Friday's Fave Five - 26/8/22

Joining in with Susanne and others at Living to Tell the Story to look back on the week and find 5 things to be thankful for.

Go here to join in the fun.

Here are mine for this week:

1)  Rain.  We had more rain on Wednesday and yesterday - nothing like the downpours of the previous week but we definitely needed it.

2)  Time with the grandkids on Wednesday - 4 of them here so a bit hectic but they do love getting together so it's fun watching them.

3)  Hubby's healing continues - he's almost back to full mobility and the bruising has almost gone too.

4)  Music in the park last Saturday - that made a nice outing for us in the afternoon.

5)  A catch up with former work colleagues on Tuesday.  I love it when you meet up with friends you haven't seen for a while but you just pick up where you left off.

And now we're off to a family reunion! We'll need to update this picture but we might need an extra stair or two - we've had 3 more grandkids since this picture was taken!

Have a good weekend all.  I'll try to get around to your blogs but not sure what the wi-fi will be like.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 24/8/22

Well it's a bit late in the day but it is still Wednesday so time to join in with the Hodgepodge over at From this side of the Pond, hosted by Joyce.

1. August 24th is National Waffle Day...what's something you've 'waffled' on recently? 

Ha I'm excellent at "Waffling" - why use a sentence when you can use a paragraph or better still a page to tell a story?

2. Do you like waffles? Make your own or 'leggo my Eggo? Any favourite toppings or add-ins? Waffles or pancakes-which do you prefer? 

I do like waffles but I never make them - don't have a waffle maker.  So I'm probably more likely to be eating pancakes and they just have to have chocolate on them.

3. Do you have any mementos from this summer (or past summers)? What do you do with them? 

Well this, and the previous 2 summers have been pretty quiet so no recent mementos.  I'm not a big fan of collecting lots of bits and pieces.  Probably photos are my main thing and one of these days I will get around to getting some albums printed.  Looking at photos on the phone or PC is just not the same as looking at physical photos. 

4. One thing you'd like to do before summer ends? 

Get together with extended family which is happening this weekend!

5. Life is too short to "dwell on regrets". 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm posting late because it's been a busy day here thanks to these little ones:

Hubby is recovering really well from the fall he had - he was even ok with holding Ella

She's been a bit shy around Grandpa the last couple of weeks but today she was more than happy to cuddle.

Apologies to Joyce for the spell checker putting in the English version of everything on this post.  That's something I could waffle on about all day long.

Friday's Fave Five - 19/8/22

Woo hoo I'm here on the right day for this!  Time to join in with Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story and list 5 things we're grateful for from the past week.

1)  Hubby continues to improve after his fall.  He's even been doing some of the cooking this week.

2)  Cooler weather.  Still nice and warm but not HOT!

3)  Rain!  Well we needed some but we did actually get a lot of rain on Wednesday over a short space of time and there was localised flooding.  Our storm drains just can't cope with sudden torrential rain.  We had water in our garage but I've managed to clear it up.

4)  A meet up with my "Ladies Lunch" gang last Sunday and we're now set for a week away in Ireland next month.  Looking forward to that.

5)  More walking this week and lots of reading time.

Here are a few pictures taken around the lake on Wednesday and Thursday.  It was good to see the swan family were all ok.

The bridge near us was impassable during the downpours.

The tree the far side of the bridge was a casualty of the storm.

Lots of birds on the lake on Thursday evening

This guy decided to try and hide when he spotted me taking pictures.

Have a good weekend all.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - on Thursday!

Better late than never!  All the info etc on the Hodgepodge blog hop can be found here on our host Joyce's blog.

1. August is National Back To School Month...how does that make you feel? Share a back-to-school memory. 

Well being retired and having no children at school anymore it doesn't make a big impact on me except this year Grandson Rory will be starting school and the settling in procedure is so long and drawn out that I will be helping out with that.

Grandson Nathan will be moving in to Year 1 this year and Grandson Noah will also be starting school.  Where does the time go?

Having worked in a school office I looked forward to the first day back after the summer as it was a chance to catch up with colleagues without the busyness of having the children in school.

2. Something you've learned in 'the school of life'? 

You never know what's around the corner no matter how much you plan.

3. Three words to describe your current mood.

Content, Optimistic, Apprehensive

Yes I know that sounds a bit contradictory but I am content with my life and I'm working on trying to have a more optimistic approach to things but, being an anxious person there's always a certain amount of apprehensiveness going on.

4. A summer food you've eaten too much of/are tired of? A summer food you haven't had enough of? 

Nothing immediately springs to mind for either of those categories, particularly when so many "summer" foods are now available year round.

5. What small stuff do you sweat that you know you shouldn't?

Probably everything lol.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Going back to never knowing what's around the corner, yesterday we had flash flooding in our area.  It's been so hot and dry and then we had about a month of rain in one afternoon.  I was trying to get my DIL and 2 grandsons home and we had to keep turning corners to avoid traffic, flooded roads etc.  With hindsight we'd have stayed at my house longer but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I got her home eventually - normally a 20minute drive taking over an hour and then I made a long detour of a drive to get home.  This was mostly ok - until I reached the the last stretch of route and had to contend with 2 broken down buses.  It seems they were electric buses and hadn't coped well with the floods!

Fortunately this is how both boys spent most of the journey.

Today it's lovely and sunny and so much cooler than it's been.  As Goldilocks would say, today the temperature is just right!

An update on Nick, with Alice 15/8/22

Is that rain Wendy? Oh please tell me it’s raining. I feel like I’m frying at the moment with this heat. 

Yes Alice we have got some rain. At last, although I’m not sure how long it’s going to last for or how much it’s going to bring the temperature down but it is supposed to be a bit cooler for the rest of the week. 

Thank goodness. It’s like an oven in here. 

I know, it has been rather unbearable again. Even during the night temperatures have stayed high. 

Yes it hasn’t done wonders for your sleeping has it? I can tell. 

What do you mean Alice? 

It’s the dark shadows under the eyes that give it away Wendy. And your short temper of course. 

I have been very patient this last week or so Alice. 

Hmm with Nick as the patient? Not sure about that. He seems to be doing much better though apart from looking a bit yellow! 

Yes he is doing a lot better Alice but you’re right, the bruising on his face is a nice shade of yellow now and the bruising on his right arm in particular is pretty gross. 

When do you think he’ll be up to cooking again? That lamb curry you made last week was disgusting. And you haven’t exactly been very adventurous with your meal choices. 

Well the lamb curry was adventurous for me but not sure what went wrong. I was definitely too light handed with the spices. It didn’t really taste of curry at all. I was just worried I’d make it too spicy and I would struggle to eat it. Instead of which it was so bland it was horrible.

 

We have a Hello Fresh box coming tomorrow so that will help add some variety to our meals. 

Yes even you would struggle to spoil those Wendy. 

Well I could try. 

Please don’t. But I would have thought that if Nick is able to play his guitar, which I know he can, he should be able to do anything now. 

That’s a nice theory Alice but the main problem he still has at the moment is fully straightening his arms. The left one’s ok but he can’t get the right one fully straight but that’s not an issue when playing a guitar as you do it with your arm bent. 

Should he actually be playing the guitar then? 

Yes he can – we finally got the letter through from the hospital today and basically it said he should be mobilising his arms as much as possible but of course lifting things would still be tricky so cooking would be a challenge. 

Yes well at least you’re not having to help him shower anymore or get dressed. I didn’t know where to look when that was going on. 

Oh Alice, are you a bit of a prude? 

No I just didn’t need to be a witness to that. You’ve certainly kept to your marriage vow of “in sickness and in health” this last week or so Wendy. 

Of course. You can’t expect everything to be rosy all the time Alice. 

No but I suppose there were some small blessings I mean at least you never had to wipe his a..... 

Alice! I think that is too much information for our readers. 

 

Friday's Fave Five - 12/8/22

Yes I'm a day late this week but better late than never.

Time to join up with Susanne here to look back on the week and find the things to be thankful for.

1)  I'm thankful for all your kind words following Hubby's accident last week.  It's so nice to be part of a supportive blogging community.

2)  Hubby has really improved over the course of the week.  He still looks a bit battered and the bruising on his arms is more noticeable but he has a lot more movement in his arms and his right hand.  He's also in a lot less pain.

3)  He managed to get an appointment at the dentist that is on our road to get his teeth checked out.  The dentist advised waiting a couple of weeks to let his bruising etc heal and his teeth settle before having any repair work done so we have a follow up appointment booked for that.

4)  A catch up with our 4 local grandkids during the week.  We had Rory and Vinny here on Wednesday.  They were pleased to see us after their holiday.  Then on Friday we had Nathan and Ella here.  Nathan should have been at cricket summer club but he had croup earlier in the week and wasn't fully recovered.  I don't think the current heatwave we're experiencing is helping.

5)  Having no responsibilities.  During this current heatwave it's good to just be able to sit and do nothing energetic.  We don't have AC - many UK homes don't, but we do have several fans which get moved around the house depending on which rooms we're using and where the sun is.

I've also tried to cook things on the hob rather than having the oven on especially as the kitchen gets the sun from midday till the end of the day at this time of year.

I've been doing all the cooking this week as Hubby recovers.  Hopefully he'll be able to help out soon!

Enjoy the weekend all - our hot weather is set to last until Monday when they're forecasting thunderstorms with heavy downpours that could cause flash flooding!  But there's no such thing as climate change 😡