Weekly Chat, Sunday November 8

Caerann, enjoy the day:) Do you get down to Florida yourself? I imagine it would be tempting in February!!

Thanks for the honor flight details. I am ashamed to say I didn't know it was in more than CT. It looks a great organisation. Great job on the footie (soccer) and you guys should make light work of those woosies from Salt Lake!!

Enjoy the peace Alan, it never lasts for long!!

Sunday all. Caerann, OG, Lindybird, everybody: thank`s for the info about Remembrance/Veterans Day. You brought tears in my eyes. I can`t express just how much I appreciate all those men and women who sacrificed so much for us (and still do...) It has happened more than ones when doing a night-shift there is an elderly man who has nightmares, and when I wake them, they usually tell that they were having "war-dreams" and say that those are worse than having a piece of shrapnel in the body..

Caerann:   Thanks for the link about the honor flights:   I just popped into this page to see 'what's going on' & saw your posting.  Now I'm sitting here in tears. I watched the whole of the YouTube film:  Your memorials, especially the newish one finished in 2004, are just beautiful & I'm sure are inspiring and uplifting to all who visit them, young & old.  We have similar organisations who take the veterans over to France and Belgium, mostly to visit the War Graves put there & tended by grateful nations.

We were once in Crete on holiday & while there, realised that we were very near a huge war cemetary- we went to see it, and were so touched at how well kept it was, but also very sobered to see how many lay there, and when reading the headstones, how very young most of them were. It was in a really beautiful spot, and so peaceful. It was hard to think that as we walked on the beautiful lonely beaches there, there had once been death and destruction (there was also a war grave for the poor German soldiers who had perished, too.)

Wow. Like you Lindybird, I just watched the Youtube video. What a thing that is and to have the mail on the plane:)) Thanks for the link Caerann. I was lucky enough to go to Washington this year and saw the memorials. I am too young to have had experience of the conflicts but just being there was so moving. These are a couple of pictures of the Memorial.

Unknown said:

Lady P is out and about again. Do you think she is trying to tell me something? At least I can watch the footie in peace.

Maybe she is out because she thought you were trying to tell her something with all this football talk!!!  Surely Dundee aren't playing again today?

Morning all:

OG:  Did you watch the ceremony at the Cenotaph? I used to find that very moving, and it must be especially so now. Lovely alpacas, but wonder if that redhead is happy with her hair do. I once had a Peruvian alpaca poncho that was the warmest, softest and loveliest item of clothing I've ever owned. Wore it til it literally fell apart. Re lost words, when I've been blathering on a bit (like now) and can't face retyping/remembering what I said to whom, I copy what I've typed every paragraph or so; then if it disappears into the ethernet, all I have to do is paste it.  Re your coffee mornings (not that I go to any), that would irk me too - you think you've got an extra half hour to relax and chat, and here they are, banging around with dishes, trays, folding tables in an attempt to rush you out the door.  :-) 

Lindybird: Thanks for the description of the Cenotaph ceremony; I remember the two-minute silences. What irks me is that we, the American public without family members in the service, aren't feeling any hardship at all as a result of these current overseas escapades. We make no sacrifices - we're all just driving around, going off to concerts, shopping, etc.  OK. Soapbox back in closet now.   Incidentally, if anyone is ever in Washington DC., (a lovely city full of marvellous museums) the Vietnam memorial is, for all its simplicity, extremely moving.  You can reach out and run your fingers over the names of those young people...

Gary: Fun BBQ but no coffee, eh? Next time, maybe leave a thermos of coffee/hot chocolate in the car so you can sneak out for a quick warm up.

AQ/Auntie: I didn't know Hämeenlinna was Sibelius's birthplace. I bet they have wonderful festivals on his birthday.  Sounds like you've got big doings in the family next year, AQ!  June is a big month for weddings in the US, but that's probably not the case in Australia?

Margobird: Bill Wyman seems to have a solid musical life outside the Stones. Our concert was good, too - lots of toe-tapping  music from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, etc.  I have a great CD of The Chieftains playing with various American country stars. So much of American folk music has its roots in Celtic music.

Caerann: Have a nice day with your folks (snowbirds, eh?)  And I too am wondering how our missing bloggers are.

Alan: The big questions is: Is Lady P out and about with the credit cards?  :-)

Auntie: Oh dear, your anecdote about war veterans' bad dreams is so sad. We've been hearing a lot about PSTD among young veterans and once expert reminded us that "these are all normal young kids who've done things and seen things they never imagined they'd do or see." I can't imagine. Who was it who said something about "young men fighting [or dying?] in old men's wars" ?

Oh well.  Off to do some minor baseboard touch up. Life goes on. Take care all.

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Hello Caerann, Annette and all of you great bloggers;

Just to explain – I’m having a crisis of ‘numbers’  - as you all know, if you take just a day off from the blogs you boot up to over 100 emails. The count for me after my Saturday hike and not looking at the computer for a day (yes, I’ve been reading you Osprey fans but just not responding) was over a hundred and then to remember to respond to particular news one reads takes a bit of co-ordination  - I usually do it in word so I can ‘read’ then ‘respond’ then ‘read’ a bit more and ‘respond’ a bit more and so on. Recently, with one thing and another, I’ve found it all somewhat overwhelming – forgive me -. Then, after posting my blog I then have to delete all the automated emails from Outlook Express – go up on line to my email box and delete them all again from there (I ‘pull down’ all my emails from online into Outlook Express cos that’s what I prefer).

I am very short of sleep currently but otherwise I’m fine and do so appreciate your concern. I’ll be back after a few more days of ‘respite’ -  but I do wish the pages would load more quickly, frankly, that would help me a lot!!

Caerann, I’m still hoping to see the Cranes actually in flight but have not so far. Currently it does look like the Trike cam is in operation but the picture is not forth coming  :( I’ll keep trying. ) I do hope your family weekend turned out to be just great.

Diane – so hope your dad is improving.

And Margobird – I did read you said at one point that you felt somewhat better so I really really trust that the improvement is getting faster and faster ‘cos you’ve had such a miserable experience.

So sorry if I’ve missed important news from anyone, I just can’t keep up with it all at the moment but I’ll be joining you all soon.

Love and hugs all round (trusting Lady P and your lady Gary will appreciate the ‘platonic’ friendship gesture in the phrase  !   :)

And yes, I very proudly wear my poppies and donate to the British Legion ‘cos I do most sincerely appreciate what I’ve won through  the loss of so many  and just hope the current generation under 18 is being taught by their parents to respect our lads in the various forces (unfortunately I just don’t think that is so).

Later ………………….     :)

Annette: I don’t want to go into reasons, but I avoid all the Remembrance stuff, don’t wear a poppy and don’t go to church on this particular Sunday.  Maybe I don’t even know why!!!

Craft Fair today was worse than the Coffee Morning fiasco!  Advert we saw said 10 till 5, so we turned up at 12 … … and it hadn’t started – poster outside the hall said 1 till 5!  We went for lunch at the nearest ice-cream farm then into town to shop as planned.  Returned to Craft Fair at 4 … … and, guess what … … they were packing away early!  I feel a letter to the local paper coming on (but it did mean we went down to the shore and watched the sunset while drinking hot chocolate)!!!  To crown it all, we had bought loads of stuff at Homebase with our discount voucher, but also had my mobility scooter in the car, so after bringing me home, OH went back to collect the paving slabs we had not fitted in  - and the shop had closed at 6 instead of advertised 8pm!   UUURGHGH!!!!!!

Cirrus: thanks for your message on my page.  Sorry that the chat is also causing stress.  Reading your post on this page, I wonder whether you are unnecessarily receiving emails?  If you go to “My Page” and then to “Change my Profile”, you can control the emails you receive.  This is how I have mine set up, and I only receive notifications of messages on my page (ok, yes there are four copies each time, don’t know why!!) but not any notifying all posts on here!  Hope this helps.

Receive community emails   yes

Receive notifications by email   no

Hi Cirrus: Don't bother to answer but are those automatic e-mails from Outlook Express anything to do with this blog (or maybe I read it incorrectly).?  When I have to catch up on lots of stuff, I open the Chat page twice, then hit "reply" in one, then size them so I can read the posts in one window and reply in the other. If you get my drift!  But it does get time consuming doesn't it?  As long as you're healthy, that's all that matters. Take care!