General Chat

Hi, I have put a thank you thread up , and sent p.m.s to all concerned.. what a love bunch you are... so are the flowers ....lol... I will come back on later love to you all

Jean xx

Hi Everyone,

Sylvia, I'll certainly be thinking about J and family if the hurricane hits NS on Saturday. I hope that it won't be more than a severe storm, but that's bad enough, I suppose. Both J and M are wise to get some tins of food in and also fill the car up with petrol.

Will you be able to get any news at the cabin, with there not being any electricity? I'll be thinking about you all.


Ann, I'm not very good at explaining to someone on how to do something.
I would never have made a teacher, I know what to do, but just can't put it over very well.

I'm sure that if you started doing parchment, you would enjoy doing it. Surprisingly, it didn't take as long as long as I thought it would.


Mo, nice to hear from you, but sorry to hear that you have a few more grey hairs.lolol!

Speak to you all tomorrow.

Love, Sallie.xx

Strange to think that Nova Scotia is hot while Vancouver is cold at the moment, I would have thought it would be the other way round. That is if I read Sylvia correctly.

Mo it will be good to see you back to your normal garrulous self on here!

Sallie. thank you for the instructions about vellum, so it is hand embossed with an embossing tool rather than putting it through a machine? See, I am really ignorant about it, I must have a go when I have time. When that will be I am not sure but maybe when all the christmas cards are finished and grandsons scrap book which will have to be done in November as well as christmas cards. I feel exhausted just thinking about it!!!

This morning I had my check up at the nurse/results of blood tests for MOT two weeks ago. All results good, blood sugar good, cholestrol 4.5, BP 115/63, no protein in 'wee' test. So hopefully that is that for another year and Doc gets another tick in the box!!!

Hello all.
Just a quickie.
All is well here in Kent,apart from a few more grey hairs. Only one more day, and then back to normality.
I had an e.mail from Marie today, she is fine and sends everyone her best wishes.
She will be of to Italy in a couple of weeks time, for her three weeks holiday
Lucky girl. Enjoy yourself Marie.
Sorry have got to go now.
Love and best wishes to you all. Mo xxx

Hi all

J phoned this morning to have a quick chat ............ not only will we be away at the weekend for our usual phone chat, but they are preparing themselves in Nova Scotia for the possibility that Hurricane Earl will hit on Saturday. We'll have to listen to the radio to find out what happens, but we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Hurricane Juan hit as a category 2 back in 2004 and did a lot of damage to buildings, ships and trees, etc, although I believe that no-one was even seriously injured, fortunately. Earl was downgraded to a category 3 this morning, and might be a category 1 or 2 before reaching NS and/or Newfoundland. It may drop even as low as a tropical storm ..... which will still mean torrential rain

J said they are going out this evening to stock up on foods, especially canned, and to make sure the car petrol tank is filled up.

They lost a lot of frozen food back in 2004 when the electricity was out for several days, and they also hadn't got a full tank in the car ............ petrol stations weren't working with no electricity, so that was a problem! M is also going to make sure that they have 2 full propane tanks for the bbq .... so they have learnt some lessons!

M went back to school on Monday ...... staff training and preparation for 3 days, then the kids return tomorrow (Thursday). HOWEVER, it has been so hot this week that school might be cancelled after today ........ it has been registering 35C and over, but the Humidex factor (due to humidity) means that it has effectively been over 40C ......... and schools are not air conditioned.

J said the temperature is supposed to still be high on Saturday when Earl might hit ... that would be miserable!! 100% humidity, 100+kmh winds, etc etc.

Please think of her if you hear anything on the news about Earl ..... "south shore of Nova Scotia" would mean that there would be some effect on Halifax.


Meanwhile, yesterday in Vancouver was the wettest EVER August day .............. about 55.8mm rain officially, that's about 10x the normal average rainfall. It was also apparently the 16th wettest day ever in any season.

Add to that, the high temperature for the day was around 15C.


The sun is out again today, and the temperature is rising!


Sallie remembered correctly ...... we are out at at a 60th birthday party this evening.


Take care everyone

I'll see you around September 13th

Take care, and behave ...... is that possible????



sylvia
xxx

Ann, the parchment on your card was just embossed, I just put a yellow piece of card underneath it, so that it wasn't too bright. The parchment that I used on Michael's mum's card, was embossed, and then I coloured the flowers with a pink Promarker.

I haven't got as far as the pricking part yet, so will have to ask Gwen to show me the right way to go it. I cut out the parchment for both the cards, as I didn't want to spoil them.

I really enjoy doing parchment, so I thought that after I've finished the cards for the church and made my own Christmas cards, I'm going to concentrate on doing parchment.

Ann, I first trace out the design with a white Pergamano gel pen (apparently other make gel pens are not very good) then I turn over the parchment paper to emboss the design. According to Gwen it can be coloured in on either the back or the front, but like her I prefer to colour it at the back. So far I've found it easy, but I probably won't find when I start the pricking.lolol!!!



Huia, I'm so glad that Phil woke for his dinner and that you were able to help to walk into the dining room for his lunch. I had a giggle when said about him winking at some of the carers.
I'm sure you enjoyed seeing him on the 'movie', it's a shame there was no sound to it, though.

I hope you managed to get a good nights sleep. Like you say, I think it does help by going to bed the same time each night.




Sylvia, I wondered where the phrase the wild man from Borneo had come from. So thank you for finding out for us.

If I remember rightly, both you and OH are goimg to a party tonight. Have a lovely time there, and we'll look forward to seeing you after you get back from the cabin. Enjoy and take care!





Mo, how are things with you and Roly? Have you had anymore news about your nephew? Sorry, it's all questions. I think my nose is growing by the minute.lolol!!!

It's been a lovely day here today. Maybe we are now getting our summer. I wish!!!



Jean hope all is well with you and yours today. Are your awful neighbours any better now? I really hope that they are not as troublesome as they were.



Dutch, I'll be thinking about Jan when he goes to the hospital tomorrow afternoon. I hope and pray that it's nothing too bad. Good luck to both him and you. Take care!


Debbie, when do the children go back to school? They start here next Tuesday.
How are your parents? I hope your dad is better than he's been.



Marie, we haven't heard from you for a while, I hope everything is alright with you all. I know you are going on holiday in September, but I can't remember the date.



Liz, I hope things are all okay with you, and that OH is better. When do you go away and have you decided where you're going?



Well I have to go and make the dinner now, so I'll speak to you all soon.


Love and best wishes. Sallie.xxx

I must take care not to get into this card making thing. I have plenty of other things I should be doing!

I visited Phil again today. Last Saturday he didnt look at us or talk to us at all. Today he was sleeping at first, but as lunchtime approached he woke and seemed a bit more alert. Being the first day of the month everybody was being weighed. They have a chair with scales under it. When each one had been weighed they were taken to the dining room, some of them being wheeled there in the weighing chair, but the carer decided Phil could walk, so I took his arm and she hovered on the other side in case he fell. When he was seated at the table waiting for his lunch to be brought he kept winking at the carers as they passed him! I had earlier been shown a 'movie' that had been taken of him on a camera. It was rather funny. Unfortunately there was no sound attached.

Have just noticed the time, must head off to bed soon. I am trying to go at the same time each night in the hopes that will help me sleep. Night night from me.

Huia.

Thank you for that Sylvia, never thought of googling it. I hope you had more than a loin cloth on at the time!!

Sallie, I loved the parchment on the card, I have not used it myself but daughter used to, if I remember rightly I think she 'pricked' out a design on it, would that be correct? Yours was embossed though and was it also chalked? It is a really lovely card. A card like that should sell for at least £2 but I know what you mean, people don't take time into account and wont pay a lot for hand made cards.

Why not put a few up for sale first and experiment with the prices? sometimes if it is for the church people will pay more.

I was curious, 'cos my Mum alos said it ...... and we're all from different parts of the country aren't we??

So, I googled Wild Woman of Borneo


Guess what? It might go as far back as P T Barnum!! He apparently advertised the Wild Woman of Borneo in 1897.

Or maybe even before that

Victorian circuses apparently had a habit of calling their black side show people 'wild' and often attributing their origin to 'Borneo'. They were often displayed wearing only a loin cloth, or similar tropical coverings, wielding a spear, or similar.

The barkers used the call. 'Roll up, roll up, see the wild man of Borneo' to attract people.

'The 'wild man of Borneo' was well established in usage in the UK before WW2, and possibly earlier. The 'woman' version is merely an extension.


so no wonder all our parents, especially the mums, used the phrase!!


sylvia
xx

Sorry that was me deleting, I posted twice.

Love, Sallie.xx

Hello again, I can't keep away today.

Jean, forget to tell you that I've only done two cards with Parchment on, one was Ann and T's golden wedding card and Michael's mum was sixty on the same day, so I made her card with the other piece of Parchment. I wanted to do something a bit different with them both being a special occasion.


Ann, thank you for the compliment about the cards, although I still have a lot to learn. I don't know how much the church should charge for the cards that I've made. If they ask too much, they probably won't sell them, because some people will think it's a lot for a 'homemade' card. They won't think about the work and the cost that's gone into them.

As I've told Jean I'm hoping that Alun will scan the cards I've made into the computer,so I will e-mail them to you.


Sylvia, I need to have my hair cut badly, like you I should have had it cut about seven weeks ago, so maybe I'll go and get it cut on Saturday morning. So until then I will look like the wild woman of Borneo too.

My mother and grandmother always said that if someone needed to have their hair cut. They also said that a male pop star of the sixties looked like the wild man of Borneo.


Love , Sallie.xxx

Sallie if the cards you do for the church are as good as the ones you've sent me then they should fetch a good price. You are very talented and they are beautiful.

Jean, a week is not really long enough to take all the stuff with you but why don't you take a few bits of card and other bits and aim to make a few card toppers if you have a day you can't get out because of the weather?
Sylvia, I am sure it is nice to get your house back, it usually is when visitors have gone, no matter how much you love them it is a disruption.
We had a lovely warm sunny day today but the evenings have turned cold, very autumnal.

I wonder who the wild woman of Borneo was by the way, my Mum used the phrase and I do too.

Jean, I just missed you as I was writing a message to you all. I think that J is probably right about not taking your crafting stuff away with you. You need to just relax while you're on holiday. Yes, I can remember that when you were having your kitchen done last year and that you did a lot of cards while you were away. It doesn't seem like almost a year, I don't know where the time is going.

At the moment I'm still into doing cards, although I was thinking of doing an album for Alun's sister and brother-in-law as a Christmas present, but not sure if I'll have the time. I'll just have to wait and see.

Jean, I would like you to see the cards I've made for the church, so I'll try and get Alun to scan them in to the computer and then I can e-mail them to you. My problem is, I can't do a lot on the computer apart from ordinary every day things, like GR , etc, etc. So I'l keep on to Alun to do the scanning.


Are you and J going to the same place at the end of October. I hope you'll get some nice weather, as the break away will do you the world of good.



I'm still watching Holby City while I'm writing this as I didn't want to ignore your post.


Love and best wishes. Sallie.xxx

Hi Sallie

Was Alun a Tech Ed teacher then?

That's what M is ................ only he is now Head of the Department of Fine Arts and Technical Education lol!!

He got that job last year, so has a year under his belt. It was a new building, with a new name for the school, but the pupils and staff came from two schools which had been combined. It had been open for about 2 years, and some of the staff who had moved over decided not to continue.

Partly because there was a lot of stress between the two now combined units ....... both staff and students

This was how the Head of Department job came up ...... only the previous Head decided to step down and remain at the school. M was teaching at another school in the city, but got the job and moved over to this one ........... and has the previous head as one of his departmental staff.

He also has to deal with the Fine Arts staff as well!


He was sayting this summer that he doesn't see himself staying there more than 3 or 4 years ...... but sees himself moving into administration. Vice-Principal, then Principal seems to be what he is thinking of at the moment .... but that might change.


He does seem to get "bored" with jobs after 4 or 5 years ...... or when he has become comfortable in it, sorted out problems, got things running well, etc. I don't know whether this is another symptom of the autism-type problem that he has.

J seems happy enough though ... even though she has to spend a lot of time soothing him, bringing him down from high stress caused by problems or things that haven't gone according to M's plan, etc.



s
xx

Sylvia, good to hear that J and the family are okay. It will be nice for J and MJ to join a mother and baby group, it will be good for J to meet other mums and perhaps make a few friends. When I joined a mother and baby group with Richard, I made a few friends there and we are still friends 28 years on.

I hope that M will settle okay teaching the older pupils. Alun, taught in a Secondary school for 15 years, teaching from year 7 to 13 A level, by which time he had had enough, so took early retirement from teaching for a job as a technician in the same school.
He loved teaching when he started, but over the years the behaviour of the kids got worse, he started having blood pressure problems, so when the job he has now came up, he applied for it.
I'm sure that M will cope with it all, with him being a younger man than Alun was.

Enjoy your time at the cabin and that it won't be too cold for you and OH.
Take care!


Mo, where are you? You seem to be disappearing quite a bit these days.
I hope all is okay with you, Roly and your family.


I'm now going to watch Holby, so I might look in later on.


Love and best wishes to you all.

Sallie.xxx

Sallie, I have just finished a 40 page memory album for my friend, and want o get going with my christmas cards, last year we went away for a couple of weeks while our new kitchen was being fitted so took my card stuff with me and made 50 cards, we go again end of oct but Jeff says no crafting, but its only a week so hardly worth it...I will send you some pics when I make them, I want to do some that are a bit different in shapes, btw, I have two more albums to do after christmas for my friend....I do like doing albums....any chance of me seeing your cards . have you done any with parchment designs?
my problem is I give all the cards away as I dont sell them anymore.. but still want to make them... lol....J thinks I am nuts.... he is usually right too !!

love Jean xx

Hi all


it's like November today ..... about 12C, and pouring with rain!

I lost internet connection last night from about 8pm my time (ca 4am UK) ............ so couldn't do my late night rounds!

I've noticed that this sometimes happens when we have a major weather change coming. Doesn't make any sense to me why that should be though!!


Sallie ... thanks for asking about J and MJ, and for all the hugs and kisses. Here's an update:-

They're doing well ......... although it took most of last week for MJ to adjust to the 4 hour time chage. But they are now getting him back on a regular schedule for sleeping etc.

M started back to school yesterday (Monday). First 3 days for staff "things", including orientation for and of brand new teachers. Kids go back on Thursday ... then all h*** could break out!! It's a high school, taking the last 3 years of schooling, ages ca 15 to 18.

J is now going to look for a mother / baby play group as she feels that she can now make plans to get out of the house at regular times.

It's certainly quiet without them .... and I miss my morning play with him (usually as J went for her shower!) ................. but it's also lovely to be back on our own.


Going to have my hair cut this afternoon ...... only about 2 months later than it should have been done!! I look a bit like the Wild Woman of Borneo at the moment!


Take care everyone


s
xx

Hello All,

Liz, I've just finished reading all the news of the wedding on your thread.
Like the others, I found it amusing that there were Trebor chews on the table instead of sugar almonds. Looking at the other side of it, maybe they couldn't afford the the sugar almonds, so rather than not have anything, they decided on the chews.

I had to laugh when you told us about the toilet seat, but you would have thought that the hotel would have had someone on standby so that they could have fixed it. I know it was the Bank Holiday, but it's bad when there's no one there to sort any problems out.

Well Liz, it's all done and dusted now, thank goodness----as you said while all the preparations were going on, you guessed that something would go wrong. At least things could have been much worse.


I hope the farmer finished cutting the crop and that you managed to get your washing dry.



Jean, don't worry about the card being a bit late, it was nice of you to go to the trouble of making one. It's much appreciated!

I've had Chloe here today, but she only made one card because one of the little girls from around the corner, who she sometimes plays with when she's here, came to call for her. So, card making was soon forgotten.lolol!!!

Are you doing any cards or scrapbooks at the moment? I know it isn't always possible to concetrate on it, though.


Love to everyone. Sallie.xxx

Sallie sorry it was late arriving, I had forgot it was a bank holiday weekend, still better late than never.it was easy to make just used a score board and cut it out..

Huia, how are doing my friend, was Phil aware of your visit, I hope he did, It will be a nice change for you house sitting , enjoy it... love xxx

waves to Mo and everyone else~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ x

love Jean xx

Jean, thank you so much for the lovely anniversary card. I love it! You are clever making a card that shape. It arrived about a quarter of an hour ago, I don't want you to think that I hadn't bothered to thank you. So thank you to the three of you!

Huia, glad to hear that you are alright. I'm sure that you enjoyed having your son's company last weekend. I hope that Phil was awake and alert when seen him.
How long will you be staying at your son's house for? Of course, that's if you are able to go, because you have your cat to think about, and also the Hospice shop.



Chloe is coming soon, so that she can finish make the Christmas cards, she's making for her family. So I'll look in later today.


Hope everyone is okay.

Love and best wishes. Sallie.xxx