Wednesday Hodgepodge - 4/11/26

Joyce provides the questions each week, we come up with our answers and then we link up here.

1. Our  November Hodgepodges always include a question related to gratitude. What is one small thing you're grateful for today? 

My library.  We had our book group meeting there today.

2. Chrysanthemums-pansies-burning bush-ornamental cabbage-camellias...your favourite in an autumn garden? Would we find any of these in your yard/garden this year? 

Chrysanthemums would be my favourite but there's nothing blooming in my garden right now.

3. If you could clear out or organize one physical space or mental habit before the year ends, what would it be?

I need to sort out some space in my spare bedrooms for when we host family at Christmas so it will need to be done by mid December.  The beds and rooms are ok but I need to free up some cupboard/drawer space for guests.

4. Brussel sprouts...love 'em or no thank you? If you said love 'em how do you like them prepared? 

I don't love them but I do eat them.  Roasted would be my preference.

5. It's reassuring to know that my Christmas guests are just my kids and grandkids so nothing has to be perfect.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It's turning out to be a busy week!

Friday's Fave Fives - 31/10/26

Susanne reminds us every Friday to look back on our week and find the things we're grateful for.  The link up is here.  Thank you Susanne.

1)  Well I'm a day late doing this but one of the things I'm grateful for is that, as I've got older and particularly now I'm retired,  I don't fret as much* about everything being perfect and having to meet deadlines.  I can look back on a day and think about what I did achieve rather than get stressed by what might still be on my to do list.

* I'm not saying I don't fret at all but I certainly do it less lol.

2)  Grateful to have got a few "admin" type jobs done this week including sorting out our kitchen window.  The double glazed unit has failed - it looks like a small creature has dipped their feet in white paint and walked across it - between the two panes of glass.  I contacted the company this week and after an exchange of e-mails and photos we have a date in November for them to come and replace it.  The windows were installed after we moved here so they are still under guarantee.

3)  1:1 time with grandchildren Nathan and Ella.  It's half-term break so we had Nathan here on Monday and then Ella on Wednesday.  It's nice to have that time with them and of course it makes life easier for their Mummies too.

4)  More knitting time.  I've tried to do a little bit each day although I failed to get to my Knit and Natter group on Wednesday.  I walked down and was almost at the venue when I realised I'd picked up a bag containing shopping bags rather than the bag containing my knitting.  I was so cross with myself but by the time I got home again I decided it wasn't worth going back so I did some knitting at home instead with the TV for company!

5)  Hubby clearing the leaves from the front garden.  They had really piled up after the storms we had last week so I was glad that he cleared them.  We still need to clear some from the back garden but there are still a lot of leaves on the two trees in front of the house.  Hubby's theory is that we should wait until all the leaves are off the trees and then do one big clear up.  I'm not sure we would be able to get to our front door if we did that!  Not to mention that they wouldn't all fit in the bin.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend.  We have our Nottingham son and his family here, hence the late post.

Read then Write - 29/10/26

I only managed to finish one book this week but it was quite long:

The Last Summer by Karen Swan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wild-spirited Effie Gillies has lived all her life on the small island of St Kilda but when Lord Sholto, heir to the Earl of Dumfries, visits, the attraction between them is instant. For one glorious week she guides the handsome young visitor around the isle, falling in love for the first time – until a storm hits and her world falls apart.

Three months later, St Kilda falls silent as the islanders are evacuated for a better life on the mainland. With her friends and family scattered, Effie is surprised to be offered a position working on the Earl’s estate. Sholto is back in her life but their differences now seem insurmountable, even as the simmering tension between them grows. And when a shocking discovery is made back on St Kilda, all her dreams for this bright new life are threatened by the dark secrets Effie and her friends thought they had left behind.

I did enjoy this book but I'd skimmed over the blurb on the back and didn't realise it was the first in a series until I got to the end which has a big cliff hanger! So of course I will now have to try and read the rest of the series.  At some point, maybe.

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I've now moved on to this one:

This is proving to be quite an easy read which is good as I have meetings for both of the Book Clubs I'm in next week which will mean 2 more books to read!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 28/10/26

Our host for the Hodgepodge is Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond.  Why not pop over and join in the fun?

1. What most recently gave you goose bumps?

Nothing springs to mind!

2. What does Halloween look like in your home and/or neighborhood these days? Do you participate?

Halloween has become much more of a thing here in the UK but with no young children I don't usually participate.  This year though two of our grandsons will be here so I have got some pumpkin lights and a pumpkin garland in my living room and an orange candle.  They're going to a halloween party in the afternoon with their cousins, (my daughter's children).  Hopefully that will keep them happy.  We're a little bit out from our town centre so we don't usually see any trick or treat children.

3. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia...your favorite seed on the list? What's something you like to make/eat that calls for one of these seeds in the recipe?

I am not a fan of seeds and I don't make anything that contains them. (I don't actually do much cooking and if I make cakes I'm more likely to put fruit (eg banana) or vegetables (eg carrots) in them.

4. What's the most (or one of the most) 'fall photos' you've ever taken? Share it here. Just one.

It probably doesn't look very fall (the pumpkins were edited out) but it's definitely a good reminder of a family day out at a pumpkin farm.  This was back in 2018 when there were only 3 grandchildren.  The babies were all wearing matching pumpkin vests.  I thought I'd got a photo of all of us together but can't seem to find it!  It was a lovely family day out as all the parents of the grandkids and my hubby were there too.

5. Somehow we're rolling in to November next week. If your October were a chapter in a book, what would the title of this chapter be?

Changing Times.

(Not being very original but our clocks went back last weekend so it seemed apt.)

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Should I be worried?  I rushed out to get to my Knit and Natter group this evening and it was only as I approached the venue that I realised I'd picked up the wrong bag.  Not a bit of knitting with me at all.  I headed home feeling very cross with myself.

Waffling on - 26/10/26

Well it was a weekend of two halves really.  

On Saturday I had a lovely quiet day.  Nick was off out meeting up with his cousin and family, as well as some of his siblings to check out some family history.  Peter (Nick's cousin) has been doing a lot of research into their Great Grandfather who was born in Germany and then came to England.  They visited a couple of the areas where he had lived and Peter filled them in on all the details he's been able to gather so far.

Nick being out meant I had the house to myself all day and into the evening which was lovely.  I don't mind my own company and I was able to watch some TV, read, knit and generally please myself.  It did mean I had to cook my own dinner but a ready meal of chicken with rice and mushrooms took care of that.

Sunday was busier and we went for dinner in the afternoon to our daughter and family's home.  Much noisier with the two grandchildren especially as they are getting excited about halloween.  They had been pumpkin picking on the Saturday.

Today we had Grandson Nathan here as Ella was having a playdate with some of her friends at their house and on Wednesday we will have Ella when Nathan has his friends at the house.  It's half term break this week.

We played a lot of "Pass the Pandas" amongst other things so managed to avoid him spending too much time on his iPad.

The weather has been horrible all weekend but I think the worst of the storms have passed now although it was still wet this evening. And of course the clocks went back so now it is getting dark earlier. 

This evening I've been to the local supermarket to collect the donations from the crates there and then I did my usual stint at the Foodbank sorting out collections from other Tesco branches.  Thankfully everyone got back to us fairly quickly this evening so it wasn't too late when we locked up and left for home.

I'm just having a bit of winding down time now before heading off to bed.

Have a good week all.

Shots on Sunday - 25/10/26

Only 2 pictures this week: (Warning - if you don't like spiders feel free to skip this post.)

I posted about this on Friday - a set of jigsaws I got through a local Facebook group for the bargain price of £8.  Something to keep me occupied now we're heading into winter and shorter days - our clocks changed last night.  An extra hour in bed was lovely but I do hate that it will now get dark so much earlier in the day.

And this might be Elsie:

 (It is actually only one spider - it was on the edge of the shower door so I managed to photograph it reflected as if there were two.)

I wrote about Elsie here.  She was last seen in my spare bedroom by my son when he was staying here.  So she may or may not exist.

This spider definitely exists (at least I think it still does) but as it was in the downstairs bathroom it's unlikely to be Elsie.  My son's description suggested Elsie was bigger than this but then he doesn't like spiders so he was probably exaggerating.

Anyway this one is now outside the house.  I caught it and tipped it out the bathroom window.  Of course it may have made its way back inside.  Or it may be dead.  I don't know or care really.  I just didn't want it joining me in the shower!

Friday's Fave Five 23/10/26

Well we are feeling the force of Storm Austen here today and Storm Boelo is set to hit on Saturday.  Thankfully we are only under a yellow warning here in London of strong winds and heavy rain but some parts of the country have seen disruptions for travel etc and in Brighton, (where one of Nick's sisters has a house) part of the derelict pier was washed away into the sea. (Details here.) Storm Boelo will also mainly affect northern parts of the UK so hopefully we will be ok.  It is a bit disconcerting when your Prime Minister starts telling us all we should have a 3 day supply of water, food etc in our homes ready for any disaster.

Thankfully it's not all doom and gloom here and Susanne reminds us each week to find the good things from our week and then we link up here.  Thanks Susanne.

1)  Well firstly I'm thankful for a safe and warm home when the weather is like this.  It's nice to be able to settle into a comfy chair with a cup of tea, a cozy blanket and either a book to read, knitting to do or TV to watch.

2)  Of course I could also do a jigsaw.  I managed to pick up 4 1000 piece jigsaws yesterday for £8 after spotting them on a Facebook local group and the person selling them was just around the corner from me.  Always nice to get a bargain.

3)  Family time this week - we babysat grandchildren Nathan & Ella on Saturday and then we had them and their Mummies here for dinner on Tuesday.  It was parents evening at their school and both of them got good reports from their teachers.  

4)  Getting out and about.  Nick and I went out for Sunday lunch last weekend which was nice.  Then on Wednesday I had a Knit and Natter group meet up which was nice.  I have a new project started. And today, despite the weather, a group of us met up for lunch at a local restaurant.  This was a group started by a local organiser for people who wanted to meet up for coffee/lunch in the local area.  We signed up via the library.  There are a few members that are also part of the Evening Book club plus some others and it's nice to meet up with different people and have a good chat.  We're planning a Christmas meal next.

5)  Being retired.  Not having to get up at a set time.  Being (mainly) able to enjoy my hobbies when I want.  Going to bed when I want.  Staying healthy.  Things I probably take for granted and shouldn't.  So many other things too and it's good to stop and think about all the blessings I enjoy.  We have been part of a child sponsorship scheme for many years now and this week we were given a new child to sponsor who lives in Malawi.  Reading about his community and their struggles reminds me of how fortunate I am.  

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 22/10/26

Well I decided to give up on The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy as it was not making me happy at all.  I'm not sure many from the Book Club will have read it when we next meet.

That freed me up to read a couple of +books of my own choice.

Firstly I read this one:

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lydia imagines her new job running a senior citizens' social club three afternoons a week will involve drinking tea while playing gentle games of cards, listening to Beatles tracks and reminiscing about food rationing and the Blitz. She does not expect to find a failed actor addicted to shoplifting, a woman who's been hiding from a mysterious and very chequered past, and a prolific yarn-bomber. It turns out that their ideas about how to spend their afternoons are very different. After a tragic accident means the council threatens to sell the community centre where they meet, the social club, aided by their friends in the nursery next door and a geriatric orphaned mongrel, set out to save it. They might not be able to save the hall, but they might just save each other - if their pasts don't catch up with them first.

Loved this one. It's very contemporary and very real. I found myself turning page after page. (Helped by having ordered a large print version from the library!)

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While I was in the library picking that one up I found they had the second book in the Nicci French series featuring DCI Maud O'Connor.  Well of course I had to take that one home too.

The Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she’ll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix—who has been a saint through her recent troubles—move into a new flat for a fresh start.

Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She’s doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbors, and even the police insist it’s a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren’t adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head?

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor has misgivings about her colleagues’ investigation of Kira’s death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it’s like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn’t so quick to discount Nancy’s claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light.

Another good page turner from Nicci French featuring DCI Maud O'Connor. Nancy North and her partner Felix have no sooner moved into a new flat in a new area when one of the other tenants, Kira Mullan, is found hanging in her flat. The verdict seems to be suicide. But after the chance encounter Nancy had with Kira on the day she died, Nancy is not so sure. The problem is Nancy is recovering from a breakdown and no one believes her. The more she tries to convince people that Kira's death needs to be investigated the more her partner and neighbours seem to conspire against her. There are some disturbing aspects to the book relating to Nancy's mental health and Maud does not really feature until part three of the book but that proves to be a turning point. I read this in 2 days because I wanted to see how it would end and I wasn't disappointed.

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Wednesday Hodgepodge - 21/10/26

Joyce provides the questions for this each week.  We think up our answers and then the link up is here.  Why not join the fun

1. This week's Hodgepodge lands on 'Back To The Future Day'. October 21, 2015 was the date the movie characters (Marty McFly, Doc, and Jennifer Parker) travelled to in the future in the 1989 film Back To The Future Part 2.

Did you see the movie? Tell us a something about what was happening in your life in the fall of 2015.

I vaguely remember seeing the movie.  Back in 2015 I was still getting used to not being at work and preparing for this:

L - R Elizabeth, (son Michael's wife) Matthew (our son), his wife Amy, Nick, Rebecca (our daughter) her wife Vicky, Me, Maureen (my MIL, RIP) and Michael.

Our daughter's wedding.  They'll celebrate 11 years on Sunday.

2. Which -ber month is your favourite? (September, October, November, December). Explain why.

September is probably my favourite - it's often still warm like summer and the days are still fairly long.  I don't like it when the clocks go back and we have such short days and the weather makes it harder to get out of the house.

3. Red, yellow, orange, bronze...your favourite fall colour to wear? To eat? To see in nature?

Well of those colours I'm more likely to wear red but not very often.  I do love watching the leaves change through all those colours.  Not sure about a favourite food in those colours.

4. What do you miss most about being 20?

Not a lot although my Dad was still alive then - he died when I was 22.  Probably not having responsibilities.  

5. We're roughly three quarters of the way through the year. What's one goal, habit, or mindset you want to purposely carry into the final weeks of the year? Elaborate.

Less procrastination.  I have several things that make me get up at a reasonable time in the mornings, (foodbank, keep fit etc.)  but on the days when there's nothing in the diary I can find myself wasting time on unproductive things.  I need to start getting up at the same time each day, before the dark mornings are here when it will be even harder.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I don't usually do anything about Halloween but my Nottingham Grandsons will be here for it this year so I need to up my game!  I might even have to get some pumpkins.

Waffling on - 20/10/26

Not sure where the last few days have gone.

Saturday was quite busy - I was at the Foodbank in the morning and then in the evening we babysat our grandchildren Nathan and Ella.  Their Mummies were off out for a meal to celebrate their wedding anniversary which is next week.

We watched Strictly Come Dancing and the kids had a great time trying to copy the dance routines.  They were very excitable and very noisy but they were doing something together and having fun so I left them to it.  Hubby wasn't so impressed - he finds the noise levels hard to cope with but at least he can take his hearing aids out to turn it down lol.

I did manage to get them to sit for a bit before the end and calm down a little which I think helped with bedtime.  Ella can often chat for ages before going to sleep but I think all the dancing had tired her out so it didn't take too long for her to settle and drop off.

Nathan was still awake when the Mummies got back but I don't think he would have been awake for much longer.  At least I hope not!

Sunday was a fairly quiet day but we went out for Sunday lunch for a change.  I blogged about that here.

Yesterday I caught up on a lot of chores at home before we picked the grandkids up from school and dropped them home.

After dinner I went and picked up the foodbank donations from our local supermarket and then did my usual session at the foodbank taking in deliveries from other collectors.  Thankfully everyone got back to the Hub fairly quickly and we didn't have too much to sort out so I was home by 10 pm.  

Today has been more babysitting - the grandchildren both had parents evening at school so we picked them up at the usual time and brought them back here.  We then made dinner for all of us including the Mummies when they got back from seeing the teachers.  We just thought it would make their life a little easier if dinner was taken care of as they didn't get back until just after 6 pm.  All they had to do then was take the kids home and put them to bed.  Hubby actually cooked the dinner (bolognese sauce with pasta) and I'd made banana bread earlier in the day which we had for dessert with custard.

Tomorrow should be a quieter day!

Shots on Sunday - 18/10/26

Well this week I have taken even less photos than last week!  

I did take the obligatory screen shots when I was organising the pick ups for the supermarket donations on Wednesday which are incredibly boring.  I also took a photo of the pub quiz in the newspaper yesterday (and the answers) because we do that as a family but I won't put that on here because it's bound to be subject to copyright.  Oops.

Anyway we were out and about today so I snapped these:

This is the site of the former cinema that I've written about before.  Work was delayed during the summer because of the heat but now they have poured the concrete in for the foundations and this crane has appeared on site so hopefully we will begin to see progress on its transformation - it's going to be a new 2 screen cinema with flats behind.  

This was my Sunday lunch at one of the pubs near us - we decided to eat out for a change and give Hubby a break from cooking.

My dessert, there's a chocolate brownie under all that chocolate sauce and ice cream!

Hubby's sticky toffee pudding.The puddings were great but the meal was probably just on the right side of ok.  Definitely nothing special.  But it was nice not to have to cook (or wash up) at home and although it was chilly we avoided any rain.

Trouble is, when you've been trying to cut down on your portion size and don't usually have desserts at home, when we eat out now I end up feeling over full.  

We walked up to the pub and we probably should have walked home too to work off some of the calories but we compromised by walking half way and then getting the bus!

And, as always, we commented that we should do this more often!

#SoCS - 17/10/26 - Pitch

Linda provides the prompts for this and today's link up is here.

Your prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “pitch.” Use it as a noun, use it as a verb, use it way you’d like. Have fun!

Back in September our community held a "Picnic in the Park".  This is an annual event and will include a variety of attractions plus various local organisations, charities etc will have a space to pitch their stall in our local park.

The food bank that I volunteer at has a stall each year.  I volunteered to help transport tables, gazebo, goods etc to the pitch in the morning and help set up and then to do the packing up at the end of the day.  Consequently I was there for most of the day.  

I did take a break around lunch time to go home, have something to eat and a sit down before heading back.

However, at just after 3 pm Transport for London seemed to think I had taken my car through one of the tunnels under the river Thames.  I haven't yet mastered the ability to be in two places at once, a skill that would be very useful at times.

Anyway, I have an account set up with them to automatically pay the fee should I use either tunnel and as the fee is quite small, and I rarely use the tunnels, I don't always check the monthly statement I get.  This month I did check it and realised their error.  Naturally I emailed them to advise them of this.

A week later I got a reply saying that "having reviewed the evidence" they agreed it was a mistake and I would be refunded.  Of course the sensible thing to do would be to refund my account.  But apparently they can't do that.  Oh no.  They said they would send me a cheque!

Who uses cheques these days? I certainly don't.  Can't remember the last time I wrote one.  Anyway the cheque duly arrived in the grand sum of £1.50.  I'd love to know how much it actually cost to carry out this procedure, not to mention the postage.  A costly error on their part and they didn't answer my question of whether they had misread another car's registration plate or if my registration plate was actually on a different car, i.e. it had been cloned.  Hopefully not but I will be checking these statements more carefully in future just in case.

Thankfully I can pay the cheque into my bank via the banking app which I've already done.  It's a bit fiddly but I don't even know where my nearest bank branch is anymore to deposit it in person.  So many of them have been closed.  I know I could probably also do it at an ATM machine but that would require remembering my PIN.  

Does anyone else have trouble remembering PIN numbers now that we make so many payments using contactless?  On my credit card app I can view my pin if I need to but not the banking app.  Maybe I'll pitch that as an idea for them to develop.  The staff no longer working in branches need something to do!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.

Friday's Fave Five - 16/10/26

Each Friday a group of us look back on the week and find the blessings. We're reminded to do this by Susanne and then we link up on her blog here.  Why not join us?

1)  This week I'm grateful that our garden waste collections are included in our council tax and we don't have to pay extra for them.  Some councils only collect during Spring and Summer and you have to pay for them.  Our garden waste is collected year round with no extra cost.  We have two trees on the street in front of our house and because we have off street parking the leaves collect on our driveway.  My garden waste bin will be full of leaves when the next collection comes around. (It's fortnightly.)

2)  Sunny weather.  And it's still been quite mild during the day.  We have had some rain but it hasn't lasted long.

3)  Dinner with my daughter and her family last Sunday.  Good to get together and not have to cook.

4)  An alternative venue for our Knit and Natter session this week.  We have been meeting in the upstairs room of one of the local pubs but the room was double booked this week.  Thankfully we were able to meet up in the outside area of another pub nearby.  The outside area is roofed and it also has heaters so the weather wasn't a problem.  It probably wouldn't work in the middle of winter but it was a good alternative this week.  We did have to put up with being able to hear the bingo number calling though - it was Bingo Night in the pub itself.  But that wasn't continuous so it didn't really bother us.

5)  Another Great Niece - born yesterday. She hasn't been named yet as the couple were convinced they were having a boy!  Although they didn't actually know what they were having, choosing to be surprised.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 15/10/26

This was the one I was about to start last week and it didn't take me long to read.

The blurb reads:

A nerve-tingling and atmospheric thriller from master of suspense Nicci French about two families shattered by tragedy and the secrets that have been waiting decades to be revealed.

On the day of Alec Salter’s fiftieth birthday party, just before Christmas 1990, his wife Charlotte vanishes. Most of the small English village of Glensted is at the party for hours before anyone realizes Charlotte is missing. While Alec brushes off her disappearance, their four children—especially fifteen-year-old Etty—grow increasingly anxious as the cold winter hours become days and she doesn’t return. When Charlotte’s coat is found by the river, they fear the worst. Then the body of the Salters’ neighbor, Duncan Ackerley, is found floating in the river by his son Morgan and Etty. The police investigate and conclude that Duncan and Charlotte were having an affair before he killed her and committed suicide.

Thirty years later, Morgan Ackerley, a successful documentarian, has returned to Glensted with his older brother Greg to make podcast based on their shared tragedy with the Salters. Alec, stricken with dementia, is entering an elder care facility while Etty helps put his affairs in order. But as the Ackerleys ask to interview the Salters, the entire town gets caught up in the unresolved cases. Allegations are made, secrets are revealed, and a suspicious fire leads to a murder. 

With the podcast making national news, London sends Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor to Glensted to take over the investigation. Resented by her mostly male colleagues, she has no tolerance for either their sexism or their incompetence. And she will stop at nothing to uncover the truth as a new and terrifying picture of what really happened to Charlotte Salter and Duncan Ackerley emerges.

This was definitely a slow burner but I thought it was well written and it led to a satisfying end.  There was good coverage of the way the police investigations were handled but also the way the families involved reacted to the circumstances.

I'd be more than happy to look out for other books featuring DI Maud O'Connor. 4 stars for me.

I also managed to fit this one in this week:

 

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, she realizes there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. She’s determined to change her life if she can just make it home.

This was quite a good debut novel.  It takes place on one day with Annie looking back on previous events while she walks.  It kept me engaged and I liked the style of writing.  In some ways though it didn't have enough depth and I didn't feel it was always very realistic.  The ending was also a bit predictable and left a lot of unanswered questions.

I'm still 4 books behind on my challenge of 52 books over the year and my next planned read is not going to improve that situation.  It's this one:

This is the Library book club choice.  I tried to start it yesterday and although I've only read a little I'm finding it really hard going.  I don't think I'm going to like it at all and am seriously considering abandoning it and reading something else.  Which is of course not what I'd normally do - I hate giving up on books but this one is nearly 500 pages and I know I won't read it quickly.  We're not meeting until next month so I might leave it for now and try and come back to it.

Anyone here read it?  Was it worth it?

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 14/10/26

Joyce provides the questions each week, we come up with our answers and then we link up here.  Thanks Joyce.

1. Do you think you're driven more by curiosity or comfort? Explain. 

Well I do like my comfort but I am also curious.  I definitely don't like feeling out of the loop but I probably wouldn't stray too far out of my comfort zone to explore things.

2. What non-food item is in your refrigerator or freezer? 

The only non food items are the ice packs that we take with us when we need to keep things cold.

3. Are you comfortable with silence? If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What's your favourite place to find silence/be silent? 

I definitely prefer quiet.  I'm happy in my home on my own with no background noise.  I like to sit in the garden when the weather permits with a book or my laptop.  It's never totally silent - our road is quite busy and because of the layout you can hear the traffic and occasionally if the wind is in the right direction you can hear the trains but those are the sort of noises that you tune out because you're so used to them.

4. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping...which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

All of the above please.  Today I would probably start with landscaping.  Our side lawn is looking very sorry for itself after the hot summer we've had.

5. Do you lean more towards being too needy or too independent? Which do you find harder to deal with in others? 

I like to think I'm independent.  I was only 22 when my Dad passed away and my Mum was clueless about a lot of things so I had to step in and help her sort out finances and other stuff so that gave me a good grounding.  After I married I took a career break to bring up the children so I took on most of the admin connected to running a home so I think I would be able to cope if my Hubby dies before me. 

I find it harder to deal with someone who is needy than independent, although of course when the children were younger and wanted to exercise their independence that was sometimes a challenge!

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

I am slowly doing the "Spot the Difference" task on the jigsaw I completed recently - there are 100 differences between the jigsaw and the picture supplied with it.  I managed to take a photo of the jigsaw and now I'm marking them on the photo.  So far I have found 85! (It beats watching the news on TV.)

Waffling on - 12/10/26

It was a fairly quiet weekend here.

I did my usual session at the Foodbank on Saturday morning.  Despite the fantastic amount of donations we had from the Woodford Wells Harvest service last weekend there was still a fair amount of food sent in on Saturday.  Sally one of the other volunteers usually joins me so we're usually done in a couple of hours.  

I took advantage of the sunny weather and walked home via the lake.  It is definitely autumn here now.

Saturday evening I watched Strictly (Strictly Come Dancing) which is a favourite of mine.  Some stars are better than others but it is entertaining.

Sunday was relaxing although I did fit in another walk around the lake.  Then we went to our daughter's for dinner.  Our DIL had done a nice slow cooked beef dish but she wasn't happy with her sticky toffee pudding.  Fortunately we'd taken some of the banana bread I made on Friday which went well with the toffee sauce so all was not lost.

I dropped Hubby off at an open mic on the way home then watched the Strictly results show before getting hooked into a new series here "Winter".  

It follows forensic pathologist Dr. Ethan Winter and DI Lauren Bell as they solve complex murder cases in Bristol, blending weekly mysteries with an overarching personal storyline.  

I watched the first two episodes and could easily have watched more but my bed was calling me.

Today I have given in and put the heating on.  

Shots on Sunday - 11/10/26

I did try and post a weekly photo post of photos taken daily.  Problem is I'm not very good at remembering to take a photo each day but I have found it useful to have a routine to my posts.  Anyway today I just thought I'd post the photos I did take this week and rename the post as Shots on Sunday.  We'll see how long this bright idea lasts!

This was my shopping list on Wednesday.  I only ended up getting the birthday cards for my cousin (Jill) and my brother (John).  I never really intended to get the other items so they're still up there.  I also haven't got a card for my daughter and her wife for their wedding anniversary yet.  I'll probably have to look online for that.  Or try a proper card shop rather than the supermarket.

I took this one on my walk around the lake yesterday.  As you can see the ground is beginning to be covered with leaves although the trees are still looking quite green.  I haven't been walking in the forest much lately but now the weather is cooler I'll be trying to do it more often.

This is a photo of a recipe that my son in the US requested. (Macaroni with sausage meat and carrots.) We use it a lot as you can probably tell by the marks on the page!  It's quite easy to do, freezes well and makes a change from Bolognese.

The rest of my pictures were all taken this afternoon at the lake.  It was good to see that there are still 6 cygnets with their parents and they are really big now.  Hopefully the parents won't start chasing them off too soon but there is a great local team of volunteers who will help relocate the cygnets if it becomes necessary.

It was quite sunny today but the weather has definitely cooled this week - I've had to resort to extra layers and we'll need to put the warmer quilt on when we change the bed this week.  We haven't resorted to putting the heating on yet but I have used the electric fire in the lounge a couple of times when I've just been sitting watching TV.  Thankfully although we've had rain it hasn't been too much so I haven't had to dig my wellies out - yet!