Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 2 October 2022

Good Morning. Dry here and not too cold.

Hope everyone has a good week.

LINDA – The “blond bimbo” (used to have lovely hair – fairer than her sister, but never blond) is now 22 – since she is staff at school, I would expect her to have grown out of the “lookalike” phase by now!  I hope Sue won’t have to pay out too much for help with the gas boiler.  Surprised she wants to get decorators in so soon – especially if your opinion of the purchase proves correct!

ANNETTE – so you aren’t really having a break between all the rushing about – I hope next weekend will go well.  All these visits from GD and GGD must be costing a fortune in transport – are they still looking for a move west next year?

LYNETTE – your son is certainly living the high life – glad he is keeping in touch.

I looked out at breakfast time and realised how much colour is still out there, so I sent OH out with the camera to capture it for me – a bit pale due to poor light, but not at all bad.

It's certainly nice to enjoy the last of the flowers at this time of year, OG. Sue is not someone to let the grass grow under her feet, she will battle on - at present still waiting for a man from BT to come & flick a switch somewhere to get her land-line phone to work. Still no Internet either, which isn't exactly convenient.

Stayed dry here, but very cloudy. My OH has finished grouting his1st part of the tiling, so that's now finished, & he's chipped off a whole section of old tiles ready to begin on a new section. Made him have a sit down afterwards, whilst he could hear me softly swearing as I sat in the study with the desktop on, trying to print out our tickets for our holiday which is in a couple of weeks. I don't think I've ever printed out something important without having a whole lot of frustration. It seems to need an extra ingredient before it will give in & print -- my bitter frustrated tears. Bah! It's finally done - only took me about 3/4 of an hour.

Its at these times I wish our sons lived nearer. I bet even Tomasz would know what to do! Sometimes I ring them for advice but never during working hours.

Today's quotes:

As you get older, you get a little bit more magnanimous toward people who say things which you despise.
Billy Wilder, at aged 82.

For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned, it is the season of harvest

Lindybird:  I know the feeling re printers.  My computer is back to ignoring my printer, but has deigned to print to OHs.   Yesterday I uninstalled and reinstalled my printer several times, but my computer still insists it's 'offline.'  Have checked all the usual boxes and options that use to sort things out but they are working less and less often.  Sigh. And now the space bar is being contrary...

OG;  AZ due hasn't been here for a month and we probably won't see them again until - gasp - Christmas.  (And Christmas trees in Costco yesterday - ugh!!!).  I must plan how to survive the season with as little guilt (granddaughter and Ms D love Christmas) and aggravation as possible.  I had a friend who used to plan a trip away each year...

Lynette:  That's a fab old Cadillac your son did the sightseeing in!  

It's daughter's bday today.   We were planning to go to our favorite breakfast place about 30 minutes up the road, but she's feeling lazy and decided she'd prefer a lazy breakfast at her place - which suits me just fine.   We'll have birthday cake,etc. next week with the AZ duo are here - it was granddaughter's bday 9/24.

Take care all.

Annette wrote:Lynette: I hope your son and wife enjoy Santa Barbara. I'd love to play tour guide but have just sent off nephew and now have a Wednesday deadline for the magazine and way too many things set up for the first part of the week. If they're looking for places to eat, the restaurant at Arroyo Burro beach is good but they don't take reservations and there's always a wait. And Jeannine's at the Pier is good for breakfast/lunch. Tell them the only good place to eat on the pier is the SB Shellfish at the very end.... They actually had a booking at the Toma restaurant on the front. Have now left SB as you can see from the pics on the 1st pge. They are enjoying a couple or so days in San Diego before flying back tomorrow evening.

Off to bed with a headache!! Had another run in with the pc tonight as we decided to book a parking space for our car at the airport when we go away, rather than book a taxi. Tried filling in the forms more than five times then had to give up as it wouldn't book us in nor take our payment. <sigh> We feel we've done something wrong somewhere but it wont tell us what's wrong.

ANNETTE – Grandmother excursion: It all began when Miss11 had a history project last term – show digital photos of 10 items brought to Aussieland by her ancestors. Not so easy when all of mine arrived here as early as 1838 and last by 1861. Lucky anything survived since then. At Port Adelaide there is a Maritime Museum and I offered to take Dau & Trio to see ships & stuff. There are mock-ups of the 1840-style steerage quarters that our ancestors had to endure for as much as 4 months. Also 3rd class cabins of 1910 & 1950. A chance to pass on the knowledge I learnt from my mother which she heard from hers. To encourage Trio, I selected names of ancestors that are in the database and will easily yield results.

A rainy day. We arrive soon after opening; it is busy with a bus load of elderlies, another large group, and lots of mothers & children. We wander through displays of ship figureheads, bells, anchors, dolphins, uniforms, cannon, ship models, sextants, etc, etc. Girls run from one display to next across 3 floors in old converted bond store, reading everything. At last I see my aim, the computers, but they are not on. I leave the family, tramp back to entrance to ask. . . “Oh, the computers are not working today. I can look it up for you.” “No” says I, “I know it all. This was to be an introduction to family history so the girls could find the names & ships themselves.” “Sorry.” Grrr.

Dau & I had cars in 2 hour park, so finally, long after I was worn out, we departed, moved cars. Lunch at pancake caf (my shout), brief walk along Port River (cold & windy), home. For the Trio, it seemed a successful day. For me, a disappointment.