General Chat

Morning all,well its very wet here today ,so I can't see us going to Bury!!
I am only on here for 5mins to send an email to my friend.
Will see how the weather is in half an hour ,if it dries up we might chance going ,if it doesn't we will not bother .
Have a good weekend what ever you ar doing.
Brenda

goodmorning well just when I thought things could not get worse silly me they did, I recieved a call from andrew yesterday to say he had 2 calls from the camp first to say that bryan had hurt his bad leg it turned out to be a torn meniscus in the knee so that will have to be repaired along with the a.c.l and of course this will cut his stay at camp short he will be coming home to-day along with the other 2, he has said he wants to stay with his dad so andrew has cancelled the trip to ottawa and will take a weeks vacation next week, then another call came later to say Laura in a game had fallen over a retaining wall and had injured her kneck and back and head that entailed a trip to the hospital and being wakened up every 2hrs through the night, back and kneck ok but is left with a concussion, so andrew and lindy are going up in separate cars the boys will come home with andrew and lindy will bring Laura so out of 3 children Ian is the only one intact, andrew will call the surgeon on monday and see about getting an earlier date to fix the now 2 problems with bryans leg, bryan also asked that the surgery is still done at the end of september he wants to rehab at his dads and as he put it if you have to go out of town dad I am sure that if I asked grandma dee (thats me) she would move in for a week and take care of me. and of course I would help in anyway. Bryan is 16 so legally he does not have to go along with this week at one house a week at the other he is old enough to say where he wants to live so we shall see what happens there, so andrew should have arrived at the camp as I write this so I hope they have a good trip home I gather bryan is in a lot of pain and he does have a good pain tolerance as we found out with allhis sports injuries, so I have bought myself a giant chocolate bar and I am going towatch the semi finals of the tennis and think good thoughts and pig out on the chocolate have not done this in weeks but after the stess of the last 2 weeks I think I deserve it bye for now dorothy

There was me feeling sorry for myself that I could not get to Bury due to the weather and my leg starting to hurt.and poor Dorothy and the family have all this to contend with!!!
I do hope that both children are feeling better and not in any pain.
I am sure they are being taken care of at the camp!! Hope Grand ma can help and that Andrew can accept the help offered,,it can be very difficult
hope things start to pick up for everyone ,,
I do hope as welll that grandma enjoys the chocolate and the tennis,!!
Going to watch Casualty now.Take care Brenda

hi brenda well the chocolate bar and the tennis went well,bryan called me when he got home and we had a nice chat apparently his knee is the size of a basket ball and is painfull but his dad had iced it and given him the pain medication so it was a bit easier, then the other 2 called later as they had only spent the afternoon at the other family cottage and where now at there mom's Laura said her back was sore and she had quite a headache and to quote Ian I am fine no injuries so that was saturday. on sunday I spoke to andrew and bryan had a good night and slept for 12hrs catching up on the sleep he did not have at camp Ian was now back at his dad's and had to quote him a big bowl of tiger shrips for lunch and dad is grilling black angus steaks for supper?tea so all is well in his worl. andrew said he will be in touch with the surgeon to-day (monday) and don't worry brenda he is open to all the help he can get from me as bryan has said he is staying at dad's and if his dad has to go away on business he would like to ask me to stay for a week or a few days what ever is needed. he has all his computor stuf etc at his dad and he says it makes no sense to move it down the road week about. as he appears to want a future inthat field after uni. I guess it makes sense. so we shall see what happens, hope all is well with you sorry you did not get to bury I spoke to anne and she said the weather has been iffy, she has work men coming to-day there is a crack over the kitchen window and it is bringing water behind the kitchen tiles over the window she has a beautiful kitchen all tiled floor to ceiling and the tiles are spectacular so I hope she has some extra's left to replace if the work men damage any. hope fred and liz had a good week-end take care bye for now dorothy

Afternoon all.Glad the boys and Laura are all ok and back home even if waiting for treatment.
I have had a letter about going for physio saying i am now on the list and they will tell me when I get near the top.!! So I will give them a ring and see how long I am likely to be on the list,and perhaps go private so I can at least see what i am dealing with .!!!
Weather yesterday morning and this morning was awful but changed into a lovelly afternoon,got a lot of washing dried on the line each day after thinking the drier was going to be on.!!! So I am a happy bunny.
Hope annes kitch is ok and she does not have to re do the tiling.
We are having some work done outsdie on the main roof and baywindow roof,as well as gutter etc. We need scaffolding up at the side so that going to be a few hundred before the work starts.but it needs doing.
Better get on with a bit of ironing or I will have nothing to wear tomorrow thats been ironed.
Take care Brenda

Morning all,sorry to be away so long but we are a tad busy here at the moment what with the company and the impending arrival of the grandson and wife from Lyneham,cor ,i could do with the little caravan we had on the drive two years ago ,lol for the extra room ,but i suppose we will manage ,anyone else who turns up this next week ,will be met with a sign ,[No Room At The Inn] :-S.
Brenda ,hope the repairs go okay,expensive i know ,but as you say ,it has to be done ,and you are doing it the right way ,far better now ,than waiting until it gets really bad,making it even more expensive .
our only advantage is ,no rent to pay ,only rates and living expenses ,so we can find the money for repairs easier,and hopefully ,ours are all done now for the forseeable future ;-).
You certainly have a full itinery Dorothy wow ,are you going to be busy for a few weeks, but i am glad for you ,having the war wounded back home, lol. :-( where you at least can keep your eye on them,you need a rest even more than me :-0.
I did a Brenda yesterday ,got the hoover out at half seven a m ,before the daughter arrived home from the night shift,and did all of the ground floor ,including the dusting,did my emails and had my usual ablutions including the shave ,and settled down with a coffee.
9 am ,sun shining i got the mower out did the front and back lawns ,the edges,front and back,did a load of weeding ,and then did the shopping.
A 16 mile trip to Dudley and back to rescue the grandson and his new computer tower because he couldn't get it on the bus ,and then home to start the tea.
I made a double meal last evening, two wanted Khorma curry while three wanted Tikka so i got the pans out and got cracking doing a load of Basmati rice,and naan breads to go with it all,even a packet of prawn crackers which i put in two bowls so that all could help themselves :-\.
As i put the meal out ,my back and legs were killing me ,lol,and i realised that i had done a Brenda ,too ,much ,too soon,and there's me telling this fair lady to take things more slowly,ruddy cheek i ve got [smacks wrist]
Wasn't funny though ,by the time i finished my tea ,i was ill and took to my bed,and didn't know a thing until the cat woke me at six this morning,
Like it or not ,i am having a laszy dat ,so far ,all i have done is put the bins out ,fed the cat ,made a cuppa ,and here i am ,lol,i refuse to make a meal today three women in the house time they stirred their stumps :-).
.Have to go now anyway ,to stretch my legs and back ,no more though :-( and will be back later ,Fred :-)

Hi everyone,its been a fairly good day weather wise,and John and I had a ride out to the Lowry ,we needed two christening gifts for Sunday plus cards etc ,which we got and we also got some bits and peices from Holland and Barratt.
Did see a top I like in M&S, I already have it in white but wanted it in Navy.,but they did not have my size.My friend who works there will see if they get it in in my size and let me know.
We were going to have lunch there but seeing as it is school holidays everywhere was full,so we came home and had cheese on toast.and enjoyed it.!!!!
Now Fred,heres me doing my best to slow down and do things in moderation when you go and do more than me.!!!
Hope you are feeling better after a good rest.
Hope everything is ok when your grandson and wife come to stop.,you can always string up a hammock or sunlounger in the greenhouse. perhaps you and Hissy might like that.,LOL
Hope Dorothy and her family are getting on ok in their new arrangements.
Going to get settled down to watch Holby City and then CSI MIAMI..
Take care ,Brenda

hi its 8pm tuesday evening and the sun is still shining it has been a lovely august day, gosh fred I was exhausted reading all that you had been doing too right you should leave the cooking as you have three woman in the house enjoy a couple of days of rest, both you and brenda should take each others advice. as for my family I spoke to andrew and bryan last evening bryan says that he is feeling more comfortable with all the ice on his knee and the medication his dad is giving him, andrew spoke to the surgeon and he will see bryan on the 24th of august and see how bad things are but he said they will probably move the surgical date up and do the two repairs at the same time and idea that I approve off I was not keen on the idea of him being put to sleep twice . as for lindy and laura I have not spoken to them since saturday, Ian apparently is spending his time at both houses as andrew put it he is leaving him to find his way in this new arrangement but he has left his gerbil (spike) at dad's house so he pops up about twice a day I expect I will get a call from Ian when he feels like talking he knows I keep all his conversations with me private. I must confess to still being in a state of shock over all this it was the last thing I expected, glad you had a good day shopping brenda oh how I would like a prowl round marks and spenser's I could do with some long sleeved night shirts I bought several 4yrs ago they are so pretty well enough from me this evening I think I shall make a coffee and sit outside and enjoy the last rays of the sun though it does not look like it is ready to set bye for now dorothy

Morning all,just a quick message as I should be hanging out the washing while the sun is shining!!
So pleased things are settling Dorothy and i am glad that you have good weather,we are supposed to be hving a few good days ,lets hop so.
You can order on line from M&S,perhaps you can do it from Canada?
Hope Fred is sticking to his own advise and taking it easy.
Take care ,Brenda

,,,,

Morning troops ,yep ,we had a better day too Brenda ,a warmer day [just] but with a bit of sun ,which made a change ,lol,and the two females got two loads of washing out and dried ,while Fred took it easy ,just trimmed the big hedge ,and the next door side of the fir one ,while i was able .
Glad to hear that things are improving for your family, Dorothy ,that knee sounds like a horror story ,so i hope it continues to improve quickly for the lad ,sounds like he could do with some good luck for a change.
Plenty of work to do here today ,the grandson and his wife arrive tomorrow,up from Lyneham for a few days before he goes out on his six month tour to Afghanistan.
Full house ,bingo ,lol.
,Off for some toast and a cuppa ,take care everyone ,Fred
He has been busy these last few weeks ,four quick tours out to Cyprus to help with the rerouting of NATO troops going in and out of the gulf war zones.

goodorning one again it is a lovely morning long may they last fred I hope you enjoy your visit with your grandson before he leaves 6months is a long time to be in that place he is a brave man. yes I have to agree bryan's knee does sound like a horror story but hopefully he will get an earlier surgery date and all will be well, apart from the knee he looks good the time at camp has changed him he came home taller 6ft 1inch broader in the shoulders he got a good report and will be welcomed back next summer at the camp as a full fledged camp councillor on full pay, this summer he was ot payed but earned all the volunter hours he needs to graduate from high school when the time comes, it is a good scheme some kids earn hours in seniors homes or hospitals tends to keep them on the straight and narrow .some of bryan's friends earn these hours in soup kitchens or the out of the cold programmes held in town for the homeless or at food banks. school starts in 2 weeks so the stores are full of parents hopping for back to school stuff . I did a little cooking yesterday I decided to saute 2 chicken breasts and added celary green,red and yellow peppers, some tomatoes at the last added rice and mushrooms it was quite tasty and enough for another meal to-night oh yes and some red onion it was a change from salads tht I tend to eat in the hot weather. now fred isobelle is coming up for a visit on the 3rd of sept fro a visit maybe staying 10 days so do you think that liz would let you pop over and cook for us as you do make the most amazing meals !!!! oh yes all the potted plants all 5 of them are still alive and well on the balcony I have amazed myself keeping them blooming especially with all the heat we have had. brenda hope you are having a good week bye for now dorothy

Afternoon folks,glad we are all having some good weather.,It;'s been really sunny here today,However I did not get any washing done .was ironing some of the washing from the other day.
Had the resultd from my blood tests today with being on new tablets .all was ok. but they want to do another one in three months due to my thyroid.!!
Just put a chicken curry in the oven,its from a jar as I have a few tins and jars that will need using up by the end of this month. Thought I had defrosted two lots of chicken fillets(thighs) intending to cooke two meals together ,but it turned out to be one chicken,one pork steaks,I had not labeled them well had I!!!!! So we are on braised pork steaks tomorrow.
Will be thinking about your grandson Fred over the next few months ,and will keep in in my prayers,can not start to think about how he is feeling!!!!
We owe so much to these brave men and women.
I have my appointment for my assesment physio, OCTOBER 4th, so am checking on the private physios ,and will hopefully be seen sooner. It shouild be partly funded by my Healthsure policy which was called the Hospital saturday fund.
Had the quote back from the builder ,better than I thought , but John says he thinks its abit dear so i have told him to find another one very quick or I am telling him to go ahead. We know the work this man does and have seen it so I think thats half the battle these days
Not got much on tomorrow,might go and see my sister who is still house bound ,
saturday I am going to the library to pick up some more books and see my friend ,she has been told that due to all the cut backs the staff who have not applied to take voluntry redundancy have to apply for their own jobs.!!! so she is a bit worried.to say the least..
Sunday we have the family christening ,which sounds like a big gathering as its a double one.Johnds mothe ris unable to comeover due to not being very good on her feet and now having back problems.
Hope Ians knee is getting a bit better and he will have his op fairly soon.Dorothy,
Take care Brenda

goodmorning well yesterday turned out to be an interesting day for me Ian called me in the morning to invite me to supper at mom's house so theypicked me up at 4pm I was a little uncomfortable as this was the first time I had seen lindy since her split with andrew. the house is just down the orad from andrews so I kind of knew it I will try and describe it to you as if it was in the terms of escape to the country as we list things a bit differant. it is a detached house with double attached garage good gardens front and back. in side it has three levels on the middle level it has a powder room off the entrance of the hall there is a large reception room plus formal dining room, good sized kitchen diner leading out to the two tiered deck and bar-b-que area, also a utility room plus laundry room. upstairs there are 4 bedrooms the master has a full bathroom off it and the other bedrooms ae all double with a family bathroom. on the lower level there is aother reception room(family room) and office and exercise room. a cold room for preserves etc, and an other room than can be used as a guest room. overall size of the rooms are good but somewhat smaller than andrew's house. I guess that lindys mom and her familys lawyers must have released funds so that lindy could buy this, part of her share from her dad and grandparents. estate most of the funishings came from a friend of lindy's mom who was down sizing into an assisted living place ie. furnishing for the reception rooms lindy bought new for the kids bedrooms and brought some stuff from her and andrew's bedroom and to Ian's delight she splurged on a 42 inch flat screen 3d tv!!!! the house has two gas fireplaces which will be great in the winter and a gas furnace and air conditioning unit. I found it all quite strange and kind of sad. fred Ian made dinner he bar-b-qued pork shops and a soy burger for Laura plus he cut up red new potato's mixed with onion and oil and put those on the shelf of the barbie, lindy did the veg brocoli with cheese sauce and other mixed veg, I thought for a 12 yr old he did well he does like to cook and watermelon and brownies for desert. on the way home we stopped at a new diary ice-cream place that has just opened and you can choose from 42 flavours I had a black forest cake small cone they also stock jams from manatoulin island in canada again an amazing choice ie. appple pie jam marmalade with peaches and ginger I shall be back there to try some of them. when we got home I gave Ian a new but never used by me blender as he like to blend up things for baking all in all it went quite well Laura was well behaved and I got a big hug from her to-day friday I am going out with andrew and bryan to do some shopping and then going over to andrew's house to help with some ironing and the price for that is I amtaking some washing over . sorry that this has rambled on but I wanted to get this off my chest.andrew says they are still in the early stages of meeting with lawyers and when bryan has the surgery he has aranged to take 2 weeks vacation as bryan wants to rehab at his dads house he has a lot of unused vacation time this week he was supposed to be on vacation but in the day of blackberrys and computors the first three days ended up being work related from home plus calls from employee's from the other provinces.so we shall see how to-day goes take care and have a good week-end all of you bye for now dorothy

Hi everyone,well i have had a good day weather wise got the washing done mainly Davids uniforms.and everything is dry.
Went to visit my sister who is still housebound at least i can still get out.
did a bit of shopping at the Morrisons near her and got a few bargains.
Need to go to the library tomorrow for some books I have reserved and take some others back.
I am pleased your first visit to lindys went ok,she seems to have been very well supported by her family !!!! To Be honest I was wondering how she was managing a house ,thinking it was rented!!! Hope the visit to Andrews even with doing the ironing goes as well
The icecream place sounds wonderful we do not have anything like that here,thats one thing i like when we go on holiday but do have to be strict with myself..
Have managed the testing patch to do my hair ready for the christening on Sunday Just have to decide what to wear,think its supposed to be fine weather wise.
Hope you all have a good weekend ,hope Freds grandson and daugther in law,have arrived ok. Take care Brenda

hi brenda the visit to andrews has been changed to saturday as he had 4 of bryans friends for dinner and a sleep over so at 11am this morning 2 where up and 3 sleeping he had cooked a big pot roast with all the trimmings and then later they finished off left over pizza potato chips pop corn as well but then they are all tall lads with hollow legs actually it worked out for me as I was able to watch the quarter finals of the tennis 4 matches in all with 2 big upsets both nadal and roger got beaten andy murray came through tot he semis so a good day of tennis have a great week-end bye dorothy

morning Brenda,and Dorothy,seems as though you are both doing well and managing events with the usual verve ,and coping well despite being busy as normal.
Things are going well up here at the moment ,the rest of the company has arrived after a long drive in bad conditions ,three accidents on the motorways that delayed them by three hours in total,but they had forwarned me as to their arrival time when in south yorkshire,so ,as i turned off the oven ,the car arrived at the door ,lol,result or what?
I did them a piece of loin pork done in a pot roast tin ,lid on ,soaked in a chicken gravy stock cube at the start ,sprinkled with milled pepper [black] and salt,came out well ,with no sign of browning ,soft ,melting and so easy to cut i could have used a plastic knife instead of the steel butchers knife i usually use.
I did steamed cabbage ,carrots,runner beans,and cylindra beetroot straight from the garden,along with ,roast,mash ,and new potatoes which i also steamed covered in mint sprigs ,all topped off by a nice onion gravy,it went down well ,and i even enjoyed mine ,which is unusual for me ,lol,the old saying that a cook dosn't enjoy his own cooking was untrue for once :-D.
I have three lovely pieces of Atlantic Cod for todays dinner ,done in a chive ,parsley sauce ,and done in a mashed tattie covering, which i will do with sweet corn and asparagus,and left over whole new tatties which i will drizzle in olive oil and roast on a tray sprinkled with salt ,pepper ans chiilie flakes.
I have already been out back this morning and sprayed all the veggie with liquid feed to encourage new growth ,so ,apart from the shopping i can spend the rest of the day with the company :-).
Going to go out back again now ,and enjoy my cuppa with Hissy ,before she becomes huffy ,lol, :-0.
Catch you all later ,Fred.

evening Dorothy and Fred well our weekends seem to be going well,spending time with our nearest and dearest,
Hope the rest of the weekend goes just as well.
The weather was good here up to about 4oclock then the sky went dark and the rain came,
Glad your company got to you safe and sound, Fred even if a little late ,hope you all enjoy the visit..
The catering as always is mouthwatering !!!
Glad you have managed to enjoy the tennis Dorothy and hope the dinner goes well with Andrew and Bryan.
We have the double christening tomorrow,so hope the weather is as good as it was today.well maybe for a little longer.!!
Take care see you all soon.
Brenda

good sunday morning brenda hope you have a great day with the double c event at the church, and of course fred once again you had my mouth watering with the food you served up hope you have a lovely visit with your grandson. yesterday andrew picked me up about noon and bryan and Ian and andrew and I had a great lunch out and then did some shopping andrew bought himself a new toaster oven so for quick meals for him he does not need to put the big gas oven on, then he bought a new tv for the games room and moved the one that was in ther down tothe exercise room so that while bryan is on the bike when he is re habing he has something to keep his mind on. the deck that andrew and friends stained looks very good , I got caught up on my laundry ironed a few shirts while watching the semi final of the tennis and andy won!!!! I was pleased then andrew made me a cold plate so I could have tea before we went to the grocery store on the way home, we did have quite a chat Lindy's mom did buy the house for her so she does not have a mortgage to worry about she is supposed to pay her mom rent and then that money will be put back into her inheratance fund that the money for the house came out of. but I guess the main thing is that the house is close to andrew's and not much of a change for the children the boys are with andrew this week Laura is choosing to stay with her mother most of the time I see this as Laura seeing that she can manipulate her mother more than her dad but she pops up to see her dad on and off. andrew has lost a lot of weight but he needed to get some off, but I had a little laugh he has always had a mustache since he grew facial hair and I noticed yesterday that he appears to be growing a goat tee at first I thought he had missed his chin when shaving for a few days but apparently not it looked ok I don't think it will last long his mustache it quite reddish and the goat tee had quite a bit of gray in it to match the frosted look of the hair on his head., both Ian and bryan were in good spirts bryan is now 6ft 2 and Ian is having a growth spurt, as a snack on friday evening Ian had aske his dad for a sea food pizza so andrew said he used three pizza shell laid on the tomato sauce flaked tuna, smoked salmon pate and then shrimps apparently it turned out ok much tohis surprise plus he only got one slice the 2 boys ate it up. I must try that he said he was sorry he did not have any mussels as Ian really loves mussels. well andy is in the finals to-day in about an hour not sure about his chances again djovic but I will cheer for him I would love him to win so all of you have a great week bye for now dorothy

Evening all,
We had a really good time at the christening everything was very good.
The two babies were very well behaved in church and did not cry once.
The reception was in a nice room and was a bit crowded but not as much as we had thought.
It was good to see all Johns family again,The children are really growing up.
Glad your day with Andrew and the boys went well Dorothy and that you are enjoying the tennis
.Hope Fred is enjoying his visitors,
Take care
Brenda