General Chat

Hi all who look in.

Sylvia, thanks for birthday wishes, now heading towards our anniversary next weekend, all our events come together in late July/August, his and my birthday and our anniversary.
The wound is uncovered now and healing well although still tender and sore if anything rubs on it like clothing.

Sallie are you doing anything special for your 50th anniversary?

Hi Jean if you are peeping, hope you are ok. Why not revert to making more simple cards if you find cutting dies is too hard. I don't often use dies these days I prefer to use layers and toppers.

If anyone is interested in our weekend in hampshire (where we saw the huge new aircraft carrier HMS Elizabeth), there are photos on the photo blog. :-) :-) :-) :-) Some of Adam and Luke as well.

Hi everyone!

Belated Happy Birthday Ann xxx

It sounds as if you had a lovely time with your daughter and partner. I bought a couple of lovely tops in Edinburgh Wool last time we were over (2008!), and loved them.

Hope the nurse is happier with your wound on Wednesday ..... and that you get less discomfort with it xx


Sallie ...... it will be lovely to have the little family staying with you, but do take the time to take care of yourself. It does promising that your CPN thinks it is time to reduce seeing her to every 5 weeks.

Has Alun made that appointment to see his dr?


We finally had a weather change on Saturday evening with wind and dark clouds, then showers overnight and into early Sunday morning.

The wind blew away some of the fire haze .................. so grandson finally saw the mountains that Mummy had told him were "over there" .......... and the clouds and showers cooled down the temperature. Sun and heat are gradually coming back.

Unfortunately, the weather change also brought lightening to the interior, and there were 28 new fires started to add to the 100+ still burning. Daughter said they saw nothing but the smoke haze all the way from the Alberta border to the coast when they flew in last week.

We had a great dinner out with them on Saturday ....... went to a local steak house, which is not cheap but serves wonderful steaks, prime rib, etc, the kind that literally melts in your mouth! Our grandson loves steak ......... one of the kids' dinners was a 170 gm (ca 6-7 oz) sirloin steak, fries, drink and ice cream. He ate all the steak before he started on the fries :-D

I had a 7 oz filet mignon wrapped in bacon with fries .............. only a little bit bigger than his!! ........... it was delicious! OH had prime rib, and daughter had a sirloin.

We've had fun with them ....... they and OH have gone to the Aquarium this morning, but I stayed home. Did a little bit too much over the weekend, and the weather change hasn't helped, so would have been stupid to go, even though we could borrow a wheel chair there.

We seem to get more time in the evening after kiddo has gone to be to chat with daughter ............. we don't seem to do that so much when we go over there. S-i-l is not the chatty type!


They leave early tomorrow morning. We will see them again at Christmas when we go over there again.

good morning whoever is about. Sallie and Jean thank you so much for my birthday cards. I had a lovely day and a lovely weekend with daughter and her partner. We went down to the canal on Saturday (photos on the blog), and had a very short walk around there. It was very busy, both on and off the water. Then we went to a big garden centre for coffee and lunch and a look round the franchises. I bought myself a nice top in Edinburgh Wool, not a shop I oftern go to these days but it is a medium weight top for autumn which I liked. Sunday we went to a smaller garden center for coffee which we had sitting outside in brilliant sunshine. We then walked round and I treated myself to a small Acer to put down on the gravel garden, we also bought another plant the name of which escapes me (that one was reduced.) and we bought more slate as somehow ours has disappeared a bit so needs topping up. In the evening we went to a Table Table restaurant at a local pub for a meal. The meal was very good but because there was a table of 25 people in the service was very slow which was disappointing. Still we enjoyed it because there were the four of us chatting. This morning they have set off home and I had to go to the nurse to get the latest wound checked, got to go back on Wednesday because nurse is still not completely happy with it.

Thank you for the good wishes Sallie.
I am sure having the little family there will give you something to focus on and you will be better for it. Hopefully if you are only seeing your CPN every five weeks or so maybe things will be more normalised for you and you can start to find things in life to enjoy. I hope so anyway. Keep chatting on here anyway.

Maybe, as a precaution, Alun should check up with his zgP, but it may be something as simple as his medication making more saliva. :-D <3

Hi Ann, sorry to hear that the nurse had a problem getting all your stitches out yesterday. I can imagine how sore and painful your neck must feel, I'm sure that it would have been painful enough if she had managed to get them all out together first time round, without the added stress of going back on Monday, so let's hope that the ones that are left will come out easily. Good Luck, I will be thinking about you.

Great that you have Lynda and Joe arriving today for the weekend, for your birthday. It will be lovely to have their company to join you for a special meal.


Richard, Christie and Jenson came up two weeks ago for the weekend, it was lovely having them here and especially being able to see Jenson and giving him cuddles.

We are going to do the same thing as we did when Jennie and Michael were with us.....they are going to have our dining room as their lounge and we will stay where we are, but will have the table and chairs in here with us.....luckily we have a big enough lounge to do that.

I'm still under the C M H T and have been told I will be with them for the rest of my life. Once I have finished the last of the therapy I have left to do, I will still have my
C P N calling about every five weeks to keep an eye on how I am doing and if she thinks that I am not too good then will have to go back for a bit more therapy.
Paula, my C P N is concerned about how I am going to cope with the family here, but I am hoping that having the baby here will help me to keep things on am even keel.

Alun is doing okay, but he sometimes has a problem with his saliva catching him in
his throat and feels that he has only had the problem since he had his stroke. So I think it would be an idea to try and get a doctors appointment. Mind trying to get one will be easier said than done :-(


Jean , I hope that all is okay with you, J and your family. We miss seeing you on here. <3 <3 <3


Happy Birthday for Sunday Ann. Hope that you will have a lovely day and that you will enjoy your birthday meal with your family.



Love and Best Wishes. Sallie.xxx <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Hi Sallie, good to see you on here.

Not heard anything from Jean for ages. I will try and e mail her to see if she is ok, I know she was very busy with her card making but she did used to call in to say hello.

It will be nice for you to have company for 4/5 weeks. I hope it works out ok and you all get on. I suspect the problem may be holding back when you think something different should be done with baby. Anyway hope he is good at night. Let us know how it goes. Goodness three months, yes time goes by so fast. Our youngest great grandchild (Inara) is walking well now, we won't see her until October by the time she will be 16 months.

I had a minor op on my neck nine daays ago, went to have the stitches out yesterday and she could only get three of the five out so gave up and said I need to go back for the others Monday. Such a pain, (literally as it is very sore and swollen and such a lovely look as she put a dressing on so I look like I have been in the wars!! :-)

We have Lynda and Joe coming for the weekend tomorrow and are going out for my birthday on Sunday so that is something good to look forward to.

Hi Ann, I haven't had much news, so didn't have anything to write about. I hope that both you and T are alright. It's a shame that that this thread has gone down, there was always so much going on here, sometimes had a job to keep up with all the posts.....it's a pity that it isn't still the same :-(


Sylvia it can't be too long now before you and your OH will be starting your trip to celebrate your 50th Wedding Anniversary. I know that your daughter and grandson are also coming to visit you to help celebrate your special day.


I wonder where Jean is! I hope that both her and J are alright and everything is okay in the family.
Jean, if you are looking in, we miss you on here, it would be nice if a few more members joined us on here.


Richard, Christie and Jenson are coming to stay with us at the beginning of September for about 4-5 weeks until their new house in Bicester is finished.....it should have been ready at the end of this month, but apparently the builders have had a problem with the electrics.As they had sold their flat and had agreed on the date for moving out they were stuck for somewhere to live, as they couldn't rent anywhere to live on a short term lease, six months was the shortest lease they could get.

So they are coming to stay with us for the short time they need, and British Gas are letting Richard do his own work from their offices in Leicester until they can move into their new home.....which is very good of them. Of course, Christie is still on maternity leave until November. Looking forward to having them here and especially being able to see Jenson every day. :-) He will be three months old next week, can't get over how quickly it has gone by.


Will look in again soon. Take care.



Love, Sallie.xxx

<3 <3 <3

Still nobody around?

there we are, way down on page 4. Has everyone gone AWOL?

I have seen Sylvia elsewhere, but Sallie, Jean, where are you. Hope you are both ok. I think Sallie is exhausted after all her birthday celebrations.

Not a very nice day here, raining although T has still gone to golf. I might be going to the cinema (our small studio one) this afternoon, waiting to see if anyone else is going. And tomorrow we have a coach trip to Dunster, which should be fun if it is raining. :-(

poor little thread :-(


It's a lot cooler here today ...... first really cool day for over a month! Hot weather will return tomorrow. Still have the wildfires, plus new ones starting, and about 20,000 people still on evacuation out of their homes and many thousands more on alert.

I also see bad fires in southern Europe, and in California.

Life's still trundling along here ............... can't believe it's only a couple of weeks to our 50th :-0

Thank you Ann and Sylvia for your birthday wishes, it's nice to be thought of.

Enjoyed the last couple of days with the family and had a lovely meal out with them to celebrate. Had quite a few cards,flowers and presents so did well.

Hope that you are both alright. Take care.

Love, Sallie.xx <3 <3 :-)

Happy Birthday Sallie xxx

Hope that you have had a lovely day

Happy birthday, Sallie, hope you enjoyed your lunch. Have a lovely day

Just popped on to say thank you Jean and Ann for my birthday cards, they are both lovely as usual. We are going out to lunch to celebrate.....have a table booked for half past three.

Hope that you are both alright. Take care.

Love, Sallie.xx <3 <3

Lovely to see you posting Jean and to know that you are still kept busy making your cards. It's good that you still enjoy making them as they are going well.Like you Jean, several people have told me not to get rid of any of my craft stuff, because I might want to make them again one day.

Alun's sister Lynda, have been to visit us today, it was lovely to see her, she is such a lovely person. She came down on the train, as she is getting that she isn't too keen on driving on the M. 1. She lives in Ilkley so catches the train to Leeds and then catches the Nottingham train and can now get off at Ilkeston ......our new station opened five weeks ago. Before the Beeching cuts, there were three railway stations in Ilkeston and he closed them all.....it's lovely to have the new station.

We took her and Jennie out to lunch to a place Alun and I had never been to although Jennie and Michael had, and told us that the food was very nice, so we all enjoyed our lunch, the food was excellent. It was a bit of a birthday celebration too.

My cousin is coming on Sunday so we had already booked a table there for
3.30 p.m.so pleased that we have now.


Ann and Sylvia,hope that you are both alright.


Take care.


Love, Sallie.xxx <3 <3 <3

still here, although a bit too warm today, I thought you were in Spain Ann, glad you enjoyed it.....the hairdresser I use has now left and is on her way to live in Spain, we should have a new one in soon. until then I will have a go at doing my own hair , luckily I had a perm last week so its nice and tidy now.....

Sallie good news about Alun, ..I would say dont get rid of your craft stuff, just pack it away , maybe one day you will have another go.. I am making cards non stop..lol... since the new cafe opened its very popular, but I love doing the cards and also some gift boxes the last lot of free stuff there was lots of dies in fact the whole boxful was like christmas. and it seems there is some more to come yet. so I will keep busy stops me giving into dwelling on things I am no longer able to do.....

so my chef informs me we are having a korma for tea its nearly ready so I will say bye for now, take care l

Love Jean xxx

Hi Ann, it was a nice surprise to see the thread back on top again.As I said on Shaun's thread, with one thing and another it hasn't been an easy month for us .We went to the hospital this morning for Alun's check up, everything is fine and the Consultant was very pleased with how well he has recovered.There are times when his voice isn't as strong as it should be, but it is mostly when he is tired that he seems to have the problem.

I hope that you and T enjoyed your holiday in Spain. Also hope that all is well with both you, T and all your family.


Yes Ann I remember you celebrated your 70th birthday and your 50th wedding anniversary in 2010, I can still remember the anniversary card I made for you and T.
And of course remember that both you and I were both 20 when we got married. Like you say, the time seems to have gone by so fast.

And like Alun and I, Sylvia and her OH also celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in August but on the 12th.



Jean, I hope that everything is alright with both you and J. Have you managed to make any more cards lately? I still haven't been able to make any. I am still toying with the idea of get rid of my card making stuff, but both Jennie and Paula ( my C P N ) has told me to keep them as I might want to make them again.

I am still into knitting little jackets for Jenson......he is 7 weeks old today. He is doing fine but he suffers with colic/wind quite a bit, Richard was just the same at Jenson's age until he was 12 weeks old,so we are hoping that Jenson will be the same.



Sylvia,when do you and OH go on your train trip to celebrate your anniversary?

We have a busy week this, what with appointments, visitors and a couple of meals out to celebrate my birthday. On the 15th July Alun and I are meeting meeting my brothers and sisters in law in Worcester so that we can have a meal together to celebrate my birthday, although it will be six days after my birthday.
Worcester is about half way from S Wales to where we live, so it will be nice to have a get together.


Well I will chat to you again soon, I had better make our dinner now.lol!!


Take care.



Love, Sallie. xxx <3 <3 <3

Oh dear poor little thread way way down the board and nothing on here for a month. And I was in Spain when the last posts were added with a not brilliant WiFi so missed adding.

Glad you had a good birthday Jean and that you got our card ok. However you have not been seen since so I hope that you are ok.

I have not made a lot of cards recently as it was too hot and sticky, I did make a few more to add to the ones being sold in aid of friend's daughter's trip in 2018 with World Challenge.

Goodness Sallie, a 70th and a Golden wedding to celebrate, in 2010 I celebrated my 70th and we celebrated our 50th and let alone the 50 (now 57) years having gone fast, where on earth have those last 7 gone?

Anyway, I wanted to bring us back up to the top again. :-) :-) <3 <3 <3 <3

Edit Just put a lot of photos on the photo blog

Jean I am so pleased to hear that you have had a lovely birthday and that it was made a lot happier with having D and C spend part of the day with you. Having our loved ones visit on a special makes a big difference to us all, especially as we get older and are not able to see them as often as we would like to.

Glad you received your card from us okay, with so much going on in our family lately, I decided to post it early as soon as I bought it.....didn't want to forget your birthday Jean.

Hope that you are feeling better than you have been lately Jean and that today has helped by knowing that you not only have your family that are there for you, but you also have me and the rest of our friends on here too.


Relax and enjoy the rest of your day Jean and take care. Hope all is well with J, D and the rest of your family.

Will chat again soon.

Love and Best Wishes. Sallie. xxx <3 <3 <3

Happy Birthday, Jean xxxx

It sounds as though you have had a great day xx