General Chat

Our beautiful Autumn weather came to a halt a few days ago and the rain descended upon us with a vengeance. Mild flooding in the rivers with the flood gates overflowing for the second time in two months - before that - fourteen years ago! At least, we no longer have water restrictions!

Where I am - on the western side of Sydney, we haven't had as much rain as they have had nearer the coast, so we don't know what flooding is, and only had a couple of days of heavy showers - more forecast, but not heavy, so I can't complain. The temperatures are still in the low twenties - so that's really nice - and we don't need to water our gardens.

Low temperatures that is positively a heat wave to us here Berona in the 11/12 degrees we are getting. I am sure that the rain will be good for your farmers and gardeners but hope you don't get too much flooding. Always the way after a dry perios the rain bounces off and causes flooding. We are in a drought situation believe it or not in Gloucestershire, although do not yet have water restrictions.

Spring and Autumn are the nicest part of the year for us here. Summer can get too hot and winter used to be very cold, but recent winters have been quite mild - and last summer didn't seem to happen! It's all weird - must be the hole in the ozone layer - or global warming - whatever they call it.

Our friends arrived safely and we are really enjoying ourselves. It is quite a while since we were with them do lots of chatting going on Nd not just with the ladies!
Yesterday we were out for lunch at the super Chinese restaurant which I have written about previously. We had a good walk along the beach whilst the sun was still shining and then shopped for fruit and veg before coming home and sitting in the garden for a few hours. It is good to have warm weather again!
The husband Whois visiting is an excellent cook andiscooking a steak and kidney pie today which I know from previous times will be excellent,
We are taking each day asit comes,no real planning.

There are so many birds twittering.i can hardly recognise any of them,I am sure that they compete with each other...

Have a good day everyone and I will be back tommorow

Bridget
:-) :-) :-)

Our friends arrived safely and we are really enjoying ourselves. It is quite a while since we were with them do lots of chatting going on Nd not just with the ladies!
Yesterday we were out for lunch at the super Chinese restaurant which I have written about previously. We had a good walk along the beach whilst the sun was still shining and then shopped for fruit and veg before coming home and sitting in the garden for a few hours. It is good to have warm weather again!
The husband Whois visiting is an excellent cook andiscooking a steak and kidney pie today which I know from previous times will be excellent,
We are taking each day asit comes,no real planning.

There are so many birds twittering.i can hardly recognise any of them,I am sure that they compete with each other...

Have a good day everyone and I will be back tommorow

Bridget
:-) :-) :-)

Well London is looking great his morning the sun is shining and there is a blue sky - I don't know how long for.

I have been busy working still - I know it is only two hours a day (2 1/2 the last two weeks), but with taking OH to work at 4.30 each morning too it takes it out of you when you are older!! The big 65 is next month!!

It was a wonderful Easter at church, went to all the main services and last Sunday the church was very well occupied for 'Low Sunday' which is extremely unusual! Let's hope the trend continues!

Bridget - I wondered if you friend's OH - the one that cooks - did he have sisters when he was growing up. Because I had no sisters my mum was always showing me how to cook, sew, knit and all those 'feminine' pastimes.

Tess - Sorry I have too many ornaments already - and cuddly toys!! We still have plenty of excuses for not tidying and not going into the garden too!!!

Hazel - how are those twins? A friend of OH's at church has just had twins (two girls) and they have had all sorts of problems, but are getting over them.

Berona - Global warming is certainly more obvious in Australia than any where else - your weather has become too unpredictable! I suspect that California's weather is changing too - cos a I have a niece living there and she says it is raining a lot more often than it used to!!

Big match for the Arsenal today - especially after the shock defeat last Monday - hopefully the Chelsea team will be too tired after their exertions against Tottenham and Barcelona.

Looking forward to the rest of the weekend to recover!
Hope everyone is well - if not - get well soon!!
Prayers will be said and candles will be lit!!!

Gerard <3 :-) <3 :-) <3

Sorry have been rather distracted recently.
Am out to celebrate my baby brother's birthday tomorrow evening (he will be 55). Going to a Malaysian Rest. in town. Have had a lot of rain over the last few days, so hoping that I don't get wet.

Off to bed in a few minutes. Will be back for a proper chat in a few days.


Tess

Good morning to you all, dear Cyber Friends.

This morning it is very misty so hope that lifts quite quickly. I can hear the fishing boats going out to see and the birds twittering and apart from those there is complete quietness. As I have said many times before this is a very precious time of day. I can write on here, just sit and contemplate, read without interruption etc , in tranquility.

Our Wednesday ten pin bowling was great fun and our visitors really showed us how proficient they are! I came last....but no real surprise to anyone.
We had some very good tapas in the afternoon with excellent service but half wat through the meal the wind became rather cold and not one of us had brought a coat or jacket......we did not have to walk to the car.....we almost flew there!!

My OH and the chap who is visiting us are off to play golf today, we are not players but O H can be a Caddie......and no doubt he will enjoy the day. He does not have to drive as another friend has left his car in our garage and he will end his early morning walk today at our house, have some breakfast with us and the be the driver.......friends can be so kind.

Not sure what I and my friend will do maybe a walk around the town or if it is not warm, do some reading, chatting etc.

Tess, I hope that you and your brother enjoy your meal out,.
Gerard, thank you for being our very good and concientious member of our thread,
Gerard, my friend was in the army by the time he was 16, I think it was "suggested to him, if you know what I mean, so stayed as a resident in the UK..for many years he did not see his family but as he got older this situation changed and he visits SA every the year.
He has asked me to build his family tree but Scottish FamilynHistory is proving very difficult.......so many people with the same surname. Any suggestions that may help me would be welcome...

Well people are stirring so time to get breakfast ready

Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful day

Bridget :-)

Hi everyone, had a busy week, apart from dodging the rain !! Garden now well soggy !! Planted the last of our potatoes, the bags you can buy are excellent. Also hardened off tomato plants, so they can go out soon.

Had our W.I. birthday party Thursday, my contribution was a yummy, scrummy choc cheesecake.....only needed a small piece tho. Must hink of waistline !!

Garden now getting back to normal following the tree being cut down,
Hope your visitors Bridget enjoy the rest of their stay.

Have a lovely weekend everyone


Jan

Good afternoon to you all . Sorry I have not been on here each day but I am sure that you will understand that my friends who are visiting have had my full attention.
We had our lunch out today at the English bar and it was excellent.
Have to go know as we are out for a walk and when back we shall be getting everything packed etc so that visitors can be ready early in the morning.

Will be back sometime tomorrow, hope that you are all well

Bridget

We are all well here in Norfolk, but very wet !! Had enough now, it looked like November outside this morning...so you can tell your friends they are in the best place at yours !!!

Jan

Where has everybody gone? Hope everyone is enjoying good health and that the weather is kind to you all. Ours isn't bad - typical Autumn for us - at present, overnight temps are down to 8c but rise up to 20c later in the day and whilst there is no rain, this makes a pleasant day for us. We can't grumble at that.

I'm still here - just don't have anything really interesting to talk about - I am sure that the weather and rain are getting us down, but we have stopped talking about them now!!

I hope everyone is well - off to church soon with OH - will say a prayer for all and light a candle for all the sick and needy.

Be on again soon
Gerard
:-) <3

Oh how I agree Gerard, yes lets not talk about the W word, we are all fed up with it now...tired of winter clothes and aching for the sun, perhaps that is why we all don't feel like writing the diary. Nothing much going on, trying to cope with growing wet grass etc etc, and now where nice to go because of the w word.. Lets try to be positive eh !!!

Energy is runnung on (nearly) empty at the moment. So haven't spent much time on the chat boards.

Have been concentrating on getting my house ship-shape, adding to my tree on Genes., transfering info to A---ry. Trying my best not to drown under the additional paperwork as I do all this.

Have recently been contacted by someone who was "adopted out of the family" It is rather exciting. His grandfather and mine were first cousins, and lived in the same area at the same time. He has also been put in touch with a first cousin of his. The first cousin has sent him a photo of his (the adopted man's) father!

My lovely aunty, who will be 102 on Sunday is in hospital. She was admitted with an infection. Unfortunately she has not made a full recovery, so is not likely to be discharged back to her own home.
Before her illness she did a lot of her own cooking, laundry dish-washing etc.
The hospital willbe giving her sons advice on a decent Nursing Home for her.
It will be strange seeing her in somewhere other than her usual surroundings. She celebrated her 100th birthday in her local pub, and a good time was had by all.

Gerard, my team is playing yours for the last game of the season...!!!!
I promise not to gloat if we win, if you will do the same.

By baby bro came round today to mow the grass for me. (I'm just not up to it at the moment). Unfortunately, the rather long grass was wet underneath, so he only did a little bit. Then that wet stuff came out of the sky, now all my grass is soaking!

All for now. hope that everyone os well,


Tess :-)

Where is everyone? Out enjoying yourselves? or busy working hard?

Tess - your aunt sounds wonderful. I hope she can adjust to her new surroundings when she gets there.

So sorry not to have been on her for a while....I feel quite guilty as I started it!!!

Nothing wrong just very busy doing nothing as they say. Quiz night, Ten Pin Bowling which is improving week on week, so feeling good about that.
Our UK friends who spend about 5 or 6 months here each year also arrived a few days ago and we have been chatting away just to catch up with their news.

Tess, you have had a busy time and I will say a prayer for your aunt and how exciting to have found some one after such a long time.
I do use the "other" site quite a lot and found someone from my husbands family who we always understood never married and was " a bit of a girl" and this is simply not true.

She went to another part of England and married, had children and sadly died just a few weeks after the last child.

Goodnight and I will be back in the next day or so,

Bridget

Hi Bridget and all

Well twins are doing well thank you,

As do of you know i am having a bad time at the moment with not getting any money as my benefits have stopped, so have put in appeal, but they havent got form yet, i am hoping they get it today.

Its cloudy and cold today here, but have put washing outside in hope it will dry.

I had no heating again the other night, so called them out yet again. Coming on Monday to fit a bit they have changed 3 times already. I am going to put letter in again, And going to speak to boss again. But he is bit of a ????.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~to all

Take care

Hazelx

It's hard to know what to think when you can't get all the facts from the research. A contact on GR sent me a full family tree of one of my great-grandmothers. However, it shows that her father was married twice - but con-currently! The marriages are only four years apart - but the children are 'numerous', and all being born within the same time-frame, in different towns.

I have been unable to find that there was a relative (cousin?) with the same name as the father - or do I conclude that he was a bigamist? I know it wasn't easy to prove bigamy in those days. If such was the case, I wonder how he maintained all of them? and if not, I don't like to label him as being one! There could be a logical explanation - but I haven't enough facts to make a decision on that.

I cannot believe my eyes!
I have been on the varandah for a while when within minutes the. Sky turned a deep shade of grey and the rain started, then within a couple of moments the sky went black, and hail stones are falling all around us, the gardens are covered with the hail. The water cannot drain away . As I look out of the window the scene is rather similar to a " white Christmas" in the UK.

Jet and joe hate thunder but they have calmed down and are hiding under my bed!!

The sky is a deep Gray no sign of blue sky and the hail stones are now looking rather like a carpet across what was my garden.

I hope that the roses which have been magnificent this year and my fruit trees do not suffer.

Thank goodness the electricity has not gone off, so we can still have our main meal.


Ooooppppssxxx another huge crash of thunder

Must go and look food the sea, I hope I can see it soon.

Bridget in wet, wet, wet part of Spain