Where I am

I'm in Australia! Flew via Hong Kong into Sydney. Seen the Blue Mountains. Travelled the Great Ocean Road and now on to Melbourne.

Normal blogging service and a holiday blog(s?) will resume on my return to the UK. (12th December jet lag permitting)

Thanks to my son and DIL for house sitting.

Can't work out how to add photos here on my mini iPad but check out my Facebook page for better updates.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 1/11/17

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at

From this side of the pond

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add the link to your Hodgepodge blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post and don’t forget to visit at least your neighbours on the list.

1. What does/did Halloween look like at your house this year? Did you decorate? Pick pumpkins? Carve pumpkins? Expect trick or treaters? Wear a costume to a party or event? Make a costume? Feel glad you didn't have to come up with a costume? Cook a Halloween themed treat? Eat all the leftover candy?

Our house didn’t look any different from the day before.  Halloween is still very low key here in the UK compared to the USA although it does seem to grow each year.  So no pumpkin for us and it seems that deterred any trick or treaters knocking at the door.  There were quite a few posts on social media warning them not to knock on doors that didn’t seem welcoming or have a pumpkin outside.  So I bought treats in case anyone knocked but now I have to eat them although hubby and the (grown up) kids are clearly already helping!
2. What are you waiting for? Elaborate
Waiting on a couple of bits of news and of course taking off for our Australia trip. 8 days to go!
3. Do you wish you were friendlier, braver, more creative, more athletic, or something else? Explain.
I definitely wish I could be most of those things but I’d settle for a bit more confidence.  At my age I don’t feel the need to be athletic and I can be creative when I put my mind to it.  But confidence to talk easily with strangers or just tackle situations would be good.
4. When it comes time to paint are you a do-it-yourselfer or do you hire someone? What was the last paint job completed at your house? What room most needs painting now? How do you feel about wallpaper?

A mix of both.  We’ve painted our two spare bedrooms ourselves as they’re small and had been recently replastered so were easy to do.  The hall and stairs need doing and we will get someone in to do that.  I like wallpaper but paint seems easier to change.
5. What is one specific thing you felt gratitude for in the month of October?
Reconnecting with friends I hadn’t seen in a while.  I usually wait for a call to join in with a get together but this time I took the initiative and invited them here.  We had a good evening catching up.
6.  Insert your own random thought here.

I might not have been Halloween ready but this little munchkin was: