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Just got back from QMC again........the last eight days have been a bit Traumatic to say the least,,...blood tests,,X-rays,,and today a visit to a Consultant........cut a long story short......problem

Result........CT Scans all clear......just got letter..been sweating for a fortnight......

Two years ago today..........my life changed forever,,,about this time i was on my way down to the operating theatre for what turned out to be a ten hour operation...........its been life changing in

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Nonna, I still keep my painting of your gates and cactus in a prominent place with cyclamen in, so I can see it every day.x

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Hi catfan what lovely photos of cats. Manny thanks for the photo of the "Chopper" not seen one in a long time.

OPPSSSS!! should have said "Chopper Bike".

 

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nonnB

your so right about FB the only reason i joined was to keep an eye on my grandson, who at the time was going though a rough time. Now he's 23 he has a good job, just bought his own house and proposed to his girl friend/partner.

Just a mo ask his girl friend to marry him? maybe I should go back on FB.

 

ps looked at FB the other day this chap from America wants to be my friend but who is he? He could be a serial killer for all I know.

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Mary/Nonna.just delete them if you don't know them.  Chances are they know someone who is a friend of a friend of yours.. but you are in control.  I use Face bok to stay in tough with a few friends abroad and in the UK.  I have no problems.

 

Apart from late night spelling.. but I don't think that's the fault of Facebook..

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Over the years I've had Friend Requests on FB from people who I don't know. I just ignore and reject them. I wouldn't dream of accepting a request from someone who I didn't know or couldn't recognise.

 

They usually come from the same source as the emails which tell you there are millions of pounds waiting for you in Nigeria; or that there are young ladies who are desperate to meet me.

 

 

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I'm not on FB, but I'm in contact with friends in America, Canada,Italy,France,Australia and far afield as Boolwull and Kirkby. Even know somebody in Caithness. All courtesy of NS.

Sincere apologies to all colonials and exiles I've missed.

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Be careful with the ones from Boowul.. they can't be trusted.  And don't bother with the ones from Kirkby.. they are obviously lost.  I can't think of any other reason for being there.. ;)

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On 8/18/2021 at 6:43 PM, nonnaB said:

What a day. Market day and was back home before 9am. Bought 20 kg peppers, 6 kg plums, 3 kg apricots and 2 kg peaches. Roasted and froze 10 kg peppers, plums can wait a few days they are a bit underipe, apricots in dehydrator and peaches think we'll eat them. Still another 10 kg of peppers to do tomorrow. Preserve them with tuna, tomatoes and olives.

Sat outside a minute or two to eat an icecream and got bitten 3 times on my arm. I seem to be a magnet for mosquitoes.

Got a pile of ironing to do but it will have to wait, I'm tired.

 

Nonna.. I have a glut of small tomatoes.  A bit bigger than the usual 'cherry' toms, at about 4cm diameter.  I'm getting up to about 1 Kg every other day..from three  pot grown plants. I'm thinking of just cooking them down to make some sort of sauce, or passata.

I could just halve them, cook down then rub through a seive to remove seeds.  Or I could skin them first, or I could skin them then blend up the skins and add back, or I could leave the seeds in...  The possibilities are endless.  Any tips?  I'm thinking of freezing the result.

 

I did try slow roasting a few. Cut in half, remove seeds, slow oven at 110C for about two hours.. with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, but the resulting things are maybe a bit too intense and seem to be all chewy skin.

 

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They tell the ones in Billinge can be a bit suspect too.

Was told you can drive through at 60mph and they can still whip off your hubcaps and mirrors.

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4 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

They usually come from the same source as the emails which tell you there are millions of pounds waiting for you in Nigeria; or that there are young ladies who are desperate to meet me.

 

My email inbox is a bit short of temporarily cash strapped Nigerian Princes at the moment.  The latest annoyance are those who jump into the middle of a FB discussion/comments thread with something like " I didn't understand how to invest wisely until I met (*insert bizarre name here) and I am now absolutely minted...  contact me.." etc.  If I can be bothered I just reply 'Scammer reported'..then report their post. It's dead easy.

 

If there was any reality to the number of allegedly stunning nubile young eastern European Laydees scouring the streets of St Helens for me.. I'd be spending all my time there.. but oddly, they must all be indoors when I drive through.:laugh:

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12 minutes ago, Beekay said:

They tell the ones in Billinge can be a bit suspect too.

Was told you can drive through at 60mph and they can still whip off your hubcaps and mirrors.

 

Roads?  In Billinge?...:biggrin:

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DJ Tomatoes are very versatile and aren't too fussy. We've had an overflow of them. Neighbours unload their excess, we buy them fairly cheap in markets. I have loads of packs in the freezer. I halve them or quarter them and even chop them into small pieces and pack into boxes or put into freezer bags. They will be ready for when you want to use them. 

I've made so much tomato sauce with them and its in the freezer too.

An easy way is just to chop them up and cook them in a saucepan as they are . If they are really ripe they will make a lot of water especially if they are beef tomatoes.

If you want to make a sauce for pasta or just as you would buy a bottle of passata. After you have elimanted some water cook it down a bit and sieve it. Chop an onion finely , saute it in a little oil add the tomatoes and cook until reduced a bit add seasoning and chopped basil leaves . If you have loads of tomatoes and you don't know what to do with them make a large amount of sauce and bottle it and sterilise it or freeze it. Tomato ketchup is another alternative and is much nicer that shop bought. P

We've been using up some of our tomatoes by cooking them with peppers, olives and red onions and today I cooked them with anchovies , peppers and tomatoes. I've sterilised all of them and they are now in store ready for winter.

Good luck with them and if you want any more help dont hesitate to ask.

I roasted some the other day and left them in a tupperware box in freezer. They were nice. It doesnt 

really matter about the seeds its a choice.

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Thanks Nonna.  The one thing I wasn't expecting was to just chop and freeze them 'as is'...but I'll do a bit of experimenting.

 

My tomatoes have done OK this year.  I have 3 plants of an outdoor 'cordon' variety called Crimson Crush.  They can be anything from 3-5 inches across and are really solid inside with very few seeds. Lovely flavour too.  They are nice in salads, or a slice of a big one on a burger.

The other three plants are bush varieties called 'Bella' and produce dozens of smaller toms everyday, which are nice for snacking..but also I think worth cooking down for sauce or whatever..

Sadly, the weather here has been cool and wet for at least a week and that can often be a death sentence for outdoor toms..as blight can quickly take hold.. but so far.. so good.

 

I have some outdoor cucumber plants but I only sowed the seeds very late.  They are flowering like mad at present but the 'cumbers' are only developing slowly.

 

My Runner Beans are very good so far and we have had loads with meals... plus quite a few bags in the freezer.

 

I've had radishes too..and I have Beetroot, but they seem slow to develop.. same with carrots.

 

Lastly.. I have some young plants of Cavalo Nero..  I have been fighting the green caterpillars off of them.. but I think that once Autumn sets in they will be OK, as the plants are winter hardy. which the caterpillars aren't... So looking forward to using the Cavalo with a version of 'Colcannon'. plus Bacon.

 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/colcannon

 

 

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Yes DJ we've frozen them "as is" whole because we haven't had time to chop or freeze. They are handy when making soups. We eliminated our "veggie plot" yrs ago. When we bought this house it had a huge back garden uphill which was an orchard, 5 apple, a damson, 3 figs, 4 pears, persimmon,walnut, and its so long ago I cant remember any other. They hadnt been taken care of and so slowly if they didnt produce any more they were eliminated. May seem strange but at the front we had enough land to plant 130 different varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and some salads. We are south facing and during the summer it got very tedious especially with watering everything never mind pinching out tomatoes. The following year we planted 60 tomato plants. Eventually gave up and "landscaped" the front concentrating on the rear almost non existant orchard. We planted everything from aubergines and peppers to salad and herbs. Being uphill it was very tiring and I was always afraid of falling which I did one day near the persimmon tree with all the wind falls on the ground which had started to rot and I slipped and sat on it all. Not a pretty sight.

Today fruit and veg are so cheap so we buy and preserve lots of things in the summer. Today my husband has already gone to a market in Asti to get some more peaches and apricots to preserve.. Ive already done some but still have some room and the energy to do more. Its great in the winter to be able to open a jar of vegetable salad to eat with a tin of tuna or even with some chips. Doing this we are never at a loss what to eat. Yesterday when I took the peppers out of the sterilser one jar hadnt sealed properly so we had that for our lunch with bread. Quick and ready. Keep on growing veg and make as much use of it as you can.  I've bought a dehydrator and dry a lot of things. At the moment I have some apricots in that must be nearly ready. I used some yesterday to make some fruit bars along with some dried apples. 

Happy gardening.

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Hi Nonna and thanks for that.  We don't have a dehydrator but our ovens will go down to very low heats, which can amount to pretty much the same thing.  I've no success with peppers, but in a good year I've had enough chillies to make chilli jam..which is lovely on a cracker or oatcake, with a bit of cheese or whatever.  I've also frozen chillies.

 

At the moment my knees are so painful that standing for long periods in the kitchen 'prepping' stuff etc.. isn't really on, but I've realised I have several Kgs of the bigger tomatoes which won't get used fresh, so I'm going to cook those down for sauce. Also loads and loads of runner beans.  I'll end up giving a lot of those away, but still have enough to freeze for the winter. 

 

I only brought my little veg patch into use again this summer, so I'm hoping for better things next year.. with a bit more planning. Hopefully I'm getting a greenhouse soon, which will take up my little veg patch.. but I'm planning on making a couple of raised beds where I presently have lawn. Less grass to cut!!.  So long as I still have the sunniest part for my obsessive sun worshipping..the rest can go.

 

Veg can be cheap here in the supermarkets, but they tend to go for stuff which looks nice.. even sized tomatoes etc.. but often don't have great flavour, or even last long once purchased.

There's a terrific farm shop five minutes up the road which has beautiful veg in huge variety, but it isn't cheap.  They also do fresh eggs which I haven't tried yet. Olives also are generally expensive here.. apart from the very basic green pitted ones in bottles. Eggs are another constant complaint for me.  I'm sick of buying eggs which claim to be 'Farm Fresh' etc.. with 'Display until the Day of Judgement and then some' on the label. They almost always turn out to be what I call 'instant omellettes' as they spead all over a frying pan..rather than standing up, so I can only guess at how long it is since they were laid.

Still the Sun has just made an appearance after about a week of heavy rain and gloom.. so it's not all bad!  :laugh:

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Took my 6x 1kg jars out of the sterilising pan this morning. Three lids just slipped off much to my anger. I'd overfilled them with sugar syrup and boiling water does what its supposed to do and forced the lids. Never mind we had one for a sweet at lunchtime, gave another to my son and froze the other. They were nice and had kept their colour. Thats enough preserving for now .....maybe, it depends whether the price comes down again.

I saved the peel from the peaches and dehydrated them and ground them into a powder ready to use when making cakes and biscuits. I'm dehydrating marshmallows too at the moment, they are so tasty.

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32 minutes ago, Beekay said:

Just heard on the news that Don Everly has died. RIP  Don,

Now you can "Dream".

Must admit I had a little cry when I heard that news this morning - they played a bit of Cathy‘S Clown on the TV and that was one off my all time favourites.,.

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Indeed. RIP Don.  As I say all too frequently these days... they are all leaving... :(

 

I liked the Everly's.  I have a double CD with most of their hits on it and somewhere I have a couple of 45s and 78s too.  It's also worth throwing in a little plug for the songwriting talents of  the late married couple Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote many of their hits, as well as songs for Buddy Holly and many others. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felice_and_Boudleaux_Bryant

 

The thing about the Everlys is that I have some really strong memories of where I heard what songs.  E.g., 'All I Have to Do is Dream' always reminds me of hearing it coming from the back of a house at the junction of Southglade Rd and Padstow Rd. in the 50s.  Kathy's Clown always reminds me of a friend's sitting room.  And although I obviously knew it much earlier, I can't hear ' Let It Be Me', without remembering a terrific version done by Billy Kinsley and Tony Crane, of the Merseybeats/Merseys at the Cavern Club sometime in the early 90s.  It was a party to which we were invited by Sandy, Billy Kinsley's wife.. who Mrs Col was at Uni with.  Apparently it was a regular song for the lads at the start of the whole Cavern/Merseybeat thing.

 

This is a remarkable video from their re-union concert:

 

 

Let It Be Me is a French song.

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5 hours ago, MargieH said:

Must admit I had a little cry when I heard that news this morning - they played a bit of Cathy‘S Clown on the TV and that was one off my all time favourites.,.

Fond memories of Cathy's Clown on a caravan holiday at Jinglebells in 1960, their harmonies were just fantastic.

 

5 hours ago, nonnaB said:

So sad I loved them. Was Don the eldest or Phil. R.I.P.

Don was the eldest, being born in 1937 and Phil who died in 2014 was born in 1939

 

Another fading of the soundtrack of my youth.

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All the artists of this era are leaving us as we will be leaving the younger generation who have never had the joy of listening to these artists. Most of the songs are still with us today and have survived the passing of time. How many of todays songs will be able to survive for more then 50/60 yrs and still be popular?

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Today we went to my oldest daughter's house. It was my older Granddaughter's  Seventh Birthday, and also my daughter and son in laws 13 wedding anniversary.  Granddaughter had a party with all of her little friends yesterday.. but today was for 'family', and she asked if we could share a takeaway curry.  Quite a mature choice for a 7 year old!

So.. Mrs Col and I drove over there ...as did youngest daughter, with her partner and our newest arrival.. 'ickle Soleil.. who is becoming more 'engaged' and vocal every time I see her...though she's only a few weeks old.

Lovely afternoon.  Great fun seeing everybody and the curry was fab.. but, unusually it is coming back at me with a dispeptic vengeance at the moment.  Where's the Gaviscon?

 

 

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