Curly's Epic Catch Up Post!

[Curly(SO)]

Sorry folks for being a stranger! Lots of stuff has been happening so I have a long list of excuses for not posting I will churn them out in no particular order

Lovely daughter 'B' has finally finished school, she has just finished her 'A' levels...she was very studious and worked really hard so I'm expecting good results from her! She has a conditional offer from Sussex Uni....I'm confident she will get the required grades

Daughter is now in Alaska for two months, staying with my Aunt who lives there so we had a busy time getting her organised for her trip. Her flight was delayed from Heathrow so she missed her connecting flights. I had a call from her 2.30 am Thursday night, in tears, scared, tired, hot and dehydrated, stuck in Houston, the flight delayed further and had to circle for ages before landing due to storms...but she made it safely to Anchorage eventually!

Nan is home from hospital and doing really well, she gave up the walking frame as soon as she was home. and has no help as she didn't want any....fiercely independent lady!

I've been really busy at work, I've almost completed a fast track National qualification so will be glad when that is out of the way

We now have Ed's nine year old son living with us! This came completely out of the blue a few months ago, (he actually moved in suddenly end of May) so is a huge and unexpected life change for us. I can't actually talk about the whys and wherefores on here as it is subject to Court proceedings. What I can say is that we have both stepped up to the challenge (after almost becoming empty nesters!) of parenting a really lovely young boy, fulltime. We've decorated his room, tweaked our work hours to cover the school run and generally are getting used to having little 'C' and a myriad of young boys in and out of the house! Plenty of X-Box playing, bikes across the front lawn and muddy grass-stained clothes to wash

Oh yeah...and my lap-top died But I do now have a brand spanking new one free...courtesy of AOL....so can't all be bad

Um....I've been busy gardening, Ed hates gardening so have done this all myself...including digging (and I'm sure digging comes under 'mens department' ) Our 'garden' and I use this word loosely, is very much a project in it's early stages. I did manage to get hold of a lot of plants in exchange for a crate of beer I spent all weekend planting them and am very proud of myself

Me and Ed saw Marc Almond...great concert!!!!

Hmmm....there must be more!!! Can't think at the mo but I have missed this 'ole place and hope to have a bit more time to drop by

Love,
Curly

[SilverLady(SO)]

Hi, Curly!!

Glad to have you back, hon . . . you've been missed! Sounds like you've been your busy self, so grab yourself a or a whichever is more appropriate, sit yourself down on the sofa, put your feet up, and relax for a while . . . you deserve it!!

Several changes have been made at the Forum, most notably software upgrades to the Forum and FlashChat, and while Caith was at it, she added some very cute and adorable new smileys which I, for one, am enjoying!

B will enjoy her trip to Alaska, very beautiful part of our country, still raw and untamed. Whatever the reason that Ed/Honor and yourself now have C living with you, well, I'm sure it's all in his best interests and that's what is the most important thing.

Nan is such a feisty and fiery trooper that I'm sure she'll outlive us, and I'm so glad to know that she's back home again!

Again, welcome back, my friend!!

((Big Hugs))

- SL

[Jeannie]

Hi Curly
Nice to see your back! If you need help digging,I'll ship Marley to you Hon. He loves to dig. Tell Ed gardening is great fun,relaxing and you see the fruits of your labor. I have rosemary,basil,lettuce,grape tomatoes ,chives and parsely on my container garden on my deck. Even some flowers are edible.
My Uncle Pippi used to pick wild mushrooms and they are so flavorful and delicious. All my Italian Uncles are dead but I would love to grow them on my deck if possible.
I went into the woods and picked up a few different variaties of mushrooms. I'll test them out on Mini and let you know which were the poisonous variety. Hugs Hon.

Love
Auntie Jeannie

[Curly(SO)]

Jeannie....My God....you grow Italian Uncles in the States?!

You have some very strange ways over there

[Curly(SO)]

Put me down for a couple if you manage to grow some! (Never know when they might come in handy )

I did finish off my weekend bottle of Chardonnay Had my too Missed you all Big Time

Tell Marley thanks for the offer but I don't think much digging would get done once he's met my couple of foxy furry young ladies!

Love,
Curly

[Jeannie]

Hi Curly
My Aunts grow like crazy but they don't know how to pick mushrooms so I threw them in the compost pile. I think Ginny Uncles need a bit of cement in the potting soil. You know how those Sicilians are Curly.
I have to go check my turkey roasting on the grill. It's almost done and looks fabulous! I'll snap a few pictures so you can all drool! Hugs.

Love
Jeannie

[DonnaT]

Nice to hear from you Curly.

My garden is quite small. Try and dig in this concrete hard red clay, and you'd undertand. I've two tomato plants and two squash plants. Had a tomato on one I carelessly knocked off when tying the plant up off the ground.

[Virginia]

HI Curly,

Glad you are back and see what you have already learned, how to plant Italian uncles and grow concrete tomatoes in rock hard red clay in our commonwealth.

I know that travelling can be a real challenge, Alaska is nearly half way around the world from your house! I know she will enjoy herself there as long as she does not get involved with the mosquito's, there are some big ones there. Old story, two mosquito landed on a guy up on Alaska, looked at each other and one said, "should we eat him here?" "yeah, if we try and take him with us, the big ones may get us!"
Also there is a story about the mosquito that landed at an air base up there and the ground crew pumped 100 gallons of jet fuel into him before they realized he wasn't a B-52!

Glad your back, hon

Virginia

[Caith]

Busy, busy lady!! That's a lot of change going on for you, and it sounds like you're more than up to the challenge. Congratulations on the news from your daughter, and I wish you much patience with the new birdling in your nest!

[KimberlyS]

Good to hear from you Curly. As much as we like to hear from you, you do have your own life to live.

kimberlys
joe in a skirt

[CJ]

Hmmm... Curly... Curly... oh, yeah! I remember you now! Aren't you that British chick that loves tattoos?

Great to see you post, Curly. Missed ya!

I wish both you and Ed all the best with C. Keep tabs on B, Curly, or, before you know it, she'll be going all "Aleutian Primitive" on you and wander off on a vision quest across some glacier!

I trust you've decorated C's room in tasteful ruffles and lace?

Gardening, eh? Your thumb makes me green with envy. I can't even keep an artificial plant from perishing. Good luck with that. Here's a tip: buy Ed some pink floral gardening gloves and he'll give you not one hand but two. Save a tomato for me; I haven't had a BLT in ages.

Warm regards to Nan.

Love,
CJ

[Stephanie W]

Curly

As you can see, everyone missed our little Curly Wurly. Welcome back girl and glad to know you and your family are all well.

Stephanie

[Anita]

Hi Curly--
For a case of beer, I"LL dig all those holes. But.. I guess you wouldn't have any plants to put in them if I got the case. (sigh) Priorities, priorities. Glad to hear that Nan is up and around in her own home--that's heartening.

I would have thought your daughter would go "over the pole" to Alaska, rather than across the Atlantic to Houston and then up, but what do I know about navigation? Maybe B went over the pole to Houston, and then back up to Alaska. Well... it coulda happened.

It sounds like you're adjusting OK to the unexpected 9 year old guest. Good for you! I'm not sure how I'd handle that.

[Absaroka]

I'm glad all is going well and your nan is feeling better. I hope you are enjoying your stepson and that the mosquitos aren't enjoying your daughter too much.

Was Marc Almond the bass player with John Mayall some decades ago when he decided to go without a drum player?

Absaroka

[Curly(SO)]

This is Marc Almond. He was the singer with 'Soft Cell' in the early eighties....you might remember the song 'Tainted Love'.



The little lad's room is in a tasteful shade of chocolate brown, with a natural wood effect venetian blind and camflauge bedlinen....nary a ruffle or pink thing in sight!

CJ....talking of killing artificial plants....Ed brought me home a couple of cacti once....he let me water them for months before telling me they weren't real

Anyway, just want to say, my Italian Uncles are all planted in.....Jeannie sent me some cuttings.....I'll let you know how they get on


Anita...don't know why they didn't fly over the Pole but I'm sure Continental have their reasons I've just checked on Google Earth, the route that my daughter took did look like going all round the Sun to meet the Moon

Love,
Curly