Friday's Fave Five - 20/12/24

Each week, even when she has a lot going on, Susanne reminds us to stop and think about the things we're grateful for.  Like minded bloggers join together here.

1)  A nice time with Granddaughter Ella on Tuesday.  I brought her back to my house and we played games and of course out came the Playdoh.

She loves to mix the colours, drives me nuts lol.

2)  Thankful for extra volunteers at the Foodbank on Thursday - we had a big delivery to put away, Christmas food to organise and lots of people turned up for food.  It was a good session though with lots of us in Christmas jumpers/hats etc.

Photo courtesy of FB

This was taken after we'd already sorted a lot of stuff.  Thankful for all the support given over the festive season.

3)  A catch up via a video call with my cousins yesterday.  It was a while since we'd spoken all together so lots to talk about.

4)  Thankful for online shopping, especially for food.  Most of my Christmas shopping is now organised but I'll still be going to the store over the weekend.  Some things you just need to choose in person.

5)  Grateful that we're in a position to do all this shopping etc. without having to worry about finances.

And of course thankful to Susanne for organising this link up every week and for the other bloggers who join in.  Wishing you all a good weekend, hoping it is not too hectic and, if I don't manage another post before it, a very peaceful and happy Christmas.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 18/12/24

Joyce prepares the questions, we provide the answers and then we share them here.

1. What's one thing you want to get done before the calendar flips to a new year?

I've being doing a book challenge this year (The 52 book club challenge) and I'm on book #52.  I want to get it finished. (Demon Copperhead)

2. What's something that brought a smile to your face this year?

Hard to pin down just one but probably catching up with the grands who are now in the US.

3. What do you like on a cracker? Do you have a favourite cracker variety? 

Cheese - extra matured cheddar with relish or pickle of some sort.  Not that fussy about a type of cracker as long as it's savoury.  Sometimes in an assortment box they throw in some sweet tasting crackers which I will avoid.

4. Do you have plans for ringing in the new year in a fun or special way? Are you typically awake at midnight on the last day of the year? 

No plans - we usually spend it quietly at home but we do often stay up till midnight.

5. What are three words that describe your 2024? 

Sad - we lost one of Hubby's sisters this year.

Change - one of our sons and his family moved across the pond.

Improvements - a work in progress!

6.  Insert your random though here:

Continuing on from #5, the work in progress I referred to is me.  Anxiety has not been my friend this year but we did make the trip to the USA and got back in one piece so that was a big achievement for me.  I've also challenged myself more with my reading, joined a keep fit group and continued to volunteer at the Foodbank and local events, so small steps in the right direction.

In the New Year we will be making improvements to our home - we have decorators booked to decorate our living room and hallway and stairs which are the only rooms that haven't been redone since we moved here.  This will also involve new sofas and units so a lot to be organised.  

But first we will be celebrating Christmas at home with our daughter and her family and then our eldest son and his family will join us on the 27th.  

We'll have a quiet New Year and then the fun will begin!

Merry Christmas to you all and a special shout out to Joyce for keeping us on our toes each week. Thank you.

A very late Friday's Fave Five! - 15/12/24

Better late than never.  Each week a group of us look back on the week and list the things we're grateful for.  Our host is Susanne who posts here.

1)  Firstly I'm grateful to Susanne for reminding us every week to take a pause and find the good things in our week.  Susanne's going through a difficult time just now but she still made sure the prompt and link were posted.  Thank you Susanne and look after yourself.

2)  An evening out with the knitting group.  Instead of meeting to knit and natter this week we went to a local pub for a Christmas meal.  10 of us attended and it was a lovely evening.  The company was good and the food was good too.  They had several choice including a turkey meal with all the trimmings but I personally opted for steak followed by a chocolate brownie.  Yum!

3)  So much local support for our Foodbank.  Last weekend volunteers were at our local big supermarket rattling buckets for donations and trying to encourage people to add one or two Christmas items to their shop to donate for the Christmas hampers we provide to our families at this time of year.  The response has been amazing.

4)  A new baby in the extended family.  Our nephew Tom and his wife Issie welcomed Atticus to their world yesterday.  He's their first baby so of course they are overjoyed right now - as they should be - he's beautiful.  This is the first baby in the extended family for almost 3 years and the first Grandchild for Hubby's brother Bernard and his wife Kathryn.  They are going to be great grandparents.  We also learned that another nephew and his wife are expecting their third baby in 2025.

5)  It never ceases to amaze me that, despite the size of Hubby's extended family, how close everyone is and how supportive of one another.  We might not see each other as often as we used to but you know that there are people who rally round when needed.  Especially important at the moment - you may recall that Nick lost one of his sisters a few months ago, well sadly her ex-husband passed away a couple of weeks ago too so the children are now orphans.  Of course they're not really children as they are 18 and 20 but not of an age to cope with the loss of both parents in such a short space of time.  But the family are rallying round to make sure they're ok and to help out with all the practical, legal and financial stuff that needs doing.  I'm grateful to be a part of this family.

I usually finish these posts by wishing everyone a good weekend but this one is so late it's have a good week instead!

Book Review - Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopaedic knowledge of animal behaviour and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.

The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea.

Well I can certainly see why there was such a lot of hype around this book and how it is a Man Booker Prize winner but I could not give it 5 stars.

At 319 pages it's not actually that long but it felt loooong. Stories that have depth to them usually impress me and there was a lot that impressed in this book. The insights into several religions for starters. The details about animal life, particularly in zoos. What you might find on a ship's lifeboat.

But.....there was too much detail at times. Graphic details.

I'd certainly recommend reading it but with caveats. I think it's a really good book but I can't quite say it's a great book.

View all my reviews

Friday's Fave Five - 6/12/24

I'm back!  I didn't take my laptop away with me so I've spent the afternoon today catching up on a lot of blog posts!  I didn't stop to make comments or I wouldn't be here to post my gratitude list and I have a lot to be grateful for right now.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Vermont! 

The antlers and glasses were in readiness for the parade leading up to the lighting of the town Christmas tree and lights which we were able to watch on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

We visited the library.  I was impressed with the size of the children's area and the amount of books available.

The boys helped with juicing oranges for the homemade cranberry sauce.

This was our home for our time there - it's our DIL's parents house and Crystal and Paul were EXCELLENT hosts.  We've met them quite a few times now - they've stayed with us in London so we've become good friends and we get on so well.  Paul is retired but Crystal is still working until the New Year but she did have some days off over the holiday period.  Paul is an excellent cook - we were never hungry!

This is my Son and DIL's house.  It's not huge but it has everything they need and the in-laws worked so hard to get it ready for them before they moved over last summer.

We watched the kids decorate their tree which my son had cut down at a nearby tree farm - a new experience for him.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at the home of our DIL's Aunt and Uncle which involved an hours drive after the first real snowfall in their area.  We were so impressed at how clear the roads were kept.  The amount of snow they had overnight would have brought London to a standstill lol.

We were 17 adults and 5 children there but it was very relaxed and sooo much food.  And the desserts......yum!

We got to visit our DIL's grandparents and Nick went out a couple of time with Paul and gatecrashed his music events - they both love playing guitar.

We took our hosts our for a meal and our kids took us out for a meal.  We spent several evenings just at home playing cards and it was just lovely to spend time with the Grandkids.  We had one day with just Rory at home as he had no school and another day with just Vinny.  I also got to meet Rory from the school bus a couple of times.  The boys seem to have settled well into American life.

But of course all too soon it was time to travel home.  I'm grateful that our travels that involved an hours drive to a coach stop, a 2-3 hour coach ride to Boston airport, an overnight flight and then a train ride home all went smoothly.

All in all I'm grateful for:

Safe travels

Time with the grandkids and our Son and DIL

Wonderful hosts 

The chance to experience Thanksgiving in the US again (we were there 6 years ago)

That our son and his family have settled in Vermont with both of them having found jobs and the kids enjoying Grade 1 and Kindergarten.

Have a good weekend all.