General Chat

Hi Everyone,just showing John something on the pc and checking on here,feeling really sorry for myself ,really bad head full a cold, earache etc,taking a day of work,Dorothy that stir fry sounded wonderful ,did you enjoy,hope you have a good time with the grand children,and glad to hear you are almost back to normal with your back and leg. Going for my lemsip now,speak to you all again.brenda

hi one and all fred I have just put to-gether a beef stir fry for my evening meal it is smelling quite good, to-day it was 18 degrees and the sun was shining it has melted some of the snow and the big bay near us the ice is starting to melt they have pulled off all the ice fishing huts, but to-morrow it goes down again but to-day was great. tuesday and wednesday I will be looking after the three granchildren after school it is almost two weeks since I have seen them I am having withdrawal symptoms. the other gran did all of last week to give my leg a rest. the oldest one has a last minute hockey tournement this week my son is not happy about it as he has business in montreal on thursday and will have to fly out early and dash back early but it is the end of the seaon and the powers tht be made this decision without asking all the parents, bryan will be please as he will get friday off from school as it goes for three days, well that is it for me I shall try and get on line to watch coronation street and see what happens to tracey bye for now dorothy

Morning everyone,we have a lovely spring morning here,shame I have to goto work,!!! still two years at the most to work,unless the lottery comes up ,. John glad the recording went well and you enjoy watching it as well. I am hoping to get to OZ when I am 60 in two years ,you never know It could be extended !!!! Had a sort of 'date' with Bill arranged on Mornington pier where my friend lives,will have to take a rain check and see him in NZ.LOL Off to work soon,brenda

Morning everyone,Poor Sean is still in bed this morning ,the grandbairns were all over him like a rash all afternoon and he was worn out by the evening.. He spent a couple of hours putting his site in to the computer and than loading his two strategy games and by the time this was done he went to bed,but having said this ,he came off shift the morning he flew ,so he never had any sleep Friday. Our two thrushes have a heck of a mess on the patio while they are collecting mud from the planters we left out at the end of last year,the wife being a city girl wanted to know what they were doing and would i move the pots please ,to which i said NO,Liz was a bit taken aback,but once i had explained that a lot of birds including blackbirds and thrushes use it to line their nests with ,she was fine with it. There was a nice little crowd of spuggies in this morning too ,feeding and collecting their nesting materials ,so things out here are getting interesting again. I havn't seen snuffles out back this year but i know he is around out the front because i can see a few calling cards on the borders,i think he is now too big to get under the gate rto get out back,but never mind,i will still get to see him once in a while when he comes out at night. I think i will do a stir fry for dinner as Sean is very fond of them,i have some nice chicken strips in the fridge that we didn't use up on Saturday and there is plenty of veggie and herbs in the garden and some nice bean sprouts in the freezer. Off for a swan about the boards ,enjoy your new week all lol.Fred.

Hi everyone The Praise Be (NZ version of Songs of Praise) recording went like clockwork last week with both congregation and several choirs. Overall 20 songs were recorded but only 10 will be shown in the city special in a few weeks. The other 10 will be slotted into different Praise Be episodes during the year and will be seen for years to come. Brenda you 'll have come to NZ to see the programme. Heard from Bill in OZ, he has arrived in NZ and he has emailed me on GR saying that he is in Raglan and in his words 'waiting for his junk to arrive'. Brenda - us disappear, NEVER! John

Just a nudge so we will not disapear all together,

Just a quick message as its too early for anything else.Hope you al have a good weekend.speak to you soon Brenda

Morning all,from up north where the sun is TRYING to get through the clouds.Hi to Dorothy and Sylvia[waves to both].Nice to hear that your cats are going to be spoilt rotten while you are away lol.but they will still be all over you the minute you get home i expect.Nice to hear that you are getting along so well Sylvia,keep having those long sleeps of yours for a few weeks yet ,it's just what your body needs to get over the operation and get you back to normal,plenty of time to go gavivanting afterwards hee hee.,We are going to be a little busy today seeing as Sean arrives late this evening for his weeeks leave. The fella did arrive yesterdayto look at the boiler ,and promptly took his cap off when he saw the age of it[no,not me you cheeky beggars,the boiler] anyway he has pronounced it deceased and they come to fit a new one in a few weeks,which will be better for us anyway because it will be warm enough to open all the doors and windows while they get on with it ,and we will not have nearly as much dust around. They are going to fit new valves on all the radiators at the same time.the old ones could leak it seems because the new system works under pressure and will show up any faults ,but he says the radiators we have are in good condition and should be okay. The birds out back are back to fighting over the dead grass leaves and stems that i left for them to use for nest building ,and with that and the fighting over food ,and territory it would seem that spring is here at last.i only wish the weather was a little better to go with it ,but hey ho,we takes what comes i suppose. I still never got to the civic centre Brenda for those dates and certificates ,so you are still well ahead of me,and by the way,thanks for sorting out where Richard seemed to come from for me,you were right ,and i have found a whole new side to the family i never knew was there.and am looking for Edwins and Richards birth certificates to find their parentage. Have to go peoplle ,Liz is getting impatient to get a little shopping in,the likes of Bagles for Sean,and his philly cheese,he is so easy foof wise so it's a pleasure to get them for him. See you all later.have a great weekend.Fred.

hello everyone good to see that sylvia is feeling better and back on the site, no brenda we are not snowed in in fact to-day the sun shone all day it was rainy yesterday but I had all the windows open for a while to-day. fred your gardening sounds great and what lovely spuds you will have at xmas. I was given the name of a lady in the building who is highly recommended who would be willing to pop in twice a day to look after my cats while I am in england, I did not want to put them in a cattery for a month plus they are very expensive so between this lady and my son they should be very spoiled , I have seen this lady around the building and she puts on craft shows now and then so we had a good chat to-day, we are in for a few days of nice weather but they are predicting a snow storm for easter so I hope they are wrong enough is enough, bye for now dorothy

Hi all, Well I have been sleeping all afternoon so that I could come on here tonight. Yesterday I had a day off - it was Johan's 82nd birthday. I had been telling everybody he was 81, another silly mistake of mine! My doctor came to see me today and said how well I looked. She couldn't believe I had gone through such a big operation and let out of hospital after only a week. Mind you I don't do much in the house at all. My daughter came and did a lot of extra shopping for me yesterday. The weather is improving and it looks as though we are going to have a lot of sun next week, hurrah! See you tomorow. Sylvia xxx

Well its me again,hope everyone is happy and healthy in whatever they are doing,managed to get to Bury today but it was windy and very cold so we did not go on the market. we had a lovely lunch at the supermarket e went in for a late breakfast it was 11.55am and ended up with a hot steak sandwich it was really nice The gas men are still in the sreet and it was like a bomb had gone off when we got back from shopping.they had dug so many holes!!!!. Hope Sylvia is getting stronger and will be back soon. How's Madoc and fat Cat Jude,hope the training is going well. Fred I can tatse those new tattaies at christmas !!! Dorothy hope you are not snowbound again Have some searching to do so will be hoping to knock a few holes in the brick walls as they say. Might not be on tomorrow as I am working and unless we have a few quiete minutes I will not have tine to come on,going out tomorrow night as its my birthday,so of for a nice meal I hope. Brenda

Hi Everyone,just a few lines at the moment as i am working later,and have been busy ironing and have had a few phone calls as well,keeping me away from the pc. Fred you are a busy bee as well as the missus!!! John has gone down with a stinking cold and cougth hope i don't get it from him.Mind you he was out earlier cleaning the drains,and that made him sweat even more,Off tomorrow so will be back then after I have made some copies of a few pictures my sister emailed me. Brenda

Morning all ,from newcastle where it's a bit warmer this morning and all the snow has gone ,yippee. the missis,the eldest son ,and i were up at Cramlington yesterday where we had a look round a local open air market and boot sale. We were meant to go i think because the first thing i saw at a tool stall was a large felling axe,and the tree stump in the garden sprang to mind. At £8 i wasn't going to turn it down and as the son went to put it in the car he said ,i will come down tonight dad and cut it out for you. True to his word he arrived at five thirty ,and an hour later we carried the truunk between us and laid it on the concrete over by the water butts. To get it out in one piece he cut through all the root well below soil levelso that when i put the soil back i will have a flat space to put the tattie barrel for this years crop. Christmas this year i will have a full barrel of lovely ,fat ,juicy tatties ,instead of a ring around the edge of the barrel because of the trunk,i reckon to see about sixty pounds of tatties this year,and thats without the others in the little bags which grow on top of the soil ,in little rows. The missus is now getting started in the greenhouse,getting a load of the seeds in ,so our garden and it's crops and flowers are well under way I fired up the secondary electric heaters last night ,and by eight oclock we were lovely and cosy ,so apart from the lack of a hot bath we are okay until the firm who are going to look at our boiler to see if it needs replacing ,or repairing come out to have a look at it. Seems to be a lot of birds here this morning ,my wren has been back ,along with a couple of thrushes both fighting over the bread of which there is a ton of it thrown over the patio. The blackbird is sitting looking at them as though to say,cor ,you two must be mad ,there is plenty to go round lol. I also bought a load of mixed seed and peanuts yesterday ,cause the poor little beggars are so busy in this cold weather ,feeding chicks and trying to keep up their energy at the same time,i don't wonder they only live a couple of years ,the poor little perishers wear themselves out in no time.. Off to have a look around the boards now ,take care all.Fred.

Sorry I am late ,but the mouse is playing up again,will have to get my son to sort it out properly or take it back.Doing emials and checking hotmatches took ages. Have a large hole right outside my front gate ,gasboard doing work in the street ,have to park on opposite side of road and on Friday will not have any gas all day.!! Brenda

Hi all ,have been doing somemore research and was just going off when i popped on here,glad you had a good visit dorothy ,even if it was a sad reason.didn't get to Bury various reason,but hope to get there Friday,and if not friday ,definatley the week after. Nite all Brenda

hello everyone I am back in barrie after spending a few days in brampton tohelp out my friend as they buried her daughters father in law, big funeral and about 150 turned up to drink his passing I guess you would say he had made arragements before he died with his local for the drinks to be on him. so I have been catching up with everyone's news, very glad to hear that sylvia is home and feeling better belated anniversary wishes to the both of them. madoc's training sounds like fun, and fred of course writes so well that I feel that I am in his back garden with the wind and snow, hope that it improves soon for you. the sun is shining here but still cols so the snow is hanging around. hope you had a good time in bury on the week-end brenda if you did get there just finished talking to anne in bury she was on her way to her ladies club and i hope that all the mom's had a great day on mothering sunday, mothers day is may 10th over here so bye for now dorothy

Just on tea break at work,Thought I would give us a boost. Have a nice day .Brenda

woke up early so came on here for a while,took me ages to find us,John ,you have been busy,I don't expext we will get to see your choir,but I hope you enjoy it.Don't see shortland street these days unless its on during the day or even night.. We have had snow the last few days ,not sticking but it has gone really cold again. So leased the trainging is going well Jude,keep it up. Need to have shower and dressed and get my porridge .Brenda

Hi everyone It certainly has been awhile since I been on GR and lots have happened as I can see V2 (so version V1 got overloaded). Gayle and I are keeping well and have been busy rehearsing for 'Praise Be' the New Zealand version of 'Songs of Praise' which is being recorded for TV this Wednesday. There are several choirs involved along with ecumenical congregation with some 20 songs not all will screen at once - one programme will dwell on the city with additional items appearing at different times in future - so we will be seeing ourselves on TV for sometime to come. Craig says he will be coming to us for Easter, he has had Bells Palsy recently and is waiting to have a wisdom tooth extracted apparently the tooth is lying sideways and causing problems. Last few weeks New Plymouth has seen several special weekends - the Americaras which was a car weekend of the big American cars, V8 I think. This weekend just gone the WOMAD festival was at the Bowl of Brooklands, the outdoor ampitheatre. People either stayed in motels, campervans and tents at the racecourse which is down the road from our home. The racecourse looked a bit like a refugee camp. The weather was atrocious - heavy rain, but those who went enjoyed themselves. Turning up on our local soap Shortland Street is Adam Ricketts who was on Coronation Street he's playing a character full of mystery. John in NZ

Hi there - the trainer left about half hr ago - All went very well. Madoc did'nt go for the chap (fortunately) but was interested and barked/pulled abit - and responded to the training - can't remember what they did now. She talked with us for ages and went through loads of other things, she's very good and thorough and knows we have been very lax recently - so we must work harder for Madoc's sake. Spoiling him and giving him un earned treats (at the moment) won't help him. Still love him and make a fuss etc - but we were gradually letting him upstairs for a while and he knows our weaknesses - he's too bloomin clever. He's out again now for his normal walk - and can't have his tea till we've had ours:o(( jude sarf wales :o)0 xx