General Chat

Well I thought I miht add to "Mrs.Dales Diary":o))>pmsl. just to get your tastebuds working, I felt a little peckish so I,m having some Hot Toast with Beef Dripping and black pepper. it tastes great. **M**>:o))>

Afternoon all,
Just had another humdinger of a storm here. It was a little cloudy first thing this morning but had brightened up by lunch time and then about an hour ago 2pm here, the lightening and the thunder started. It is still rolling around but the rain has stopped 3.25pm. Just going to make OH a cuppa as he is babysitting next door's elderly dog in their garage..they have gone to a lunch and the dog has waterworks trouble so they left him outside with the garage left open but he took exception and has been making a lot of noise so we are taking it in turns to sit with him....soft or what!!!
Enjoy your day,
Frances

Good afternoon to everybody,

Although the sky has been dark to-day and it looks like rain , we haven't actually had any but here's hoping, maybe to-night. Where we live
we don't normally have bad thunderstorms, although there are parts of the country which do. I don't like thunder and lightning, especially what we call fork lightning.

Well the visit to our own doctor to-day went well, he has changed the anti-clotting medication and things are definitely improving, and that is a relief.

I have just returned from the garden centre having bought lettuce and coriander. I have not used coriander before so will have to learn all about it. Oh yes, I also blought some green bean seeds which I hope will germinate, I never sem to have much luck with seeds.

I do hope you are enjoying the rain Bridget. We have been told we will be having water restrictions if we don't have decent rains soon. I do try not to waste water.

After I have a cup of tea I will get busy in the garden.


Take care,


Val in SA.

Just a quick hello before making my way to bed. It is getting on for 10pm here, so I guess it will be coming up to 2pm where you are Bridget. Hope the rest of the day and evening are good for you.

I am happy to look up anything for you, but I doubt that I have access to any more than you have. The Australian records are very strictly protected. Access to the index is available on the internet but only up to:
Births 1908, Marriages 1958 and Deaths 1976. They may have changed since I checked, but only by one year. My daughter-in-law tried to purchase her grandmother's marriage certificate, but was refused - even though both grandparents have long departed.....However, I am happy to make phone calls for you if you wish, if that would help. Please feel free to ask me at any time if I can help in that way.(or any other).

Whilst I am answering Bridget here, the offer stands for any and all.
Bedtime now. Good afternoon/evening/night all!

Good morning All
Well the sky looks threatening here on the Costa Blanca - we also have storms promised for 3 days - keeps changing its mind but no dount the storms will arrive - we certainly need the rain and a little cooler temps.
I have so much housework to do having moved back home to an almost completed kitchen - things never go to plan do they ? But whatever I am lucky to have a sparkling new kitchen with a decent oven - only taken us 6 years !!
Enjoy your day everyone
Love Mary
ps thanks Bridget for a great thread and I really must catch up on the culinery delights.

Good morning to everyone and I hope you enjoy your day.

This morning is very peaceful and quiet here in Peniscular following yesterdays eafternoon and evening stormy weather.

At one point the rain was so heavy we could not see the sea or the houses further up the mountain.The rain sounded like tennis balls hitting the water in the pool and the outdoor stairs leading to the bottom half of the house looked like a waterfall, so far to treacherous to walk down! I have already mentioned the lightening in my previous thread.

Jet and Joe hid under my bed and they really hate the thunder, I can only imagine it must hurt their ears.

Later in the evening about 23.00 hrs the rain had stopped and we were sitting on the balcony because it was warm outside and we watched the lightening light up the sky with an amazing range of colours from pale pink to crimson, some yellows and sharp blues.

Finally went to bed abou 00.45 and slept soundly because the temp had droped and we didn't need aircon or fans., wonderful;..slept all night.


Today the sky is blue in places but more clouds than blue sky, and the weather forecast says more storms for the next three days and then the sunshine will be back.

Vain SA please tell us how your husband gets on at the doctors today, I thought about you both when I had my quiet time today.

Berona, it was lovely to hear from you and so you do not forget us why don't you put a sticker on your fridge door? I do this if I think I might need a reminder and it works rather well.

Keith, WHERE ARE YOU! only put in capitals so you can hear us missing you...how is the new work place, have you been to anymore concerts, booked a holiday, cooked a meal etc etc.


AND anyone else out there who reads this thread why don't you join us, it is interesting and fun! as well as seroius occassionally. I always say I have cyber pen pals rather than the Pen Pals by letter I used to have when young.

Well Jet and Joe have just left the room and I know that is the signal for their breakfast so bye for now everyone

To everyone who contributes to this thread thank you and I look forward to seeing your messages

Bridget

Thank you everyone for all your messages and a very BIG THANK YOU to Berona who has taken the plunge and joined as.

Berona

I have a lot of contacts re Australia and some very close family connections on my OH side. I will have a look during the next few days and see what I can find. Do you by any chance have access to the records, I know that sounds daft but of course you must but I do not know what is available. My husbands cousin lives in Sydney,. Her mother died when she and her brothers were very young and she went to live with one of her aunts who happens to be my first husbands family and as my first and second husbands are cousins...there you have the connection! She married an Australian Soldier.
Well for someone who thought they didn't have much to say you have done well.

Why don't you save this thread to the sign on the left of the screen that say My bookmarks. I have found it to be very helpful.

Val and Frances, we are having a torrential day..well we were until around half an hour ago, Thunder lightening black skies, and one bolt streaked right across our garden!! Now that was a bit scary, a couple of years ago we had an unusual phenomenal in the garden in fron and down the hill a little when we watched Ball lightening...apparently rae in this hemisphere but fairly common in India...Anyway nothing like that today just loud noises which Jet and Joe hate and masses of ran..Right now the sun is shining. I have not gone to the bar with OH as I am staying with Jet and Joe in case the storm returns...well itis better than being the only female watching the footie.

Bye everyone

I am going to make a coffee and relax


Have a good night

As I write this it is 18.35 hrs in Spain


Bridget

We had pork today It was a boned loin of pork and as I wasn't prepared to use my lovely first crop of eating apples I sued some yellow plums to cook with it and simply wrapped it up in foil and cooked in the oven with a tray of mixed veg. OH said it was delicious.

Good morning Bridget - and all who join in on this thread. Hope you are all having a lovely day.

Forgive me Bridget for not acknowleding your post, but I have just been going through and found it. I'll try to answer your questions - but my short-term memory span is not as good as it used to be!

I live in Sydney, NSW. My suburb is on the western outskirts of the city and almost at the base of the Blue Mountains, which we are quite proud of. In certain climate conditions, the mountains look to be a definite blue - but of course, when visitors go to view them, the climate is warm and they are green like everywhere else! It is lovely to see how they seem to go on and on forever though.

As you know, I am retired since 1991, and lost my soulmate within a few months, but my children were all still at home and we helped each other through that. We then had three weddings in 17 months leaving only the youngest son with me but he too, met his fate eventually, so I was on my own in a 5-bedroom house. I sold it and bought a villa. Just me and my cat now, but the children are all within a half hour drive, so I see them often, particularly my daughter. She drops in each week, but emails me daily. If I don't answer her email within a couple of hours, she is on the phone. She has three lovely children ages 6,11,14 and one son has a little boy almost 3, and a stepdaughter 10.

I can't bend to do any gardening any more, but I have pots all over my courtyard, which is paved and where I like to sit out in the fresh air.
I do transcribing for FreeBMD. Have been doing it for most of this year and have passed the 100,000 mark so I'm quite proud of myself. That's all that much sooner that the job will be finished and all available on the internet for FREE!. They still have quite a lot to do yet, though.

We are now thirteen days into Spring but already the remperatures are creeping up to summer temps. We had a very mild winter with very little rain, so we are not looking forward to summer - more fires, probably.

How does your time compare to the time on these posts? We are nine hours ahead at the moment (standard time). Different parts of Australia have different times because the country is so wide. In late October, we will go forward one hour for daylight saving - but not all states have that - so it becomes very confusing - even to us!

I didn't mean for this to be so long but you asked me about myself - so now I need to go over the thread again, to see if I can get to know all of you. With my memory, I will probably get you all mixed up - I apologise for that in advance!

Hello to you all

It's a lovely day over here but we do need the rain so send it over
Frances! If we don't have good rains soon we will be having
water restrictions.

I was lazy to-day so just made some chips and a salad for lunch.
Picked the lettuce,spring onions and rocket from the garden and the avocado pear came from the tree my daughter has at her home.

Taking things easy to-day and will be off to do the crosswords in the Sunday paper.

Enjoy the rest of the day.



Val in SA.

Now it is reeeaaally raining, how about you Bridget?

Frances.

Oh oh it is thundering!!

Good day Bridget and everyone,
Lovely mellow day today, the air is so soft. Quite cloudy though as yet none of it looks threatening. Have done my ironing too and believe it or not the linen basket is empty!!!
We have decided to have a roast chicken today with roast potatoes and broccoli...good to tell it is getting autumnal. We will then have it cold tomorrow with salad and then OH will make a soup which will last two days for lunch and all this from a Lidl chicken, certainly good value for money at 2.89euros.
Enjoy the day
Frances

Good morning to everyone

Well I have just done it again, written a fairly long entry and then hit the wrong button and found myself back on my email page!! I have a feeling that someone is trying to tell me to be little more concise...

We had a good day yesterday and I feel very relaxed this morning. Despite the disco etc and the fireworks we have managed to have a good sleep until a short while ago. OH closed all the windows and shutters when we retired last night, simply to cut out the noise from down in town, and put all the fans on...Jet and Joe also settled then as they hate fire works, and Jet barks so loudly when he hears them...
Our neighbours party seemd to go well and it always surprises me how late even the youngest child stays up even when they are obviously fractious... however by 23.00hrs everything had been cleared away and only a few of the adults were still sitting enjoying the late evening.


Today the sky is a mix of colours from pale blue and light grey clouds to the west, pale blue with lots of fluffy clouds to the east, darker blue and very few clouds to the south but to the north the sky is spectacular. Pale grey fluffy clouds withe the sun shining through and in one sopot a huge Magenta or crimson colour sky through which the sun is shining...not sure what this means re the weather for today but it is wonderful to look at.

We haven't anything special planned for today but we will most likely go for a stroll after lunch, and call in o the English Bar so the OH can watch some football with his friends. As the bar closes at 18.00 hrs we will be home 10 minutes later.

I had my quiet time today before I came down here to the study/lounge and sent all my positive thoughts to those with worries or concerns and concentrated on those with family illnesses to cope with. I also wondered about those who live alone and sometimes feel lonely. Oh. I know that many people enjoy being alone and have a great time.

Val, did you manage to have a stroll on the beach yesterday..how far away from the beach are you? How is your husband today, I hope he has recovered from his reaction to the fish.?

Jet and Joe are letting me know that they want their breakfast, I can hear OH wandering around upstairs so it is time for me to sign off, but as usual I will peep in later today.

Enjoy the day everyone and if it is difficult at sometime, just share what you can with us and we will listen even if we cannot help...and I will add you to my quiet thinking time

Bye for now

Bridget

Val and fracis

Thanks for telling me I am normal to know such a person,,,very re assuring.

Val, sorry to hear about the reaction your husband had, it is strange hoow we can suddenly develop these things. I expect it has put him off fish!

I have caught up with the ironing except for the bed linen, I will do that tomorrow.

The family just down the mountain from us ar having their annual family gathering,..I really enjoy listening to them all, it is like the house of Babel, French, Spanish, German, Italian and now and again a little English, the children seem to dip in and out of most of the conversations in any language. The tables have been brought out of the house and all set up with whit linen, and some flowers, the chairs are in place, and the decorations are up...now they have gone to have their siesta...

Will tell you more about it tomorrow.

Bye for now

Bridget

Bridget, You are just normal, we all know people like the person who came to your house.
Frances

A friendly hello Bridget,

What a beautiful day it is here to-day, just right for a stroll on the beach.

I think we probably all know someone like your visitor, and it is good to be able to get it off your chest.

We don't often have fish but yesterday my daughter brought us some lovely fried fish for lunch. At about 4 in the afternoon my husband had what can only be an allergic reaction to the fish. Needless to say we didn't have much sleep and off we went to our doctor this morning. After a cortisone injection and some more cream to rub on the weals and rash he is feeling more comfortable. We cannot understand this as he has eaten fish his whole life. Oh well...........

Much to my amazement the South Africans won their rugby match against New Zealand to-day, they always seem to fade in the second half. I must add that I am not really a rugby fan.

That's it for now.



Val in SA.

Good afternoon everyone!

Well I think that today I have set a personal best for not writing until the afternoon!

Yes, I slept in this morning and didn't wake until 08.15...now that is really late for me but is part of my sleep pattern. I seem to sleep very few hours for around three months then simply have a long night 23.00 to 08.00ish and the off I go again.

We went shopping this morning around 09.30 for fresh veg and we also found some fresh milk which is luxury here.! Also bought some lovely freshly baked bread, which will have to be eaten today as it is without any preservaitves at all! Yummee.

We had an un expected visitor just as we finished putting everything away. As soon as OH realised who it was he moved downstairs and was not seen again until she left. I must say, I was not overjoyed either. Oh that does make me sound horrible, but she never comes by unless there is a problem.
This was so today...it is difficult because her husband does not come to Spain with her but it does become irksome when the only time you see someone is when they need their car towed or repaired, to use the computer for five minutes which becomes 2 hours, wants to change English money into Euors and can't use her card for soooo many reasons, wants OH or his friend to take her somewhere even though she drives and so and so on!!!
Today she refused the first offer for a coffe and I didn't offer again, then she sat and told me all the difficullties re her 3 properties here, how everyone tells lies, and could OH drive her about 30 kilometeres away, and wait for her while she did some business and then bring her back!

The answer was "NO, sorry but he has other arrangements" to which she replied "OH I will have to use all my petrol and I do not like driving that far".

A few minutes of rubbish talk and then I said had some important things to do on Computer and I would see her soon,. She took the hint and left.


Sorry folks , I just had to get that off my chest...We are well known in the area and would normally help anyone, give them a bed for the night if needed, have peoples family stay if they can't fit them all in, have helped local people if they need to go to doctor, clinic etc but sometimes one is simply "used" and this is what this lady does.

Oh my goodness I wonder what you will all think of me now.

It is a beautiful day here, the sun is shining temp around 30, also a slight breeze, Jet and Joe are sleeping on some cool tiles in the shade, OH is playing music, Jimmy Henderson is what he is into today, tommorow it could be classical as he has very wide rangeing likes and dislikes.

I have masses of ironing to do, and should do some housework so Frances you have put me to shame....housework or comp>>>>????

I must have a look at the culinary site as I am going to make a Pizza today and we will have that with salad and fresh bread,
I will see if there is anything which may inspire me for tomorrow. I have some loin of Pork for tomorrow and lots of veg all locally grown and therfore organic...

Also want to write trees that I can put on an email and send them to my brother in law. He asked me to try to do his family tree and everything fell into place so quickly.
I even had people who are his distant cousins contact me. He does not have a comp so will send everything to my niece.

I will pop back later to see if there are anymore entries today,

Bye for now

Bridget

Morning Bridget,
You haven't slept in have you?
Another lovely day here. Have done all the housework, hung out the washing, had my coffee so decided I would spend some time on the computer. Hot Matches have arrived......lots of Mary Unknowns..again!!!!
Enjoy the day
Frances.

Berona

Welcome to our thread.
There you see it wasn't as difficult as you thought and in fact if you read back most of us live pretty straight forward lives.
We discuss anything from what was on the news, what we have done in the house, the garden, friends and family visiting or not!

What cheers us up, what puts us in amood.

We even try to describe where we live and this is fun because it uses our baran, or in my case what little I have left, to describe what is going on around us.

For example, the weather, the plants which are growing or not, what we like about where we live, what we don not like about where we live, what has made us laugh, what has made us feel sad or angry...

.I am really looking forward to seeing you again sometime this week, and you will have to acknowledge this message if nothing else.!

So some questions,

Where do you live, in whch country, county, how long have you been there what do you like about it what do you not like about it etc etc.

bye for now

Bridget


PS you say that you like driving so tell us where you go or would like to go and why.

Thanks

Hello Bridget, Thank you for inviting me to visit daily, but I don't do much to be able to fill in a daily record. I only go out for a drive once a week (to keep my car active so that I can rely on it to get me to the supermarket, fruit market, chemist, doctor, etc. I don't go anywhere else. When I go to visit my children, they usually come for me and bring me home again so that I won't have to drive (and I LOVE driving!!). Oh well - they mean well.

I can tell you that we are having good weather. Typical early Spring with temps around 21 to 23 and very little sign of rain. We had warmer weather than this during Winter, but that was unusual. I hope you are all having good weather wherever you are. There, see? That's all I can think of to say for now. Oh yes, my daughter came to see me to-day and we talked non-stop until she went home again. I'm sure that must be rivetting news for you! I'll try to do better next time.