General Chat

Hello All

Pat, that is seriously HOT. I think hubby and I will be happy with the dry day today and same forecast for tomorrow. It's been humid but a cool breeze from afternoon onward made it much more comfortable for the two of us..... oh, and it dried washing.

Pat, it is amazing what information comes to light with a DNA swab. I bet you and your OH are waiting patiently for your results and see what details are reported then.

We haven't had any downpours lately and so I'm watering the lawns and borders and tubs because everywhere is just so dry and I won't risk losing any garden plants.

Our granddaughter arrived safely home from her school trip to Iceland late last night and it's been her last day of school term today so schools are ended until September. She was at a friends house for BBQ meal and another friend's for a sleepover. A very popular girl and has a good social life. Isn't life great at 14 ha ha

Jem, it sounds as if you have a good birthday yesterday. I hope the forecast is wrong for the carnival tomorrow. It's such a shame when it rains and spoils village events as they usually take a years organizing. I hope everyone has a good time anyway.

I have just taken the light quilt off our bed and we will make do with a cotton sheet tonight as it's still very muggy. Hope we sleep better than last night!

Goodnight to all lookers in. I hope that you all will sleep well tonight too.

Evening all :-)

Another mid 30s day. Now 27 C and just after 23.00.

Quiet day today. Watching the cricket, it's painful. :-S

Kandj we only have cotton sheets on as well but we do cool the bedroom down with the air conditioner. I put it on as I go into the room and when OH gets into bed he puts the timer on for 30 mins neither of us like having it on but it means a comfortable night. Would hate to have it on all night.

Jem hope the carnival went off ok and it didn't rain. Nice of them to celebrate your birthday with a carnival isn't it? :-D

Have a good night. Night and bless. :-) <3

Hello All

Pat, you beat me to it ha ha. I was about to post here and then I made a cup of tea for hubby instead. He can drink enough tea for England, but he enjoys it so I don't mind.

Another mega hot day for you then. It still would be far too hot for either of us to be comfortable. Perhaps you are used to it now. Is the air conditioning noisy?

Jem, I hope the rain held off and you all were able to enjoy the carnival celebrations.
Our village hold an annual event at the end of August and it is always very well attended come rain or shine (English weather!).

The couple at the end of the road have gone away for the weekend and left their son and daughter who are in their mid twenties "home alone", it looks and sounds like they are having a party. Plenty of cars and youngsters roaming the street and LOUD music. Hey ho, while the cats away etc. We were saying that we only hope that they clear up and make it all neat and tidy before Mum and Dad come back home or they will be in BIG trouble.

Another dry day again (it must be Summer!), so more watering of the lawns and borders and tubs again today. We will stick with the cotton sheet again tonight and probably need to have the windows closed with the music at the bottom of the street. I hope they have remembered to invite the next door neighbours! It is usually a very quiet neighbourhood, but I doubt that anyone will want to mention this party to Mum and Dad at anytime. They are just doing what kids do left alone

Bedtime now for us golden oldies! Goodnight then to all who are looking in here.

Good Afternoon Everyone :-) :-) <3

The sun is shining here, with a breeze and it's hot! But enjoyable!

I'm pleased to say that One Granddaughter 2 is home safe and sound from France, thankfully :-D :-D


I didn't end up doing anything on my birthday, except for being on Ancestry / GR all day, and enjoying half a bottle of red wine while thrashing Allan on the quizzes :-D in the night! !
I was saving my energy for yesterday!



Yesterday was Carnival Day in my childhood village, so as my car is quite small and I have hundreds of Grandchildren :-S OH decided to be kind and stay home so I could take all of them except toddler.

This very kind act had nothing at all to do with the fact that it was Saturday and his night out at his club was calling to him, of course! :-0 :-| :-| :-D

SUFFICE TO SAY, I DON'T THINK I CAN DO IT AGAIN SOON! :-D :-D


We left around 11.30am.
Granddaughter 4 was thrilled to bits as she has never been out on a trip with me before. It's usually us and the 3 oldest, while Mammy and Daddy take the 2 youngest somewhere.

We got there with half an hour to spare before the Carnival Procession.
I had taken a packed lunch, but as the local cafe was closing at 4, we decided to have dinner and keep the lunch for teatime.


We had food on the tables outside, right by the road where the Procession would be passing.This came as we finished which I filmed it on my camera. A Brass Band led the way, followed by Classic cars and tractors. Then came the Majorettes and Floats. Also people walking alongside in Fancy Dress.
No Carnival, Rose and Fairy Queens or Prince Charming this year for some reason :-S


Once the traffic had passed, we drove down to the Carnival Fields (The Rugby Field)
The eldest 3 fled! :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-|
Which left me to look after Granddaughter 4, who is very active and with her also being so excited, it was difficult to keep up!


There was a funfair hired for the day. Of course that meant rides after rides etc., one of which Granny had to go on with her and as I get motion-sick on a swivel chair, I concentrated on filming with the camera! :-D :-D :-D

Granny got very tired, and said to Granddaughter 4 "Granny may look only 30, but she is nearly 60 you know!" (well 58 to be precise!)
SHE DID HAVE THE GOOD SENSE TO AGREE!:-D :-D :-D

Once all rides had been ridden on, sweets and candyfloss bought, prizes won, etc., we located The Deserters :-| and drove back to the village.


Granddaughter 4 spent the rest of her money in the local shop which has all sorts of things.

We had our packed "lunch" for tea on the beach.
The tide was out, so we couldn't go paddling, but Grandson 1 and Granddaughter 2 allowed Granddaughter 1 to bury them in the sand in shapes of a mermaid/man with just their heads out! :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D
Grandson 1 was complete with b@@bs :-D :-D :-D


Then it was time to go, with Granddaughter 4 declaring that it was the best day of her life! aw bless! :-)


Well that was the story of my day out, which has probably filled the whole page!:-D :-D


:-) PAT
Wow that IS hot! :-0 :-0
It's no joke ironing or any other job needing exertion in that kind of heat!!
That's very interesting, finding an American Cousin, albeit distantly, through the DNA test!
I am very seriously contemplating doing one.
Both Ancestry and FMP offer a test. It's £99 (I think) with Ancestry.
Only problem is, would I then need to take out a proper subscription with Ancestry in order to further it? I already have Platinum/Parish with GR.


:-)KANDJ
I'm glad your Granddaughter is home safely from her school trip to Iceland. I hope she had a good time :-)
As St Swithins' Day falls the day before my birthday, as a child I would always worry in case it would rain on that day. This would have meant that it would rain on my birthday! :-D :-D :-D

I'm glad you are managing to get rid of the ants :-)


~~~~~~~ to all Roll Callers :-) :-) :-) :-)

Love Jem <3

Hello All

A bit late today but very interesting Jem to read about your day out with your grandchildren. It made me feel tired reading this, so I can only imagine how weary you will have been feeling at the end of it, but they aren't little for very long and will surely remember such happy times spent with you at the carnival.

Hope Pat and everyone else is fit and well now. Today has been a weary day and its well past my usual bedtime so I will wish you all a very good restful nights sleep.

Good Afternoon Everyone :-) :-) <3

A sad event!

When we were packing up to go home from the beach on Saturday (Carnival day) I noticed that the railway gates were still closed, and the passenger train that gone through had come to a stop further down the line.
After quite a while, the gates opened, but the train was still on stop. I said to the kids that there must be something wrong.

On the way home a speeding Fire Engine passed us heading that way. Then shortly after, police. By the time we were nearly home two plain cars, obviously CID as they had put a flashing light and siren on their plain cars, had also passed.

By the time I got home, and unpacked, cleaned the car, etc etc it was late and I temporarily forgot about it.

Yesterday I remembered and googled.
Someone had been hit by the train and sadly killed. :-(
As yet, no details as to identity, and the online local newspaper did not know if it was a man or a woman.


~~~ to Kandj and Pat <3

Hello All

A mixed day today, rain at first and then dry and brighter later, but with big black rainclouds for most of the day. It has cooled down especially at night and so the quilt is back on our bed again.

Jem, that is awful news, a real tragedy and horrendous for the persons family and close friends to have to come to terms with. Our nephew is a train driver and it is his worst nightmare to have a fatality on his shift. I hope it didn't spoil your day out with your grandchildren too much.

We both had a restless night last night. There was a dog barking in the early hours and we have no idea who the dog belonged to or why is was barking for so long?
There aren't that many dogs in our neighbourhood so I hope this noisy dog will go back where he belongs so we won't be disturbed again tonight.

Hope Pat and OH are well and I hope everyone who looks in will have a good sleep.

Morning all :-)

Busy couple of days and out in the evenings. Said goodbye to 1 group last night, they fly back to UK today. We are out tonight for a Chinese buffet then nothing for another week :-S. Something's wrong as this time of the year it's usually continuous. Mind you next week our friends who are staying in Paphos come to stay for a week before going back to UK and on the 29th more friends are coming out from UK to stay in Paphos for a week and we'll have to try to be in 2 places at the same time :-D.

Kandj the air conditioner has a low hum but we have the clock radio and have the radio on ever night so we don't notice it. Never hear it switch off I'm asleep. :-) If we start with the bedroom nice and cool we go to sleep and the room starts to warm up to the ambient temperature when asleep so we don't notice it. It is of course cooling down through the night, low temperature at the moment is 23 C. It's 31 C now. Hope you slept better last night.

OH's back's a bit tender today but he can rest for a few days so he's not bothered. He has asked if there's anything that he's got to do today but all there is ironing, sweeping out upstairs and dusting so he can take the day off. :-) I'll be doing the ironing just before I get in the shower. OH irons his trousers and shorts, he's always liked sharp creases and I learned many years ago it's best to let him do all his trousers and shorts even though most these days don't have creases. :-D He's ex RAF so learnt how to iron his uniform a long time ago.

Jem how awful and Kandj is right the poor driver. I heard weeks ago that suicides like this are now common. I just feel so sorry for those left with all the questions of why and could we have stopped it. Dreadful situation to be in.

Glad the carnival went off ok and I hope you've recovered from going :-).

You can get the DNA test pack from Superdrug, that is for 23and Me. You can also send for it from USA with 23andMe if there's more than 1 wanting to do it as you get a discount. That's what we did so we paid less than our daughter. Think she paid £125 all in and we paid £108 each. It's £99 plus post on Ancestry which is not costed and it's a carrier that's used not the Royal Mail. We sent for ours one Wednesday evening and 3 days later it was here via DHL. We received them on a Saturday morning and we took our samples back on the Monday and were able to track them back to the USA. We should have the results starting late next week. They do several tests so you have the results as they come through. You are able to go on their site and register your number off your pack as soon as you get it and you have your results posted on there, they do e-mail you to let you know the results are coming through.

The American cousin has Irish links (so do I) they gravitated to B'ham area during the Industrial Revolution. Bless her she wrote, I don't know why they ended up in B'ham perhaps it was the nearest big town/city to where they landed. Don't think she's up on the geography of UK. I have explained about Brum as I call it and how the Black Country was the power house of industry. There were thousands of jobs in the area from clay digging for the Potteries through coal mining and foundries to canal digging, railway lines and building of factories, roads and houses.

Think she'll realise they were following the jobs just like I was told my Welsh family did - only I haven't been able to get them back to Wales yet. :-( I think my maiden name gives away my Welsh roots though Jem - Lloyd and I know it means grey as you get older but may mean brown when younger. They are a brown haired family but very little grey....... mine comes from my maternal line, they were all white by the time they were in their 50s. I've managed to draw it out until the 60s :-D

Jem I'm putting this link on so you can have a look at the site.

https://www.23andme.com/

Have a good day/evening/night to you all. :-) <3

Hello All

Definitely turned much cooler now. Our night was peaceful enough but I woke up in the early hours with leg cramp. It hurt so much I had to get out of bed and hobble out of the bedroom so as not to disturb my husband. It seemed to take a long time until the leg stretches became effective in easing my cramped muscles, although realistically it was probably not that long. I couldn't see the clock and anyway my eyes refused to open as I was so tired! I hope it doesn't happen again tonight though.

Pat, I had a look at the link and it all looks very interesting. I hope you and you OH will be pleased with your results when they come through. Enjoy your Chinese meal tonight then rest up awhile before you two have phone calls to fill in your time!

Jem, are your grandchildren keeping you extra busy now that the schools have finished and the Summer holidays have begun? You can always have another little quiet day away visiting your childhood village to help recharge your energy levels.

I hope everyone who looks in has had a happy day today and will enjoy an even better day tomorrow.

Hello All

A much better nights sleep and NO night cramp for me thank goodness although my leg muscles are still aching from the pain of the cramp. Getting older is no joke!

It is the best part of the day right now, bright sky for the first time today. "Someone" has been having a laugh at my expense?? I put the washing out first thing and it rained. I brought the wet clothes inside and it stopped raining. I hung the clothes on the line again and would you believe it began raining when I put the peg in the last garment. I was not a happy person. In they came again and I put them in the dryer. Now there is sunshine and gentle breeze, so the washing would have dried after all.... grrr. Thank goodness I am blessed with plenty of patience.

I hope everyone has had a better day than I have today, mind you it could have been a lot worse, so I am not grumbling. Enjoy the rest of today (I will).

Evening all :-)

Had a lovely meal last night. It's now quiet with no one about. Won't last though. Went shopping this afternoon, if you go mid afternoon there's very few people about. It was 33 C today.

When we were up the club I put my drink down and lay my arms down on the table. I felt a faint shudder, it was only when we got home I found out it was an earthquake. It wasn't a big one although it was quite close. No damage or injuries.

Quite night in tonight. May go out tomorrow night if OH's back is ok. We'll see tomorrow afternoon .

Glad you had a better night Kandj. Bananas are good for cramp. OH has half a banana on his breakfast every morning and I have the other half as part of my lunch. Hope your leg is ok tomorrow. As for your washing I think it comes under this

Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. :-S

You wouldn't be the only one caught out today.

Hope you all have a good evening and night. Night and bless :-) <3

Good Morning Roll Callers :-) :-)<3

Well, I have had "Pic Of The Week" in my local newspaper again! :-D :-D :-D
It's the one of "The Square" in my childhood village. I think I posted the link to it.

The latest news about the fatality on the railway line.
It was not the train that we saw on stop, but one coming from the opposite way. It was a 34 year old man that had been hit and killed, and it was on the level crossing to the caravan park about a mile away. He must have been on holiday there, as he was from Merthyr Tydfil.
Very sad for all concerned :-(

I was very busy on my tree using both GR and Ancestry all day Tuesday until late in the night, so it was cleaning all day yesterday for shame sake! :-| :-| :-D :-D
But I was back on it again last night! :-0 :-0 :-0 :-D

I want to clear out drawers and cupboards today.


:-)KANDJ
I'm sorry to hear that you suffer from cramp, particularly at night. I do too, and the last couple of years the type of cramp changed to both legs going into complete spasm going on for quite a long time.
The GP sent me for an MRI scan and I have a protruding disc in my back which presses the nerve, so it could be that with me.

Pat is right about bananas. Also drinking a glass of water (some say a pint) before bed. You would have to balance the problem out with any possible resulting trips to the loo however!


:-)PAT
Glad you had a good night out. How is OH's back now?
It's good that there were no injuries or damage because of the earthquake.
Thanks for the link for the DNA Testing website, I shall check it out :-)

I wonder if we may be related then Pat?!:-D
My Great Aunt told me about 12 years ago that we are related to David Lloyd George. She said that her mother had warned her never to tell anyone because "he is an immoral man!" :-D :-D

I wasn't doing genealogy then, as I didn't even know how to put a computer on!
It was after I learned the basics in my Grandson's Primary School and his Mum gave him her old PC for his schoolwork that I started GR.

I know that we haven't descended from Lloyd George as he was contemporary with my Great Grandmother. It will be through his father's Pembrokeshire roots, but that is notoriously difficult. I assumed it was through GEORGE, as there were many George families where my G. Grandparents lived. But I have since found a LLOYD on my tree. It was a while ago, so I will have to investigate that again when I have time.


Prickles <3


~~~~~~~ to all looking on on Dizzi's Roll Call :-) :-) :-)

Love Jem <3

Hello All

Not the best of starts for me this morning. I discovered maggots in the dustbin.YUK.
I needed to take the bags out and hose the inside and outside of the dustbin and use bleach to get rid of the maggots and the awful smell. I double bagged everything and the dustbin men arrived shortly afterwards. I then hosed in and out of the dustbin again and used more bleach. Now it is all clean but I felt itchy and dirty afterwards!

Pat, I remember about eating a banana and drinking more water to stop nightcramp.
It is the most excruciating pain and frightening to be woken up from a deep sleep.

I also have experience of an earthquake Pat. I was working 7 stories high and I sttod up and walked across the office and the floor moved like I was on a ship in a rough storm... it was really weird and only lasted a few seconds. I thought that I was having some sort of weird spell, but others were experiencing the very same as I was. It was only when I went home from work and saw on the local TV news that our town had experienced an earthquake measuring 6 on the Ricta scale!!!!

Jem, you are a clever girl to have your photograph chosen in that way. Do you have an expensive camera and is photography a hobby of yours? Well done!

The man who died in the railway incident was very young. What a tragic loss of life and how hard it will be for his family and friends to come to terms with this shocking death. I feel sorry for his parents and family and also for the train driver and railway workers who have been affected by such an horrific incident. So very, very sad.

It's bedtime now, so I hope everyone will sleep well tonight (including me).
I hope tomorrow will be a good day for all roll callers looking in here just now.

Good Morning Roll Callers :-) :-) <3

Just popping in quickly to wish you all a good day :-)

It's wet and miserable here today, so washing on the radiators yet again! :-|


Kandj, maggots.. yuck! It's awful when they get into the bin isn't it!

My husband bought me the camera as an anniversary surprise 18 months ago, so I could take photos of the children and upload to the computer.

It is quite a good one (I don't want to sound ungrateful) but because I'm long-sighted, I needed one with an eye viewer and not a screen, as it means on and off with reading glasses all the time.
Off to look at what I'm taking, on to look at the screen etc. Also when it's sunny I am "pressing and guessing" as you cannot see the screen only the reflection of yourself and what is behind you.

I have always taken photos on holidays and days out etc, for a remembrance really.
Mike on the quizzes takes brilliant photos, and I think that made me think of taking it up as a bit of a hobby.

Off to get on with some work! :-D :-D


~~~~~~~~~~~ to Pat :-)


Love Jem <3 :-)

Evening all :-)

Well done Jem. I haven't got a camera now but used to take lots of photos. Had to laugh, went to a wedding with an expensive photographer taking the photos. Our daughter was bridesmaid and whilst bride and groom were having snaps taken of just the 2 of them our 3 yr old fell and sat down amongst the plants and flowers planted at the side of the grass that was used for the wedding photos. I took a couple of photos of her sat there and they were the best photos of the whole wedding, had to get several copies as people wanted a copy when they saw them.

You keep taking them Jem, you just may have "the eye" for taking good pictures.

Kandj hope your leg is better and no more cramps.

Went out last night, just the 2 of us, a quick meal we thought, got back at 1 am, got hijacked. OH has also promised to do a cd of classical relaxing music for someone by Sunday. Did go out for a quick meal this evening. OH fancied a Chinese so went to a Chinese buffet. We ate and left as OH's back was sore after last night. My steak last night was lovely.

The weather is so odd at the moment, didn't get out of the high 20s, what's going on. I see it's raining in several places in UK as most of the T 20s have been abandoned.

Daughter on her way to friend's birthday in Belfast where her brother is working, at the moment he has no idea she's also been invited to the birthday bash. :-D Will hear all about it in a couple of days.

Hope you all have a good evening and night. Keep dry. :-) <3

Hello All

NO rain here today...... how good is that?? We have seen from the weather TV broadcast that other folk have had rain for much of today but thankfully none for us (in Yorkshire) although hubby says that rain is forecast here for the weekend. Hey ho, the good thing is that it will save me my usual job of having to water the two lawns and borders and all tubs,so a mixed blessing I suppose.

Jem, you obviously have a real gift for photography. Well done to you!
I am from the old school of 'point and click' camera shoots and manage mainly to chop people's heads off when I do take family photographs, not good at all really!

Thankfully no more maggots in the dustbin but as it was only emptied yesterday I am keeping my eye on it and still double bagging as I usually do. Not a nice experience at all and certainly not one that I would wish to repeat again soon.

Pat, I am munching on a banana as I am typing this message right now and have a glass of water handy to drink before I go to bed. I don't often get the leg cramps and hope I won't be bothered again by them as they are just too painful to bear.

I am sure that your son will be pleasantly surprised when he has his sister visiting.
Will your son tell you about it or will he leave it to his sister to fill you in with the news
We have no sons, but experience with our son in law and grandson tell us than men don't communicate very much. Our daughter and granddaughter are very different.

It is well past my bedtime, so I'm off now but I hope whatever weather comes your way tomorrow.... rain or shine... that everyone will have a really happy day.

Evening all :-)

Temperature just over 30 C earlier but it's been cloudy and humid.

Had a meal here tonight for a change. Had 1 of my concoctions as I call them. Just look to see what I've got and put them together. I baked some white fish with garlic, cheese and bacon and served it with salad. OH loved it, may do that 1 again. :-D

I have my half banana at lunch Kandj. You hit the nail on the head, daughter will tell us all about it. Son doesn't contact us very often but then suddenly he's on Skype and chats for 3 hrs, all or nothing.

We used to get some powder from the supermarket that keeps flies away from bins. Trouble is I can't remember what it was called. Did you get your garden watered by the rain?

Are you having fun with the grandchildren Jem? Was listening to Radio Wales this afternoon with their treasure hunt. It appears it's a summer filler for the winter sports slot. Next week is the last week. Must be to make way for Radio Jem. Been practicing with my virtual pompoms and I've found I can do the high kicks quite easily as I sit on the sofa. :-D

Have a good evening all :-) <3

Hello All

Still no rain today although big black clouds one minute and then blue sky and white fluffy clouds next but no rain and I'm still being good and watering the front and back gardens as I don't want to lose the plants I have grown from seeds earlier this year.
Both lawns are looking like a good soaking is needed and it has been forecast rain for tomorrow so will have to wait and see what happens then.

Pat I forgot to eat the banana today and don't fancy eating one now. I don't often get night cramp but when I do then its not good at all and I'm even limping the day after. My neighbour tells me she drinks tonic water (with quinine) to keep her night cramp away. She drinks gin too. I could buy the tonic water but not gin as teetotal.

Jem, are you out and about with your camera and taking lots of lovely photos today?

The nights seem to be drawing in already which is a bit of a shock. I don't mind the darker nights, but I'm not ready to even think about them while it is still July!!

I hope everyone is well and will have a good night and even better day tomorrow.

Evening all :-)

Kandj the reason I have my banana at lunch is so if I forget I've plenty of time to have it later. :-D Quinine is good against malaria think it puts the mosquitos off. Never heard about quinine and cramp.

I don't like either gin or tonic. I've never been a drinker and the doc at the sleep clinic advised I don't have alcohol. That was the end of my shandy in the evening after we came back from our outings. OH drives there I always drive back.

Was stopped recently by the cops as they were doing a check on drivers in the evening to check for drunk drivers. I had to open the door so the cops could get close and 1 asked what I'd been drinking, I said water and he looked at OH and said "now I know why she's driving". He laughed and walked away. About a mile nearer our house and a week later we were stopped again and again 2 cops walk towards the car, I open the door and see the previous week's cop and he said something to his mate and they just waved us on. Pays not to drink. :-D

Sounds like there's lots of rain in UK today. We had 31 C with strong winds.

This week I should have birth/marriage and death certs arrive, hope all my questions are answered.

Friends arrive to stay tomorrow, they are coming back from Paphos until next Monday when they return to UK. They have been here since June.

Have a good evening all and a peaceful night. :-) <3

Hello all

I spoke too soon because it rained through the night and has rained heavily all today. Murphy's Law following me around again methinks! The positive side is that its saved me from having to water the gardens, so a job less for me to do today.

Pat, I hadn't realized that so many folk suffered with cramp in the legs during the night. Seems to be another "joy" of getting older NOT!! A friend buys quinine tablets from the village chemist for his cramp and finds ti helps a lot. I'll just keep drinking water and eating the banana..... good job I like fresh fruit.

I have some powder in the garage to sprinkle inside the dustbin. it is the granules instead of the liquid form of Jey*s Fluid. I had forgotten all about that, so will use it and hope it will keep the wriggly maggots from returning again.

I hope Jem and PH and others will have a good day tomorrow.