General Chat

Thought I'd join in on this thread .I had seen it back when it started,but my life was rather busy at that time and although I did post occasionally I wasn't really into general chat as I cared for my sick husband....

However as it seems such a nice thread,as they used to be with no bickering,Ifind it very interesting having read it mostly from the beginning.

John ...just read that you have lived in Rhos on Sea.i lived in Llannerch rd west off Brompton ave until we moved about 4 miles away in 2000 to downsize from one of the big houses there,so I know the area you are talking about...small world !

moonbi,
so you don't live far from Mount Buffalo...my son goes climbing near there sometimes andI think they go for the snow as well.He lives in Melbourne with his 2 children and I was there for 3 months ..Christmas till mid March this year.Have never been to Queensland but flew to Sydney for 2 weeks from Melbourne to stay with stepson and family and also went twice to Halls Gap in the Grampians...once for a week in the New Year a nd then a week end for their February jazz festival.

I am going to get ready shortly to go out to tea with some friends and then on to a piano recital in a church in Conwy...I believe it's to celebrate a new piano and a quite famous pianist...so I'm told....is playing Schubert and Rachmaninov ...should be interesting..will let you know!!!

Brenda x

Hi Brenda
you are right to assume that I live near Mt Buffalo. the last few days they have had another dump of 50 cm snow, so the ski season will be extended. its been a long very cold windy and wet winter. It's supposed to be spring officially, but it sure doesnt feel like it yet.

I went to the Grampians for my birthday - a long time ago - and my sister went there last new year. she said its very beautiful, and green again. Recovered after the fires that went through there a few years ago.

I like some types of jazz too, and as a former piano teacher, I can also appreciate Schubert and Rachmaninov. I find it interesting that this famous pianist is playing both composers on the same ticket. who is it? what new piano did the church buy?

You should have an interesting night.

Nice to hear from you moonbi,
I really enjoyed the performance last night...the pianist is Welsh,his name is...Iwan Llewelyn- Jones...google him.....
It wasn't Rachmaninov ,my friend got it wrong....the first half was Ravel,Faure,Bach....then a lighter second half...Chopin,Debussy and Schubert.
The piano is a Kawai grand and Iwan had chosen it.Id never heard of the name and I have been a pianist for 70 years,starting when I was 7!
I used to teach as well ..my favourite composers are Beethoven,Chopin and Mozart,but I met my first husband who was a jazz trumpeter and though I didn't like it at first I grew to love Dixieland and eventually played in a jazz band.
Claim to fame...We played in the Cavern Liverpoolwhen it opened as a jazz club and the Beatles were our supporting band!

When I married my late husband 25 years ago,He was a classical fan,so I reverted to my first love,but on my 70 th birthday he booked a surprise party with jazz band .and I played a couple of numbers with them,so we started going to their regular venue until He became I'll and I cared for him for 5 years as he was housebound.

When I went to the Grampians jazz festival it made me feel that I had to have a life again and now I go to a jazz night with 2 chaps who are fans...one being a blind trombonist...so between my love of both forms of music it is given me an interest in going out again.

Love to hear about your musical interests...without music life would be very dull!

Brenda x

Hello all, Just back from a weekend in Bristol where we went to see The Lion King. Fantastic costumes and effects but the sound system seemed to be lacking something. There were two percussionists, one either side of the Hippodrome Theatre each in a box but although we were expecting a great sound it seemed very wishy washy somehow. Shame as the show itself was very good. Maybe we are being picky.

Lovely to see this thread re-juvenated, thanks for resurrecting it Annette (Moonbi). That retirement village seems to be just what you are looking for, I so hope you can sell your house and get a property there, it sounds lovely.
Brenda welcome to the thread, such interesting posts from you too. Not heard of that pianist but I am sure you enjoyed the evening. An interesting life you have led. Nice to have two music teachers on the thread.

Hi Sylvia. :-)

HI Ann sorry to hear the LION show disappointed. When the acoustics don't match the costuming and voices it becomes less than it could be.
Its often got to do with the design of the building and the type of micro phones not suiting.
Brenda, ah
it's a real shame - Bach on a piano ! I Much prefer to hear it played on a pipe organ. How can a pianist ever get the reverb desired. Even so Bach did play some of his pieces on a spinet, didnt he?
I have heard of a Kawai piano. lovely weighted piano. I played on one in a music store in Melbourne years ago. But it was very pricy then, and I guess its still the same.

My fav. composers are Mozart, and Dvorak. I guess its the German ancestory in me.
and there is my English ancestory too, as I just love the way the men's quartet BLAKE sing together. My other fav are Celine Dion, and Andre Bocelli. So you see I enjoy more singing than instrumental at this time of my life.
If you get to see the Australian movie "The Sapphires" you will hear the type of jazz that I like. Yes I like going to the movies too!

Both of my parents were musical. My dad was the conductor of the church choir for many years. The first song he taught me to play was "Church in the Wild wood". Dad always said he was a piano player not a pianist!
Mum collected 78's and LP records and she had hundreds. She couldn't play an instrument and she had a terrible singing voice, but she loved music and loved to dance.
All types of music, and I remember that after dinner she always put on a record and listened to it over and over. Each night a different one. That's how I got to learn them so well.
I inherited quite a few of my mums record collection and time to time I get one out and give it a whirl, the dance songs are great.

My eldest brother played the piano accordian, another played cornet and bassoon, and two others played guitar. My sister and I both played piano.

:-( :-( :-( not been here in ages....and it seems a bit.....lacking in.."atmosphere" as such...
what a pity...

Moonbi, I guess it was still worth the money to see the overall production and the costumes.
What a musical family you came from. My parents loved to sing, theyw ere both in choirs and at one stage used to sing in Gilbert & Sullivan productions. Mum was a self taught piano player and she actually taught herself on a small organ that her parents had. I had piano lessons but no talent for it, my sister did better than me, she can play piano. I was in school and church choirs up until my early teens when boys took over!!! My father was more into amateur dramatics and used to run an Am Dram theatrical society in the 50s.
Our Granddaughter (aged just 10) is learning the piano and seems to have the talent for it. Her brother aged almost 16 plays guitar and has two or three of them.
Shamefully I don't listen to much classical music these days, I like most music except the mindless tuneless modern music. I used to love Beethoven. That is the trouble with modern life, always so much to do I forget to sit and listen!

Ophelia, welcome back, Have you changed your name? There are still a few of the 'old' people around, we still chat and there are still sometimes fun threads. Yes things have changed thanks to facebook and people leaving to go on there, and of course the site has had a recent make over, which quite a few of us don't like. Basically it is the same though and we get out what we put in. :-)

I don't know if I should be resurrecting this thread but.......

I want to inform my cyber friends that my home is up for sale, and I am heading north in a few weeks.
I have a young couple coming day after tomorrow to look at the house.


Sea change, and a new life. well here's hoping !
One chapter closes and another starts.

Please do resurrect the thread Annette, I like to see it pop up now and again.

Good luck with the sale and with the move and please come back on here when you can. I hope the young couple is interested.

Hope moving all your stuff is not too traumatic.

today I had a BBF party. what a treat, we all had a great time together. I had made christmas cards to give to them and we chatted over coffee. My daughter made a great banana cake topped with whipped cream. it was delicious.

I am so going to miss them all.

now I must do a bit of a clean up after the party and get to bed.
early rise in the morning, because I now have 2 different couples to come for an inspection in the afternoon. One an hour after the other!

good luck Annette, hope they are fighting over it.

that would be good Ann.

Id be more likely to get my reserve price then, wouldnt I ? I must remember to tell the first couple that I have another couple coming in an hour.

No subtle pressure, heh

I scheduled them on the same afternoon because I thought I could present tidy one less time ! didnt think of the selling technique it offers.

Have you had any luck with selling the house Annette? It seems ages since you spoke about moving. :-)

Thank you for your concern.
Its a long story, but Suffice it to say that no I have not yet sold my property.

Its been a long very hot summer, the housing market is depressed, etc.....

I am considering to rent out my place as I do want to move before the winter begins, but ........

the north and east coast have had constant flooding over the summer and there are months of clean ups to do.

Not sure now if I do want to move north, as daughter and Gson moved a 3 1/2 hour drive from here to near Bendigo in February. I might move nearer her.

Its hard trying to work out what to do.

moonbi


just ask yourself "why was I going to move to QLD?"


if the answer does NOT include close friends and / or family ................ then do re-consider.


It gets harder to make friends as we get older ............ and moving to an area where you don't know anyone can be difficult.


My cousins seem to have settled well in Hervey Bay ..........

...... but she would prefer to be back in the house they had in Pomona. He is happier in H B, because it doesn't have a garden, vs the almost 2 acres in Pomona, and so he doesn't have to mow the grass.

She goes back to Pomona every 6-8 weeks .............. shopping better, close friends, good places to eat, etc etc

All 3 of their children and families live elsewhere .............. Canberra, in the interior, northern Qld

They do like Qld .......... and have lived in that state for many years, BUT H B may well not have been the best choice.

i cant fault the help and support i have recieved in recent weeks. a bit of life may have gone but not the heart.

Jean, that is good, I don't really think the heart has gone it is just that fewer people post these days, those left are still lovely.

Moonbi, sorry you have had problems with selling, it is the same here. Maybe the delay is for a purpose, maybe if you had moved where you originally wanted to, you would not have been happy. You already seem to be having second thoughts. The problem with moving to live near children is that you can be back to square one if they then decide to up and move.
I hope that you can make a decision and find somewhere that you are happy with. Meanwhile have you done any more crafting, the craft thread is missing you :-) :-)

AnninGlos

Please can I join your discussions etc?? I feel sad today as no one has posted on my Long lasting thread. I have just read about 10 pages of this thread and liked and enjoyed the entries.

Time has come to forget my Daily Diary.. :-( :-(

Bridget

Hello Bridget, you are very welcome, but this one is as slow moving, if not worse, than your diary. Don't give up the diary though because it seems to be the only thread that Gerard nd maybe Berona post on fairly regularly.

I am sorry I haven't posted on your diary for a couple of days, I am down in Hampshire at the moment and using my IPad which I do find a bit slower than my desk top.

There are other threads which you would be very welcome on too. If you have ant craft interests there is the craft thread (all crafts, knitting, crochet, painting, photography, card making, scrap booking tec etc.). And I go on the Welsh thread but I am not Welsh, nor do I live there.

Maybe you could start an ex pats thread, there are quite a few of you. My sister has just decided to move to Turkey and she gained a lot from the Turkey ex pats group on face book. But people do like to read about life in other countries. I think maybe the title and first post of your diary thread isn't such that it attracts new posters. But don't whatever you do delete it. :-)

nudge up for Bridget.