General Chat

Evening all.weather dry again today but getting colder.
My neice is ok they are thinking she might have an ulcer !!
John has had an hour in the garden cutting down some of what he calls weeds!! butI am not so sure they are weeds !! But that part of the garden does want thinning out !!
I did some house work and then picked my sister up at the hospital and took her home,She lives near a Morrisons so I called in for a few bits on the way home..
Had a few more jobs to do when I got home..
Hope everyone is ok Take care Brenda xx

Evening Fred and everyon eelse .
Weather still dry and fairly mild at the moment,but I know its coming to an end,
Have a few things on this week so will not be able to make the market this week or weekend...but might get there next weekend all being well.
Need to sort out my stuff for the holidays, 5 weeks to go and counting!!!
Glad Dorothy had a good visit with her sister,nice to hear of people enjoying themselves.
John has managed to get out and have a couple of games of golf this week so he is a happy bunny.
One of my neices has been taken to hospital today with really bad stomach pains,she has had them for a while and had a scan etc,she had her gall bladder removed a few years ago but says its just like it was then,.Having had that experience I know what she means so I really hope they sort it out soon.
The diet is still going ok bit slower now but still working.
Better go soon as I have emails to answer.
Take care Brenda xx

morning Brenda ,and anyone else who shows up on here today ,you never know ,lol,with this weather ,most people will stay indoors if they have any sense. ;-).We have just finished off another baking session,a small shepherds pie made for dinner to use the left over mashed potato,pastry made to use up spare eggs before the weeks shopping,so some Tuna pasties made up ,Cheese and onion flans ,an Egg Custard,and a nice jam rolly polly which will go with the dinner ,so now ,all that remains is to cook the lot ,cool it and get into both freezers.
Yep i would get your trips to Bury market in before Thursday Brenda,the forecast is promising wintry showers for the weeks end ,cor ,don't look too good for the end of the month :-(,about time to think of hibernating again i reckon :-0.
I think i will empty the other water butt this week ,no way will we get a drought this time of year ,;lol ,time to get the butt sat on top of the other one behind the B B q until the spring Methinks ,even the one with the built in furry coat isn't too keen on going out any more,she is def' an Oz' pussy cat at heart ,he he.and time for me to get on with the winter pass time ,genes family research to wile away a good few hours.
Going to slide off now ,and get some dinner ready ,so i will catch you later ,Fred,The bosses,and myself ,lol.xx :-D.

well its all going on at your house Fred!! hope you do not have to wait for the shower to long Fred,Johns mam was really pleased when hers was done at the other house .Her husband was not that pleased as he could manage to get in the bath .but he was glad a while later when he started to have trouble.
Did not get to Bury had afew other thing come up that meant we did not go.
weather has been sunny again for the last few days its still cold but at least its dry.
Washing was not dry altogether and had to be aired off in the back bedrom/
Used to use those meals for work but not now.am going to another slimming
club and the reccommend we make extra and freeze some so we have meals ready.
take care Brenda x

Liz ALWAYS gets her way Brenda,lol,what with her ,and Hissy ,these days i tend to think it's a woman thing ;-).
Well the fella came and fitted the new stair rail for us ,it took little under an hour ,and he did a darned good job of it ,he can come back anytime because he even had a hand held hoover ,and tidied up when he had finished,the stairs were spotless.
We made six largish tubs of Tomato soup and got them down in the freezer ,taking some large fillets of steak out to make room ,along with two pigs Kidneys.
Those we have done up into steak and kidney meals ,put them into metal foil containers ,and will put them back into the freezer this evening. :-).
We managed .,just to get our washing done as well ,but had to take the chill off it by putting it on the clothes horse overnight in the kitchen he he :-).
The kitchen has now been reorganised ,lots more room brought about by a new set of drawers under the bench taking a load of stuff off the work benches ,i am pretty pleased with it.
We now have the council coming out sometime in the next ten weeks to look at taking the bath out and putting a wet room in it's place,which is just as well ,as i can no longer get me leg over ,the bath rim that is ,and anyway ,i can no longer sit down in it or i can't get up again :-| this gettin' old isn't as good as it's cracked up to be :-S.
Going to be doing a little shopping tomorrow ,buying some of those new ready meals from Aldi Brenda ,they make some belters ,different curries complete with rice ,other dishes like sausage and mash ,fish pie ,Lasagna,spaghetti bolignaise ,all at £1-89 a shot ,just the thing for busy lasses like you ,come in from the shops ,knackered and too tired to stand in front of a stove ,you know the feeling ,five minutes and a mic ,and you have a meal ready :-D.
Time to go feed the cat ,we had two of those fish meals in sauce for dinner and did the cat one of those fish ,chunkie fillets from asda ,he he ,she thought it was her birthday ,lol,enough fish in it to do her tea tonight ,and her brekkie tomorrow.
Have fun in Bury if you havn't already been ,sand take it easy around the cheese stall ,too long there sniffing the air could cause a cheese overload he he.
Catch you Later Brenda ,and John to if he looks in.
Fred, The missus and the furry hungry one who has smelled her fish already xx :-D

Afternoon all.we have had some pretty mild weather the last few days compared to the last few weeks.
I hope it hs calmed down where you all are.
Just had a walk round the local market its a Flea market on Thursday ,and I can see why the call it a flea market ,Mind you there were some decent stalls .
Thought I might be meeting a friend for a coffe later this afternoon but not had a call yet.Did some washing earlier but not sure if to hang it out or not. Hope you enjoyed your shopping trip Fred id Liz got her way that is???
Thinking of a trip to Bury on Friday or saturday ,not for anything in particular just a walk round .
Think I had better get that washing out while its blowing a bit. and keep my fingers crossed.
Take care Brenda x

Afternoon all.we have had some pretty mild weather the last few days compared to the last few weeks.
I hope it hs calmed down where you all are.
Just had a walk round the local market its a Flea market on Thursday ,and I can see why the call it a flea market ,Mind you there were some decent stalls .
Thought I might be meeting a friend for a coffe later this afternoon but not had a call yet.Did some washing earlier but not sure if to hang it out or not. Hope you enjoyed your shopping trip Fred id Liz got her way that is???
Thinking of a trip to Bury on Friday or saturday ,not for anything in particular just a walk round .
Think I had better get that washing out while its blowing a bit. and keep my fingers crossed.
Take care Brenda x

Afternoon all from a miserable north east of England ,drizzling yet again ,half a gale blowing up my trouser legs while i spent a very few minutes out back checking on my Tomatoes ,and bringing in a couple of onions ,ready for using in some soup.
We have spent yesterday and part of today re arranging the kitchen and dining area ,giving us a good bit of extra storage space ,and so far it looks promising ,and we only now need the cupboard and shelving which we found yesterday to be delivered to finish it all off.
I made a quick dinner today ,hot dogs in buns with broiled sliced onions and a nice hot mustard,with some potato wedges done in the frying pan with a little cooking oil to brown them on all sides ,with a tad of sea salt and ground pepper.
The wife is on about Cramlington shopping centre tomorrow where she is hoping to find some A4 binders to put all our paperwork in ,paid bills ,order forms and whatever ,ready to go into the cupboard when we get it ,lol,hopefully a far tidier kitchen ,looking a lot less like Fagins den ,he he
Think you have just beaten us to the start of the Christmas shopping Brenda ,though ,like you ,we will be buying for mostly the two of us this year with the grand kids mostly grown up now ,and all gone their seperate ways,hmmmmm,something tells me the lass and i are getting old ,he he ,Christmas morning now being a time to hide under the bedcovers ,rather than ratching through pessies at 3 AM in the morning ,oh ,how times have changed ,lol
Wow ,that's it for now ,the cupboard has just arrived ,catch you later ,Fred. ;-) xx

Afternoon everyone,.change in the weather again,today,Back to the rain ,did not look to bad this morning so washed some towels and now will have to put them in the drier later to get them dry.
Went to town to have lunch with some friends today ,it was a belated birthday for one friend who was away on holiday when it was her birthday.Afterwards I had a look in a few shops looking at the christmas stuff ,not that I will be getting a lot at the prices they had !!
Need to phone another friend,who is having trouble with her lap top so can not email me./
Hope you are all ok
take care Brenda

Afternoon everyone,.change in the weather again,today,Back to the rain ,did not look to bad this morning so washed some towels and now will have to put them in the drier later to get them dry.
Went to town to have lunch with some friends today ,it was a belated birthday for one friend who was away on holiday when it was her birthday.Afterwards I had a look in a few shops looking at the christmas stuff ,not that I will be getting a lot at the prices they had !!
Need to phone another friend,who is having trouble with her lap top so can not email me./
Hope you are all ok
take care Brenda

Evening all,good to hear from you John ,like \fred says its the same hear from tickets for almost anything airline tickets, concert tickets ,etcglad your son and his wif e have managed to get a way.hope they enjoy it.
We have plaques on the chapel of rememberance wall for my mam and dad{they were cremated} and they took a while to oraganized .
Mage a Dundee cake today for christmas .lighter than a christmas cake,both in weight and cost!! It was Johns idea as he is the only one who ate the last christmas cake ,minus the icing!!! so asked if I would make the Dundee cake.
Going to Bury tomorrow with my sister ,she is at a loose end as her husband is at a train exihibition there and she wanted someone to have a walk round with her.So I am having a wander about with her
Sorry the day out did not go to plan Fred, Hope the rain does not cause you any problems.
Better go now just been given some fresh pineappl to eat.
take care Brenda.

Morning to John [glad to see you getting things sorted at last] re the Headstone ,we had an 8 month wait for my Uncle Rays to be erected ,still ,it looks good in place at last.know what you mean about the tickets as well ,lol ,you have to be really quick over here too.
Morning Brenda ,no ,we never got away on the bus to anyplace other than Newcastle ,even the bus to Durham ,but 12 miles away taking well over an hour away ,making it a waste of time going :-( sigh.
Never mind ,we did Newcastle again ,and found a small shop that did some nice savoury patties ,so we did okay .
We got off the bus and over the road just in time too ,the Dutchess coming through Blackett street minutes after we went through the market doors,he he ,wondered why the street was so busy as well :-).
The autumn market was on here the same day ,and after my missus dropped off her ill gotten gains [savings] we had a dawdle though the stalls,all much a muchness ,the farmers from the different countries all trying to flog their food stuffs and hot meats ,pastas ,all very dear and very bad for you ,so we didn't bother ,lol,i think the next market we go to will be the early December one ,when all the decorations will be up.
Social services came out Brenda ,and are going to be putting up a second handrail on the stairs while they try to get a government grant for the stair lift ,which they know will be needed within 12 months,and they are looking at taking out the bath and putting in a wet room instead ,which will be great ,both of us finding it hard to get our leg over [the bath side] i mean tsk tsk.and i find it impossible to sit down in it any more ,never mind getting out :-(.
Those foreign tomatoes we put in ,are still growing in the greenhouse ,and i have saved ,and marked the seed for next year ,i reckon ,these started off early under gentle heat ,will extend our tomato growing season by at least 8 weeks ,maybe a little longer.not to be sneezed at if the summers continue as they have been up here for the last 4 years. :-0.
Newcastle is under water again after last nights rain ,so i think i had better go now and give my daughter a ring to see if she is okay this time ,or if the house is flooded yet again.
Catch you later all ,Fred. :-)xx

Afternoon to smiling faces :-) - Its October already and next week Craig and Gemma fly to the Gold Coast for a belated honeymoon. I've been looking out for cheap grab a seat flights to Auckland but I seem to miss them - they are there one moment and next they gone. I saw some for $49 the other day which were snapped up almost they came available, obvious one has to be sitting on the airline's site waiting for them to appear. :-|
We have finally got the headstone organised but it will have to wait for Craig to comes home before getting that finally done.
Went down to our fruitshop this morning for a few things worked out cheaper than the supermarket. :-D :-D
Take care - John

Evening all.we have had another great day weatherwise here today,wanted to get Davids bedding done and on the line .but he did not take it off,and I refuse to
go into his room and do things like that.
I will tell him tonight ,when he is home from the match that he needs to do it first thing in the morning or he will have to put it in the washer himself. and on the line.
Mind you he does do some washing himself.so he knows what to do.
Hoping to meet up with some mates for coffe tomorrow so will be out early.
Hope your veggies are ok FRed,I have heard some allotments have been robbed out not far from here so its not that far fetched.
How did you day out go?
Take care Brenda xx

Morning Brenda ,and all the others if they look in :-).
Disaster has struck ,lol,we have found out that the bus company has withdrawn the service from Newcastle to Darlington ,worse still ,there is no direct service from here by rail either,huh ,modern transport ,it was easier in the old days going by stage coach or on horse back lol. :-P.
Looks like a car job after all ,but never mind ,we are still going just the same because it's so long since we have been.
We found a nice little chicken nesting in the bottom of the freezer yesterday morning ,so that is now ready ,and in the oven for today's dinner ,along with a foil carton of sage and onion stuffing we found in there too.
All the veggies are ready to go as well so in 20 minutes i will start dinner.
The first load of washing is on the line ,and the second lot is in the washer ,we will get it all done today while it is nice and sunny :-) next week looks a bit iffy so far :-(.
I managed to get the back lawn done before tea yesterday ,it having dried out nicely ,and the two barrels of tatties are now sitting there ,covers on ,waiting until November /December ,but the way the price of farm produce is shooting up ,i may have to mount an armed guard on my veggie patch in case of raids on my stock ,lol,i have some lovely leek ,carrot,onion and brassica coming on for winter use .
I sat out first thing this morning with the furry pest ,having my cuppa ,but it's so cold out there now ,that i think that will soon have to stop until early spring ,he he ,i 'aint as young as used to be ;-).
Time to start the dinner off now but i may well be back later,Fred.xx :-).

Hi Fred, a few years ago,when I was on one of my diets they hada chicken casserole with herby dumplings,but they were made woith slices of bread , herbs and water and a couple of other ingrediations which I do not remember ,I keep looking in some of the recipe books i have had for a while and can not find the recipe.
!
Hope your shopping trip todsy gets what your after Fred and you manage your trip on Monday ok.Have a great weekend.everyone, what ever you do,
Brenda x

Morning to Brenda ,Dorothy ,and John ,if he is around ,lol,hope you and Dorothy enjoy the new pics Brenda ,those teepee's looked great in the dark with the lights in the sky as a back drop ,but i don't envy the joker who took the pics ,sat there for a couple of hours in minus 30c temperatures ,he he ,lucky not to lose the pinkies i reckon :-0.
Made a stonking casserole for tea yesterday but nearly had a disaster when i went to the store cupboard to find there were no Herby dumpling mixes in ,no other ones either,and no self raising ,horrors :-( ,the wife having a fit at no dumplings to put in it. :-|
I had a look to see what we DID have in after i remembered my mum ,many moons ago making dumplings the old way ,i had plain flour ,baking powder,eggs ,marge ,and thought yessssss,off we go ,lol.
Donning my hat ,waving my two squares of kitchen towel ,i says ,fear not ,pretty lady ,dumplings you will have ,but not as you know them ,and set too.
Three table spoons of plain flour ,two level teaspoons of baking powder pinch of salt /pepper and a bit of dried herbs.,mix in 1 and a half ounces of marge ,and mix like a flour for pastry ,using a tad of milk ,one egg and a little water to a dumpling consistency and add to the casserole.,the wife was stunned to say the least ,she has never seen dumplings like these before [bless you mum ] and i think i have shot myself in the foot :-0 she says she won't bother buying mixes in future ,i can make these in future ,'eeeeeelp what have i done.
Yep ,i thought the savouries may have been a Liverpool thing ,what with there being so many Asians ,Chinese and other cultures in the mix,so if there are non in Darlington ,it may be a last minute shopping trip before we leave Liverpool next time ,or a call in at Preston on the way home :-),but i will really enjoy a trip round the Darlington markets anyway ,it will be an ace day out more so because i can relax and enjoy someone else doing the driving.
Looked at the Ford range of cars yesterday Brenda ,and it looks like we will be leaving Nissan ,their prices going through the roof,so i looked closely at Fords c max range and i can get one with a diesel engine,stop start ,and a brake front end shunt stopper for £150 advance payment with a better millage than even our present car too so i am very tempted ,it will only need me to see what the boot size is like to clinch it. :-).
We will be going out shortly to see how the Benwell shopping area is doing ,we need Iceland ,and Farmfoods anyway,and will have a look at this polish shop as well ,perogies def' on the menu for the future,meals ,the last lot were so tasty.
Keep your fingers crossed that John can get his game in before the next lot of rain comes over ,another deluge on the way they reckon ,as soon as Carla gran opens back up ,they may just get hit again,same as Morpeth and Newburn here ,i am thinking of getting one of those portable pumps for the back garden ,just in case ,i can always plug it in using the two electric points in the greenhouse.,The barrier over the doors and patio windows being there as a last resort.
Time for coffe before we go out on safari ,lol.catch you all later ,Fred the dumpling king ,Liz & Hissy ,who is upstairs on the bed Lazy baggage :-)xxx :-D.

evening everyone,not to warn here again ,but at least its been dry ,hope it does not rain in the night Johns golf has been cancelled for two weeks and he is going a bit stir crazy!!.
It does look good for tomorrow as long as it is dry during the night.
I had a bit of a wander round the market at Bury on Saturday but did not stop long as it was so windy.Got my Christmas shopping started ,not that I am doing much this year,have already got the christmas cards in the sale in January.
I am also not doing all the christmas cakes that I usually do,.I am making two small Dundee cakes which will save on the icing which I am not that great at .
Need to go to the Charity shop soon have a few bags of different things to take ,will need John to come and help me carry them as the shop is not near the car park.
Went to see Johns mum yesterday and she had one of Johns neices visiting with her two little girls,who are absolutley gorgeous !!!
It was great to see them all.
We also got the news that one of Johns other neices is having her second baby next April,which was a s nice surprise.she already has a beatiful litle boy..
Think its time for my horlicks so,better get going.Take care
Brenda

Hi all ,just checking to see if everyone has gone walkabout and left old Fred on his own,bet that Brenda is lost in darkest Bury market again ,sigh ,wish i was there too.
The best i can do ,is take the car to the Metro centre on Monday week ,park it up ,and take the missus ,and the walker through to Darlington for the day.
Monday is market day there ,both a massive outdoor farmers market with side attractions ,and a really big indoor covered market which is nearly as big as Bury's.
We were going to go this coming Monday ,but thought on ,it's the day the gas board come out to check ,and service our central heating ,and hot water fittings ,such as the shower and whatnot ,can't afford to screw that service up ,lol :-).
The fence got fixed today ,the chap was here at 8-30 on the button,had the 3 panels put in ,and told him i would be in touch around March for a 4th panel that i can't get out this minute because it will damage me brussel plants perish the thought.
i also succumbed to a fit of lazyitis and had him trim all the hedges to save my poor old back the job ,leaving me just the lawn to see to ,done ,result.
I even had the hedging between our house and next door reduced to match the rest of them ,making trimming the tops sooooo much easier in future ,and being a lot more Fred friendly ,he he ,no more up step ladders on these old legs ,so much better for me ,and the hedge :-D..
This evening ,while it is mild ,i am going to move the olive tree to the greenhouse for the winter,and move the Fig tree out front where it should be fine,some burlap sacking on standby in case it really drops down below 10 -c.
The idea of putting the third panel in the gap next to the plum tree was a belter ,i realise now ,with the space closed off completely what a difference it will make ,the wind off the Atlantic no longer howling against me back while i'm having my cuppa in the mornings ,i bet the plum tree will enjoy that as well in the spring and early summer ,it becoming a real sun trap.
With next door thew other way having an eight foot garden gate put out back has halved the wind from the east too ,a double bonus for the young plants come spring ,allowing the plants to establish a lot quicker. ;-).
I know who i can call on too if i have a bad spell next year the fencer says he will do the whole hedging ,both sides ,and the top ,all the lawns including the edges ,and take all the trimmings away,for £40 ,which ,considering the length and the size of them is pretty cheap.
Fred is off now ,note pad in hand to sit at the patio window ,planning next years planting schedule ,first to see how many troughs i have ,and how many plants to put into each planter ,and how many planters of each variety ,he he ,that should keep me busy for an hour at least,and by then the light will be failing :-0 cor ,it's nearly winter :-(.
Catch you later troops ,take care ,and enjoy what's left of the weekend.
Fred,The cat ,and the missus xx :-D

Morning Brenda ,Dorothy ,Jon ,ans uncle Tom Cobbely and all ,lol,din't do much yesterday apart from housework and a bit of cooking where i used up the last of my Perogies ,[blast it ,he he ] :-(.
Made a lovely Edith type dinner ,,Perogies ,chopped bacon ,fried first ,added onion to the bacon fat ,diced some potato into the mix ,chopped sweated carrot and cauli into the mix,put it all in a glass casserole dish and poured over a jar of cheese and bacon graten mix ,came out lovely too.
I have to go out this morning to see about the fence panels ,three need to be replaced ,at £20 each ,plus £30 delivery charge ,i may as well pay my mate who runs a garden fencing service to come and fix it too,and save myself a lot of aggro .
Actually ,the fence belongs to next door ,but the lass [Joan ] is on her own apart from her grandson,is still paying her mortgage ,and money is a bit tight for her ,and seeing as i need it fixed to keep her two dogs out ,i am going to have it done for her.lol .ainy i kind ? orrible that is :-P.
While out i will A go to The shopping centre at Benwell ,where there is a Polish food store [Perogies .and other stuff i can buy there ]And then run up to Cramlington where i can get into a few shops ,plus Asda to get the weekly shop ,and give the wife some exercise under cover. :-).
You know ,it was nice and mild this morning first thing ,so i feed the furry pest ,make a cuppa ,and take it ,and the cat outside ,and sit at my little table to relax ,so i thought anyway ,grrrrrrr ,i hadn't been there a minute ,and it started to drizzle ,hmphhhh,oh well ,the best laid plans and all that. :-0.
I kept my old phone Brenda which has your number on ,but choice as to buying a new one ,lol,the old contract was a£10 a month one for both the wifes phone ,and my own with 50 minutes a month on both ,plus 50 texts.
This contract is no longer available it being too popular and Orange not making a lot of money for it ,but the new orange contract is £20 a month ,two phones again ,free with the deal and double the amount of calls and texts on both.
I have put a £5 pay as you go sim into the old phone that i will only use if i have to ,and for connection in the car ,and that £5 will keep the phone active for a year,in case i misplace the new one,not a bad deal ;-).
See the latest news on the Buildings in Newburn is that the pilings and foundations are so bad that demolition is the only way forward,looks like the people from those buildings need to demand the money back plus damages against the builders and the council.
The Newcastle council are worse than most in the country ,corrupt ,thieving ,and wasteful ,too many jobs for the boys in past years up to the present day,still a T Dan smith culture here and too many fingers in too many pies wasting public money on daft schemes.
The new kitchen carpet runners arrived yesterday evening ,and so did the replacement camera cable i ordered ,so i don't have to stay in today ,yippee ,so it's a day out day ,before the weather turns really nasty again.
Be back later all ,take care ,and enjoy the day,Fred ,and the rest of the household ;-)