Friday's Fave Five - 21/10/22

And it's Friday again.  How did that happen?  I've only just managed to get around to all the blogs linked to last week's Friday Five.  Thanks to our host Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story for keeping us on our toes on Fridays to pause, take a breath, and think about the good things from the previous week.

1)  Saturday I was up and out early to try and catch sight of my younger son.  He was doing a 50km run through Epping Forest which is the forest near our house.  The run started near our old house followed the forest past our lake, then on through the forest to Epping, and then all the way back to the start!  He does love a challenge.

I managed to catch sight of him and take a picture.  Well he caught sight of me as I was chatting to a dog walker!  Anyway I saw him.  

Hubby and I were both hoping to catch sight of him on his way back but unfortunately he missed a turn and ended up running down the other side of the lake to where we were sat.  Fortunately he was able to link up with the route at the bottom of the lake and made it back to the finish.  

2)  On Sunday we started off with a lazy morning then Hubby and I decided on doing a walk in Chingford.  We took the train to Chingford station and then walked up to a view point and then a loop through the forest.

This is an obelisk which is on the meridian line which runs through Greenwich.  Hopefully Hubby is pointing north!

This is looking south and you can just see the outlines of buildings in the city of London.  Unfortunately it was too hazy to see them clearly.

This was a bit further on looking down onto the reservoirs near us.

We were hungry by the time we got back to Chingford so we found somewhere to have some lunch before heading home by bus.

3)  1:1 time with grandson Nathan on Monday.  Unfortunately Granddaughter Ella was in hospital Sunday night as she was very wheezy again and needed steroids and nebulisers.  She came home on Monday evening and is a lot better now but on an inhaler regime and antibiotics.  Anyway Nathan had a very disturbed night - he woke at 12 and didn't get back to sleep until 3 am.  (He was being looked after by a family friend, a favourite of Nathan's but of course he wanted his Mummies.)  Long story short, he didn't go to school so Nanny had him for the day.  We played a lot of games!

I'm thankful that we're retired and can help out our families when needed.

4) A quieter end to the week - after Nathan on Monday and then Vinny on Wednesday it's been nice to have a couple of days with no demands on my time to be able to relax a bit.  I even got some crochet and knitting done:

The knitting group are making poppies for a Remembrance Day display in the church where they meet.  These aren't finished yet as they need their black centres.  I tried out the knitted pattern (on the left) but I think I will stick to doing the crochet ones - they're quicker to make!

5)  Another job crossed off the to do list:

I finally moved the plaque with our house number on it so that it's visible.

Previously it was hidden by the rose bush!

It's currently stuck on with some heavy duty suction tape which avoided the need for drilling holes.  Hopefully the tape will be as good as it's supposed to be otherwise there will be another job to add to my to do list lol.

Now I'm off to make up beds ready for the arrival of our elder son and his family (and dog) on Sunday.  They will be staying this week as it's half-term break.

Have a good weekend all.

Friday's Fave Five - 14/10/22

It's Friday already and time to look back on the week for our favourite things/blessings and then share them over at Susanne's site: Living to Tell the Story.

Here are mine:

1)  Hubby and I both had our flu jabs this week and we have our next Covid jabs booked.

2)  Last Sunday we had both our daughter and our youngest son plus their families here for Sunday lunch.  Well it was a late afternoon meal but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the Grandkids do enjoy getting together.  Snakes and ladders did get a little competitive though and I had to keep a close watch on Vinny so that he didn't wreck the game by grabbing the counters!

3)  More outstanding jobs in the house done - 

✅ disposal of an old freezer 

✅ giving away a bedside cabinet no longer needed

✅ chasing up the decorator for the next rooms to be done

✅ arranging for an upgrade to our alarm system

4)  I also managed to do some forward planning for Christmas.  We will have our youngest son and our daughter plus their families here for Christmas so it will be hectic but I've ordered our turkey and a few other bits and I've also ordered Christmas cards from a charity I like to support.  I know that more and and more people are moving to giving to charity rather than send cards but I still like to send an actual card.

5)  It's been a busy week with Grandsitting this week.  I had Ella on Tuesday and then took Nathan to his tennis class.

Ella was a bit upset when her Mummy left but she quickly got distracted by the TV

And before long she had fallen asleep.

Made my job a lot easier!

I had Vinny on Wednesday as usual but also today as his nursery was closed.

Keeping Vinny happy is easy.  Just keep him fed!

Have a good weekend all.

Friday's Fave Five - 7/10/22

It's Friday again!  Time to look back on the week and find things to be thankful for and then join in at Susanne's site at Living to Tell the Story. 

Here are my five:

1)  Time in Nottingham with our eldest son and his family for Grandson Miles's 2nd birthday.  We went up on Friday which was his actual birthday and came home on Saturday.  Miles is such a smiley boy and it was lovely to see him opening his presents etc. 

2) 1:1 time with Grandson Nathan on Tuesday.  I collected him from school and then took him to his tennis lesson.  It's not a lot of time but it is lovely to have time with him without any one else there.

3)  A proactive week getting things done - I managed to get rid of a piece of furniture that had been sat in the garage for ages.  I did a few other things that had been on my to do list for a while too so that felt good.

4)  I managed to fit in some walks and quite a bit of reading this week as well as getting some jobs in the house done so that felt good.

5)  Our plans for today got changed (an appointment got cancelled) so that meant I was able to spend the afternoon catching up with my best friend.  That also meant seeing her granddaughter who is almost 10 months which was an added bonus.

Have a good weekend all.

Variety - Z-A Challenge - 6/10/22

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Do you realise it is almost 2 months since you allowed me anywhere near your blog Wendy?

Yes I have spotted that Alice.  But it has been a little bit busy during that time, a week away with family, then a week away with friends in Ireland and of course all the Grandsitting and so on.

Hmm that doesn't account for all of the time.  As usual I'm feeling very neglected.  And I see that you've added a lot of books to your "Read" list on Goodreads.  I'm beginning to think you care more about this "Frieda Klein"* than you do me.

Oh but Alice that was such a good series and I just had to keep reading the next instalment.  But I've read them all now so I'll probably slow down a bit with reading again.

Yes and take up making poppies instead!  I've seen the pattern printouts and the crochet hook being resurrected.  

Well that's part of being in the Knit and Natter group.  And the poppies are quick and easy to do.

Easy to do?  Wendy it took you 3 attempts to get started last night in the pub. It should be called the Natter group because not much knitting was going on.  Well the others there seemed to be busy but you were definitely not concentrating!  The wine probably didn't help.

Oh the wine definitely helped Alice.  I'd had a long day with Grandson Vinny yesterday.  Starting with an 8 am pick up, coping with early morning traffic and then Granddaughter Ella was here in the afternoon too.

And that justifies the wine how exactly?

I needed to unwind.

Well you were unwinding the crochet that's for sure.

Crochet's not as easy as knitting is to do without concentrating.  Or without looking at it.  But at least I'm trying to do something different.  And I've generally been quite productive this week.

Well you've been trying to get rid of things.  I've seen you putting things on Marketplace or booking collections for things.  Not sure why that's productive.  I think the clue is in the word Wendy.

Perhaps proactive would be a better word.  I've got rid of one piece of furniture we didn't need.  Hopefully the other item I've listed will go too and I've booked a collection for the old freezer.  I've also investigated upgrading our alarm system and today I tried to sort out the issue with the Tax Credit office.

That went well.  Didn't appear to get you very far.

No well the ball is back in their court Alice.  You'd think that after 14 years of doing nothing they could write off a debt that they can't even show is the right amount.

Well I think the fact that they started chasing it after 14 years of inactivity shows they're not going to write it off anytime soon!

Maybe not.  We'll have to wait and see.

Anyway Wendy, how is this post linked to the prompt Variety.

You're my variety Alice.  A change from my usual posts.

Hmm, I'd much prefer it if I was your usual or regular sort of post.

Unfortunately we can't always have what we wish for Alice.

Well that's actually a good thing Wendy or you wouldn't be writing this at all.

Alice!

* Frieda Klein is the main character in a series of books written by Nicci French.  For more details see my Goodreads page.

Why blog? Z-A Challenge 4/10/22

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Ha!  One of the reasons I enjoy a blogging challenge is that it keeps me blogging.  Well I'm behind again on this one as this should have been posted by the 4th October.

Why blog?  

My cousin got me into blogging back in 2006.  I've been on various platforms but my first post here on Blogger was 12th August 2012.

Wow I missed my 10 year anniversary.  Surprising considering that blogging gives me a way of keeping a record of my life.  One of the main reasons I blog.  I also enjoy the interaction with other bloggers.  Not that I have a huge following but there are definitely some regular visitors who I consider virtual friends.

I like to think blogging stretches my intellectual capacity.  (Having lost my Mother to Alzheimer's my constant fear is that my brain will to mush if I don't keep it stimulated and exercised.)

That said you won't find a lot of deep and meaningful things here on this blog.  It also has its ups and downs.  Following a challenge does keep me posting more often but then when a challenge is over it's easy to let my posting dwindle for a bit.  Life circumstances also have a big effect on how regularly I post.

What I'm definitely not is a) a writer, in the sense of trying to become a published author and b) someone looking to make money out of blogging.

In a nutshell, I blog for me but I do appreciate people taking the time to read my posts.  Thank you for your support.  

Xenodochy in blogging - 3/10/22

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"Xenodochy in blogging" is the team's prompt for today.  Someone clearly went through the dictionary to find a good X word and no doubt most of us taking part will have had to resort to the dictionary to learn the meaning:

Reception of strangers/hospitality 

So applying that to blogging I like to think I'm receptive to strangers and hospitable.  I usually try and visit back anyone who comments on my blog.  Of course that's not always possible and the Blogger platform doesn't make it easy to get a thread going on comments.

However sometimes comments are just spam or trying to get you to visit sites that are really set up for commercial purposes.  Those will get deleted.

It can also be a bit tricky sometimes when the blog you visit holds no interest for you but I would still try and politely leave a comment to show I'd visited where possible.

I like to think I'm a hospitable person - my mantra for real visitors is "take me as you find me but I'll always put the kettle on or open a bottle of wine" even when I have my grumpy face on!

Yearning - 1/10/22

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This is my second post for this Z-A challenge and I'm using the team's prompt for Y which is Yearning.

Right now I am yearning for chocolate.  It's my downfall.  I made the mistake of ordering a box of Lindor chocolates with our shopping order that came yesterday and they are calling to me.

These ones.  Can you resist?  I am having great difficulty right now but I shall resist.

Now don't start thinking how good I am.  Well yes I am good but not when it comes to chocolate.  I've already had a Millionaire's slice today.  And this evening I had a Chocolate  Crunchy Cookies Magnum although in my defence for that it was a mini version not the full size one.

But of course this challenge started with the prompt Zero Excuses so I will continue to make no excuse for my lapses when it comes to eating chocolate but I will carry on yearning for the Lindor ones.  Well at least until tomorrow.  I'm off to bed now that I'm on track for this challenge.

Zero Excuses - 1/10/22

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Yes it's another A-Z challenge.  Less arduous (in theory) than the April challenge which involves posting everyday except Sundays, this challenge involves working backwards through the alphabet with only 2 posts a week required.  Following that timeframe will take participants up to December.  The fantastic A-Z team have even given us suggestions for prompts.  What could be easier?

Umm well as often is the case, I'm late to the party.  The first two posts were due by the 27th September.  The first prompt was Zero excuses so I'm not going to make any for my tardiness.

I'm not going to explain that I didn't read the A-Z post about the challenge on the day it was posted.

I'm not going to talk about having my Grandson Vinny for the day on Wednesday or how Thursday was spent shopping for our trip to Nottingham.

And the trip to Nottingham for our Grandson Miles's 2nd birthday is definitely not an excuse for being late to the party.  Although look at his beaming face.

Visit our Grandson v getting blog posts done - no contest.  Miles would win every time.

His brother Noah was pretty happy too.

Anyway I'm off the mark, out of the starting blocks, on my way.  I'm sure there will be other weeks when I'm not on schedule but as the prompt says, there will be Zero Excuses.