Wednesday Hodgepodge - 4/11/26

Joyce provides the questions each week, we come up with our answers and then we link up here.

1. Our  November Hodgepodges always include a question related to gratitude. What is one small thing you're grateful for today? 

My library.  We had our book group meeting there today.

2. Chrysanthemums-pansies-burning bush-ornamental cabbage-camellias...your favourite in an autumn garden? Would we find any of these in your yard/garden this year? 

Chrysanthemums would be my favourite but there's nothing blooming in my garden right now.

3. If you could clear out or organize one physical space or mental habit before the year ends, what would it be?

I need to sort out some space in my spare bedrooms for when we host family at Christmas so it will need to be done by mid December.  The beds and rooms are ok but I need to free up some cupboard/drawer space for guests.

4. Brussel sprouts...love 'em or no thank you? If you said love 'em how do you like them prepared? 

I don't love them but I do eat them.  Roasted would be my preference.

5. It's reassuring to know that my Christmas guests are just my kids and grandkids so nothing has to be perfect.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It's turning out to be a busy week!

Friday's Fave Fives - 31/10/26

Susanne reminds us every Friday to look back on our week and find the things we're grateful for.  The link up is here.  Thank you Susanne.

1)  Well I'm a day late doing this but one of the things I'm grateful for is that, as I've got older and particularly now I'm retired,  I don't fret as much* about everything being perfect and having to meet deadlines.  I can look back on a day and think about what I did achieve rather than get stressed by what might still be on my to do list.

* I'm not saying I don't fret at all but I certainly do it less lol.

2)  Grateful to have got a few "admin" type jobs done this week including sorting out our kitchen window.  The double glazed unit has failed - it looks like a small creature has dipped their feet in white paint and walked across it - between the two panes of glass.  I contacted the company this week and after an exchange of e-mails and photos we have a date in November for them to come and replace it.  The windows were installed after we moved here so they are still under guarantee.

3)  1:1 time with grandchildren Nathan and Ella.  It's half-term break so we had Nathan here on Monday and then Ella on Wednesday.  It's nice to have that time with them and of course it makes life easier for their Mummies too.

4)  More knitting time.  I've tried to do a little bit each day although I failed to get to my Knit and Natter group on Wednesday.  I walked down and was almost at the venue when I realised I'd picked up a bag containing shopping bags rather than the bag containing my knitting.  I was so cross with myself but by the time I got home again I decided it wasn't worth going back so I did some knitting at home instead with the TV for company!

5)  Hubby clearing the leaves from the front garden.  They had really piled up after the storms we had last week so I was glad that he cleared them.  We still need to clear some from the back garden but there are still a lot of leaves on the two trees in front of the house.  Hubby's theory is that we should wait until all the leaves are off the trees and then do one big clear up.  I'm not sure we would be able to get to our front door if we did that!  Not to mention that they wouldn't all fit in the bin.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend.  We have our Nottingham son and his family here, hence the late post.

Read then Write - 29/10/26

I only managed to finish one book this week but it was quite long:

The Last Summer by Karen Swan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wild-spirited Effie Gillies has lived all her life on the small island of St Kilda but when Lord Sholto, heir to the Earl of Dumfries, visits, the attraction between them is instant. For one glorious week she guides the handsome young visitor around the isle, falling in love for the first time – until a storm hits and her world falls apart.

Three months later, St Kilda falls silent as the islanders are evacuated for a better life on the mainland. With her friends and family scattered, Effie is surprised to be offered a position working on the Earl’s estate. Sholto is back in her life but their differences now seem insurmountable, even as the simmering tension between them grows. And when a shocking discovery is made back on St Kilda, all her dreams for this bright new life are threatened by the dark secrets Effie and her friends thought they had left behind.

I did enjoy this book but I'd skimmed over the blurb on the back and didn't realise it was the first in a series until I got to the end which has a big cliff hanger! So of course I will now have to try and read the rest of the series.  At some point, maybe.

View all my reviews

I've now moved on to this one:

This is proving to be quite an easy read which is good as I have meetings for both of the Book Clubs I'm in next week which will mean 2 more books to read!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 28/10/26

Our host for the Hodgepodge is Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond.  Why not pop over and join in the fun?

1. What most recently gave you goose bumps?

Nothing springs to mind!

2. What does Halloween look like in your home and/or neighborhood these days? Do you participate?

Halloween has become much more of a thing here in the UK but with no young children I don't usually participate.  This year though two of our grandsons will be here so I have got some pumpkin lights and a pumpkin garland in my living room and an orange candle.  They're going to a halloween party in the afternoon with their cousins, (my daughter's children).  Hopefully that will keep them happy.  We're a little bit out from our town centre so we don't usually see any trick or treat children.

3. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia...your favorite seed on the list? What's something you like to make/eat that calls for one of these seeds in the recipe?

I am not a fan of seeds and I don't make anything that contains them. (I don't actually do much cooking and if I make cakes I'm more likely to put fruit (eg banana) or vegetables (eg carrots) in them.

4. What's the most (or one of the most) 'fall photos' you've ever taken? Share it here. Just one.

It probably doesn't look very fall (the pumpkins were edited out) but it's definitely a good reminder of a family day out at a pumpkin farm.  This was back in 2018 when there were only 3 grandchildren.  The babies were all wearing matching pumpkin vests.  I thought I'd got a photo of all of us together but can't seem to find it!  It was a lovely family day out as all the parents of the grandkids and my hubby were there too.

5. Somehow we're rolling in to November next week. If your October were a chapter in a book, what would the title of this chapter be?

Changing Times.

(Not being very original but our clocks went back last weekend so it seemed apt.)

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Should I be worried?  I rushed out to get to my Knit and Natter group this evening and it was only as I approached the venue that I realised I'd picked up the wrong bag.  Not a bit of knitting with me at all.  I headed home feeling very cross with myself.