Friday's Fave Five - 10/10/25

Thanks to Susanne as always for reminding us to stop and count our blessings each Friday.  You can find out more here.

1)  A visit from our daughter and her family last Saturday.  We made dinner for them although it wasn't a long visit - both of the grandchildren had things on earlier in the day but it was nice having even a brief visit with them.

2)  Dry weather.  It's been much chillier (our heating has been on a few times this week) but we were able to get out for a couple of walks and haven't yet needed wet weather shoes.

3)  A meet up with the daytime book club on Wednesday.  There were only 4 of us but we had a good discussion about the book we'd been reading (A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier) and we've picked our next book.

4)  Our flights for our trip to Vermont at Thanksgiving are booked!  Thankful that we are in the position financially to be able to make these trips.

5)  A successful shopping trip today - I braved Westfield in Stratford which is a big shopping/entertainments venue next to the 2012 Olympic Park.  Can't believe it's 13 years since that event.  The area has continued to be developed since the Olympics with a lot of building work still ongoing but the main stadium remains (now used by West Ham United football club), plus the Velodrome and the Swimming centre and the parkland.  It's a busy area but not easy to get to from here on public transport so it means a drive and navigating the car parks.  I make a point of taking a picture of the car park location and remembering where I come out into the shopping area so I can find my car when I'm done!

My son and his family arrived this evening from Nottingham and they will be here until early Sunday afternoon.

Have a good weekend all.

Getting back in the swing of things....7/10/25

I'm trying to be more present here but I'm also trying to get back into the routine of walking - the summer, despite being lovely with various trips and visits, has played havoc with my schedule.

Anyway I managed to walk on Sunday on my own and yesterday with Hubby.  Sunday was the first time I'd been around the lake for a while so although I'd read about the fire at the boat house I hadn't seen the aftermath in person.

The fire happened on 24th September and although the fire brigade responded quickly the building was gutted.

You can see in the bottom photo where the area in front of the boat house at the bottom of the lake has been fenced off.  Hopefully it won't remain fenced off for long as a lot of the ducks, coots etc come there to be fed.  I did actually see two people cross the fencing to the right (not shown in my picture) with bags of bird food.  The fencing has fallen down so it's easy to get past it.

Yesterday Hubby and I did what I call the "golf course loop" and we both overdressed - it was really quite warm thanks to the sun. 

Today it's been mostly grey and cloudy but no rain.  I made it to my Keep Fit class and then coffee with friends.  It won't be the highest step count of the week but I do at least feel I've moved!

Hubby rushed back from his exercise class today as he thought he had a blood test booked for today only to find the appointment is tomorrow.  He was not best pleased!

More on books! - 5/10/25

I only managed to finish 2 books in September:

The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley and

Nobody Told Me - by Hollie McNeish.

I normally love a family sage that contains a mystery and is set in different locations and at different times.  Lucinda Riley is usually a good writer of such a saga.

The Midnight Rose follows Anahita’s early life in India and then her time in England where she was educated as the companion of an Indian Princess.  It followed her subsequent move into nursing, during WW1 and her love for Donald, the Lord of Astbury Hall.  Donald’s Mother is a scheming busybody and consequently Donald marries a rich American heiress and Anahita returns to India.

I was enjoying the book but then there is a subject introduced into the book that made no sense to me at all.  It seemed totally unnecessary and wasn’t handled very well at all.

There was also another event mentioned in the epilogue that didn’t ring true to me either.

The story of Anahita and Donald was enough but in trying to add another layer to it I feel Riley went too far.

Nobody Told Me is a very different book but I loved it.

Hollie kept a diary from the start of her pregnancy until her "Little One" reached the age of 3.  But more than just a diary, it's also full of poems.  She really captures the ups and downs of parenthood and manages to convey in words so many of the trials and tribulations and the joys of becoming a Mother.  Great poems but her prose is beautiful too. 

I also started another book in September but I didn't finish it until yesterday:

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Violet is 38, she is also single having lost her fiancé in WW1.  This books charts her life as she attempts to make a new start in Winchester, away from her domineering Mother.  Life is not easy for her as “a surplus woman” after the war but Violet is determined. 

She signs up for the embroidery group that are making kneelers and cushions for the Cathedral and she also meets Arthur, a bell ringer.  They become friends despite Arthur being married.

I must admit I found this book very slow. It was interesting to learn about the embroidery processes and the details about the Cathedral are clearly well researched. But Violet is a complex character and not particularly endearing.

The book is a good study of how hard it was for a single woman to make her way in the world in the time between the two world wars and also the difficulties of family relationships. But the book did not grab me. The blurb on the book says “when whispers of another world war surface, she must live with a secret that could change everything….” So misleading. I was waiting for something earth shattering to happen but the secret was not dramatic and although it did result in change for Violet and others, it was small.

There was also one part of the storyline that I felt totally unnecessary.

I probably would have only give it 2* were it not for the detailed descriptions of both the embroidery projects and Winchester Cathedral.

It will be interesting to hear what the other members of the book group think of it as it was the afternoon library book club choice.  We're meeting on Wednesday to discuss it.

As always you can see all the books I've read/want to read/reviews etc on my Goodreads page here View all my reviews 

Friday's Fave Five - 3/10/25

Each week Susanne reminds us to look back on the week and find the blessings/things we're grateful for.  You can find out more here.

1) I missed last week because I was here:

Dunkerque!

We spent the weekend at Hubby's sister & brother in law's house with 2 of his other sisters, one with her husband, plus their 2 daughters, one partner and 3 children.  One of the French nephews was also home for the weekend. 

We had a lovely time and although we've been to visit them many times I've never made a point of visiting the memorial for the battle of Dunkerque during WW2.

 

Quite hard imagining my Dad being on that beach waiting to be rescued.  But thankfully he was otherwise I wouldn't be here!

Still can't take a decent selfie though lol.

The picture below is (L-R) Henri (French Nephew) Jean Marie (French BIL) Voldi (BIL) and Ellis who is Voldi's daughter Natalie's partner.  Ellis is so helpful to Voldi and his wife Clare who are both blind.  He and Voldi made their way to Dunkerque on Voldi's tandem.  They cycled from Voldi's home to Stratford International Station and then got a train to Dover.  They then made their way to the ferry port and crossed to Calais.  Henri and Jean Marie met them there and guided them on to Dunkerque.

Anyway we had a lovely weekend, Anne Marie (Hubby's sister) is a great hostess.

Other good things this week:

2)  I got my flu jab on Wednesday.  My arm has been a bit tender but other than that it's all good.  I definitely don't want to get flu!

3)  It was Knit and Natter time on Wednesday evening and despite all the nattering I think we all made a little bit of progress on our WIPs.  This is mine:

It was actually something my daughter started (she made the granny squares) and now I'm trying to make it into a blanket.

4)  There seems to be a glut of carrots at the moment - we had so many at the foodbank that volunteers were encouraged to take some so I made carrot and coriander soup today.

It was delicious and there is a little left for tomorrow and a good sized portion in the freezer.

5.  Today was a productive day.  I was up and ready for the day reasonably early - didn't want to greet the person delivering our shopping in my nightwear lol.  Apart from making the soup I managed to get all the laundry done and hoovered and cleaned all the upstairs floors.  Being retired it's very easy some days to fritter away the day so I'm glad to have a day where I can look back and think I've achieved something.  I also managed to do a bit of tidying up in the front garden during the week - the Christmas tree that came with the house got a good trim.  Hopefully I haven't cut it back too much but it seems pretty healthy.

I'm at the Foodbank in the morning and then we have my daughter and her family coming for dinner.  It will be nice to see the Grandkids as we haven't seen them much recently.

Have a good weekend all.

And a bonus blessing - our hosts for last weekend have just become grandparents.  Their youngest son and his wife are now the proud parents of baby Oscar.

Perks of being a volunteer - 2/10/25

I was at the Foodbank today as usual for a Thursday.

It was a busy morning - we had training first thing about looking after our own wellbeing which was interesting and useful.  Then we had our usual session.  There seems to be a glut of carrots at the moment.  The deliveries we've had from a local supplier for the last few weeks have contained LOTS of carrots.  More than we can give out even.  

We do liaise with other providers when we have this issue and there is another group that goes to venues on Friday and Saturday who will come and collect excess food from us.

However, as volunteers, we are also allowed to take surplus items home too.  Today I have come home with carrots (we still have loads to give out on Tuesday), a cauliflower and a couple of bread items.

Tomorrow I hope to be making soup!  And yes I've checked what I need and added a few missing things onto my shopping order which is coming in the morning.  Hopefully I'll be all set.

Although I might get started on one of these - bargains picked up on a Facebook local site.

Or try and finish assembling Daughter's granny squares into a blanket.  I've nearly got them all sewn together but then it will need an edging and all the ends will need weaving in.

And then there is still a book to be finished for the daytime book club......

I'm so glad to be retired!

Note to self - 1/10/25

Note to self - when planning to use up very ripe bananas by making Banana Bread, make sure you have all the other necessary ingredients.

Today I decided I had to make use of the over ripe bananas I had by making Banana Bread but .....

I only had ginger - no cinnamon.

I didn't have enough butter so I supplemented what I had with butter spread.

It turned out ok though.

Also, when going to the library to return a book try to avoid the "New Books" shelf when you already have books out on loan and a pile of books TBR.  Yes I came home with another book to read but it does tick a 52 book club prompt as it was published in 2025.  (Well the paperback version was so that's good enough for me.)

No picture of the Banana Bread - some has already been eaten and some went home with my daughter for her family.

The book is this one: