General Chat

I did post a reply yesterday Dorothy ,but when i clicked submit ,the posting went walkabout in the ether ,and i was due out to take the daughter and bairn home . so ,i hadn,t time to do it again.
Well ,the fences and greenhouse were atill up this morning and i have to admit i was a little suprised after the winds we had overnight.
When i looked out of the window this morning ,three of the little windmills i use to scare the pigeons away were three gardens away lol ,they must have taken off like little helicopters and floated over the six foot fences in their travels.
I have managed to do a little more work in the greenhouse this morning but i am now running out of space,so ,something is going to be put out into it's growing positions very shortly ,come what may..
Back soon ,messages to reply to ,Fred.

Hi All hope this message does not end up in cyberspace ,can not get the new keyboard to install and this keyborad has a mind of its own.
Have been hoping to get Neils book locally Dorothy,but have not seen it yet and the library have not got it ordered yet,hope you enjoy it.Did not get to Bury will be going a week on Friday ,with my sister,I hope
Will hope full get on tomorrow lunch at work .Take care Brenda.

Hello .have 10 minutes left from lunch to check my emails,seems everyonr is busy .hope you all enjoy what ever you are doing .See you tomorrow.
Brenda

Afternoon one and all ,and a special one for our Brenda who seems to be having trouble with a new mouse and keyboard.
What system are you running Brenda? windows xp and vista should pick up your software as soon as you plug it in and install it automatically assuming its pnp,if not you should have the driver it came with.
and you may then have to try installing it again.
Mine for the xp tower i got from Netto,just a mouse with a mouse mat that is magnetic and the mouse picks up it's power from the mat itself ,no wires ,and no batteries, brilliant.
For my laptops i have trust brand wireless mousessssss he he ,that work via two little batteries for power and a dongle that plugs into the usb port,no wires ,so easy to use on holiday with the laptop.no hassle and wires dragging after the mouse.
I have had a pretty lazy day , put the last of the bought bedding plants in the front borders ,did a little work in the greenhouse finishing potting on the veggies,and inspecting the veggie patch ,and ,wahey ,all the tomato seedlings have taken and are doing well ,the cucumber are all through ,as are the melon plants,my carrots in the boxes are through as are the parsnip ,so ,i am well away,and chuffed to bits.
Must remember to water the new plants in tonight and sprinkle a few slug pellets around ,bird friendly ones too ,before any of you bend my ears lol.
Woulon,t have thought i would have had so much bother with a new bird table either ,five stores so far ,and still no luck,i wan't a flat pack type that i assemble myself when i get home ,but no ,all the ones i have come across are ready made and i do not have a pickup to get one in the back of,mutters under breathe he he.
Have a nice little job this evening ,the new wireless modem has just arrived ,yippee ,now i can even use the lappy in the garden if i wan't,and on a 10 mg hookup as well, tooooons of speed lol.
My son had a go at telewest for me ,large tv package now,10 mg wireless broadband ,free weekend and evening calls,and all for £35 a month with on line billing ,just the ticket for watching films in the evening in my lazy moments.
Liz bought home a lovely ham shank from the town yesterday ,and made six tubs of pease pudding for the freezer,and is now making the home made northern soup with split peas ,leek ,carrot ,potato ,onions and parsnip in [drool ] guess what's for tea lol,there is a ton of ham left too,so that will turn in to ham and egg pies ,the more the merrier he he.
Hope all are starting to look forward to the weekend,catch ya later,Fred.

hi good to see you all back on line I tried last night and again this morning but could not gene's to open its site but her I am now brenda I finished neils book yesterday it is set near pendle hill and the witches of pendle theme runs through it I thought it was good a little blood thirsty in parts but all in all an enjoyable read, sorry to hear about your windmills going away without leave fred it must have been quite a windstorm, the soup and pease pudding that liz made sound great, I actually had a good supper?dinner to-night I did a vealcutlet with mushrooms and green peppers and sauce with broccoli and sliced sauted spuds with onion and red pepper. Isobelle should be arriving about 8pm her son is driving her up. so to-morrow she wants to go shopping at one of the big stores up here and then for a little 20 dollar flutter at the casino (last visit she won 600 dollar) so we shall see if she gets lucky, had the car in for an oil change yesterday and had a couple of little things done and she is running like a char. Sunday is mothers day over here and the former husbands birthday I think that andrew is bringing him up from the city for the day so we celebrate the two things to=-gether I guess. we have just had a wild down pour of rain but the sun is out again and everything is dry again looks like a nice evening for isobelle's drive up the highway bye for now dorothy

morning everyone ,and how's the tum after that great sounding meal Dorothy,i havn't had veal for years but i can remember how tender it was and how tasty.
It,s still veeeery windy here ,and i have warned the boss NOT to put her washing outside today ,i was in the greenhouse early this morning putting my orange tree into it's new home ,and am i glad i shut the door on my way in,there was a gust of wind that strong that it rattled all the glass ,and i watched the walls flexing ,i got out between gusts pretty quick i can tell you.
I am chuffed to bits with the tree ,it has it's first tiny branches showing ,and is now about 1/12" tall but ,as yet is still green.
I have to get on line this morning to Telewest and arrange my paper free billing ,doing my bit for the envirioment and saving myself a couple of £ a month[weeeell, i have scot's ancesters you know lol].
Gonna have a play with the puter now that Liz is on the other one ,to see just how fast the download speed is he he ,boys and their toys ya know ,Fred.

Hi all,
Well the computer is up and running again, with lots of extras which I will gradually have to learn about, but for now I can do what I want normally.
I read about "the good old days"when you went picking blackberries. Oh, how I remember it well. My mother, brother and I, armed with sticks to reach the unreachable blackberries, spent Autumn days on Hampstead Heath gathering this fruit ready for my mother to turn into jam.
We had a bus journey first from where we lived in nw London to Golders Green, and to save the odd penny had to walk one bus stop. We had then a long walk from Golders Green up to Hampstead Heath. We did, however, have to go past my grandmother's house, so more often than not there was a stopover there. We always took sandwiches and a flask of tea with us. No luxuries for us.
The blackberries had to be cooked and then drained all night through a muslin cloth. It was actually blackberry jelly which we had and not jam with all the seeds in it.
I could never get my husband to go blackberry picking, but my youngest daughter and her husband do go.
My curtains for our bedroom are now finished so my help can clean the windows on Monday and we can hang the bright new curtains up.
I bought some asparagus today - the white sort. It is a lot cheaper this year. I suppose because the month of April was so warm. I now want to have asparagus with ham on Sunday and also make asparagus soup. They call the white asparagus "white gold"here as it is always a luxury food item.
Now everybody keep well, see you tomorrow.
Sylvia xxx

Hi all, well we have now got the new keyboard and mouse installed ,my son did it in the end.He can not see why I wasn't sure this is the correct keyboard and mouse as they both run of batteries,we will see how long they last and see who pays for new batteries.!!!!
I am working tomorrow so had better get to bed ,have a good weekend,take care ,Brenda

Hi everyone
Haven't been on GR for awhile and thought its about time I popped in. Gayle enters hospital on Monday [11 May] then has surgery the next day for the placement of the fistula in her arm and be discharged mid-week. Craig wanted to surprise his Mum for Mother's Day on Sunday, something that she doesn't like as she likes know who is coming and so I had to tell her when he was coming.
The past week we were both meant to be busy with The Salvation Army's Red Shield Appeal but the hospital pre-admission put paid to that. We still managed a couple of days.
Take care, John

Hello everyone,John I am so pleased that it looks like Gayle can start her treatment soon.Hope all goes well for her.We had mothers day in March here,it was near my birthday so it seemed to be forever.!!!
I am at work and have been moved to another library due to staff sickness.I do not like this library due to the building and the users ,but all the staff are great.
See you all again
Take care and have a good weekend.
Brenda

hi well it is a very wet saturday the rain is pouring down isobelle's son has just picked her up and they are on the way back down the highway, we had a fun tow days we went shopping yesterday found some good sales on baby clothes for the new additions to her family, plus some great bargins on ladies clothes, we did not do well at the casino in and out quite fast, plans for mothers day etc have changed andrew has to leave for ottawa and kingston to-morrow it is about a four hour drive so we shall all have dinner to-gether to-day at some point, lindy has gone up tot he family cottage to put in the water lines into the lake the other son- in law is hleping this time and to put the dock out into the lake so we shall see what time she gets back, fred the meall the other night sat well on my tummy, I do buy veal quite often ie for a stew and other things it makes a change, brenda sorry that you are not happy with the location you are working at.they are planning a new library for the south end of town to be finished in 2011, as they say they get 3000 yes 3000 a day at the one I go to not sure I quite believe those numbers but it is a busy place and I do make good use of it . well I shall go and tidy up a bit and read the saturday paper, John I wish you and your wife well with the procedure and hope that it will improve her health take care bye for now dorothy

Good morning all, a bright and sunny start to the day. It is forecast for it to get a little warmer for the next two days - then back to colder and heavy rain.
Friday was the 64th anniversary of VE day which brought back many more memories. Sadly no official commemoration of this day for fear of offending other nations - what a sad thing that is.
On the day my cousin and I went to Piccadilly Circus to join the celebrations, there were hundreds of people all in jubilant mood, dancing, singing and generally very, very happy. We went then to Trafalgar Square, just as crowded and just as happy, thence to Buckingham Palace where the Royal family came out on the balcony. It was such a sight when, as darkness fell, all the lights came on - no more blackout. We had a wonderful time and went home in style in the back of a milk lorry!!!! Tired but so very happy that it was all coming to an end as we felt it would not be too long before the war in the East would soon come to an end. There was also - in our family - the vague hope that maybe - just maybe Daddy would come home after all, though in my heart I knew he wouldn't but Hope (as they say) springs eternal....
Of course, in time, hope faded. We lost Mum 3 years later, she was finally at peace. Later that year I joined the WAAF and served with the Occupation Forces in Germany. I saw there how the people had suffered and witnessed the joy of two of our German cleaning ladies who heard that their husbands had been prisoners of the Russians and had finally been released. I was with them when they heard their names announced on the radio, they showed me photo's of their menfolk and we all hugged them and rejoiced with them. I married in Berlin, the German ladies who worked on the camp gave me my Hen night (all the WAAF personnel had been posted out - I was the only one left waiting for my posting) They asked about my family and I got so many hugs from the older ladies and they understood when I cried and hugged me some more. Two days later they all stood and cheered me on my way to the church. The lady who made my wedding dress sewed a little bag into the back of the skirt, it had a piece of bread, a pfennig and I believe it was salt.
Ordering my flowers was fun!! It was not their custom to carry bouquets so didn't understand (my German was limited to say the least). On the day what was delivered was basically a bunch of flowers so the service wives got together and with some ribbon made it look a bit more like a proper bouquet. On the way back from the church all the women working on the roadside (it was all women doing the navvying) stood and waved and cheered us. My posting had come through so I had a weeks leave before leaving Berlin for Uetersen - where, once again, the RAF didn't quite know what to do with me - but that's another story!!
Oh dear!! I do seem to be travelling down memory lane quite a lot these days - perhaps it's my age LOL!!!
Love to you all - and John hope all goes well for your wife.
Kathleen
(must press submit before I change my mind)

Morning all,its a bit chilly here today ,but we are supposed to have a bright day , when and how long for is any bodies guess!! so I had better get the washer on to get the washing on the line to dry. Will be out visiting my neice who's birthday is later this week but will be doing a course that day .so will see her today.Also have a few phone calls to make to a few friends about arrangements for various outings later in the week .
Might get back later as my car insurance is due soon and I want to check out the internet compare sites to see whats on offer.
Kathleen,I was really interested in your story,it makes you think how things really were then,and what people went through.
Hope the family meal went well Dorothy and you enjoy mothers day whatever you do. Have not managed to track Neils book down in the shops yet ,will have to order on line I think ,was hoping to avoid paying postage.It was not one the cataloque for new books in work but I can make a requst for them to buy it ,only it can take a month or so.Mind you I do have enougth unread books to keep me going.
Hope you all have a nice day ,take care ,Brenda .

Morning all.hope you all had a good weekend.I have a few minute before I need to get ready for work,been looking up car insurance but not found much difference yet.Also been looking for a cheap holiday around beginning of July but thats when the prices seem to go up!!! We can only go up to a certain amount and John will only go to certain places so we will be very lucky to find anything I think.
Better go and get ready see you all tomorrow ,take care,Brenda

goodmorning the family dinner did not go as planned as on saturday afternoon I came down with chills and a fever and felt awful so I cancelled as I did not want to pass on what ever ti was that I had, so on sunday mothers day I spent it getting rid of this bug, andrew and lindy popped by with some flowers to cheer me up so that was nice then he left for the business week in ottawa, this am it is on the cool side but the sun is shining so we get a warm day later, there is tennis on again this week so I shall be quite happy, I think I will also change closets around and put out the summer clothes into my bedroom and move the winter ones into another room. brenda I hope you are able to find a holiday within your price range are you looking for one in england or abroad. Lindy was telling me that when she went to the cottage on saturday the water was quite high in the lake and the ice floes as they melted had moved some of the big rocks on the beach higher up but they were able to get the water lines hooked up to the cottage. next week-end is the holiday week-end and the highways will be busy with people coming up to see how the cottages have fared over the winter, a lot of the cottages are more like three bedroom brick homes and some people do spend the winter as some of the roads are ploughed out in winter, lindy's family cottage was built in the early 1900's and added onto over the years as the family grew .it is a fun place for the children as they can take out the row boats, canoes and kayaks (life jackets compusalary) I just walk on the beach and swim in the lake not to keen on boats, well time to get on with some housework bye for now dorothy

Morning John,Dorothy,Kathleen,Brenda ,and anyone else that drops in.
We have at last ordered our new Hoover ,after the last one died on us after 12 years + ,so the funeral is this morning when the scrap man turns up to take the machine to the great scrap yard in the sky lol.
Poor old thing ,she never went wrong in all those years and never had a service either.
I sent Hoover a tongue in cheek complaint saying the machine had passed away after many years exellent service ,and that i hoped the new hoover i had ordered would do me for a good few years.
I Even had a nice reply lol.who says companies these days have no sense of humour.
Managed to get the hedge done yesterday ,the front lawn ,and potted on more gear in the greenhouse,followed by the housework,and was finished in time to sit on the patio all afternoon topping up the suntan on the knees which are now starting to turn brown,in time for the B B qs ,and the picnics on the beach.
Have to go now,i promised bec's a piccie of the orange tree which i grew from a pip out of the orange she nicked at the roadside in Cyprus,andi reckon in a couple of years it will be big enough to put into a big urn and go between the plum and apple trees.
Have a good week all ,catch you later Fred

fHumoiur

Good morning everyone, pretty dull looking here this morning. Very windy and rain is forecast for later. We could actually do with a little rain as the ground seems very dry but I hope it waits until this evening as my son is hoping to do some tidying up outside later. He will be sleeping for a few hours as he worked last night, a 12 hour shift, but has 4 days off now. Unfortunately the forecast says rain and high winds for the rest of the week so I doubt much will get done.
Shopping in Tesco the other day I spotted a lonely little tomato plant sitting on a shelf, I felt so sorry for it I bought it. When I got home son helped empty the shopping bags - and broke the one stem on the plant. I gave it some water and sat it on the window sill in the kitchen where, happily, it has grown another shoot and is looking quite healthy so I am hoping it will reward me with a good crop of tomatoes later.
I hope your orange tree grows well Fred, I have tried several times to grow both lemon and oranges from pips. Some have started well but have given up after a while, mainly I suspect from not having the right conditions. I don't have a greenhouse (wished for one but no luck), yours has a much better chance being grown from a fresh orange rather than a bought one which has travelled. Plus you have the magic "green fingers".
Dorothy, I hope you are feeling better now, sorry you had to miss out on the family dinner. The cottages sound interesting, I imagine everyone is different as each family has made their own additions. Sounds like a wonderful place for the whole family to relax and enjoy some time together away from everyday life.
I hope you manage to find a suitable holiday Brenda, it can be difficult when you are limited to places you can go. Sometimes you can fare better with last minute bookings.
Wow!! the sun has suddenly made an appearance and for the moment at least it is looking really bright though still very windy. Don't expect it to last long though as I can see clouds in the distance.
My g.daughter has been very naughty, her pneumonia has not cleared up and she has been given more antibiotics - but she wanted to go to an 18th birthday party on Sunday so she has disobeyed orders, not taken her tablets and is now not feeling very well. I am so cross with her, she seems to have reverted to being an 8 year old as far as common sense goes. Had another x-ray on Friday and has to see the doctor again this week. I think he will not be pleased with her.
Brenda, you asked if anyone had heard from Bill - well a few weeks ago I chatted with him on AIM and he was fine. I have to rely on him contacting me as (because Chris will not re-instal AOL) I cannot see when he is online but he knows when I am around. Has anyone else heard from him? Fred??
Hope Sylvia & Johan, John and Gayle are well and that Gayle has started her treatment now.
Take care
Love
Kathleen

hi just read the messages from fred and kathleen re the orange tree etc I still have not planted things on the balcony as we are still cold at night last night it was -1 and frost , but love to read about other peoples gardens, as I do envy people with green thumbs, but hopefully at the end of the month I can get cracking with the balcony pots etc. soccer has started again for the youngsters so all three grandchildren are signed up for it so tues, wed, and thurs evenings will be busy as they all have a different night. the team that lindy coaches for her school (basketball) are in the finals on wed, so I am doing the guitar lesson run and the other grandma will take Laura to her match, so I hope to get to a match next week its a lot of fun. and the children will be looking for soccer shirts when they come over in july, lindy mentioned that they will be going to brighton and she found a good shop there last year, well it is time to do some laundry bye fornow dorothy

Afternoon Dorothy ,Kathleen ,Brenda,and everyone else ,ooooooo,this is the life lol,sat here on the patio with the laptop under the sun awning ,tinny in hand ,lapping up the warm nice sunny weather.
The missus took me shopping up to Cramlington this morning for a look around the market ,cum,boot fair ,and going through wide Openvillage [aptly named] we went through some roadworks where i hit a nasty bump where the company doing the repairs had done a lousy job on the temporary surface,we came down off this bump that was so severe despite the traffics low speed thjat there was a hell of a bang ,and i thought wow ,that sounds like a broken strut on the nearside rear wheel.
I stopped at the first chance i had and got out to have a look,and it was the near side rear quarter light that had shattered,the jarring was so sever that the adhesive had given way ,shoving the glass up to the top of the metal frame so hard that it shattered.
Phoned the insurance company as soon as i got back and they are sending auto glass out this evening to put a new panel in ,no charge ,but i tell you what ,no more Nissans for me,in future my new cars have windows with rubber all round the glass ,or i don't buy them..
Had i have had a passenger ,it could have been very nasty to say the least ,and i will tell Nissan that i am not pleased when the car goes in next month for it's 2 year service.Off for a snooze now in the sun ,the height of laziness lol ,Fred.

Hi all,
Fred, I will contact you later when I have had a natter with the boss. He is asleep after dinner and lying (indoors) in the sunshine. Me, no time for sleep!
There are just not enough hours in a day for me. I seem to have finished my ironing now, but my hobby room really needs a good tidy up.
Today I phoned our doctor's surgery as I had a nasty pain in my right shoulder. I have had this before and have had injections for it. They have the injections in house, so they managed to give me an injection on the spot. It has helped a lot. I couldn't cut any bread or pick up anything with my right hand this morning, but now it is easier.
I do wish this cold wind would disappear. We are still having to have our central heating on at night. Daren't like to think of the cost of our fuel bill this winter.
My poor plants on the balcony don't like the wind either. Not so many birds at the moment, looking after their young ones still I suppose.
Have a nice evening,
Sylvia xxx