A bit of waffle - 4/5/26

Well the A-Z challenge is over for another year (apart from the reflections posts and the road trip) so time to get back into the normal rhythm of blogging.

That didn't go too well yesterday when I didn't do a photo post.  Hadn't taken many photos, again! But here are a few that didn't make it to my posts during last week:

Not the best photo but you can just about see the baby coots. There are several coots nesting around the lake and the parents of these were being very territorial and chasing ducks away.

Egyptian geese.

The resident heron.

Some of the trees around the lake are very old and I love picking out the unusual shaped ones.

I'm not sure how long these tree remains have been in the lake - I hadn't walked down there for a little while

But this shows where the tree has gone over into the lake.

Nesting coot.

And I couldn't resist posting this screen shot.  Part of my morning routine is to do the New York Times set of puzzles - Wordle, Connections etc and of course the Spelling Bee.  I usually try to get to at least the Amazing level and I do occasionally reach the Genius level but I had never managed a Queen Bee where you find all the possible words, until last Monday.  And it was quite a tricky selection of letters so I was feeling very pleased with myself.

Today has been a Bank Holiday in the UK although of course it doesn't make a lot of difference when you're retired.  But it did affect the timing of charity collections at the supermarkets for the Foodbank as the supermarkets were mostly closing early.  I ended up having to do a collection from our local Tesco at 5 pm as we're a bit short of drivers at the moment, one has moved on to train to be a Fire fighter and a couple were away on holiday.  But thankfully we were all finished with sorting out the donations just before 7 pm so a nice early night for me and time to blog.

I'm about half way through Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to work it into the 52 Book Club Challenge.  I've also downloaded Penitence by Kristin Koval which was a magazine recommendation and I've reserved Welcome to the Neighbourhood by Jane Fallon which will tick the "Published in 2026" box.

I need to get back into the habit of reading before I go to sleep, I've been a bit lax lately.  There really aren't enough hours in the day, especially when you get caught up in waffle!

#SoCS - 2/5/26 - Neat

Linda hosts SoCS and today's offerings can be found here.  Thank you Linda.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “neat.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

I spent some time yesterday helping a young relative sort out clothing.  They have had a rough time over the last few years and lost both parents in 2025.  Persuading them to tackle the mountain of clothes in the house has not been easy.  We all grieve in different ways and we need to be ready for each task before it can be done.

Recently though progress has been made and when it became clear that they were ready to at least make a start on sorting out the clothing, a couple of family members were happy to step in and help.  Including me.

It was a bit like doing a Marie Kondo clear out - holding up an item of clothing except instead of "does it spark joy?" or "do you love it?", we had keep, charity shop or rubbish.  The keep and charity shop also being sub divided into wash or clean.  Decisions were made quickly and no time was allowed for a change of mind.

I came home with a lot of bags for the charity shops.  I didn't actually count them yet (they're in my garage) but there's at least 10.  Now I could well do without this task but I knew that if we left those bags there they would probably still be there in weeks to come and they really don't have the space.  Anyway I was just so glad that this task is finally being tackled and I have the time and energy to move the bags on, either by taking them to a charity shop or by putting them out for the regular street collections that get done by charities around here.

I think it will be some time before the rooms we were liberating can be classed as neat and tidy but it was a huge step forward that we can hopefully build on soon.

Friday's Fave Five - 1/5/26

It's Friday so time to look back on the blessings of the week and then share them over here at Susanne's site.  Thank you Susanne for keeping us on track.

1)  Time with Grandkids Nathan and Ella.  We had them here last Saturday overnight.  This was the first time we'd had them overnight so it was a bit of a challenge.  They were actually quite good playing together during the afternoon and Nathan went to bed quite easily.  Ella is another story - she is not good at settling down to sleep but, thankfully, once she is asleep she tends to sleep right through to the morning.  Nathan on the other hand was obviously a bit anxious and woke during the night so I ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor between their beds so not the best night's sleep!  But it enabled my daughter to celebrate her upcoming birthday without having to worry about the kids.  Her birthday isn't for another week or so but it's hard to find venues and co-ordinate dates.

2)  Sunshine!  We've had a lot of it this week.  Really improves the mood.

3)  A walk round the lake on Wednesday - and the mud has dried up.  The pathways are still quite rutted from where we had all the mud but it was nice to just pull my trainers on for the walk.  And the swan is nesting so hopefully there will be cygnets soon.  Daddy swan is definitely in protective mode though.

The pigeons were trying very hard to grab the food in the water near the edge even though it was too big for them really.

Look at those wings!

4)  Bluebells!  On Tuesday after my keep fit class I took a trip down memory lane and visited Wanstead Park which is an area where we used to go for walks before we moved.  It has an area called Chalet Wood that is famous for its bluebells.

My phone camera doesn't really do them justice although they were probably past their best - I should have gone last week.

5)  Hubby and I took a walk on Monday to our nearby Larkswood.  No bluebells this time but we did discover this structure:

It's huge!

So grateful to have such nice places nearby to spend time in the fresh air and get some exercise.

Have a good weekend all.

Z is for Zevin (A-Z Challenge 2026) 30/4/26

The A-Z home page can be found here.

My theme this year is authors that I've read. More about the books I've read than the authors themselves.

I'm an avid reader. I'm a member of 2 in person reading groups through my local library. I'm gradually working my way through an old BBC reading list of 100 books (I'm about half way through) and I'm taking part in the online 52 Book Club Challenge for the third time this year where the challenge is to read 52 books over the year based on 52 different prompts. You can also find me on Goodreads here.

The Z authors I've read are:

• Zevin Gabrielle
• Zusak Marcus

Yes two Z authors!  So joint prize winners for most read - not difficult as I've only read one book by each author but I gave both 5 stars.

Zusak's The Book Thief had been on my bookshelf for some time.  In fact at one point I think we had 2 copies in the house.  I finally got around to reading it in 2020.  You know, the year when we had a lot of time to stay at home and read!

Anyway I loved it.  My review said, "What a great book! Interesting narrative and so well written. Different to read about WW2 from a German perspective too."

Zevin's book was "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow".  This was a book club choice.

The blurb for it says, 

This is not a romance, but it is about love

Two kids, Sam and Sadie, meet in a hospital gaming room in 1987. One is visiting her sister, the other is recovering from a car crash. The days and months are long there. Their love of video games becomes a shared world -- of joy, escape and fierce competition. But all too soon that time is over.

When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment. The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love - making games to delight, challenge and immerse players, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives. Their collaborations make them superstars.

I really enjoyed this book once I got into it.  I wasn't sure I'd enjoy all the stuff about video gaming, and there is a lot of that, but that is kind of the framework of the story.  Essentially we see how Sam and Sadie's lives become intertwined and how their relationship develops over time.  The ups and the downs.

There are other characters that are key to how that happens but as the blurb says, the story is full of love but it is not a romance.  I liked the way Shakespeare was woven into the story and how other things were included that gave the writing depth.  Who knew there was a glass flowers museum in Harvard?  Not me, but I do now.  I even picked out a favourite quote, "What is a game?" Marx said.  "It's tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.  It's the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption.  The idea that if you keep playing, you could win.  No loss is permanent because nothing is permanent, ever."

(Although a 5 year old that gets hold of a permanent maker could leave some indelible marks lol.)

This is not the sort of book I would usually pick up but that's the good thing about belonging to a book club, sometimes you're challenged to read books outside your comfort zone.  This was a good pick.

What's the most challenging book you've read?