Friday's Fave Five - 29/1/21

 

Thanks to Susanne at Living to tell the Story for this reminder every week to sit back and think about our 5 favourite things from the week.

This is particular hard right now.  There seems to be no end in sight for our lockdown - it was announced this week that the earliest schools MIGHT re-open is 8th March.  Case numbers are reducing though but that hasn't yet stopped hospitals being overwhelmed and deaths reducing.  This week we hit the horrific statistic of 100,000 deaths in the UK from Covid.

But there are good things still happening:

1)  We had snow last weekend - not a lot thankfully but of course the children find it very exciting.

Nathan & Noah enjoyed making snowmen.  Rory didn't have quite as much snow to work with but still enjoyed being out in the garden.

Spot the snowman on the step!

2)  A zoom call with hubby's siblings last Friday.  It was a bit chaotic with 8 couples trying to have a conversation but it was nice to see them all.

3)  A better week in terms of getting out to walk, keeping my step count up etc.  Last week I was very demotivated but this week has been better.

4)  Curtains for my bedroom have arrived.  I'm hoping to get them up over the weekend but I'm currently letting them just hang so I don't have to do too much ironing of them.  I'm hoping they're going to darken the bedroom considerably and it will help me sleep better.

5)  I cooked dinner tonight using a Simply Cook kit and it was delicious.  It was Japanese Seared Steak and looked like this:

Actually that's how the recipe card made it look - I forgot to take a picture of ours!  But it was good as are the chocolates I mentioned last week.  We've been eating 1 a day to make them last but they are delicious!

(Of course I'm eating other chocolate as well.  1 chocolate a day is not enough lol.)

Right time to post this before midnight strikes.  Have a good weekend all.

 

21 in 21 - Weekly Photo #4 w/c 25/1/21

Today we were at my daughter's as usual and this afternoon we managed to get out for a bit to nearby Kenwood House.  The house is closed at the moment but the grounds are open and there's plenty of space for social distancing.

When we started to get ready the weather looked ok but of course it takes time to get two children ready for the (thankfully) short car drive to the venue and by the time we arrived it had clouded over and there was rain in the air.

I only took a few pictures and most were blurry but this is one showing Nathan in his element - playing with a ball with Grandpa.  He didn't care about the weather or the mud!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 27/1/21

I'm taking part in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, kindly hosted by Joyce at From this side of the Pond

Pop over there to see who else is joining in the fun. 

1. Have you done more binge watching this past year than in 'normal' years? Any plans to break that habit in 2021? Tell us one or two shows you binged last year that you really liked. 

I probably have watched more TV but not really in binge sessions.  I've watched various drama series such as Line of Duty  and Strictly Come Dancing was a must watch for me.  Recently though Hubby has got more into watching things on Netflix on the main TV so I haven't been watching as much TV at all.

2. January 26th is Australia Day. Have you ever visited or lived in Australia? Have you ever tasted Vegemite, and if so what did you think?  Is a trip down under on your bucket list? We answered a question about travel three months ago (the October 21st Hodgepodge), but let's revisit now...where are you when it comes to planning or even imagining travel this year? 

I have been to Australia!  We went back in 2017 with Grandson Nathan and his Mummies.  He was only 7 months old at the time so it was quite challenging.  I'm guessing Vegemite is much like Marmite which you either love or hate.  I hate lol.

As for current travel plans - that would be a big NONE at the moment.

3. Something that zaps your energy? Something that energizes you? 

Grandsitting definitely zaps my energy.  Especially the really little ones.  After a day at my daughter's I just want to chill in front of the TV.

Going for a walk in the fresh air energizes me.

4. On a scale of 1-10 what are your eating habits like these days? (1=all junk food all the time and 10= juicing every green thing in the frig) Healthiest meal you've eaten in the last week or so? 

Our eating habits are generally ok so we're probably a 6 or 7.  We tend to make most of our meals rather than use ready made/processed things, although we do use Hello Fresh for some meals but not every week.  We are definitely eating more chocolate though.  In the first lockdown we had chocolate if we'd gone out for a walk now in our 3rd lockdown we have the chocolate anyway!

Our healthiest meal recently was probably a Vienamese pork dish that was yummy even if hubby did forget to put the sugar in!

5. What's your most often 'Back in my day....' thing to say? 

That's not something I often find myself saying.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm very glad of being able to get cheap or free books to my Kindle during this 3rd lockdown.  Our local library is closed as are bookshops.

Review - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

Well this book ticked the box "Set in London" for a reading group challenge. It was lent to me by my DIL and I wasn't quite sure what to expect or what I'd make of it.

The main character, Peter Grant, is a probationary police officer with the Metropolitan Police in London. He finds himself caught up in a murder enquiry that involves ghosts, a department of the police led by a wizard and all sorts of other nonsense.

Despite how daft that all might sound I did actually enjoy the book, although it did take me a while to get into it. There's also a lot of information about London thrown in, particularly about the river Thames and its tributaries.

It was definitely a good bit of light reading during lockdown but not sure I'm hooked enough to carry on with the series.

View all my reviews

21 in 21 - Weekly Photo #3

 

I originally did this post on my phone so the photos ended up above the logo and the formatting was non-existent.  Today I tried to edit it and ended up losing the whole post!  

Anyway here are the photos I took out on a walk this week by the lake.  Weather was much better then - today we have had snow!

Friday's Fave Five - 22/1/21

 

Thanks to Susanne at Living to tell the Story for this reminder every week to sit back and think about our 5 favourite things from the week.

Being in lockdown means we're doing very little different each week so it's sometimes hard to think of 5 different things but here are mine for this week:

1.  A meal with my daughter and her wife.  No we didn't go out - nowhere to go and we have to "Stay at Home!"  But we can visit them in their home as a support bubble so on Saturday we joined them for a finish at home meal.  This was from the same place as we did at New Year which I wrote about here.  I didn't take pictures but I had French onion soup to start, followed by leg of Duck and finished off with a delicious bread & butter pudding made with brioche.

2.  A couple of walks this week.  The weather hasn't been great and it's been cold but I have got out a couple of times.  I might even go after posting this as today it is bright and sunny.

3.  Plenty to choose from on the TV.  I did start watching a couple of things with Hubby but they weren't really my thing but I found other things to watch including some films.

4.  Case numbers for Covid have started to come down.  The numbers in hospitals are still very high and this week we've seen the worst daily deaths total since the pandemic began but hopefully that will start to reduce in a couple of weeks.  No idea how long we are going to be locked down for but at least things seem to be going in the right direction.

5.  A nice surprise:

Don't they look amazing.  This was a Christmas present from my daughter and family - a chocolate subscription for the next 3 months.  Not totally a surprise of course as I knew it was coming but just didn't know exactly when.  They arrived today so I will enjoy tasting some later!

Flavours included are: salted blonde ganache, bergamot, caramelised hazelnut, banoffee, madagascan and toasted sourdough praline. 

Have a good weekend all.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 20/1/21

 

  

 

I'm taking part in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, kindly hosted by Joyce at From this Side of the Pond

Pop over there to see who else is joining in the fun. 

1. What's something we'd find you doing most afternoons? 

Well probably watching some TV but I might also be taking a walk if the weather is dry and 2 days a week you'd find me Grandsitting.

2. Who do you take after? In what way(s)? 

I think I have traits from both my parents.  My Mum was a very selfless person and I like to think I am too but I'm quiet like my Dad until I'm pushed too far then ----stand clear lol!

3. 'After every storm comes a rainbow' or 'the calm before the storm'...which phrase do you relate to more right now? Tell us why? 

Well as far as this pandemic goes I think we're in the storm right now - we had our highest daily death total recorded yesterday since it began.  Case numbers have started to go down thanks to the lockdown we're currently in but it will be a few weeks before the pressure on our hospitals and the number of deaths start to reduce.  But I'm trying to be positive and be watching out for the rainbow.  I want to be able to have all my family together again and for the grandchildren to meet their new cousins.

4.What are your plans for the day after tomorrow? 

Ha!  Often I wouldn't have any plans for a Friday but this week I have to Grandsit in the morning for my daughter and then in the afternoon Hubby is going to collect his things from his office.  (They're relocating staff except all the staff are currently working from home!)

5. Complete this sentence-"After all is said and done_____________________."

I'd love to have a deep, meaningful comment but I have nothing to add!

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Is it just me or is everyone finding doing things like blogging or even reading hard?  Our lives have been turned upside down so there is little to talk about and I'm finding it hard to concentrate on reading anything "heavy".  I have all this time when I could be reading some of the classics on my reading list and all I want to read is either chick lit or a decent crime thriller!

Hopefully this too will pass!  That's what I should have put in #5 lol

#JusJoJan - 19/1/21 - I lost a day!

 

Yep it's Tuesday and I didn't post yesterday.  I sat and thought about it at one point in the evening then I started watching TV and then I went to bed!

It's been a tough few days.  This lock down game is getting old.  I'm trying to be positive but it's hard.

We did have a short Facetime with our eldest son and his family yesterday but poor Noah was tired and not very talkative.  Miles was smily though so that was good.

I did also manage to do a walk so it wasn't a completely wasted day.

Today we've been at my daughter's as usual so a busy long day helping out with their two little ones.

No idea what the prompts were for the challenge for either day but at least I've posted today.  And had lots of cuddles with this little one.

Life's not all bad.
 

21 in 21 - Photo of the Week #2 - 17/1/21

I'm slipping already as I should be on to photo #3 by now but anyway these were taken a week or so ago after we had finally sorted out the beds in the bedrooms.

Guest room #1 

(With our old bed in it.)

Our bedroom

(With our new Kingsize bed.)

Guest Room #2

 The lovely light fitting that creates all those shadows!

We now have 3 functioning bedrooms although when they'll ever see any guests is anyone's guess.

All of them need work, as in a coat of paint at least plus curtains in our room and the bigger guest room.  The blinds on the window at least give us privacy but they don't block out the light.

I'm looking forward to the pandemic being more under control so that we can actually get out to choose things like paint etc.  Some things are just not the best things to buy online.

#JusJoJan / #SoCS - 16/1/21 - First thing!

 

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “first thing.” Start your post with the words, “first thing” and go from there. Bonus points if you end your post with the last thing. Have fun!

(If you want to join in with the challenges go here.)

The first thing I'm going to say is that for the Just Jot it January challenge a post can be anything, including just a jot.

Well this post is just going to be a jot.  We've had a really lazy day.  Didn't get moving very quickly this morning at all.  Then this afternoon we headed over to my daughter's and we had a meal with them.  It was provided by a chef that's taken to preparing meals that are delivered ready to just finish off and serve.  You literally just heat things in the oven or the stove and then just plate them up.  Delicious.

It was nice being there and just enjoying the children rather than trying to get jobs done for them but even so I'm tired.

So that's my jot.  Now it's time for bed and this is the last thing I'm doing!

Friday's Fave Five - 15/1/21

 

Thanks to Susanne at Living to tell the Story for this reminder every week to sit back and think about our 5 favourite things from the week.

Here are mine:

1.  Online shopping & deliveries.  Under a "Stay at home" lockdown means shopping can be a challenge so I'm very grateful for being able to order all our food shopping online and get it delivered.

2.  Our regular visits to my daughter and her family.  It really breaks our week up a bit and stops me going totally stir crazy.

3.  Exercise videos and podcasts.  It's been a very wet week here so getting out to walk hasn't happened much but I've managed to keep my step count respectable.

4.  A video chat with my cousins.  Hopefully that will be a more regular thing now we've all got our head around the technology lol.

5.  Post deliveries.  The local postal service has been struggling due to staff either being sick with Covid or isolating because of contact with it so we haven't been getting our post very regularly.  We've had deliveries the past two days though so hopefully things are beginning to improve.

So another week in lockdown is almost over.  It looks like this lockdown is going to last for a while but with the vaccine being rolled out hopefully things will start to get better.

Have a good weekend all.

#JusJoJan - 14/1/21 - Neighbour

Regulars here will know that we moved house back in September.

Our new neighbours all seem very friendly - what we've seen of them.  We have talked to a couple of them - at a distance.  It's so difficult at the moment.  One of the neighbours who actually lives around the corner but whose garden adjoins ours at the back stopped and said hello as she was passing.  We had just got back from somewhere so were outside the house. The problem is she was wearing a hat because it was cold, a mask because we're told to, and it was dark.  Not sure I'm going to recognise her in daylight and without the hat and mask!  I'll just have to keep smiling at everyone who goes past the house and risk getting labelled as the mad woman that moved in during lockdown.

Failing that I'll just have to spy on her garden to try and spot her and risk getting called nosey parker lol.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 13/1/21 / #JusJoJan

One size fits all again today - taking part in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, kindly hosted by Joyce at From this Side of the Pond

and using it as my Just Jot it January post as hosted by Linda here. 

1. When were you last a guest at an event or in someone's home? Tell us about it. Do you enjoy having guests in your own home? 

Well that's hard to remember.  It feels like we've been locked down forever but when restrictions did lift a bit in the summer one of my friends that's part of our "Ladies lunch" group hosted an outdoor, socially distanced lunch.  It was a warm sunny day and we were able to sit in the garden and enjoy good company and good food.  Not sure when we'll be able to do it again but I'm so looking forward to having them here in our new home.  I do enjoy having guests.

2. What has you 'tied up in knots' currently or recently? Are you any good at tying actual knots? 

Dealing with this pandemic.  Socially bubbling with my daughter and her family means we can't see my youngest son and his family.  It's been hard having to make that choice but we went where we felt the need was greatest.  It's still hard though.  

 

I'm not very good at tying knots but I do usually have the patience to untie them.

3. What's something you've been wanting to do and have decided 2021 will be the year you 'take the plunge'? 

I'm afraid nothing immediately springs to mind.

4. Something in your home that's old? Something new? Something borrowed? Something blue? 

Well a lot of the furniture is old but we have bought quite a few new things since we moved, the latest being a new bed for our bedroom.  We've always had a standard sized bed but this time we went for a King size.  I'm enjoying the extra space!  I was struggling to think of something borrowed until I spotted a book on my bedside table that I'm currently reading - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, borrowed from my DIL.  Something blue - lots of my clothes.  Blue is one of my favourite colours.

5. Share a favorite quote, a verse of scripture, and/or a bit of wisdom for couples getting married in this challenging and seemingly unpredictable season we're currently/still experiencing. 

Well I'm useless at remembering quotes or scripture but one piece of advice that I think is important for couples is never go to sleep on an argument.  Arguments left to fester can be harder to overcome.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

I love grandsitting: 

Taking selfies, not so much lol.

 

#JusJoJan - 12/1/21 - Sing

 

To find out more about the Just Jot it January challenge go here.

Today's prompt is "Sing"

You want me to sing?  You really don't!

 

#JusJoJan - 11/1/21 - Letter

 

Today's prompt is letter.  To find out more about the Just Jot it January challenge go here.

I'm beginning to forget what a letter looks like.  Our postal service is really struggling to cope at the moment.  They are short staffed due to the current Covid situation.  Consequently we haven't had any letters for over a week now.  Fortunately most things are taken care of electronically but....

Today I finally contacted a local  GP service to register and was told the process is:  

They mail out registration forms to us

We fill them in and mail them back. (Or hand deliver them I think.)

They then contact our former GP for our records.  (Thankfully that bit is done electronically!)

Hmm we might not be registered for a while.   Although that might not be a bad thing as I'll be due a repeat on medication in a couple of weeks so that will probably go through my old GP and then I'll have 3 months to sort out switching.

Hopefully we won't fall through the net when it comes to being called for the Covid vaccination.   I think a lot of that is being done by text message.  Fingers crossed.

Watch this space.

Review - The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to…
The Thursday Murder Club

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?

Well I'm a bit torn on this one. It's a nice cosy read - think Midsomer Murders meets Miss Marple except Miss Marple has a gang of residents in a retirement village. The group meet once a meet to discuss cold cases but then they're presented with an actual murder.

It all gets a bit silly at times although in a funny sort of way. I just felt the author was trying to be too clever with the plot lines - there are lots of them to keep track of. And characters. It also switches between 1st and 3rd person POVs which didn't really add to the narrative.

I didn't hate the book - I got through it in two days - but I certainly didn't love it. Unfortunately I think some books by well known celebrities don't always get the rejections an unknown writer does.

View all my reviews

 

#JusJoJan - 10/1/21 - Cheese

 

For full details of the Just Jot it January challenge go here.

We have a lot of cheese in the house at the moment -  left overs from the Christmas order which was made when we thought there would be more people to eat it.  And a new batch this week - my hubby was gifted a subscription to a cheese company - they send samples out each month.  This month there were 5 english cheeses we hadn't had before.  Fortunately we like cheese so it was a good gift idea.

Of course one of the best versions of cheese is in this pic:

 Nice cheesy grin from grandson Noah lol.

#JusJoJan/#SoCS - 9/1/21 - Sky's the limit

 

Ha, if I'd know what the prompt was going to be yesterday I would have saved my winter sky pictures! 

Although the full prompt for SoCS is:

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “sky’s the limit.” Write about something that has or seems to have no end. 

(If you want to join in with the challenges go here.)

Well of course I could waffle on for ages about the current pandemic which shows no signs of having an end but that would be very depressing and I've opted to try and be positive this year.  Instead I'll describe this scenario for you.

My grandson Rory loves to play with cars.  For Christmas we bought him some small matchbox style cars and a road playmat.  He was in heaven!

This morning my DIL sent a video of him playing with them - on the kitchen worktops:

As you can see he has them all in a line around the edge of the worktop and he was taking one or two cars from the front of the line, moving them to the back of the line and then moving the line along, AND repeat.......

He was also singing to himself and had been doing it for about half an hour.  I don't know how long he went on and on with this game but am so pleased he loves his present. 

Should we be worried about his obsessive behaviour lol?

Friday's Fave Five - 8/1/21

 

Thanks to Susanne at Living to tell the Story for this reminder every week to sit back and think about our 5 favourite things from the week.

Well it's been a quiet week but there are always things to be thankful for and here are mine:

1)  A surprise invite to see Rory and Vinny last Sunday (and my son and DIL of course) including dinner.  Rory was very excited to see us and Vinny is really smiling and cooing now.  This was just before our lockdown started and Rory went back to nursery.  Not sure when we'll see them again.

2) A good week for blogging.  I've managed to blog every day so far in January.

3) Despite being in a national lockdown we are still able to be in a support bubble with our daughter and her family.  This means we can still see them in their home (or ours) and help out and were there twice this week.

4)  Back to a more normal routine.  The Christmas decorations are down and there's no pressure to get stuff done.

5)  We're well and healthy. The Covid situation in the UK has gone from bad to worse this week and we're now locked down again.  The NHS  is under severe pressure and is struggling to cope.  

And when things feel really hard there is always this:

Nearby open space to walk and clear my head.

 

 

#JusJoJan - 7/1/21 - Caught

 

Well time has caught up with me today - we spent the day at my daughter's helping out with the kids and the house.  It's a full on day for both of us and we were a bit later home than usual.

Fortunately hubby cooked our Hello Fresh meal (Lamb & Aubergine curry) and then I finished my online shopping order ready for tomorrow and then we just chilled in front of the TV.

Now I'm off to bed so this is my jot of the day! 

Details of the Just Jot it January challenge can be found here.

Review - In the Dark - Cara Hunter

In the Dark by Cara Hunter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A woman and child are found locked in a basement room, barely alive.

No one knows who they are — the woman can't speak, and there are no missing persons reports that match their profile. The elderly man who owns the house claims he has never seen them before.

The inhabitants of the quiet Oxford street are in shock. How could this happen right under their noses? But DI Adam Fawley knows that nothing is impossible.

And that no one is as innocent as they seem ...

In the dark is a very dark story. There are lots of twists in the plot and a lot of characters to get your head around. Some reviewers complained about the number of characters but a book that follows a police investigation of a gruesome crime is bound to have lots of characters. And when it becomes linked with a previous unsolved murder cue more twists and more characters.

The book kept me interested and guessing but I wasn't completely sold on the ending.

View all my reviews

 

#JusJoJan/Wednesday Hodgepodge - 6/1/21

 

One size fits all today - taking part in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, kindly hosted by Joyce at From this Side of the Pond

and using it as my Just Jot it January post as hosted by Linda here. 

1. What advice would you give yourself as we begin this new year? 

Try not to stress too much about the pandemic, take each day at a time and ditch the guilt.

2. If you could throw a themed party for yourself what would the theme be? 

I have absolutely no idea, especially as I hate being the centre of attention.  That brought to mind an idea that everyone should be masked then no-one would recognise me but wait, we're all wearing masks at the moment anyway!

3. Tell us where you were and something about what life was like when you were 20- 21.

Still living at home (in London's East End) but engaged to be married.  That wedding never actually happened thankfully!

4. What's on the menu at your house this week? 

Well we've got 3 days of Hello Fresh meals so haven't had to think too hard about the menu.  Plenty of food in my new fridge and freezer so the other days will take care of themselves - especially as hubby does most of the cooking here.

5. What should you do more of this year? Less of? 

More of? Staying in touch with family and friends.  When we had our first lockdown in 2020 I made a point of phoning family and close friends so that I spoke to someone most days.  As time went on I got really lazy at that.  

Less of?  Eating chocolate.  Again we started off well by trying to make sure we got out for a walk each day during lockdown and if we did the reward was chocolate.  Now I'm just eating chocolate anyway.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

These questions are good reminders right now as we've just started our 3rd national lockdown and are having to "Stay at home!"  Of course this will be tougher as the weather is not so good for getting out for walks and we know that this will last at least until mid February.  

In keeping with one of my intentions for the year and being positive, at least two vaccines are now being rolled out. And I keep getting lovely photos of these little ones to brighten my day:

How can I not keep smiling?