General Chat

Hi gals and guys, Just a quick hello, as I haven't managed to call in since Friday. After getting emails from 2 of my 2nd cousins in the London area, one talking about some family members who went to the States in 1883, but they couldn't find them, I had to give it a try. I found the marriage and another brick dropped out of the wall, and found them arriving in Castle Gardens website. Then I started making copies of all the birth certs and other docs that would interest the cousins, and emailing them lots of details, by which time my eyes were bothering me as well as my shoulder, so had to take a break. Hope everyone is well and happy. Lovely sunny day here today for a change, and mild too. See you all soon. Take care. Love, Di.xxx

Hi everybody, Well I had a day of housework today - ugh! I hate housework. I did peep at my genealogy, but only a peep. Tomorrow we have a busy day as we have to go to Utrecht to the wholesalers to stock up on household items/food/etc. It is a huge place and I'm always knackered when I've been there. The weather is miserable to say the least, but not quite so cold. I did think Spring was just around the corner when I saw a male and female duck together (cannot remember names only Drake and...). I thought 'well he's found his partner early'. The blue tits have also been inspecting the nesting boxes - 'the early bird......'. Not much news for now. Have a nice evening, see you tomorrow. Sylvia xxx

Good afternoon every one ,from a very cold and bleak Newcastle. I have sent two emails to kathy Brenda ,but have recieved no reply to date,of course ,this may be due to the dispute on aol and ntl.but i don't know,perhaps it's only a case of recharging the batteries,and she did have a hell of a time last year poor thing. I have just had a nice amble down to the chemist in the village,for my perscription for the next three months. Outside the door the hedge and path is still covered in ffrost ,but once in the sunshine it was quite pleasant if not too warm,but by the time my stuff was ready and i turned for the walk back up ,it had starrted to turn cold again,so Fred thinks a heavy frost is on the way.again lol. Nothing much to report really,i am having a day off before returning to the grind of the housework,but i ain't seen nothin' yet,next month it will be garden start again ,oh mother ,give's us a hand hee hee. Looks like time to get the seeds out again ,and have a sort out in the greenhouse,looks like i have lost a good few cuttings of the geraniums,but thjere are plenty left.and we have a packet of the new seeds which give flowers of a rose appearance,and i have three rose cuttings that have struck,not bad out of six stuck in potting compost with no rooting powder. Well i'm awat to get some tea,so that we can relax tonight with a book .see you all later ,take care peep's.Fred.PtfA&G&G&S.

Goodevening or Goodmorning depending on where you are! Still unbearably hot here. Little rain early a.m. thought it might clear the air but no. My daughter and family arrived back from their camping holiday a day early due to the weather. They had drizzle and humidity for 5 days non stop. They enjoyed the break (so they say!!). Didn't look like it when we popped over to see them today. Sleeping Bags on the line, wet tent erected in the garden, piles of washing going through the drier and two boys pleased to be home!! Pip has toothache again so off to the dentist tomorrow. The dentist is reluctant to extract any teeth because Pip is on Warfarin. He has been on Warfarin since 1988 and it seems to work for him. His medication has affected his teeth unfortunately. He may have to go to the Day Stay Unit at the hospital to have it done. Will wait and see what tomorrow brings. Off to bed now. Bye for now Mavis NZ

Hi everyone, Its very frosty here but now the sunny is out so it should all melt away. The alarm on my son in law's car was frozen and everytime he tried to get in the car or start the engine, the alarm went off. I am still finding my way around this new PC, It wouldn't accept photoshop, which I prefer, it has a photoprogramme of its own and I haven't worked out how to use it yet. Yesterday was my granddaughter's birthday so last night we went out for a very nice meal, its lovely to have a family meal even though my grandson isn't so keen, he would rather be on his computer with his friends. Sylvia, I hope you find lots of rellies, I think that a rest does you good, its like starting a new hobby again. Since most of the census has been put on Ancestry, I have found quite a few people, also from these Hot Matches on Genes. Someone sent me 2 pieces of paper, probably torn from a bible, where one of my Ancestors had written details of his children's births and baptisms and who the Godparents were. One Godmother was the Duchess of Newcastle and the other was Lady Remington. Brenda, It must have felt like Christmas again with your family get together. I hope you find your rellies on the census. I went on Ancestry yesterday, on the Births. Marriages and Deaths and found details of 2 of my 17th century marriages, its these little snippets that make it worthwhile. I think I will now go and get another cup of coffee, Beckham is in his bed, just peeping out of the mattress is his cuddly hedgehog, he hides all his treasures under his mattress. lol He doesn't like people looking under there. See you all tomorrow. June xx

nice sunnish day here today ,but stll cold,in the middle of doing some copies of census stuff ,so I am not in and out of different screens. Working later and still have my ironing to get done. Hope you all had a nice weekend and are well and happy.Take care Brenda

HIya just a few lines ,had visitors today ,my sister and her husband from cheshire,they came over to see Jane and dad,They had picked him up at home and took him to the hospital.which is round the corner from me,so I asked them to sunday dinner and they all came,Haven't done such a big meal for ages.But it all went down ok, Have been looking for household insurance for dad,he thinks his renewal is too high,but the low quotes he has been given are for lower sums assureds ,so do I say pay less and be insured for less or have the right sum assured and pay more ???.I would rather he had the right cover. Went to bed before 11 ,and couldn't sleep,so came on here,will be really tired at work later. June ,you will be really cosy in your little retreat,remember to come out now and again. Sylvia,good on Johann .learning ,even if he is a late developer,we had a neighbour who did not even know how many sugars he had in his tea,or his size in clothes ,his wife did it all,including running his bath and bringing him the paper from the dorrmat..Sadly he had a stroke and died well before she did,otherwise we did not think he could manage on his own. Not sure if I will be here tomorrow have a bit of shopping to do and a lot of ironing to catch up on again. Take care ,Brenda

Hi all, Well believe it or not I was the first up this morning. So to celebrate the occasion I cooked the breakfast. I am going to get down to some genealogy this afternoon. Haven't done anything for so long. It's all the chatting on the pc! Yes June, sounds good 'June's Hideaway'. Is Beckham allowed in? Good morning Fred, Di, Brenda, and uncle Tom Cobbly and all. See you tomorrow. Sylvia xxx

Hi everyone, Its lovely and sunny again but frosty, so I thinkl I will let the streets 'air' before I venture out. Yesterday I had the usual chores to do, washing the dishes, washing clothes etc but I did transfer the photos of the house, onto my laptop. I have decided to take photos before and after the alterations. I need to transfer them onto my PC too but I haven't found the port at the front yet, to plug my camera into. i know its behind a little 'door' but I ran out of time yesterday so I will look again today. The wall in my snug/study is coming along nicely, more wooden frame has been added, I think that maybe the plasterboard will going on next. Brenda, That was nice of you, thinking of us during your busy working day. Sylvia, Welcome back, we have missed you. I'm glad to hear that you were missing because you were busy. I have had a smile at Johan getting domesticated after all this time. I cant believe that he is a slow learner, I think he has been having you on and decide to come clean at last. lol I think everyone else must have been busy too or maybe they have their computers in rooms that are chilly. Thats the beauty of this study/snug. I have my PC, TV, CD player and phone in here, what more do I want, lol I have decided that I will call it my Hideaway. lol Well I am off now to make some toast so will see you all tomorrow. June xx

Hi there, Yes, like the old proverbially penny I'm back. No, I've not been ill, just busy. Today I have made two brown loaves of bread, a huge pan of thick pea soup (complete with smoked sausage, ham,) a large pan of goulash. Most of this will be frozen in for the days when I don't have too much time for cooking. Whoever said pensioners have lots of time on their hands? I've been reading all your messages just now and do feel like belonging to a nice family - thank you for your concern. The weather here today is dull and cold, but at least it is dry. Yesterday Johan and I took a taxi to a friend of ours who lost her husband a few years ago. She cooked mussels for us. Well I like mussels, but don't like cooking them, so for me this was a treat. No more news on our trees here. My contact with one of the neighbours is a little cool. He will get over it. I won't mention it any more. He wasn't going to dictate to me what I should do - got enough with Johan trying to do that at times! Johan is becoming very domesticated now that he has turned eighty. He is at the moment filling all the plastic boxes with the soup and goulash and labelling them for the freezer. I even sent him to the shops today and he came back with the correct things. Mind you I also sent him in the week for 10 tubes of toothpaste and tubes of Steradent tablets (well a cheaper make) and he came back with 20 tubes of toothpaste! I hope we live long enough to use this up. He'll be washing and ironing next! Well have a nice evening everybody. Sylvia xxx

just a quick hello as i am in work and we have a lull in the activities,so thought i would see how you are . Hope |slyvia and her husband are ok.o

Hi everyone, I did it again, typed a long message then lost it. Its lovely and sunny now although we had frost this morning Fred, Please let us know if you do hear how Kathleen is, I hope Susan is OK. I think my email addie for Kathleen must be out of date. Brenda, Glad to hear that Jane and Dad are OK. I didn't think you looked 15 years older than Jane, it certainly doesn't show. Di, Your Steve sounds lovely, you must be very proud of him. Just make sure John keeps taking a rest, we dont want his knee to hurt too much. Mavis, Families!! We had a similar thing with my brother's daughter, (we hadn't had contact for 28 years) she contacted my daughter, through Genes. just over 12 months ago and they have kept in constant touch. We exchange birthday and Christmas presents now and catch up on the news. Which is a good thing because both my niece and my daughter are only children, and they both have a daughter of similar ages. I hope you stay in close contact now. Sylvia, Come down from that tree! Seriously I am missing you, I hope you and Johan are alright. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, I think I will strip some wallpaper, If my son in law decides to carry on with building this wall, I will be in his way so I have to wait and see. See you tomorrow. June xx

Hi everyone. Just a quick note to say thank you to you all for your kind words and thoughts. It really is great being able to 'chat' away on this thread. It eases the tension and worry being able to 'talk' about problems. When you look around your own problems seem so small. On check ups at the hospital we see so many really poorly people. It has been unbearably hot here today - the hottest day of the summer so far. The temperature in our bedroom is 81 deg. and it is now 11 p.m. We will have to have the fan on all night - the noise is annoying though. Hope it cools down a little tomorrow. Have had contact from my brothers daughter through GU. She is 40 ish and I haven't seen her since she was 10. Really good to hear from her. We lost touch for various family reasons years ago. Must go now. Nite Nite Mavis NZ

Hi everyone, How good to hear all the good news in the health department. I'm very glad to know that everyone is doing so well and hope they'll all continue to gain in strength. Where is our Sylvia? Do you think she's maybe sitting in that tree to stop them cutting it down? Seriously, hope you're okay Sylvia; it's not often you're absent from this thread. Son's lady, Bernie, came downstairs just now to borrow a vase in which to put the dozen red roses he has just sent her, and it's not even her birthday! She was quite overwhelmed, but as I told her, she deserves them because she's special, and she really is. When I told John what Steve had done, he said, 'You're kidding!' My son is definitely becoming a romantic as he ages! It's still chaotic here, but John is now laying the floor-very slowly as he has to kneel on his arthritic knees, which doesn't do them any good, but it'll get done. Had an email from mum's cousin's daughter today, the second member of that family I'm now in touch with, and she sent me some leads toward another US branch of the family; they emigrated in 1883 and settled in the New York area, and I've already found them on the Castle gardens website. Margaret lives in Ruislip so between us we should be able to make some headway. Well, can't stay for long as I'm in the middle of doing laundry and then must wash some dishes. So take care of yourselves, everybody, and keep warm. Our rain has stopped temporarily, but it's cold now, and then more storms are on their way in. Hearing about those poor people in Georgia, near Russia, on the news today, with no heat, makes one appreciate that it may be cold outside, but thank goodness we have lovely warm houses . Love to all, Di.xxx

Evening all,feeling tired tonight so only having ahalf hour on here. Went to visit jane tonight she is really good,should be home Monday all being well. Fred,my Dad is doing well also,he is alot brighter today,think he was worried about jane as well.she is the baby of the family.There is 15 years between me and her,I always had to mind her while mam was at work and she was mistaken for mine quite afew times the last being a few weeks ago when she was in the hospital!!!!. Dad is young looking for his age,and has been mistaken for my brother at times. June so pleased the move is going as good as it is. See you all soon ,hope everyone has agood weekend. Brenda

Just popped in for a few seconds to see that Brenda has had some good news on two fronts,one being the sis'and another being her hubby,i have no doubt that the doc will put the hubby on asprin to thin the blood[ as a precaution] and tablets for the angina ,if he has it after all.,i have those to take daily and they do help a lot.. I reckon the other family member will be home very quickly too,this keyhole surgery is so much easier for the body to recover from. I havn't heard from Kathy lately either,so i will send her an email ,to see how she is,hopefully i will let you know later.Must be off ,the boss wants the shopping in.take care all ,see ya later.Fred.PtfA&G&G&S.

Hi everyone, Its lovely catching up with all the news, its like reading a long book. My son in law started building the wall to separate my snug/study from the hall, I think it has amazed us all that there is plenty of room in the study (I suoppose you would call it a large study) and it is a large hall too. So i think we will all be pleased with the outcome. Di, I really feel for you being having the house upset but I'm sure it will be worth it in the long run, its just the putting up with it meanwhile. Mavis, Excellent news, you must be looking after Pip well, regardless of what you say. Fred, I'm pleased you are doing well with your Family History, its great when people manage to fit bits into the jigsaw for you. Cant think how you manage to fit in Family History and cooking. I'm afraid that when I am tracing my Family, I go into a world of my own and everything else gets forgotten. Brenda, I am so glad that the news on your dad and Jane is good, you must be very relieved. I hope you manage to make it to the meet being one of the Founder members! Has anyone heard from Kathleen lately, I hope she is alright. I am expecting the delivery of a set of drawers for Gaynor, when they got the bedroom furniture, one of the sets of drawers was completely different and they have had to wait another 2 weeks for them. Spoke too soon, I think they are here. See you tomorrow. June xx

Hiya Everyone,what a lovelly bunch of messages to come on and find. Can I jsut say thank you to you all for your messages about dad and my sister Jane, dad had an ECG yester day and they did not find the damage they thought they would.so I think they thought he might have had a minor heartattack.They will send a report to his GP with their recommendations,but if it happends again and lasts more than a half hour he has to be taken to the hospital. Jane has had her gall bladder removed and they did keyhole surgery ,and it all went well,wasn;t that a great birthday present for her!!!!.She didnot need to go to the HDU afterwards as she handled the anethestic ok as well. I will keep you posted about them both. Di I am sure like you said we must all gain weight just reading all Freds great food delights.LOL. Mavis ,I am so pleased to hear your good news about your husband it must be a relief for you. Fred ,glad I could help. Sorry to leave any one out but have been on here longer than I intended and am on work all day tomorrow,so need to get to bed. Take care ,Brenda

I was only going to look in hear today because i wanted to get on with my research[more on that in a mo].But the latest news from mavis caught my eye ,and i just had to say WAHAY,to her ,what a result,now it's up to Pip to take the antibiotics,obey the boss,and get better.and with the worry out of the way it should be a lot easier. As regards my research,with TONS of help from Brenda,i have managed to get back to scotland [Edinburgh] to my gt gt gt gt grandad,and with the help of BILL,i have found an ace site where i have a list of all registered bairds from all over the world,to look through,no one is safe now ,come out ,come out wherever you are ,be it in oz, New zealand ,the States ,or Canada,FRED,will find you lol. the fires are still raging in Oz,and things don't look good at all for the wildlife so i won't bemoan the lack of birds anymore ,it wouldn't seem right somehow. I hope Sylvia is okay,and of course Norm,Hopefully her absence means that she is getting some rest which she so badly needs. The haggis wen't down real well last night ,but Fred took an extra tablet afterward cause ,it was a little rich and i can only have something like that as a treat every so often. What a come down tonight we will be having bubble and squeek to use up the litttle bit of cabbage and the potato,done in the frying pan this time with a little oil,cooked slowly till it gets a vovely brown skin all over,,i think i may be really decadent and have mine between two slices of brown bread,with a nice fried egg on the top of the tattie before sealing the sandwich beeeeeutiful,and soooo quick.. Well i am now off to get on with some research,but i will be back[the arnie impression ] lol. See you all later .Fred.PtfA&G&G&S.

Hello again. Hooray - Doctor phoned today and there is no cancer in the lung. Having medication as there is a lot of mucus in the bottom of his complete lung. The partial lung looks good. How times have changed - we came away with a CD of the xrays - not the large bulky packages that were given to you . The results went direct from Bay Radiology to our Doctors computer. Pip has to see the specialist on the 22nd Feb for further tests etc. He also has an appointment with the heart specialist. He has had 4 heart attacks since 1988 but is doing really well. The medical attention here in NZ is excellent. He gets really short of breath but the inhaler is wonderful. He is such a cheerful man and so positive about everything. Although 78 years of age people say he only looks 65/70. Is it the way I look after him? I don't think so! The rain and wind has gone and today had been very hot and sunny. Will it last? My friend Elva who lost her husband just before Christmas was cutting the grass yesterday and used the weed eater (strimmer) to do the edges and hit a stone and it hit her in the eye. She was so lucky that it was a very flat stone with no sharp edges and although it hit the pupil of the eye no real damage. She is still struggling over the sudden death of Stu, very tearful and lonely. She is a fighter and will get her act together. We have arranged for a window cleaner to come regularly to clean the windows inside and out. Neither of us are able to climb around anymore. Will have to be up and about earlier tomorrow for his first visit. We have lots of large windows and being close to the sea they get very dirty. I must finish now - Goodnight/Goodaye Mavis NZ