General Chat

Well I did get to sit in my new chair ,and very comfi it was as well,it rained yesterday so did not get to use them yesterday,to day its not as good but dry,However I am hoping to retreive some more files from my old pc ,so I am not goinfg out mhave an idea I might be here a while,see you as soon as I am finished.Brenda

hi it is saturday about 4-15 my time and I have had a good day watched the ladies final from france, then took a taxi to the mall and got the hair cut and had a wander around and bought some groceries, came home and then had a surprise visit from the children and their dad they brought me three large pots which had a nice tomato plant inside, then andrew put a new cleaning thing on the computor and it is working faster, then he took me for a quick trip to the library and the children stayed with simon, the sun shone all day but it was not too hot, the youngest Ian is now starting to shoot up he is now almost leval with my nose of course bryan and Laura tower over me. glad you had a ncie day out fred it sounded like a lovely place, hope that you enjoyed your new chairs brenda well bye for now dorothy

hello all ,its still lovely and warm here ,but the sun is hiding behins a few clouds ,hope they go away by the time I have done my errands as I want to sit on my new garden chairs ,I got them with the money they collected at work when I retired,Have only used them about three times.
Have to collect a parcel from the main post office which they "tried to deliver "yesterday,I think they just put the card througth the letter box as I did not hear rthe bell or any knocking.!!
Hope you all have a good weekend.Brenda

Morning troops ,wow ,did we have a good day yesterday ,after deciding to go out for the day on the cheap ,lol
We parked the battle wagon at the local metro station and took the metro straight to Sunderland Central before going for a wander around.
We have to take our time these days with Liz getting very short of breath,but we are still managing okay.
We had our dinner in Kings by the market ,a burger joint ,but the food is good ,and they arn't stingy with the portions ,lol,we had a chicken steak cooked in batter ,spicy as well ,the steak came in a biggish bun ,two onion rings on top.with sliced lettuce and cucumber underneath ,french frys ,and plenty of them ,and two lovely cups of tea each ,in proper china cups yet ,the meal cost us £4-44 in total which was far better cook wise and price wise than either Mc donalds ,or Burger King.
We waddled to the Winter gardens after that via the small market ,and went into the local park,which is very well kept ,with plenty of lake and ponds,lovely flower borders and trees,and we chose a small pond surrounded by trees and bushes to sit and watch the fish ,and birds ,serenaded by a local band [modern jazz] playing at the bandstand over the back of the trees behind us ,the sun filtering through the branches ,and the music proving very restful,really enjoyable.
We spotted what looked to be a sparrow hawk being chased by a large crow ,so there was a bit of wild life to watch as well .
The parks and streets are faaaaar better than the ones in Newcastle ,cleaner brighter and mainly litter free ,Newcastle could do with sending their park rangers to Sunderland to see how it's done.a proper credit to the town,who seem to be grasping the nettle far better than the bigger town over the river.
We have recieved an offer through the post which we will be taking up next week,a years admission to the Beamish Open Air Museum down in north Durham,,for us pensioners we get an open ticket plus entry for the disabled parking for £14 for the full twelve months ,so we snapped it up ,we can have many ambles and picnics in Durham in the good weather ,and even revisit the Winter gardens in Sunderland when the weather is lousy he he ,walk among the palms and shrubs while it buckets down or snows outside ,and pretend we are back in Cyprus in the warm.
Well ,time to go and get some work done now ,sniff ,not much to do today ,only the dusting throughout the pad ,and get the dinner ,tortillas today i think ,done with a few fried new potato chips and a few baked beans ,nowt posh ,lol.
Catch you all later ,enjoy your weekend Fred.

hi thankyou john brenda and fred for the kind words re sasha's death simon is quite lost he is going round looking for him and then staying very close to me but I guess he will get over that in the days ahead, if they both had gone fred I would have got another rescue cat not into kittens any more and it would be good to help out a cat needing a family, but I don't think it would be fair to bring another adult cat into the home with simon. just spoke to anne in bury she said the weather was good she had just bought some more stuff for her hanging baskets, and getting ready for her eye surgery next wednesday,good to read john's news hope all goes well for gayle will write more to-morrow bye for now dorothy

morning all,where Newcastle is at last nice and sunnyand my knees are browning nicely to go with my brown shorts as Brenda says ,lol.
Only had the one B B Q so far ,to try the new one out and i am impressed with it ,specially seeing as it's the first one with a warming tray fitted ,which keeps the cooked food very warm ,but not so warm that it burns.
The garden is now finished ,the new hebs in place ,only waiting for the new Thyme bush to establish itself.and i placed that in the rockery among the other appines and flowers ,because the flowers look very atractive as they come out and the bush smells great as you pass by.they say the thyme lasts about four years too ,so i will have plenty of stuff from it for my soups ,stews and whatever.
Sorry to hear that your pet has died Dorothy,as John says ,you will miss him a lot for a long time ,but he lived for a long time ,and was well looked after ,you could have done no more,and he was well loved and gave love in return.
I always say that the best thing to do is find a new pet asap ,possibly a rescue pet as that will save one more cat from a pretty wreched life.
Glad to hear that Gail is about to be sorted John,hopefuly this will be the start of better things for her.
Time to get on ,so i will close ,finish my drink and take myself ,the empty cup,and my lappy indoors ,oh the luxury of sitting outside on the patio enjoying the morning sun,lol
Catch you later ,While you are all enjoying your weekend Fred.

Hi Everyone,Looks like Fred will have the brown legs to go with his shorts now,the weather has been really hot.He is probably on his BBQ every day.abd I don't blame him.
Dorothy ,so sorry about Sasha ,I do know what its like to loose pets ,We still miss allour lost pets and like John says still look for them even years after they have gone.You will have many happy memories to treasure.
Like I said the weather has really been great ,been in the garden alot the last few days.
I have been out to lunch once with my friend and was very good with a chicken salad sandwich ,but I did not have a cake to follow was really good,even left out the cappacino!! went out to day with another friend but we did not go out till after lunch as she had to wait for the gas man who did not leave till after 12pm so we only had a walk round and then had a cup of tea again without cake or biccies,so I am feeling good with mysef .Still have the birthday party on Saturday,but as we will onlbe having a light tea we can have a little of the buffet. Better get of to bed again and see if I can sleep,Take care ,Brenatf

Hi everyone
Popping in for another visit. Dorothy, sorry to read of Sasha's death - RIP - losing a pet is hard. We lost out cat Tiny two years ago after her kidneys failed and was put to sleep. For awhile there Gayle and I expected to see come bounding into the room and jumping up on to our knee. As we live in a unit close to the main road we decided not to replace her.
Gayle's dialysis treatment is getting closer, she has an appointment with the specialist a fortnight tomorrow and then its action stations.
This weekend is Queen's birthday here in NZ and Craig is coming down and will be with us for a week which will be great.
Spot you next time I'm on GR, John

hi sorry that the wether is so bad fred maybe it will wrm up soon I have some sad news yesterday morning (wed) I woke up at 7am having had no early wake up call from sasha and I could only see simon waiting for his breakfast then I found a trail of blood all through the hall and living room finally found sasha under the one of the bed in the guest room, he was in a lot of pain and not doing well at all, so with the help of a couple of friends we took him to the vets near me they know him there by this time he was reallysuffering I guess his kidneys had finally failed there was nothing that could be done and at the age of 17 well I decided to have him put to sleep, from finding him to the end it was only 20 minutes but it was a long 20 minutes for sasha I shall miss him so much, simon is lost he keeps going round looking for him and staying very close to me.the family have been very kind the children have been phoning to make sure simon and I are ok. but I have very good memories of our time to-gether so nothing else to talk about at the moment take care bye dorothy

Afternoon all ,he he ,notice i didn't say good ,grrrrrrr ,the heating has been on again this morning ,and it is soaking wet outside yet again,still ,i managed the last of the garden last evening ,and now have a full house out there ,apart from a few Swiss Chard plants to go in the spare buckets ,which will stand all next winter ,giving me fresh veg ' over the cold months.
I worked out this morning that the heating has now been on since late last September ,8 months no less ,this dosn't look good for my gas bills ,lol,global warming they say? ,huh ,looks more like a new ice age on the way to me.
Made the wife and i a nice ,spicy beef curry for dinner today to keep the chill off ,and i might yet do a carrot and corriander soup for tea,again to keep the cold at bay,still here with the shorts on ,but the legs are tinged more blue than brown ,sniff,how my ancestors managed the winters up north in their kilts i will never know ,lol,,they must have been made of sterner stuff in those days.
Even Hissy dosn't like this weather over much ,refusing to go out until she has to ,and preffering to skulk indoors where it's warmer ,the little baggage snuck under my bedclothes last night and curled up behind my legs for the night,but i didn't mind too much ,my legs were nice and warm after all.
Time to go for a look around the boards,and then onto Ancestry to look for a cousin of mine ,because i can't find her anywhere on any records ,funny that as i know she is still alive ,he he ,one of these sticky records from the 1940s and the war i think.
Catch you all later ,Fred.

Hi all,have not been well today ,not sure what it was ,just felt out of sorts ,could be the weather whichwas not good again ,went out this evening to see my friend in her am dram show,Calamity Jane ,it was really good.Had a glass of wine and a chat before hand and during the interval with my other friend ,we do not seem to have anytime together at all these days.
We are all going on our diet tomorrow ,thought the 1st of the month was a good time to start!!!
Mind you I will have to start as I mean to go on as I am out twice to lunch and shopping with friends this week and at a 50th birthday party om saturday for one of my cousins.
Take care see you tomorrow,Brenda

good monday morning sorry to hear that the weather is not good for you I am embarassed to say we had a hot week-end 32 and that is very hot also with the humidity about 35 to-day is supposed to be another scorcher but my sister is still getting snowed on in calgary one extreme to the other, bryan come home to-day from the camping trip no news so I gather he has not run into any bears, andrew was cleaning and opening the swimming pool this week-end the children will be very glad about that. he also checked the high fence around the pool to make sure no one can get into the pool when they are not home. and even though the children are all good swimmers they are not allowed in unless an adult is around good rules to keep in place. I don't think that I will do anything much to-day other than keep cool I may even put the air conditioning on I have not used it so far as I do get a good breeze bye for now dorothy

Afternoon all,dinner sounds nice Brenda ,and i coulddo with a little info on dry roasted tatties if you get a minute.
I Have heard of ,and had water roast which my grandad used to do to save on fat ,which was an idea he got from someone in the war when all fats were on ration.
Water roast are ideal for coliacs too,and don't look any different from ordinary roast and taste pretty tasty.
We Had more or less the same sort of dinner today because we have two grandkids this weekend,only i did some butter drizzled asparugus with the other veggies,mmmmmmmm,spoilt for choice we are ,he he,oh .and roast pork lion instead of beef.
If I want yorkies ,i will have them ,lol,only freezing the ones left till the next time.
Still tiddling down here peeps ,what a lousy weekend.Fred.

Well the rain has stopped but the wind is still here and very blustery,good for drying the washing !!
Have managed to get all the photos on my pc from my camera and also from JOhns .
Fred will be having a go at retreiving what is still on my old pc this week,the lad who was coming to do it has had a crash in his car and its a write off,he is ok just shook up ,as is my neice his partner, who was with him.I would go and fetch him but he still has not given me a day he can come.So I am doing it my self.
Johns watching footbal with David and I am doing a few more thinks on here then getting the dinner on.
Roast beef ,with spring cabbage,carrots ,swede and butter beans.and dry roasted potatos.Theres only me likes yorkshire pud ,so I will not bother for myself. See you all tomorwwow Brenda

Afternoon folks,from a very wet and cold Manchester ,it was jumpers and cardis and socks again today instead of the cropped pants tee shirt and sandals I was hoping to wear.All hope of getting anything in the garden have gone,have been washing Davids work clothes and some towels have put his heavy stuff (jeans etc)in the drier as he needs them tomorrow and they will not be dry in time and the lighter stuff is on the maiden to dry ,went to a concert with my sister last night she bought the tickets as a christmas/birthday present for me,as they were dear,but the show was really good,the getting out of the carpark later was a pain,!!!we live 12 mins away from the arena and it took 35 minutes to get off the carpark!!Hope your good weather contiues Dorothy at least one of us will be happy.Going for a nice hot bowl of soup now to try and keep happy then need to go and get some milk which some how I forgot when doing the weekly shop. Take care ,Brenda

goodmorning well its 7-30 am and the oldest grandson bryan is already off to the north I was shown all his new lightweight camping stuff the other night as they portge into places everything has to be carried on his back but as he is 6ft tall this isnot a hardship for him. so for the next three days i shall try to put the thought of the group running into hungry bears out of my mind, to-day it is a bit cooler with maybe some rain, we are coming up to the 25th anniversary of the tornado that ruined most of barrie I did not live here at that time of course everything has been rebuilt but when it gets as hot and humid as the last few days it brings back memories for people. my sister had rain and snow in calgary yesterday and was not pleased to say the least . was out for a quick lunch yesterday with 2 of my neighbours and a bit of shopping a nice break. I had a great call yesterday a long time friend of the family a nice guy just 60 has been waiting for 4 yrs for a heart transplant and he recieved a new heart a month ago and is now home and doing well modern medicine is great. so we had a great chat and he is so gratefull as he put due to another families kindness in the midst of their sorrow he gets a chance for a full life hope that you all have a good bank holiday week-end bye for now dorothy

Goooood morning campers,and anyone else out there who decide to drop in,Dorothy Grrrrr don't rub it in Lass he he ,anyway ,the weather is improving again so it looks like i can get the old shorts on again by Saturday.
I know the Feeling Brenda,i got a right roasting off my diabetic nurse last month as you no doubt remember ,but at last i have it under control again,so ,i reckon you will do the same ,and you are allowed to relax the regime while on holiday ,Dr Fred says it's allowed.lol
These new mixes i was on about will help no end ,they are working well for me,nice home made sausages ,and burgers with no meats in ,that you can make your own by adding your own spices ,or herbs to as you make them up,just the ticket.
I Have even done away with the bread buns for the B B Q by using pitta pouches instead that are made so that you can open up to stuff the insides with salad stuff ,and a burger,again ,fat and sugar free, so there you go ,lol,no more barms for you Lass pittas are the answer[ i get mine from Iceland by the way] ,the little pockets that you buy in Morrisons are no good you need the ones that are the same size as the pitta bread.
The new B B Q is set up and rarin 'to go ,and the old one is packed up and waiting to go to the daughters later this morning ,she only has a coal one ,and gas is so much quicker to fire up ,and you have far more control over the cooking ,no more incinerated sausages or anything else he he.
My new one is slightly smaller ,which fits in to the corner of the patio under the plum tree better ,and has a hinged lid with the slots for a rottiserie ,in it ,i thought it would enable me to smoke my meat and fish too ,if i so wish,aaaaand i can now cook even if it decides to rain ,a bonus.
I will be doing a lot of cooking on it as the weather warms up,a lot better than cooking in doors where it gets too warm.,and a much more laid back way of doing things
The camping sounds lovely Dorothy ,sigh ,but these old bones can't get down on the ground anymore ,so tents are a thing of the past ,so it's a caravan for me these days
,Hopefully the bears won't cause any trouble,but i suppose everyone over there will have to be careful as to where they have their food till the berries and all the other bear food start to ripen again.
We have had an sos off the grandson in Oxford needing our help in stocking up his big freezer again,so ,as soon as we get the new motor ,we will go down for a week.
I don't know what the younger generation are coming too ,lol,He can open up the doors on a C 17 transport plane which is humungus .stuff it full of gear from front to back,work out all the details as to total load of cargo and fuel so that it can get lift off ,and can't manage to do the same for a freezer ,the mind boggles derrrrrr..
No Matter ,it will be great to see him again ,and we will get a break at the same time.
I Have given my Acer computer to a mate of mine so that he can put an extra partition in the hard drive and load windows x P in it,and this willgive me dual programming.
There are many programmes that i still wan't to use and can't because Vista And windows 7 won't support them so this is the only way forward.
I'm not totally useless with computers and can load windowsX P for myself ,but the partition is beyond me but my mate is darned good so ,i gave him the job.
it will be very handy for me ,the acer is the pappy i take on holiday with me ,because it's smaller and lighter than the big H P,and all the gear goes into the computer case with tons of room to spare for odds and ends.
Time to go and get ready as i have tons to do,and in case we go off air again folks [this could happen any minute] have a great weekend all,Fred.

hi fred and brenda I am not sure that I should mention tht we are still in the middle of a heat wave it was over 32 yesterday and allready at 8am it is 24 and sunny but I am enjoying it. yesterday andrew picked me up at 3pm and I spent the afternoon and evening with the family bryan was 15 yesterday I was spoiled with some lovely gifts from the family, then we all went out to dinner to a place called wild wings they are famous for thier chicken wings and lot of other stuff it was bryans choice, I had a lovely chicken wrap with veggies etc. bryan goes way on friday camping and canoeing up north to algocquin park and the bears are a problem this year so that was the topic of conversation during dinner, several teachers are going who are used to camping and portaging on the lakes so hopefull he will be safe bears have attaked people this year, they are coming out of hibernation earlier this year so there food crop has not grown as yet. anyway he is looking foreward to it so I shall try not to worry. Laura showed me her dress for graduation it is very pretty as she is still in the stage that she would rather wear boys close I was surprised she picked out such a nice one graduation is the 28th of june as they have such a large group graduating this year I think they can only invite 4 guests so I may not get a ticket after mom and dad Ian and bryan get theirs we shall see what happens well I am off to put the chairs out on the balcony while it is still a bit on the cool side bye for now dorothy

Morning all.from a vey damp Manchester,there is an hint of sun so it might be nicer later.I do hope so as I have yet more washing to get dry,bedding this time.
At the doctors later ,to see the practise nurse about my diet ,which I have not been doing properly for about a month due to various factors.but now need to get back onto it.We both felt very unfit when we went walking about last week up hills that did not seem steep but had us really huffing and puffing.!!
Want to go swimming but due to school holiday the adults only is now early morning and late at night ,but have said I will try the early morning .Better get going to the docs soon,be back later or tomorrow.take care Brenda

Morning Brenda ,brrrrrrrr,how very dare you to leave all that sun behind and come home without it,lol,i had to turn the heating back on yesterday evening ,and again this morning,not nice at this time of year.
The sun is out though ,so maybe it will be a little warmer today ,,but it's a good thing i held back on the planting out of the french beans ,as they are a tad tender on first putting out .
The car insurance varying so widely is because all the companies take the P**s out of the motorists,all very greedy ,the only thing to do is shop around and play one off against the other.but you could try going to one of the companies who accept the elder motorists,believing , rightly in most cases that the older drivers are a safer bet,being a lot more careful as to how they drive.
Think it's time to make a cheese pudding for dinner and use some of the old bread up ,it seems that we arn't using a lot of bread lately ,maybe because we are now on low fat unleavened breads,which have less sugar in as well,anyway a cheese pudding is cheap ,and easy to make ,and can be eaten with almost any veggie,which is as well ,as i have a glut of asparagus needing cut and used,yum ,yum.
Would you all believe that the missus received a a catalogue through the door yesterday full of Christmas gear ? i ask you ,taking the mickey a little i reckon,unless of course the post office lost it last year and it has just come to light ,i wouldn't put it past them he he.
At the minute ,the broadband looks okay but i won't be suprised if it goes off again later on this morning ,it may be an idea to come on earlier as i did this morning ,just in case there are a few more suprises on the way.
Time to get the missus a cuppa ,before she gets out of bed ,she is in the best place this morning until i get the house warmed a little.
Catch you all later ,Fred.