Sunday - 14/12/25

I managed to get out for a walk this afternoon just before it started to get dark.  Despite having had a couple of dry days around the lake is still sooo muddy.

The swan family were having a good preening session.

This is a new swan pair on the lake this year so it will be interesting to see if they chase their cygnets off now that they are almost fully grown.  Time will tell.  (The previous swan pair on the lake always chased off their cygnets once they were grown.)

It was good to get out in the fresh air and stop stressing about Christmas for a while.  I feel that I'm way behind with preparations this year but I have managed to get the tree and decorations up and my cards written and sent.  I actually did some e-cards this year for people I had e-mail addresses for.  I used a site where you can make a donation to charity in lieu of the cost of cards and postage so that felt like a good thing to do.

I have a few things ordered which hopefully will arrive on time but I still need to get some bits and pieces and I need to get my head around the shopping list.  I'm planning to get out early tomorrow and get the final present bits and then I'll be able to concentrate on the food prep. 

I need to get ahead as my son and his family are arriving at the weekend and next week I have a couple of days of Foodbank sessions - Monday we will be packing hampers and on Tuesday we will be delivering them.

It's a busy time of year!

Friday's Fave Five - 12/12/25

Oh goodness, I think I need a December theme to keep me blogging more often.  The November Gratitude log kept me posting most days but I've gone a week again with no posts.  Thankfully Susanne reminds us on Fridays to look back on the week and find the blessings and things we're thankful for so here we go.

1)  A good weekend for the Foodbank.  We do a big campaign early in December at our local Tesco supermarket to collect items for the Christmas hampers we prepare for our beneficiaries.  Despite times being harder for a lot of people and things being more expensive we still had a great response from the local community with goods and money being donated.  It's a good time to dust off the Santa hat and Christmas jumper!

2)  My Christmas tree is up!  I'd hoped to do it at the weekend but it was eventually started on Monday and finally finished on Tuesday.  It looks pretty much the same as always (it's artificial not real) but it works for me.  I have a few other bits and pieces out around our living space but I don't go overboard with decorations.  I've also managed to get my Christmas cards written and in the post today.  Still a few presents to buy but I'm making progress.  If we go to Vermont again next year I need to try and get things done before we go lol!  I also need to finalise the shopping delivery order that's coming on the 23rd.  So far I only have a turkey and a joint of beef in my trolley!

3)  I hosted the evening library book club group here on Monday and 4 people came so better than the previous meet up where only 1 person turned up.  We had a good time discussing lots of things, including the book! (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - by Taylor Jenkins Reid.)

4)  Hubby has finished the eye drop regime following his laser treatment last week and all seems to be good.  

5)  I didn't get to my keep fit session this week as my back has not been great since we got back from Vermont but I did meet up with my "Ladies Lunch" group afterwards for coffee.  It was good to catch up with them.

If you want to join in or see other bloggers' posts go here.

Friday's Fave Five - 5/12/25

Each week I try to catch up with other bloggers and list the things I've been grateful for.  This link up is hosted by Susanne who is great at reminding us each week.  Join in here.

I'm still going with the snowflake picture - Susanne switched to one showing Christmas decorations but we haven't even started decorating for Christmas yet lol.

But there are things I'm grateful for

1) Safe travels to and from Vermont.  It's a long trek - we left our hosts in Vermont around 1.30 pm on Monday and after an hour's drive to a coach station, a 2 and a half hour coach ride to Boston Airport, an overnight flight to London Heathrow and then a train ride to our local station we finally walked back into our own home around 12 noon on Tuesday.  Thankfully our daughter picked us up from the station saving us a bus ride!  The only hitch was getting off at the wrong terminal in Boston but the shuttle bus service soon had us in the right place!

2)  Successful laser treatment for my husband.  He's been at risk of pressure building up in his eyes leading to glaucoma but on Wednesday he had laser treatment which should alleviate the problem.  He's got a follow up appointment in January but hopefully then they will just keep monitoring him at regular intervals.  

3)  My engagement ring is fixed!  I lost a stone from it a few weeks ago but it's now been replaced and the whole setting has had an overhaul.  It looks like new - but so it should as it was an expensive repair so I'm also grateful that we can afford to cover such unexpected expenses.

4)  My daughter made sure we had fresh supplies when we got back, including milk, bread and eggs.  We had meals in the freezer for dinner and then I was able to organise a shopping delivery for the next day.  It was lovely to be able to make a cup of tea when we got back and then take a 3 hour nap!  And the house was warm as she was working from our home that day.

5)  The blogging community.  It was lovely to have all the good wishes for safe travels.  I'm still trying to catch up on reading all your posts.  We were only gone for 12 days but so much to catch up on!

Have a good weekend all.

Gratitude Log 26-30/11/25

A few days to catch up on here!

Wednesday (26th)was a quiet day - there was some prepping going on for Thanksgiving and I was just grateful for more time interacting with the grandsons.

Thursday (27th) was Thanksgiving and we had a lovely day.  We travelled to our host’s sister’s house which is near Burlington and we were made to feel so welcome. There were 16 adults in total and 5 children.  We were wined and dined and had a really nice time. 

Friday (28th) I’m grateful that we were able to take our son and DIL out for a meal while our hosts babysat the grandsons. It was good to have time for adult chat.

Saturday (29th) I was grateful to get out for a walk and visit a craft fair in town.  It was cold but stayed dry although we’d had snow overnight.

Today I’m grateful to get some laundry done so we won’t have too much dirty washing when we travel home tomorrow.  It’s been a good trip and saying goodbye to the family tonight will be hard.