Shots on Sunday - 11/10/26

I did try and post a weekly photo post of photos taken daily.  Problem is I'm not very good at remembering to take a photo each day but I have found it useful to have a routine to my posts.  Anyway today I just thought I'd post the photos I did take this week and rename the post as Shots on Sunday.  We'll see how long this bright idea lasts!

This was my shopping list on Wednesday.  I only ended up getting the birthday cards for my cousin (Jill) and my brother (John).  I never really intended to get the other items so they're still up there.  I also haven't got a card for my daughter and her wife for their wedding anniversary yet.  I'll probably have to look online for that.  Or try a proper card shop rather than the supermarket.

I took this one on my walk around the lake yesterday.  As you can see the ground is beginning to be covered with leaves although the trees are still looking quite green.  I haven't been walking in the forest much lately but now the weather is cooler I'll be trying to do it more often.

This is a photo of a recipe that my son in the US requested. (Macaroni with sausage meat and carrots.) We use it a lot as you can probably tell by the marks on the page!  It's quite easy to do, freezes well and makes a change from Bolognese.

The rest of my pictures were all taken this afternoon at the lake.  It was good to see that there are still 6 cygnets with their parents and they are really big now.  Hopefully the parents won't start chasing them off too soon but there is a great local team of volunteers who will help relocate the cygnets if it becomes necessary.

It was quite sunny today but the weather has definitely cooled this week - I've had to resort to extra layers and we'll need to put the warmer quilt on when we change the bed this week.  We haven't resorted to putting the heating on yet but I have used the electric fire in the lounge a couple of times when I've just been sitting watching TV.  Thankfully although we've had rain it hasn't been too much so I haven't had to dig my wellies out - yet!

#SoCS - 10/10/26

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “familiar.” 

Linda provides the prompts for these posts and the link up is here.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the idea of familiars if you've read the Philip Pullman books or anything similar.  Linda talked about naming a spider in her kitchen Mildred.  I followed that up with naming a spider in my spare bedroom Elsie.  

Well I'm not sure that Elsie actually exists.  I haven't seen her.  My son claims to have seen her while he was staying here but she's proved elusive to me.  To be fair I don't spend a lot of time in the spare bedroom so it's not surprising I haven't seen her.  She probably a bit lonely in there all on her own.  Unless she's brought some friends in to keep her company.  I do hope not!

Friday's Fave Five - 9/10/26

Susanne reminds us every Friday to look back on the week and write about the things we are grateful for.  Then we link up here.  Thanks Susanne.

1)  The smell of fresh Banana Bread.  I brought some bananas home from the Foodbank yesterday - we had lots that were not going to last until next Tuesday's session so volunteers were able to have some.  So of course I had to make banana bread with them.  

2)  The library.  I know I mention this one a lot but it does feature in my routine frequently.  This week I made a trip on Tuesday to pick up a couple of books I'd picked out for my 52 Book Club Challenge and then on Wednesday we had our afternoon book club meeting there where we discussed Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo.  We had a really good discussion about it although personally I was not a fan of the book.  And while I was there I was also able to pick up another book I only ordered in last week.  

3)  My Hubby.  He's always got my back and you will know that he does most of the cooking in our house.  He's not so good at remembering other chores, like putting the dustbins out but this week he even remembered to do that.  After checking which bins had to go out of course. 

4)  Chocolate cake.  My daughter and DIL hosted DILs brothers and families for lunch last Sunday.  They had leftovers and I was able to go over for a cup of tea and chocolate cake to collect some.

5)  Getting back into routines and hobbies. I've definitely been blogging more and I do enjoy the interaction with other bloggers.  I've also made time for reading so that is becoming a habit again and this week I did some knitting (we had a Knit and Natter meet up on Wednesday) and I've finally finished knitting the jumper I started an age ago.  I just need to sew up the sleeve seams, tidy up ends etc and block it.  You might even get to see me model it!  (Don't hold your breath lol.)  

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 8/10/26

Well this has been a much better week for reading - I managed to finish Before the Storm by Alex Gray which I enjoyed.  

I've read quite a few in this series and they don't disappoint. This one is set in the run up to Christmas in Glasgow with DSI Lorimer dealing with a suspected terrorism threat, under cover officers having their covers blown and then a couple of murders. He's his usual calm and measured self, taking advantage of the skills of Daniel Kohi, a former Zimbabwean police officer, who finds himself a refugee in Glasgow following personal tragedy. It was wrapped up perhaps a little too neatly but this was an easy read following a couple of heavy book group reads. I gave it 4 stars.

My next read was Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent.  This was the book for my evening book group this month but it also ticks a prompt on the 52 Book Club challenge so that was a bonus.

For the most part I felt it was a good book. With echoes of "The Room" it does contain child abduction, abuse etc that wouldn't be to everyone's taste but it started off really well following Sally after her attempt to put her dead Father "out with the bins" and the upheaval that causes in her previously sheltered life. (Not a spoiler - it's in the blurb on the cover!)

Then we're given a very alternative viewpoint and initially I was still enjoying the book. However, for me it felt like the author had run out of steam and original ideas and then everything was wrapped up quite quickly and not how I envisaged it would end.  I still rated it 4 stars though as it was a good page turner for me.

And then finally I managed to read one of my own choices for a 52 Book Club prompt - Brooklyn by Colm Toibin.

As is often the case, despite this being an award winning book, I wasn't that impressed.  About half way through this book I realised I'd watched the film version which is why the book was sounding familiar. But I really did not like the main character Eilis. There were times I wanted to shout at her or give her a good shake. So young and naive and so contrary. I did like Toibin's style of writing but I didn't enjoy the content. Only 2 stars from me.

I have another book club read to get through, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy but before I start that I'm squeezing in another book that ticks a prompt - Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter by Nicci French. I've read quite a few of theirs (it's a Husband and Wife partnership) including all of the Frieda Klein series and enjoyed them so I'm sure this one won't disappoint.  At least I hope not lol.

I'm rushing this post so no pictures as it's getting late and I want to do more reading!