General Chat

Hello girls. I am back from my short trip to Rotorua. Strictly speaking Peter and Linzi don't live in Rotorua. They are on the north side of the lake, near the town of Hamurana. I arrived after a drive of almost 3 hours, with just one stop to fill up with diesel (the ute, not me). P & L arrived home from work about half an hour later, after I had taken all my gear inside and died the death of 1000 licks from their 2 small dogs.

I have put some photos on FB of the dogs, and the alpacas being fed. They have 3 alpacas but they are so slow to eat all the grass in their field that somebody has lent them another 4, but the grass is still growing rapidly. Had a nice evening chatting and having the dogs asking for pats and tummy rubs, and trying to lick my face.

Peter leaves for work just after 7.00 in the morning so I woke up at 6 and as they were not up I took my camera outside to get some more photos. After breakfast he left for work but phoned soon after to tell Linzi that there was an accident blocking the road to Rotorua and he had had to go all the way round the other side of the lake. She doesn't leave for work until 9.00.

I left at about 8.30 but as the accident was not too far from where their road turns into the main road I had to go the other way, but just went to Hamurana and parked by the lake. There would have been hundreds, if not thousands, of black swans on the lake. I took a lot of photos of them with their cygnets (ugly ducklings? no).

The road was opened about 10.15, 3 hours after the accident had happened. I took my time travelling home. I stopped in Tirau (old name was Oxford) to look at some of the shops and then went on. I was feeling a bit sleepy so pulled into a rest area, under some trees, and managed to squeeze up on the seat for a snooze. I finally arrived home at 3.30.

I have put some photos on FB, including variations of some which I might use for the camera club's set subject next month (Black and White, Sepia, or 50 shades of Grey).

I slept in this morning until just after 9.00 so my long day yesterday definitely tired me out. I might visit Phil tomorrow if I can find out if he is still in hospital or back in his home.

Ann I have just put some ideas on the card thread, hope it helps...

just about to send my cards off, not as many this year just some special ones ....

hope you are enjoying you new look house :-D :-D

love Jean xx <3

Jean and Sallie, could you look on the craft thread please as somebody wants advice on the e bosser. :-)

Hello my dear friends, it's good to hear from you all.
Huia, sorry to hear of poor Phil's toe, bless him it must have been so painful for him.
How long has your son had Alpaca's? They are lovely to look at, are they as friendly as they look, or do they hiss and spit at you.
I must take a look at your new photo's on FB. I bet the great grandchild of yours has really grown by now.
Is the hospice shop just as busy as it normally is ?

Sallie, thank goodness Richard and Christie are back together again, it makes for a much happier christmas knowing that all is well in their household.
Did you buy up the shop in Derby, when looking for the crafting stuff that you needed ?
I will pass on your good wishes to Florence.

Ann, how nice to get the carpet fitted before christmas arrives. It sounds like you had a very kind hearted fitter. There is nothing worse after having removed all the furniture, than to have to lug it all back in again, and normally, the bed is the biggest and heaviest thing to move, apart from wardrobes that is.
I dread painting our bedrooms for that reason. Roly has got an adjustamatic bed, and that is so so heavy, I can't even move it to hoover underneath, so it takes the two of us, just to move it a little bit so that I can get the hoover nozzle under it.

Today, our Lilly was taken up to London, by her aunt and uncle, to visit father christmas in Harrods. Isn't she a lucky little girl, if we took her it would be to somewhere local, and not nearly as exciting for her. I can't wait to see the photo's.

Take care everyone, speak to you soon. Hugs Mo xxx

Sylvia I am pleased that you enjoyed your time with your friend and that she is making a life for herself. As our widowed friend says, it is the only thing you can do.

Sallie good to see you posting, it is a busy time for card makers. I am up to date with Christmas and birthdays now.
We are very pleased with the new carpets, he was here five and a half hours and he has done an excellent job. He even helped T put the bed back together and put the bed drawers in which was a great help. He was a nice chap.

Huia I am sorry about Phil's toe, I hope he is physically ok otherwise.
You are such a busy person, do you ever take any time to stop and smell the roses? :-)

Mo I am sorry that Florence's pain killers no longer work. Maybe they will have a solution for her when she goes for RT. I hope so.

Huia, glad to know that you are alright, but very busy. It's good that you have lots of things to do and places to visit......so much better than being at home on your own.

Sorry to hear about Phil having to have his toe removed, hopefully now the wound will heal well.

Hope you have a good journey to your son's and enjoy some time with him. Take care of yourself.



Mo, sorry to hear that the painkillers off her doctor no longer work for your friend Florence.Please give her my get well wishes when you see her next and hope that all goes well for her.

Yes, Jennie and Michael come for their Christmas dinner every year so that we can all open our presents from each other, together. Afterwards they go to Michael's mum and dad's so that they can open all their presents together. Alun and I usually get invited there for Christmas evening, which is nice.....didn't go last year as Richard was here for Christmas, but he's back with Christie now, thank goodness, so they will stay in their own place this year.

I've been trying to finish off the birthday cards this evening, but have run out of a couple of things, so will have to go to Derby tomorrow morning to get what I need.



Jean, hope that you and your family are all alright today. I expect you are getting the rest of your Christmas cards finished.



Sylvia, just missed your post last night. Glad to know that you and OH are home safely and that you had a lovely few days staying with your friend.



Ann, hope they came and fitted your carpet today and that you and T are pleased with it.



Well, speak to you all later.



Take care everyone.



Love, Sallie.xxx

Hello everybody. Just to say I am still looking in but don't often post. I have been very busy.

Phil had a broken toe which had become infected so a couple of weeks ago he went into hospital to have it repaired, but a few days later it had become black, so he went back last week and had it removed.

On Sunday I went down to Hamilton, taking the other gt grandmother, to visit our granddaughter and gt grandsons. I have put photos on FB.

Yesterday (Monday) I was working in our Hospice shop in the afternoon and in the evening I went to Pukekohe for a meeting of the local Historic Society, which I joined recently.

After lunch today I am going down to Rotorua to visit my son and get some things he keeps forgetting to bring up here. Also taking down some golden jonquil bulbs, and seeing his alpacas. I will come home tomorrow.

I think that is all my current news.

Sylvia, it's good to hear that your friend is managing to adjust to her loss. It's never easy is it, to be with someone for so long, and then lose them, is like having a limb amputated, please god, let her continue in this vein.
Your Ferry journey sounded good, just relaxing and chilling, and best of all, spending money.....lovely jubbly.
Will you be seeing little man over the xmas period?. You will have to forgive me, if you have already said, but the memory is not what it was.

Hello Sallie, good to hear from you my love.
Having Jennie and Micheal for christmas lunch will be nice, I do like it when families gather together at times like xmas.
Fortunately I have less presents to wrap this year. It's only the real young ones that are receiving gifts, the older ones are having money, wether they like it or not.
There is no way I can decide what to buy them, and whatever I got, would no doubt be wrong, so money is my last resort.
My friend Florence starts her radiotherapy this coming Friday. The painkillers they gave her, are no longer working, so bless her she is suffering.

Well my lovely friends, I will say cheerio for now, please take care, stay safe and warm. Hugs to you all, Mo xxx

Hi everyone, not been on for a while, what with having ' a few not so good days '
and trying to get the Christmas cards finished and birthday cards made I just don't know where the time has gone. I still have six more birthday cards left to make....I'll get there one day I'm sure.lol!!!


Jean, sorry to hear about the death of your friend Annie, I'm sure that you and J miss her very much. But glad to know that the celebration of her life went well. It certainly sounds as though she was a lovely lady. It's a shame that she hadn't lived longer in her new home.


Not yet sure what we are doing for Christmas, I know that Jennie and Michael will be here for Christmas lunch, but after that it's anyone's guess. I expect you are all looking forward to seeing C on his first Christmas. Bless him.!!



Mo, sounds as though you and Roly have been busy with the paint brushes and pads. I'm still waiting for Alun to paint our bedroom, goodness knows when that will be done...at the moment he only seems interested in working on his model railway layout.lol!!


Well done on making a start on writing your Christmas cards, that's something I need to make a start on. It's amazing how quick this year so far, has gone by, as you say it isn't long now until Christmas.


How is your friend Florence getting along? Has she started her treatment yet? Thinking about her and sending her lots of positive thoughts....I hope all will go well for her and the treatment will be a success.


Sylvia, I read on one of the threads that you were going away for a few days. Not sure if you are home yet, so if you are, hope that you had a great time.


Hope that you and your family are all alright. Are you and OH spending Christmas with your daughter and her family this year?



Ann, I see that both you and T have been painting your hall, stairs and landing. It will all look nice when they have fitted your new carpet tomorrow.

Have you managed to pack any pesents and write any Christmas cards yet.

I have packed some presents but still got quite a lot left to pack, hoping to do some tomorrow.



I hope that all is well with Huia and Marie and their families. It seems a long while since either of them have posted on here.



Well, I must go to bed now, so will look in again soon.



Take care everyone.


Love, Sallie.xxx

Hi Mo, and everyone


Mo and Jean ....... it sounds as if both your friends had "happy" send-offs :-)


we got back late Saturday afternoon ............

....... it's amazing how tiring a 2 hour ferry ride, with a 20-30 minute drive on each side, can seem :-D

We did nothing but eat lunch, move to the deluxe comfortable coffee "shop" at the stern of the boat, go to the on-board shop (and spend money :-D ), knit and read! But we were both very tired when we got home!


We had a good time ........... we stayed with the friend whose husband died in May, but she invited the other friends for lunch or dinner, so we saw them all..

The weather was OK to good.

OH accompanied our friend on her morning walk each day, which made a change for her.


She really has adapted very well ........... misses her husband terribly of course, but is making determined efforts to get out and DO things. Not only has she continued to go to events, but she has even joined another committee of an organisation that interests her (music for children).



take care everyone




s
xx

Hello Jean my lickle love.
I am sorry to hear that you are still not feeling on top par. My head normally pleases itself what it's going to say and think half the time, so don't fret to much my love. With your vertigo affecting you as it does, you are bound to feel like you are topsy turvy a lot, but I luv ya anyway my sweet.
What colour flooring are you going to get for your kitchen Jean ?

We went to friends 25th wedding anniversary celebrations last night. We arrived at 7.30, and Roly wanted to come home after about 30 minutes. There was hardly anyone we knew there, and we felt like spare parts to be honest, so we were home indoors by 10.00p.m.
I truly think we are getting staid in our ways, and becoming home birds.

Today has seen me writing christmas cards out. Oh boy, I am dreading going to buy postage stamps, at the moment, apart from the ones going abroad, I need 30 stamps.
Thank goodness there are a lot that I can just give out by hand.

It's been a very dull miserable day here today, and this evening there is a light rain coming down. In fact it's almost like a mist, so who knows it could be, but I aint going out to check, no flippin fear, I might get wetter than I am already. lol

I am hoping and praying that everyone is well, as it's been a long time since we have heard from a few of our friends.
Sending special wishes across the seas to, Sylvia, Huia and not forgetting Marie.

Take care one and all, hugs Mo xxx

Morning all, I too was wondering how Marie is , and also our Sallie hope all is well with her and the family...
I am still struggling with my walking and find I soon get weary, the head pleases it self what it does, so I stop worrying about it .I think I have had it so long I now know the signs and do what I need to do to ease it, parr for the course I suppose... ;-)
we are having new floorcovering in the kitchen sometime next week , so pleased about that, wish we could get the rest of the house revived :-D :-D but moving furniture is such a pain. we have too much :-| :-|
I think Christmas for us will be a quiet one, we are going to our friend Molly on christmas eve it will be a very emotional time last year was the last time we saw Jack her oh, He died on boxing day.... so not looking forward to it but she does need support , so the rest of the family who have children can have a reasonable
normal time...feels strange not working hard getting cards done, although I will start again to do a few after christmas....have no idea what gifts to get our small family. and Jeff and I dont really need anything, so as its C first christmas he wont know whats going on, as long as he has boxes especially the talll ones that usually have crisps in , we put some small plasic cubes in and put the lid on , he loved it also an empty tissue box that he could bang on.... I remember when his daddy was small I covered a big box with tin foil and with some added bits it became a space ship, he loved it and played with it often....

I do hope all our friends over the water are doing o.k. and send love and prayers to one and all.....

take care wrap up warm its going to get colder so we are told ...

love and hugs Jean xxx

Hello girls,
Jean, Annies send off sounds like it was a lovely commemoration, for a wonderful woman.
We said farewell to our friend Jean yesterday as well. It was not a sad occasion, her family had so many happy memories to share with us, apart from the ones we had shared with her ourselves.

I can't believe how close christmas is now. Under normal circumstances, I would have bought the presents, and written the cards out ready for sending. But this year I just can't get into the mood for it.
I suppose that come the first of December, our neighbours will have all their christmas decoartions up.......ooooh no, not in this house, not this year. lol

I do hope Marie is settled in her new home by now. I know she was moving in at the end of October, but perhaps she is waiting for internet connection to be fitted.

I sincerely hope that you are all well. Sending you my love and best wishes. Mo xxx

Sylvia, I think Canada has got it right, one day (11th) to remember and a statutary holiday. I still find it confusing here where we have 2 minutes silence correctly on the 11th but also two minutes silence on the nearest Sunday. Plus a festival of remembrance (which is always lovely, on the nearest Saturday Also with 2 minutes silence. I hasten to add I don't grudge giving the three 2 minutes in silence but it does get a little confusing to remember when it is all happening.

Jean, the celebration of Annie's life sounds beautiful, a lovely way to be remembered. <3

Thank you Sylvia, we went to the celebration of Annies life , the funeral was private , family only , she had sorted everything out some time ago, it was a lovely time no tears or sadness,we sang the hymns and songs she had chosen, we had her two grandsons ,one read from the bible the other remembered his grannie Annie, we then shared personal memories of her quite a few folk said what she meant to them one lady called Pinka a lovely lady who joined the church some time ago unable to read or write Annie spent a lot of time teaching her to read and write she stood and read the 23rd psalm which she did beautifully, there was lots of laughter and clapping a lovely way to say goodbye, Annie had left a note saying we had to have tea and biscuits afterwards, she was one of Gods angels on earth....

love Jean xx <3 <3 <3

Hi Mo, and everyone


Jean ............... my sympathies on the loss of your friend. How sad that she did not have longer in her new place xxx



It was a nice dry, not too cold day with some sunny periods for the Remembrance Day services here.

I think I have said before that all our observances are on November 11, and that it is a Federal Stat Holiday.

It was interesting listening to the Remembrance Day Ceremony from the National War Memorial in Ottawa ................ the famous reading ..........

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

was given in English, French AND Inuktituk (one of the main Inuit (Eskimo) languages).


They actually played this at 11 am our time, although it had happened 3 hours earlier ................ I guess they didn't have the crews to record any of the local ceremonies at Cenotaphs around BC!

In Canada, this year has been designated as the Year of the Korean Veterans.

Iain was a little disgusted with the church service yesterday (Sunday), where no-one made any mention of the Boer War, Spanish Civil War, or the Korean War.




We are going away this week to see our friend on the Island ................ send out the search parties if I am still missing after the weekend :-D

OH's sister and her 2 friends will be here most of tomorrow (Tuesday), killing time between plane arriving from Hawaii and plane leaving for their home town.

I also have physio, which I can't miss as the physiotherapist will be away for the next 2 weeks!

So, Tuesday will be busy .................



take care everyone




s
xx

I have actually put my Christmas craft stuff away for now Jean. I think I have enough cards for me and charity. So my job today is to start actually writing them!

Good job we are doing the painting this weekend, just heard the carpet is in and they will fit it Monday week (18th).

Once Mo starts with the painting, it starts everyone off, ;-) ;-) Ann, your T is a gem
what a worker :-D :-D I am looking round my house now and maybe we will get the decorators in too, J is past it now and I dont do such things.. I found a slug in the kitchen early this morning we havent had any so far so must get the floor sorted and hopefully no more....

We go to say goodbye to our friend on Tuesday , it is a celebration of her life ,
it is hard to think of her missing now but we have lovely memories stored away....

Hope our Sallie and family are o.k. no doubt she is busy cardmaking... I have a few pics of some latest ones, when D puts them on for me , seems strange not doing so many now, have to stop myself doing them ;-) ;-) ;-) though I have just bought a new die.....

hope Marie is o.k. and settled in her new home....
love to Huia, Sylvia , Joyce also <3 <3 <3 <3

raining here now and cold. take care,

love Jean xxx <3

It is pouring with rain here and like the middle of the night, so dark. OH is nowpainting the hall, and stairs, so every room is subsequently in chaos.; He finished upstairs yesterday and is taking down all the bits in the hall at the moment (I took all the pictures down yesterday while he was at golf). Paint colour is Crown toasted almond silk.

I think we have scheduled in a coffee run and to get the papers at 11am!!!

It will be the stairs then so I have to plan ahead to be either upstairs or downstairs. So this morning I shall do things up here, and this afternoon I shall be writing Christmas cards and hopefully wrapping a few presents downstairs. All go isn't it?
:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Well done T on getting as far as you have in such a short time.