General Chat

Good morning all from a damp Costa Blanca
Well just trying to think up a birthday card for our soon to be 11 year old grandson whilst listening to Russel Watson on mp3 player. Somehow do not think grandson would appreciate this music !!
Well our son had his heart procedure on Tuesday and I got a text message off him around 4 pm to say it had been successful. Wonderful news and last night spoke to him on the phone as he was back home. He is fine and will be back at work on Monday - it is wonderful what can be done nowadays.
Tuesday 1st November was a Feista Day here in Spain - All Souls' Day - and the weather was glorious - so we decided to go into Denia and walked down the Marina and sat watching the boats out at sea. Then went and sat at a bar on the sea front and had a drink. All very relaxing and was a distraction from thinking about our son.
Tomorrow we are going to make a will - or should I say get one prepared and then a date for the Notary to make it legal.
Our eldest son comes to Spain on Sunday but not our bit - unfortunately it is Costa del Sol which is too far for us to go and equally too far for him to come to us and he is going with work and only there for 4 days. He did say he would send us a postcard !!
Well must be off and back to card making as it is granddaughter's 9th birthday 2 weeks after grandson's birthday - good timing that can never forget their birthdays - nor the date we moved to Spain which was a week after grandson's 1st birthday.
Gerard I hope you receive some good news very soon.
Bridget hope you and your hubby are now cold free
Take care everyone and enjoy your day
Love Mary xx

I try and remember to put my photos onto a DVD before I even delete them off the camera these days. I dread the day that CDs/DVDs become obsolete as I have loads full of photos. The Family history ones I have hard copies but ordinary holiday photos and family photos in recent years were all digital. I do make hard copies of any special ones, being a scrap booker they get preserved that was. It must be very upsetting to lose them all.

I used to train computer users and my No.1 rule was "always back up - often" but that was years ago and when my own computer crashed earlier this year, guess what happened?.....I found that I hadn't backed up for three years! I hope none of my former 'students' ever find out!

Luckily, a lot of my photos have been emailed to me and I can ask for copies, but those I took myself are lost forever.

Perhaps a computer technician can find your photos. As Ann said, they don't delete easily, so they are possibly still there, but may have been removed to another directory as new things have been added. You could either take it to a technician, or wait until the next time you need a technician, and ask them to look for your photos.

Jan, I am sorry to hear of the death of your friend, as Bridget said she sounds as if she was an inspiration and you will miss her.

Where did you have them stored on your computer Bridget (i.e. my pictures? Picasa?). Have you tried putting the file name of one of them into search? Have you had any work done on your computer recently that could have wiped them? They don't just disappear of their own accord.

Are you sure they are not hiding some where ? ....if not my only suggestion is that you put them onto a CD as well as keeping them on the computer. Then you always have a back up......pooters (my nickname for computer) are great but frustrating.

Jan

Jan, sorry to hear about the demise of your friend, she sounds quite inspirational, she will, I am sure, always be with you.


Any news yet Gerard? It is the waiting that is the most difficult time. Were you given a deadline for a response?
Hope that you other half is better now.

All is well here in Spain. Had a long chat with my sister in Bath last night, now must call my elder sister in Hertfordshire.....my my how spread out my family are!!

Yesterday I was working on my tree on the other site and had a great find about my husbands side of the family. The person who contacted me is so excited at the find, and we hope to meet each other when I am back in the UK.

One really big sad story !! All my photos on my computer have some how been deleted.
I have spent hours trying to find them and OH helped but they have gone....they were there a few months ago......thank goodness I have so many originals...but now have to start adding them again!!

Any advice would be welcome.

Bridget in Spain :-( :-(

Been to a friends funeral this afternoon, she was 80 but a wonderful lady, she had a bad accident when she was 27 and had all sorts of health problems but never complained and just got on with life, she was a leading light in her village and will be much missed. I have only had the priviledge to know her for 10 years. But she was one of those people who made a mark ..............you know what I mean

Jan

Gerard,
Added you to my quiet time each day, had a word with him in the sky, and asked that you receive a positive response.

We have had a pleant weather day here but it does get dark so quickly and then it turns cold.


I am thinking of putting the Marzepan on the Christmas Cake tonight...then I should be able to add the icing, and decorate it before son from Amsterdam arrives with m our lovely granddaughter Roberta!

Bridget in Spain :-D

Hi Everyone

Just to say I am still around - I have been reading all the thread and lighting lots of candles and saying lots of prayers. I still have no news on the job - still keep your fingers crossed for me.
Will give full details soon
Lots of Love
Gerard xxxx :-)

Penny,
How pleased we are to see you back with us, and the answer to your question is, no we have not had flu injection, Dr here in Spain has never suggested it and to be honest i haven't asked. We were not truly I'll, just down and feeling sorry for ourselves!! We use Bec..m Powder and add real lemon to it, and that seems to do the trick....

Hope to see you on here again very soon, if only to say Good morning

Bridget in Spain :-D

Bridget so sorry you and your OH are not so well, have either of you had your flu jab? Yes I am back, long time away I know but have been reading the thread, if not adding to it.
Shall try to add as and when I feel I can. You take care of yourselves.
Very best wishes Penny

I cannot believe that at this unearthly time both OH and I are wide awake. We both have coughs and colds, and feel tired but simple cannot sleep snd the clocks have been changed, so here we are with me adding on here and OH watching TV,

Eldest son, his partner and her son arrived safely and look well. The awful experience in India has taught them a great lesson.5
They do not regret the experience, but will not be visiting there again.

We were amazed when son told us that he now works in Finance for an International company and has been given a permanent position with a good salary, his father is absolutely delighted as he was a founder of said company.
My son has not yet let anyone know this. The irony though is that by the time first husband was 50 he was able to retire whereas son is 40 and just joining them.,
Son has always worked in the arts, and has owned two shops one in Sitges and the other in Barcelona, in designing and producing limited addition clothes. Worked very well and sold the business when the recession started. He has also worked in Norwich UK when he was a TV producer for new musicians etc...... I must say that having a child who at the age of 9 was found to be unusually bright has been a great challenge for us all. But now he has settled, and is Finally so happy, and settled. Tonight his partners son who is 11 is dressing up for Halloween, they have a pumpkin to take the candle......I will be very cautious about that as you may well have guessed. And goodness knows what else they are are planning.

Now for a mundane question. Why is it that a simple cold can make one feel so lethargic and sorry for oneself.?
We have taken the Le..ips, we are snug in our house but my head is pounding and I feel so hot, and thirsty. Think I will go and make some hot chocolate and forget about the calories, comfort food!!

Best wishes to you all,
Bridget in Spain.

Halloween..

My father enjoyed history, especially Irish history. I thought that some people my find this interesting, especially when you read about the Goddess Brigid!!

After St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland, it became the goal of monks and missionaries to convert the pagan Irish. Because the natives were so resistant to Christianity, the Church sought to assist conversion by substituting Christian ‘versions’ of sacred days and deities for ancient Celtic ones – hence, the powerful hearth goddess Brigid became St. Bridget, Beltane became Easter, and Samhain became All Hallow’s Eve and All Saint’s Day.

Rather than being a day to honor all dead, as Samhain was, All Saint’s Day celebrated only saints who had no specific feast day of their own. The night before became known as All Hallow’s Eve, which provided the origin for the word ‘Halloween’. Since this holiday honoring the dead coincided so well with the long-established Samhain, it eased the transformation of the Irish from pagan to Christian. One can find in the ‘Christian’ Halloween remnants of Celtic Samhain, including bonfires, imagery of gourds and other harvest icons, and conceptions of the dead visiting the world of the living.

When millions of the Irish fled their homelands to escape persecution or hunger, many immigrated to the New World, bringing the customs of Halloween with them. In America, this secular holiday has become associated with ghoulish, macabre imagery as well as certain customs, among them trick-or-treating, dressing up in costume, the lighting of jack ‘o lanterns, and apple bobbing. In Ireland, though these customs are practiced far less commonly, the modern inhabitants of the country still celebrate this special night with large bonfires and ‘ghoulish’ behavior.

The origin of trick or treating comes from a European tradition called ‘souling’. Early Christians would roam from village to village begging for ‘soul cakes’, squares of currant-studded bread, promising to pray for the giver’s protection from malevolent spirits that might be upon the earth at that time. Soul cakes were often left out, accompanied by wine, to placate or welcome the visiting souls of the dead, as well. Over the years, this has evolved into the custom of children roaming from house to house, asking for sweets from well-wishers, while subtly threatening a ‘trick’ – the modern equivalent of a prank from a mischievous spirit – for those who fail to offer appropriately.

Another common symbol of Halloween is the jack ‘o lantern, or carved pumpkin lit from within by a flame. There are two origins to this custom: placing a lit candle within a turnip (which were far more common in Europe than pumpkins!) kept the flame from being extinguished and was thought to guide the spirits of the departed back to the hearth of their families.

In another aspect of the custom’s history, there is the legend of an overly clever lad called Jack who played a trick on the Devil. For his trouble, he was admitted to neither Heaven nor Hell, but condemned to wander the earth with no guide in the darkness but a burning coal or ember. He placed this ember in a hollow turnip to protect the flame, thus creating the very first jack ‘o lantern. Perhaps you might want to tell the little ones this story as you carve your own pumpkin!

The custom of dressing up in costume can be traced back to the belief that the veil between worlds was easily crossed at this time and that the dead could walk among humans. In order to fool any ill-wishing spirits and fend off enchantment, it was believed that by dressing up as a goblin or ghoul one could disguise oneself and avoid being targeted or taken away by sprits. In time it became common to dress up as a variety of entities associated with death and spirits – witches, ghosts, vampires, and other supernatural marauders – giving rise to the little army of ghouls marching up your walkway.

Parallels are commonly found in many other cultures, including the vibrant, joyous ‘Dia de los Muertos’ or ‘Day of the Dead’ in Mexico and ‘Festival of the Dead’ in Italy, as well as Guy Fawkes’ Day and Armistice Day in the United Kingdom. As all countries in the Northern Hemisphere enter winter, cultural concerns logically turn towards matters of harvest, death, regeneration, and survival. All of our modern Halloween customs can be traced to these matters so important to the Celts – so as you carve your pumpkin, collect tinder for your fire, or don that wicked costume, remember that you’re celebrating a uniquely ‘Irish’ holiday!!

we shall be celebrating in good style with my eldest son, his partner and her son who is 11, they are all dressing up!

My mother used to leave food and drink just as explained above...now I realise who ate the food and drank a glass of the "good" stuff!!

Bridget :-D

Tess

You have had some good advice from your friends on this thread, I can only add to it by saying that when a part of your families life goes, it is hard on everyone, just look after one another, thats the most important thing......he wll always be the dad..no one can change that...we are all thinking of you

Jan

Good morning all from yet another part of wet Spain!!! Still we have not had much rain so it is needed.
The time has simply flown by this year - hard to believe the clocks go back on Saturday which means it will be dark earlier - must admit I do not like dark nights. When we went shopping last week I was amazed that the supermarket was getting Christmas stuff on shelves already. I know this is the general practice in UK but here in Spain you never used to see anything until the end of November.
Next month sees the anniversary of us moving to Spain - it will be 10 years - the time has flown by and we are 10 years older !!!
Tess - sorry to hear about your ex - please do as Bridget says and look after yourself.
Well must be off - catch up soon
Love Mary xx

Good morning from a very wet and rather cold part of Spain. The sky is black with just a long line pink spread, it looked quiet spooky, but as neither Jet or Joe seemed to be bothered I decided it was nothing to worry about.

Tess, I can understand just how you must be feeling, my first husband, father of my four children is not in good health and I know how I will feel should he pre decease me. My now OH fully understands this. Just take care of your self and pamper yourself in some way, remember the good times. Your son sounds as if he is a very kind person.

Hazel, I am still thinking of the twins, hope all is well.

I am sorting my tree out on another provider and so delighted that I keep my GR tree in better order.!!

Well not a lot more to say except that I have to make two small Christmas cakes. One for eldest son who is going to Germany for Christmas and one for son who is coming from Amsterdam with his partner and daughter.

Bye bye for now

Bridget :-D

Ann, I don't think I have that one in my tree, but I could yet come across her. I usually hit a brick wall and leave that branch for a couple of years, then get back to it and find new ways of getting info on the internet. I'll let you know if anything comes out of it.
As for the books - I believe both distributors where I have accounts, belong to Amazon and both of them are under Administration. I am thinking of getting a Kindle e-reader. That might stop the delay.

Tess. I have not been in your situation but can understand how you must be feeling. You can put things behind you, but you can't make them disappear altogether and he was a part of your life. There must have been good times, even if there were bad times - and he did remain the father of your son. You must be feeling that a part of your life has gone. It will still make you feel sad - and perhaps sad for your son too, as he has lost his father.

Another quick visit as rather busy because of having plasterers working in both reception rooms. Hope that they will finish tomorrow. Everything still upside down, computer was off-line for over 24hrs.

Rather sad at the moment because my ex-husband died yesterday, aged only 62. He is my sons father. Although we seperated 35 years ago, he was part of my youth, I met him when he was only seventeen. Somehow I seem tohaave lost some of my youth with his death.


Will be back in the next couple of days.

Berona, goodness what a long way for books to travel. Glad you have got them anyway.

My OH's Gt x 3 Grandmother was a Sophia Millard who was born Nettleton(I think) Gloucester in 1791 (circa).

It would be very strange if she was a relative of yours.