Hello dear friends [smile}

Just popping in quickly to thank you Diana for your message and will reply to that more tomorrow.

Paul had good news today as he saw his consultant and everything has comeback clear so we are both heaving a sigh of relief for that {smile}

I have been having a few computer glitches so my PC is going to be going in for a refit with new insides. The problem is I have to run Windows XP because of some of the programmes I use and Dave (my computer expert) thinks the motherboard is on the way out. I was getting graphics done and web pages for the boat stuff which has taken me forever so I am just going to bite the bullet and get it sorted. They have ordered the bits and hopefully by this time next week my pc will be as all singing all dancing as I can get within the limitations of keeping windows XP. I am tending to use the laptop now for my personal things and getting used to Windows 7 so it will be good to have a speedier pc as well {smile}

I will check out the book series when I have a moment or three. The garden is looking brilliant and I did manage to get the lawns done yesterday though today we have had horrendous northerly gales so now there are leaves everywhere! Michael is now back on reduced duties so he canrake them up tomorrow {smile} Evalina has done a brilliant job and we are nearly a weed/bindweed free zone at long last. We lost another sheep as well earlier this week as we had to get them in to check a couple and she went down in the crush. We got her out quickly but to no avail as she just had a heart attack and died bless her. That is the way of sheep though unfortunately.

Chakhotay is still doing ok – the vet came out last week to check him over and is pleased with him. The youngsters are both fine as well. We are hoping to get down to the boat as well at the weekend which will be nice.

Well this was supposed to be just a line (or three) so I will pop this post in for now and will go through your message in the morning all being well.

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

With love always

Mermaid…xxx

Hello dear friends [smile}

I thought I would pop a quick post in this morning as I know I won’t have a lot of time in the next couple of days. I have a friend coming to stay and emma will be here this morning for business stuff. Dorothy is also here with Evalina so it is going to be a bit like Casey’s court methinks! {smile}

Evalina has been performing miracles in the garden it looks absolutely gorgeous now. Even Paul (the original Mr Glass Half Empty) has said what a good job she is doing. The girls are off to Poland for their holidays this week so it will be a real treat to have the garden looking so wonderful and the house too as Dorothy is here at the weekends when we are on the boat and it is always immaculate when we get back. I am sending out a little request to the Universe for them to have a safe journey home and a lovely time with their families. They are lovely girls and have such a good work ethic.

We had the hay cut on Monday and Colin came and turned it yesterday and he will be back today to do that and then hopefully we will have it baled tomorrow which is going to be a slog of a day as it is forecast to be 30 degrees. I know this is not hot in terms of Arizona but when you are having to stack the bales and then lift them onto a trailer and get them under cover then it is hot! {smile} Nick from next door is going to help and Michael will be here as well so hopefully we can get it all in before the forecast storms arrive at the weekend! Once that is all done then we can relax a bit. And only have to have the straw delivered later in August. I think haymaking is always a worrying time because of the weather and I always feel happier when it is done and safely stored under cover. It is lovely in the stables when the new hay is in with the gorgeous smell though my hayfever does tend to kick in with the sniffles! {chuckle}

Chakhotay is still doing well bless him though he is getting more creakier. He had a bit of a bad day on Monday but then back to normal yesterday – well his normal that is. The youngsters are enjoying life as usual although at the moment they are both flopped down here in the study with me.

Whilst I think of it my computer is going in for its refit this week. It is having new everything inside. I will probably lose some of my programmes as I can’t find the discs but it will be good to get it sorted out now. I am keeping Windows XP for that one because of all my graphics and web writing programmes and so will use the laptop in the meantime for work and my personal things. I won’t have my email programme on the laptop though so no address book etc. I will take it in either tomorrow morning or Friday I think it will be back some time next week all things being well {smile}

Well that is about it for me until the weekend realistically. I do hope that all are well and enjoying their own ~nows~. Will look in though before then even if I don’;t have time to post. 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

Hi guys,

I think I'm getting old. I start to come here to say hi then poof WHAT WAS I DOING?. And I'm getting a lot like Ch...(can't spell) a good day a bad day sitting and watching TV and then I notice an hour or so has gone by. Me and B2 do the same thing, sleep a lot. Lifenis beautiful and I so enjoy my life.

Mermaid, you sound quite busy, so busy I got tired reading of all your work. Ya gotta take it easy on me. Being a Mermaid it must be really relaxing to be near the water, as a Pisces, very peaceful. Enjoy the Sun; the friendly WATER, and the water Lillies. LOVE YA {{{HUGS}}}

Diana, we received some rain the other night also. Boy, almost two inches, not much but well needed and loved. Buddy, sorry about the belated birthday wishes-HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Glad to hear you and ED are doing better health wise. Yep, we have been warmer but the humidty isn't letting my cooler work well. YOU AND ED Take csre and heal-BTW, i USED THE ADDRESS you left, we'll see what he has to say though at this time in my life not sure exactly what he can say. LOVE YA {{{HUGS}}}

Robynne, Been thinking about you and wondering how you are doing. Hope all is well and you are healing every day. Hope winter is treating you well down under. LOVE YA FRIEND ENJOY {{{HUGS}}}

Hathor, hope all is well with you and heaing every day. THINKING OF YA LOVE YA {{{HUGS}}}

ELFINA, haven't heard from you for a while. ENJOY {{{HUGS}}}

LOVE, LIGHT & PEACE, Kermit and Friends + B2. B2 here. Ya, we sleep a lot these days; we are happy on our little section of the world. We have as lot to be thankful for, many friends to hold in our thoughts and HOLD THE LOVE OF OUR FRIENDS AND ARE BLESSED IN MANY WAYS. {{{MY SPECIAL PAWSET HUGS AND LICKY LICKE}}}

Hello dear friends {smile}

I thought I would try and write a little update later on this evening or in the morning as I now have my computer back and am trying to get used to the upgraded MS Word and Excel in readiness for catching up with work stuff tomorrow.

This is a bit strange for me because Word is in a totally different format to the one I usually use. It is not as good as the one with Windows 7 but having used that one at least I am more familiar with this new one on my desktop Pc {Smile}

I do hope that everyone is well in their own nows and it was lovely to see a post from you dear {{Kermit}}. I am hoping that I will be able to slow up somewhat although I guess being busy keeps me fit (sometimes fit for nothing though) [chuckle}

I have found the most lovely font to write my personal things in and Dave has put it on this computer for me as usually you only get it on Windows 7 and upwards. He has got all of my programs on that I need which is brilliant. I have to have XP on this machine because of the web writing and graphics programme plus my astrology ones but I can’t believe just how fast it is. When you want to open something it just flashes up straight away on the screen – I am so pleased with it. I had to change the screen resolution because all the word documents and spreadsheets looked stretched and they were making my eyes go funny but now I seem to have it right. Dave managed to also get my printer to work wirelessly with the laptop which is great and we have got it set up again with the PC so I can print and also scan stuff. We have a little programme where he can link into my computer from his office and make changes or check things out when needed it is such a godsend otherwise we would be hours on the phone trying to work things out. I do love technology that’s for sure especially when it works! {smile}

We are at home this weekend although I believe that Robert is coming to trim up all the box hedges and ornamental box balls and pyramids. We are also in the middle of a huge plum harvest with pounds and pounds of them having been picked and nearly all ready for the freezer and jam making. I have got a load of ORC work to catch up on which I will do in the morning as I haven’t had this computer since Monday and I am keeping all my work stuff on this one. We will be picking broad beans this weekend as well and getting them frozen too. I bought this lovely spiraliser thing which turns vegetables into pasta shapes (ie spaghetti or flat noodles) and have made courgette ~spaghetti~ this week and cucumber noodles for a cucumber salad – it is such a great piece of equipment and very modestly priced as well. Even Paul likes courgette ~spaghetti~ - just fry some garlic in olive oil, add the raw courgette spaghetti and fry until cooked, then add lemon juice, seasoning and grated parmesan cheese – yummy! {smile}

Anyways I will pop this post in for now just to show I have looked in and then will respond to your post tomorrow dear {{Kermit}}} just make sure you and {{B2}} keep well together {smile} Sending love and {{warm hugs}} across the Sea to you both.

Much love always

Mermaid…xxx

Good morning dear friends [smile}

Just a quick splash through this morning, the hay was got in safely ahead of all the storms we had a few days later so sending out a big thank you to the Universe for that. It is lovely to know that the sheep will be ok for hay for the winter months. We harvested the broad beans and French beans and they are in the freezer now – I seemed to spend last weekend preparing beans! {chuckle} Paul has picked some of the plums and they are also in the freezer and the early potatoes are now in their hessian storage bags. Michael took up all the onions and shallots on Monday – the vegetable garden has been really productive this year although not so good for the strawberries and rapberries. We had a bit of a scare with the freezer as the red warning light had come on so called out a refrigeration engineer who was very helpful and fitted a new compressor (or whatever it is called) and regassed it so it is now working a treat again. I would have been terrible to have lost all the contents as the other freezer in the garage is full!

Our road has been closed for the past 10 days as they are repairing a water main pipe. Although we are only half a mile from the main road, getting to Hadleigh (which is less than a mile away) involves an interesting detour. Last week when I arrived back from Ipswich (with another long detour) the man from the water company was leaving a card to say our water will be off on Wednesday whilst they join up the new pipe and they hope to have the work completed early this week. Our hopes were raised but nothing has happened yet so keeping fingers crossed that it will be soon as the alternative road is single track with blind bends and nowhere to get out of the way and people are driving like idiots – too fast without thinking of what might be coming around the corner. I took the little MG out yesterday and decided that an 8 mile detour was safer and had a nice drive in the sunshine as well {smile}

They are harvesting the wheat around us at the moment and the Universe is being really good as we have had gentle northerly winds which is blowing the dust away from us so I don’t need to keep all the windows closed as the wheat straw dust sets of my asthma big time. That should continue today when they should have it all done. Last night is was so nice to just sit outside and have a barbeque, bottle of wine and some John Denver music on as well – it was just a perfect summer evening and even paul enjoyed it too…{smile}

The weather is set fair for today as well though rain showers are forecast for Friday onwards which the garden will be very grateful for as well.

{{elfina}} I loved the picture you left on my FB page – words of truth indeed {smile} Thank heavens for email notification (as I don’t visit Facebook much at all) otherwise I wouldn’t have seen it for a few weeks at least. {Smile} I hope you and {{Pat}} are enjoying your summer and that his healing has come on leaps and bounds after his surgery. Also hopefully the glitch that prevented you from posting before has now been resolved here (with me changing the format thanks to advise from Bravenet) so will look forward to seeing a post from you as and when your own ~now~ permits. Til then sending you a. {{big warm hug}} across the Pond {smile}

{{Diana}}} hope that you and {{Ed}} are fine and that both your treatments are continuing to be successful. An sending out a good dollop of {{{healing energies}}} across the Pond to you both as I write {{{hugs}}}

{{robynne}} Hope all is well with you sweetie as you are now coming a bit out of your winter time and heading into spring. Our friends from Aus are coming over here in September for their daughter’s wedding so it will be lovely to catch up with them in person as we haven’t seen them since being there two years ago for their other daughter’s wedding. Hopefully we will be able to travel Down Under next year or the year after depending on finances etc and perhaps we can meet up again in person {smile}

{{Hathor}}} hope the healing is continuing well dear friend as you have been in my thoughts this week. Sending out some {{extra healing energies}}} for you sweetie with a {{gentle hug}} {smile}

{{Kermit}} Hope you are not too tired reading about the busy life here {grin} I must admit that it would be lovely to retire and Paul is talking now about us downsizing and getting a smaller place which will ease up on the workload for sure. I am fortunate though in that I do have help with it so am just enjoying it whilst we have it even though it is hard work. Mind you the old adage “hard work never killed anyone” is very true I guess though my knees sometimes say differently {laughing} Now I have got my computer back with it’s lightning speeds of doing everything I am going to make a start on getting the rest of my website completed and transferred to my own domain after BT took it down. There are still some more Esoteric pages to go and also I want to get the Seawolf ones back again. I do miss that so am sending out a request to the Universe to give me a little more time in the day to help get that done as I want to get back to some more creative stuff (what Paul calls my ~wafty stuff~).. {smile} Hope you are keeping cool as it must be so hot now in your summer time. We don’t have air conditioning so when it gets too unbearable I go sit in the car with the air con on or pop down to the shops who do have air conditioning! {smile} Sending you a {{warm hug}} dear friend and a {{pat}} for {{B2}} {smile}

Well looking at the time I think I had better post this little catch up as I will need to make a start on my morning. Am leaving a {{warm group hug}} to {{all}} who may enter and also sending out a goodly dollop of {{{healing energies}} to those who need them…

With love always

Mermaid…xxx

PS well it was supposed to be a quick splash through but has ended up a ~ramble~ so I am not going to proof read and hope you excuse the types and rambliness! {laughing}

Hello dear friends [smile}

A little splash through this morning to leave a line hoping that all are well in their own nows. {smile}

it is a beautiful morning today with the sun shining and blue skies and at last the heat wave has eased up so the temperatures are kinder for me. My asthma has been kicking up somewhat as they are still harvesting around us at the moment though most of the wheat has been cut and combined and now they just have to take up the straw and plough in the stubble. It seems to be the wheat straw that kicks up the athsma though at least the Universe has been kind as when each field was harvested the wind blew the dust etc away from the house, going from north right round to southerly so sending out a little thank you to Wind for helping me.

Paul's carpel problem is gradually easing so sending out another thank you to the Universe as bear with a sore head sort of describes him at times. Mind you when pain is a constant then life is challenging indeed especially when he gets frustrated that he can't do things that were easy for him before. Getting old can be as challenging as we want it to be and I know it is hard for him being a fixed sign to adapt and go with the flow but he is getting there bless him {smile}

We hope to be on the boat this weekend so that will be a little bit of a break for him as we spent last weekend pressure washing all the wooden garden furniture which has been sadly neglected the past couple of years as wehave been on the boat. Once we manage to hand over the day to day running of the boat business next season then perhaps we can enjoy more time either in the garden or on the boat - we shall see [smile}

well I will pop this short post in as it is time to start my day. Again I hope that all are well and will look in again soon. Til then 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

Hello to all.

It's been very busy here with doctors, hospitals, and so on, which is why I've not posted for awhile. Things are nearly as busy this month but I wanted to take a minute before time slipped past once more.

Ed was supposed to have an MRI for a look at his liver today, but transportation forgot all about him (they have a special van to accommodate his scooter), so the appointment has to be rescheduled.

Our temps are gradually coming down from the 110° range to hover around 105°, and by the end of this month we should be around 100° (I hope). Seems like this year hasn't been quite as brutal as last, thank heavens.

Liz, I'm sorry to hear about your asthma kicking up, it's a horrible feeling to not be able to breathe and have your airways constrict. I'm very thankful though that Wind helped keep the worst of the trigges away {{hugs}}. Also happy to read that you've had some enjoyment on the patio, as before you know it, Father Winter will come rolling in.

Getting a bit tired, so I'm going to plop this in now and go have a little lay down.

Hope all are well.

Love,
Diana

Good morning dear friends {smile]

I thought I would pop in and leave a little message as we approach the end of summer. It has been busy here with visitors and we have more at the beginning of September.

The weather has been fairly un summerlike for the past few days but this morning at long last the sun is shining and I know I have to get outside and get the lawns mown as we are hoping to be on the boat for the weekend. There has been work done on her as well which should be completed by the end of this year.

We had an Australian friend of Paul’s over for a few days and we had a lovely sail down the river and back on the Thames sailing barge Victor. It was planned as a surprise for him as he is a yachtsman with many years of racing experience and we didn’t think he would have sailed on one of these typically English sailing barges that were so necessary for trade in earlier times. Now they are used for pleasure by the enthusiasts who have restored them and kept them going. It was a real thrill to be sailing on such a lovely ship. Victor, 82 tons, 82.2 x 20.3 x 6, was built in 1895 and until the Second World War she collected linseed from farms around the East Coast and took it to a Mill in Colchester returning to London with the oil in barrels. It is thought that this cargo may have in large part contributed to the excellent condition that Victor is now in.

You can see pictures of Victor at their website http://www.sbvictor.co.uk/ and here is one of her in full sail



For us it was lovely as there were only eight of us on board as we had arranged with Dave (Wes) the skipper to take her down river with all the sails up as when they are out on charter/public cruises they can’t do that and only have a foresail and topsail up because of potential hazards to the public on board. Everyone enjoyed themselves even though when we turned to come back up the river (overtaking another sailing barge in the process) the heavens decided to turn into Old Testament with stair rods of rain and thunder and lightning all over the place! I retreated down below whilst the men all stayed up on top and got soaked! {laughing} We had just about every type of weather in the course of four hours that’s for sure but all agreed that it was a day to remember for many reasons. {smile}

Before I get into too much of a ramble I just wanted to leave a little message for you dear {{Diana}} as it was lovely to read your post and I hope that you and Ed are making good progress with your health treatments. Hopefully your hospital visits etc will have slowed up somewhat so that you can both enjoy what is left of the summer now that it is cooling down. My asthma is still quite bad and I am finding that I am getting quite short of breath now so think I will get a check up as it is not helped that much with the inhalers so there may be something else that is not quite right. Actually it is probably just getting old! {chuckle} I was reflecting this morning on how everything seems to be winding down down (including this board) but that is ok because that is life isn’t it? {smile} For everything there is a season and a time to be and not to be.
Sending love and {{warm hugs}} across the sea to you both dear friend {smile}

Well looking at the clock I will pop this post in with the hope that all are well in their own ~nows~. Leaving a {{warm group hug}} to {{all}} who may enter and sending out {{healing energies}} to those who might need them.

With love always

Mermaid…xxx

Hi guys,

This will be short. Want to say hi to everyone; LOVE YOU GUYS BUNCHES.

Diana, I have been wondering how you guys have been with all this rain. I saw on TV about the floods. I am concerned as you guys are going through your therapies. We had a lot of rain here for the last couple days and as I seen on TV AZ appears targeted. Please let us know how you all are.
ME AND B2 LOVE YOUSE GUYS. ENJOY {{{HUGS}}}

One is lucky to have great friends as you all; I feel blessed to be your friend.B2 keeps telling me how lucky I am and I'm finally realizing that.
THANK YOU MY FRIENDS.{{{HUGS}}}

Good morning dear friends {smile}

As it is the Autumn Equinox today signalling the end of Summer and the official start of Autumn I thought I would write up a little catch up post at long last. {Smile}

It has been a very busy summer and we have just celebrated the end of it with a lovely weekend away in Northamptonshire to join in the celebrations of the wedding of Jenny who is the daughter of dear friends from Australia. It was a wonderful weekend filled with much joy and laughter and we had a good journey home yesterday. I did put a couple of pictures on my Facebook page and will pop one in here as well as the energies there were so lovely it was like having a refreshing re-juvenating energy shower washing over me {smile} I will do a writeup on that during the course of the next few days and pop it in here so you can all share in the lovely time we had. {smile}

In the meantime, all is well here. The public cruise season is coming to a close in another couple of weeks with just a few charters in October after which another charter in November and then she comes out of the water for her annual refit and rest {smile} We have also been busy setting the new timetable for next year a few months earlier than usual so that the 2015 brochure can be done. Usually we have worked on that in November/December when the day to day stuff has not been busy but this time we have just bitten the bullet and got on with it. This should then leave some more time for us in the winter months. {smile}

When we got home yesterday it was lovely to find that our road is finally open again after being closed all of the summer! Today I will see if the little MG starts up so I can take it for a drive this week. If it doesn’t then the battery can go on charge for 24 hours and then all should be well. We have a good weather forecast for this week so will be nice to take the little car out for a run.

We still have Chakhotay although he is now very slow and wobbly so I know his time with us is now very limited. However, I am so grateful that he has had the summer time and he has been enjoying what is left of his time here until he heads off to the Rainbow Bridge bless him. Nelson is growing up now thank goodness and is a beautiful dog and Shula and he have bonded well so when it is time for Chakotay to leave us then I know those two will be fine together.

{{Kermit}}} was lovely to see a post from you dear friend {smile} So many years have passed since we all connected up in AC now haven’t they? With the changing years and the speeding up of technology AC is now just about finished and dying down but I am always grateful for the friends that it brought into my life and you were one of the first! {smile} I hope that all is well with you and {{B2}} and that you will pop in again soon. In the meantime sending love and {{{warm hugs}}} across the Sea to you and {{B2}}

Well it is time for me to make a start on my day so I will pop this post in. I hope that all are well in their own nows as we come into Autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere and our friends Down Under have their Spring Equinox today {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