Friday's Fave Five - 16/9/23

Yes I know it's Saturday but better late than never to look back on the past week and find my five favourite blessings.

1)  The weather has been cooler since the beginning of this week.  Still quite warm but not the oppressive heat that we had last week.

2)  Nathan is better.  He returned to school on Tuesday much to the relief of his Mummies I'm sure lol.

3)  A family orientated weekend.  We babysat Rory and Vinny on Saturday afternoon and also had a visit from Ella.  Then Rory and Vinny stayed here and my son and DIL also came back from being out with US friends to sleep.  On Sunday there was a Picnic in the Park event but it was still really hot so we took the kids to the park for a short while before they headed off home.  I stayed on as I'd signed up to volunteer as a marshall.  Fortunately my duties weren't too onerous - I was stopping cars from entering one of the entrance roads to the park unless they were residents for a while and then as part of the clearing up process I went and took all the various signs down.  It was a nice event but it should have also included a dog show but that was cancelled due to the heat.  People still seemed to enjoy themselves though - there were lots of stalls plus live entertainment.

4)  On Monday evening I was able to play a small part in the rescue of one of the cygnets currently on the lake.  On my usual evening walk I noticed a few people looking over the small bridge at the bottom end of the lake behind the boathouse used by local Scouts.  One of the cygnets had crash landed between the boat house and the metal fencing around it.  It had then managed to get itself wedged under the fence and was stuck.  

We're lucky to have local volunteers that operate a rescue service for swans in particular but also ducks, geese etc.  Someone had already alerted the rescue team and they were on their way but we needed to get the access gate unlocked.  Fortunately I had the number of a local man who is the Chairman of the Highams Park Planning Group and who seems to know everyone.  Predictably he had contact details for the Scouts and was able to get someone to come down with keys.  They arrived just after the Swan rescue team and the cygnet was safely removed.  

It was taken to the Swan sanctuary where it was found to have some injuries to its back from the fence but it will be cared for until it heals before being released back into the wild.  I took an early walk on Tuesday morning to confirm it was from our lake which it was.  Our swan parents are very territorial!

Swans and the remaining 4 cygnets.

5)  I managed to adjust my daughter's Pelaton bike yesterday so that I can use it - also worked out how to get the shoes on and off - harder than they make it look!  It still needs a bit of adjustment but having watched some YouTube videos I've now got a better idea of what needs doing.  I'm not sure I'm ready for any online classes yet - I did 15 minutes on it this evening and my legs felt like jelly at the end lol.  But I thought it could be an alternative exercise for me if the weather isn't suitable for walking.  It might also encourage my daughter to use it too.

And a bonus - Strictly Come Dancing started again this evening!  I do love watching that.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.