15th - 21st October

This week I have been

Wearing - a little blue combo of a crown patterned top and a bunting strewn cardigan after the pregnancy of the Duchess of Sussex was announced.

Feeling - a little blue at times too. Wednesday was the birthday of T's brother L who passed away a couple of years ago. When the children were little this would have meant a day trip to London for us all to catch up. Now being older and mobile T drove himself up to Norwich, staying for two nights to see his birth siblings and spend time with them.


Trying - not to succumb to the temptation of snuffling a cake (or two) on Chocolate Cupcake day and so deciding to go down the brooch route instead.

Grateful for - the comments left on my last post which contained messages hoping we were all over our various bugs. Much appreciated.

Watching - The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. G and I have watched 3 episodes of this so far and we are hooked. It's written by the creators of The Gilmore Girls and I loved that long series so it's really no surprise we are enjoying this one.
Rocky adores Graham and ignores me most of the time, but whilst we were watching this TV show last night it seems my lap was the spot he preferred. Look at the size of his feet!

Eating -  steak and chips. Can't remember the last time I ate steak. We are lucky enough to work near some fab bars and restaurants and so a little gathering was organised for after work midweek. What a treat. 

Loving -  this late Autumn sunshine. To make the most of it the 3 of us took ourselves out for a walk on Saturday.
We took the train to Shawford and then walked the 3 miles along the Itchen Navigation trail into Winchester.

Over the years we had done various sections of this trail, which takes you past some beautiful river views, 

and this time we also took in St Catherine's hill. A walk up the hill is on the agenda for another day.

Hoping -  for a little colour in the front garden come the colder months after I potted up this colander and a terracotta planter with winter pansies. 

Other Stuff

G has been bitten by the wood construction bug.

I showed him a picture on Pinterest of a wooden pallet converted into a planter and within an hour he had created one from a pallet we had in the garden.

Can you see the sink?

Our bathroom is slowly being decorated and updated and we saved the old sink to use as a mini pond in the garden.

From old bits of pieces of fencing a neighbour was chucking out G has made this little shelter for his bike. The long stick on the left was bought back home by T years ago after we all went out for a walk and it's lovely it's been incorporated in the design.

There is another new fence.

This one is 3 quarters of the way down the garden and is screening bottom section of the garden.

We have two of these garden storage boxes, which you can make out through the slats in the fence, but this forms a nicer barrier between the grassed and graveled parts of the garden.

It's not just the back garden G has been busy, he has also built a fence along the wall in the front garden to corral all our bins together.

So as you can see we've been busy at home, but there has still been the odd jaunt out.

Love the original art work used to advertise a church fete we popped along.

Reminiscent of the old railway posters.

We had a lovely walk to the church and came home with two jigsaws

Two books read, both which has been on my bookshelf for the longest time. I've never read a Mavis Cheek book which I didn't enjoy.

This one of Katie Fforde's was more enjoyable than the last couple of her I've read and I think it may be because it's not such a recent publication.

A £1.00 sale rail at a charity shop turned up trumps for me with this top which will be perfect for work come the cooler weather. It's sheer so will need a t-shirt underneath and so will we good for layering.

S and I went to Cambridge for her annual eye check up. All is well.
We got caught up in severe delays from Waterloo on the way home and didn't get in until 11.45 which made for a very long day indeed.

G was working until 10pm on the longest day. 
We lit candles, sipped Bailey's and gazed at the stars.

On Saturday we went to Eastleigh Unwrapped. We've been going to this free arts festival for a few years now and it's always a great day out.
Our highlight this year was the Happy Feet show of 100 dances in 100 minutes.
Participation was entirely necessary when you had Elvis leading the conga!

Not the best photo as G took it from a distance but here are S and me doing the macarena.

A new addition to my dresser is this jug I bought whilst we were out on Saturday.
It has an Emma Bridgewater look to it and looks fab with my EB heart cup and saucer, but there aren't any markings on the bottom so I have no idea where it originally came from.

Running....

.....out of time to blog.

..... to catch up with myself.

...... as in proper running, in proper trainers and getting all proper hot and sweaty.

Surprisingly all the above apply to me during this past week.

Of course the running out of time one isn't any real surprise but I should explain more about the proper running.

G and I decided that enough is enough.

We are both overweight and not very fit.

Regular exercise in some form or another needed to be introduced into our lives.

With a little help from Mr Google I found a 12 week plan on the NHS website.

What attracted me to this was the way it's set up.

It's a combination of the Couch to 5K programme and a set of Strength and Flex exercises.

It's a gentle start on week one to get you going and then each week gradually builds towards upping your fitness level.

We are right at the start, just two days left of week 2, but so far so good.

And I love it that we are doing this together.

So there we have it.

Having to make the commitment to finding the half an hour needed each day of either the Couch to 5K or the exercises has meant that blog time (writing and reading and commenting) has had to take a back seat. As has the ironing, shame that.

I'm sure I'll get the balance right at some point.

Before I get myself changed for tonight's exertions here is a round up from the past week.

Do you remember the scene in Grease when Rizzo throws a pink milkshake over Kenickie and says 'to you from me Pinky Lee'. Click here to remind yourself if you don't.

Pinky Lee refers to a comic who had his own show in the 1950s and his birthday date is 2nd May. As I love Grease so much I had to go with this film reference and so I wore a pink milkshake brooch.

Thursday 3rd was Garden Meditation Day. I haven't a photo to show me sat quietly enjoying being outside in the garden but I do have a photo of our new fence.
One of our neighbours had a huge pile of planks of wood and decking that he no longer wanted. G asked him if he could take it off his hands. Of course came the answer and so during the past couple of weeks G and our neighbour's daughter K have used it to construct 3 new fences between our gardens.
They are a bit cobbled together and have a certain rustic charm to them but they are perfectly adequate and they are very proud with their handy work with wood which would have otherwise been scrapped.

May 4th is, of course, Star Wars day.
Behold three slightly wonky looking Wookies.
You may remember that this Chewbacca headband was G's table present last Christmas. I knew it would come in handy at some point!

The wonderful Richard E Grant celebrated his birthday on 5th May. I know, without a shadow of doubt, G would have chosen to watch Withnail and I but as he was at work I went with watching Twelfth Night which also tied in with Shakespeare's birthday the week before.

On Sunday we were up bright and early to go to the first car boot of the year. It's a little later than normal but the wet weather meant that the field has been too muddy.
As it turned out the field was still too muddy.
To get to the car boot you need to travel down a long twisty road and as we approached it we saw a ridiculously long queue of traffic. 
Temporary traffic lights we thought, but with the help of Facebook G was able to ascertain that people were getting stuck in the mud and needed to be towed off site by a tractor. Later on in the day we saw someone we knew who told us they had sat in the traffic queue for an hour before they arrived at the booty. 
Once we found out the conditions I turned the car round and we went for a walk in the woods instead.

Sunday was Beverage Day and many varieties of drink were consumed to keep up our liquid levels on such a hot day. Tea, coffee and squash mainly as although I had planned on opening the home made sangria we were given at Easter to have with our evening meal I forgot. I blame the heat.

On Monday I woke up with a hideous headache, so it was just as well I hadn't opened the sangria as it could have been even worse.
Monday was Cosmopolitan Day but I couldn't contemplate alcohol so G made us a delicious strawberry and banana smoothie to enjoy instead.
I spent most of the day in the garden, first off planting up some geraniums and then just lounging around. I had a million things I could have done but decided my time would be best spent doing nothing.

For VE Day on Tuesday I turned to my Marguerite Patten Victory cookbook and baked eggless chocolate buns which we enjoyed with custard.

In other news S is still continuing with her therapy sessions and although they are hard work they are making a difference.
Excitement levels are growing on a daily basis as S's trip to Paris edges nearer.
G and I have booked a night away in Somerset whilst she'll be away having fun.
T is still job hunting, he has had a couple of interviews but no success as yet.
Last weekend marked the fourth anniversary of when he lost his beloved brother L, always such an incredibly difficult time.
Malcolm cat was chased by the dog of one of our neighbours.
They never put them on leads when they take them out of the house to load them in the car to take them for a walk, one of them spotted Malcolm and that was that, he went off after him and the owner couldn't get control of him. Luckily Malcolm was quicker and more nimble but I was fuming at their lack of responsibility.
Melvin cat has been unwell and had to spend a couple of days in the vets. Fingers crossed he is now well again. One afternoon he decided that the way to lay was with his paws between a watermelon and the wicker fruit basket. He stayed like this for ages and then rolled over so his head was resting against the melon like it was a pillow.

That's all for now, I'm off to get my trainers on.

Patsy Cline and my Dad

The majority of the events I have chosen for this year long project are happy occasions, although that can not be said of today's choice.
On 5th March 1963 singer Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash.

The main reason I chose this is because my dad really liked Patsy and in particular he liked the song Crazy.
I can't listen to that song without wanting to cry. 
Her voice, the lyrics, memories of my dad. 
Too much.
I much prefer Walkin after Midnight. 
As you can see from this photo Patsy embraced the cowgirl country and western image. I didn't fancy all those tassels so I went for this horsey scarf which echos the pattern on her skirt and is about as way out west as I want to go!

Last Thursday was St David's Day.
I had intended to go out in the garden and decide on where would be just the right spot for my new daffodil to live.
Then the snow happened.
Call me a wimp but I didn't fancy those weather conditions so I will be doing that little task this coming weekend instead.

Last August my sister T paid for a notice to be put in the local paper on the anniversary of when our dad died.
Unfortunately they printed some details incorrectly.
My sister complained and they refunded her money.
She had suggested we go out for a meal one evening, but trying to find a date when the three of us are free has provided more difficult than you would have thought.
So she decided to use the money to buy each of us one of these daffs to have in our garden.
I thought it was a really lovely gesture. 

Sparrow's Breakfast

I love our two cats, Melvin and Malcolm.

They each have their own lovable personality, they provide us with lots of entertainment as we watch them madly dash around the house when they play chase with each other and it's probably because of them we don't often have birds in our garden.

Which is why when on Sunday morning and we saw some sparrows repeatedly flying in and out of our garden I got very excited.

It was this rambling honeysuckle they were attracted to.

I went inside and grabbed my camera, moved the garden chair closer to where they were going and sat and waited. It wasn't long before they flew back.

They were nibbling away at the cuckoo spit (at least I think that's what it's called) which had formed behind the heads of the honeysuckle flowers. They were flitting around so quickly it was hard to catch them at it and this was the closest I got.

Not quite as easy on the eye as the birds but this snail seemed content enough to explore G's hand.

 I'm sure he was much happier than the one I found next to him on the grass which I managed to stand on as I was pegging out the washing!

Starting with a Fete, Ending with a Rake

S volunteered to help at her school fete on Saturday.

We were up bright and early to prepare her two contributions, cinnamon sugar popcorn and these marshmallow and white chocolate skewers which sold very well.

When S left with her goodies I toddled off round the corner to the church hall for a jumble sale.

I picked up a few items of clothing for me and my mum and a couple of bits and bobs for my sister's birthday present.
DVD's were being sold at three for £1.00 and I had no problem finding some I thought we would enjoy.
I have never read or seen an adaptation of Macbeth and so I thought I would give the version with Michael Fassbender a go.
I remember seeing a trailer for The Dressmaker featuring a very stylish Kate Winslet when it first came out, I hope it lives up to expectations.
The last one I chose was A Long Way Down, the film adapation of a Nick Hornby book which G had read recently and thoroughly enjoyed.
Something certainly a bit different it's about four people from very different backgrounds who find themselves on the top of a very tall building on New Year's Eve, each wanting to end their life. I suspect this was very much the case of the book being better than the movie. 

Sunday morning G and I headed out to the car boot. It was cold and overcast and it seemed like every other person was selling baby clothes and toys and I got a bit fed up half way round. G always scoots on ahead and so was happy to leave once I'd had enough. My best purchase was for my sister. 20p on this robin sweater which I know she's going to love.

How different the weather was in the afternoon to how it had been all morning. Out came the sun and the temperature shot up. G and I pottered about in the garden and got a few things sorted. 
Our next door neighbour has a garage at the bottom of their garden which makes a great border with ours. Until recently this area was where we had the children's trampoline, but they had decided the time had come for it to go. We hope, in time, to make a little seating area down there of some sort.
Anyway we have various bits and bobs we wanted to hang on the plain brick wall, mostly inspired by things I have seen on Pinterest and Sunday afternoon was the time to get out the drill and get them up. 
We have had the old garden sieve for ages and when our rake fell apart last year I knew exactly what I was going to keep that for. I picked up the ladles for pennies at car boot sales and now these are going to become tea light holders for when we get those warm summer evenings. That's the plan anyway.

Today

My Wednesdays have taken on a different shape over the past couple of months.

T has a regular appointment which I have begun taking him to.

It's not until a little later in the morning so I have a little time to do some jobs around the home first.

Today I chose to potter in the garden.

Yes it was frosty and a there was a chill in the air but the sun was out and doing it's best to send some warmth, something me and my daffodil bulbs appreciated.

When it was time to go out one of the things I needed to do was buy a card for a friend's 50th birthday. In the past I have found some lovely cards in Barnardos, but this particular charity shop doesn't have a branch where I was today so my first stop was in a Cancer Research shop. They came up trumps with the perfect card and then I spotted a further selection of birthday cards at the back of the shop reduced to 49p. I try and keep a little stock of cards at home and was very pleased with the bundle I picked up. My card box has now been replenished and a fiver has gone to a good cause. Win, win.

I treated myself to some daffodils from Waitrose when I went in there to buy soda crystals. A boring purchase livened up the promise of happy yellow Spring flowers. And how cute is the little blue tit on the label. Can't tell you how happy that me when I spied him. Little things and all that.

Back home this afternoon T asked me if I wanted to play a game with him. I was hoping board game, but he meant computer game. I am so bad at things like Mario Karts, the rest of them just end up in fits of laughter at me. I usually end up driving the wrong way round the track or doing something equally ridiculous. T chose for us to play Super Smash Bros. And I actually won a couple of the battles, so chuffed! Then it was an hour of Just Dance. I got my own back and won most of those but this was the scorecard from You Can Ring My Bell which T won.

Something which hasn't happened for a while is trying something new for tea and it being eaten by everyone. I used the basis of this sweet and sour chicken recipe and will definitely make it again.

Now with T and S both in their bedrooms, G listening to the football and the cats curled up asleep on the sofa I'll spend half an hour ironing and then settle down with my book. A simple, happy day.

My Weekend

This past weekend was spent a lot closer to home.

It began with a cuppa and a catch up with my friend G.

There was lots to chat about and as usual we could have nattered the whole day away.

One job which really needed doing was tidying my wardrobe and chest of drawers. It didn't take long to sort and with some kind of order restored I took the opportunity to count how many cardigans I have. 
I admit they are my weakness. 
I counted 50. 
Excessive?
Perhaps, but I love them.

We weren't sure about going to the car boot on Sunday morning due to the overnight rain but decided we'd pop along to see what was to be had.
G picked up a stash of records which he was thrilled with and my best buy was this tin for 50p.
It's going to be one of the items in my mum's advent box of gifts. I just need to decide what treats to put inside. I'm thinking shortbread.

A short while was spent in the garden, filling up various pots with daffodil bulbs,

before spending some time indoors with glue and glitter. Our boss is retiring at the end of this week and she is having a bit of a do on Tuesday evening. Colleagues who have worked with her for a long, long time want to decorate the room where it's being held with some of photos of her from over years. I volunteered to make some glittery pegs to hang the photos up with, I thought this would look more fun and festive.

Time with friends and family, odd jobs completed and of course the start of Strictly all added up to a gentle weekend to savour.