Old friends

Sounds intriguing . . .

Wouldn't it be nice to hear from them again?

There lots of members who no longer post on GOY! 😞

Happens on all websites. People move on, move away, and sometimes pass on!

On the other hand they might have just changed their pseudonyms and they're still here!

Life has a habit of intruding.

Maybe as we get older we can't keep up with things so well. I know it's true for me. Life is very different now to what it was when I joined 10 years ago.

Also I find as there are less people on here I seem to come on less myself.

I think facebook and social media have ruined lots of things :(
I have a facebook account but I don't like it. I only tend to look at a group that talk about memories of the place I grew up. The gossip and so called 'friends' I can do without.

Although some friends are all right, especially the GoY ones that are also on facebook, but I would rather see them on GoY…

A good thing about facebook though is that you can delete comments you don't want. You can't do that with GoY …. it's no reason to abandon it though ...

I hate pseudonyms. Why hide behind a fiction ?

I miss alot of people :-(. In fact most of my favourites no longer appear but we still have each other :-)

It is good to have friends on GoY. I feel quite sad when they leave. I have had plants, seeds and good advice over the years. It takes a gardener to understand a gardener.

A few years ago I remember a blog on here that went on and on and it was all in rhyme! It was so clever and funny and really enjoyable.
Lovely people have come and gone and a lot are still here.
It would be so nice to see some of our old pals back again though.

I remember that Wildrose think it was on the Goodship Goy or something like that, was it Floribunda and Bornagain maybe 😀

life is so fleeting. I've noticed a few old friends have come back.

. . . and apparently, some still "look in" without commenting. You never know who is looking over your shoulder! Luckily, we still have a great crowd.

Have found the rhyming blog was by Bornagain called A Cautionary Tale about a duck 😀

I remember the lady who lives in Alaska. The moose kept eating her flowers.

Paul - can you remember the name of the Alaskan lady? I'm reading two books set in Alaska - sounds an inhospitable wilderness.

Well done Daylily . . . now we can all read it again :)

I used to enjoy Klahanie's blogs but just disappeared one day.

Yes, I am sad that so many have gone. My mum..olivoil left because she wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren and less on the computer. Its a perfectly valid reason, and I expect there are plenty more with similar reasons. Sadly, we don’t attract so many new active members. I think its because there are lots of gardening groups on facebook. Loads of people use instagram now as well. The audience is much bigger on these sites. But I will keep using GoY because its such a great resource and the people are lovely.

Sheilabub and Bathgate, there was a man who lived in Alaska. He called himself Greenthumb.

Oh yes...he was interesting wasn’t he. I had some great chat with him. All that forest....

Me too.

Thorneyside - Klahanie is OK, we write occasionally by email. She is helping me to plan a visit to Vancouver Island next year.

Thanks Hywel for Greenthumb’s name.

Thanks Sheila, lovely to hear Klahanie ok miss her advice and lovely pics :-))

That's the name Sheila - Greenthumb. Thanks Hywel for remembering his name. Glad to hear Klahanie is doing well Sheila. Tell her I said hello please.

Alaska is brutally cold, dark & unforgiving. They do get about 3 weeks of summer before the snows return. I'd love to visit to see the glaciers.

Thanks, I’ll definitely pass on your good wishes.

thank you

Why did she leave so suddenly ?

Do you remember Jacque, she was on every day and there was Irish in Ireland and BonkersBon, sometimes it was Ray and sometimes Jane. Arlene was nice too!

Hywel, K just said that she didn’t feel “connected” any more. I guess people have all sorts of reasons - even having difficulty uploading photos makes me come close some days!

Thank you for finding BA's rhyme. She was such a lovely person. Hope she reappears one of these days.

Yes Chris, it would be lovely to see Bornagain back here sometime.

Remember JanesPlant? I get a peculiar feeling she's back with a new identity and everything.

'Connected' ?

Perhaps her favourites had left....that could be it. I miss KarenFrance and Floribunda with her Jack Russels that were always escaping. And we haven’t seen the lovely lady in Wales (name just not coming to me) with the succulent nursery for ages either. Annella hardly ever appears either. I think...just guessing really though...that it has a lot to do with a feling that you’ve ‘covered’ your whole plot and don’t want to bore everyone. I feel that sometimes. But theres always something new...new plants, new ways of displaying, new developments.

You're thinking of Sandra Karen. No she hasn't been on for ages - perhaps just very busy with the nursery and grandchilren.
I miss Spritzhenry among many others,and the lorry driver who was such a laugh - can't remember his name.

Yes, I miss Spritz too.

Anybody still remember David, from Scotland? He was always surprising us with the things he made for his kids! I particularly remember the Pirate theme he made up!

You're probably right about Klahanie Karen.
Sandra from Pembrokeshire was on facebook recently. She asked me how my garden was doing. I don't do much with facebook and I don't know how I'd find her again.
Her son worked in a garden centre in Carmarthen but he's left now, otherwise I could ask him about her.

I remember David and Floribunda too.

Spritzhenry was on another forum I look at sometimes but she hasn't been on it for ages.

Yes! David was great! I remember his pirate thing. And speaking of Pirates...where’s our Pirate and Magician friend?

Thanks for the info Sheila, I often wondered. I hope you enjoy your trip too.

I miss David in Fife too, his last blog was November 2011, surprised to find that long ago.

Scottish is another member I miss, pretty sure she is on Facebook, as is Pirate Paul. I don't have a Facebook account but can contact Paul via e-mail.

Another lady I miss is Pam, she often contributed to some hilarious blogs! Does anybody on GoY keep in touch with her?

I was tidying up the other day, and a piece of brown paper fell on the floor. I picked it up. It was Cottage Karen's
address torn off the parcel she sent me in exchange for the book about Lilies. So I put it away safely.

:)

I was sad when Bampy left, and Stickitoffee . . . remember them?

I went to the Malvern show and met stickitoffee, stroller, poppylover and Bornagain in 2012, 6 years ago wow :-))

Luckily Stroller is still very much around, and Stickitoffee hasn't actually deleted her entry (I also met her once, but can't remember where . . . just a big GC somewhere!).

Sticki moved to Suffolk a couple of years ago I think.

I should have added that she used to contribute regularly on the sister site, Ispyabird, but I believe that site has shut down now ... :o(

I shall stick with GOY because I like the people and they are always ready with advice and help borne of knowledge and experience. I probably haven't been here long enough (just a few years) to remember any of the names you're all mentioning but I know what you mean when you say you miss them. People do move on, become too busy or simply lose interest for one reason or another. That's Life, isn't it?

However, those who do remain are lovely people who all have fantastic gardens if the photos are anything to go by. My garden has looked very unhappy this summer despite watering when I can manage it. Still, there's always another summer.......

Ah that's interesting about Sticki,, I see Strollers postings, does anyone keep in touch with Bornagain ? :-)

I remember Milky saying once that each year she was showing pictures of plants she had shown year after year, sad people move on.

Just remembered Melchizedec who did those lovely church flower arrangements. She changed to OHMelchizedec but now seems to have disappered altogether.

Haven't heard from Petaltracey either. I enjoyed our email exchanges. She runs a busy florist and had several major events on the horizon- weddings & conferences. I guess she's busy.

Gosh I have just gone down memory lane with all of you, I know or should say knew all the people mentioned here, I do use FB and pleased to say there are a number of goy members that have also joined the same gardening group as myself, I keep up with Sandra at Corseside, she has her own website also, Sanbaz I chat to a lot, she is well into her painting and is very good, Karen can vouch for that as she has a lovely painting in her cottage, David I found a number of years back, he is very into walking and photography now, I love it when he posts as he always gives the history of the places he has visited, lovely photographs and still as comical in his manner as he always was, his children as you can imagine are all grown up now. Scottish,( Angie) is another that pops up out of the blue, she too is well into photography and her grandson so always busy.. I too miss Bampy, Sticki, Steve and the lady who lived at some stables somewhere , cannot think of her name now , which is annoying me, Sticki and Steve often paid her a visit, she used to do and sell lots of Mosaics and other crafty things...As you say Stera, a lot of members just disappeared and I always wonder about them, we used to have such a laugh at times.
I too am guilty of not posting very often, its exactly the reason given above, I'm in danger of repeating myself, now its rare for me to change things in my garden, rest assured I am still here, usually playing catch up admittedly, I still love my goy pages Stera....

Sue, you're thinking of Lulu who created those lovely mosaics.
Do you know if David still cares for that lovely garden he began clearing and re-planting in Scotland? Years ago I sent him a box full of Grape Hyacinth bulbs from my garden for him to plant there as I don't like them at all!

Has anyone heard from Sinbad with her hybrid day lilies. Where's my friend Alan? ...and that guy who lived in Michigan. I forget his name. Seems like quite a few members have faded into obscurity.

Simbad popped on last summer :-)

Simbad is on Facebook but she's not been on there for a while, I was thinking her woodland must be looking great right now.

Thanks for the update Dawn. I don't use facebook. Would be nice to see more of her crazy hybrid day lilies.

Well this really started something! it has been so nice to share all your memories of friends and to hear that so many of you are still in touch with some of them. I forgot to mention NoseyPotter - I know he has his own website now but I used to enjoy his contributions on here very much, complete with lovely original spellings and his amazing creations.He did post once last May. And his friend Amy has deleted her account.

Stera, Amy had problems with her account when she moved house and is still on GoY but as Amy2 now.

I miss seeing Noseypotter's very weird and wonderful creations.

Oh that's right Shirley, it is Lulu, I used to love her blogs and Stevie the Terrible, he grew everything in pots ar the front of his cottage and last I heard he had acquired a polytunnel if I remember correctly, always made a lot of chutneys. David never mentions gardening now Shirley, I've never asked but somehow I don't think he lives at the same place, never shows any photo's of a garden or ever working in one..
I always enjoyed Nosey's posts Stera, some of his sculptures were a tad scary and very dark to my way of thinking but they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I think the last post I can remember he had destroyed some and was going to do some different ones, his paintings were amazing, he did have a way with words but we always understood him, used to laugh sometimes but with him, not at him. I've always wondered about Spritz, haven't heard from her in a very long time..

S the T had a wicked sense of humour in his blogs didn't he? I think the garden David was renovating was called 'The Haven' and he used to update us with the progress. I miss that. I've read on here that Spritz is on FB so perhaps you could find her. I don't do FB so can't help you ... :o(