General Chat

I had assumed that Jake knew and was just happy to have a job. I think he would have worked if his Dad had not said he wouldn't work. He would have been able to get the job done as it has stopped raining for quite a while and it really only involves shifting a load of broken pots to his trailer and demolishing a small old bench.

Morning all,

12 degrees and quite sunny but there are some grey clouds as well as white ones in the sky and pc says partly sunny.

Thats something nice to look forward to Vera a nice visit to your son and daughter and a taxi service too. I am sure the bulbs you gave daughter will be ok and she will have a good show of colour next year.

I too had Clark's sandles when young always white ones for summer brown for school and sometimes even lovely red ones with little holes punched over the toes. As I got older I had a one bar shoe also Clark's and can remember having my feet exrayed in that machine where you could see a pic of your feet all green and if the shoes were a good fit or you needed a bigger size. In the winter my nan would always buy me wellies and as I got older it changed to lovely leather boots. I still have two pairs she bought me well out of fashon now but still good.

I too wondered if Jake had realised it was a bank holiday when he said he would come on Monday!

Been slopping around and not dressed yet so better get on and then see what the day brings.

Morning Anng, morning all,

Cloudy here but bright I have washing to hang out so I hope it keeps dry .

Ann I'm thinking maybe orange for the bedroom ,Colin thinks yellow, we'll see tomorrow

Anng I was going to say its a bank holiday will Jake be working and then I read your other post, sounds as if he wouldn't have done much though if it's now raining .

Vera glad you had a good day with your daughter yesterday and now you have a lovely weekend to look forward too ,easy in the garden now then as you don't want to aggravate your back before then.

Mel are the girls still giving you lots of eggs and have you seen the baby Robbins

So that is my plans changed. Jake has just realised it is a bank holiday and his dad won't be working so will be coming Thursday PM instead. Not too bothered though as it is raining off and on.

Good morning all very dull so far but dry at the moment. 10 degrees and I think it has rained over night. Jake is supposed to be coming today and the forecast was for rain. I hope it is not constant as I do want that part of the garden cleared. However the garden does really need a good soak so I have mixed feelings.

I slept ok last night but woke early again and up before seven.

Vera you reminded me that Easter was more about new clothes than Easter eggs when I was a child. I did get one easter egg from my parents. In those days eggs were quite substantial with a good amount of chocolates inside. (that was post war, I don't think there were any until after the war. but I was very young then so can't remember.
I too used to have new sandals, Clarks brown and when I was at High School we were allowed to wear sandals with short white socks when we went back to school after easter and our summer dresses. I was also often given by my mum a pair of white summer gloves for church.
I am pleased that the visit from your daughter was a success. and how lovely to have a weekend with the family to look forward to. I am sure that the bulbs will be fine to plant in daughters garden. difficult to kill grape hyacinths.

Ann, I don't keep my bank details on spread sheets as I still prefer to see them in a book, accounts style. But I do use spread sheets (very basic) for other things, mainly lists. I did used to know how to use them properly with them adding for me etc but I don't use that facility now.

Evening All,

Hope you've had a Happy Easter Sunday! No eggs or chocolate here this year, but we haven't really missed them. I did like the sound of Mandy's cake though. I bet it looked lovely with bunnies and eggs on top. We enjoyed a lunch of farm shop chicken with green beans, cabbage, broc, cauli, carrots, swede and a bit of parsnip and some mash that was just for OH and he ate it all. He did a short walk this morning and we both spent just a few minutes in the garden to pull up a few more handfuls of weeds.

I don't know what your nuisance weed is Vera, but after some googling I've changed my mind about mine and think it is wood sorrel. Apparently when it's pods burst it can scatter seed up to 10ft so no wonder it is popping up where I don't expect it. I've looked up and found something to kill it and am sending off for some and also some path and drive weedkiller. I hope you knees and ankles were ok last night. How lovely your daughter brought some nice gifts and has cheered you up. A nice visit to see both of your children at your son's to look forward to as well.

Mel, your Little Red was just an inch higher than my second pony who was 13.2hh. They were just the right size for our height weren't they. I sold mine about a year after I got married, as I soon found working full time and having a house and husband left me little time to ride. I was so pleased when the lovely young girl who bought him rode him back to see me about a year later, as I could see he was very well cared for and she thought the world of him. Yes, good luck with the Orchids!

AnnG it is to do with our jobs and dealing with money and payments! I keep track of things on a spreadsheet on the PC. My balancing issue was to do with savings. I put formulas in so that it tots up what is taxable and what isn't etc as I like to check my tax is right at the end of the year. I had put something in a wrong column. I've forgotten most of what I learned about spreadsheets, but it does save me some time adding up. I think your garden looks lovely with all the work you have done and the alterations you have made. I'm sure it will be good this year and I enjoy seeing your photos of your plants.

Mandy I thought it was lovely how you did the easter egg hunt in the garden for your grandchildren. It was nice that they shared them afterwards so the little ones didn't lose out. I think I made Fudge a long time ago too and it was nice. I know I tried making toffee as well, but managed to burn it and the pan took ages to clean. I'm guessing purple for the Chapel bedroom!! :-D

I hope you have all had a good day. It was sunny this morning and dull all afternoon but at least it has stayed dry

Good luck with the orchids Mel. I'm not the best at looking after orchids but I have managed to keep alive one that one of our granddaughters bought me a while back and it is now blooming again. It doesn't have quite as many blooms as first time around but at least I haven't killed it yet.

Enjoy your Easter eggs Mandy and OH.

Another Easter memory came to me today. I always had a new pair of sandals for summer and, weather permitting, they were worn for the first time on Easter Sunday. I usually got brown but if we had any special occasion coming up I might be bought a white pair. I thought I was the bees knees wearing those. If money wasn't too tight I also got a new blazer. I don't think there were many other types of summer jacket available for children in those days. My mother usually bought me a royal blue one.

We've had a lovely day with daughter. It really cheered me up. She arrived about midday and stayed till 6.30 pm. We had a nice meal, lots of chat and some laughter. She bought me a lovely bunch of flowers, a big bag of rhubarb and several squares of a rhubarb crumble cake she had made. I had bought her some chocolates and she went home with a pot of scilla (squill) bulbs that have bloomed but have finished for this year and a load of muscari bulbs that were in a terracotta pot that was falling to bits. The flowers have finished but the leaves haven't gone over yet. I dug the bulbs out with the leaves attached and I think they will be OK for her to plant in her garden.

There was another nice surprise for us as well. Daughter and son have put their heads together and found a couple of dates when they are both free. Daughter checked when we would be free and said she will drive us to son's house and we will all stay the weekend before she drives us back. It looks as though it will be in two weeks' time so that's something to look forward to.

OH dozed off as soon as daughter went and is still doing his eyes good but I think I had better go and gently wake him. If he gets into too deep a sleep he'll be gone all evening and then won't sleep tonight.

Enjoy what's left of the day and sleep well tonight.

I have duck leg this evening with Broccoli spears. cauli, british asparagus and Aunt Bessies roasries.

No cake here either Anng but we did come home from sons with an Easter egg each .

Well we've had a sunny day but its a lot cooler ,not done much this afternoon just sitting about ,Colins watching the snooker and I've just put a couple of potatoes in the air fryer ,we'll have them with gammon and salad so nice and easy .

Sorry forgot to wish you all a Happy Easter.
Vera have a lovely time with your daughter.
Mandy that cake sounds delicious, I just fancy a slice of it now and not a cake in site here.
Two yesrs ago I was with the two girls in Cumbria for their Egg huunt. they are just the right age for it now so I am hoping for photos.

:-D :-D :-D HAPPY EASTER SUNDAY :-D :-D :-D

Morning girls we have a nice bright sunny morning here and its 10 degrees but the pc says to expect three days of rain starting tomorrow. I shan't look forward to that thank you very much as Margo would says.

The cake sounds grand for the family Mandy and fudge is easy to make. I have made it in the past.

Now its a nice day I am hoping to pot on my tomato plants and sow some more seeds and then do the orchid cuttings to see if I can make them grow. Wish me luck please.

Morning all,Happy Easter,

Cloudy here but bright so hopefully we might see a little sun later .

Off to sons to take their Easter eggs ,seems a year or two since I did an egg hunt for them they use to get so excited rushing round the garden to find them and then share them all out .
I made a nice chocolate sponge for them with chocolate bunnies and chocolates on the top and I also made some fudge for them ,first time making fudge but it so easy.

Vera have a lovely sunday lunch with your daughter .

Good morning AnnG and all

Happy Easter to you all. Have a lovely day.

Good morning all. Slept ok but woke early and couldn't get back to sleep so got up, stripped the bed and bedding is in the wash. dry and dull so far and 6 degrees. Supposed to rain which is sad for all those children having Easter Egg hunts. I know my daughter has an egg hunt for the two children who lived near to her and a barbecue for the family up there so I will be thinking of them later.

If it stays dry I have more bits to do in the garden. Little and often is my motto for this year I think.

Annx Little Red was 13.3hh. I'll see if I can find a pic but it may be a black and white one.

I have faffed about with the orchids from Stu this afternoon looking on you tube to see if I can save either of them. I have sent for some mose to put in the pots and today I have taken one out of its pot and cut all the dead roots away and soaked it in baking powder water to sterilize it. I have found out that you can grow seedlings from the flower stalks so I am trying that too.

Not eaten yet after lunch and had'nt realised what the time was so better tidy away the orchids and get something to eat.

You jumped in there Vera while I was writing my post. I think the garden will look tidy for the summer but it still depends on the weather if it looks a picture. Easy to put plants in containers, harder to keep them alive.

I balance my accounts every month. I keep a book and balance the book with the bank statements. It drives me mad if I am even five pence out and have to work at it until it is balanced. (Or I can identify the error). It must be to do with the two jobs I had working on pay, first for the admiralty, then for local government and then working as training liaison officer and having a budget, and last but not least working in housing rents for local government. Come to think of it personnel office included some finance. As well. Oh was cashier in the local gov finance department as well. That large old cash machine had to balance every night.

You did have a long sleep Mel but sleep is the best thing when you are not feeling well. I am pleased you are feeling a bit better now. That is wasteful of your surgery to give you two bottles of skin stuff if you didn't need it when the NHS is supposed to be so strapped for cash.

You've been busy in your garden AnnG. It will look a picture this summer.

When your runners are ready to harvest, Mandy, please invite me to dinner. Fresh picked runners are one of my favourite veggies. The ones you buy in the supermarkets aren't the same at all. I think they've usually been hanging around too long. I've been meaning to ask you about window blinds for ages and I keep forgetting. I hope I haven't got it wrong but if I remember rightly you bought some blinds online a while ago. Was it easy to get the measurements right and were they easy to fit? I'm asking because I want to replace the roller blinds in the conservatory. We have a couple of good blinds companies locally and we used one to make new blinds for our lounge and OH's bedroom a couple of years ago.. We were pleased with their work but they were expensive and there is a lot of glass to cover in the conservatory, so I thought I'd see if I could find a cheaper way online.

Annx, my creeping weed has small leaves and a tiny white flower with a very pale lavender tinge to it. I try to get it up before the flower opens if I can. I haven't managed to get into the garden today and won't tomorrow either so by Monday it will probably have covered the area I've recently cleared.

I had a bad night again but this time it was because of pains in my feet and ankles. I expect it's a rheumatic or arthritic pain and I'm probably lucky to have got away so far without much in the way of arthritis but I am wondering which bit of me is going to give up next. Oh, the joys of getting old ;-)

I decided that as I gave the upstairs a good clean yesterday I'd better tackle the downstairs today so everything got a good dust and vac. and general tidy up. After lunch we went into town as OH wanted some more weedkiller stuff to spray between the cracks of the paving stones as he had run out, and I needed a birthday card and a couple of other bits and pieces. We were able to get everything we wanted in Roys so we weren't out very long. I got busy again when we got back with some other jobs and preparing our meal. I decided to prep tomorrow's veg as well and save myself a bit of time in the morning.

Daughter texted yesterday to see if we would be home for a visit this weekend and is now coming for Sunday dinner tomorrow. We hadn't expected to see her over Easter so her text was a nice surprise and I'm looking forward to seeing her. She's bringing us some rhubarb from her garden.

I've just looked at the weather apps. The computer says it is 8 degrees but feels like -1, the phone says it is 7 degrees and feels like 5, and the iPad says it's 8 and feels like 2. It would be more useful if they all just said it's not very warm and there's a chilly wind.

I'm feeling tired and grubby so I am going to have a nice wash now and get in my PJs and dressing gown and maybe read for a while. I hope you all sleep well tonight.

Evening All,

I was going to say it was dry here but just looked outside and there has been a short shower. OH managed to pull a few big weeds up on the front and went to footie with his friend and has sawpped some books with him. He went to physio this morning, but the man he saw had a good chat with him as he found the exercises he was given for his back were too painful to do yet. He told him he should focus on walking for now till he gets some treatment and is going to look at what he can get bedwise to help him sleep.

I popped to the shop and have done admin since as my accounts didn't balance! lol. It reminds me of work and how those that worked in the heavily secure finance office couldn't go home till everything balanced at the end of the day. I dreaded being moved to do that work. I expect it's the same in banks and building societies.

I managed to contact the skip man and hopefully booked a skip after sending him my details by text. I did ask him to confirm, but he hasn't yet, so will ask again after easter if I don't hear from him.

I'm glad you are feeling better Mel and you must have needed all that sleep. Little Red sounded a pretty pony, so how big was he and how long did you have him? Similarly my Ivan was roan, only a blue roan yearling foal costing £34. I was told he was the only christmas present I would get that year at age 16 but that didn't matter to me. A year later I ended up paying dad a £1 a week till I'd bought him anyway, when he tried to tell me the pony was my sister's as well. Mum was disgusted, but knew better than to argue with him. I also paid my mum half my wages for my keep and I paid 10 shillings a week to graze the pony. I bought a headcollar and saved up for a bridle and an old saddle that cost £6. I'd chosen a small pony foal I was strong enough to manage to break to riding and then I sold him for more money to buy a bigger pony a better size for me. I still have the U.S Civil War cavalry saddle with wooden stirrups I bought for him for £20 when I was 18. I had a 72 year old American pen friend at the time who told me what it was. She lived in California and was trail riding in the hills well into her 80s. I was still writing to her when she passed away with a stroke aged 89.

I see Mandy and AnnG have been busy in the garden today. I must see if I can buy some compost next week and get a few plants for the outside pots to grow on a bit in the greenhouse. I might see if I can do a bit more weeding tomorrow as the forecast is dry.

Off to the land of nod now. I want to watch Elton John a bit later or record him if I might fall asleep.