General Chat

Good morning everyone and welcome to September!! Where has this year gone?

Keith how is the transition to your new base proceeding? From the upbeat tone of your message it sounds as if you will be good at the task in hand.Which bands did you see and i hope that you enjoyed youir time with your sons and did you catch any fish?

Val in SA. How is your frrog, have you seen him yet? I think frogs are such funny things and loved having them in my garden in UK. Haven,t seen any here yet except my brass one which sits on the edge of our fountain. I do love the sound of the water cascading.

Hope that you enjoy the aubergines when you make the dish.

Last night was sooooo warm that I thought I was going to melt!!
Stepped outside onto a veranda at around 04.00hrs this morning and the ground was very warm!!! It felt rather surreal. There was a very clear sky last night and all the star constellations were clearly visible, I wish I knew more about them.

My thoughts this morning went to all those who fought in world War 2, as on 3rd September it will be 70 years since the declaration....I went to an exhibition in London a few years ago about the concentration camps and the display that has haunted me was a glass wall which was around 200 feet long and about 1 foot deep. It encassed thousands of shoes...from plimsoles to high heeld shoes, from working boots to smart gents shoes, babies shoes , odd shoes , some were stained others looked almost new. I couldn't move away from it...I am a shoe lover and the impact that this had will never go away. I do not wish to offend anyone and know that all wars are dreadful but "Lest we Forget" please spend a few minutes just being greatful that we are all alive.

This I suppose has taken my daily thought time, so, in about half an hour I will have a coffe and remember those who have contacted me re their life at the moment and send some positive thougts. remember there always is "light at the end of the tunnel" but we just do not know where that light will take us.

Enjoy your day everyone and I look forward to hearing from you,.

Bridget

Good morning,

I was up at 6 this morning, the sun was not up yet and everything was quiet and calm before the noises of the day start. I put a load of washing in the machine and then had coffee and a rusk while I read the newspaper. I went into the back garden where the citrus trees are and the scent of the orange blossoms was lovely so early in the morning.

Well I'd bettter be off to start the chores of the day.

Have a lovely day and enjoy whatever you will be doing.

I have just read your recipe for aubergines which I love, so will definitely be trying that one.

Val in SA..

Good morning everyone,

Another very warm night and still no sign of rain...it has been forecast but never seems to reach here.

I woke at 04.30 and simply could not get back to sleep, so added a recipe to Culinary Delights, walked around the garden, with Jet and Joe following me. We, that is said Jet and Joe, sat on top verendah and simply looked out to the Horizon. I watched the daylight come up, and looked across to the right side of the mountain I live on. There tucked into individual plots are houses of all shapes and sizes, surounded by various trees, palms and bouganvillea, I could nothelp wondering if anyone else was doing the same as me, or sending messages to the Spanish site of GR? The street lighting is kept to a very low level and therefore the mood of the day is almost palpable...and I wonder sometimes what it was like to live without street lighting ar=t all, a tome when we only had candles etc.

Was life really so different, were dreams and aspirations so very far removed from what we all still wish for. Was life really any more simple, These are also the thoughts that I have as I find more family for my tree.

Well I am going back upstairs soon and will have a coffee sitting on Verandah 2, the one outside our sitting room and wait for my day to start.


I look forward to reading all your messages, and hope that everyone is feeling good. Enjoy your day



Bridget

Good morning everyone
Had a good day out all our sons where with us at a BBQ
All went well its always nice to see the lads
today i will be sending photos to the chester meet to members so that will take some time to do then maybe if any of my sons turn up we may do a spot of fishing

Morning Bridget and everyone,
Number 2 cat turned up last night with two wounds on her head, she ate her tea but obviously she is getting food elsewhere as she didn't 'gobble' it down. She wouldn't let us near her and after about 5 minutes she shot off and she didn't turn up for breakfast!!!
Cooler here today and quite cloudy, we have been promised rain but so far no sign of it. OH busy painting the inside of our wardrobe this morning, have so far filled one rubbish bag and one charity shop bag, there will probably be more as we put things back in there when the paint has dried.
Enjoy your day whatever you may be doing.
Frances

Val in SA

I can just imagine that frog, I hope he doesn't stray to far.
My day is quiet as we are simply relaxing with our friends as they fly home tomorrow.
The sky was black this morning and looked rather menacing but the sun is out, it is hot again around 30c but clouds are here as well so some respite from the sun.

Val, how about adding a Culinary delight to the new thread, and there are some really interesting items on there already.

I will be sending everyone a PM as I have an idea abouut how we may be able to use all the info, so watch out for your messages.


Have relaxing day

Bridget

Good morning to you all,

It is a cool day to-day, when I looked out across the rooftops at the sea it was like a sheet of glass, the sun was just coming up .

We have a small water feature on the patio which is outside our bedroom window where a little frog has taken up residence somewhere among the plants, I haven't actually seen it but we hear it, especially early in the morning and in the evening, it has a high-pitched croak and gets quite excitable at times. I have got quite used to it and will miss it should it decide to move on.

I will not be doing much to-day will just take things easy.

Glad to hear you are feeling so much better Keith, will keep my fingers crossed for good weather when you go to Liverpool.

Those having a long week-end - do enjoy,



Val in SA.

Hello Keith

For some reason I was not aware that you had been unwell.I am glad that you are feeling better and whatever the work is that yo do, it must be very good otherwise your company would not ask you to pass on your skills. I agree it is always rewarding when you are able to help others in this way...Good Luck

Which bands are you hoping to see? Do tell us all about it.

Enjoy your weekend and the same to anyone else who visits here today.

This is my visitors last day, they fly back to Yorkshire tomorrow morning. It ahs been great fun having them here and it has meant that I have been able to have lots of scrabble games......won a few!!

I was up ealy today so was able to watch the changes in the sky and it looks as if we are going to have a much cooler day, around 26c and maybe some rain if not a storm.

I have had my special 10 minutes and sat peacefully on the top verandah overlooking the bay, and it was so quiet I could have heard a pin drop...it is really relaxing and enables me to think about people who need some positive thoughts, time for reflection as well, and sometimes I simply clear my mind....I beleive that this has helped me to be more relaxed than I used to be, some people have even told me that I am and look relaxed.

Take care everyone, I shall have a look at the Culinary thread now, some good recipes on there


Bye

Bridget

good morning to one and all
i have been busy doing stuff on peeps family trees and getting ready to move to a new base at work
looks like they want me to to pass me skills on to the new staff which i will enjoy , I Think its always good to help others

anyway still doing some of my family tree and will be going to Liverpool sometime over the weekend to see the bands play Lets hope we have no rain
I am feeling a lot better now and get better each day

Hope you all have a good weekend and bank holiday
KEITH

Bridget,
The snake was about 18", in old money, very thin with beautiful blu-black-grey markings, non-poisonous but could probably give a cat a nasty nip. We inherited our cats when the people next door returned to UK 8 years ago, I don't actually think they were that feral, probably their mother was one generation removed from domesticated. They had been speyed so we haven't had the problems of unwanted litters, thank goodness and they do like to be outside unless we are having a 'gota fria' and then they stay in for as long as possible.
The weather forecast I saw was on the Spanish TV..so we shall see.
Take care
Frances

Well. my apologies to everyone...I do occassionally jump to the wrong conclusion and it looks as if that is what I did here, so we will keepthe thread going.
Some of the descriptions are really so good that I can picture the areas and places being described. There are some very talented writers here, I may collate the descriptions and then print them off, if I ever get to grips with my Spanish desk top comp. Maybe when I get my UL laptop back, which is in England, I will be able to do just that.

I miss the English countryside with the rolling hills, the beautifull summer evening walks, even the smell of the manure being placed on the land!!! I do NOT miss the awful Yello rape seed as it is not grown near myhome...I have dreadful Hay fever if I am anywhere near it. I miss the lavendar fields in Norfolk, but I love the mountains around me and the beautifl rugged coastline, the fishing villages, the vast land and the wonderful skies.

The small soft shelled crabs are delicious although it took me a while to have the courage to eat them.

Today we had the menu del dia or dish of the day which was a large plate of sald with olives, warm chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, and parmesan cheese in fine slices with, lots of wonderful olive oil, followed by Pork ecalope or rabbit. I had the pork as did our visitors and OH had the Rabbit...knew it was a mistake as guess who ended up with the rabbit which in fact was very tasty and tender.
Followed this with home made Pistacio Ice cream and a cup of strong black coffee.


Then rather full we tried to go for a short walk but the temps beat us 35c today and so we came home. Friends now inpool, OH watching sport on TV and me , well you know what I am doing.

Val in SA,
the Shell Fiesta sounds fun and I look forward to learning more about it.

Frances
you made my day about a Tornado possible heading our way, I would dearly like to go on one of the Tornado chases across America, OH thinks I am Mad.! However I cannot find anything about it on Accuweather which is what I generally rely on...having just written that, the sky has become really dark!!!

Hello to Mel, what are you doing today?

Frances, I hope that your missing cat returns, and how big are the snakes that the other cat catches. Surprisingly we do not see many snakes here in Peniscola.
The lady next door who is German and spends the summer here had "tamed" a wild cat and sadly last week the cat became vey unwell and died in a matter of 20 minutes. Although sad my neighbour has decided not to encourage any more cats.

I am going to have my quiet time now, just for about 10 or 15 minutes...if I do not have this time I do feel cheated. My grandmother whom I absolutly adored always encouraged me to join her in her special 10 or 15 quiet minuts, she used to say that it gave her space and now I know what she meant.

Take care everyone.


Bridget

Sorry all been busy

ill be adding again soon

Dear Ann,
Obviously different parts of Spain have different ways of cooking fideua, I have just looked in my Spanish cookery book and lo and behold there is everything in it but the kitchen sink. I always thought it was peasant food but the recipe in the book would cost an arm and a leg to prepare, so it is probably a question of put in what you can afford as long as you use the noodles!!
Hey ho
Frances

Thanks Frances, not seen it in the Canaries so maybe it is a mainland dish.

Dear Ann,
Fideua is similar to a paella except it is made with noodles,very fine, tiny ones, fish stock and whatever fish is available,though there is never a lot of fish in it, no saffron, no vegetables, and can be absolutely delicious. We had one once as a starter near Barcelona and it had one of those small soft-shelled crabs on...the Spanish suck the middles out of these but we left ours, well you would wouldn't you!!!
Hope you get the idea.
Regards,
Frances

Bridget, please do not stop posting on this thread, I enjoy your posts. I was not on here much yesterday as it was our 49th anniversary and we were out all day. I don't know if you read about my day on one of the other threads but I'll tell you now in case you didn't.
On the 27th it was our 49th wedding anniversary – one year to go to the Golden one!! We had a lovely day out. We drove over to Westonbirt going along the edge of the Cotswolds over Selsey common, at one point I was looking out over the whole of the Stroud valley which was bathed in sunshine and which looked so beautiful and green. Along the road we had to stop to allow the free ranging cattle to cross over and they were not in any hurry so it was as well that we were not either.
We arrived at Westonbirt Arboretum at about 10.45 to find quite a few cars already there. This week it is the Festival of the Tree so, with it also being school holidays, it is a popular place to go. I assume many people are ‘Friends of’ like us as it is £8 to go in so not cheap. We had a coffee and shared a scone (us and the wasps) before going to look at the main attraction that day which was the chain saw wood carving. Tents were going up in readiness for the bank holiday weekend when there will be a lot more stalls there but it will also be very crowded so not a good time for visiting really. The carvings were excellent, these people are so clever, they take a tree trunk and carve huge wooden sculptures, one was a large heavy horse, another was a snake on a tree, another a woman’s figure. There were also some finished wooden sculptures on display and for sale and they were smaller and polished and way beyond our means. One was a man canoeing through white water and it was so vibrant and over a thousand pounds. After looking at the carvings we walked through the old arboretum where, in the autumn, all the acers turn glorious colours, some of the leaves were actually starting to turn but mostly it was green and lush and beautiful and, away from the children, peaceful.
We left Westonbirt and drove 3 miles to Tetbury where we had lunch and a look around the town. We visited the Chipping steps, cobbled steep steps with cottages all along and down the side, this was where for centuries the local mop fairs ensured the locals were kept in employment. We saw Gumstool Hill where on spring bank holiday Mondays they hold the woolsack races. We saw the ancient market house in the centre and the beautiful gothic church of St Mary’s with one of the tallest spires in the country.
On the way home we called in to a couple of garden centres, and had a cup of tea in one. Noticed that the harvest was complete for one farmer as his hay was all in. Then in the evening we had an Indian takeaway and a bottle of Cava to finish off our day.

So you see why I didn't post yesterday Bridget.

Haven't managed to come up with a recipe yet, mainly I cook very ordinary recipes and rely a lot of bottled sauces, if somebody has gone to the trouble of concocting a sauce why should I replicate it?

By the way what is fiduea?

Ann
Glos

Good morning everyone,

To-day is rather chilly although the sun is shining.

Yesterday was rather a busy day, my gardener and my domestic worker both come on a Thursday and we had visitors in the morning and the afternoon.

We have the Shell Festtival (it's called the Shell Festival because Shell petrol used to sponsor it) coming up next month so the town will be filled with visitors. The central business area will be closed to motor traffic and stalls will be erected in town and also on the beachfront. I always enjoy the festival atmosphere.

I would like to see your thread continue.
I

Val in SA

Morning Bridget,
Didn't post yesterday as seemed to be terribly busy. Weather still wonderful but according to Spanish forecast we can expect cloud at the weekend and you will probably have a tormenta to look forward to..hey ho!
We seem to be missing one cat...we have two black and white cats, litter mates, were feral but are now mostly domesticated, one of them disappeared on Sunday after turning her nose up at her food, we surmise that she has found a new home probably people out here on holiday and may be back when they return home or not!! The other one caught a snake last evening of which she was very proud, at least she doesn't try and bring them in the house.
Enjoy your day
Frances

Hi x

Good morning to anyone out there


Where is everyone?

Sadly no one other than me put a posting on here yesterday so maybe it is time to stop.

If anyone visits this thread today please leave a message to say whether or not it is time to say adios


Have a good day everyone


bridget