#SoCS - 2/5/26 - Neat

Linda hosts SoCS and today's offerings can be found here.  Thank you Linda.

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

I spent some time yesterday helping a young relative sort out clothing.  They have had a rough time over the last few years and lost both parents in 2025.  Persuading them to tackle the mountain of clothes in the house has not been easy.  We all grieve in different ways and we need to be ready for each task before it can be done.

Recently though progress has been made and when it became clear that they were ready to at least make a start on sorting out the clothing, a couple of family members were happy to step in and help.  Including me.

It was a bit like doing a Marie Kondo clear out - holding up an item of clothing except instead of "does it spark joy?" or "do you love it?", we had keep, charity shop or rubbish.  The keep and charity shop also being sub divided into wash or clean.  Decisions were made quickly and no time was allowed for a change of mind.

I came home with a lot of bags for the charity shops.  I didn't actually count them yet (they're in my garage) but there's at least 10.  Now I could well do without this task but I knew that if we left those bags there they would probably still be there in weeks to come and they really don't have the space.  Anyway I was just so glad that this task is finally being tackled and I have the time and energy to move the bags on, either by taking them to a charity shop or by putting them out for the regular street collections that get done by charities around here.

I think it will be some time before the rooms we were liberating can be classed as neat and tidy but it was a huge step forward that we can hopefully build on soon.

Friday's Fave Five - 1/5/26

It's Friday so time to look back on the blessings of the week and then share them over here at Susanne's site.  Thank you Susanne for keeping us on track.

1)  Time with Grandkids Nathan and Ella.  We had them here last Saturday overnight.  This was the first time we'd had them overnight so it was a bit of a challenge.  They were actually quite good playing together during the afternoon and Nathan went to bed quite easily.  Ella is another story - she is not good at settling down to sleep but, thankfully, once she is asleep she tends to sleep right through to the morning.  Nathan on the other hand was obviously a bit anxious and woke during the night so I ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor between their beds so not the best night's sleep!  But it enabled my daughter to celebrate her upcoming birthday without having to worry about the kids.  Her birthday isn't for another week or so but it's hard to find venues and co-ordinate dates.

2)  Sunshine!  We've had a lot of it this week.  Really improves the mood.

3)  A walk round the lake on Wednesday - and the mud has dried up.  The pathways are still quite rutted from where we had all the mud but it was nice to just pull my trainers on for the walk.  And the swan is nesting so hopefully there will be cygnets soon.  Daddy swan is definitely in protective mode though.

The pigeons were trying very hard to grab the food in the water near the edge even though it was too big for them really.

Look at those wings!

4)  Bluebells!  On Tuesday after my keep fit class I took a trip down memory lane and visited Wanstead Park which is an area where we used to go for walks before we moved.  It has an area called Chalet Wood that is famous for its bluebells.

My phone camera doesn't really do them justice although they were probably past their best - I should have gone last week.

5)  Hubby and I took a walk on Monday to our nearby Larkswood.  No bluebells this time but we did discover this structure:

It's huge!

So grateful to have such nice places nearby to spend time in the fresh air and get some exercise.

Have a good weekend all.