General Chat

Good morning everyone and a special good morning to Keith...good to see you back. Hope all is well and that your research etc is fruitful. I have been tracing a Ryan family originally from Limerick...thought it would take ages but 1 week on and I have about 100peple...it isn,t for me it is for a friend so I am delighted. Have done it all on Ancestry.

Had a good day yesterday and had a deliecious toast lamb dinner even if I say so my self.. Had a fun quiz in the garden in the evening nothing really competitive just a bit of fun, plenty of wine flowing llotas of nibbles etc.. and we all had a rwasonable bed time around midnight.

Toady is a typical early autumn day, there is a light wind so washing drying very quickly, the sun is shining, temp expected to get to 25 with a feel factor of 27, so should be pleasant.

Sometimes I think our home is a hotel!!! another former colleague of OH phomned yestrerday to say he is about 25 mins drive away on holiday and the next thing is OH has invited them for lunch and to spend the afternoon with us....I am beginning to think that this is taking Bon Homie a little to far!! Ah well better than being forgotten I guess!!!!

I am feeling really happy today although not sure what has changed if anaything....maybe my quiet moments are working for me...

Keith, great to see you back and I may send a message to see if you can help find someone for me. I have posted something already and it is for a very close friend. Will send a PM to you re names etc, it is on Ancestry are you on theres?

Anyone enjoy being back.

Val in SA, Oh and I have the cough and the snivels, can't say it is a bad cold but is irritating, hope you feel better soon. Did you finish the crossword?

Mary in Spain, your BBQ day sounds great fun and I am pleased it went so well....

To anyone who goes on the Peniscola site I hope you like what you see, you never know you might see me without knowing who you are watching!


Sat in the garden about an hour ago, simply pondering and thinking how fortunate I am, I am healthy, apart from the little cold, have a loving family, excellent friends, including all of you, people enjoy visiting us so we cannot be to boring, financially OK definetly not rich...I wish... but manage a fairly good life style and although we have our share of family concerns and worries we jog along nicely....

Yes we have our downs but who doesn,t....so I said a thank you to whoever is out there, asked for those in need of solace to receive it, for aou folk serving overseaes to be kept safe and for us all to do one special thing today...so hopefully I will be able to look back in the morning and say" I am pleased I did that for....."

Hope this makes sense everyone...


So now it is time to finish the house work, put some more washing on and have another shower before visitors arrive for lunch and a dip in the pool


Enjoy you day


bridget

Morning all,
Welcome back Keith.
Lovely day to-day, perfect for drying the washing as you say Mary. Have to say the bbq sounded delish, made me feel quite hungry!
Val, glad the pea puree was good, makes a nice change from 'ordinary' peas. Do hope your cold isn't, if you know what I mean.
NO Bridget haven't started thinking about christmas, came to Spain to get away from all that. We are a couple of 'bah humbugs'...we usually have a day walking on christmas day having had a nice meal the evening before.

Nothing exciting planned for this week, nothing new there then!!
Take care and enjoy the day
Frances.

Hello Everyone,

This morning when I went outside at 6a.m. it was so quiet, the sky was pink as the sun started peeping out. Now, though it is very windy, but on the up side the washing dried quickly.

Nice to see you back Keith.

Bridget, I would love to see the pictures of the festival so will check the Peniscola site in a day or so. I am also economising on the washing up to-day, also cooking eerything in the oven!!

Haven't thought about Christmas yet, but I guess we will be having visitors as we usually do. I expect the shops here will all be putting up decorations next month and playing carols, they always start early.
We get hotcross buns in January!!.

Hope you all enjoy your day.



Val in SA.

Morning all
am back just took a break
things are going well
now it back to the family tree and to helpping others find stuff for there trees

Good morning All
Well blue sky and sun this morning temp will be around mid 70's - very pleasant and will also dry the washing !!!
Well bbq went great apart from a heavy shower but our guests were adament they were staying put so we put the large parasol up which completely covers the table and the chairs so we did not get wet - well hubby did a little as he was chef. He cooked the salmon a treat - although I do not eat it . I have chicken kebabs instead. Stir fry and jacket potatoes were also good - can't really go wrong with those. As it was Chris's birthday I bought a couple of small chocolate thingies and bought some candles and arrived on the roof terrace singing Happy Birthday - he was quite shocked. We followed with cheese and biscuits and a few grapes, coffee and brandy. It was rather late when they went home so I came downstairs this morning to all the washing up - still it did not take me long to clear that this morning.
Well cleaning duties are calling so I will wish you all a happy Monday and enjoy whatever you are doing.
Love Mary xx

Good morning everyone

Thank you all for your messages.

Val in SA

Hope your cold isn't turning into something worse, I hat having a cold and believe that I started one yesterday. ALl the usual signs and a sore throat.
I wonder where froggie has gone, i find them great fun although we only have a sast iron one in our garden. Talking of which our garden looks a mess today from the high wind overnight. Dust and leaves and pods etc everywhere and the wind is still around although not as fierce as last nigh around 02.00hrs.

Isn't it pleasing when one has a quiet relaxing day.
I am going to try that pea puree, everyone says haow nice it is.

Mary how was the BBQ and did the weather stay fine? I ahve this wonderful mental picture of you with all the food climbing all those stairs.!!

Frances
the sun is shining this morning and we are forecast some good weather with light wind so let us hope it stays that way. It is actually very pleasant and our visiting are enjoying sunbathing so can't be to bad!!!

I hope you enjoyed your relaxing day.

The final parade was wonderful and we had curb side seats at the restaurant so a good view....the Spanish certailnly know how to use their elbows!!!

The parade lasted just under 2 hours and the festivities went on until around 01.00hrs and then there was peace.
Now shops will close until Easter next year, we will still have all the basic shops, dozens of cafes and restaurants will close and we have a small community back.

Our UK friends thoroughly enjoyed it and could not stop gasping at all the wonderful costumes, the bands and most of all the magnificent horses and their vey proud riders.


If anyone is imnterested I believ that in a day or so it can be fopund on the Peniscola Spain site. I will try to get onto it and then forward details.

Today will be fairly relaxed and we have about 10 for a very late lunch or early dinner whichever you wish to call it.

All veg and meat will be cooked in the oven as it saves on the washingup and I still have to decide what to make for quick and easy deserts unless I cheat and buy some.

I expect that the pool will be well used, Jet and Joe will be spoilt although there is a strict rull that they must NOT be given food from the table, They will have a little doggie treatt though.


I am going now to have my morning coffee and just to sit quietly and think about you all, and to have a special moment for Keith, i am sad he decided to leave the threads, especially after his good news re his health...So if anyone out there needs som support or thoughts or positive think etc or simply wants to share good news, eevryfday life etc please join us we have gogod fun but absolutely NO BICKERING or inuendo


Has anyone started to think about Christmas yet.

I am thinking of OH and I going to Ireland for Christmas..

Bye for now, back later


Bridget

Hello everyone,

Here I am at last!
It's a beautiful calm day to-day, so I sat outside next to the water feature
to do the Sunday crosswords, it was really lovely. No sign of my frog
though.

Frances, we had the pea puree to-day and thoroughly enjoyed it. I will
be making it again.

Enjoy the last of your festival celebrations Bridget, have fun.

I have been coughing myself silly to-day, am full of aches and pains, think I'm getting the flu. Could be worse, so must look on the bright side and
not complain.

Bye for now.


Val in SA.

Well I am really and truly late today can only blame over indulgence yesterday and then cominhg home putting some music on , dancing with OH and beening in memory lane!

Much younger visitors also like dthe miusic so weall went tobed very late or very early depends how one interprest it!

Today we are all slightly hung over, and rather quiet, saving our energy for the last celebration in town. We have to be at the restaurant around 10.30 hrs to guarentee our sets and the parade will start arond 19.00hrs. Should be great fun.

My quite moments will now be when I have finished this post, my day is vert topsy turvey.

Catchthe cat you are so right nothing strenuous it is Sunday the day of rest!
Mary in Spain , think of the calories you must use going up and down those stairs....have a wonderful BBQ

To everyone else, relax and enjoy today, I will be back tomorrow

Take care



bridget

Good Morning All
Cloudy, dull but warm here today - hope it stays like that as we are having a bbq with next door neighbour tonight - hubby doing salmon steaks. I love bbq's as I do not have to cook - lol - well I do the bits and pieces - then have to carry it all up two flights of stairs to the roof terrace and bbq. There is a project somewhere on the list for a hoist of some sorts with a large basket attached so I can just load the food etc. and it can then be pulled up - that will be so much easier. Mind you there is always something that is left in the kitchen and yes, I have to go down and bring it up - I should be so much thinner than what I am - should admit to being very large !!!
At moment hubby is painting outside but I hope he will give up soon so we can go down to the harbour, watch the boats and have a glass of red wine.
Enjoy your Sunday whatever you are doing
Love Mary xx

Morning all,
Very quiet weather today, cloudy but warm and a tiny, whispery breeze, lovely in fact. Catching up with various little jobs today, nothing too strenuous, well it is Sunday!
Enjoy
Frances

A bright and cheery goodmorning to everyone,

The sea to-day is different colours of blue/green with lotys of white horses, looks pretiter that yesterday.

Bridget our Woolies is your Marks and Spencer. I didn't find anything I liked there, they seem to cater for the young and thin and I'm neither!!! The shop in Port Elizabeth has a nicer selection of goods so when next I'm there I shall have a look..

My daughter and I have just been to a small morning market in town, there was a selection of sauces and cheese and a few tables displaying beadwork etc, not much in the line of veggies though which is what I had hoped for. This is something new here so maybe it will grow in time. We have a mionthly craft market where i love to browse around.

My "I wish" was for the rain Frances offered me!! Thankyou for thinking of me. Some parts of the country are being declared drought areas, and are looking to the government for aid. Your storms sound really terrific.

I guess next on the agenda will be finding something for lunch.

Till next time take care,



Val in SA.


,

Morning Bridget,
The computer chair is very comfortable, this one has arms and a high back and the arms are adjustable so can sit up-close and personal with the computer, no more stretching forward to type...bliss!
I think Woolworths in SA is more like M&S than the old Woolies, I am only going on what someone who has been told me, so I may be wrong.
Weather today is perfect, hopefully the rain has gone for a while. Everywhere looks so fresh and clean, the dust has been well and truly dampened down.Maybe this week we will get our paella with friends that we should have had last Tuesday, but I won't hold my breath just in case.
Sounds as if you have had some terrific storms up your way, still plenty to keep OH occupied in tidying up...LOL!
Enjoy the day
Frances

Good morning everyone

It has been a vert wet and windy nigt here in Peniscola but has that stopped the singing. and music in town....OH NO ! This morning as I write it isn't actually raining but there is that ominous atmosphere, with a red and blue sky with a lot of cloud and the temperature has certainly dropped.
Our last visitors for the season arrive today and thankfully they are very adaptable, have hiired their own car and will be reasonable happy to simply chill out for a few days. They both have quite demanding jobs so I believe tthey come here in order to "stand and Stare" as the poem says.

Val in SA, I read your email and the name Woolies was great to read especially as in the UK this company no longer exists, is it the same as Woolises was in the UK.
It will be interesting to watch the development in the land next to you, I find new buildings fascination to watch as they are being built...If I had may life over again I would be a civil engineer, as they absolutely fascinate me in their achievemnts...however in my time it wasn't even considered for girls...ce la vie.

last night we had some friends pop down for me to start a tree for them as the husband has not had contact with a brother for about 40 years and neither has anyone else in the family and they are trying to trace him so I have another tree and mystery to try to resolve.
There is someone from Australia on one of the threads so I must find her as I know this chap was the CO for American Express in Melbourne Austraila for some years.
Whilst they where here we were playing The rolling Stines, David Bowy and such like , it was good fun.

Frances, how comfortable is that new computer chair, i have ordered a new one and now it will arrive just as I am going back to UK.! someones' law I think it is called

Mary in Spain , Oh when it rains, it RAINS doesn't it. I cannot recall having gentlle showers, or light rain since we moved here. it is always torrential...but as I have written about previously and you mention frequentley we really need this rain and hopefully if it continues the water shortage problem will start to be resolved, and I must say that the plants and the fruit trees do look so much perkier.

Val in SA hope the c offee morning goes well, fund raising is such hard work, I am sure that some people do not realise how much effort goes into these events. All local authorities or minicipalities seem to work at the same snail pace across the world, I wonder if anyone can explain why?
Your "I wish" comment sounded as if you were having a difficult day, so I have had an extra few minutes this morning to my quiet time and tried some positive thoughts. I hope that your husband is well and all the family, so take care of yourself as well.

I am just back now from my coffee and thoughts time and have had to pick up the garden table and Umbrella which was no longer partnered to to the table, has broken isn several places and will have to be thrown away, found one chair seat in the pool, all the others had managed to stay attached to the chairs although only one chair was still upright and the table was laying on its' side. Now these are wooden table and chairs so not light weight so may give some indication of the wind levels here together with the rain. There is garden mess everywhere so OH has his wok sorted for the morning and visitors should be her by midday. Not sure it is worth buying a new shad this late in the summer..and as we will be going to UK soon

Oh well I had better go and do some final dusting etc

Will pop back from time to time during the day



bye for now everyone


Bridget

I wish, Frances!


Val in SA.

Good afternoon All
Well today is lovely around mid 20's - just how I like it. We are planning a bbq for Sunday with our next door neighbours - hubby will be cooking salmon and I will be doing the other stuff. Probably do stir fry and jacket potatoes - which will make a change from salad which we seem to have all summer.
Yesterday I booked the hotel in Evesham for December 5th as our friends' daughter is getting married. We will incorporate this with visiting my mom and sister in Cornwall, grandchildren in Nottingham and our eldest son and his wife in Cumbria. From one end of the country to the other. Just hope the weather will be kind to us. We have not been back to the UK for 3 years but it will be great seeing everyone especially the grandchildren.
Kitchen duties are calling so I had better move away from the computer.
Enjoy your day everyone
Love Mary xx

Hi Bridget and Val and everyone,
Congratulations to your niece on the arrival of her baby, Bridget. Weather today is warm and sunny with a few high clouds. Last night we had quite a storm and lost the electricity to our power circuit, we had light and the new half of the kitchen was working but no tv, computer etc. Seems to be ok this morning so can only conclude that water had found its way into the circuit!!! Keeping everything crossed that we don't have anymore rain for a while. Going to buy some lottery tickets today as the euromillions is a massive jackpot...well we can dream!
Enjoy the day.
Frances.
PS You can have our rain Val.

Good morning all,

Congratulations again Bridget, have a lovely time shopping for the new addition to the family.

Nothing changes, another very windy day with no sign of rain and a very choppy, grey sea.

There is a lot of activithy on the plot next door to-day where a house is being built, the owners are buiiding as they have the money, I guess it won't be completed for quite some time yet.

We are selling pancakes on 3 October to raise funds for our church
building fund. We are presently using the hall of another church as our
own premises are too small. We are trying to buy a piece of ground to build a church but our municipality has been dragging it's feet for so long
I'm not sure when we will ake some progress.

Till next time,



Val in SA.

Wonderful news this morning I am aGreat Aunt again My niece has had her second daughter safely delivered at home in the early hours of this morning. Her Big sister woke up to find she had a baby sisterand is so excited. Mother and child are both well, dad is exhausted, sister has gone to school to tell everyone and her grandma, my sister called me around 08,00hrs this morning. I am off to buy an outfit for the new member of the family as the baby and children clothes here are so gorgeous.


I have taken time earlier this morning to think of anyone who is feeling sad, lonely or simply worried and to be pleased about those who are happy

I will be back later today.

by for now


Bridget

Hi Bridget & everyone,
Been to the beach today..very pleasant. Arrived there about 11 and had to leave at 2.30 as the dark clouds came over...yes it has rained again!!
We all seem to be suffering from weather at the moment.
Take care
Frances