Fishy Business

This is not our aquarium but it is the shape that our original one is, sat on top of a bookcase/cabinet. Our fish have now been installed in their new home.

It took all day yesterday to set up the new tank and take the plants and ornaments out of the old one, the plants I soaked in a solution to rid them of snails and the ornaments had to be scrubbed in very hot water.  Those of you with aquariums or who have had them will know what I mean.  It is the preparation that takes the time. Once they are up and running maintenance is pretty straightforward and all you really have to do is feed the inhabitants. It took us longer than we thought because as I mentioned yesterday, it meant moving other things, a shelf had to be taken down, a lamp had to be re-located and also a small cabinet that holds DVD's and videos. Of course moving them meant that other things had to be altered - one job always leads to another!

Yesterday evening we introduced the fish to their new home.  At first they dashed around madly not quite knowing what to do but have now settled down and seem happy.  They have far more swimming room even though the tank is a different shape. It took hours to catch them all as you can imagine. Some are dab hands at escaping a net.

We were too tired after that to bother with the old tank although him indoors did drain the water out.  So today we will be dismantling the old tank and removing it then I shall decide what to put on the bookcase in its place. After that, there will be the general tidying up of all the mess we could not be bothered to clear last night.  I must admit we are a bit slow getting going this morning but it will get done. So, another busy day ahead of us.

I shall probably post pictures tomorrow if they come out well enough.

I checked the map this morning and was staggered and delighted.  There are, including myself, 83 people on there! Even Australia now has a little balloon on it.  I am very touched.  I never really stopped to think how many people I have come to know through the computer, people who have become dear to me. People who have made me laugh, made my cry, made me think.  People in whose lives I share in one way or another. Not only the people themselves but their families also. The internet has certainly shrunk the world and brought us all together. It is so heartwarming and uplifting to think that I know all these people.

Did you know that you can "shout" to me at anytime on the map?  Your name and place appears only once but you can add a message, a "shout" at any time if you want to.  Wouldn't that be nice at Christmas, us shouting across the world to each other? Thank you once again to all of you who have taken part and added yourselves to the map.

Anyway, before we pitch in to the rest of the clearing up I must away to check alerts and e-mails.

Hope you all have a happy and peaceful day.

So Pleased

I had to use a yellow rose graphic today, a yellow rose for friendship. I am so happy  to see so many of you on the map I created yesterday.  To be able to see exactly where you live at a glance, to see your pictures and read your little messages is wonderful.  I never expected to have quite so much response and checking it this morning really made me smile.  Thank you so much.

For those who still wish to take part, please click on the little logo at the bottom of "All About Me" and that will take you there.  You can also add the URL of your journal if you wish to. That way, you never know, you might make new friends and find new journals. Why not consider starting your own map? Even if you do not have a journal yourself but do read mine then please feel free to add your name. I know I have readers who do not comment, we all do.

We are going to be busy today.  Him indoors is picking up a new aquarium. Not that there is anything wrong with the old one, it is simply not in the best place.  As we sit in the living room, the tank is behind us and to see the fish we have to keep looking around. The tank is also standing on top of a highish bookcase thus making a small room look even smaller.  When Mike was out buying fish food for both indoor and outdoor fish last week, he saw a tank that would fit in the corner.  All built in with the pump inside it instead of sitting on the floor as we have ours.

So, it is going to be quite a big job. To fit in the tank he has to take down a small shelf, re-arrange some furniture. Then it is all the setting up and getting it filled with water and making sure everything is working as it should be.  We will run it for at least twenty four hours before we add any fish although with the water conditioners they sell nowadays it is safe for them to go in immediately.  My job will be scrubbing up the ornaments from our current tank and making sure there are no snails or snail eggs (we got a plague of them that came in with a plant) making tea for Mike, cleaning gravel, making tea for Mike, looking out something to put on top of the bookcase when the current tank goes, making tea for Mike - you get the picture.  Then tomorrow I have the job of catching up all the fish and putting them in their new home.  There will probably be a few choice swear words along the way from either or both of us.

Right now I am hoping him indoors has measured correctly and it will fit, that there is no damage to it when he goes to pick it up, whether it will look good or be too overpowering for a room this size.  At least it will be a change which is nice and also, if all goes well, we will be able to enjoy our fish a lot more than we currently do.

My back is a quite a lot better so I have to make sure I do not do anything today that will set me back.

Once again, thanks for taking part in my map venture. I am off now to make the first of those cups of tea to fortify him for his trip down to the aquatic shop.  Hope all goes well.  Will let you know and try and put on a picture when all is finished.  Have a good day.

Will You Get Yourself On the Map?

I got this idea from Kathy of Secret Garden and decided to start a Journals map.

I would love you to put yourselves on if you would care to. You can leave a message, post a photo. It covers the world, you just have to navigate across if you are in England.  Had to put London as the nearest city to me but as I am less than forty miles away  that is o.k.  If you click on the little symbol by London, I have left a message for you.  Right now I am the only one sitting on the map and I feel lonely.

So come and join me so that I can see where you all are:-

Journals map

Look forward to seeing you on there.

"After a lengthy study, a South American Scientist discovered
that people without enough sexual activity in their lives read their
e-mails with their hand on the mouse"

Don't bother taking it off, it's too late...

P.S. I was not lonely for long, wonderful to see little symbols and messages appearing on the map, along with photos. Marvellous!

Smile!

A real October morning, very misty and so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

We spent the weekend catching up on much needed jobs that had been neglected, mainly cleaning out cupboards. You know the type of thing, you heap into cupboards things you are sure you will need again in the future and they sit there and sit there. So we decided to get ruthless. They say if you have something for a year and do not use it then you do not need it.  So out came folders, boxes, tins, hats and lots of handbags. I never struck me before how many I had of the latter.  Some had been given as presents so there was sentiment attached, some had seen better days and I have no idea now why I kept them.  We had a productive time and certainly got rid of some junk. I usually get great satisfaction from doing a job like that but one thing spoiled it.  We had been going up and down a set of small steps to get to the high cupboards. I do not know if it was all the reaching up and in or the fact that, towards the end, I missed the last step and twisted myself, but I have hurt my back, started it off quite badly so I am in a lot of discomfort, not to say pain today which has taken some of the gilding off the whole thing.  So, nothing for it but to rest and favour my back and, of course, cut down my computer time. We do not notice the passing of time, we feel the same mentally but the fact is, that with the weight of years we cannot do as easily or quickly the things we used to do. Even him indoors has lots of aches and pains today.

Becky's house is now free from all workmen.  Until Saturday they still had a large skip in their garden full of rubbish and for most of last week they were having a driveway laid to replace the old and damaged one. Now everything has been cleared away and Becky no longer has to make endless cups of tea. Dean spent yesterday reclaiming a couple of flower beds that had been buried under bricks and concrete and general waste and planting shrubs and lots of spring bulbs. I hope to get a photograph for you in the not too distant future.

One bright and lovely thing. Daniel is now smiling!  They just melt your heart when they smile don't they? So here are the latest picturesof him.  No new ones of Nathan, he does not stand still long enough!

On that happy note, I am going to make a cup of tea and relax for today.

Have a great week everyone.

Generations

Friday again, another gloomy morning and quite chilly.

I have been delving into my photo box again and thought I would share a few treasures with you today.  I apologise for the poor quality of the first picture.  This particular print has actually been done by a professional photo restorer and he made a good job in the circumstances.  The original picture is so dark that you can scarcely make out there are people on it.  He could have done more to improve it and taken out more of the damage but it would have proved far too costly.  I am happy to have what I do.  The photograph is of my wonderful Grandmother with four of her siblings.  The picture was taken in Scotland in 1890.

My Grandmother is the little girl on the far left. In the middle is sister Margaret with brother Hermon standing in front of her. On the right is Jessie holding baby Lilias.

My Grandmother was devoted to Jessie who was the eldest and it must have been a terrible blow when Jessie was taken ill and died within a week at the age of sixteen.

They had a hard life in a fishing village where many of the women were widowed when their husbands drowned at sea. But their father was a clerk to a shipbuilding firm so came to no harm. There were two more children born into the family, Andrew and Helen Jane. However, things were tough and they were poor.  Three years after Jessie died, their mother, also named Mary, passed away and the family left Scotland to settle in the East End of London.  My Grandmother was just thirteen at the time. Jessie having died, Margaret was sent out to work leaving my Nan to care for Lilias, Andrew and Helen.  She was bitterly unhappy and ran away on more than one occasion. This journal is not the place to delve deeper into things but I have my own views about why the girls were so miserable and could not wait to get away.

Margaret eventually return to Scotland as did Hermon and I have not been able to trace them or their families.  Lilias became a seamstress and married an omnibus driver, she became an alcoholic. I remember visiting her many times at the basement flat in Kensington. I was fascinated because all you could see out of the window was feet walking past. It seemed wonderful then but I would not like to live in a place like that now.  I like to see trees and greenery. Lilias and her husband, Arthur, had four daughters.

Andrew married and had one son whom he called Hermon after his brother and his father.  Little Hermon died aged five from tuberculosis and his father, having contracted it from him, died of it himself just two years later at the age of 40. Helen Jane was epilpetic and had some brain damage. When the family came to London her father eventually placed her in an institution and she remained in one or another until her death when in her seventies.  Obviously she never married.

My Grandmother left the family home for good at around the age of seventeen. It is believed that she worked in a shop. She met my Grandfather due to the fact that they were both living in the same boarding house. He gave her the love and security that had been so missing in her life. They arranged their marriage but she became pregnant in the meantime.  Her father did not attend the wedding. He died three years later in very mysterious circumstances. Debates raged in the family for years as to whether his death was accidental or deliberate. I might share the story with you some time.

Grandmother had five children. Ethel and Robert were twins. Robert died aged two weeks.  Then came William. Quite a few years later Iris Mary was born but again she only lived for two weeks. Much later came Alan.

Ethel was my mother:-

She would have been in her late twenties when this picture was taken.  She had very large and very expressive  green eyes. It is a shame she was not smiling when this portrait was taken because her face came alive.  She had a wicked sense of humour.   Ethel , always known as Sally, married Noel - always known as Boy

They had fifty-one years together before her death.They had three children.  Two boys, Geoffrey and Keith and then some years later - yours truly!

You all know whom I married and we had Rebecca

Becky was ten days old when this photograph was taken. Now Becky is married to Dean and they have two wonderful boys. You have all read about and seen pictures of them.  Looking at this photo of me with baby Becky I  can now see how very like her  little Daniel is.

So the wheel of life rolls on, one generation follows another, the chain remains unbroken.

I hope you have enjoyed sharing these family photographs.

How Many Can You Catch?

A very dark and gloomy morning. We have had to have the lights on ever seen we climbed out of bed.  A strong chilly breeze and lots of rain.  I must admit I am not a lover of dark days, I am a person who likes the light, not necessarily sun, but bright. I have things I need to catch up on today.  Things fall way behind when you have a computer don't they?  Him indoors is going out to buy some things he needs and will walk the dogs later if the weather clears up.  We recently had a scare with Pip, our oldest Bordie Collie, thought we were going to lose him, he was struggling to get up as I told you in a previous entry.  He had treatment - steroid injections, they had bad side effects, then he was tried on Black Kohosh tablets and for a while they seemed to work and then he went down again.  We feared he would have to be put to sleep. Our old vet has now retired and the new vet has put him on painkillers and some other tablets (not steroids) and he is almost back to his old self. Hopefully we will have him a while longer although his spinal condition is not curable but the arthritis in his hips and legs can be treated.  Going out in the rain will not help his aches and pains or Mike's either!

I hope you all enjoyed How To Carve A Pumpkin yesterday, sorry if it made you jump! (It was meant to, just a bit of wicked fun on my part).

So, following on from that theme, I have a little game for you today - Apple Bobbing.  How many can you catch?  If you have a few minutes to spare, just want to relax or are feeling bored, why not give it a go.  To play just visit

Bobbing for Apples

Have fun!

 

Bird's Eye View

We had quite strong winds last night, more like October weather but they have dropped today.  At the moment we have very hazy sunshine but heavy rain is supposed to be coming our way. We shall see, often in our little corner of England, whatever they predict misses us completely.  We do need some rain though.

Mike was in the attic yesterday looking for something he wanted.  He happened to go through some framed pictures - we change some of our pictures around from time to time. We moved here from a much bigger house so we cannot put everything up at once.  He came across this aerial view of our home taken a few years back so I thought you might like to have a bird's eye view today.

I have outlined our property with white dots and that is why they are not completely straight.  It has changed since then.  We now have a very big pond in the garden so the little one we originally had, does not show.  Our car is now much smaller and silver not maroon, the tree in the front garden has gone, not through choice, it just went completely brown and had to be taken out.  Our greenhouse has been moved. The black square at the back of the property is the roof of our sun lounge.  We are hoping that one day it will be possible to get another aerial shot so that we have the before and the after. 

 

Hopefully you can see the dots clearly enough.  It is quite sad to see the next door garden again as it was, full of flowers and kept immaculate even though the owner was in his very late eighties.  It was such a picture.  They were wonderful neighbours and friends. Alas, they passed away. The new people, although saying they  were keen gardeners, ripped everything out.  Beautiful old roses, wonderful mature shrubs, perennials of every kind. They stripped it bare both back and front.  Then they concreted the front over. Our old neighbour would have been broken-hearted. He tended that garden with great love for over fifty years, it was his pride and joy and with me being a keen garden, the two gardens looked beautiful and often got compliments from passers-by. Still, life moves on and we have to accept it.

On a different note, I took a shot of one tub of our winter pansies yesterday, they are doing well now.

We watched the Pride of Britain Awards on television last night. I never fail to be moved by the courage of people, especially the children. Children always touch your heart and when you see a little girl facially disfigured by fire and having to wear a special mask (she was in a store and a person with a grude against the store threw a petrol bomb into it and she was engulfed) how can you not be moved?   She has never complained, never minded the treatment, faces years of operations. She is a bubbly happy little girl with lots of friends. Another girl had her leg terribly injured on two occasions but when a fire broke out in her house, although in extreme pain, she rescued her little brother and dragged him from the house.  Children can make us feel very humble at times.

Now for a bit of fun.  Halloween will soon be here.  Fancy carving a pumpkin but not sure how? What tools will you use? If you want to know - and have a laugh,  please visit here:-

How To Carve A Pumpkin

You have been warned!

 

Hope you all have a good day.