General Chat

hi fred I thought you were retired thats a lot of decorating you have done, glad you don't have too much of the white stuff , your tea sounds great as usual ah bubble and squeck you can't beat it, it is 6pm my time and I have just finished my supper I had a chicken breast simmer all after noon in french onion soup plus baby potatoes green beans brocoli carrots and some chopped up braised celery not bad cooking for me and enough left for to-morrow well it is off to watch casuality for me way behind your programme but it is good show bye dorothy

Hi everyone
What a busy few days!! No Brenda I won't be on a motor-bike I don't want my leg to fall off. The last time I was on a bike was some 30 years ago and I nearly caused an accident as leant the wrong way.
Monday this week we made a start on Christmas shopping, checked out the $2 Shop for gifts surprisingly what one can get for $2 that costs heaps and other shops. Bought an azalea plant for the garden which I have to reposition as its too close to the house.
Today, Thursday, preschoolers and their mums had their last Mainly Music program for the year with food and music.
I've been playing Scrabble on Facebook and got a BINGO when the last letter of my seven letter word was linked to another word gave me 95 points!
Will have to check the garden tomorrow and reposition that plant.
Take care - John

Morning all ,from a cold winter wonderland,where old Fred has already been busy after boiling up a ham bone last night,and puttinc steepie peas in a large bowl to soak.
cut the meat off the shank this morning and found there was a load of tender bacon,soooo,a load is going into the freezer for future bacon and egg pies for the Sunday tea table,reckon there is enough to do two good size ones,
The remainder will go back into the soup,shortly before it is finishedwith a chopped up leek ,and a red onion,about an hour longer will do it ,the peas are now nice and soft so i will blitz the lot together just before turning the soup off to cool.
I may just have to get the plain flour out to make bread,no way am i going out shopping in the snow lol,,it looks like a whole day indoors he he,not to worry though ,we won't be hungry,i have some dried yeast for the bread,so,a few slices of fresh bread for tea along with a bowl of fresh pea sand ham soup will be a nice ,tasty ,warming tea.
We might just have noodles ,or pasta for dinner,quick ,and again tasty and warming.
He He Cyprus looks inviting just now,i'm afraid the days of loving the cold and snow are well passed and gone lol,i prefer my creature comforts,swings and roundabouts really because i don't think i could put up with the hights of summer in a place like Oz either,i hate temperatures in excess of 23 c.
Hope everyone is well ,and looking forward to their weekend lol,won't be long now,cheers all,Fred.

goodmorning oh fred once again you are making my mouth water you really should put to-gether all your reciepes in book form for the likes of me and perhaps other who are not the best cooks, sorry to hear about all the bad weather you are getting I was just on line reading the british papers and looking at the pictures, to-day we were supposed to get rain and snow showers its about 9-30 am and the sun yes the sun is shining the sky is high and blue with a few cloudss I can se for miles way into the distance and it is only -3 so quite warm!! I was planning to stay in to-day but will venture out this afternoon , took the grandhildren to the fundraiser that their mom was working at last night at mac donalds she has 1000 students at the school she teaches at and a great number of their moms and dads turned out with the familys,this sunday we are all going to the churches xmas concert which is held at the theatre at the college in town they do put on a good show amazing voices some of the members of the church have and they do a kind of pantomime show as well.Lindys mom is back from ethopia so we shall have most of the family to-gether at lindys after for lasagne etc, andrew and bryan will miss the show as bryan has a hockey match well that is it for me oh yes john sounds like you 2 dollar stores are a lot of fun bye for now dorothy

goodmorning everyone, sylvia how are you and your husband doing I hope all is well, fred thankyou for the merry christmas e-mail it was great and so true I will pass it on, another cold day but no snow at the moment going to go and do a bit of shopping just wanted to say hello bye for now dorothy

Hi all,
Well time is getting on and Johan will be going into hospital 15th December and operated on 16th
December. With any luck he will be home the following weekend but still groggy for Xmas I suppose.
Today I had both daughters with partners for coffee and also my granddaughter. My daughter gave me a lot of green leaves for using in my Xmas arrangement for our front door. I have no time to do it before Wednesday. Tomorrow I have my help in the morning and then I have to go to hospital to my urologist in the afternoon. Tuesday Johan and I have to see our cardiologist and then I see the opthalmist. I don't know now if that is English or not.
Lovely e-mail Fred, made me cry.
Sylvia xxx

Hi everyone
We had a busy weekend, on Saturday over 300 motorbikes gathered for the annual toy run in New Plymouth with toys being given to the Sallies. I was roped in as the Santa and rode in an open-top car with the province's rugby mascot - a bull. It was a fun-filled day and Santa got a bit sunburnt, strangely the bull didn't as he had his mask on most of the time. A number of children were out to see the bikes go pass and give toys to us which were piled up for the congregation to see yesterday.
Gayle and I are looking forward to Christmas with Craig, and with the rest of the family. When Craig goes back to his place we are going with him to spend a few days away - the first time in nearly three years since shifting.
I am listening to some Christmas music on the PC while writing this. Catch-up again soon, John

good morning all,just a quicky[i should be so lucky] lolbut you know what i mean really.
I have to go into town early for the bank,and then go and get one of the wifes pressies,a new cam corder ,light in weight for her wrists ,but packed full of features,and built in sound.
I don't know what to do with the old one yet ,but i may land up giving it to a charity shop for resale,it's a Sony,in a case with five spare tapes ,two batteries and still works well,but is the size of a housebrick and twice the weight lol.
I may just succumb to buying a laptop for myself too,and send to virgin for a wireless modem so i can use it around the house and garden,but ,i must make sure it's wifi enabled for when i go on holiday,only hope i can get one on xp,and not vista ,seems some people are still having trouble with that platform.
What rotten b***** has sent me their cold? i isssss not impressed with you whoever you are ,lol,buuuuut ,i will get my own back in the spring by sending you a nest of fire ants,or worse he he.
Still ,i suppose it's better now ,so it's gone before the 24th ,so it won't interfear with the preperations.
just made myself a coffee after two cups of tea,to keep me going till breakfast,two warbertons crumpets this morning ,a posh ,poor brekkie lol,the best crumpets you can buy ,with a little beef paste left from yesterdays tea,all that Chris left of the repast ,cor ,that lad has found his appetite at last.
I made a huge dinner for him,roast pork ,homee made rosemary,sage and apple stuffing,brussels ,parsnip,roast peppers shallotss ,potatoes ,and parsnip,along with mash and gravy,and he was asking for his tea two hours later,must be a hard job playing computer games at our house.
The wife and i had our usual size meal,a quarter the size of his,but we have large plastic plates with covers ,and seperate sections for meat veg ,and potatoes,very handy to freeze,which makes for at least two ,no cooking days a week.[lazy git that i am lol]
Well,i'm off for a bit, the boss cat is complaining because she hasn't had her brekkie yet ,so i had better go get it for her ,before i get attacked[no claws thankfully]
Catch you later Fred.

goodevening one and all good luck with your shopping fred I am sure liz will enjoy the gift you have in mind for her, john your thread was great to read and sylvia Ihope all goes wel withyou and your husband,yesterday(sun) we all went to the concert and it was a wonderful two hours, really great voices from adults to children, then the 11 family members gathered at andrew and lindys and we had a great dinner lasagne homemade by lindy and garlic bread a 7 layer salad and a carrot salad, then a birthday cake for lindy's mom who turned 71 a very busy lady as I have mentioned before she just arrived back from ethopia, and was looking foreward to going down hill ski-ing today puts me to shame. it is still very cold over here -20 yesterday freezes the air in your lungs it does, so I am staying indoors till it warms up a bit thats it for me off to watch holby blue and inspector lynley bye for now dorothy

tuesday evening hi everyone it is a very snowy day over here about 25-30 cm has dropped down on us and is still coming looks lovely out but still very cold so I am staying indoors nothing else new just a quickl visit to say hello bye for now dorothy

hi one and all well I am not sure how I like this new look of gene's it will some getting used too wonder what brenda will think of it when she returns from vacation. no snow to-day but black ice so still lots of accidents, but I hope to go out to-morrow hope everyone is well bye for now dorothy

Morning Dorothy,i have to agree with you about the look of the new boards,and tjhe background cover ,eeeeeeuck,puce would have been as nice lol.
My dear spouce has decided at looooong last that the dining table is too big and heavy for us ,so ,it's off to town today to seed if we can find a new ,and lighter one.
I fancy a gate leg table that will go against the wall until needed,that can be moved easily for hoovering the floor.
Cor ,eck ,iot may not be snowing here this morning but it's veeeery cold,and i have the heationg going ful;l blast to try warming the place up,he he ,i'm even casting envious glances at the cats fur coat [now ,where's me carving knife ,lol] ,at least SHE is nice and warm ,i think.
I reckon some nice warming porridge is called for this morning,so i'm offf to make some ,See ya all later.Fred.

goodmorning fred good luck looking for a new table the gate leg one sounds like a good idea I was doing the christmas decorations yesterday and remembered that the dining room st I have is about 48yrs old but still in good nick, again I do not like this new format brenda will be surprised when she gets back I hope that she has had a good vacation, this morning I can't see out of the windows but not snow but thick fog apparently it went down to -16 overnight and this am it is -8 hence the fog but it should clear by the time I want to go out bye for now dorothy

Where are we now
Sylvia

Hi all
A new look on GR had me wondering if I was in the wrong place.
After the bike-run last Saturday we put up the Christmas tree and finished decorating it the next evening - needs more decorations says me, may get some when the Boxing Day sales start.
The past days have been quite hectic as Christmas draws near we've got carolling at fewer rest homes this time which makes it not so tiring.
I was watching an item on the news the other night saying that in the present economic climate world-wide people were cutting back on spending and in some cases not buying Christmas presents for - a sad fact of life. We've cut back too. I was given a gift voucher the other week - good for twelve months - but I don't know what to get, be it a book or CD or a wall plaque. I was asked what I would like - my answer I don't know. You probably have heard this comment "the older one gets the harder it is to buy for them" have to agree with that.
Catchup soon, John

Hello everyone,here I back from my holiday ,had a great time,weather was not as goodasit could have ben,they are having their worst winter in 17 yearsin the Canaries!!! Had lots of warm but cloudy days did a lot of walking so still have a bit ofa tan.
Everyone seems busy getting ready for christmas,will read all prvous messages later this afternoon.
Speak to you all then ,Brenda

Wow ,it's dark and dingy out this morning ,i even had to put a little shove to the back end of Hissy to get her out for her morning exercise he he ,i will more than likely get a bat off her when she comes back in .
We got a very nice table and chair set from Ikea,self assembly of course ,with three drawere on each side of the centre console,for the bits and pieces like cutlery and so on.
The table is only just over 700 mms wide ,but when the leaves are up it is as long as the old table ,which will seat eight.
We have it against the wall with one leaf up ,which will seat 4,and there is tons of clear floor space left.
By the time i had the table ,and four of the six chairs put together,i had such a bad ,burst blister on the palm of the right hand that i had to pack in.
I have told the wife that she is on her own till Monday ,no cooking or house cleaning for me till then,an infection is the last thing i need.
I did however manage to fit in the corning of the last piece of beef yesterday afternoon,but this time i used a slightly diffeerent recipie,which meant crushing the wholemustard seed down ,along with the juniper
berries,pepper corms,all spice,and cinniman sticks,and shredding the bay leaves ,before putting it all,and all the other ingredients into a very large saucepan to boil up and simmer,the aroma in the kitchen was lovely lol.
The Bird arrived Yesterday evening ,blast frozen so there will be no water in the flesh when i thaw it,the whole gammon we got yesterday from Morrisons,and the rest of the meats ,and poultry i will get next week.Even with the company for meals over Christmasand new year ,we are set now until well into January.
Chris is due again for the wekend ,so i have to get finished on here before he nicks my puter,i have time to do an hours family history [i hope ].Catch you all later.
Fred.

Hi all,
Well it was so dark this morning that I said to Johan is it morning or evening? The moon was full and the sky dark at 08.00 hours.
Now this evening it is bitterly cold and the cars outside are covered in a thick white frost. I am so pleased I don't have to go out any more until Monday. Johan has to report to the hospital at 11.00 am. He will be operated on on Tuesday.
T hree cheers for those poor souls who do have to go out in this weather. Our paper boy delivers our newspaper every day around 05.00 hours. I know this is the time as I have seen him delivering papers when I woke up early one morning. If we don't receive our newspaper and we phone before 10.00 hours then we will still get it delivered the same day.
I thought I had finished sending all my Xmas cards out and then the proverbially "odd" card comes in my letter box and so I have to hastily make another card. I made 4 extra cards last night. Enough is enough. I have made more than 100 Xmas cards this year.
I am longing to pick up my embroidery and knitting again.
Have a nice evening.
Sylvia xxx

goodmorning from a rather warm 8 degree's in barrie this am I wish your hubby all the best with his op sylvia your weather sounds awful I guess it is bad all over my sister in calgary called to say they were getting lots of snow and it was very cold, it is good to see brenda back from vacation and back on line, we had the christmas dinner here in the building last evening it was very nice the complete turkey dinner with all the trimmings and we had a good turnout, going to have a lazy sunday I think will tackle the stores again to-morrow I have to pick up a perscription, on wednesday I am hoping that four lady friends of mine are driving up for a visit and lunch weather permitting this will be nice as for once I don't have to drive down to brampton enjoy the rest of the week-end bye for now dorothy

Hi everyone,had a very early start today as we where at my neices daughters christening.It was over in Tintwhistle in derbyshire so we had to be out at 8.30 to get there for the 9.30 services.The services was really good.Luckily all the babies being christened did not cry at all!! according to the vicar he must be getting better at it!!
They had a reception in a restuarant afterwards and as it was an Italian restuarant it was all pizzas ,pastas etc but all really good.and apple pie or cheesecake afterwards,
Back in work tomorrow ,so I will be feeling like I have not been away by 5pm tomorrow night,
Hope your husband is ok from his operation on Tuesday Sylvia,ant that you are on the mend as well.
Dorothy glad ypu enjoyed your building meal and that you have a good get together with your friends.
Fred i must get up to IKEA myself and look for a new table .but i don't want to put it togethe myself.
John hope all your carol services go well,the Sally army have acd out over here whic seems to be going well.
Be back tomorrow ,after work,Brenda