Hello dear friends {smile}

Just splashing through to start the new string. Life has been so busy these past weeks that I haven't been online much for myself. I m on the boat again until tomorrow morning so hope to use this time to complete my catch up responding to posts left here. I am going to have to do that from scratch as am on the laptop here and the catch up was sarted in a word document on my home pc.

I have also now acquired an iphone and managed to pop a line on my facebook page. I am getting to grips with learning how to use it just as I have been learning to get used to Windows 7 which is actually rather brilliant.{smile}

I can hear Paul stirring so will pop this post in for now and hope to be back in a little while.

Til then I hope that everyone is well in their own ~nows and leaving a {{{warm group hug}}} to {{all}} who may enter...

with love always

mermaid...xxx

{{Diana}}}

I am so sorry to be a day late with a birthday wish for you.

I hope that you had a wonderful day with {{Ed}}} and that your upcoming new Solar Year brings you much joy to you after all the tribulations of the past couple of years.

Wishing you only the best things in life dearest {{diana}}}

with love always

mermaid...xxx

Liz, thanks so much for the warm birthday wishes and for the beautiful e-card {smile}. It was a low-key birthday, but here's to a better new Solar Year.

Love,
Diana

{{Diana}}} Aww I also hope that you will have a much better year this year sweetie as it does seem to have been one of trials and tribulations for you {{{hugs}}}

{{kermit}} I hope that you are feeling much better now dear friend and sending out some extra {{healing energies}}} for you together with a {{warm hug}}

{{elfina}} I noticed on Facebook that you are now back and hope that you had a lovely time on your cruise.

As Dorothy will be away now on holiday it means that I won't be staying over on the boat for the next few weekends so I can catch up thing things at home that need seeing to especially my emails and catching up in responding to posts here.

We will be on the boat this Thursday afternoon as the Olympic torch will be coming to Ipswich via the River Orwell and into the Waterfront so hope to get some pictures of it passing in front of Orwell Lady. The season has not been brilliant for the public cruises because of the weather and recession although charters have been holding up so Paul has not been a happy bunny with the figures. It does seem to be taking up so much of my time for sure and sometimes I do wish that I could just retire and get back to my own writings and quiet times yet that will happen soon enough when the season finishes at the end of September.

We are going to get our tickets booked for Australia this week and so will be away Down Under from mid-late October to end November. It will be nice to revisit old friends there for sure. {Smile}

Well looking at the time I had better pop this post in but not before wishing all the friends across the Pond a very Happy 4th July celebration! {smile}

Leaving a {{warm group hug}} to {{all}} who may enter and sending out {{healing energies}} to those who need them....

with love always

mermaid...xxx

Greetings every body !

At last,some spare time for the computer room.

I saw the pics of the launch as the torch passed through,Mermaid. That must have been exciting for everyone.

We followed the Queen's progress at some stage altho' but not down the river. What a shame it rained so much; Phillip was lucky that he only got an infection could have been much worse: I know what the Queen said to him after-"I Told you to put your warm vest on !!!"

She looked so happy to have the family around her,makes up somewhat for her hard work.

At the moment,I'm afraid that my back is giving me hell-12ccs of fluid was drained from my spine and I received a cortisone injection ,that helped for a couple of weeks,but I turned the wrong way in bed,so that undid the good work.
Luckily Dan and the Team help with the pain. Everything in the house is done VERY slowly. My cooking is far better than the frozen stuff we have found out,Dan can't even swallow the stuff !

I am lucky ,I only have to do the washing etc, the housework and shopping are done for me weekly. I go out every now and then ,bank etc. But it's rather cold this winter and wet.

Dogs are well;Harry has recovered from the removal of his cancerous tumour under his neck; it must have affected him more than we thought-I have never seen him more affectionate to us all, and he spends time playing with Toby-he has never done that before.
It is lovely to see.

Oh, yes---I am a great Grandmother !! June 25th at noon at Bacchus Marsh community hospital,all of them well,Stella Elizabeth was 3.05 kilos and born with no trouble altho'Lindsey had an epidural to help her along.

Dan is doing quite well. Spends his time watching TV-mainly the cartoons and documentaries.

So life passes quietly with carers coming and going
about their business.

I have not time to go back and see what the general
news is I'afraid. So this is a catchup and life doesn't change that much with us !

Love to all,

Maggy

Hello dear friends {Smile}

I hope that all are well in their own nows and apologise for the lack of posts from me in recent times. I guess the Sun tracking through my 12th house at the moment has stopped me from writing much and also it has been absolutely manic here.

We have had our electricity cables put underground which has meant workmen here (who arrived without warning) and who have been digging up the paddocks and garden. That all happened two weeks ago but entailed me having to walk the dogs really early before the men arrived and then of course I didn’t have my own quiet time to write because I had to do work things.

Work has been busy with the charters but the public cruise figures have been down (not surprisingly with the weather) and Paul has not been happy but as I tell him there is nothing we can do about the weather primarily or indeed a recession. I have been going back and forth to Ipswich to both boats and probably stretching myself a bit thin at times but that seems to be the norm for me doesn’t it? {Smile}

The weather ha been diabolical here – it has been cold and wet and just horrible with occasional weekly glimpses of the sun! Perhaps I am suffering from SAD though it is crazy when it is in the middle of our co-called summer!

Last week was also a tad stressful as we have finally got the flights booked for Australia – we will be leaving UK on 15th October and then back at the end of November. I am hoping to get to see {{Robynne}} during that time but need to email or call once we have sorted out an itinerary. We are going to stay in Singapore for a few days on the way out to get used to the time change in two steps but when we come back then it will be in one hit. We got a really good deal with Singapore Airlines though so will organise a flight to New Zealand from Sydney when we are there and arrange a long weekend. Which reminds me…

{{robynne}} if you happen to look in I will email you this info later this week or if you can let me know when it wouldn’t be convenient for a weekend visit? I thought a weekend would probably be better as you are working. If the house is full not a problem as there must be places we can stay nearby. Hopefully your email address is the same?

{{diana}}} I hope all is well with you sweetie and that you have got your house sorted out and Ed is having his health issues resolved as well. How is dear {{Loralee}} doing after that nasty fall. Hopefully she is now well on the road to recovery. Re the web pages, I have been notified officially by BT that my bt hosted web pages will be removed although not a date yet so I am sending out a request that the Universe will allow me a little extra time to get some of them over onto my own domain. Now Mercury has gone Rx though perhaps they won't do anything yet. I had hoped that I could do some web things when on the boat but Windows 7 doesn’t support my Dreamweaver as they have stopped it so it can only run with XP so that does limit me to being desk bound as I don’t think my old laptop is wireless. Actually thinking about that it must be so am going to go and check on that today. ~Slaps head!~ and thanks Universe for the thought wave as I have all the pages on the old laptop and it is all the links that need to be changed over because I have put them in manually! If that is the case then I can do that on the boat. I know I owe you an email so please forgive me as I haven’t kept up with any of them in recent weeks/months.

{{elfina}}} I hope you had a lovely cruise and that you are now enjoying your time in your house in the north with your grandchildren. I do hope that Pat doesn’t need the op and that things are ok with you because have been looking forward to hearing all about your cruise and the different places you went to but I guess things are very busy with you at the moment?

{{{kermit}}} reading your last post re El Nino – we have the jet stream sitting over UK (rather than much further north in the summer time where it usually is) which is why we have been having such terrible weather with storms, floods etc here. So many summer events have been cancelled due to this and it is such a shame – either that or they have been mud baths! No-one seems to know when/if it will move so it seems like autumn here as that is when the jet stream is usually here bring all the low eather systems. I read the other day that migrating birds are arriving here as they think it is autumn as well and we are only in July! Hopefully you have had lots of rain though as it would help with no fires then. We haven’t even got hay made because the sun has only shown itself for a maximum of half a day without rain showers or heavy rain so and the coming week’s weather forecast is more of the same. I think we will have to abandon hay making now and just top the field and leave it for the sheep to eat as it won’t be up to anything. We have kept the sheep in the other two paddocks and plenty of grass for them just in there. I dread to think what the cost of hay is going to be this winter as everyone is in the same boat and can’t get hay done. It really does seem to have been one of the worst summers for about 40 years.

{{{Maggy}}} how lovely to see a post from you although so sorry to hear of the health issues. I know how horrible back problems can be so am sending out extra {{healing energies}} Down Under to you and hope that the pain can be brought under control very soon. Aww that is lovely re Harry and how he is now after having that tumour removed bless him. I know that you are in your winter time at the moment and when I was speaking with Paul’s sister in Sydney the other day it was actually warmer in Sydney in winter time than here in summer! I have been putting the heating on here as everything gets so damp and cold if I don’t. Aww warm congratulations on being a great granny! {smiling} I agree with you re the Queen saying that to Prince Phillip – I don’t know how they did that river trip in that awful weather for the jubilee pageant and they stood all of the time as well! I know I couldn’t have done it and she is twenty years older! I spent the whole time glued to the TV (whilst ironing and such like) and really enjoyed all the Jubilee celebrations though Paul (curmudgeon that he is at times) was grumbling about it all (he is not a monarchist!) {smile} The Olympic torch coming to Ipswich was exciting though I wasn;t able to be there to see it as we had the workmen here doing the electricity cables and I couldn’t leave the dogs alone in the house as they would have been going ballistic. So Paul went to our boat as the children and grandchildren were going to be on it as there was no space anywhere in the waterfront so they all had a lovely view of from the top deck of ours. Also Paul could take better pictures with his new digital camera which is all singing and dancing and would take better ones than mine good as it is. Looking at some of the pictures that Paul took I am surpised that Orwell lady didn’t keel over as she was listing to starboard with everyone on that side of the boat taking their pictures! {laughing} Seriously she wouldn’t have gone over but the pics looked alarming. {Smile}

Goodness looking at the time I am going to have to post this as I have to go and wake Paul up and make a start on my day. I am not going to edit as am writing this in a word document so please excuse me if this is a tad rambly with typos! {smile} I sending out {{warm hugs}}} to all of you dear friends – I really miss the times when we were all able to contribute more to the board yet I do understanding how our own ~nows~ take over and no time to sit and write here. Hopefully the Universe will allow us some extra time to continue sharing thoughts and sending out a little ~request~ to help make it so. {Smile}

Til the next time…. Leaving more {{{group hugs}} to {{all}} who may enter and sending out {{{healing energies}} to those who need them.

With love always

Mermaid…xxx

Hi All,
Here I am finally able to get my thoughts together and post a little message to you.
The cruise and Europe was wonderful. We enjoyed ourselves and had a great time.
Our table mates were 3 couples from England...they didn't know each other before the trip.
We enjoyed their company and they ours. There was one couple who was a little caustic but
still we all got along. One of the couples plans to visit us in the states next year. I must have
slept through my geography lesson on Europe because it surprised me with all the mountains everywhere. For some reason I pictured it flatter. Anyway the sites, churches, museums and views were terrific and will stay with me forever. I also took 500 pictures which will help. I have been trying to sort through them this week.

When we came back we went almost directly to camp where we spent a really relaxing 6 days until Pat's ATV got stuck in the mud and he spent an entire afternoon trying to get free of it and get help. He had picked up a little cold on the ship and the time in the muddy water didn't help. Anyway to make a long story short he developed an awful cough and fever which has had him flat in bed for the past week. We go to the Dr. today for medicine and perhaps the hospital for a chest xray. He also has to go back to another Dr. next week for another sonigram of his kidneys. He was able to pass the kidney stone without much pain before we traveled but there is a little problem with his kidney that we hope will
Show cleared up with this next sonigram.

My grands come to visit this weekend for a weeks stay. Praying Pat is well by then as I have so many fun things planned for us all to do.

Maggy I am glad you stopped in. I was wondering how you were getting on. I think it is wonderful that you and Dan are able to stay in your own home and have people in to care for you. Sorry your not feeling your best but glad that your life is settled down a bit. Congratulations on the birth of your new great granddaughter she is lovely.

Kermit, I hope you are doing OK especially in all the heat we are having here in the states. It
has been so very hot here I can just imagine what it is like there in the southwest. Scooter is coping with the heat pretty well, he sleeps a lot and we got him a short short haircut so that he is much cooler.

Diana, I hope your Mom is on the mend and that Ed is doing well. Wishing you cooler days and happier times ahead.
.................................................
Liz, OMG the rain in England is just crazy. I pray the sun comes out soon and dries everything up for awhile. We are so dry here the grass isn’t even growing.
As this is a word pad document I had to stop for awhile to take Pat to the doctors. We have just returned and it seems he has bronchitis and the tail end of the flu. He is on some strong medication now which I hope will relieve his cough and help to cure him.

I was happy to read that you posted in the retreat since this morning. We both must have been on the same wave length. I’m sorry this message is such a jumble. I’m going to post it anyway or it will never get done. Pictures will follow someday…hopefully soon.

Oh so quiet in here....I had my Grands with us all last week and we spent the weekends at camp with no internet service. Pat has good days and bad ones. The bronchitis is almost gone but we learned today that he will have to have an operation next month on his kidney to remove the stone that is lodged there.
He is not a happy camper about it. We are watching the Olympics and enjoying the coverage of the games. England seems to be doing a great job so far.
I hope all is well with each of you.

Stopping in to say hello to all.

Elfina, I'm so sorry to hear about Pat and his having to have an operation. Will start focusing some energy out on his kidneys. Hope you've enjoyed the time with the Grandkids.

Liz, how are things going your way? I know you must be incredibly busy, am just hoping that your health is ok with all of the work and stress you're under.

Kermit, hoping you're feeling better buddy. Thankfully, one more month of intense heat for NM and AZ then we'll see some relief. Though I must say that this has been the first year in some time that we here in AZ have had monsoonal activity on a more frequent basis.

Hoping that Maggy and Dan, Hathor, and all others are doing well.

Mom is doing quite well, and is now going to physical therapy to help her shoulder get back in better working order. The stormy days in Oregon do flair it up a bit, but she so loves it there that whatever discomfort her arthritic joints brings is "well worth it" (in her words) for the beautiful environment she now enjoys.

We had our 16 year old cat Serena in to the Vet this week as she has been quite lethargic. As suspected, her kidney disease has progressed some. We have some subdermal treatments of IV solutions to help her body flush itself of the toxins that tend to build up with lower functioning kidneys and will begin those on Sunday for as long as she will allow them to continue. I just want to ensure that she's not suffering, and that she's getting enjoyment out of life. If/when she gets to the point when it's obvious she is no longer interested in life or happy within herself, then it will be time to make the difficult decision to assist her across the Rainbow Bridge. She has been my companion for so long, that it hurts me to think of that day, yet is never the less a reality we must one day face. I can only try to make things as good for her in the meanwhile as possible.

We're hoping to have a new place sorted out and moved into at the beginning of next month. Then Ed begins a six month course of chemo treatments, so hopefully, that will do the trick, send his disease into remission, and enable his liver to restore itself some.

Hope all are well and sending love to each of you.

Diana

Good morning dear friends {smile}

For the first time in weeks I am having a nice quiet Saturday morning with just me and the dogs so I thought I would pop a quick post in here whilst I am able to. {smile} Paul is on the boat and I will probably go and join him this afternoon for a few hours as dorothy is not able to house/dog sit for a few weekends so it is nice to just be at home on my own for a change.

Life has been so frenetic with so much going on with work things and boat organising. With he badweather we actually got the hay done last Monday and then with helping load the bales and get them under cover I did my shoulders and back in so have been back to osteopath this week. Thank heavens for heavy duty painkillers I must admit. It is bizarre in that they are combining and getting the harvest done before the haymaking this year as we usually do hay in June!

Another thing that has helped pop some more pressue on me (as if I don’t have enough at the moment) is that Paul in his infinite wisdom has booked us both on an intensive Day Skipper course for the week that we are on the boat early in September! He informed me one night as I was heading off to bed rather than ask if that was ok! This is going to be four days of intensive theory (seamanship and navigation) and practical boat handling followed by an examination so I told Paul that I doubted I would pass but at least would give me an intensive refresher course! {smile} I have however enrolled myself on a RYA online navigation course this week so that I can at least get ahead of myself before September. I am waiting to get my books and will then get started as soon as I have them. It means I can study at my own pace for the theory and that should help me in september. I had thought that we would just be able to relax and unwind on the boat after working hard all season with Orwell Cruises but that is not to be. At least we will hopefully have a few days after the course before getting back into the routine here at home.

I am so sorry that I have not been contributing much here in the message board – I have just been so tired by the end of the day that I would have been writing rubbish (or more rubbish than usual!) {Smile}

{{elfina}} Am so glad that you enjoyed your trip to Europe and the cruise itself. I do hope that Pat’s health with the bronchitis has improved since you wrote about it. I also hope that perhaps he has been able to pass the remainder of the kidney stone so that he doesn’t have to have the operation. I have been fairly glued to the Olympics (well have had it on in the background whilst working) sine they started and watched Michael Phelps get his umpteenth gold medal yesterday! {Smile} I did enjoy the equestrian and archery as well and we have the althetics now in full force – must admit it is making me tired just watching them! {smile} I think the organisers have done a good job thus far and the opening ceremony was different and very British (ie quirky!) {Smile}

I hope that you have finally had some rain – we did manage a week or so of sunshine which got the hay done and now are back to sunshine and heavy showers! I am supposed to go to our boat this afternoon but it is forecast thunderstorms so if that happens I am not going to leave the dogs alone in the house. I see it is clouding over now as I am writing so looks as though the showers are coming in. Was lovely to read your posts and am sending love and {{warm hugs}} across the Pond to you dear friend. {Smile}

{{diana}}} aww so sorry to hear about {{serena}} and hope that she is able to have some more time with you before she is called to the Rainbow Bridge – it is always hard isn’t it wen we know their time is due to come to an end on planet Earth. Chakhotay is very much the elder statesman and is slowing up although he still does go bonkers when it is walk time and barks his head off for most of the walk. He has done that ever since a puppy and the trouble is it winds up Nelson who then starts barking and nipping at Chakhotay and then Shula goes and beats up Nelson as she has decided that Chakhotay needs protecting! It has made dog walking a bit of a challenge in recent weeks that’s for sure especially as on a couple of occasions it has turned into a full blown dog fight! Fortunately stitches weren’t needed. How is Lakota doing by the way?

Was good to hear that dear {{Loralee}} is no well on the mend and that she is enjoying her new place of residence. Talking of which have you now got a new place to live and has your current house sold? I do hope so and that you will be able to relax a bit which will give you both the energy to face what lies ahead for dear {{Ed}} and his upcoming chemo treatment. Am sending out some thoughts to the Universe for him to quickly come through it all and then you can both really start to enjoy life together… sending love and {{{hugs}}} to you dearest {{wolfsister}}}

I am going to pop this post in now in case my day takes over again as I need to go and run some errands. I do hope that everyone is well in their own ~nows~ and am leaving a {{{warm group hug}} to {{all}} who may enter….

With love always

Mermaid…xxx

Hi guys.

I have read up on ya'll and wow, we all seem to be having our challenges. It goes without saying my thought and healing prayers are with all.

Elfina, sounds as though you had a great trip. Sorry that Pat received the tonsil thing. boy I pray his operation takes care of the problem-hospitals scare me. {{{LOADS OF HEALING HUGS}}

Maggy, yes, it is great that we have help when we need it. I, for one, feel very fortunate that I receive the help I need to be able to live in my home. Ah yes, know about those frozen meals, YUM YUM YOU AND DAN ENJOY my friend LOVE YOUSE GUYS. {{{LOADS O HUGS FRIENDS}}}

Diana, yep you guys got a lot of rain as a high was settled over NM. The El Nino seems to be getting a better hold so hopefully we will get more rain. I wish you guys the best of everything at your new home. Sending loads o HEALING ENERGY AND PRAY for you, Ed and Serena. Our 4 legged buddies mean a whole bunch to us; gotta talk to GOD about a longer life for DEM GUYS. LOVE YA FRIENDS {{{LOTS O HEALING HUGS}}}

AH MERMAID, busy as ever I see. As long as you take time to smell the ROSES as they say. (as I hope there be some scent left after I inhaled.) I have been a bit under the weather since my challenge. They think I may have a virus in my GI track. They were talking HOS.....sh and I told them her she'll have to catch me first. Well my FRIEND, TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF. It has been said, 'if you want something done, go to a busy person'. I suppose that is why no one has ever asked me. {{{LOVING AND HEALING ENERGY HUGS}}}

MY FRIENDS, YOU ALL ARE ON MY MIND AND FOR EVER GRATEFUL FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP. LOVE YA'LL. HUGS

LIGHT, LOVE & PEACE; Kermit and Friends + B2. b
B2 here. hehehe I walk all over him. Naa, not really but I do get away with a lot. I want ta send you guys a bunch O {{{HEALING PAWSEY HUGS AND MAN O MAN LOADS O LICKY LICKS}}} ENJOY ALL