General Chat

good sunday morning one and all it is a bit dull with some showers yesterday I went over to see how the family garage sale went and they got rid of a lot of stuff, then yes I was driving I went to a local store that sells fresh farm produce got a lovely 6 qt basket of tomatoes for only 2-99 and a basket of peaches I can drive locally but have been advised no long trips so that is better than nothing right, glad you enjoyed the trip to bury brenda I can see why you avoided the cheese stall too tempting thanks for the kind regars fred as usual you make my mouth water with your reciepes. this friday Laura (13) is having her tonsils out not sure we are ready for the drama that will follow I may look after her on saturday as Bryan has to be brought home from camp we are all missing him like mad, Ian is thrilled that grandma can drive as it means he get to go our for his belated birthday dinner he has been very patient his birthday was in april. he may choose the fish bowl as on mondays they have all you can eat mussels for a fixed price the last time he got through 3 large bowls, or the chinese place that has a crab special on hope to go in the next 2 weeks, well time to get the day started as tennis is on from the states at noon I slept in this am till 9 quite unusual for me, will keep you update as to the results of andrews meeting on monday be intersting to see what they have to say when they find out that the so called bladder infection was a stroke!!!!! take care bye dorothy

Mornin, to all ,Fred had a couple of days in the garden whilst the weather was kind,and was too tired to bother much with the puter because of it ,lol,but i did well out there and am well satisfied with things as they are.
The cabbages are a heck of a size this year[big enough for 4 meals in each] ,partly to do with the new variety i tried ,and party to do with the extra rain,which ,by the way has helped most of the other veggies too.
We are stowed out here with the beans ,he he ,enough of the three varieties to keep us in veg for the winter.
The brussel plants are 4 feet tall ,and still inching upwards ,and the sprouts are starting to form,so i reckon come Christmas ,we will be well away for the late stuff ,the kale plants and spinach coming on well too.
Parsnips ,well ,i think i could well take a load to market and sell ,he he ,they ,with any luck are going to be huge.
Next year ,the other two boxes will be sown with carrots before i manure the boxes again ,which i do every third year ,sowing onions in them as carrot or parsnip would fork at the roots, them not liking rich soil.
There were some snags left from the B B Q Saturday so i made a nice toad in the hole ,which gave us two nice peices for dinner with all fresh stuff from the garden,there was even half of it left ,which i cut in half and froze down ,that will do for an emergency meal sometime when i am pushed for time.
Looks like you will be back to normal driving very soon Dorothy ,way to go ,he he,God help the stalls in the local markets when you get among them again again, they will be thinking their stocks are in mortal danger .
Time to go again ,time to bring the bins in now they have been emptied ,catch you later.,Fred.

evening all, sorry I have not been on lately not been well.Have a really bad upset stomach to put it mildly.!!!!!have been in bed three days ,and got up today feeling a bit better but not feeling too good now.Be back when alot better
Brenda

Hi Brenda sorry to hear that you have the collywobbles, told you to watch your cooking he he ,,hope you feel a lot better soon ,and get back to normal a s a p.
myself ,i have had a nice rest ,going fishing all day at the Kielder forest,and lake [the biggest man made in europe],where i really chilled out,with my eldest son.
We found ourselves a nice little secluded bay among the heather and pine trees,well away from everyone else ,and had a day of bliss.
There was no road noise ,shouting by anyone ,just the sigh of the breeze coming through the branches of the beech ,and pine trees,the lap of waves hitting the shore line in front of us,and the cry of birds flying overhead.
On top of that ,there was a gentle sun ,warming us as we sat there on our fishing stools ,rods beside us on a drop line set up,cuppa's in hand courtesy of the two big unbreakable flasks we had with us,and packets of Nescafe coffee and tea in those travelling packs.
It was that peaceful ,i didn't want to come home ,lol,a nice day in little Canada [as we call it] with squirrels,birds ,badgers and the like for company utter bliss ,there are even beaver re introduced a few miles away, but they are in a different part of the forest ,where the public can't get to so i'm told.
Anyway ,to cap it all ,i caught three lovely rainbow trout ,two at just over 3 lbs,and one at just over 2 lbs,all of which i brought home ,cleaned them ,and put the biggest ones in the freezer ,the smaller one i kept in the fridge till yesterday ,then had it on the B B Q.
Even the trip home was nice sitting in the front passenger seat watching the autumn colours of the tree leaves through the windscreen,as we travelled first through the forest road ,and then through the country lanes onto the A 69.
Bythe time we got to the main road it was getting late ,so i told the son to head for our local chippy for two fish suppers because it was a bit late to cook tea when we got in,lol.
Yesterday morning ,i pottered in the garden ,and seeing that it looked to be a nice day ,decided on a B B Q for dinner ,which pleased our granddaughter who was staying until Saturday dinner time ,her parents being busy doing a wedding video needing all three cameras.Johns little bussiness starting to pick up nicely ,so they go anywhere now to make them to order ,some as far up as north Scotland ,Down to Lincolnshire.
Any way ,back to the B B q ,i did enough snags for two each for the three of us ,ditto ,burgers,and some chicken strips,of which i passed on ,preferring my trout which i shared with the furry boss ,who i decided to spoil a little seeing as she missed me so much while i was out fishing ,that she sat all day ,refusing to go anywhere,watching the gate through the window till she saw me come home ,there's loyalty for you,had to spoil her a little ,didn't i ?
Today i have fed my veggies ,started a hotpot in the slow cooker,that will be ready for tea tonight ,and by the way smells lovely already .
Time to go and have a mooch round the boards ,but will be around later.
Take it easy Brenda ,i was joking about your cooking by the way ,lol,most likely you ate something at your market that was a bit iffy ,afraid lass ,that at our age ,we need to select places we know are fine to eat out in and stick to them.it is a lot safer that way,and of course ,if something does go wrong ,and you have to complain ,they will always sort you out with a sorry and a free nosh ,rather than lose your custom.Fred.xxxx.

hi good saturday morning I believe it is a bank holiday at home so hope that you all have a good one, I have no idea how this week went by so fast brenda I do hope that you are feeling better and fred what a lovely account of the day out you had fishing with your son I could almost believe I was sitting next to the two of you, Laura's surgery went well yesterday although she took a long time to fully wake up so they kept her till 8pm then she was able to come home it is about 8am here and I am waiting for a call to say what time they want me over so they can go and get bryan from camp assuming that all went well through the night. I now have a list of appointments for the next lot of test 2 on the 21st of sept for an echo cardio gram and then for the application of the holter monitor for 48hrs, then on the 28th for the evoked potential test at st mikes in the city that is a test on the brain for ms. then on the 13th of oct with the specialist for all the results and hopefully a fianl diagnosis so I am feeling good about all that, we had a couple of cool days but it is to be 30 again to-day but you can tell that fall is heading our way soon a pretty time of year over here, well that is all for me take care bye for now dorothy

Hi fred and Dorothy,feeling a bit better but having to be careful not to over tax myself am so weak its funny in a way.Haven't a clue what it was but don't want it again,!!
What a great day you had with your son sounds wonderful fred an deven Hissy got something out of it;.
Glad Lauras op went ok Dorothy Hope all the appointments go ok and you get yourself sorted.
Yyes its bank holiday and yes its raining so nothing new there!! Its actually more like November than august.
Hope i am even better tomorrow ,take care see you
Brenda

morning all ,from a ruddy chilly north of England ,grrrrr 17c here this morning and i have had to put the heating on yet again ,not even the end of August and the weather is getting worse instead of better.
I Think Edith from the Canadian thread is right,if all this rain and cold keep up ,we are in for an early.hard winter ,and a lot of snow ,so i hope the firm soon get out here ,and hopefully if all is well ,i will have my wood burning stove in by the end of September ,to early October.so i can do my bit by burning carbon free fuel.and having plenty of potash to add to the compost and garden [Fred ain't so daft he he]
Turns out my darling wife ,in starting the toilet decorating ,has started up the trouble with her back ,that she damaged years ago while working at the Metro Centre.she started complaining that her back and right arm were sore the afternoon after the fishing trip,and by the following morning ,had trouble getting round Morrisons ,doing the shopping.
Yesterday it was so bad that she was having to use two sticks to move around the house ,and was taking five minutes from the front room chair.to the top of the stairs.me right behind her in case she slipped.
The son dropped Chris off yesterday after i told him it would make no difference to us ,me doing most of the cooking and housework anyway ,lol,and he said that he would be back this week to finish the toilet for me ,because there is no way i would let the old girl loose with a brush ever again ,
Just as well i got her to show me how the new washing machine works ,cause it looks like i am going to be busy for a while at least ,he he ,bang goes my leisure time for a while at least.
I think i will take my son up on the offer of looking at a second hand stair lift for her ,no way can i afford a new one on a pension,that's for sure.
Fortuitous it turned out that i brought the new little xp notebook this last few days ,it being really for updating my old road angel ,it not being supported by a driver for vista ,or windows 7,but however ,it will be very handy for the missus to do her web surfing in bed,before she get's up ,it is very light ,and the battery goes on for five hours before needing a recharge,so it will be the best suited for going away on holiday as well as it goes into a carry bag ,no bigger than a woman's clutch bag and that's with the wireless mouse in ,and the charger ,ace ,lol.
How far computers have come in a few years,he he ,with a 160 gig hard drive ,and 2 gig of ram this little thing is more powerful than the big computer they had at Bletchley Park during the war ,amazing when you think of it ,lol.
I May not be on here much for a while ,i issss going to be busy looking after the missus,Hissy ,housework ,and garden ,looks like i may be needing some go faster pills ,hmmmmm ,that's life i suppose..
Hope every one has had a brill' holiday ,take care in all you do all ,Fred.

Hi All,what a great day for a bank holiday ,Or not at least its dry ,so I suppose thats a bonus,
Feeling better again this moring and under strict instructions from John not to do mush ,so i will not tire as quickly.
Johns golfing buddies both have bad backs so he did not go out today ,we did not fancy going out with all the crowds etc so we ar having a lazy day,
Fred hope Liz is feeling better and it will not be too long before she is back to normal if you pardon the pun.Would you not qualify to have a chair lift fitted by the DSS? my mam had one but they did not pay for it only call out fees when it needed repairs,or something like that.
Don't go away for too long don't think you could do much more than you are doing now!!
Hope dororthy is ok and gets things sorted with her new sets of appointments,
Take care Brenda

hi one and all I put a long message on yesterday but it seems to have gone into cyber space I was wishing both liz and brenda a speedy recovery and telling fred that I was sorry the weather was so bad and sort of mentioning that our weather was very hot they issued a heat alert as it was to be 40 and it was, this morning it is about 9-45 am and allready it is very hot and going up to 42, like brenda fred I was wondering if you could not get any help with the cost of the stair lift what with being a senior and you were in the forces right .now it is often that I can contribute to all the wonderful things does with with food but I found a new spice or a mixture of spices, it is called citrus blast and is only on sale for a short period it is a mixture of orange and lemon zest and natural lime flavour and it adds the flavour of sangria to fish, seafood, and poultry dishes, I tried it the other evening on some chicken that I stirred fried and it was wonderful, I bought one for andrew as well as he is always using new spices and hot sauces for his cooking it is put our by club house la grille I don't know if you can get it at home or not.again to-day it is a day of tennis from new york good matches yesterday from 1-5 and then from 7pm-11pm well I shall try and send this again hope it gets to you all bye for now dorothy

Hi All,we have a wonderful day here today,shame its after the bank holiday,would like a few more days like this please,Hope the weather is cheering fred and Liz up seeing as he has all his veg nearly ready and poor Liz is confined to indoors hope she can get out to a nice garden chair to enjoy the sun.
Managed to do a couple of errends left from last week ,will do a few more during the week to catch up.
Have made an appointment to have my hair cut on Friday,it badly needs it its wild at the minute..
Dorothy i am glad you have lost messages as well was thinking I was loosing it when mine went.!!
John is brewing a cup of coffee,so i had better get going,
Take care Brenda

goodmorning I am a little shatterd this am what with staying up till after midnight to watch tennis and the HEAT it will be a slow day to-day as again it is to be very hot to-day, I am not really complaining as the white stuff is in the future and give me the heat any day. this week-end is the big long week-end of the summer and then the children go back to school on tuesday along with teacher mom, Laura starts high school and will go on the school bus with her older brother high school starts at 8am . they have made good use of the swimming pool this week . well andy plays to-day I hope that he does well, hope that fred and liz are doing ok bye for now dorothy

good evening Dorothy ,Brenda,and anyone else who happens by,from a sunnier Newcastle ,at last ,he he.
Seems Liz has strained her back ,a recurrance of an old injury ,that has reared it's ugly head yet again,and is now on strong pain killers and a tablet to shrink the inflamation that she has.
As soon as she is recovered enough to go to the surgery i will be asking the doctor for a refferal to the dss for a chair lift to be installed in the house to enable her to get up and down to use the only toilet in the house ,and of course to get to the bathroom for a wash ,shower or bath .
The fella was here this morning to see about the new stove ,and ,after a full inspection of the chimney ,hearth and fireplace ,we are told that he will report back to his company to go ahead with the installation,yippee .good news at last.
I have to extend the hearth by 10" to comply with hot ash spillage ,which is well in hand ,there being plenty of bricks of the same pattern outside.
The son is going to do that job for me ,and my son in Law that works for a steam engine rebuilding company is getting the new lintel made out of steel plate to be put across the fire place opening to stop the bricks sagging,all in all ,everything is well in hand.
I Have managed to get the hedges clipped back today and have managed to keep on top of the housework .but it will be interesting tomorrow ,with shopping to do lawns to cut,30 Primula to put in and weeding to do heeeeelp ,lol,where do i fit the other work in,and that's after doing the meals,i tell you peeps ,it was easier being at work ,including all the overtime and working away from home .
We had a lovely ham stir fry for tea,all the veg' apart from the mushroom ,and sweet potato from out back.
Well ,time to go for now ,but at least you all know i am around and am managing ,just ,
take care all,Fred,

Hi Everyone ,good to see you all so chirpy,it must be the sunshine¬!!
Had a walk round to the shop today ,not far and not long but was fairly shattered when i got back must be the heat or more like lack of excerise.!!!!
Do hope you get help with the chair Fred,can't see why not.
Enjoy the Tennis Dorothy,
Have a few errends tomorrow and some books to pick up at the library.
Take care,Brenda

Good morning all.well the sunshine coninues its been great.Hope its good where ever you are.
Have had a lot of emails today done a couple of replies but going out to have ny hair cut shortly so have not a lot of time ,was hoping the washer would be finshed so I could get the washing on the line as I have shopping to do after the hairdressers.
Have had some piccies sent to me from my sister in law my brother is sixty this month and I am doing one of those cards with piccies on as he grew up so thats going to be a job scanning them in and seeing which is best.
Have a nice weekend,Take care love Brenda

hi from a wonderful rainy barrie at last a beak from the heat it is supposed to clear up later just in time for the mass exodus from the city up to the cottages later to-day, glad to see fred back but I feel very lazy after reading all fred's chores, hope indeed that you get some help with the cost of the chair lift as brenda says I don't see why no hope liz continues to improve. talking about the differance in weather I spoke to my sister yesterday they had returned from a 3 day hiking trip to the british columbia ice fields and had run into 4 inches of snow plus as we spoke the temp. was only 0 degree's in canmore calgary has not had much summer this year another sign of global warming I guess, they were off again to go on a hike in the mountains near them almost in their back yard, while I coninue to veg on the couch watching about 10hrs of tennis but I do go from room to room dusting as I have 2 small tv.s in the bedrooms . the family are getting ready for back to school on tuesday and will be doing something this week-end as the holidays end not sure if they are going up to the family cottage or hanging around the pool they had some neighbours over the other week-end for a b-bque and pool evening a good time was had by all and andrew could try out some new receipes he had some lobsters flown in from the east and they went over well. especially with his youngest Ian who loves fish in any form especially mussels. Ian and I are going out for dinner sometime in the next two weeks for a fish dinner the maderian chinese resturant has a crab special on at this time so he would like to try that, it is his belated birthday dinner (april 21) but with the not driving we have had to delay it and then I owe bryan (may 26th) one as well he prefers ribs but better late than never I enjoy taking them out one on one well enjoy th week-end bye for now dorothy

Well ,looks like we are on the slippery slope to winter again ,, i was up again ,early ,after the missus woke me up at four a m ,doing her impression of a John Deere with a blown gasket ,lol.
I sat outside at five ,with my cuppa and the first porridge of the season ,scots style ,salt ,no sugar or milk ,very nice it was too,and has set me up well ,for the planting of 100 crocus bulbs ,along the front border out back,which should give us a nice show come next March,coming up just after the Snowdrops.
The two grandbairns don't go home until this afternoon ,so i am going to do a mildish curry for the dinner ,and use some of the chicken pieces we have in the kitchen freezer.
The old freezer is getting a little iffy ,so we are now running it down prior to getting a new one installed.
We are getting one with a largish freezer on the bottom ,fridge on the top,which makes things a little more compact,but will be keeping the old fridge for the Christmas fare ,and doing the corned beef in [this will preventing a certain Australian lady from taking the mickey because i have done it twice in the chalet over the past three years] you listening Mary ? lol.you will have more room for the Christmas visit now ,he he.Mary Christmas to you too .
Getting exited now too ,three weeks until the great move south for two weeks on our Cornwall jaunt,and then about two weeks back home before the trip to Blackpool,all go isn't it ?
Poor old Oz is in the wars again i see ,flooding in some places ,high winds and storms in others ,and a couple of places that have it all rolled into one ,so ,stay safe all of you,and hopefully things will quieten down as you go into your spring proper.
Hope everyone has had a nice weekend ,i may get back later on ,as we are doing as little as possible today ,it being our last one of the bairns holidays.
Catch you all later,Fred

hi well saturday was another cool and rainy day but as tennis was on all day and evening I did not mind glad you are having a nice visit with the grandchildren fred and it sounds like maybe liz is feeling a little better, not doing much to-day again it is tennis from newyork and I think that any is playing to-day I have an apt. with the family doc to-morrow just to have a rx written out I was surprised he was opening up on the holiday monday but as his office is in part of his home he does not have to move to far he built a new house about 2yrs ago quite a spread but he is very nice and quite good. I spoke to anne on friday she was down in the dumps she has had word that they may not do the other eye till the end of november I think now she is wishing she had gone private it is takin so long I guess I don't help when I tell her it is about a month between eyes over here all my friends who have had it done and she has met them I so surprised it takes so long over home different systems I guess. in fact I think I will give her another call to-day and see if I can cheer her up take care bye dorothy

Afternoon all.sorry I was missing for a day or twobut have been scanning a loy of pictures on to the pc and then trying to get some on a card for my brothers 60th birthday next week,haven;t done one I really like yet ,but I have a day or so before I need to get it sent.Weather was lovelly on saturday and i got to the library and got my books both only two week reads so having to read a bit more each day to make sure they are back om time.
Also been trying to see which holiday clothes I can still actually get into and look ok !!! don't want to buy any more .I have seen the dietician toda and she has given me some more advise so we will see how we go.Glad you are all enjoying things with the family .
Be back when I have done the card etc.Brenda

Morning from a wet but mild Newcastle ,hmmmmm,no work outside today methinks,just as well i got 250 spring bulbs put out front yesterday ,and managed to get the back lawn cut.
The crocus and extra Bluebells i put out should make a nice showing come March next year,but so far i havn't managed to find any Snowdrops ,but there is time yet.
I did however find some nice Dwarf Daff's which will go nicely among the roses for next April,so i am doing okay.
We got the Bairn out for her birthday meal last night ,Liz feeling quite a bit better,the bairn fancied an Indian meal ,so we called up Solomans and managed to book a table for three,suprising at short notice ,Solomans being one of the top venues in the north east,but we had a wonderful meal over one and a half hours which we all enjoyed,it making a change from the usual chinese ,good as they are up here .
The new freezer has been ordered to arrive the week after we come home from Cornwall.
What a difference between companies though ,Comet tried to charge us for delivery ,and the removal of the old unit ,while Curry's charged the same price for the same freezer with no delivery charges or removal charge ,so i won't be dealing with Comet in future ,talk about rip off Britain ,Comet are a rip off too.
The freezer is a large unit with four huge trays ,while the fridge on the top is even bigger ,and at eye level which is what we wanted,the old under bench fridge we are keeping for overspill at Christmas ,but will be cleaned out and turned off until then.
I now have to go out and find a new Hepa filtered hoover ,my old one blew up this morning ,he he ,never mind ,i was thinking that i needed one that would sit on the stairs better than the one i had ,lol,but my ,what an expensive week ,he he ,fire ,fridge freezer and hoover all in a little over a week ,i will be getting a nasty letter off my bank manager if i keep this up ,but if i do ,i will upset him further by saying "wait three more weeks mate ,when you will get the settlement for two weeks holiday",he he that should upset him a little more ,lol.
Time to go peeps ,catch you later ,Fred.

Afternoon folks,eh Fred lad you have been gining the bank book a battering ,but it does go like that ,my sister needs work doing on the roof and sorted it out with the guy to come next week then the boiler plays up the second time in a week,different thing thougth,!! luckily she has the gas maintenance so is covered but the boiler is 23 years old so they have been told it might just do til next spring but might not so they are looking at having a new boiler. All this just as they see a great deal for a holiday where they love to go in Majorca and at the time they have got booked off.SO they are hoping the guy doing the roof will come next month instead ,giving them some breathing space.
Glad you all had a nice meal fred ,people enjoying themsselves is what I like to hear.Out with two friends tomorrow for a birthday lunch ,going to a place I have not been to beforeso hope I like it my friend doid when she first went ,so i should we have the same taste.
Be back tomorrow ,Brendan