Friday's Fave Five - 20/3/26

Susanne reminds us each week to look back on our blessings and then we link up here.  Thank you Susanne.

1) Last Sunday was Mother's Day here in the UK.  We had a lovely afternoon with my daughter and her family.  We were supposed to go to them but we ended up here.  They brought the ingredients for an English style cream tea which we all enjoyed.

2)  We found out this week that one of our nieces is expecting her first baby later this year.  A baby is always something to be thankful for.

3)  Hubby and I sat through a TV series together this week. We don't often want to watch the same thing so it was nice to sit down together and we did binge watch it a bit over a couple of days.  (Series was "Gone" aired by ITV one of the main UK channels.)

4)  Flowers from the Foodbank - we had so many donated to us on Monday evening we didn't have enough buckets to put them in so we all brought some home.

 5) Our eldest son celebrated his birthday yesterday - he was working during the day but he and his family had dinner out at their local Nandos.

And for a bonus - I was able to hang some washing to dry outside today!  Spring is definitely here.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 19/3/26

Well I only managed to finish one book since my last book post - The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves.

The blurb reads:

"It's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner Willow Reeve and their growing family. One stormy winter night, his oldest and closest friend, Archie Stout, goes missing. Ever the detective, Perez catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife and children.

But when he arrives he finds a shocking Archie's body, on an archaeological dig site and an ancient Westray story stone with precise spirals carved into it beside him, the clear murder weapon. The artifact, taken from a nearby museum, seems to suggest a premediated murder.

But Perez is so close to the case that he struggles to maintain an objective distance from the potential suspects. He finds it difficult to question Archie's wife, whom he's known for years. Rumours swirl about the dead man's relationship with a young woman new to the island, an artist. With each new lead, the case becomes more twisted and Perez wonders if he will ever find out what happened in his friend's final days."

I've enjoyed quite a few books by Ann Cleeves and I've watched the "Shetland" series which featured DI Perez on the TV.  This book finds Perez now settled in Orkney with partner Willow, a young son and another baby on the way.  Yet there didn't seem to be any explanation of how we got from Shetland to Orkney.  According to Google we've jumped 7 years but that wasn't accounted for in this book.

Having said that this book could easily be a stand alone and I do love Cleeves' way of describing things in detail and giving depth to her characters.  It was a little bit too neatly wrapped up for me at the end so no 5 stars but it definitely makes you want to visit Orkey for its scenery.

According to Goodreads I'm 2 books ahead of schedule to complete this year's reading challenge but my reading pile is not going down.

I have 3 books out from the library at the moment:

 


The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is the afternoon book club choice.

People Person is for the evening book group and

The Betrayal is for one of the 52 book club prompts:

"Inspired by the top grossing movie, in the year you were born"

The film?  Ben Hur.  My first thoughts were I'd have to find something on ancient Rome.  Definitely not my sort of thing.  Having looked at what the film is about Betrayal seemed a good fit.  My challenge my rules!

I've actually read The Trouble with Goats and Sheep before so that should be an easy one to get through and I'm starting with that one next.  Then I'll do the other book club one so that I'm ready for the next meet ups before moving on to Betrayal.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 18/3/26

Joyce gives us the questions, we provide our answers and we link up here.

1. St. Patrick's Day lands on March 17th. Do you believe in luck? Are there things you do thinking they'll  bring good luck or  things you avoid because they're considered bad luck? 

I think sometimes things feel like they're luck like winning a raffle, and sometimes the odds seem to fall in your favour but generally no I'm not a great believer in luck and I don't usually do things to avoid bad luck.

2. Forest-lime-sage-mint-olive-emerald...what's your favourite shade of green? Emerald.

3. In Ireland the meal on this day is often a hearty beef or lamb stew served with colcannon (mashed potato mixed with cabbage and leeks). In the US corned beef and cabbage is the more typical St. Patty's Day meal. Will you/did you mark the day with one of these dishes? Baked-fried-roasted-mashed...what's your favourite way to eat a potato?

No traditional St Patrick's meal for us but we did have roast potatoes with our chicken dinner.  I like potatoes however they are cooked but my favourite would be mashed.

4. What colour of the rainbow best represents your personality/mood today? Tell us why. 

I think yellow - it's warm and sunny here today so I'm happy.

5. Which 'lucky' quote resonates with you. Elaborate. 

 'Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.' E.B. White 

'Diligence is the mother of good luck." Benjamin Franklin 

'Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.' Seneca 

'Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.' Ralph Waldo Emerson 

I think they're all good quotes.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My husband has Irish roots on his Mother's side but none for me so St. Patrick's Day is not a big thing for us.  However at my keep fit class there are a few Irish women so yesterday we were doing some movements to Irish music.  It was a bit bizarre to be honest.  We had a good time though.

In the News this Week - 17/3/26

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my Irish friends.  There are a few Irish women at the keep fit class I go to on a Tuesday and one of them had brought in a playlist of Irish songs this morning.  That was interesting!  The class is normally quite laid back as many of the attendees are elderly but today we got even less done.  But it still got me out of the house and enjoying coffee with friends afterwards.

Took my mind off the news for a while.

At home one of the big stories has been the meningitis outbreak in Kent which has sadly taken the lives of 2 students at the university and there are more cases being treated not only from the university but some schools.  Thankfully my grandchildren are young enough to have been vaccinated against meningitis as part of their childhood immunisation programme but this was only started in 2015 so most of the students currently at university won't be protected.  Many students in Kent are being offered antibiotics and vaccines.

International news continues to be dominated by the war in Iran.  Enough said.

The big entertainment story was of course The Oscars.  I'd like to do a detailed account of that but I haven't seen any of the films.  Apparently one of the big stories was that Timothy Chalamet had fallen down the stairs - he's not having a good time, missing out on the Best Actor award plus the controversy over his comments about Ballet and Opera.  I could probably let the dig at Opera slide but not the Ballet!   But it turned out the stairs story was fake.  You really cannot believe all you see on social media.

In Sports, despite a draw this weekend against Liverpool, my football team could face relegation from the Premier League!  Tottenham Hotspur are 1 of only 6 teams that have never been relegated from the Premier League since it was set up in 1992.  I say my team but I don't really follow them or much football at all these days.  I grew up as a Spurs supporter because we had family working at the club and my husband actually worked for them as an accountant for a while despite the fact that he is a West Ham supporter.  I couldn't even name any of their players now but I would still hate to see them go down, although by the sounds of things it wouldn't be undeserved.

And finally in Miscellaneous it is Red Nose Day, organised by Comic Relief on Friday - a big fundraising event on TV but there are also many events leading up to this.  One of these is a BBC Radio 1 DJ, Greg James riding a tandem from Weymouth on the south coast of England to Edinburgh in Scotland a distance of 1000km which he's aiming to complete in 8 days.  Anyway today he was joined for part of his trek by the Prince of Wales.  I love it when our Royals step up for things like this.  You can watch a clip of that here.

A bit of Waffle - 16/3/26

We had Grandson Nathan here on Saturday morning until early afternoon which was nice.  He's started a big jigsaw so he brought that here on a puzzle board and we managed to get the edging done but he lost interest after that.  Especially once he managed to persuade Grandpa to play football outside for a bit.

Yesterday my daughter and DIL brought afternoon tea to us.  We were supposed to go there but they've had a few issues at home with a leak and now their tumble dryer isn't working so they came to us instead.

We had cream cheese and smoked salmon bagels followed by scones with clotted cream and jam plus a couple of other cakes.  I also got a lovely plant which hopefully I won't kill and some nice soap.  It was Mother's Day here in the UK.

Of course we also got a load of washing to dry in our tumble dryer.  Just glad we live near enough to be able to help out like that.

Today I've had a fairly quiet day - I submitted the plastic count we'd done last week.  It would be nice to think that a collective effort might put pressure on our Government to try and reduce the plastic packaging we get.  There is a lot of unnecessary wrapping on food.  I try to buy loose fruit and veg when I can and I have various things that come as refills for starter bottles such as washing up liquid, fabric conditioner and cleaning spray and they come packaged in cardboard that can be recycled.   There is talk that when one of the local fish and chip shops closes soon that it will become a butcher's shop.  That would be good because a lot of the plastic we bin each week is meat wrapping.   Will have to see how expensive it is though.

This was our tally sheet:

This evening I've been at the Foodbank taking in deliveries and it would seem most of the supermarkets overestimated on flowers for Mother's Day as we received lots of flowers tonight, so many we didn't have enough flower buckets to get them all in water so I now have a vase of tulips to brighten my dining room table too.  One of the perks of being a volunteer.  

Weekly photos - 8/3/26 - 14/3/26

Well this week I have been tracking the progress of my neighbours Cherry Blossom tree.

This was taken on Sunday when it was only just starting to bloom.

    

I also managed to walk round the lake and snapped some tufted ducks.

Monday was the start of a week of counting the plastic going into the bin and recycling.

Hopefully the data will be used to put pressure on the Government to look at ways to reduce the amount of plastic packaging we use.

Tuesday

     

Wednesday - a close up of the blossom and it's already dropping onto our grass.

Thursday - a lovely start to the day but you can see how much blossom is dropping.

Friday

A close up on Saturday showing how bare the top of the tree is already beginning to look.

It really is a pretty tree when it's in full blossom but it is so short lived.

#SoCS - 13/3/26 - Review

The Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompts are provided by Linda.  To find out more or to take part go here.  Thanks Linda.

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

I seem to be writing a lot of books reviews lately.  I'm definitely doing a lot of reading and I try to review all the books I read even if it's only a few lines.

Being a member of two in person book clubs that were set up through my local library means getting through at least 2 books per month but taking part in the 52 Book Club challenge means I actually trying to get through a book a week.  Which is doable.  Just.  Although some of the books I've earmarked to read for the 52 Book Club Challenge are long.  

Wherever possible I'm trying to find prompts for the book club reads and so far I've managed to do that this year.  Not sure where I might fit "The trouble with goats and sheep" by Joanna Cannon into but hopefully it will work for something.  I haven't started it yet but it's a re read for me so I'm sure it won't take me too long to get through it.

I quite enjoy doing those sort of reviews - helps me to remember the book having written about it.

The reviews I hate doing, and actually don't do very often are the ones from companies after you've bought a product.  Or the delivery companies wanting to know how the delivery was.  Including how the person delivery the item did.  Well how should I know?  Most times you don't even see them.  They leave the parcel in my porch.  If I'm lucky they might ring the doorbell or use the knocker but most times they don't.  But of course there will be an e-mail telling me they've delivered the parcel.  Which will probably be about the 5th or 6th email about that item.  You know how it goes:

Thank you for your order.

We're processing your order.

We've despatched your order.

The courier has your order.

We'll let you know when your order is out for delivery.

Your order is out for delivery.

Your order was delivered.

How was your delivery?

How was your order?

Actually that amounts to at least 9 emails about ink cartridges I ordered.  And of course if something goes wrong there are even more e-mails!

And then you want me to leave a review?  Sorry, not happening.  Unless I have something to complain about, then you'll hear from me.

I have better things to do.  Happy weekend.

Friday's Fave Five - 13/3/26

Each Friday Susanne reminds us to look back on the week and remember the things that have made us grateful.  Then we join up here to share.  Thank you Susanne.

1)  A chat with my best friend yesterday by phone.  I'm going to visit her next week to properly catch up - she's currently recovering from a fractured pelvis - fortunately it's only on one side so no surgery was required but it's still been a difficult few weeks for her but she's doing better.

2)  A long phone chat with my closest cousin today.  We don't see each other often but when we do or when we get on the phone we just pick up from where we left off.

3) 2 good book group meetings on Wednesday.  (Afternoon and evening.)  Both were well attended and we had some good discussions.

4)  Hubby mowed the lawn today without having to be asked!  Mowing the lawn is definitely one of his jobs but I often have to remind him it needs doing.

5)  Our neighbour's cherry blossom tree is in full bloom and that's a very pretty view from my kitchen window.  Just a shame that it is already losing the blossom.  It is so short lived.  But we've also had some sunshine too this week.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write 12/3/26

It's been a good week for reading and all things books!

I finished Past Reason Hated by Peter Robinson. This was another good crime thriller featuring DCI Banks. This one felt a bit slow in places and there was a lot of repetition about the smoking and drinking that went on at the time but I still enjoyed the unravelling of the clues and solving of the crime. 3 stars

I moved on to this one

Yes, another crime thriller.  I think it's fair to say it's my favourite genre.

This one features DCI Karen Pirie a detective working on cold cases in Scotland.  

The blurb reads:

"On a freezing winter morning, fishermen pull a body from the sea. It is quickly discovered that the dead man was the prime suspect in a decade-old investigation, when a prominent civil servant disappeared without trace. DCI Karen Pirie was the last detective to review the file and is drawn into a sinister world of betrayal and dark secrets.

But Karen is already grappling with another case, one with even more questions and fewer answers. A skeleton has been discovered in an abandoned campervan and all clues point to a killer who never faced justice - a killer who is still out there.

In her search for the truth, Karen uncovers a network of lies that has gone unchallenged for years. But lies and secrets can turn deadly when someone is determined to keep them hidden for good...."

This was actually #6 in the series but I was familiar with the character as she has been televised. Karen is definitely a no nonsense character and it was interesting reading about how things are done in Scotland and what happens when the work overlaps with policing not only in England but also abroad.

The cold case was wrapped up by the end of the book and there were quite a few twists and turns to that but the case of the skeleton didn't feel finished to me.  I might have to look out the next book in the series to see where that actually ends up going.  But I'll be looking out for the earlier books in the series first - I do like continuity.  I'm not even sure where I got this book from.  Possibly from my BIL - he passed on a lot of books last summer but it may have been a charity shop buy.

Definitely worth the read though - 4 stars from me.

I also had 2 Book Club meet ups yesterday.

The first one in the afternoon had our biggest attendance yet - 7 people.  The book we'd been reading for that was Grandad there's a head on the beach by Colin Coterill which I wrote about here.  Five of the group had read it and surprisingly 3 people really enjoyed it while I was in the minority of 2 who hadn't enjoyed it all.  

The evening group also had 7 people there which was a good turn out and we discussed The Muse by Jessie Burton which we'd all enjoyed although some more than others.  We had 5 regulars and a couple of newcomers so it was a nice mix and of course we moved on to discussing all sorts of things!

The next book I'm going to read is this one which was one I'd reserved a while ago and I picked it up from the library on Tuesday.

I've read a few books by Ann Cleeves in both her "Vera" and "Shetland" series as well as the more recent "Matthew Venn" books but this one follows the original Shetland detective Jimmy Perez after his relocation to Orkney.

Time for bed and a few opening chapters.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 11/3/26

The Wednesday Hodgepodge is brought to us each week by Joyce. We join up here to share our answers. Thanks Joyce.


1. Are you a naturally trusting person? Is trust built on logic or 'gut instinct'? Does everyone deserve a second chance? Elaborate.

I'm not a naturally trusting person, once bitten twice shy and all that. I think it's a bit of both when it comes to logic and instinct. Whether someone deserves a second chance depends on what they did and whether they are remorseful.

2. 'Beware the Ides of March'...March 15th on the ancient Roman calendar, these words were made famous by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar. Caesar was assassinated on March 15th 44 B.C. Have you read any Shakespeare? If so, do you have a favourite? Have you ever been to Rome?

We read a couple of Shakespeare's works at school, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. I'm familiar with a couple more especially A Midsummer Night's Dream. I keep meaning to look out for a book that just gives the outlines of each play and characters etc. I do have a copy of his complete works but that's not an easy read. Useful for reference sometimes.

I've been to Italy but not to Rome. (We went skiing there many years ago!)

3. Do you like a Caesar salad? If given the choice between a garden/house salad or Caesar which do you order? Anchovies or no? What's your favourite salad dressing?

I do eat Caesar salad but not with anchovies thank you. I prefer a French dressing if given a choice.

4. Where do you typically work (or blog if that's easier) at home? Do you have a dedicated home office space? Are you happy with that space?

At my dining room table or on the sofa! (That's the advantage of using a laptop or iPad rather than a PC.) We do have a bedroom that's more of an office but it also doubles up as Hubby's music room so I rarely use it.

5. Snow drops, daffodils, lenten roses, crocus, hyacinth, or early tulips...what's your favourite early Spring flower?

Well I had to look up lenten roses and see that I know them as Hellebores. I love all the spring flowers but I love the colours of tulips. We had a lot of different varieties of Hellebores in our garden in our former house.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

It's nice to lose myself in a bit of blogging and avoid the news for a bit.

A-Z Blogging Challenge 2026 - Theme Reveal

Once again I'm going to embark on the A-Z Challenge.  Essentially this will involve posting every day during April (except Sundays) working through the alphabet letter by letter.

If you want to find out more about the challenge go here.

If you want to take part you can sign up between March 23 to April 4 here.

I've always found it easier to work with a theme although one year I did just use a random word generator. This year I've decided to write about the books I've read and their authors.  (Not all of the books or we'd be here until next April - I read - a lot!)

I originally started thinking about this back in June 2025 and set to work on filling the gaps for the letters where I didn't have an author.  I foolishly thought that starting that early would mean by now I would be all prepared and ready to go.

Sadly not.  But I do have authors for every letter! (Yes even the tricky ones.)  I even have the first week of posts done and scheduled to post. Hopefully by the end of this month the other drafts will have been finished giving me more time to visit other blogs.  Because that's another fun part of the A-Z challenge - you get to find new blogs to follow.

The countdown is on.

In the News this Week - 10/3/26

Well the news is so depressing right now, and scary so I'm just going for feel good today and bring you this story:

'Truly extraordinary coincidence' as three cousins born on same day - BBC News

Who doesn't love a baby story?

With the size of our extended family (75 at the last count I did and that's just Hubby's side) there aren't many days to wait before another birthday pops up on WhatsApp.  I don't have any sounds on the family group because on a birthday day the messages come through thick and fast so my phone would be pinging on and off all day.

Today one of my SILs has a birthday and someone pointed out that it's shared with the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward.  I noted that thankfully I didn't think we had anyone with a birthday on 19th February which is Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's birthday until my DIL piped up that's her Dad's birthday.  Oops.  

We do have a few days where there are 2 or even 3 birthdays happening and 2 of our children are born a day before a cousin was born.  One cousin takes great delight in reminding our daughter that she's a year older than him when it's her birthday but of course she gets him back the next day.

And for another feel good story go here. This is about the Clumber breed of Spaniel following Bruin winning Best in Show at this year's Crufts competition.

Not the prettiest of the Spaniel breeds but he's obviously a perfect example of a Clumber.

And finally it's time to sign up for the A-Z challenge.  If you've never heard of it you can't have been following my blog for long because it's something I take part in each April. 

I started back in 2015 but the challenge has been running since 2010.  You can find out all you need to know here.

Well not quite all you need to know as I'm working on my theme reveal post.  Watch this space.

A bit of Waffle - 9/3/26

And it is Monday again.  We had a fairly quiet weekend - I was babysitting for my daughter on Friday evening and both children went to bed without too much fuss so that was good as I was on my own.

Saturday morning was an early start to accept deliveries at the Foodbank so after that I relaxed at home doing some reading and some knitting.

On Sunday I did manage to get out for a walk around the local lake which is still soo muddy.  But the buildings that had been subject to an arson attack have now been demolished and the debris removed so the walkway at the south end of the lake has now reopened.

Although it was dry it was cloudy and grey.

Lots of tufted ducks at the south end of the lake.

This is the site where the buildings were.

Today I spent quite a lot of time searching for a puzzle board I bought recently.  I have an older folding flat board for keeping puzzles safe but I also have one that rolls around an inflatable tube.  I was pretty sure the new one was out in the garden room but despite searching for it and around the whole house it took me ages to find it.  Of course it was in the garden room I just wasn't looking properly!  I wanted to lend one to my daughter as Nathan has a large puzzle he wants to do.  Annoyingly thought, having spent so long searching for it she then went home without it!

Now I'm off to collect some donations for the Foodbank from our local Tesco as the usual driver is unavailable.  Busy, busy busy!

Weekly photos 1/3/26 - 7/3/26

Well I did not do a good job with photos this week - the report card would say "must try harder"

No photo for last Sunday but I did remember on Monday when I was cutting back my lavender - it was a lovely sunny day and quite warm for this time of year.

Tuesday I finally finished this blanket which has now been returned to my daughter. (She made the granny squares, I put it all together.)

This book was finished on Wednesday.

I started this on Thursday.  Goodness only knows when I'll get it finished.  It will hopefully be a jumper for me.

 Friday - Screen shots count as photos right?  A night out to look forward to next month - another wine tasting quiz event at the Foodbank.

Saturday - Hmm this is even more of a cheat - taken from Goodreads - the book I finished yesterday.

As you can see I did a lot of reading and crafting over the last week.  I should probably try and get out more to find more interesting things to photograph!

Have a good week all.