General Chat

hi it is wed. evening I had a great day to-day I was out for lunch with the 14yr old grand daughter as she does not eat meat etc. we went to a sushi place that andrew has taken the family before not a clue what to order but in the end we did ok, then across the highway to chapters book store for a browse then they have a starbucks coffee place on site so we had a coffe ice coffee for laura and it was free as their computor was down. hope that your mouth feels better soon fred and the item you bought sounds great. brenda andrew bought me something like a kindle 2 xmas's ago and I did not like it for me there is nothing like holding abook and of course on holiday I buy far to many but mail them back.yes the good weather is going on strong not as hot to-day and a nice breeze but the next few days are to be hot hot so if I go out in will be early in the day, on friday I have a 8am apt. at the local hospital for a routine mamagram so will be home by 9am at the latest I prefer early apts. then you don't have too hang around bye for now dorothy

Evening all,another good day here weather wise and another good day painwise as well.went to town to meet some friends ,but did not stay for lunch,had some shopping to do and it was in the opposite direction.
managed to get most of the errands done,but had to leave one but I can go to a local retail park and get what I wanted from the branch there
Sorry to hear about your tooth fred ,hope you will not have any more trouble in that area.. glad to hear that some good came out of your misery ,so to speak.
Glad your post is getting back to normal Dorothy and pleased you have your new book from Neil,hope you enjoy it,I did.
The cost of the post is a bit on the dear side ,i have another birthday card to send to OZ this week thats going to be another £1.68 at least.
My friend is thinking of getting one of those Kindle books ,where you download the books you want to read for about £3.99 each and you keep them stored on the Kindle.so you can read them when ever you want..She said it would be worth it for when she is on holiday as she can read a number of books and she would not be worried about the weight.
Think they are a bit expensive to buy at first,but work out quiet cheap if you read a lot.
I think I will be using the traditional books for some time.!!!
We are having some of Johns home grown potatos tomorrow with some pork steaks and green beans(not home grown.......yet)they are a lot better than last years,
Glad you got to see your grandson Dorothy,the ribs seem like they wer enjoyed.
I was not the winner either Fred,could not even begin to think what you would do with that amount of money!!!!
Lot of confusion the the street today when the bins changes to a differnt day for collection. we have all had two letters telling why it was happening and then we all got a letter and cards etc with the new dates when each bin would be emptied.and yet half the street still put the wrong bins out!!!
Hope the good weather continues for you dorothy and that it improves for you Fred.
Take care ,brenda

Morning to all Fred is reporting in ,minus a toofy peg ,lol but still cheerful aff the same ,despite ME not being the winner of the Euro Millions ,sigh , i had made such plans he he ,us two taking a huge world tour to see all the genes folks over the ponds .
Oh well ,we will wait until the jackpot rises again and give it another go.
We parked the car in Aldi as normal ,and walked over the road to the Dentists,which has an arrangement with the store thee being no car park at the practice,so we decided to call in the shop on the way back to the car.
I was so glad we did ,because on the way out i spotted a little petrol generator which was just what i was looking for ,in case of power cut's this winter.
The unit is light ,neat ,and powerful enough to supply emergency lighting ,AND drive the halogen heater we have for camping,so ,no matter what ,i can keep the wife warm in the winter,and at the reduced price of just over £40 pounds ,result.
Anyone see the woman in America who gave birth to a 16 lbs baby oooooow ,i bet she didn't half smart ,he he ,it must be the worst pain for a woman ,or anyone else to go through on Gods earth.but even this poor woman never even got near to the record.
A woman in 1870 odd gave birth to a 26 Lbs one ,though it didn.t say if the woman survived what must have been the first cesarian operation in the world ,no way could that have been a normal delivery,but i bet if she did survive ,she would never have let her 6 foot four husband anywhere near her again he he.once bitten and all that.
Having the rest of the day off now i isssss going to sulk while my jaw calms down a bit ,lol,have a nice day all.Fred. :-\.

hi brenda and happy birthday to john hope he has a good day, on the week-end it was rib fest in barrie teams from canada and the states compete to see who has the best bar-b-que ribs most of my family went and Ian at the most 3 sides on saturday and two on sunday along with bloomin onion( a huge onion done on the coals, also several strawberry daqueris(no booze in them) made with the fresh local berries, I went over on sunday to see bryan who was home from came for a total of 30hrs and we had a meal of ribs etc that andrew had brought home it was good to see bryan and here about camp. yesterday the mail started to get caught up with the back log I recieved 2 coppies of hello but am missing 1179 recieved 1180 so I will see if it will turn up if not a phone call to head office will take place and they do send the missing ones, then a parcel from lisa with neil's new book arrived I am trying to be good and not read it as yest as I have quite a few books from the library to finish, very hot at the moment and to-day I am off to the doc,s for a perscription I have an early apt. before it gets too hot, fred asual your garden is just amazing and the soup liz made sounds great oh yes by the way the postage on the book was 5pounds 29p. I thought that was awful I shall be sending lisa a tenner even though she said not to but I so appreciate getting the book I just wish neil had the rights to have his books sold over here.well time to get ready so bye for now dorothy

Morning all,bit chilly and grey here today ,rain is predicted but we have not had any yet.
It stayed dry yesterday so i managed to get the bedding and some other washing dry!!
John was thinking of lifthing the flags to grow more things ,and has decided where he will put the greenhouse,and was saying he would put in like you said with the long sides to the sun.A freind of ours got hers second hand and has told John to do the same ,so its up to him.
Its his birthday today,he is 63 and we are going out for lunch,not sure where yet ,but I know we will enjoy it ,well i won't be cooking anyway !!!
Be back tomorrow. Brenda

Morning all,bit chilly and grey here today ,rain is predicted but we have not had any yet.
It stayed dry yesterday so i managed to get the bedding and some other washing dry!!
John was thinking of lifthing the flags to grow more things ,and has decided where he will put the greenhouse,and was saying he would put in like you said with the long sides to the sun.A freind of ours got hers second hand and has told John to do the same ,so its up to him.
Its his birthday today,he is 63 and we are going out for lunch,not sure where yet ,but I know we will enjoy it ,well i won't be cooking anyway !!!
Be back tomorrow. Brenda

Good afternoon all ,wow ,we just got indoors before the deluge ,and by the time i had locked the garden gate ,the path was an inch under water.
At the minute Brenda ,it isn't so much being busier ,more a case of getting out there while i can ,he he ,all this rain is leaving things so wet ,cutting either grass or hedging is a no no ,lol
If your hubby was going to lift flags to make space for greenhouse bases ,tell him not to bother,my last who houses have been put direct onto a heavy wooden plinth ,the plinth being screwed to the flags using anchor bolts.
This last greenhouse hasn't moved an inch despite howling gales since it was erected 7 years ago..
My house is in partial shade from trees at the bottom of the garden ,all i did was turn it round so that the long side was in sun for most of the day.
By the time you pay out for perspex ,and tubular metal greenhouses ,you would be well advised to buy a proper aluminium one with proper glass ,just as cheap as buying new ones of the other sort ,and far more sturdy.
You can get them second hand from the local papers mine cost me £30 with glass included.
two trips in a car to shift the lot.
We are still looking for our new Blue rose ,as near as we can get for our Sapphire Anniversary at the weekend,so far ,with no luck ,but we have one more market garden to try..,I did get my last two compost bags for this year,60 litre ones ,one bag to fill up my potato bins to the top ,and the sack i have my Charlotte potatoes in.
The other bag will do anything else in the greenhouse that i need to grow.
We are now into cropping ,wahey,calabrese ,courgettes ,the second round of asparagus,and, plenty of herbs.
The missus has just made a big pan of asparagus soup ,so we will be having some for tea ,the rest going into the freezer for winter use ,i love this variety ,no salt or any other condiment needed apart from a tad of mace.
Time to do the tea now,so i will sign off and see you in the morning .Fred. :-D

Good morning everybody,hope you all enjoyed your weekends ,I know i did,
Saturday i went to the library and got a few books,one is about diet and arthritis which is a bit more reading than reiceipes ,but i keep reading it and will hope that things will sink in my brain at some point.
weather has been mixed over the weekend but Saturday turned out really good in the late afternoon.
Might go back to the shops i went to on Friday and look for some more little presents for the birthdays in the next few months.
Have bedding to wash today and hope i manage to get it dried outside,its dry now but it can change so quickly.
John and his mates have gone to another golf club to day for a game of golf,they have deceided that they will go to a different one at least once a month ,just for a change.
Was busy yesterday with my neices coming for Sunday dinner,it was good to see them,my great neice who is 18months old was with her mum,and it was brilliant to see how she is growing up.
Going to see if I can get a book on Amazon for Johns birthday,which is tomorrow,depends how much they charge for a delivery tomorrow,If its mor than the book costs i might not bother,I know I can not get the book in the shops.as it is out of print.
Nice to hear your DIL and granddaughter got to see the ROyals,the tour is going very well,I think.
Fred your garden seems like its keeping you busier than ever,John is still looking at getting a smallish green house with persplex windows,which will be better than the two plastic things he has now,He is still thinking about taking up some of the flags in the garden ,but because of the trees in the neighbours gardens which stop the sunlight getting to all the garden,he is a bit hesitent.
Hope you have a good day.take care ,Brenda
Have a good day

Good morning everybody,hope you all enjoyed your weekends ,I know i did,
Saturday i went to the library and got a few books,one is about diet and arthritis which is a bit more reading than reiceipes ,but i keep reading it and will hope that things will sink in my brain at some point.
weather has been mixed over the weekend but Saturday turned out really good in the late afternoon.
Might go back to the shops i went to on Friday and look for some more little presents for the birthdays in the next few months.
Have bedding to wash today and hope i manage to get it dried outside,its dry now but it can change so quickly.
John and his mates have gone to another golf club to day for a game of golf,they have deceided that they will go to a different one at least once a month ,just for a change.
Was busy yesterday with my neices coming for Sunday dinner,it was good to see them,my great neice who is 18months old was with her mum,and it was brilliant to see how she is growing up.
Going to see if I can get a book on Amazon for Johns birthday,which is tomorrow,depends how much they charge for a delivery tomorrow,If its mor than the book costs i might not bother,I know I can not get the book in the shops.as it is out of print.
Nice to hear your DIL and granddaughter got to see the ROyals,the tour is going very well,I think.
Fred your garden seems like its keeping you busier than ever,John is still looking at getting a smallish green house with persplex windows,which will be better than the two plastic things he has now,He is still thinking about taking up some of the flags in the garden ,but because of the trees in the neighbours gardens which stop the sunlight getting to all the garden,he is a bit hesitent.
Hope you have a good day.take care ,Brenda
Have a good day

Good morning everybody,hope you all enjoyed your weekends ,I know i did,
Saturday i went to the library and got a few books,one is about diet and arthritis which is a bit more reading than reiceipes ,but i keep reading it and will hope that things will sink in my brain at some point.
weather has been mixed over the weekend but Saturday turned out really good in the late afternoon.
Might go back to the shops i went to on Friday and look for some more little presents for the birthdays in the next few months.
Have bedding to wash today and hope i manage to get it dried outside,its dry now but it can change so quickly.
John and his mates have gone to another golf club to day for a game of golf,they have deceided that they will go to a different one at least once a month ,just for a change.
Was busy yesterday with my neices coming for Sunday dinner,it was good to see them,my great neice who is 18months old was with her mum,and it was brilliant to see how she is growing up.
Going to see if I can get a book on Amazon for Johns birthday,which is tomorrow,depends how much they charge for a delivery tomorrow,If its mor than the book costs i might not bother,I know I can not get the book in the shops.as it is out of print.
Nice to hear your DIL and granddaughter got to see the ROyals,the tour is going very well,I think.
Fred your garden seems like its keeping you busier than ever,John is still looking at getting a smallish green house with persplex windows,which will be better than the two plastic things he has now,He is still thinking about taking up some of the flags in the garden ,but because of the trees in the neighbours gardens which stop the sunlight getting to all the garden,he is a bit hesitent.
Hope you have a good day.take care ,Brenda
Have a good day

hi everyone yes fred you could have a large holding over here still lots of land available last evening I went with lindy and Ian to his football game(american footie) and on the way not far from me there are 88 acres available for sale interested!! of course I was not really sure what was happening with the game as it isnot one I follow but apparently Ian made to good blocks but the game was stopped about 15mins from the end as a player on the other team was down with a neck injury and as a precaution an ambulance was called to take him to the hospital for a good check up. to-day Bryan came home on a day off from camp from 3pm to-day and he has to be back at 6pm to-morrow. so I will give him a ring to see how it is all going,Lindy mentioned brenda that both she and Laura got to see will and kate in the evening on parliament hill, but her aunt met them the next day to shake hands and had a chatt but was not pleased that mr harper also was able to shake her hand her son is in parliament for his home riding as a n.d.p candidate the official opposition now .it has been a great day weather wise to-day and even though it was hot I had a nice breeze on the balcony so I was out most of the day reading and enjoying the day. take care dorothy

morning Brenda & Dorothy,and anyone else who happens by.
I was going to complain about our weather ,and the 19c temperatures we have up here in the north ,but as i type ,the sun is trying to get out ,so , won't lol, just in case i upset it ,and it goes back to sleep :-\.
On top of that of course ,there was the hammering they got up the north in Edinburgh yesterday, with the flash floods and mud slides coming down the slopes on to the roads,basements flooded ,and in at least one instance ,cars floating down a road,and all this in roads i have walked down many times[ morning side] so i think our City have gotten off lightly.
Well ,anyway ,the garden is coming on nicely ,with all the extra rain ,the onions and garlic plants are huge,and the brassica are not far behind .
the tomatoes ,i may have to take off the stems and ripen indoors but ,hey ,you can't have everything can you? :-).
You are right to bring to us what you said about the size of your country Dorothy ,we over here tend to think of countries in relation to the british isles.
Funnily enough ,it was brought home to me good style only last night ,when i turned on the T V in the bedroom while i had my bed time drink ,and saw Ray Mears in Canada ,with a programme talking about bears ,and their habitat..it needs something like that to give us ,in a small country an idea of the immense size of a BIG country , i was that engrossed my drink went stone cold lol,wow ,could i have a good small holding over there ,he he :-D.
Time for me to go and do some chores [sigh ] so i will catch you all over the weekend ,Fred :-D.

hi all,had a good day today ,went shopping for some birthday presents and got two more than i went for due to the sales!!
ALso saw some throws i liked at a reasonable price at tesco so David is getting them on Monday as he can get a discount.
Have my neices coming on sunday for sunday dinner,they used to come regular,but as they got older,started working etc they can not come at the same time,so iy should be a laugth.
Have not seen the weather report for the weekend ,but hope its at least dry if not sunny.
Hope you alll enjoy your weekend
Brenda

goodmorning from a wonderful sunny day my the sun does give one a lift hope the wait for the new baby is soon over brenda it is exciting a new life and many joys ahead, I am waiting for neils new book lisa has mailed it but the post is still back logged due to the strike that was. I am about 4copies of hello magazine behind I suppose they will come all at once. well this is the last day for the visit from the young royals and it has been great in my opinion his speech last night was great , yes I am a monarchist but that goes back to my love of british history thanks to a great teacher at my school on walshaw road way back he made the lessons come alive, there is a special 2hr program this morning from calgary so I shall watch it as I flip the duster and carpet sweeper around maybe I will see chris and wayne in the crowd, I am glad they got to see lake louise it is very beautiful the first time I saw it I think that I mentioned while sitting in the resturant that has the best view I started to cry my sister told be don't be embarrased everyone we have brought here has done the same away from the cities this country has wonderful sights you forget how big this country is at times after all it is a 4hr flight to see chris 2 days by train hope you all have a good week-end bye for now dorothy

hi everyone,we all seem to be having trouble tooth wise .i must admit mine has calmed down alot so as long as its like that i am leaving well alone.
Well done on the new home for your orange tree fred,and those meals sound very good.we have a few Yates in Manchester and we used to go but have not been for ages,The nearest one to us closed down and is still empty.I can understand your being annoyed about the cat,luckily our windows do not open at the ledge level so our cats would not be able to get out ,but there was a cat lived across the road and it caused no end of problems getting on to the roof of the bay window and then jumping on to the tree next door!!!!!
Mind you it never came to any harm but its owner was in tears a few times.!!
Hope you enjoy all those books Dorothy I have a few on reservation myslf but have only had a couple upto now, Been trying a couple of new authours ,well new to meanyway,I will letyou know how I fins them.
My best friends daughter is expecting her first baby this week ,and my friends first granchild,now two days overdue,and we are like cats on hot bricks waiting for news.
I will keep you posted.
weather was supposed to be wet again today but has not been too bad, not been dry enougth to get my washing dried and as its towels I will put them in the drier overnite ,its cheaper for me then..
Need to look for a new paper shredder,the motor has gone on the one we have had for a while it was my dads so its a good age,
I used to burn all that sort of stuff statements etc ,but we can not do that now. so when its shredded it goes in the compost with all the peelings and leaves etc.
Time to get a cup of tea and then send some emails.
Take care
Brenda

goodmorning a sunny hot day ahead but nice and cool gosh fred you and liz did have a scare with the cat hope all is well, it sounds like you had a nice day out ending up with a good meal how I miss good mushy peas. glad brenda's tooth has calmed down a bit it must be the power of suggestion as I know have a sore lower front tooth I would prefer to think it is all in my mind not fond of dentists, not much new at the moment a rather quiet week though I do have to pop in too the library this am t hree books are in for me I still have 44 on hold but some are from england and they take forever to come in, as I have mentioned my only talant is reading and I go through at least 10-12 books a week being a speed reader. plus I guess it is the one thing I enjoy the most. going to try out the steam gadget I recieved for my birthday as I have some laundry to doso I willtry this new way of ironing sounds like fun. my sister and husband are going to the calgary stampede to-day maybe they will see will and kate I told her she should have offered them their condo in canmore for their day off as it is lovely and the views are spectactular!!!! anyway time to pop down to the laundry room and do my chores, oh yes yesterday I stocked up on boneless chicken breasts bought 10 for only 5 pounds and some thick slices of back bacon re stocking the freezer is going well I have found some good buys lately the chicken breasts one will make 2 meals for me as they were a good size on hot meal and one cold bye for now dorothy

Hi there everyone Fred IS still alive he he ,been a tad busy these last couple of days is all.
I had a bit of a fright this morning after which i'm afraid i gave the wife the Bollocking of her life [pardon the French ] but how stupid can a person get.
i was just settling down to a cup of tea when i heard her scream HEEELP ,from upstairs,and thinking the worst ,i shot up from the chair cup of tea going flying,and flew upstairs [well for me anyway] to find Hissy ,on the window ledge ,a 15 foot drop onto concrete ,and to far out ,for me to get a hold of her.
Luckily she decided to sidle backwards far enough for me to get hold of her and pull her back indoors,but i ask you ,how stupid can a person get ,open a window fully ,upstairs yet ,with a cat in the room :-( i said sorry for losing it afterwards ,but i honestly thought i had lost my little darling pussy tat.
Sorry about the toothy peg Brenda ,snap,i am on anti bi's still ,waiting until next week when i go and get mine removed ,lol,sigh ,into each life a little rain must fall ,he he :-).
Sounds to me as though you let your tub dry out Brenda ,with that many plants in a small space they could do with a daily splash believe it or not.
Yep i am chuffed with the garden this year ,so far i have only lost [maybe] one variety of produce the perpetual spinach which was starting to seed,maybe from under watering as well ,but ,i have removed the seed heads and i may get away with it yet :-).
My first courgette i think i will leave until it grows half marrow size ,and treat it as such ,cutting and stuffing it with a mixture of rice ,sultanas ,and minced beef yum.
Got an idea from Someone in Canada [can't remember who ] who says to cut the fruit into thinnish slices ,toss them in flour mixed with herbs ,and deep fry them ,which sounds good so i will give it a go.
We dropped the car off yesterday morning for the body repair ,and picked it back up at four in the afternoon ,and i was well pleased with the result ,spotless it was.
The weather had changed by the time we gotto the bus stop ,after leaving the garage ,so instead of coming home ,we went through to Sunderland on the metro,to walk round the park ,round the markets and have dinner at Yates, in the town centre,two well cooked presented meals for £8-50p ,including two filter coffees, i had long tail scampi mushy peas ,and chips, and the wife had traditional bangers ,mash ,and peas,both meals spot on ,and very well presented by cheerful staff who went out of their way to be helpful.a far cry from some of staff in Newcastle eateries,and we are def' going back in the future :-).
We rounded off the afternoon by revisiting the Winter Gardens ,outside the park which ,by the way ,was immaculate as usual.
The wife spotted the bananas on the palm and drew my gaze as soon as she mentioned it ,the fiirst time i have seen the seed pod hanging below the hand,and i was gobsmacked,never having seen this before ,only ever having seen the hands on their own oversees ,i assumed that the seeds were those tiny things in the banana core itself.
So ,out came the phone camera again ,and we took pics of the trees and palms in the hothouse.
It was then that i got the idea about my orange tree to be so i hunted out the head gardener and asked him if he would take it ,my kids having no interest in horticulture.
He said yes ,so i will take the tree through this next week ,for him to put among the other citrus trees ,where it will be safe from the winter ,and where i can go and see it any time i wish,and i'm happy with that ,i was always thinking that a more severe winter than the last ,and it being too big to bring in doors i would lose it in the long term :-D.
Well ,as Brendas ,pad no doubt ,it is very windy ,lashing down with rain ,so i think we will go visit the youngest son today ,as we can't go anywhere tomorrow,shopping in the morning for the weekend [no more Tuna] ,he he, and in the afternoon ,we know not when ,the gas company come to service the hot water /heating system ready for the winter ,and by 'eck ,i think we are gonna need it looks the way things are going that it will be as bad ,if not worse than the last one.
catch you later all,take care ,and enjoy the weekend ,Fred :-)

Evening all ,just a few lines as I have not got much to say today.
Weather has been mixed but we have not had the amount of rain that was predicted only a fgew showers.
Managed to get some errands done today ,but was really tired when i got back and we had lunch.
Was going out tomorrow but might give it a miss,and just potter round the house.
You sound really content with your coffe and book on the balcony Dorothy.David sits in the garden with the daily papers in the evening ,but the sounds from other gardens mainly the different music,puts me off ,I like the mornings .The funeral sounded very moving ,just a shame it had to happen.have not seen the news today so do not now about the new trip by Will and Kate.
My tooth has not got any worse so will leave it abit longer before going to the dentist.Hope Fred is ok.He does sound very organised with his garden.We had a tub with lettuce that was doing really well and ithought I would not be buying any for a few weeks but this week end they have gone all withered!!
Better get some tea on,Take care brenda

hi it is still tuesday 8-15pm just read the note from fred sorry about the tooth but the garden news is wonderful what a lovely choice of produce you have for you and liz and the family, gosh brenda you have a tooth problem as well hope it gets better soon, well I watched the police funeral this afternoon with a big box of tisues, the 2 young children where present for a while the baby in his mothers arms the wife /mom gave a short speech that brought most people to their knees, thousands of police came the hall could only hold 3500 the other 3-4000 lined up outsie with a croed of the general public. I thought we were going to get a storm this evening but it has passed us by, the royals have annouced they are giving up part of their day off to go to slave lake in alberta to-morrow the town that was desimated by wild fires quite thoughtful of them it was a late annoucement so the hoards of media will not be able to get there as fast and give the town and the young couple some privacy I suppose some papers will have some unkin words to say about them but I think that it is very thoughtful, well time for an evening coffee on the balcony with a good book on these kind of evenings I like to take advantage makes up[ for the months of snow when it is not possible bye for now dorothy

Evening everyone,Its been a lot cooler here today and we have had a lot of rain as well,but its needed in places so can not grumble.
Think you could open a stall with the tuna anywhere Fred,, thought I was bad think we have about 19 or 20 tins ,some in spring water for david and some in oil for me and John.
Hope the tooth is ok now and the anti bi are working.My back tooth is crumbling again so think its time it was taken out ,will be calling the dentist to get an appointment,he will try and talk me into having it refilled.,but don;t think there is enougth to re fill.
Dorothy what a horrible thing to happen to that police man.Hope it shows other young people that they have to be more responsible.
the royal visit is still big in the news glad you are enjoying it.
Will close now ,nearly time for my soap,HolbyCity,then CSI ,
Brenda