Random Thoughts Showing 12,051-12,100 of 17,689

[Jane]

I'm w/ you, Margaret. Even I have heard of the 1st 4 but never heard of the last one: Carlisle.

[Allison]

The Queens Accent for me!

[Kimber]

My accent is predominately Texan but I answered these truthfully without even having to pick 'none of these' and ended up with a Cockney accent. I'm guessing we're both famous for droppin' our g's and such.

[Clare]

Thanks for the quick quiz. I came away with Received Pronunciation - and I'm Irish!

[Clare]

I'm not at all keen to celebrate Gallipoli and wonder why Osborne does want to do this.
Mind you, it's very interesting to watch Richard III being conveyed with respect and brought to a reburial place.

[Pamela]

I got Received Pronunciation too, but that seems to be the option for most of the South of England so I'm not surprised. Don't think anyone would mistake my accent for the Queen's somehow!

[Jerry]

Jane wrote: "I'm w/ you, Margaret. Even I have heard of the 1st 4 but never heard of the last one: Carlisle."

No shame in that Jane. The significance of the siege of Carlisle is more in what happened afterwards. Although Robert Bruce's Scots outnumbered the English defenders by about 20:1, it was largely the English commander Andrew Harclay's use of his archers that kept the Scots out. It only lasted ten days before the Scots retreated, defeated by bad weather as much as anything else.

Harclay went on to develop new ideas on how to use archers on the battlefield. Between the siege in 1315 and the battle of Crecy in 1346 the English army went through some pretty massive changes in both how they fought and how they recruited and paid their soldiers. Many of those changes were initiated by Andrew Harclay.

[Kimber]

Jerry wrote: "Jane wrote: "I'm w/ you, Margaret. Even I have heard of the 1st 4 but never heard of the last one: Carlisle."

No shame in that Jane. The significance of the siege of Carlisle is more in what happ..."

Thank you for the information Jerry. I never would have known that. :D

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Anyone else having GoodReads log them out if they're not on here for a period of time?

I keep logged in all day, been away an hour, came back and had to log in.

They did this before ages ago. It annoys me!

[Dawn]

I've just been getting the ones where I have to confirm my password all the time. So far I haven't been logged out unless I do it myself.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

In other words, Goodreads is glitching again. :p

[Gretchen]

My grandpa, my hero, passed away on Monday. Monday also happened to be my late grandma's (the love of his life's) birthday. It doesn't come as a shock. He had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and at 88, our family just didn't feel it was worth putting him through treatment. His loss saddens me more than words can say. He was a WWII vet. He served as an MP on Okinawa. He was suppose to be a part of one of the big invasions but he missed his boat so he was reassigned to MP duties. According to most of my elder family members I have never been old enough to hear the story about why he missed his boat. I am hoping that now that he is gone and I am 30 years old, I finally get to hear the story. Why am I bringing all this up? Because I know absolutely nothing about his service other than those few details. It saddens me to think I knew this man his entire life and never once did I think to ask him about the things he did for his country. He's gone and I find myself with so many questions I want to ask. Sorry for the length of this point but I thank those of you who take the time to read it. Typing it out makes me feel better. It's going to be a rough weekend.

[Kimber]

Gretchen wrote: "My grandpa, my hero, passed away on Monday. Monday also happened to be my late grandma's (the love of his life's) birthday...."

*hugs big big*

[happy]

Gretchen

My sincere condolences - May he rest in peace.

It sounds like there is quite a story there. I hope you can find out.

[Lisa]

Hugs to you Gretchen! I'm sure someone will share the story with you. We never ask Gretchen, because they are a different generation, and we don't like to pry. Don't beat yourself up about that. Xx

[Catherine]

Gretchen, my thoughts are with you. Talking about your loss can help in coping, so talk (type!) away. I love hearing stories about families.

[Linda]

What a lovely sentiment and tribute to your grandfather. Ask those questions today while there is someone who can answer them. That generation of brave servicemen has nearly passed. Will you tell us why he missed the boat and the name of the ship? Thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[Allison]

Sorry to hear Gretchen :( Hope you find out the story soon but don't beat yourself up like Lisa said. Someone must know.

[Linda]

Gretchen wrote: "My grandpa, my hero, passed away on Monday. Monday also happened to be my late grandma's (the love of his life's) birthday. It doesn't come as a shock. He had recently been diagnosed with lung canc..."

So sorry, Gretchen. I went through almost the same experience last July with my Dad. He was also a WWII vet who did not talk about his experiences during the war. All I know is he trained to be a Navy pilot but when they didn't have enough planes my father never flew. If he had I might not be here. Daddy was also diagnosed with lung cancer and refused treatment. He was 89. I miss him everyday and he was the greatest man I ever knew. I was blessed to be his daughter. Remember the greatness of your grandpa's character and pass that on, especially to the young men and boys of today and tomorrow. The men of "the greatest generation" truly were great

[Allison]

I've been taping "I Love Lucy" all week. They've been playing 4 episodes each morning. Its making me miss my papa :( We would watch it together on nights he came over for dinner. It played at 5:00 and 5:30 Monday - Friday so my mom would make dinner during that time and hear us laughing our butts off from the other room.

To put it lightly as possible: losing loved ones sucks.

[Kimber]

Allie wrote: "I've been taping "I Love Lucy" all week. They've been playing 4 episodes each morning. Its making me miss my papa :( We would watch it together on nights he came over for dinner. It played at 5:00 ..."

What a lovely memory to have Allie. I've lost my father also and every year a bunch of us go his page on FB and start sharing memories. He was Coach, he was always the parent that took us around the neighborhood to 'roll' classmates during slumber parties. We did Chinese fire drills in the middle of major city streets and piled 9 to 13 ten year olds into a convertible Austin-Healy and cruised the neighborhood. Laughter makes a great memory maker.

Gretchen - My Pops ...my step-father..was in the Korean War. He's a decorated military army veteran and I don't know a thing about it. He doesn't like to talk about it or to be asked anything about that time in his life. Maybe your Grandpa felt the same way. Perhaps finding out about his experiences and chronicling them for the family would be a way to honor his memory in a personal way. Again..mucho hugs.

[Allison]

Thanks :)
I keep finding myself sniffling on certain episodes.


That's a great idea for Gretchen!

[Meri]

Gretchen wrote: "My grandpa, my hero, passed away on Monday. Monday also happened to be my late grandma's (the love of his life's) birthday. It doesn't come as a shock. He had recently been diagnosed with lung canc..."

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. As the others have already said, please don't beat yourself up about not asking about his wartime experiences.
Will be thinking of you and your family this weekend. Type away as we'd love to share your story.

[Lisa]

My grandmother, whom I worshipped, died a few years ago now. We use to talk to each for hours on end, ringing each other up just to chat. I loved her " depression" era and wartime stories of inner Sydney. When drinking was prohibited, and my grandfather was a drinker and ran an SP book (illegal gambling). I knew once I lost her I would lose those stories forever. So I started writing them down. Now that we have resettled, and pulled all of belongings out of storage, I came across those stories. I happily sat in her old rocking chair and read them to my brother, who had not heard any of them. It made me laugh and cry. There was even an observation she made, that I'd written down, about a youngish man nearly 20 years ago, who is now a leading contender for our prime ministership that my brother was shocked to learn.

It's never too late Gretchen to start recording those details, even from the stuff you know, for your children. What seems mundane now, may be exceptional when they read it in years to come.

[Gretchen]

Thank you everyone for all of your kind thoughts and words. It's not just the service stories that got my mind rolling. How much do we ever know about anyone? My grandpa was a man I knew my entire life but in the scheme of things, I was only a part of his for a short time. He had 58 years of life before I was even born! One of my favorite stories was told over and over again when I was pregnant with my twins. My grandpa was a twin. I can't even imagine that kind of a shock. It was one thing seeing twins in an ultrasound but to go an entire pregnancy and never know? That just seems so crazy to me. Anyway. When my grandpa and his twin sister were born, they were so tiny both of them fit in shoe boxes. My great-grandparents were farmers so there wasn't a doctor near by. To keep the twins warm while waiting for the doctor, they were wrapped in shoe boxes and put in the oven. My grandpa wasn't even expected to live since he was the smaller of the two and a boy. Those are the kinds of stories I want to know.

[Linda]

I LOVE LUCY was the baby sitter I ever had. Put the baby in the infant seat (remember those?), tune in, and listen to him laugh while I sterilized bottles and washed diapers. I LOVE the story about putting the babies in shoe boxes in the oven! I have heard of using dresser drawers when there were parents surprised at having twins. How did parents manage twins before Pampers and plastic bottles? It is good to dwell on happy memories.

[Jerry]

Hi Gretchen. Can I also express my sympathy for your loss. I have a feeling that anyone who saw front-line service in the war tends to be reticent about what they went through. It is only now that I have lost both my father and my grandfather that I realise just how little I know about them.

[Catherine]

Gretchen wrote: "Thank you everyone for all of your kind thoughts and words. It's not just the service stories that got my mind rolling. How much do we ever know about anyone? My grandpa was a man I knew my entire ..."

It was questions like these that got me started working on a genealogy for my family. I realized that the people who could answer any of these questions and tell these stories were slowly passing away. For some of the information it was already a little too late, but I want to gather what I can now that I know how quickly it all goes. I also started doing some research online and am finding just a treasure trove of information. I love finding the stories that I didn't know about.

[happy]

It's always amazed me how different 55F feels when the days before it are 75 rather than 40

The other day on my walk the temp fell to 55 and I was cold! I had to put on a sweat shirt for the walk/jog:)

On the loss of the elder generation, before my mother passed, we sat down a got her talking about her life and video taped it. We have about 16 hrs of her talking. We are also doing the same thing with my father - before his memory completely fades.

[Lisa]

That's a great idea Happy! It's not just your family history you are recording, it's history. Their lives were so unbelievably different to ours let alone the current generation. Once their lives are gone so are the real stories.

[Linda]

Weather Report!
It alerted and snowed in the Mid-South yesterday! No accumulation. We have been having spring weather for a month, then this little northerner comes through. It was humid and cold which does not feel good!

[Jane]

Gosh, we're still in the 20s. Snow's melting very little by very little.

[Gretchen]

happy wrote: "It's always amazed me how different 55F feels when the days before it are 75 rather than 40

The other day on my walk the temp fell to 55 and I was cold! I had to put on a sweat shirt for the walk..."

My grandmother has boxes and boxes full of slides. Once upon a time my job was to run the projector while she would comment on the slides. These "sessions" would be recorded on an old VHS camcorder. For the life of me (and several of my aunts), the VHS tapes cannot be found. My grandmother and her sister were very good about recording things. I have a genealogy book from my grandmother's side of the family along with a diary my grandmother kept. I realize I'll never know the whole story of my family. My biological dad was adopted and never wanted to find his parents. It's nice to know parts of stories but it would be wonderful to know so much more.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Sorry everybody. My laptop wifi isn't fixing itself. The only way to use it is to sit right next to the router (which I what I am doing now), and the place my router is in, is not a very comfortable spot to sit.

Able to check in every now and then on my Tablet.

Hoping to get my laptop in to get fixed this week or next week.

Tootles,
Terri

[Jane]

glad to hear from you! hope you get computer all straightened out soon.

[happy]

Lisa wrote: "That's a great idea Happy! It's not just your family history you are recording, it's history. Their lives were so unbelievably different to ours let alone the current generation. Once their lives a..."

No kidding! Even though they were not farmers, in the 30's/40's it seems everyone kept pigs and chickens - Mom's stories about the fall butchering, when the men had had a bit too much wine were hilarious :)

[happy]

I thought this might be of some interest to some here

A slideshow of Richard III's reburial

http://www.nationalreview.com/slidesh...

MODs if you think it should go in a different thread - please feel free to move it

[Gretchen]

My six year old is on a mission to collect all of the books in a series she is reading. There's 180 with more being published all the time. I found 15 more for her at a used bookstore today. I think she's up to 25 now.

[Dawn]

I spent a lot of time trying to collect all the Peanuts books when I was a kid. I don't think there are 180 though, that's crazy!

[Gretchen]

Dawn wrote: "I spent a lot of time trying to collect all the Peanuts books when I was a kid. I don't think there are 180 though, that's crazy!"

I love the Peanuts. But what Minnesotan doesn't?

[Jane]

When I was a kid it was all of the Land of Oz books. At one time I did have all of them but they were in a bookcase at the foot of the stairs leading to a damp basement and got all moldy and smelly. So I had to throw them out. :(

[Linda]

Gretchen, your daughter is smart and has a good mother. If a child likes reading and ID is proficient at IR, that child wants to know more!

[Gretchen]

Linda wrote: "Gretchen, your daughter is smart and has a good mother. If a child likes reading and ID is proficient at IR, that child wants to know more!"

Mr. Gretchen is responsible for the reading of books. She probably could read most of them by herself but she's at an age where she still enjoys being read to. I might be biased, but she's pretty smart. Her last report card was rather brag worthy :) The twinkers, for all their struggles, are pretty smart little monkeys too.

[Linda]

Biographies and THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER and Sunday School lessons were my favorite despite no connection between the free.

[Linda]

I hate predictive word! You figured out what I meant. You have every right to be proud of all three of your children!

[Gretchen]

Linda wrote: "I hate predictive word! You figured out what I meant. You have every right to be proud of all three of your children!"

One of my mother's most common sayings while we were growing up was "Know what I mean, not what I say".

[happy]

We must have had the same Mother :) That was my mom's favorite also!

[Gretchen]

Did you mother also get mad at your for correcting her after she called you the wrong name? "I am looking at you so I must be talking TO you!"

[Mark]

Gretchen wrote: "Did you mother also get mad at your for correcting her after she called you the wrong name? "I am looking at you so I must be talking TO you!""

same here, in fact still does

[Carol]

Happy Passover and peaceful good Friday to those who celebrate. Happy Easter for Sunday. Hope the chocolate bunny brings everyone lots of goodies.