Friday's Fave Five - 4/7/25

Friday's are the time to look back on the week and note the things we're grateful for.  Susanne our host blogs here and she keeps us on our toes.  Pop over and see who else is joining in.

Well it's been 2 weeks since I last did a Friday's Fave Five and almost as long since I actually blogged.  Apologies for not getting around to commenting much either.

Firstly Happy 4th July to my American friends.  Hope you're all having a good time.

Now to my list:

1) I am grateful that the heatwave seems to have subsided a bit - the temperatures have been in the low 30s (centigrade) and with no air conditioning it has been unbearable.  Usually when it's hot I keep the blinds and windows shut at the front of the house in the morning and open up the back windows/doors.  Then in the afternoon as the sun moves round that gets reversed.  Well at the start of this week everything was closed - the air outside was HOT!  I find it very hard to function when it is that hot but thankfully we had some rain on Wednesday and since then we've been in the mid 20s which is lovely.  

2)  I had a birthday!  Always good to clock up another year, although the number is getting a bit too high for my liking lol.  But at least this year I will start getting my pension.  The day itself was spent quietly - I was at the Foodbank as usual but my best friend visited the day after and brought cake.  Then on Saturday we went to dinner at my daughter's and had rainbow cake.  Yes, granddaughter Ella picked the cake.

3)  Housework has been very much left while it's been this hot so I found time to complete the puzzle Hubby got me on my birthday.

I also treated myself to another puzzle board as the one I have wasn't big enough for the puzzle.  I went for the sort that rolls up with the puzzle inside.

4)  I have another crafting project on the go too:

the squares were amongst bags of stuff that belong to my daughter but are being stored here.  At some point she had time to make the squares but realistically she's never going to make time now to do anything with them so I'm putting them together and then I'll probably put an easy edging round them.  This involved another treat for me - a blocking frame for granny squares.

5.  Our freezer seems to be working properly again.  Despite supposedly being frost free it had got very iced up and although it seemed to be keeping frozen food frozen it wasn't freezing anything put into it.  It took a long time to completely defrost and we cut our losses on quite a bit of food but thankfully it seems ok now.  Note to self - defrost regularly and at the first sign of frost/ice!  It did mean though that on the hottest day of the year we were cooking a roast pork joint so that it didn't go to waste!

And finally I'm thankful that Ella seems to be on the mend after a bout of what they think was Noro virus.  She was very sick all day yesterday but has perked up a little bit now so hopefully over the worst.  It seems a lot of the children in her nursery class were affected and some of the staff.  So far the rest of the family have been ok. Hoping it stays that way.

Have a good weekend all.

Love the Lake 23/6/25

Recapping the weekend - we had a lovely time on Saturday at the wedding or our niece Annie to her partner Henry.

The view across the field.  The bunting had an emotional connection as some of the fabric had come from clothing of Nick's sister who died last year.

Henry's family are farmers and this open barn had been converted in a short space of time into a perfect summer venue

Complete with a bar area in the centre

Mexican singers, and food was served from catering vans and we had a choice of burgers, tacos and later on pizza - from a pizza oven fitted into the side of a landrover!

Earlier the couple exchanged vows in an area that had been set out with chairs for guests.

We only attended for the evening reception but I'm told this was lovely. But we still got to hear the speeches which was nice.

Our eldest son Matt, DIL Vicky, Daughter Rebecca, me and Nick.

I was so glad I swapped my outfit though - it was a very hot day but there was a breeze so it wasn't too unbearable and it cooled down a bit in the evening.

We left at about 11 pm - Nick finds it quite hard to cope with loud music but I'm sure the youngsters partied on into the early hours.

On Sunday I decided to try and get out for a walk quite early before the day got too hot again but actually the day was much cooler than the heatwave we had last week - still mid 20s but with a breeze so much more comfortable.

Both the wooden bridges over the river Ching which runs alongside the lake have been replaced.  This one is at the north end of the area and is much better because before there were no sides.

Not sure what the coot thinks of these Egyptian geese sitting on its nest!

Look at that lovely blue sky!

The cygnets are doing well and there were lots of ducks around

Some of them look like they could have been the ducklings that I saw not that long ago.

And this is the other bridge that has been replaced, again with proper sides - it has wire netting previously that wasn't great.

I spent the rest of Sunday just relaxing.  It was still too hot to be too energetic!

Friday's Fave Five - 20/6/25

Friday again and time to look back on the blessings of the week and then join up here to share with others.  Susanne keeps us on track each week.

1)  It's the little things:

These managed to survive going through the washing machine.  Thankfully they stayed in the drum with the washing and didn't fall through into the filter.  It would have driven me mad trying to find them once I noticed they were missing!

Like this toy piece:

It's part of a sorting toy that has 20 different wooden shapes.  The grandkids were playing with it a week or so ago but when I tidied up this piece was missing.  It took a lot searching but it finally turned up.  

2) We are enjoying a nice heatwave here in the UK - temperatures have been nearly 30℃ this week and tomorrow we're set to get to 32℃.  We're going to a wedding and I'd planned my outfit a few weeks ago but now I'm glad that I have an alternative dress to wear that hopefully will be a bit cooler than what I'd originally planned.  It's not as dressy but we're only attending the evening reception so I think it will be ok.  It's linen and red and cream so the red earrings above will work nicely!  My original choice was a lined dress which I think I would melt in!

3)  We had a nice meal out with my daughter and her family last Saturday (it was for Father's Day which was on Sunday).  We went to the Forest Hotel which is becoming a favourite of ours.  We like the atmosphere and they regularly change their menus.  We also got a free glass of prosecco as it's my birthday month.  One website it's been worth signing up to.

4) I'm grateful that we don't have to be too careful with money and that I can buy extras like bird food for the bird feeders.  The birds are very hungry right now and as fast as I refill the feeders they seem to be emptying them but it's nice to be able to sit and watch them making the most of the food.

5)  Knitting and reading time - Maisie's jumper is finished I'll post a picture once I've put the buttons on - plus I finished a couple of books.  I've also signed up for a new book club the library have set up and picked up our first read today - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. 

Have a good weekend all.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 18/6/25

Joyce provides the questions, we provide the answers and you can join in the fun here.

1. Summer officially begins this week (in the northern hemisphere)...what was your favourite thing to do in the summer when you were a kid? What do you like most about summer now? 

I loved daytrips to the beach and going to the forest for blackberry picking.  Now I love that on the very hot days I don't have to work and can sit around doing nothing if I want.

2.  Something you'll celebrate this summer? 

We'll celebrate having the family all together again for a couple of weeks.  We also have a wedding to attend on Saturday with most of our extended family there.

3. Summer tastes like? Smells like? Sounds like? 

Strawberries, Freshly cut grass, Birdsong - the parakeets in our garden are being particularly vocal at the moment.

4. June 18th is National Splurge Day...what's the last thing you splurged on? What might you splurge on today? 

I can't remember what I last splurged on but we're planning to get some new garden furniture which will definitely be a splurge.

5. Share a favourite summer quote, saying, song lyric, or meme. 

Well one that applied when I was young of course was "School's out for summer!"  It isn't quite there yet for UK schools - still another 2-3 weeks to go.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Definitely summer here now - we're enjoying a nice hot spell of weather.