Wednesday Hodgepodge - 5/8/26

Joyce provides the questions and we share our answers here.   Why not join in the fun?

1. What's something on your August calendar you're looking forward to? Or dreading if that's easier to answer. 

Our annual family get together at the end of the month.  Definitely something to look forward to but I do dread organising the shopping lists!

2. August 5th is National Oyster Day...do you partake? How do you feel about pearls? 

I do not partake of oysters.   Never have.  I'm not sure about a pearl necklace - something I associate with an older generation, even though I'm probably that generation now lol.  I do like pearl earrings though.

3. Tell us about a time when you felt like 'the world was your oyster'. 

Probably since we've both been retired, although we're not exactly world travellers.  Prior to that there was always some sort of commitment, e.g. work, kids, elderly parents etc that meant we couldn't be totally carefree.

4. Trip Advisor lists seven islands in the US that require no passport (for US citizens). If you're answering today from outside the US you'll still need to produce yours. An-y-way, have you been to any of the seven? Let's pretend you get an all expense paid trip to one this month...which one do you choose and why? 

Catalina Island California~Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts~Mackinac Island Michigan~Key West Florida~South Padre Island Texas~or Kauai Hawaii

I have no idea which of these I'd prefer.  I've never been to any of them.

5. Sylvia Plath is credited with the following- 

"August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time."

Agree or disagree? In other words, how do you feel about this month? 

I think I disagree.  August still feels very much like summer, especially here in the UK where the kids do not go back to school until September.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The temperature has been a comfortable 24-25 C today.  So much nicer than the high temps we've had.  No sign of any rain though. We're now subject to a hose pipe ban.

Weekly Photos - In need of improvement! 2/8/26

Well I did say "cheese" this week as we had our photo taken at The Hub on Thursday

We were saying goodbye to Tia (in the lemon dress) who has been volunteering with us for a little while but she's starting a new job next week and will no longer be able to juggle her work and volunteering.  She will be missed as she was always a ray of sunshine at our sessions.  To the left of Tia is Sharon the Hub Manager and I am second from the right.  It looks like I've cut my hair short but it's just pinned back.  It's been so hot I haven't worn it down in weeks.

As for taking pictures this week well it's a FAIL!

I did take some pictures of the swans and their cygnets last Sunday which I posted here but the only other photo I took was this one:

Yes it's my shopping list, complete with shadow lol.  We keep the whiteboard on the fridge and then I just take a photo of it before doing the shopping rather than write it out on a piece of paper that I usually can't find once I get to the supermarket.  Of course I have left my phone behind on occasions so then I've had to try and do the shopping from memory.  Never a good idea.  This list isn't too bad but sometimes Hubby decides to be creative about how he puts an item on there and then I need translation assistance.

Thankfully my DIL Amy is much better at taking photos and she took loads during their recent visit to Vermont and she posted them all on her Instagram stories so we could all follow along.  It was lovely to see the cousins having a great time together.  Can't wait for Christmas when we'll all be together again.

SoCS - 1/8/26- Draw

I had to draw in a deep breath the other day, so that I didn't say something I might have regretted to my Hubby.

We both have iPhones and we both have the wallet style cases for them.  

(I'll insert an example later.)

I've mentioned before how both of us having black cases, and our kitchen worktops being black has caused confusion and issues.  Hubby is often misplacing his phone in one of the various pockets of the clothing he's wearing too.  He does love clothing with pockets!  He has also more recently started using his own version of a Manbag that he also misplaces.  It's an ongoing saga.

Anyway the case for his phone had got really tatty so he saw a case in a charity shop (have I mentioned that he loves browsing charity shops? A lot!) so he thought he would get it.  Of course he didn't check in the shop if it was the right case for his phone.  In fact he didn't even pay for the case.  He just walked out with it.  Not deliberately you understand just his usual absent minded self.  He probably picked up the case and then spent ages looking at other stuff before walking out forgetting he still had the phone case!

Well of course I was not impressed at a) him now being a thief and b) the case not even fitting his phone.  Well the phone fitted in the case but the opening for the camera wasn't in the right place, rendering it impossible for him to take photos!

This week I decided enough was enough.  So I ordered 2 new cases.  One for me in bright red, and one for him in blue.  They duly arrived but Hubby was struggling to fit his phone into the new case.  I struggled initially too until I realised what the problem was.  Only my Hubby could pull the holding frame from the old case off with the phone still inside and then try and fit both of them into the new holding frame!

And then he wonders why I'm often drawing deep breaths!

This is a similar case.  The holding frame is the place where your phone sits inside the case.  It is not removeable.  It is not meant to be removed!  I have told him that he needs to return the case to the charity shop.  Hopefully he won't come back with something equally useless.

SoCS is hosted by Linda who blogs here where you can see all the rules and see who else is taking part.

Today's prompt was "draw"

Friday's Fave Five - 31/7/26

Susanne keeps us on our toes and reminds us each Friday to look back on the week and remember the good things and blessings in our lives.  Thank you Susanne.  You can join in here.

1)  I'm writing this looking out onto another sunny day but it's cooler.  We've had temperatures in the low 30s a couple of days this week but today we're back to the high 20s.  Just that few degrees makes a big difference.  And the air feels fresher today too.  I should probably make the most of that to get some housework done but I think I'm going to have a lazy day today because:

2)  Yesterday was an extremely busy day at the Foodbank.  We were given a huge delivery of food which included a lot of fresh vegetables but also a huge amount of meat products including burgers, meatballs, various cuts of chicken, pork mince, lamb mince and lots and lots of pizzas.  It's wonderful to be given so much food (it comes from Amazon) but it does mean hard work sorting it all, storing it and of course giving it out to our beneficiaries.  We were also able to extend our jacket potato menu - usually we just do them with baked beans and/or cheese but we were low on cheese yesterday.  However we had some pots of coleslaw and tuna and sweetcorn in the delivery so we used those to make the potatoes more interesting.  They went down well.  So well that they used all the ones that had been oven cooked and were doing extras in the microwave.  I'm so grateful to be part of this community and able to help those who are less fortunate.

3)  A nice book group evening yesterday.  I wrote about that here.

4)  A flying visit from our eldest son and his family overnight on Wednesday.  They arrived back from visiting our other son in Vermont early on Wednesday and stayed overnight before heading home yesterday morning.  They were all a bit jet lagged but it was lovely to see them and hear all about their trip.  They had a wonderful time and our DIL had been great at taking lots of photos and posting them on Instagram for us to follow along.

5)  I managed to get to my keep fit class on Tuesday.  The first time in a few weeks.  As usual we went for coffee (tea for me) afterwards and one of our other friends joined us with her granddaughter.  This particular friend used to come to the class but since her daughter went back to work she's been looking after her granddaughter 2 days a week so we haven't seen as much of her.  On Tuesday when she arrived at the café  the granddaughter promptly fell asleep so we were able to have a good catch up.  

I hope you've all had a good week and have a lovely weekend.