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!

#SoCS - 10/10/26

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “familiar.” 

Linda provides the prompts for these posts and the link up is here.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the idea of familiars if you've read the Philip Pullman books or anything similar.  Linda talked about naming a spider in her kitchen Mildred.  I followed that up with naming a spider in my spare bedroom Elsie.  

Well I'm not sure that Elsie actually exists.  I haven't seen her.  My son claims to have seen her while he was staying here but she's proved elusive to me.  To be fair I don't spend a lot of time in the spare bedroom so it's not surprising I haven't seen her.  She probably a bit lonely in there all on her own.  Unless she's brought some friends in to keep her company.  I do hope not!

Friday's Fave Five - 9/10/26

Susanne reminds us every Friday to look back on the week and write about the things we are grateful for.  Then we link up here.  Thanks Susanne.

1)  The smell of fresh Banana Bread.  I brought some bananas home from the Foodbank yesterday - we had lots that were not going to last until next Tuesday's session so volunteers were able to have some.  So of course I had to make banana bread with them.  

2)  The library.  I know I mention this one a lot but it does feature in my routine frequently.  This week I made a trip on Tuesday to pick up a couple of books I'd picked out for my 52 Book Club Challenge and then on Wednesday we had our afternoon book club meeting there where we discussed Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo.  We had a really good discussion about it although personally I was not a fan of the book.  And while I was there I was also able to pick up another book I only ordered in last week.  

3)  My Hubby.  He's always got my back and you will know that he does most of the cooking in our house.  He's not so good at remembering other chores, like putting the dustbins out but this week he even remembered to do that.  After checking which bins had to go out of course. 

4)  Chocolate cake.  My daughter and DIL hosted DILs brothers and families for lunch last Sunday.  They had leftovers and I was able to go over for a cup of tea and chocolate cake to collect some.

5)  Getting back into routines and hobbies. I've definitely been blogging more and I do enjoy the interaction with other bloggers.  I've also made time for reading so that is becoming a habit again and this week I did some knitting (we had a Knit and Natter meet up on Wednesday) and I've finally finished knitting the jumper I started an age ago.  I just need to sew up the sleeve seams, tidy up ends etc and block it.  You might even get to see me model it!  (Don't hold your breath lol.)  

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 8/10/26

Well this has been a much better week for reading - I managed to finish Before the Storm by Alex Gray which I enjoyed.  

I've read quite a few in this series and they don't disappoint. This one is set in the run up to Christmas in Glasgow with DSI Lorimer dealing with a suspected terrorism threat, under cover officers having their covers blown and then a couple of murders. He's his usual calm and measured self, taking advantage of the skills of Daniel Kohi, a former Zimbabwean police officer, who finds himself a refugee in Glasgow following personal tragedy. It was wrapped up perhaps a little too neatly but this was an easy read following a couple of heavy book group reads. I gave it 4 stars.

My next read was Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent.  This was the book for my evening book group this month but it also ticks a prompt on the 52 Book Club challenge so that was a bonus.

For the most part I felt it was a good book. With echoes of "The Room" it does contain child abduction, abuse etc that wouldn't be to everyone's taste but it started off really well following Sally after her attempt to put her dead Father "out with the bins" and the upheaval that causes in her previously sheltered life. (Not a spoiler - it's in the blurb on the cover!)

Then we're given a very alternative viewpoint and initially I was still enjoying the book. However, for me it felt like the author had run out of steam and original ideas and then everything was wrapped up quite quickly and not how I envisaged it would end.  I still rated it 4 stars though as it was a good page turner for me.

And then finally I managed to read one of my own choices for a 52 Book Club prompt - Brooklyn by Colm Toibin.

As is often the case, despite this being an award winning book, I wasn't that impressed.  About half way through this book I realised I'd watched the film version which is why the book was sounding familiar. But I really did not like the main character Eilis. There were times I wanted to shout at her or give her a good shake. So young and naive and so contrary. I did like Toibin's style of writing but I didn't enjoy the content. Only 2 stars from me.

I have another book club read to get through, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy but before I start that I'm squeezing in another book that ticks a prompt - Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter by Nicci French. I've read quite a few of theirs (it's a Husband and Wife partnership) including all of the Frieda Klein series and enjoyed them so I'm sure this one won't disappoint.  At least I hope not lol.

I'm rushing this post so no pictures as it's getting late and I want to do more reading!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 7/10/26

Joyce provides the questions each week. We compile our answers then the link up is here. Thanks Joyce.

1. Let's embrace it shall we? What's something you recently forgot to do? Is your memory these days more like a sieve or an elephant?

Well my memory is probably definitely not quite as good as it used to be. One thing that I often forget is to check our HelloFresh subscription. (Meal delivery plan with recipes and ingredients.) We don't tend to have it delivered every week so I have to remember to go in and skip the weeks when we don't want the food and also pick the recipes we'd like. I'm usually ok with skipping weeks but we often get a surprise with regard to the meals as they're the company's choices and not ours. Makes me try different things though so not all bad.

2. Share a trick/strategy you have to help you remember things you need to remember.

I do rely on my phone a lot with reminders, alarms etc although I do have a calendar on the wall and a diary too. We have a small white board on our fridge for noting down things we need to buy and I take a photo of that before going shopping rather than writing out a list.

3. What's your favourite fall vegetable to cook with? Do you prefer your fall veggies roasted, blended into a warm soup, or fresh in a crisp autumn salad?

Hard to pick a favourite vegetable but I do like roasted veg and soups but not so much a salad once it turns colder.

4. October 5th is/was National Do Something Nice Day. Did you? If so tell us about it. Or maybe someone did something nice for you, and if that's the case please share.

Hmm that was Monday and a very ordinary day here. I did get my breakfast made for me but Hubby does that most days so he doesn't need a National Day to do something nice. That day needs to be repeated - daily!

5. Nathaniel Hawthorne is credited with the quote "I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."

Do you tend to spend more time outside this time of year?

I probably don't as it can often be wet. It's raining as I'm writing this and I think that after the long hot summer we've had (often too hot to be outside) we're probably going to get a lot of days like this but I do try and get out and walk when I can especially if it is dry and sunny.

Do you actively pause to soak in fleeting moments of beauty in your daily routine? Elaborate.

I would say no. When I'm out walking I probably do but during the day I'm either busy doing chores or if I'm relaxing it would be reading or another hobby keeping me occupied. Although I do enjoy seeing a colourful sunset through our kitchen window.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Thinking about the "Do something nice day" made me think about something we were often told when growing up - "If you don't have anything nice to say keep quiet!" I don't always remember that lol.

#SoCS - 3/10/26 - Breeze

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “breeze.” Use it way you’d like. Have fun!

These prompts are provided by Linda who blogs here.  Pop over and see who else is taking part.

Well looking out of my window there is not much of a breeze going on which is annoying as I have a whole load of washing out and I don't think it's going to be much drier now than when I put it out.  Although actually Hubby put some of it out for me earlier.  Pretty obvious from the way it's pegged!

image courtesy of Magnific

There must be some sort of breeze going on because the clouds have gathered and it looks like we will probably get some promised  rain soon.  I should probably get the washing in and put it on the indoor airer.  Wish I'd done that in the first place.  

Don't you hate it when you end up doing something twice?  Doing the washing is definitely not a breeze on days like today.

Friday's Fave Five - 2/10/26

Well I couldn't let another Friday go by without joining in with Susanne's weekly gratitude blog hop.  Susanne reminds us every week to post about the good things that have happened during our week and the link up is here.  Thank you Susanne.

1)  Firstly, although I've used the autumn leaves picture and the leaves are definitely turning and dropping here, it has been so mild this week with lots of sunshine.  There was rain as well but mainly overnight and of course we needed it.

2)  Family time last weekend - one of Nick's sisters Helen turned 70 last Friday and her son, aided by her other 3 children hosted a get together for all the family.  Helen hates being the centre of attention but I think she really enjoyed having everyone together.

3)  The safe arrival of a great niece - Freya also on Saturday.  Always good to know that a baby has arrived safely and mother and baby are doing well.

4)  Retirement and time to pursue hobbies such as doing jigsaw puzzles.

I've just completed this one:

It has the added challenge of finding the 100 items that are on the jigsaw but not the picture that came with the puzzle.  (A bit like Where's Wally?) So far I have found 39 but I've only been studying the right hand side.  I'll look for more tomorrow.

5) Family time with our daughter and family.  Our DIL is trying to do a family meal on Fridays where they all sit down together and we were invited to join them.  During the week the children often eat earlier than the parents but of course it is good to all sit down together and we enjoyed a lovely meal with them.

Plus a couple of bonus items: a video chat with Grandson Vinny yesterday - he just wanted to call his Nanny.  No Foodbank duties tomorrow so I can have a lie in.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 1/10/26

Well considering it is 2 months since I last did one of these posts (30th July) you'd think I would have lots of books to write about. Sadly I only have 4!

I was reading Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood back then and I really enjoyed it. It's a collection of short stories.

This starts with 3 stories involving Tig and Nell. The first covers the aftermath of an accident at home requiring Tig to drive himself and their daughter to A & E and Nell coming home to a scene of blood and no one home. It moves on to ponder how things have changed while they are undertaking a First Aid course.
Next we read about John and Francois, two very different men who become friends in France and Tig and Nell’s involvement with them. (Renting a house.) And the third story in this initial section details the demise of Nell’s cat Smudgie and her rewriting of Tennyson’s Morte D’Arthur to fit the dead cat scenario. Although it’s actually more about the passing of Tig.

My Evil Mother This story is about a woman and her Mother who may or may not be a witch and their troubled relationship. Coming full circle to the daughter becoming a Mother herself.

The Dead Interview is an account of an interview with the late George Orwell which is very cleverly done and references his works.

Impatient Griselda is about an alien being telling a story to a group of earthlings and contrasting their differences.

Bad Teeth is a about two friends Csilla and Lynne. Csilla is a seasoned liar and insists that Lynne had an affair with a Newman Small who had bad teeth. Csilla couldn’t understand how Lynne could go with someone with such bad teeth. Lynne is convinced the affair did not happen. Which it hadn’t. Csilla just likes to make mischief but despite all that they remain friends.

Death by Clamshell is the narration by Hypatia of Alexandria of her death by clamshells which is quite graphic. It’s portrayed as being told to someone in the present time.

Freeforall Is set in the future when a sexually transmitted disease has swept through the world and people have adapted by keeping uncontaminated women and men apart until a marriage between a couple is arranged so that uncontaminated children can be born and humans continue.
Freeforalls were prisons for affected people. Supplies were dropped in but the inhabitants were left to themselves.

Metempsychosis (or the journey of the soul) This is the story of the soul of a snail coming to inhabit the body of a young woman and the ensuing battle between the two souls to co-exist.

Airborne: A Symposium This is about a meeting of 3 older women who are trying to set up a scheme for empowering more women creatives. Airborne is the name of the book written by one of them. Probably the story I liked least.

Tig and Nell:
A Dusty Lunch
In this story Nell reminisces about Tig’s Father – the Jolly Old Brigadier who served in WW2. Nell is going through his things and comes across poems written while he was away at war.
The poems are poignant and this story resonated with me as my Dad fought in WW2 and he would never talk about it.

Widows – This comprises 2 letters that Nell (now widowed) writes in response to a letter from a friend asking how she is. One is a detailed version of how she really is and what widowhood entails. The second which she will send is a sanitised version and bright and breezy.

Wooden Box – this story is about Nell coming to terms with widowhood and going through things at their cottage.

Old Babes in the wood continues Nell’s journey through grief as she visits the family cabin by a lake with her sister.

I found myself making notes about each of the stories as it was a book group read and I wanted to be able to remember them for when we discussed it. I hadn’t realised that Atwood had written so much, including books for children. The stories of Nell and Tig could easily have been a volume on their own with all the other stories, many of which are truly weird, being a separate volume. Atwood certainly has a vivid and diverse imagination.

The next book I read for the same book group was Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Not a book I would choose so I did find it a bit of a slog. Adichie is certainly a talented writer and the subject matter - the war in Nigeria when Biafra wanted to become a nation in its own right - was dark. It did give me a better understanding of what went on though. I can remember seeing pictures of the starving Biafran children on TV but I was too young at the time to really understand what was going on. The British Commonwealth has a lot to answer to.


I decided to read something that met a prompt for the 52 Book Club challenge next - Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps.

Gloria has a learning disability. She's nineteen, and there's nothing to do except wander the local parks, look for friendship and keep out of trouble - or go round Jack's. Jack needs Gloria's company, but he's unpredictable and angry at the world. After an act of violence, their friendship has to end. Now Gloria's on her own. But when she hears Jack's out of prison, her whole world is turned upside-down. Heart-breaking and beautiful, Gloria Don't Speak is an insightful portrait of a woman dealing with vulnerability, violence - and the desire for connection.

I didn't really enjoy this one although as I said it ticked the prompt "Author related to another Author" as Lucy is the sister of Peter who wrote "Show me the Bodies" which was about the Grenfell Tower disaster. It was interesting in that it was set in the area where I used to live so many of the places were familiar and Lucy and Peter went to the same schools as my kids but this was definitely no masterpiece in my opinion.

The final book that I've just finished was Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo.

Despite there being various links between the characters in this book it felt very disjointed to me. There were a lot of characters to keep track of too, none of which were particularly likeable. The lack of punctuation was also annoying at times. It was shortlisted for the “Women’s Prize for Fiction” in 2020 but I can’t honestly recommend it. It contains a lot of swearing and same sex relationships as well as transgender issues so it definitely wouldn't be to everyone's taste. Again this was a book group read which we will discuss next week.


I did skim a bit of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus as that was the Evening book group's read. I'd read it back in 2023 and loved it. It got a 5 star rating so I was happy to read it again but I didn't find the time to read it completely before our meet up. I'm hoping to find time to watch the TV series of it.

Currently I'm reading Before the Storm by Alex Gray. This is a crime thriller set in Glasgow and is part of a series that I've enjoyed reading in the past. It will tick a prompt for the 52 Book Club Challenge but it's a much easier read than some of the books I've been reading.

Regular readers here will know that I do like a challenge but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to complete the 52 Book Club Challenge this year - I'm quite behind and it's not always possible to slot the Book Group books into prompts. I'll see how far I manage to get but I might take a break from it next year and concentrate on reducing the pile of books by my bed! It's really hard to resist books in the local little libraries that are the sort of books I enjoy and I certainly can't visit any charity shops without coming out with a book or 2 (or maybe more) lol.

Have you read any good books lately? Shh don't tell me or I'll be looking out for those too.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 30/9/26

1. When you think of autumn what sounds come to mind? 

The crunch of leaves underfoot.

2.  Is a trip to the mountains something you enjoy? What's your favorite mountain? 

I probably would but there aren't that many mountains in the UK. 

3. What's something that once felt like a mountain, but is now just a molehill? 

Moving house seemed like a huge thing to do at the time but once I broke it down into to do lists it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

4. Let's play this or that-fall foods edition. Yes you have to choose. 

• pumpkin spice latte or chai latte Neither thank you
• apple cider or hot chocolate  
• stew or chili
• sweet potato casserole or green bean casserole 
• butternut squash soup or creamy mushroom soup 
• cranberry sauce or gravy 

5. Sum up your September in a sentence or two. 

We had a birth (a baby girl for our niece and her partner) and a wedding (our nephew Felix and his wife Alexia) but thankfully no funerals.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I've never been a coffee drinker and none of the special flavours that come around during the year tempt me.  I'm the same with tea.  I just like an ordinary black tea with milk.  None of the fruit flavours or thing like camomile or earl grey thank you.   Talking of tea, it must be time to put the kettle on!

Joyce provides the Hodgepodge questions each week.  Thank you Joyce.  The link up to other bloggers taking part is here.

Don't you hate it when this happens.....29/9/26

Well I've managed 2 blogs in 2 days but in other matters....

I decided it was time I had a go at one of the puzzles I had for my birthday.  Stupidly I didn't check its dimensions.  It doesn't fit on my flat board.  Thankfully I have a bigger mat and I've transferred it.  I'll try and post updates as I progress with it.  It comes with 2 extra activities to be done once the puzzle is completed so I'm intrigued as to what they might be.

And then there was a washing disaster - this was the one that got away!

So now I have an odd sock by the washing machine waiting for the next dark load to be done and an odd sock on top of our dresser as hubby doesn't like odd socks in his drawer.  I probably need to encourage him to be like one of our sons who will quite happily wear odd socks.  Although personally I wouldn't wear odd socks.  How about you?  

A VERY overdue Waffle - 28/9/26

It's been over a month since I've blogged - I didn't even really touch my laptop so I'm also way behind catching up with what's been going on in Blogland so forgive me if I've missed any exciting news or major events wherever you happen to be.

There was a lot going on and I really got out of the blogging habit.

Firstly I've been extra busy with the Foodbank.   On top of my regular Monday evenings, Thursdays and Saturday mornings I've also taken on co-ordinating the drivers for Wednesday evening pick ups.  In theory this shouldn't be too taxing - just a case of making sure there are drivers available and accepting the donations on an app - so all done from home or wherever else I might be.  Until of course a driver drops out and no one volunteers very quickly or a regular driver forgets to confirm that they're ok for collecting.  I do have a back up if I'm busy and so far it's been fairly ok.

On top of all that I've also been going in early on a Tuesday morning while two of the key volunteers have been on holiday.  We're getting big deliveries at the moment from Amazon and it's often a race against the clock to get everything inside and set up before we open the doors to our beneficiaries.  It's meant missing my keep fit class but I have been able to meet up with my friends afterwards for coffee and quite honestly volunteering at the Foodbank is more of a work out lol.

And then the guy who collects the food donated in the crates at our local Tesco had an operation on his eye so I've also done a couple of pick ups from there.  Still I like to be busy!

Prior to all this we had our annual family get together in Kent.  We had between 35 - 45 people there on various days so it's not what I would call a relaxing holiday but it is lovely to spend time with everyone and although we had a couple of spells of rain it was generally good weather all week.

Two weeks ago we travelled to France and Belgium for our nephew's wedding.

My husband's sister lives in Dunkerque and it was her youngest son that was getting married.  Well, having a wedding party - the couple were legally married over a year ago.

We'd booked a hotel for the Friday and Saturday nights in the town where the wedding was to be held - Poperinge in Belgium but we travelled via Dunkerque on the Friday as my SIL had been in Glasgow that week for work and there had been travel disruption with flights and trains so she opted to come in the car with us.  We also took my daughter with us - it was an adult only event so her wife stayed at home with the children.  

It was probably just as well because we ended up helping put up a very large gazebo in SILs garden - without proper instructions!  It took a while.

This was before we attempted to put the canvas on.  At the second attempt we got it on - (first time it was inside out) only to find that the pole arrangement wasn't right.  We needed all the seven people that were there to lift it up and get the legs in place too.  Being octagonal we could really have done with one more person.  And then we later discovered that one of their other sons had the instructions on his phone!  We were not amused lol.

Poperinge is a nice little town near Ypres in Belgium and only about a 40 minute drive from Dunkerque.

Thought I'd try out the new Google widget but I actually took some photos!

The Town Hall

Town Square

Town Hall at night

The town has a big market square with lots of cafes/restaurants around it.  We met up with other family members for coffee in the morning and then it was just a 10 minute walk from our hotel to the venue.

The venue was a guest house that had a large function room and lots of outdoor space.  The ceremony which consisted of speeches by the groom's brothers and the brother of the bride and friends followed by the couple exchanging vows, was held outside.  There was a drinks reception followed by dinner which was a hog roast meal and then of course dancing until late into the night.  The youngsters were still in full flow when we headed back to the hotel around 1 am.

One of the things that made it special for us was that our son Michael  and his wife Elizabeth travelled over from the US to attend the wedding!  They came on the Thursday and although Elizabeth had to travel home on the Monday Michael stayed with us until the following Sunday.  We didn't see much of either of them really because of the wedding and then they were trying to catch up with friends as much as possible but it was lovely to see them both.

Front left is our niece Olivia who took this photo with our daughter Rebecca next to her and then behind are our other son Matthew, his wife Amy, Elizabeth and Michael.

This one is of the bride Alexia, groom Felix and all their English cousins and partners.  There were a few missing but lots of them had made the trip.

This was a photo booth shot of us.

The Happy Couple

On the Sunday many of us travelled home via Dunkerque, including my SILs French relatives (her husband is French and one of 8 like her) so a lot of people.  We were glad of the gazebo as there was a bit of rain during the afternoon but it certainly didn't dampen our spirits.

                                

Last weekend was quiet but this weekend Nick's sister Helen turned 70 on Friday so we were at a party for her at her son's house on Saturday which was nice.  After we got home we got the lovely news that our niece Emma had given birth to a little girl.  We knew she was in labour while we were at the party and were all hoping the baby would come before midnight - Saturday would have been Nick's Mum's 98th birthday if she was still alive.  Well baby Freya did arrive before midnight and Mum and baby are doing well.  Grandma would be so proud.

I think that's a good point to wrap up this very long and overdue post!

Friday's Fave Five - 21/8/26

It's late here on Friday but I'm determined to take part this week.  Susanne reminds us each Friday to look back on the week and share our blessings.  The link up is here.

1)  Company at the weekend.  My eldest son and his family were here and we also had one of my husband's sisters (and her husband) here for lunch on the Saturday.  We were trying to plan ahead for our extended family get together next week.

2)  Planning ahead.  I volunteered to take a pasta sauce for the second night of our get together so today I have made the first batch.  

These are now safely in the freezer.  I will make the second batch either tomorrow afternoon or Sunday morning.

I also found time to make some banana bread. 

It looks like we've eaten a lot of it but I gave slightly more than half the loaf to my daughter to take home with her - the grandkids love it.

3)  Cooler weather and some rain this week.  It's made things so much easier around the house.

4)  Easy meals.  Because I needed space in the freezer for the pasta sauce we've been using things in the freezer for our dinners this week which means Hubby hasn't had to do as much cooking.  

5)  Internet shopping.  There were a few things I needed this week which I managed to get on Amazon, including these:

The blades rotate when switched on and they keep flies away from your food.  I'm sure they're going to come in handy next week and at home.  I also got a home delivery this morning of the ingredients I needed for the pasta sauce plus some other items we needed here.  It saved me a trip to the supermarket.

We have my daughter's children here tomorrow morning so I'm also thankful that I haven't got a Foodbank delivery to take in.  Then on Sunday my son and his boys are coming down from Nottingham by train and we will take them to the holiday house on Tuesday with us in the car.  My DIL will join us on Friday after work.

I'm thankful to be able to help the kids out when we can.  We had a laundry thing going on earlier in the week as my daughter's washing machine wasn't working properly.  Thankfully that's all fixed now.

Have a good weekend all.