General Chat

goodmorning everyone I phoned brenda yesterday to-day is the day she should have the op she was in good spirits, so it is up to all of us to keep this thread going till she is able to be back with us all, so fred I shall look foreward to lots of menu's from you and sylvia news from you would be great, and all the others who pop in from time to time, the sun is shining here but more of the white stuff lter I hope the storm in england is not toobad for all of you bye for now dorothy

Morning Dorothy,the cavelry's here lol,and i expect a few more will turn up later.
My appointment for the interview ,re' the passport arrived yesterday,and i go at 1030 in the morning ,putting Liz's nose out of joint ,because she thought she was going to be first he he.,her face when i told her lol,looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp.
It isn't often that i can put one over on her [chortle] ,and no doubt i will pay for usurping her ,but i'm goin' to enjoy it while i can .
Weather isn't too bad this morning ,a little damp ,but not too cold ,so i think i may take myself off to the town and the bank to put a few pennies in ,few it is as well,the cost of living is seeing to that.
Def' time for the likes of G Brown to sort out our economy,now millions in the country can't afford to eat properly,and he STILL lets the cost of living accelerate faster than incomes,this fella needs to see beyond his spec's range ,and see the real world as it is.
He should be forced to live on a low income for a month ,and see how the people live.
Average income over £360 a week is it?.
Not ruddy likely says i,try £190 a week up north and the midlands,and that's before tax.
Seen my mouse again this morning ,he looks really busy as do my feathered friends outside,still ,they give me so much enjoyment that i will make sure they get their grub ,no matter what,no inflation for them ,unless they over eat lol.
The son did Liz and i proud last night,he made a beutiful steak and mushroom pie for tea,with mash,sliced carrot,broad bean ,and peas,lovely.he even made the pastry himself and used a low salt recipie he found on the net.
This was in return for me upgrading his old p.c,and it now runs much faster.
There was something wrong with the onboard graphics and the card was leaching out somewhere,updating to a nvidea card and disablingthe on board card has made a big difference.and i also put another gig of memory in for him.
I put a new programme in for the bains too,on stream video,letting them watch all the kids stuff lol,there was hell on last night as we came away ,he he,i had put Thomas The Tank Engine on For Lewis and Stephen,when dad tried to go over to the puter they raised the roof lol,oooooo,i got some dark looks off the son he he,the lad won't dare take the programme out ,because the kids know it's there now.
Hope everyone is okay and faring well ,see ya' later all .Fred.

hi fred once again your food delights amaze me it seems it runs in the family your son's menu sounded great, I am not sure why you have to have an appointment to get your passport is it not a case of filling in forms and mailing them in, we have a new rule re passports which will make it easier when applying for a new one, you can have anyother person with a current passport sign on the form instead of getting a doctor or other special people sign it for you, I hate to mention that we had snow through the night but it is dull and no snow to-day, there is a craft sale in the building to-night two of the ladies put it on, as there are many different ages and families in the building they do get quite a good turn out, or it could be the coffee and cakes that brings them in. I am hoping that things go well for brenda I had thought of phoning again to-day but may wait till the week-end take care bye dorothy

Morning Dorothy,just a few lines before i shoot off for this interview in the town.
My son Martin ,[the sausage maker] was here last night taking some piccies of the van re it's sale,so i have asked him to send them to meas i had many a good trip out in her ,and want to keep a few memories .
While he was here i got out the packet of wraps ,some chicken breast ,and made tortillas,nice quick and simple and quite good,i will def' be doing them again.
Off to get myself ready now,see you all later.Fred.

hello fred hope that your interview went well and you have finished all that is needed for your passport, I have spent the afternoon with andrew's family dog andrew had a business trip to the area were the other grandma lives so the whole family went with him, she had arranged a visit to a jane goodall thing for the grandchildren, so rocky would have been on his own for 12hrs and would have needed a bathroom break, he is a big dog looks like a wolf a cross between a malamute and a husky a good dog, they have an aged calico cat who is 17 and she is very small about 5pounds and boy does she put him in his place, we had more snow last night but none to-day but it is very cold oh will spring ever come, hope to hear some news about brenda soon bye for now dorothy

Morning Dorothy,yep,i think it went well,the fella said that if the last checks went okay[checking with my bank and credit card peeps for final proof of identity ,we should get the passports within a week, result ,at last.
We have the daughters bairns here for the whole weekend ,starting this evening,a treat we promised them a while ago,and i know Connor enjoys helping his grandad in the garden.
Our garden is coming alive ,all the spring bulbs are showing ,and we have lots of crocus and daff's out now,and wonder of wonders ,very little weed to rremove.
The tatties i bought home from Lincolon shire have chitted well,so if the weather holds i will get the first barrel started,and buy the charlotte ,ready to start in a couple of weeks.
Hissy has settled a lot better now,she sleeps on the bottom of the bed between us,and wakes me at 5.45 which is fine,it means that i can have her fed ,and be in the garden by 6.15 for a look around my domail, lol
The little minx has now found out how to open the front room door from the outside now ,by lauching herself from the fifth stair up and wrappingher paws round the handle as she lands grrrrrr,result is,we can't lock her in the room,and we can't lock her out [help ,mummmmmmmy].
I have to go to the computer shop today,sean has so many high usage games on the puter at the minute that it takes two minutes from booting up ,to getting the home page up ,tooooo long for me,so i'm off to get another memory card,to put the ram up to 2 gigs,which will improve speed no end.
The wife has ordered a cookery book from the library ,which has come in,so i will take her for that while we are out.
Don'et ask me what she wants it for,it's beyond me,for all the cooking she does these days ,it might as well be written in Africaans or chinese lol.
To be fair though ,she did teach me how to bake bread ,and still does a mean loaf by using the big kitchen mixer to knead the dough,i tend to cheat and use a bread mix.
We do have a bread maker ,which may come out if my hands get too bad ,but at the moment ,i prefer to do it by hand.
WEell,i'm off for my cuppa now before we get ready to go out,catch you ALL lateri hope.
If i don't come on over the weekend you know the bairns have tied me up to pinch the puter he he.Fred.

goodmorning fred and other friends glad to hear that the passport meeting went well, how lovely to walk out and see the spring flowers at least I can go to the nurseries now as they are open there is one near me all glass and huge I need to go and spend some time and see what I can do with the balcony this year, I do plan on tomatoes again this year , and I had thought of some dwarf evergreens in pots, I will take young Ian with me as he is the gardener in the family. yesterday they brought in the big snow blower machines to try and decrease the amount of snow in the parking area, it was something to see snow blowing about 10 ft in the air on to the raised green belt area at the back of the building. in the summer this is a great walking area for all us and people with dogs use it as well, we have a mixture of animals in the building. enjoy your week-end with the children I am going to go and buy the easter eggs for the children easter seems to have crept up on me this year bye for now dorothy

Helloeveryone,i am home,but svery sore,ended up with open surgery not key hole due to an abcess being attached to the gall bladder.So I have a loverly scar right across mt tummy at waist level,plus the two incesions they did for the key hole.Apparently they were surprised i had not had more problems than I had had,if you know what i mean.Not sure when I will get back as its rather uncomfortale sitting here.
Brenda

Pleased to hear that all went well and you are now on way to better health
Margaret

hi brenda glad to hear that you are home I am sorry that you had to endure the open op but at least they have fixed you up, I started a thread called brenda from friends and neighbours and 11 people sent you messages of good wishes maybe you can find it when you feel better, reat up and take it easy bye for now dorothy

Hi everyone
It's been quite awhile that I was on GR and thought it was about time I visited. I have been kept busy helping at the Sallies and editing the Sunday newsletter. Gayle is going to a Move It and Lose It group for exercise on Tuedays.
Tuesday just gone Gayle had to have an injection in an eye because of a weeping tearduct - not a nice procedure. On the same day I flew to the Auckland limb centre to get a new knee in my leg.
The WOMAD festival is in New Plymouth this weekend with acts from all over the world performing - we aren't going but no doubt will hear some of the music from our place. Westlife will be performing in New Plymouth in a few weeks, I quite like their music but won't be going to the concert. These days one has got to pick and choose which events to go to.
Easter is only days away and Craig will be coming down for the weekend.
Catch you later
John

hi everyone well we had a nice day to-day no snow and the sun was shining and the teperature wa 2 degree's it was almost balmy, nice to see john back on line, I do hope that brenda is resting and feeling somewhat better nothing else new at the moment bye for now dorothy

Evening all,wow ,what a weekend ,the grandbairns here from ealy Friday,and wev'e just taken them home,lol,a fun time had by all ,but ,by 'eck it makes me realise that i ain't a spring chicken any more.
Liz made us a lovely pudding for dinner which we had with roast potato's and parsnip,xsteamed cabbage and broccolli.
The pudding i can pass on to anyone who fancies making it ,,ingreients? cooked chopped up bacon [boiled],chopped leek ,or onion,cooked liver and kidney finelly chopped,just mixed into bread crumbs ,and put into a steamer or microwave for five minutes.
It comes out a lot like a leek pudding but is much easier than mixing pastry,i have to say that i was most impressed ,it turning out to be veeeeery tasty to say the least.
We finished off the dinner with a christmas pud that was begging to be used up .along with a brandy sauce.
We have been watching sports Relief since we came home,and what an acheivement by our younger people ,thousands taking part, it makes you realise that there is hope for the world yet,and these young'uns are not nearly as black as they are painted,we could have done as well years ago but didn't bother to our shame.
Off to make the tea,tomato suop with a slice of bread .
Be back later,hope everyone had a good weekend.Fred.

afternoon all.just another few lines to say i am still here.Having a bit of a see saw with the pain etc.But am learning I have to take it easy.!!!
See you tomorrow,brenda

hi monday evening I had a nice chat with brenda to-day I gave her a phone call she is doing better though still uncomfortable it was great to speak to her , hope you all are well I am planning a few days away from wednesday to saturday I have a retirement dinner to go to on thursday evening will see some of the nurses I have not seen in ages and some not since I retired in 1999 so I am looking foreward to that bye for now dorothy

Cor ,we are going to be a bit thin on the ground for a few days,lol,i will have to look in ,in the afternoons for a few days ,at least.
Peter ,the bro 'in law id back in hospital with a nasty abssess mainly due to a useless doctor who mucked up his medication and treatment for same.
So,it's me up at six for a few days and out at seven thirty to drive his van again to help out.
The son has gone out today to organize a pidgeon [clay] shoot ,so Liz and i are picking up the grandson from school again.
These are both for family members so there is of course no charge for serives rendered,BUT ,Martin has promised four pounds of assorted ,home made sausages for my appraisal,so i wasn't turning those down.
I turned out the other potato barrel yesterday ,after i got the other one started off again,and was suprised to get two carrier bage of lovely clean potatos out[must be about 25 pounds in all,not bad for now't is it he he.
Must go now,,shopping to do before we pick up Chris and come home to my cottage pie and peas which i made yesterday afternoon.
Catch you all later.Fred.

hi fred (tues eve) not to worry I amsure I will be back on line as soon as I get back to-day we had ice pellets and then a small amt of snow but it supposed to be fine to-morrow so the highways should be in good shape, one of the ladies will be looking after the cats for me she spoils them quite a bit bye for now dorothy

Afternoon folks,did type out a message yesterday ,then my pc seemed to have a bit of a wobbler and froze with a pop up sort of thing for searching on the site!!!
Turned it all off and left it guess the message is now in outer universe somewhere.
weather sunny but still cold I am told as I have not been out apart from the doctors yesterday ,I have a sick note for four weeks.
I am being really boring and not doing anything,its still painfull to sit here too long so will have to pace myself.
Hope everyone is ok.brenda

Hi all,
Brenda, I too had two funny faces come up on my screen and had to close the machine down because I couldn't do anything else.
Hope you are feeling better now. Takes time, doesn't it?
We had a lovely wedding anniversary and our flat looks like a florists now.
Today I had another blow to my health. I had a Urodynamic investigation and they discovered I cannot pass urine at all. When my bladder is full it leaks. It is no wonder that I have had cystitis for more than a year. Foul urine in the bladder which couldn't get away. The specialist doesn't advise an operation for me as it is a major one. It is like being fitted with a pacemaker to stimulate the bladder. He advises me to use catheters 4 times a day and I am going to be taught how to do this. Well, don't have any other option at the moment.
I sent my two daughters and granddaughter Easter flower arrangement - white and yellow flowers with eggs inbetween. This was a surprise for them. They thought it was a lovely idea.
Must go to the market tomorrow and Saturday is Johan's birthday, so won't have much time.
Have been reading all your texts. For all those "under the weather" keep smiling the sun is just hiding temporarily. It does come and show its face now and again.
Sylvia xxx

Hello, have not been around for some time computer problems. It was really annoying as it took forever to get online and then couldn't get any web pages up.
Brenda, hope you are feeling a little better everyday, just take it very easy and don't try to do too much too soon.
Sylvia, you have been unlucky with your health lately but at least you know now what the problem is. Don't like the sound of having to use a catheter 4 times a day but if it helps I guess it will be worth it.
Dorothy, just reading your messages about all that snow gives me the shivers - much prefer the sunshine. It is very cold at the moment down here and has just stopped raining, it was really heavy for about 3 hours but has been raining steadily since about midday.
Fred, you can come and cook for me anytime you like. Could do with your expertise in the garden as well. At the moment most of mine is in real need of clearing and digging over. Just a couple of beds with spring flowers coming through and the clematis has started into life again. The forsythia is looking good though in need of a good trim once the flowering is finished. Would really like to take most of the shrubs out as they have outgrown their spaces and are a bit old (like me!!). The garden that backs onto mine is the bane of my life - they are too generous with their brambles, ivy and elderberry which grows over, under and through the fence. I keep trying to kill it off but there is too much of it and seems I'm fighting a losing battle.
Had about three weeks of that awful virus which just would not go away but can finally say I am over it now, but it does knock you for six.

Hope everyone enjoys the Easter weekend, don't like it when it comes this early.

Take care
Love
Kathleen