Wednesday Hodgepodge - 22/7/26

Joyce provides the questions each week and then we link up our answers here.  Why not join in the fun?

1. Do your goals and dreams energize or exhaust you? Elaborate. 

I think they can do both.  Trying to meet goals or make a dream happen can be hard work and therefore exhausting sometimes.  But when a plan falls in place or a goal is met it the feeling of success can be energising.

2. July 23rd is national lemon day. Are you a fan of this flavour? What's a favourite dish or beverage you enjoy that calls for lemons? 

Not my favourite flavour but I don't dislike it.  I enjoy a lemon meringue pie or a lemon tart.  I'll drink lemonade (unless it's homemade and really tart!) but don't bother serving me lemon tea thank you.

3. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"...is this something you're pretty good at managing? Have you had to do this recently? If so tell us about it. 

I haven't had to do this recently and probably not quite the same thing but when I left my job (not of my own choosing) and was feeling a bit lost I ended up in the right place to help a relative going through cancer treatment.

4. Something you love that is lemon yellow in colour? 

Daffodils.

5. How would you describe your attention to detail? 

Absorbing!  I can end up going down rabbit holes with planning things sometimes lol.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Our temps have dropped this week to mid 20s (C) so it's much more comfortable and sleeping has been better too.  I'm sure the extreme heat will return at some point but for now I'm enjoyed summertime.

Highlights of Summertime in Vermont, June 2026

Well firstly it was lovely to be able to visit our son and his family in Vermont in the summertime.  Our last 3 visits have all been at Thanksgiving so it has been very cold and there has been snow!  A lot of snow.

But travelling to them is not for the faint-hearted.  Heathrow offers the best flight options but getting to Heathrow takes time.  Firstly we have to get to our local station.  It's about a 10 minute walk but we usually jump on the bus - our cases were heavy!  The train takes us down to Liverpool Street in central London where we can get the Elizabeth line straight through to Heathrow.  Well apart from the comfort stop for me at Paddington.

Yes we could get a cab but traffic conditions are unpredictable or yes we could drive and park but that's expensive and the flights were already way more expensive this summer.  Who knew about some football tournament taking place?

Anyway that's what we usually do but, because we had a morning flight which would have meant being up really early and catching the first train out from our station, and we had family staying in the house, we opted to travel close to the airport the day before and stay overnight in a hotel which was on a shuttle bus route to the terminal.  This made things so much easier and we'll probably do it again.

Once at Heathrow we sorted out the glitch in the airline system which wouldn't let us check in online.  Despite having entered my new passport details on the booking etc it was still showing my old details so computer kept saying NO!

Our flight to Boston was fine and we arrived about 5 minutes early and we were able to catch an earlier bus than we'd planned which was good.  We use a company called Dartmouth Coach which gets us as far as Lebanon in New Hampshire and takes about 2 1/2 hours, depending on traffic etc.

In Lebanon we were met by our wonderful hosts Paul and Crystal, (our son's in-laws) who drove us on to Barre which takes another hour.

It's a long trek but so worth it to be able to give these two real hugs!

                            

and of course to catch up with our son Michael and DIL Elizabeth.

On our first full day we took a hike up to a place called Owl's Head lookout which is in the Groton State Forest area.

Rather than just park at the look out and walk up to the view we opted to do what was supposed to be a 1 mile hike first.  Well that turned out to be nearer to 2 miles!  But the views were worth it.

Thankfully the boys are good walkers and despite just a few moans from Vinny we made it up to the lookout and then back down and back along the path to the car.  

Of course walking in woodlands does carry it's own risks.  We saw a garter snake and I managed to not have a panic attack.  My DIL reassured me that there are no venomous snakes in Vermont.  

I also acquired this delightful creature:

Hard to tell from the photo but it's actually a tick which Crystal carefully removed for me.  I then spent some time doing a thorough search of the bed and my clothes from the previous day as I didn't notice it until the following morning!  I've also kept a close eye out for any sign of infection but I seem to have escaped with no ongoing effects.

Another walk we did was to the biggest waterfall in Vermont:

This was a much easier walk and on the way back we had time to visit the Ben & Jerry's factory.  It wasn't as exciting as it might have been because the factory was actually closed as it was Juneteenth but we still got the tour and the ice cream tasters.

My DIL is a teacher so she was able to be our driver and tour guide while we were there.  Unfortunately, like most people working in America my son does not get a lot of annual leave which he is saving for when he visits us at Christmas and for when his brother and family visit.  (That's happening now.)  He's also coming over for a wedding in September and will stay for a week to catch up with family and friends here.  But of course we saw him most evenings and at the weekend.  

It was Father's Day while we were there so Paul and Crystal hosted a BBQ at their house so we got to catch up with their other kids and partners.  I also got to see a performance by the choir that Elizabeth has joined.  (She has a lovely singing voice.)

Her grandparents also came to watch so it was nice to have a brief catch up with them.

On the Monday Elizabeth, the boys, her parents took us to the Millstone Trails Hike which is on the site of a former quarry.  There is a lot of granite in Vermont!

The boys enjoyed following a story trail.

We also did a trip to the Shelborne Museum but I'll do a separate post on that as I have lots of photos from that day.

We went out for meals with both my son and DIL and on another evening our hosts.  We had some lazy days too and of course there were some football matches that had to be watched but at least they were at more civilized times than if we'd been at home.

And then all too soon it was time to leave.  We went out for brunch in the morning:

Rory finds it hard to pose for photos while Vinny has no such problem:

And then Elizabeth drove us to Lebanon on the first leg of the long journey home which began on the Friday and ended at lunchtime on Saturday!  We love being able to visit them, I just wish someone could invent a transporter to just get us there a lot more easily!

Still catching up! - 19/7/26

Firstly thank you for all the kind comments on my last post, it's nice to be missed!

Secondly is anyone else having trouble with blogger?  I always used to get an email when someone commented on my blog but that doesn't seem to be happening at the moment so I'm having to check for comments manually so to speak.  It's also not showing all your new posts in my reading list so again I'm having to look out for your posts in other ways.  I've set up Feedly but haven't really got to grips with it yet.

Yes I know, first world problems!

I'm still playing catch up with cleaning my house and doing laundry but today it's forecast to only get to 22°C so hopefully I'll be more productive.  We even needed the duvet on last night - we've been using just a sheet or sometimes nothing it's been so hot but last night got a bit chilly.

It also got a bit noisy as hubby mistakenly alarmed the whole house instead of just the night time setting so when I got up to use the bathroom (as I always do!) I set off the house alarm.  Thankfully I was able to silence it quickly.  We were out of the habit of setting the alarm while our daughter and her family, particularly the cat, were staying here as it would have been going off every night.

Again, first world problems.

Sooo....I really need to clean my kitchen floor but I'm still trying to catch up on all your blogs,  I'm still trying to finish this book:

I should have finished it by last Wednesday for the book club meeting but I've found it hard going.  But if you know me you'll know I hate not finishing a book.

And I need to sort out my photos and do a holiday blog post.

Can you see my kitchen floor? No?  Well that's ok then.

Friday's Fave Five - 17/7/26

My poor computer is feeling neglected.  Today is the first day I've turned it on since 14th June!  Which was just before we went on holiday.  We had a lovely time and I hope to blog about it soon.  We came home to find that our daughter and her family (wife and 2 children) were still here while there were works going on at their house.  Long story short, they went home on Tuesday evening.

We have also had an extended heatwave and while they were here we also had their cat which is an indoor cat.  It made keeping the house cool difficult and I think the cat (Milo) should be renamed Houdini because he became very good at escaping, usually to the garden but on a couple of occasions he was on the flat roof of our kitchen/diner extension.  It's been an eventful time and I really felt like I had no mental capacity for blogging.  I've even struggled with reading.

However, there are always things to be thankful for and Susanne reminds us each week to share our thoughts and link up here.

1)  Firstly I'm thankful that we had a lovely holiday visiting our son and his family in Vermont.  It was so good to see them all.  Thanksgiving when we last visited was a long time ago!

2)  Thankful that we had safe travels there and back.  

3)  Thankful that I'm retired during this current heat wave as I'm sure I would find it hard to work.

4)  Thankful that we were able to host our daughter and family while their works were ongoing.  It took longer than we expected but I think they're pleased with the results and it will make a better use of their living spaces.

5)  Thankful that the temperatures have dropped in the last couple of days, particularly at night so sleep has been easier and I've had more energy during the day.

We hosted our elder son and his family here last night before they left to visit our other son in the US today but now I'm looking forward to having a quiet weekend with no visitors.  I really need some quiet time.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 11/6/26

Well I have managed to finish Heartburn by Nora Ephron.  It was ok but I wasn't overwhelmed by it and as someone who's just completed 42 years of marriage it's hard to empathise with someone who's going through a marriage break up.

The afternoon book club met this week to discuss Three Things About Elsie.  Someone had brought along a set of questions for us to work through but that was a bit hard going, especially as one member hated the book lol.

Our next read will be this one:

The evening group will be discussing Heartburn next week but we'll be away so I will miss that.  We've already chosen the next book though and it's this one:

But....at the weekend we browsed some charity shops and I came home with these:

There are not enough reading hours in the day!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 10/6/26

Joyce provides the questions each week and we prepare our answers and then the link up is here.

Thank you Joyce.

1.  How would you define 'the good life'? 

The good life to me means being happy with my lot and having enough of the things I need.  I have "the good life".

2.  What's the most used app on your phone (and are you proud of that)? 

Well before I checked I would have said WhatsApp and I would be okay with that because that's how I keep in touch with family and friends.

When I checked, the NYT games app was top.  I usually start my day with Wordle (we have a WhatsApp group for those of us that do it daily) and then work through the various games on the app.  So it's probably not that surprising it came out on top.  

WhatsApp was 3rd on my list last week as apparently I used Facebook slightly more.  I didn't think Facebook would be that high as although I do usually browse it to see what people are up to I'm not very active on it.  However it is easy to go down rabbit holes on it.

3. 'Every rose has it's thorn', 'everything's coming up roses', 'looking through rose-colored glasses', 'it's no bed of roses' or 'stop and smell the roses'...which rose idiom best relates to something in your life currently. Explain. 

Probably everything's coming up roses as we just celebrated our 42nd anniversary and next week we're off to visit my son and his family in Vermont.    The rose bush at the front of the house is also in full bloom

4. How do you feel about floral flavourings in food or drink (rose, hibiscus, elderflower, lavender)? 

Not a big fan although I do like an apple and elderflower juice that we buy.

5. Over the course of your life what have you probably spent more time pondering than anything else? 

What to cook for dinner!  Even though Hubby now does most of the cooking I still do a lot of the organising of what we're going to eat.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It feels like we're back in April - the weather is much cooler and we've had some heavy downpours today - even thunder and lightening.  Can we have summer back please.

In the News this Week - 9/6/26

                        

London couple survive 42 years of marriage.  The secret?  Give him a guitar and teach her to knit.

We went out for our anniversary to a new to us Italian restaurant just one stop away by train.

We shared a starter - fried calamari, prawns, arancini, mushrooms, courgettes and broccoli which was huge.

For mains Hubby had Tagliata:

And I had Porchetta

Both were delicious but we couldn't finish them after such a big starter so we skipped dessert.

I did consider getting a portion of Tiramisu to go but decided against it.  We were both full.

If we go again we need to make sure we're extra hungry!

A Windy Waffle - 8/6/26

We had a lovely weekend.  Hubby and I got together with all 6 of his remaining siblings and their partners (14 in total) at the youngest sister's house in Brighton which is on the south coast of England and a typical seaside town, complete with pier.

Parking in Brighton is really difficult and limited, especially if staying overnight so 8 of us took a coach from Stratford right through to Brighton Station and then it's about a 20 minute walk.  The coach ride was smooth and we didn't hit any traffic so we arrived on time.  It took 2 1/2 hours and it was nice to just sit back and relax.

We all gathered at our host Sarah's house joined by the remaining two couples, one who had travelled from France.  It was the first time we'd all been together in a while so lots of catching up to do.  Friday's evening meal was fish and chips.  We had planned to sit on the beach and eat it but by the time we'd all arrived and settled it was a bit late and therefore a bit too chilly to do that.

Saturday dawned dry and sunny so we all took a walk into town.  We walked around the Royal Pavilion and through the Lanes area before finding a pub with enough outdoor space for us all.  At that time it was still sunny and warm.

Look at the blue sky!

But as they had forecast the clouds rolled in together with 50mph winds.

We got caught in the downpour but all managed to make our way to here for lunch.

This is the appropriately named Shelter Hall and that picture is from the web because those umbrellas would not have stayed up in the wind on Saturday.  It is a large space inside with various street food vendors serving food.  There was lots of choice including Mexican, Portuguese, Thai, Burgers and Pizzas.  We managed to get 2 big tables to accommodate us all.  There were a lot of people taking advantage of being inside, including at least one Hen party and one Stag party.  Brighton is a popular destination for these.

After we'd eaten a few of us went back to Sarah's by Uber while others braved the rain and did more exploring, although that may have been the inside of a pub lol.

Saturday evening Sarah and her partner Grace laid on a lovely meal for us all.  One of the reasons we'd planned the gathering was to celebrate another sister's (Kate) 60th birthday.  Her birthday was actually back in January but we decided to wait until the weather was better to celebrate and also it was a bit of a house warming for Sarah and Grace.  Sarah bought the house back in September and has been gradually furnishing it and decorating.  They split their time between the Brighton house and Grace's home in London.  

We had a gnocchi, green bean and asparagus starter, followed by fish pie and then strawberries, shortcake and cream dessert.  It was all really good.

On Sunday morning we took a walk along the beach away from the centre of Brighton towards Black Rock where you can board the Volks Electric Railway service that runs from there to the Aquarium along the beach.  It's the oldest working electric railway in the world and opened in 1883.

One of the electric trains

This stretch of the beach has a boarded walkway which makes it so much easier to walk on as the beach is actually very stony.

After our walk we headed back to the house where we had more food before setting off for home at 5.30 pm.

One huge feature of the Brighton house is that there is a huge garden between a square of properties and only 3 of those home owners have the right to use the garden and Sarah is one of them!

Here we are in the garden.  The two white arched windows on the right are Sarah's house and the gap in the greenery you can see below is a gateway into her own private small courtyard area.  We were lucky enough to get some sunshine in the afternoon so we could sit outside and enjoy our lunch.

The journey home on the coach was just as smooth and we arrived back at Stratford by 8.30 pm so we were home by about 9.45.  We all had a really good time and believe it or not we all get on really well.