A bit more Waffle - 9/2/26

Waffle Cartoon by Vecteezy

It's been a weekend full of grandchildren Ella and Nathan.  I had to pick Ella up from school on Friday as Nathan was off, then on Saturday my daughter popped in with Ella while Nathan was at a golf lesson. 

They all ended up here afterwards for lunch.

Yesterday they returned the favour by having us to a lovely Sunday roast dinner.  

Hubby did another school pick up today, dropping Nathan and our DIL to another golf lesson and then bringing Ella here while that was going on.  Ella is easy to entertain but she does have her own unique way of playing games lol.

Tonight I've been at the Foodbank taking in deliveries so now I'm off to bed.  I had good intentions of getting lots of chores done today but....tomorrow. (Maybe😉 - there's lots of Olympics to watch.)

Weekly Photos - 1st - 7th February 2026

Here we go:

Sunday - top photo - sorting out my TBR pile of books for the 52Book Club challenge.

Middle row:

Confirmation my passport application had been submitted correctly.

The outside temperature of 4℃ on Tuesday morning - it comes up on my dashboard with an audible sound that is the same as a fault sound so it's a bit alarming until you realise it's just a warning about possible ice.

Morning feeding time for the birds on Wednesday. (Spot the squirrel!)

Bottom row:

Thursday My current read which I finished in the early hours of this morning. (The Names by Florence Knapp.)

Friday my "baby" who turned 36 on Friday.

Saturday - my passport arrived!  Can't fault that turnaround time.

#SoCS - 7/2/26 - Chapter

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “chapter.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

To find out more about the Stream of Consciousness Saturday which is hosted by Linda go here.

I'm sure when I was young I would be pleading to read just one more chapter when it was time for bed.  

I've always been a reader.  I worked my way through a lot of Enid Blyton's books, then things like Little Women, What Katy Did, Black Beauty and so on.

As an adult I've read a lot of crime thrillers, including Agatha Christie, some classics, and a few fantasy and science fiction books.  (The Lord of the Rings, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)  I like to challenge myself so I'm doing the 52 book Club challenge again this year which involves reading 52 books over the year relating to a set of prompts.  Some prompts are simple - e.g. book title beginning with the letter O, some require more research e.g. Author's bio mentions their dog.

This is the third year of doing the challenge and it has pushed me to read books I wouldn't normally look at.  I've also been in 2 in person book clubs since last year and that has also widened my reading.  

I'm currently reading this:

which starts of with Cora going with her 9 year old daughter Maia to register the birth of her new born son.  What follows is the story told from 3 POVs depending on whether the baby becomes Bear, Julian or Gordon.  The book seems to be moving on in 7 year gaps but each new year has a chapter about each of the 3 individuals.  So of course you can't just read one more chapter when the time moves forward, you have to read three!

Good job I'm now an adult and can do as I please, and retired so I can have a lie in if I've read late into the night.

Friday's Fave Five - 6/2/26

Yes it's Friday again (how?) so time to look back on the blessings of the week and then link up at Living to Tell the Story with other like minded bloggers.  Susanne is the one who keeps us on our toes.  Thanks Susanne.

1)  A lazy weekend.  It was good to just be able to quietly relax at home with no commitments etc.

2)  I made it to my keep fit class on Tuesday despite waking up feeling really lazy and my back wasn't great.  Glad that I did because of course it helps with my back and I get to socialise with former work colleagues.

3)  A good book club session on Wednesday - this was with the afternoon group that meets at the local library.  There were only 4 of us but 2 were new members who both seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a good discussion on the book we'd read - The Power by Naomi Alderman.

4)  A Knit and Natter session on Wednesday evening.  I'm making good progress with the little bag for Ella.  I've done the main bag and cover.  I've started the strap so then it will just be the ears and horns to do.  Need to brush up on doing a magic loop for those.  It's a long time since I did any crochet apart from granny squares!

5) 

Happy birthday to our younger son.  He is such a great Dad to these two and he's settled well into life in the US - he even got a promotion in his job recently.  He probably gave us the most grief when they were growing up, particularly as a teen, but so proud of the man he is today.

And a bonus - I applied to renew my passport earlier this week - it was really easy to do online but they won't start on the process until they receive your old one which I posted off as instructed.  Well I heard today that they've already printed my new one and it will soon be on its way to me!

Have a good weekend all!  Wet and dreary here but I have more daffodils in the house and spring is coming!

Read then Write - 5/2/26

This is what I am currently reading:

This was gifted* to me at Christmas by my eldest son and his wife although I'm sure she will have been the one to pick it out.  I'm only a little way in but I'm already loving the writing.

It's been a bookish week.  On Sunday I decided to see which of the books on my TBR pile I could use for the 52Book Club Challenge.  I think I managed to pair about 14 books to the prompt list so I'll be reading those first.  

This is some of the TBR pile.  There are a few more in the house and then quite a selection in our garden room.  

The trouble is that now I'm part of two book clubs I'm reading books from the library so the TBR pile is not going down very fast (if at all - see above*) but I do enjoy reading.

We had a good meeting of the afternoon book club this week and we discussed The Power by Naomi Alderton which I reviewed here.  We all agreed that it was quite a clever book even though none of us really enjoyed it.  It turns out that none of us are big fans of dystopia. 

Hopefully our next read will be more fun:

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 4/2/26

It's Wednesday so that means it's time for the Hodgepodge which is hosted by From this Side of the Pond.  Thanks Joyce.

1. The Winter Olympics kick off on Friday, February 6th...on a scale of 1-10 how excited are you? (1= eh and 10=watching every event all day every day). What's your favourite Winter Olympic sporting event?

I'm probably a 5.  I know it's happening - BBC keep running ads for it - but I just had to google where it's happening lol.  (Milano Cortina) Thankfully there isn't a massive time difference (+ 1 hour) between here and where the games are being held which makes viewing easier, although with today's technology that isn't as much of a problem as it used to be.

I like watching the Ice Skating and we've often done well at Curling so that's one I might check out.  Ice Hockey isn't really my thing but I was just reading an article which suggests one of the rinks may not be completed by the start of the event plus:

"The rink in Milan, approved by the International Ice Hockey Federation, is shorter than the minimum requirement in the NHL, leading to suggestions there could be an increase in high-speed collisions. The quality of the ice has also been questioned.

The NHL said it was "pleased" with the test event at the arena in January, although that did not pass without incident. During the event there was a short delay while a small hole in the ice had to be repaired." (Taken from the BBC website.)

2. In other sporting news, the Superbowl (American football's championship game) will be played on Sunday, February 8th. So tell us...what's your superpower?

Oh gosh I wish I had one.  I guess I'm quite organised and logical and usually calm in a crisis but I really wish I could teleport.

3. Are you a romantic?

Not really (see above) but I do like to be surprised with flowers and reading romance books.  (In between the crime thrillers that are my favourite genre lol.)

4. Blue cheese-yay or nay? How about feta? If you said yes to one or both, what's a dish you like that calls for one of these?

NO AND NO! I do like plain cheese though - especially a really mature cheddar.

5. What's more important-doing what you love or loving what you do?

Ummm is this a trick question?  It seems not. (Thank you AI.)  In an ideal world we'd be doing what we love and following our passions.  Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world so I think it's more important to love what you do and find ways of getting the most out of what we're doing.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

One of the things I do is to keep our bird feeders topped up and today I'm loving watching the antics of the birds as they come and feed.  The parakeets are usually the first followed by the smaller birds but the pigeons hover on the ground waiting for anything that drops.  Until the squirrel appears.

Have a good day all.

In the News this Week - 3/2/26

Well I'm trying to keep my blogging up so I'm resurrecting this idea which I was doing 10 years ago!  The idea is to find stories under the headings of:

LOCAL

INTERNATIONAL

SPORT

ENTERTAINMENT and

MISCELLANEOUS

LOCALLY the big talk seems to be about the works that Thames Water are doing in our area.  This has led to various temporary traffic lights all over the place where the road is restricted to single file traffic.  There are also some roads that have been completely closed involving diversions.  These are often planned works - our Victorian infrastructure is gradually being updated but.....then add in works due to burst pipes here and we have chaos, particularly when some bus routes are on not one, but often 2 diversions.  It's produced some heated discussions on Facebook and there is no end to this in sight. Sigh!

One of the big INTERNATIONAL story that keeps rumbling on is all about the Jeffrey Epstein files and why no one is being prosecuted despite their clear associations with Epstein.  Prominent figures here in the UK are of course Andrew Mountbatten (the former Prince) and Peter Mandelson (former US Ambassador).   Although it seems clear that if any prosecution were to be brought against Andrew he would not be getting any support from the royal family.

In SPORT - well who knew that the production of cricket bats was such a complicated thing?  Not me for sure.  But the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) which seems to be the authority on all things cricket, will be amending Law 5.8, entitled "categories of bat" to allow bats that were previously illegal to be used.  As well as 72 other changes to the Laws.  And I thought it was just a game lol.  People do seem to take it very seriously though. 

One big ENTERTAINMENT event this week was of course The Grammys.  Obviously a star studded affair with all sorts of wonderful (?) outfits on display which you can read about here.  Many of the names were completely unknown to me including that of Olivia Dean (winner of the Best New Artist award) despite the fact that apparently she grew up in Highams Park where I live.

And for MISCELLANEOUS  I give you SKIPTON, apparently the happiest place to live in the UK.  Not in the news this week, the poll results were back in December but hey my blog, my rules.

As you can see I've stayed away from too much doom and gloom or anything contentious but I'm working my way back into this gradually.

And did you know that the BBC are about to air a four part dramatisation of William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"?  There's an article about it here but personally having read the book I'll be giving it a miss.

A bit of Waffle - 2/2/26

Waffle Cartoon PNGs by Vecteezy

Mmm that's how I like my waffles.  Sorry if I'm making you hungry.  I've just finished my dinner but no waffles in sight.  We had chicken with a pesto and leek sauce and small crunchy roast potatoes plus some brussel sprouts that needed to be used.  The meal was a HelloFresh meal which actually came with peas but we switched them.  That's the royal "we" of course because apart from unpacking the HelloFresh box when it arrived I did nothing to get the meal prepared.  Thank you Hubby!

I like to think I'm a fairly organised person but not when it comes to planning meals in advance, especially not for the whole week.  I commented on Kim's post today - we have 3 HelloFresh meals coming which will take care of Monday - Wednesday.  After that who knows?

I've actually had a fairly productive day - got quite a few chores done, including changing our bed and doing some laundry.  The big thing ticked off my to do list though was renewing my passport.  It was really easy to do online, the only annoying thing was having to get a new photo done.  I thought I might get away with using the photo I had done for my free travel pass but that was over 6 months ago and the photo has to be within the last month.

Thankfully our local supermarket has a photo booth that does a digital code to use online and I had a bit of shopping to do so I did that, got the photo done and the application is now complete - they just need my old passport to process it and that's also now in the post to them.

But why do passport photos always look so grim?  Mine looks like a mug shot.

I mean would it really be so bad if we smiled?

I'm off to pay some bills now and then I'm off the the Foodbank to take deliveries in.  Hopefully it won't be raining.

Weekly Photos 25th - 31st January 2026

Well this week the photos are all from the correct day lol.

Starting at the top and working left to right:

Sunday - Playdoh with Granddaughter Ella.  One of her favourite activities.

Monday - spotted this pair of Egyptian Geese on my walk around the lake

Tuesday - Hubby took a long nap in the afternoon so we ended up having an Indian takeaway.  I had lamb tikka masala with mushroom rice.  Yummy.

Wednesday - yes that is all bird and swan food!

Thursday - the daffodils are still doing well.

Friday - Spotted this sign while on my walk around the lake and yes we do have toads crossing the road there to get to the lake and there are volunteers who will watch out for them.

Saturday - I started this on Friday night and finished it on Saturday.  I gave it 3 stars.  It was a real page turner but getting my head around all the different characters was tricky at first and there wasn't a lot of depth to the book.

And just like that January is done.  I've managed to blog every day thanks mainly to Linda who hosted the Just Jot it January challenge.

I'm hopefully going to keep to the following routine going forward:

Sunday:        Weekly Photos

Monday:        A bit of waffle

Tuesday:      In the news/ Did you know?

Wednesday: Hodgepodge

Thursday:    What I'm reading this week

Friday:        Fridays Fave Five

Saturday:    Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Having the regulars such as photos/Hodgepodge/Fave Five/SoCS gives a good framework and I'm always reading so that was another easy one to slot in.  I'm also good at waffling but Mondays might be one you want to give a miss lol.  And Tuesdays?  Well at one point I did do a regular post about what was in the news that week but it fell by the wayside.  I'd like to start something up again but nothing too heavy - the news can definitely be depressing at times most of the time hence the Did you Know alternative.

We'll see how things go.  Don't hold me to account.

Plus it's only another couple of months before the A-Z challenge.  I have a plan for that which I actually started work on before Christmas which I need to get back to.  Thank goodness I'm retired!

#SoCS / JJJ - 31/1/26 - Scratch an Itch

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 31st and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “scratch an itch.” Use it any way you’d like. To join in the fun click HERE.

I was thinking about taking this prompt literally and wondering out loud how I would cope with scratching an itch if Hubby wasn't around.  You know the one, that point on your back that you just can't quite reach no matter how much you contort yourself. 

But of course scratching an itch is also about satisfying a craving.  I've been good this week and not given in to the temptation of chocolate that's in the house.  Mainly because I've started taking a collagen supplement that is chocolate flavoured and I'm mixing it with warm milk.  It actually tastes really nice but I'm just a bit wary of having a migraine induced chocolate overload so I haven't scratched that itch.

I also went to the library to return a book, one that I hadn't even read, and came away with no new books despite browsing the "New In" book shelf where several books caught my eye.  But I have enough books on my TBR pile to probably last me a year so I really don't need to scratch that itch either.

So now, is it just me, or does writing about this topic create an itch in that impossible to reach place?  Thankfully Hubby is in the house so I will get my itch scratched!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.

Fridays Fave Five - 30/1/26 (And JJJ - Cinnamon)

It's Friday and time to look back on the week and find the blessings.  Susanne keeps us on our toes and you can find her blog and all the details here.

It's been a fairly uneventful week here but there are always good things going on

1)  It's been incredibly wet over the month of January but I did manage a walk around the lake on Monday despite it being incredibly muddy so thankful for my wellies.

2)  Tuesday I did my keep fit class and then had coffee (well tea for me) with friends who also attend the class.  Always good to have a catch up.

3)  We spent time with grandchildren Nathan and Ella on Sunday.  Ella who is only 5 is getting much better at playing games but we also had a long spell playing with the Playdoh. (And the colours didn't get mixed!)

4)  Yesterday was Foodbank day and as always it was very busy.  We had two visits from schools.  The first one was a group of older students who are studying Charity and Money Management as part of their course so they were very interested to hear how the Foodbank operates etc.  Some of them brought donations and several wanted to know how they could volunteer.  We often have students who are doing their Duke of Edinburgh awards spending time at the Hub so there are opportunities for them.

The second visit was from a primary school group of Year 6 pupils who had done a week of collecting for the Foodbank and they brought in a huge donation of canned and dried goods which we're always grateful for.

We also had an unannounced visit from the Hygiene team from the local council and we retained our 5 star rating!  

It was such a busy morning that Sally (who usually works with me in the stockroom) and I didn't even have time for a cup of tea or in my case a chocolate croissant or in Sally's case a cinnamon pastry.

(Just slipping in today's Just Jot it January prompt there lol.)

5)  I've decided to give a collagen supplement a go.  The order was delivered earlier this week and thankfully the chocolate flavour I ordered is delicious.  So I'm thankful that it shouldn't be too difficult to fit it into the daily routine and that I didn't have to think about the cost either.

I also got a delivery of garden bird and swan/duck food this week.  Again I'm thankful that we're in a position to be able to do these things now that we're retired.

Now I'm off to try and get a walk in before the rain returns.

Have a good weekend all.

(The Just Jot it January prompt was from Tessa K who blogs  HERE.  The Just Jot it challenge is hosted by Linda HERE.)

JJJ - 29/1/26 - Prompt

Today is the 29th, and our prompt is brought to us by Cheryl. Thank you, Cheryl! You can find her blog HERE.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 29th, 2026 is “prompt.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

When I started this challenge I was trying to get my posts done promptly but, as has often been the case, I'm looking at the clock thinking I should be getting ready for bed, and cobbling together a post that follows the prompt albeit a bit loosely.

There.  I've managed to get the prompt in a couple of times so that will suffice for today.  Phew, only 2 more days to go.  But thankfully the challenge has seemed to make January go quicker.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 28/1/26

Wednesday means Hodgepodge time - thanks as always to Joyce for providing the questions.  We join in HERE.

1. I live in the south so we're pretty much only talking about the weather right now. Give us a weather report from where you live. Does the kind of weather you're having today affect your mood in some way?

Rain, rain and lots of mud where I walk so yes it does affect my mood if I can't get out as much.

2. Avocados, kale, cauliflower and cottage cheese have all had their time to shine. 2026 brings us the year of the cabbage. Is this a vegetable you like? If so, what are some of your favourite dishes that call for cabbage?

I do like cabbage.  I wouldn't say I love it though.  We don't have a specific regular dish that calls for cabbage but we will have it as a side vegetable with lots of things.

3. Was a Cabbage Patch Doll a part of your childhood? Or maybe your children's childhood? What's a toy trend from your childhood you remember wanting for your own?

Well I had to check out the dates for this and they came out several years before our daughter was born so they sort of passed us by a bit.

Toys from my childhood?  That's stretching the memory lol. Barbie and Sindy dolls.

4. Something you've spent a lot of time doing lately?

Blogging!  I've almost completed the Just Jot it January challenge so I've managed to blog every day so far this month.

5. Somehow it's the last week of January...sum up your month in just three sentences.

Rain, more rain.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Of course there was more than rain happening but the month does seem to have flown by.

JJJ - 27/1/26 - Labyrinth

Today’s prompt is courtesy of Cale. Thank you, Cale! You can find her blog HERE to read her posts and say hello. 

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 27th, 2026 is “labyrinth.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Just a jot tonight as it's getting late.  I sometimes feel that navigating life is like navigating a labyrinth.  So many dead ends and ways to get lost.

Start here

JJJ - 26/1/26 - Eavesdropper

Today’s prompt is brought to us by Angela. Thank you, Angela! You can find her blog HERE.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 26th, 2026 is “eavesdropper.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!  For all the info on the challenge go HERE.

I don't consider myself to be an eavesdropper but I do like to know what's going on and there's often a case of FOMO when I'm out with a group of people trying to keep up with all the various conversations.

I used to be better at that - marrying into a large family meant there was always more than one conversation going on around the dining table for example and I could keep track of the main parts of each one. Now I find it quite hard to listen to multiple conversations and keep track of them. Must be getting old.

Weekly Photos 18th -24th January 2026 (And JJJ - transmission.)

Starting from top left to right:

My purchase at the yarn sale - I spent Sunday checking out tapestry crochet on YouTube.

My current read

My clean kitchen floor - a job that was long overdue!

Bottom left to right:

Some of the games played when we had the grandkids here on Wednesday

Beds finally remade after our Christmas visitors in the spare room

Breakfast in bed on Friday

It's a WIP!  It's hard going because it's done on a 2.5 mm hook and it's taken me a while to get used to the "tapestry" technique.  Nowhere near perfect but I'm sure Ella will love it. 🤞 

Had to be a bit creative with the photos this week - I haven't quite got into the habit of taking one each day!

This transmission is brought to you courtesy of blogger and fulfils the Just Jot it January prompt of the day provided by Dar who blogs HERE 

#SoCS & JJJ - 24/1/26 - Take another look!

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 24th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “take another look.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!  (Go HERE for all the details.)

Right have you got yourself a cup of tea or coffee?  Then settle in to a comfy chair because I know I can waffle on about this prompt for a while.

I am good at finding things.  I am methodical in my searching.  (Must be my logical brain.)  And I'm persistent.  If I'm looking for something that I know HAS to be in my house I will keep looking until I find it.  Missing socks? Paperwork?  Keys?  I'm your person.

Hubby is not so great.  He will say he's looked when of course he hasn't really looked.

Case in point, on Thursday he was getting ready to go out for the evening and couldn't find his house keys.  He claimed to have looked everywhere to which my response was "You can't have looked everywhere because if you had you would have found them."

He muttered something about hoping he hadn't left them in the cafe he'd been to earlier but I was quick to point out that he'd let himself in when he got back so he must have had the keys then.  Had he checked he hadn't left them in the door?  Yes that has happened on more than one occasion but not this time.

I began to search but by this time he was getting into a panic.  He was going to miss his bus.  We live right opposite the bus stop and the wonderful TFL app lets us know when a bus will turn up.  Or not.  It sometimes has a blip but generally it's pretty good.  Now bearing in mind that we live in London and the bus service is fairly regular there would be another bus.  It wasn't going to be the last bus of the day like in country places where they only come once an hour and stop as soon as it gets dark!

Daughter who was here managed to convince him to take the spare key so he could leave.

I stopped searching.  I knew they'd turn up somewhere.  Probably in one of his pockets.  He does like clothes that have lots of pockets - great for losing your phone!  The other day he was searching for his phone and he had on a cycling top that had a pocket on the back.  Perfect size for a phone.  Even when I was ringing his phone he didn't realise where it was at first.  He blamed that on not have his hearing aids in at the time.

Yes that's another thing I have to contend with.   If I'm not telling him to take another look I'm telling him to "put your ears in".   I wrote earlier in the week about having more patience since I've got older but dealing with Hubby sometimes requires the patience of a saint.

Of course I love him to bits and I did find his keys eventually - on our bed.  He'd napped earlier in the day and obviously put his keys down at some point and then covered them with the top sheet.  But of course he'd looked there.  Good thing I took another look!

The missing article.  Not that small a thing!

Friday's Fave Five - 23/1/26 (and JJJ - Altruism)

It's Friday so time to look back on the week to find the good things and then share them HERE on Susanne's blog.  Thanks for the weekly reminder Susanne.

1.  Well firstly I'm thankful that we don't have winter weather like Susanne has - lots of snow and cold temperatures.  It's been a very wet week here but temperatures have been okay.  Quite chilly, but hey it's still winter and we have warm clothes, can afford to keep the heating on so we're ok.

2.  YouTube!  I posted earlier in the week about getting this kit at the yarn sale I went to last week.

This was beyond my crochet expertise - I've done lots of Granny Squares and lacy doilies but I've never done tapestry crochet.  Thankfully I found a great tutorial on YouTube and I've made a start and it seems to be going ok so far.

3.  Hubby had a follow up appointment this week for his eyes and he's been discharged from the hospital.  They advised having an annual check up at his optician (who spotted the problem in the first instance) but no more visits to the hospital/clinic required.

4.  Thankful that my daughter and her family are close to us so that when help is needed we can be there for them.  Our DIL wasn't feeling great on Wednesday so I was able to collect Nathan and Ella from school and have them here until after they'd eaten.  I'm also thankful that both my sons have good in-laws nearby too.  

5.  Fitting in my Just Jot it January challenge word of the day here which is "Altruism".  I'm glad that I can help out at the Foodbank each week and that so many other volunteers do too.  It's hard work sometime, particularly on the Thursday sessions - I get home and often just sit (might even catch a nap lol) but knowing we're helping so many people is very satisfying.

And a bonus mention for my library!  One of the prompts for the reading challenge I'm doing is a book which uses "Deus ex Machina" which, for those of you like me had no clue is:

a plot device in which a seemingly unsolvable problem is abruptly solved by an unexpected and unlikely event.

Thankfully the challenge has a great guide on what the prompts mean and also a list of books which work for a particular prompt.  Apparently this book works for Deus ex Machina

and it was shown as available at my library so I went and checked it out today.  I can't start it yet as I have this one to finish first:

Have a good weekend all.

JJJ - 22/1/26 - Impatience

Today’s prompt is brought to us by Dharkanein. Thank you, Dharkanein! You can find Dharkanein's blog HERE 

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 22nd, 2026 is “impatience.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

To visit our Just Jot it January's host Linda go HERE.

Well I hope that as I've got older I've learned to curb my impatience.

I'm not holding my breath though.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 21/1/26

Joyce provides the questions, we provide the answers and the link up is here. Thanks Joyce.

1. Ice skating, skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, playing in the snow, or a snowy walk...which winter activity do you choose? Have you done any of these activities so far this winter?  

Well my knees wouldn't cope with skating or skiing, I'm not a fan of sledding and I don't possess snow shoes so that really only leaves a snowy walk which I have done recently when we had a dusting of snow.  Thankfully it didn't last as the UK tends to grind to a halt when it snows.  Although the cold spell has contributed to a lot of burst water pipes locally and the repair works for those has caused total chaos and lots of bus diversions.

Of course my grandsons are loving the snow which is a good thing as they have snow for a long time up in Vermont.  My son's not loving it as much lol.

2. Everyone is posting pictures from ten years ago on their social media sites so let's jump on the bandwagon too. Share one photo and one thought to go with said photo from the year 2016. And maybe everyone isn't doing this, but many are and we're going to be part of the fun. 

Celebrating our eldest son's wedding.  

3. What's a trend you hope disappears in this new year?

I'm drawing a blank on this one.  Maybe the trend that to be successful you have to be an influencer?

4. 'They' say there's a day for everything and January 21st proves it. National Granola Bar Day. Do you like granola bars? How about just regular granola? Do you like bars of other kinds? 

I'm not a lover of granola bars but I will eat them, but not regular granola thank you.  Chocolate bars.  Any kind of chocolate bars but no nuts thank you.

5.  A frozen lake, a trickling stream, a raging river, or a deep well...which one describes something about your life right now? Elaborate as much or as little as you like. 

I think I'm a trickling stream at the moment.  I'm getting on with things, slowly.  I could do with the power of a raging river from time to time lol.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Our knitting group did a yarn sale last weekend and I couldn't resist picking this up:

It's a kit to make a crochet bag depicting a cow.  It will be a challenge as I've never done tapestry crochet before but I'm sure granddaughter Ella will love it.