General Chat

Morning Les' how very dare you mention selling Bears :-| all mine have now gone in to hiding ,and won't venture out :-( lol,sell .'em perish the thought i must have 18 of them ,including my Canadian Post Bear ,must be because i never had one as a bairn . :-(.
Yep ,i have just edited the pics i took yesterday ,so i will send them to you as well,crikey ,even i got a shock when i realised just how small these abodes where,the living room with it's cooking range used as a bedroom overnight ,the main bedroom up two stairs through a door ,now gone and the now kitchen a small second bedroom ,and that's it folks.
a tin bath in front of the range for bath night was the order of the day,the outhouses having a small toilet ,a wash house with wood burning boiler for the washing ,and the wood/coal house ,all mod cons he he ,what luxury.
I took one extra photo of the doors next door ,still two flats ,to show how the frontage was altered as the sons place was converted into a house.
I still have the pic of 6 fir street on this computer showing my aunt's flat where my dad was born,exactly the same sort of build ,only they were Ship yard workers abodes ,just the same as the miners ,all over the north east of England ,all squashed to gether ,even down to my Grandad Barnes house in Twickenham London ,already converted before my Grandad brought it.
They were the same houses ,sort of ,all over victorian Britain ,Coronation Street being just the same and the height of suburban living at that time.
When i go to the Museum next [ Beamish ] i will take a few pics of the flat's there so that you can see the insides as they were .
He He ,i thought my pad was tiny ,but looking back ,i think i had a palace without knowing it all along ,lol :-D.
Had a great day yesterday ,i took the easter eggs up to the daughter ,after dropping Chris his ,up the road,and then went through to the sons over Wallsend way,where i took the pics ,made a fuss of the rescue dog ,a King Charles Spaniel who is getting used to her new home ,and wondering at the change in her fortune this poor animal was starving when the son took her ,frightened of anyone with a stick [tells you a lot] she hid as soon as Liz walked in with her walking stick ,poor little mite ,oh Lord ,how i HATE cruel people :-|.
Any way by the time we left ,she was fine letting us stoke and make a fuss ,wagging her tail , lovely little dog :-).
Coming away we decided to go to the disabled garden ,and got a hell of a shock :-0 closed down because of council cuts ,that says it all ,so ,being on the way home we went to the other place [Cowells] where i found two lovely replacement roses for the back garden ,and ssome lovelly onion plants for my boxes ,not quite enough ,but our lovely friend told us ,she had more coming on Monday :-D so i will get two more punnets then.
Getting home ,there was a card from T N T threough the door ,ooooooops ,we had forgotten Seans parcel delivery ,but hey ,serves him right for not having it delivered on Camp :-|,never mind A ,he he ,but they say they will come back today to try again ,so we will still have it by tonight. :-).
Time to go and bring the bin in ,the chaps have just emptied it for us ,only the recycle bin left to have done now,and the other wagon will be here within the hour. ;-).
Catch you all later today people ,in all day today ,dirty stop outs ,we are he he ,Fred :-D :-D <3

Morning to everyone ,from one sodden area in Sunny Newcastle ,not :-( he he ,so my plants and new Roses are still waiting in the greenhouse.
Ih have had another look at Marys cencus images ,which don't quite jibe with the flat idea ,so i had another look at the family home and noticed that it was more like the previous house that the son had ,in Leamington ,which seems to be a closer match.
Leamington was a very narrow ,but deep house built to house miners with two biggish size rooms downstairs ,and two bedrooms up,quite a size for those days,but again ,no kitchen ,or inside toilet ,with the same coal fired cooking range.
With 14 plus living in there Mary ,i reckon the two downstairs rooms would have been used as sleeping areas too.
Once you get Johns needs sorted old buddy ,i expect you will be trying to find out what happened to the bulk of this family in Ashington as i don't think they would have all shipped out to Oz' ,though stranger things have happened.
The offer stands anyway ,i can search the local grave yards for you to find head stones of any that died in the area.though no doubt the nephew & possibly brother moved on to a new mine to work.
One of the Ashington mines is now a museum ,so i can even go and take some pics ,if it turns out to be the pit that your family worked in.
Seans parcel turned up last evening ,so all i am waiting for now is my fruit tree ,lol :-).
Rhian must have the bestest dolly in Canada Les ,and you are still making clothes for it what ever her name is ,i reckon it should have Princess before it ,this is no common dolly :-D.
Looks like our Edith is still full of busy with the work she is doing for her groups ,i just hope she dosn't over do it and make herself ill.
Time to do the shopping now ,to find when i come home that the tree arrived ,lol,never mind ,i can collect it from the local sorting office that is only a mile away.
Catch you later people.Fred. :-D <3

Morning all, Yes, Fred it is time to sit and have a quiet day for a change.
Our weather has been mmmgood lately. Lots of sun and warm days. The ice is off the big lake and it is the earliest ever recorded. Usually the fishermen are waiting on May 15th to get out on the lakes but not this year.
Oh, boy fresh pickeral coming up.
As our town is celebrating 100 years this year a picture book has been published. It was on sale as of yesterday and it is very well done. I have lived here since 1946 and am enjoying seeing the change in pictures.
We are so blessed to be in a spot on this earth that is not bothered by earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes and such. Yes, we have cold and snow but even that goes away :-)
Lots of celebrations coming up for the Centennial and of course I have to help :-D Yes, Fred even my family is saying whoa Grandma. Like my Grandfather who said he was not going "out" with his boots on I guess I am more like him than I think :-D :-D
The neighbor and I transplanted some pansies yesterday. She bought them in a pop top tin that you added water to and now they are too big for said tin, so we moved them to peat pots that can go right into the ground.
Different way to get folks to buy plants :-S
My coffee is perked so time for me to move, see you soon. Edith <3

Hello everyone

I hope you don't mind me popping in to say hello. I don't think I have been on here before but would like to say that I do read it now and then :-))

Hi Susan ,and welcome ,[now who does that sound like] ,lol,someone off the telly from a few years back. :-).
Just thought i would come no here for a few seconds to say hello,and then i am off out into the garden to put all my beans and onions in before the rain returns ,lol :-D.
Catch you all later ,i hope ,Fred. :-D :-D <3

Hi all Been very busy lately so haven't been in..Thanks for the pics Fred,, very interesting.. Looks like he has done a great job and the place is lovely..I think I would miss a bit of garden in the front though..but then he has one in the back..we don't have many homes like that in OZ, as most people wanted their 1/4 acre block and home in the middle of it.. Inner city homes are terraces and once upon a time they were disliked and you could pick one up for a song,,Different story now,,They are prized and cost a motza..mainly because of their closeness to the city and most have been modernised and remodelled making them lovely homes.Parking is now the problem..
Well my seedlings are starting to show their heads and looking good.. Hope we have a bit of rain soon so that I don't have to get out and water them to often..
Was going to take John to lunch today but his legs have got a bit worse lately and he finds it hard to get up out of a chair so decided not to go. I went over to the Bowling Club and got 2 Chinese takeaways,,then I had to go down to the Mall to get some money back from our doctors bills and had a haircut while there,,Haven't had a cut for 3 months so it was driving me crazy.. Put the emergency buzzer which is on a cord around Johns neck and left him at his puta,,Poor bugger was glad when I got home as he wanted to get into his easy chair but was worried yo try until I got back.
Well am off to bed.. Have a nice weekend all..

Love Mary xxx <3

Garden Mary ,Garden? on a terrace in Tyneside ,nah me old mucker,twas a concrete back yard back AND front ,or if you were unlucky ,back only.
if you see any of the period films of Tyneside ,you will see the sort of setup.even the house at Leamington that i sent you the pics of was the same ,only the now kitchen being created by the knocking down of the end wall and converting the outbuildings of the time into the one room not a coal hole ,washroom and end toilet.
The house your da' had was the upper class one ,lol.houses like the oz people used to get in like days were far bigger far more luxuriant ,with a garden yet ,lol,our lot had allotments for growing stuff.
We finally got our sunny morning ,anyway ,and i have been out in both gardens ,put all my bean seeds in ,broads ,dwarf french climbers ,and runners ,put my two new rose bushes in ,watered the two big trees ,and then been oiut front where i had a fight with the remaining rose hedging bushes ,he he ,what a fight that was ,lol.
I had visions of clearing the remaining 4 plants out ,and then ,at last removing all three remaining post supports that were put onto the fence posts ,while the cement set last year,then the fight started .
First the fork went in to the roots ,and the tussle ensued ,then ,soil loosened ,it was on with the heavy gloves ,to prevent thorn sticking in the hands,and a tug of war started.
it ended with the roots snapping and me measuring my length along the ground,knocking the three post supports over on the way,job finished ,and i suppose i won by a submission ,but nearly knocked myself out.
Of course ,Joan ,over the way saw the finish ,and as i picked myself up ,stood there ,a bit like a kid after a mud fight ,covered in soil all over my knees and legs ,dirtied shorts and all ,she creased up ,grrrrrrr ,lol :-D .NOT a good finish to the morning,lol ,still the upper end of the garden looks a lot better now,apart from the biiiig clump of Crocosnier which i'm afraid i won't be tackling i will leave that to the eldest son to pull out,it is well to big for me to tackle ;-).
I am now left with the onion plants to put in ,maybe tomorrow after the heavy frosts we are expecting tonight,if not ,over the weekend.
So ,there it is Edith ,catching you up i think ,i have even got Rosemary ,Thyme,and Parsley plants ready to go in,so Edith ,any suggestions as to the other 3 .?
Time to go ,and drag my sore ,clean butt out into the kitchen to make tea :-) Catch you all later ,Fred :-D <3

Hello Just a very quick for Fred. The other 3, I would use are basil, sage and oregano. Basil with tomato dishes, sage for most meats but especially for turkey and oregano for pizza sauce and most pasta dishes.Will try and get there for the harvest :-D :-D
Edith <3

Duly noted thanks Edith ,but could you suggest 1 new one please as we still have that massive sage bush in the back garden that has half hidden one of the rose bushes ,lol :-).
Doing very well now ,the Pak Choi in one trough through and another on standby for the next sowing in four weeks ,two more for filling with lettuce,and two for carrot.
2 new boxes along the path with red onion in ,the three old boxes for white onion ,leaving two boxes with my leek in :-),and this leaves the garden in front of the brussel and Calabrese free for the long row of white turnip.
The rest of the patch will have three sorts of cabbage ,three types of bean.a few Kale plants ,and my beetroot ,all in all ,if things go to plan plenty of veggies to keep us going ,more or less all year after i freeze a load of brussel ,and bean down.
I am still looking for a couple of those large potato growing sacks that i got hold of two years ago because with the way things are going ,the potato this year because of the water shortage down south will be a heck of a price come autumn :-(.
Maybe i should think of making more use of the greenhouse and trying somw grapes or even pineapple like the victorians did ,hmmmmm ,i did grow some mushrooms a few years ago ,in the hall cupboard with one of those growing kits.lol :-D.
Reckon it's time to do some house work peoples [sorry for swearing ] before i set too and put those onion plants in ,once the sun comes out that is .he he ,i couldn'd even get Hissy to go out this morning ,ooooo ,this cat loves the snow ,but hates rain to death ,lol
Catch you later peoples ,Fred :-D <3 xxx.
P S did you notice the name on the apron patterns, Mary & Les'? ,hmmmm.

A lovely bright sunny Sunday morning people ,but plurry cold with it ,lol,by the time i had potted on last years Thyme plant that has stood the winter out in the open ,my hands were freezing and i had to go into the greenhouse to warm them up :-)
While in there i noticed ,no sugar plum or Moneymaker through as yet ,or my cucumber ,so i set to and put seeds in for all of them ,in cups ,to see if i can get strikes this way,i listened to the wife [again] putting seeds straight into the buckets ,and as usual ,nothing ,so in future i do it my way ,and transplant to buckets later .
I Was going to do the back lawn this morning ,cold or not ,but when i spotted the visitor on the back path one rather large frog that obliged me by sitting still till i got a photo and then bogging off as i took my camera indoors ,decided to leave the lawn ,just in case it hopped in among the grass,my excuse for not getting the mower out ,you lot :-P.
Still havn't put the onions out as there is a heavy frost due tonight ,again ,sigh,by 'eck ,i am well behind by the end of the month :-( further even than last year,still reckon the springs are getting later each year ,and the summers shorter ,or is it just me getting more decrepit ? lol :-).
Nice easy dinner today ,chicken breast ,and slices of beef from the freezer ,roast veggies ,some home made yorkies ,and a nice beef gravy :-D.
Think it's a lazy afternoon ,all the dusting and carpets done for today.
catch you all later ,Fred. :-D <3

Good evning all, .As usual had a busy day but am home to stay now.
Fred some other herbs are sweet marjoram and summer savory.
I use savory on a lot of my egg dishes seems to add a lot of flavor with just a pinch of the fresh herb and a bit more if it's dried. Also great in meat pies.
Our weather has taken a nose dive so it's back off on the balcony stuff. :-P
Guess I was spoiled by the early ice breakup :-) Oh well it will come soon and then I will have to work fast to get everything in the ground.
Hope you enjoy the African video, I really had a great laugh at all the animals. I've seen the birds here in the fall after eating frozen fruit on the trees but never anything like those in the video. A good belly laugh always makes you feel good doesn't it ?
Have been watching the tornado"s in the U.S midwest and saying thanks for not getting them here. The devastation is mind boggling and so many deaths :-(
IF your dusting etc. is done my apt. could use a bit of a clean-up, I'll leave all the tools just inside the door, of course there is a bit of cake in the fridge when your finished to go with the tea :-D
Must get something in the oven or I'll not be eating to-night so bye for now.
Edith <3

Hi everyone.. well we are having some heavy rain which is welcome but wish it would just stop while I take John to the physio..It is difficult getting there never mind keeping him dry..Don't have enough pairs of hands for it all..
Fred.. I heard a great idea on the tv the other night about sowing seeds..a lady uses her half eggshells after she had opened them for a dish and puts soil in them and puts them back in the egg carton and plants her seeds in each one.When they are big enough to plant out she just cracks the bottom of the eggshell and plants the whole thing in the garden..That way the roots are undisturbed and off they grow in the garden bed..might try it myself..A lot of seeds have germinated, but there is one lot that nothing has come up..Will give it a little longer and if nothing find something else,
Grey and wet today but still not cold.. up to 20c 0dd today and it was only in the high teens overnight.. Still only one blanket on the bed..

Well better get John ready to go so have a nice day all..

Love Mary xx <3

Morning Edith & Mary .the idea of the eggs shells is worth a try Mary .egg shell will break down in the soils adding nutrients as it does so and you could even use the old carton too ,so long as it's cardboard,i waste nowt ,lol.

Yep we are getting really weird weather here too ,both of you ,we had snow and sleet yesterday ,luckily in the afternnoon ,and today is forcast for high wind and driving rain ,so Mary ,i know how difficult it must be to get John off for his appointment in such lousy conditions ,and i hope you manage it okay,and keep your hubby dry too.
As regards the seeds ,if not one seed came up and if they were sowed inside the perameters shown on the packet ,i would keep the packet and complain to the seed providers that is not on selling duff seed,they should give you a refund [at least] and even give you a free seed selection to keep you sweet. :-|.
Had a good morning ,both of you ,yesterday that is ,the sun was up ,and warm for me anyway ,so i had the mower out by 8-20 am ,bugg** the neighbours ,and got both the back ,and front lawns cut ,picked the heads off those lovely yellow flower's other wise known as dandilions lol,,got my onion plants in ,and got all but one of the herbs settled in the urns,and watered the two fruit trees,and then ,i was knackered ,he he.
I will have a look for those two herbs tomorrow Edith ,and will buy myself an Olive tree for the front lawn at the same time ,it will go well in the little bed in the middle of my front lawn.and i have some big pieces of fleece to cover the foliage with in the mid winter for frost protection.
We are now looking at finding some smallish plants to put up against the fence out front ,that will take some of the bareness off the wood,plenty to choose from :-).
Afraid you struck out with the dusting Edith ,the boss says there is work to do here first ,sigh ,i need a sit down now ,before i start the dinner :-(.
Catch you later ,take care all Fred. :-D :-) <3

Morning Why, oh why, is good help so hard to find?????? :-D

Have a great day everyone. Edith <3

Hi Guys it has been warm and sunny here for a few days but we have had some heavy rain too. Norm was able to cut both lawns and has done a lot of the weeding as he is not sure I should be digging and pulling just yet....sweet man!!!

Have been experimenting in the kitchen. I found an amazing recipe online for a chicken pot pie that had a cobbler top rather than pastry. Gourmet recipe, not quite so easy as chuck it all in the pan, slap the lid on etc. It took me an hour to slice and dice all the veg, chicken etc plus measure out all the spices, liquid etc. It is the kind of recipe where everything needs to be at hand. Wow!! I thought I was on Food Network :-D
Anyway the cobbler top was perfect but I thought too big for the pie. It was very yummy but another time I would make more filling as the cobbler top takes one egg and it is hard to divide that in half.!!

So hot on the heels of that little caper I made Jamie Oliver's Bolognese sauce....another another hour of chopping, dicing and measuring but well worth the effort. The only addition I made was to add one small tin of tomato paste as I like my sauce red. As I made this I did wonder about all the veg that went into it but yesterday I watched a guy on FN make his version of the same sauce and he explained how northern italian sauces are not red....oops!! I must be having a weird moment or two in the kitchen because tonight I am making an Italian vegetable stew, not minestrone, and it will have little italian sausage meatballs...now that I know how to make them quick and easy.

It is tax time here so that is my job for today. Norm is out most of the day so I will be able to sort and mutter and get it over and done with.
Keep well you lot.
Lesxx

Morning all ,piddling down here ,and not very warm ,but we now have 6 of the 9 Asparagus plants through now ,so we arn't doing to badly,the 3 we are waiting for are 2nd year growth anyway ,so we won't be cutting them for use at all.
I like the sound of that cobbler Les' and may give the posh one a go ,up to a point ,he he i would be too lazy to make the cobbler top because ,as you ,i only have to cook for two ,so ,i use a couple of brought scones ,usually cheese ones ,and cut 'em down the middle making four cobblers in all :-D.
Do the sphagetti thing one a fortnight ,but again i do it the lazy way having a superstore a mile away ,i buy the meat balls ready made .lolbut the rest of the dish is done correctly :-).
Glad that Norm' has managed to get the lawns done for you ,so that by the time you are fit ,there won't ,hopefully be so much catching up to do,thankfully ,despite the weather i am more or less there ,and can finish off pretty quickly when we come back from Blackpool :-)
Had a darned good chuckle on reading Edith's emails yesterday ,she does find some belters ,he he ,the one about the helicopter trip had me in stitches :-D.
The butterfly chicken breasts went down a storm yesterday ,and today i am using three different flavour Ciabatta rolls for dinner ,tomato and herb,cheese and herb ,and a plain cutting them down the middle and using the half jar of Pesto sauce we had left ,some slices off emmental cheese,sliced tomato, roast ham slices raw red onion ,and beetroot slices .layered together and cooked in the press ,with a small side salad. :-D.
Tomorrow will be Perogie day ,done The usual way ,but we are going to try it with a small mild curry and chicken ,we will see ,it's to use up all the bits out of the fridge before we go away next Monday ,lol ,it will either be :-D or :-( .
Hoping to get the fir hedging cut before we go too ,because ,after the winter it looks rather tatty to put it politely.
Hope everyone is having a nice week ,and that Mary is resting whenever she can ,these next few weeks are going to be very difficult for her i know,and the weather dosn't help in the least. :-(
Take care everyone ,Fred.xxx :-D <3

Morning all, Sorry your getting all the water Fred, altho' you may need it for the gardens later. We are still on the edge of the deep freeze.
No snow, just chilly winds and grey skies.
I enjoy hearing about your cooking adventures, Les and Fred.
I have always loved to spend the whole day in the kitchen making a new recipe. Recently a friend had a 1949 copy of Better Homes and Gardens and I thought I was in Heaven. So many recipes with very basic ingredients and I copied almost the whole book :-D Made a 1 egg cake and it was the best tasting cake many of our Seniors club had ever had.
Also saw a recipe for a tin of Prem covered with mashed potatoes and baked in the oven??? Wonder how many calories it added up to :-)
Mary, have used the egg cartons etc. too and it works well, especially if the seeds are like bits of dust. Once they are started it is so easy just to pop them in the ground. Hope you take it easy sounds like you have a busy life.
Glad your enjoying the e-mails Fred. Most of the real funny ones are from a cousin in Arizona. She too gets about 30 a day. Usually takes me about an hour a day just to get through all of them. I enjoy laughing my way through that first hour, it usually sets my mood for the day ahead :-D
Time for my breakfast so it's bye for now. Edith <3

Morning our Edith ,Les .Mary .and anyone else who happens by ,
Lovely spring morning here,just a normal day ,not ,lashing rain and thunderstorms forecast he he ,guess who got an email yesterdaay to say the pear tree was on it's way yeah ,right :-P :-( bet it arrives today as well he he.
Yep i will be doing the perogies today ,i have the streaky bacon ready ,plenty of veggies to chop up,and am thinking of doing the Edith version ,with a twist ,finishing the dish off with very thinly sliced potato [lighty steamed to soften it] before adding to the top of the sauce all done in one dish and put in the top oven to brown the potato ,bit like a top pot finish.
Have to go to the doc's this mporning because this plurry cold had gone to my chest ,and i feel as though bronchitis is starting ,need to get that sorted quickly,before i go down to Blackpool next week :-).
The patio is about there ,only one of the Peony not showing yet and all the other tubs with plenty of colour showing,and my Bluebells are spreading nicely,looking good ,lol
Out back ,my asparagus is doing well ,all but three buckets now showing life ,and no doubt the other three won't be far behind :-D.
We have two visiting cats in the front garden now ,both female ,who come for a stroke every day ,Hissy is a bit jealous ,but she is behaving herself so far, so i can live with that ,and after all ,she gets spoilt rotten in the house anyway :-D.
Looks like it's the tomato's turn to be a pain this year ,there is always one veg ,at least every year that fails ,or does poorly ,and at least ,they are available at the shops ,even if they are a bit bland ,so we will do okay.
Going to get myself ready now ,we have the pescriptions to pick up this morning ,and i will see if i can get to see the doc' at the same time.
Catch you later peoples ,take care ,Fred. :-D <3

Morning all, Well, what a lovely day we had yesterday, woke to a white world. About 5 inches of the stuff :-P
Depressing or what :-( all the snow "stuff" is put away and the summer clothes are out,it is a want to scream day for sure.
Think I will have the balcony enclosed and then I can have a greenhouse out there. Sure would be nice to not have to worry about rain, snow etc.
Hope you get your chest problems sorted Fred. You ar right in getting attention quickly, at our age it doesn't take much to have full blown pneumonia.
Loved your e-mail Mary, the birds are beautiful.
Take care all and I will be back. :-D Edith <3

Edith I like the idea of your enclosed balcony. My Mom's old apartment had that....what a lovely space.

So back to the kitchen I did not make the stew but did in fact make a french cassoulet....what a palava. All kinds of slicing and dicing, brown the bacon then the sliced italian sausage, then add the onions and garlic, a minute here 5 minutes there. The result was delish but Norm said too many beans (I used navy could not find cannellini anywhere) and neither of us particularly liked the italian sausage. Traditionally this is made with bacon, sausage and duck confit. I substituted chicken breast for the duck and I do believe I may substitute ham for sausage next time. The broth was amazing but that may have been as much from the spices and the long cooking time, 3 hours all told. Today I think I may make pizza from scratch. Found a really good dough recipe in the New York Times that I can make in the food processor.

Norm has just about weeded the entire back yard for me, bless him. Maybe next week I will do the front beds, perhaps on my hands and knees as I am still not allowed to dig.

Nothing much going on here. Kathy may come for a visit...now that is always good for a laugh or two.
More later. Lesxx