I brought myself a Chrissie present too from a B &M store that has just opened where the son lives at The new factory outlets in Rokerby,and also brought a king size duvet set for the other main bedroom so that room is now nice and snug now once we go to bed.
My present is an electric frying pan that will cook anything from a full B B Q indoors to a rice dish with trimmings which can be used anywhere there is a plug handy without having to stand over the cooker ,with heat and timer controls because i is a lazy Bu**r on the quiet .he he.
The wife had one hell of a morning upstairs wrapping the bairns presents with the cat ,he he,,the furry pest kept nicking the labels and running off with them little pest ,she had me in kinks but when the wife started to lose her cool ,i removed said puddy twat ,whereapon she plagued my life instead he he ,lying on my puter so i couldn't even see the keyboard ,never mind use it .ooooo it's a good job i love the furry pest..
My son ,by the way has fallen foul of one of these road idiots that swerve in front of you and then slam the brakes on so that you land up ramming them up the rear,and then claim it's your fault.
I have sent for two of these cameras that mount on the front windscreen and rear window ,both fitted with time and date recording ,and full video recording ,so if anyone tries that with me ,they are in for one hell of a shockas these cameras are admissable for the police to look at or even be used in court as evidence of an insurance scam,£80 well spent i reckon and saving your no claims bonus.
Sad state of affairs though ,but this scam is rife over here ,some even working in gangs ,and making big money out of it ,and putting everyones insurance up.
Well ,i am off on soup detail and will say goodbye for now,hope everyone is okay ,dry ,and looking forward to Santa Claus,specially the toddlers he he,catch you later ,Fred.

Arvo.

As we are only just a week away from Christmas day..i just wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone on the thread a very merry christmas, however you spend it.

May your xmas stockings be full of joy,laughter and happiness....and most of all...free from illness for the coming New year.

For us this coming Christmas Eve we will start of the night at around 7:30 pm with our traditional large seafood platter of Shrimp, Tiger prawns and Crab meat on a lettuce bed with spring onions and tomatoes, and a bowl of Barbs traditional home made cocktail sauce. Two Lobsters,Red,Green and white bowls of small pickled onions and a few chicken peices and hungarian hot sliced salami ( yum!! ) along with Avacado and Relish dips ect.......herb & garlic bread and a few bottles of Ricadonna to wash it down.....:>))

At about 8:30 pm on the Tele "Carols by Candlelight" held at the Melbourne Myer music bowl will get us all in the relaxed mood and a sing along.

Hit the sack at around midnight, and wake at about 6:00am Christmas day. We have a few staying over this year,( Xmas eve ) so hope everyone brings their sleeping bags..lol

Round one:
After a few pressies given out from under the Chrissy tree, most will have gone, and Barb and myself will prepare a full Christmas lunch for her family coming at about midday.( 8 people )

Around 5pm that lot will be on there way, and Barb and myself will do a quick wizz round the house and clean up.

Round two:

Approx 6:30 pm onwards my lot will turn up for Christmas night ( 35 people ) Great Gran, Siblings, Daughters and spouses, Grandkids, Neices and Nephews and their kids , Great newphews and neices............ All will bring finger food and cold left overs from their Chrissy lunch.....and we will start all over again till about 2am boxing day....lol


I will awake on Boxing day at some stage, and walk out to the decking and family room ( with a hangover and a bottle of Berocca ) which will look like WW111 has started.....scratch my head,swear like a trooper, and vow never to do this again..............................................................











..................................but next year we will do the same thing all over again!!!!!!!......lol


Why!!......because we love it....:>))




Just in case i dont get back on line ( Very busy with work )
Merry Christmas to you all, and may god bless you and yours.


Stay safe.


Tony....:>))

Hi everyone,

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Tony, your Christmas sounds very much like ours, except we try & play cricket in the afternoon, usually merry, but a good time is had by all.

Our Family Christmas will be very special this year, on Monday our 1st grandchild was born - a girl, which was the first girl in her fathers family for 3 generations!!

I will try & get back more next year.

Merry Christmas to everyone !

Wet here, blissful after so much drought.

Having some family come to stay over on Boxing Day, and
very busy week up ahead.

So much to be thankful for.

To all those in the snowy Hemisphere, take care of each other,
sometimes crises reveal hidden depths !!

Am having a couple of glasses of wine plus nutty nibbles tonight
with my DD, decorating the tree and wrapping the silly presents we get for each other.

Had a lovely Xmas party with our core Mums HSC 2009 group
and the relevant kids on Friday night, the youngsters had such
a good time they stayed up all night, seven kids : two gap years
with part-time jobs, one apprenticeship, three uni's, one TAFE....
.... four left town, three stayed, it was lovely to see them all so
thrilled to get together and share their experiences ( and yes I
did get the speech two days before about "oh yuk really, why
do I have to go?' but then two of the girls decided to "glam up"
for it, and from then on it was all "cool"....... the $5 Kris Kringles
were a challenge and the winning gift was given to OH -

the "I-CONE" a pine-cone suitably dressed for Xmas, plus plastic
toy phone in it's ear lol - it is on the front counter of the shop causing
comment, I said it was an I-CONE for an icon..... ( hubby rolls eyes !)

Am being called to put the kettle on, better go!
Xmas wishes to all, Hz

Merry Christmas to you all from the Kiwi on the other Aussie thread.

Do have a safe and happy Christmas and a great new year and find lots of your ancestors without too much trouble.

I'll drink to that!!

Love Persey ((xx)) (^_^)

hi all, third time lucky,I've lost the last two attempts so might send this in instalments.
Tony, sorry to hear of your loss,specially so close to the festivities.Glad you liked my little effort. Keepthe pressure up on those blinds.As long as as it brings in the moolah I guess its worth it.
Hi Mary darling, got the list thank you. Just have to figure out how to get it off the bleeding puter.
Have fixed the bleep over the email address I hope. Glad John has found someone to help him. Did the Dr warn him he might get the trembles with it. Weight is inclined to go up sometimes even though they tell me it can't.Hah! I use it when my asthma gets out of control.Still, I reckon its worth it if it helps him.

...now, the continuing saga of the leg. After a stint of treatment for the staph infection which wiped me out of surgery,I was given another date for the op,Dec 14 In the meantime the dr who was doing the anaesthetic was not rostered on that day so I had to go see another who looked at my file and promptly refused to do it. Too big a risk. Ordered blood tests and a heart scan and shooed me out. Not a happy little lady!!! By this time I had 2 1/2 days to find another one.3pm the day before the surgery, I wasadvised that all was well, so duly presented myself as ordered at 6.30am. Finally Got to the ward at 8.30 and waited till 10.00 for a bed in a four bed ward with other theatre goers, showered and dressed in me sundy best so to speak ready for theatre when there was a flurry of nurses

hurriedly donning gloves and telling me not to touch anything. One of the ward staff happened to bring up my file on the puter and there was a pretty yellow infection flag waving at her which hadnt been there earlier. .the buttery infection control had stuffed up again only this time she really did a good job of it.Must have realised what the date was and tried to cover her back. She hadn't informed anyone that my infection was worse not better. not ward staff, theatre staff, surgeon not to mention this poor old patient who prmptly had hysterics and if any of you dare to laugh at me I promise you prompt retaliation. result? Open warfare. I had to go home again because if I'd had the op theatre would have had to close

for the day for disinfection.Sooooo,A very curt letter of complaint against the infection nurse and the promise that if I don't get a call from her with the next lot of swab results the next letter goes to the health dept.When the hospital gave me the next lot of treatment stuff I asked why it was different to the last lot. Guess what. I hadn't been given the right stuff before which was why there wasn,t any improvement. Ah Me.
You wouldn;t believe it would you.Next try Jan 21 with instructions from the surgeon for a private room and a promise from the surgeon my op; will be last for the day as long as swab resultsare favorable. The pain in my leg has receeded as the treatment continues and the ward manager told me It was the infection in my blood stream caused inflammation in the arteries.You learn something new every day.So there you go.Dare I say what more could happen?
If I don't get back this side of Christmas have a great day and stay safe all of you

Hi all ,from the real frozen north ,seemingly at the moment colder than Greenland ,and we keep getting reminded that we are only JUST outside the arctic circle ,he he.
Going to be a very quiet Christmas here both of us stuck indoors because Liz is unwell as soon as she draws breath outside in these temperatures ,and both of us lying in bed early in the evening ,noses oiut of the covers ,glowing red .lol.Rudolph hasn't a look in
Wish we were out there ,the idea of playing cricket Christmas day ,or having a Tony style B B Q sounds blissful,while we over here try to hibernate or go on tropical holidays ,no matter ,out turn will come [roll on ].
Poor you Merle what a time you are having of it,that hospital of yours sounds worse than Alder Hay [Manchester ] a real horror story ,i think i was so fortunate to land up in the Victoria Infirmary where things are spot on.
Hope ,now at least ,now they have got their act together that they get you sorted out very quickly,and that you will still enjoy Christmas and the New Year despite the ongoing saga.
Hope all of you over there enjoy your holidays,and have a good time despite the terrible weather you are all having .
Merry Christmas all ,and a lovely ,peaceful new year to all,Fred

Morning from a snowy Canada.

Merry Christmas to all you folk. J.A, Mary and cousin Ian.

Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday and Santa treats you

well.

Edith (Canadian thread) XXXX

Hello everyone,

Just dropping in, Christmas Eve 6.55pm here in Victoria:-)

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy 2011.

Best wishes, Carole xxx

Hello to Fred , Mary,Tony, Carolee, Edith from Canada,Persephone ,HZ, Mele175, also Merle.
So sorry to hear you are having such a bad time with your leg, I hope all goes well for you in Jan.

I spent Xmas in Brisbane 5 days there and it rained the whole time, the north of the state has had a bad time and now Rockhampton is in flood .
I had an email from my brother earlier they may have to leave their house as the water was slowly coming into his yard, and if it reaches the peak they are expecting the water will be in his home, i hope it doesn't get to the
height they are expecting.

I arrived home on boxing night to more rain however yesterday and to-day are Sunny, there are heavy clouds about but hopefully it will remain dry.

Like you Tony,I always watch the Carols by Candlelight in the Myer Music Bowl, and sing along with them.

I hope you have a ******* HAPPY NEW YEAR ********

I shall be watching the Fireworks on Sydney Harbour Via the TV.

Best Wishes to you all

Marie

Just a quickie to let everybody that Liz and i are thinking of you all,and hoping that you are all okay,despite what the weather throws at everyone.
We did manage to get away ,and are now in wildest Wiltshire with the grandson for a few days.
We have found out [for ourselves] that Liz goes into
Hypothemic Shock if she goes out into the freezing air for more than a couple of minutes and the freezing air reaches her lungs.
Now we know what the bother is ,we are fine with it,i have to do most of the shopping myself of course ,leaving the two pests in the warm house ,lol.
Not a bother though ,as spring will soon be here,and we can get her out and about again [knew i should have insisted that we moved to Oz years ago when we had the chance],he he ,too late now was the cry,but things could be so much worse .
The car handles very well in ice and snow ,and we got down to wiltshire no bother,only the english drivers having a fit at being out in conditions they can't cope with,and holding the experienced drivers up.
Have to go now ,as i have to start the Christmas dinner for the Grandson ,who insisted that i even bring down my home made stuffing for the turkey.
Also brought down some corned beef [yum] and some very nice home cooked gammon,this lad is going to get spoilt rotten.
If i can't get on again before hand,have a nice time at the new years parties,and stay safe,Fred & Liz.