General Chat

I'm not surprised you found it too heavy, Florence!

Many years ago, thinking I was being trendy, I bought a bright orange Le Creuset saucepan, with a lid and one handle, also cast iron.
They don't make that style any more - I've just had a look at their website.

I used it once, but found it so heavy that I couldn't tip it over to drain water from the contents.
Since then it has only been a colourful bit of kitchen decor, on top of a cupboard.

Still heavy rain here, off and on in sudden bursts.
And cold - I've turned up the heating, in spite of wearing my fleece trousers, and a warm jumper with t-shirt under it..
The heating's been entirely off on only a handful of days this "summer".

I'm sorry about your casserole dish, Florence. I was given one many years ago but I hardly ever use it now because of the weight.

I don't know about Evri, but Royal Mail Parcel Post collect from your doorstep. You arrange it all online, so it's very easy. You fill in the destination address and they bring the label with them. :-)

Morning all...just 11.57 be afternoon by the time I finish typing lol

Sadly the casserole dish is far too heavy for me as I can hardly lift the cast iron lid!

I really thought it was the same as the one I had but that was lighter and bigger. Not sure what metal it is but I can lift it in & out of the oven ok.

So I have decided that the cast iron one will need to go back. Not sure how i will arrange this as a courier delivered it not the PO. I shall ring them on Monday to see what i need to do. I'm hoping, I will print out a returns add label and the courier who delivers on behalf of Evri up here will come & collect it as its far too heavy for daughter to go on a bus with.

I shall have another look for my original pan and see if they sell the half size
casserole dish.

Well a shower came but the sun is trying to shine and its very windy but.... we managed to get some washing out & dried before the shower....bonus. :-D

Just usual chores to finish off and then not sure what the afternoon will bring, we shall see.

Hope everyone else having a good Saturday :-D

Florence in the hebrides

I have to order some chicken thighs as I saw one of the top chefs on tv doing a dish using this size of casserole dish. It is really heavy so have to make sure i dont drop it either on my feet or the cooker top or the floor as all would do a lot of damage lol

He put the thighs skin down in the dish to brown and crisp the skin then put them in the over to cook through. In the dish he had chopped onions, garlic and chicken stock with peas. then returned the thighs to finish off in the dish. i will probably add mushrooms and serve with new potatoes but it looked delicious.

Well how about that Joan living near Pitsligo, how coincidental and Linda, that's a coincidence too.

But for tonight's tea daughter is bringing me a chicken supper, comfort food and i cant wait for it. But she's not home until 6.30!

I'm so glad my polytunnel isn't being put up in this dreadful weather as it would have been a nightmare!

AnninGloucs, glad you had a nice time away in the lake District. It was my grandparent's fav place and they went to Ambleside and Keswick many many times. i kept the postcards they sent from the 1970's.

Well I feel the need for a coffee and a biscuit to keep me going until later on.

Florence in the hebrides

Oh how lovely Florence a new cast iron casserole dish. I love cast irons cooking pots & have a full set, they are lovely things to use & washing them afterwards is a doddle.

Pitsligo is not for from where I live Florence.

As for the weather it's soo changable isn't it,. on Weds here it was a real scorcher, yesterday it chucked it down for nearly the whole day, not drying up until tea-time. today it's cooler & the sun is in & out & it's rather windy.

Joan.

I lived in West Hartlepool for six years when I was young Florence

Afternoon all

Another miserable day here. Oh my when will the weather change?

Linda one of the relatives was born in Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire and married a lady from Easington, Durham. They had 2 children born in West Hartlepool. One of those has me as a DNA match. I think the connection is further back to the family of 7/8 kids.

Not so easy searching Scottish records but I have found a lot on the censuses so far.

Daughter away all day so very quiet here and no much in the way of chores as did all me ironing etc yesterday.

Im longing to get outside for fresh air as so desperately need that but unless the wind and rain stop, I am copped up indoors for now.

Linda, hope your eye is so much better now.

Ooh postie has just me brought a box which contains my new cast iron casserole dish. So cant wait to use it now

Florence in the hebrides

good afternoon. I have not really been on the boards much for a couple of weeks as I have been in the Lake Dstrict staying with my daughter. I have read most of the posts though but lacked time to reply. Linda I am sure that Esme will have enjoyed the theatre course as she loves to dance so is probably an extrovert. It must be good for her too.

How sad that some parents just dropped their children off when maybe it would have been something they could share with them. I suppose, to be fair they may know their children don't need them there, or may have been told so. And it was a welcome respite for them, especially if maybe they are lone parents.

I have Scottish DNA as well Florence. It is from a man who married into my dad’s side of the family in County Durham. All of his records simply give him as being from Scotland, but with a very common name I have never been able to trace him back. One day maybe a DNA tree match will turn up for him, but it hasn’t yet. There may be other people from Scotland in other parts of my tree who I haven’t come across of course who have passed on Scottish DNA as well.

I have a nice lazy day ahead of me, with no need to go out. OH is going to paint the two garage doors. They are the roller shutter type, he gave them a good clean yesterday while I was out. He was still cleaning them when I got back, there did seem to be a lot of dirt still coming off them , but he says he isn’t doing any more cleaning! They are white and look very grubby, so it will be a big improvement once they are done. They won’t have been painted since they were installed thirty years ago, as very little else in the house had been updated since then.

Evening all

Where is everyone today? Very quiet on the boards.

I have just had a DNA match and.....it proves I am actually of Scottish descent :-D :-D

My next task is now trying to find the branch that connects us and is no easy task as there is a huge family with 8 kids all in Scotland. So thats my project that will keep me busy.

The calf wraps are not to bad to wear with a liner stocking underneath . I have feet wraps as well! daughter thinks my left leg is looking a bit smaller already but im not so sure as its a bit oo soon. Shall wait for the nurse to come back to me with a plan.

heavy showers and windy yet again...nothing new there :-(

Oh Parents! :-|

And who would be the first to complain if something happened to their little darling :-(

I hope that you are coping with your wraps Florence, they sound dreadful to wear..

I have been a a SEND theatre course today with Esme. Her mum took her the first day , her dad the second and I did today. There was one other girl with her carer, the rest were just dropped off by their parents,but some of them definitely should have had an adult with them! Anyway Esme had a great time which is all that matters.

I hope that Sylvia has settled into her new home

Evening all

Didn't have much time to get on here until now. Was bin day and the wind early blew me over and was raining hard so not pleasant having to be outside.

A nurse came to fit my calf wraps and liners. I felt like a trussed up chicken as they are so thick i could only wear my long shorts! I cannot possibly get my jeans on at all. i suffered wearing them until teatime and then my ankles were so sore so i took them off. I have foot wraps too but when I removed both wraps from each leg, my left foot was so swollen??

I shall put it all back on after my shower first thing and then the nurse is popping in later to see how Im managing.

She took 3 lots of blood too....what a vampire lol

My dad phoned me at 5pm, not a good time as I was just about to eat but of course I couldn't put him off so that delayed the food and I was so behind with everything.

Anyway now sitting and catching up with emails etc and Vera.

JustGinnie glad you had a good crop of tomatoes. Had to laugh about putting the washing out on the line, mine would be halfway to Iceland lol

I remember Terry Wogan always talking about the snow gates closed at Tomintoul and having no idea if it was real place but now living up here for 30 years, i realised there is such a place after all lol

Florence in the hebrides

You are lucky Ginnie, my tomatoes have been a disaster this year. The greenhouse is in a shady position and the weather hasn’t helped. I will have a go at growing them outside in hanging baskets next year.I was looking forward to having a greenhouse again, but I can see why the previous people gave up using it

We booked a holiday to Zante in September, it is the first time we have been away since Covid. I have been sorting all the paperwork out including the travel insurance. We have a bank account which has a monthly fee. It gives us breakdown cover for the car, mobile phone insurance and travel insurance. Of course because of our age and medical conditions we have to pay extra, but it is only £60 total for annual worldwide cover, so that isn’t bad. We are planning on going to Florida next July for the Costello conference and two weeks in Disney, so it was worth getting the annual cover. I did look at Jet2 insurance last night for just the single trip, but that was £30 each, so the bank insurance was a bit of a no brainer. Probably there is cheaper insurance out there, but filling in all the medical conditions is an absolute nightmare

Hello all,
Another lovely day here and I'm just waiting for my washing to finish so it can go on the line. OH has gone to the dentist and after that he is off visiting family so I have a quiet day by myself waiting for a parcel to arrive. Yesterday was a Drs appointment for me and happy to say I dodged the thunder storm and the rain.

It has been very hot over the last week and the tomatoes have started to go red and if they all go we will have loads of them . Mainly little cherry tomatoes though we have 1 large tomato plant and 1 with orange tomatoes . The cucumbers did ok this year and we grew one called melon cucumber which is round and yellow but tastes the same as the long green ones.. Also tried salad beetroot which needs no cooking but I am not keen but it grew well .

I also used to like listening to Terry Wogan and loved his commentary on the Eurovision programme. He had a way with words.

Take care all.

No I didn’t know that, thanks.

Hello All
I don't come on to Gens very often.
The memory of Terry Wogan made me smile.
Did you know you can listen to some of the
Jane and John's stories on Ytube
Ann

Ah I loved Terry Wogan, he always made me laugh. Especially when he would go on about all the traffic cones on the road. :-(

We had the thunder here, too, at about 8am, followed by torrential rain bouncing off the windowpanes.

(I know people say "thunder and lightning", and not "lighting and thunder" - but the lightning does come before the thunder.)

This afternoon's nice, though - dry, sunny, windy.

I was able to get a satellite TV picture yesterday and this afternoon, while it hasn't been raining, but otherwise I've only been able to watch the various streaming services - BBCiPlayer, etc - for the last 10 days or so.
A tree surgeon will be coming at some point to fell the tree which is blocking the signal. He says he's booked solid for the next month, but will pop in next time he's passing, to see what's required.

I really only listen to the radio when I'm in the car, as I can't get an FM radio signal in the house, and we don't have DAB radio in this area yet.
In the house, I can get radio stations on the TV (when the satellite signal works!) or on the computer , but I'd have to turn the volume right up to be able to hear it in other rooms.

I could carry my tablet around the house with me - but somehow it just doesn't feel the same as years ago, in a previous house, when I used to take my little radio with me as I went around doing the housework.
Terry Wogan was my saviour when the children were small - an intelligent adult voice in the mornings!

In later years, when I was on my way to work, his "Janet and John" stories always began when I reached the speed limit signs at the edge of town, and finished just as I was parking at work. I used to drive through the town, laughing aloud.

Hi Florence, the rain has almost stopped now, & the tv appears to have come right again, I was watching an old black & white film when the channels vanished.

Yes I do have a radio, I have it tuned to Classic FM, that was my hubbys favourite radio channel, I would normally listen to the radio if the power was to be off for sometime, unfortunately though I find the radio doesn't last too long even after being newly charged !

It's quite new with little use,it's one that is rechargable, I much prefer the ones with loose batteries,they lasted much longer that this new type I have.

Joan.