Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

neverdespairgirl

michaels wrote: »

Just to say we are going to follow the PN colour scheme at least for the walls; the wooden skirtings/doors/architraves are going ot be wood but can't decide whether they will be waxed, varnished or lime washed - thoughts?

Lime washed oak is gorgeous.

vivatifosi

silvercar wrote: »

I'm at parents again.

Tried to explain what an ipad does, failed and gave up. They don't understand why you wouldn't just use the computer.

Tried to explain facebook and their completely mystified. Why would you want to see what someone else is doing? Why look at photos on FB, when you would email them to whoever you wanted?

Can't possibly explain nice people to them, so this tab is hidden behind the facebook one.

They are reasonably computer literate for 70 year olds; they buy online and they email. Networking seems beyond them.

Your parents sound cool silvercar. Mine don't even know how to retrieve texts from their mobiles, or voicemails (they save them until I go down, which can be interesting if urgent).

The 70 year olds I meet in the library are not dissimilar to your parents. They don't see the point of iPads or social networking websites but are demons on things like Find My Past and Ancestry. I wonder if a big part of that was growing up during, or just after, the War and at a time of rationing. Very much of the opinion that as long as they have access to one device that does stuff, why do they need another. And as for facebook, they turn their nose up at that and would rather meet up round their mates for a cuppa.

SingleSue

My parents love Facebook purely for the fact that we (myself and my siblings) have linked up with lots of our cousins and through us, they can keep in touch with the extended family....although they don't have their own Facebook account.

Mum can surf the net pretty well, access her photos and use MSN a tiny bit, dad can email but gets confused, more so since his stroke but the security of the laptop is down to me although mum now understands when it is doing a virus check and why.

I find it pretty weird that my mum is better at it than my dad as until they got their laptop, mum had never used a computer before, whilst dad had been using computers at work..it seemed as soon as he retired, he forgot what to do with one!

mystic_trev

I had my first ever email from my mother yesterday, she's nearly 90 !

vivatifosi

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Camping stoves too, apparently? Perhaps you can borrow one if you don't have your own.

That's what I was looking to get if I made silver clay. However I also read that not all clays act the same, so for some you do need to kiln fire and it depends on what you buy. I'm no expert here, I've only watched a few demos on this, but just thought I'd chuck it in there so people can make sure they get the right stuff.

My parents are at some point looking to sell the house I was born in, so I wanted to cast some of the leafs from the tree in the front garden in silver as a permanent memento of our time there for the family, to wear as necklaces. I thought it would make a nice permanent memento.

lostinrates

Doozergirl wrote: »

OMG I want to be in your house!

I want to have a sofa recovered in hessian. Because I want shot silk and velvet cushions etc. poured over it.

I said I wouldn't be very good because if I had the budget for it I would have very simple curtains made of very expensive silk Curtains, to me are something beautiful that last forever and go with you. My life would never allow beautiful embroideries or things that would only ever suit one room. Nor am I blessed with a house as interesting as yours.

Oh doozer, what a nice compliment. FWIW the pictures you've shared have been stunning...hence me asking your advice ....and I'm pretty sure I'll be a wee bit envious about a passive house (can't remember spelling:o)....plus you 'd be able to do this house sooner, relying less on other people and probably with a little more confidence.


silk curtains ARE beautiful, but they are quite fragile...they suffer a lot from sun damage. I have some not that old ones (14 years maybe) in our bedroom here, that are beautiful, BUT, the sun has weakened the fabric and touch in the wrong place and they disintergrate. there is a big hole on one....so I'm going to have to consider that soon too. I have another pair of silk curtains that are too short for the window they are at, but hung on a north facing window and are in much better shape. My mother has silk curtains that range from 20 years to five years old....and the older ones are just starting to go now.

But actually...silk can be got not expensively....certainly a LOT cheaper than the wool I want in the sitting room.


So, are you suggesting I go with silk....or hessian? Or silk and hessian?:D:o

PasturesNew

vivatifosi wrote: »

I wanted to cast some of the leafs from the tree in the front garden in silver as a permanent memento of our time there for the family, to wear as necklaces. I thought it would make a nice permanent memento.

I've not done a leaf, having only done one short 'introductory' course with no prior idea of what'd be going on.... but I did hear that to make a leaf you use the liquid stuff.... and simply create many thin layers over time. So paint, dry, paint, dry, paint, dry .... then when you fire it the leaf is still in the middle/would have burnt to a crisp but you never see it.

The issues with leaves are thickness and being double-sided.

Another thing you could look into would be casting in resin.

PasturesNew

My parents have never been near a computer, nor would there be a desire. My departed old would have been a scammers dream and the bank account would have been emptied within a fortnight. My remaining old's a bit out with the fairies .... although I have taught them how to turn the telly on now and I think they get it (finally).

It would be nice if there were a simple way to do "video phone calls" without using a computer (and cheaply/easily). The remaining old has trouble taking on board new ideas and is forgetful. To be honest, we're still trying to work out how to get a phone into the room beside the old, so they don't have to go and stand in the cold/draughty hallway when the phone rings..... but they're totally against me experimenting with cordless phones at the moment ... and I would have had to have sourced an easy cordless phone (with big buttons) to be vaguely possible as a solution.

sss555s

My mum wont even turn her laptop on unless me or my sister are there. She wanted a desktop as she feels she is quite advanced for 70 but it was located in an inconvenient place so it wasn't really used much. Now she has a laptop which she has beside her in the sitting room but she is quite scared of it even after me patiently trying to get her to take one step at a time, like switching on, click browser, switch off and so on.
I did manage to get stuff from boots that she couldn't get in town and saved her £200 on her car insurance renewal so she is aware of the benefits. bur she'd still rather sit and watch judge judy.

I'm supposed to be getting a new combi boiler fitted today but though the guy said 8.30, he hasn't appeared yet.

Ohh he's here :j

michaels

Hmm - my parents are fully networked although my little bro has persauded them to go over to the darkside with a macbook and iphone and so now they are looking at netbooks to talk bluetooth to their solar invertor and be lighter for their winter trips to SA. When we visit we complain about mobile and wifi coverage and they get with the program running cat5 and installing repeaters. We do skype every week with the kids while they are away but normal phone when they are home as deepest darkest only gets 2Mbps. Dad is in 70s and mum in 60s but I have a much younger DB so he had not left home before pcs became widespread so that probably helped.