Friday's Fave Five - 22/5/26

Friday means taking a pause and finding the good things in the previous week and then linking up here on our host Susanne's site.

1)  Firstly I'm extremely thankful that our car didn't get stolen last night as Hubby had left the keys in the car!  He was obviously in the process of locking the steering lock because that's where the keys were and he must have got distracted.  Anyway thankfully no harm done.

2) A couple of get togethers this week - Knit and Natter on Tuesday and the evening book group on Wednesday.  Always nice to get out and socialise with other people.

3)  Dry weather last Sunday for the Highams Park Spring Festival.  It clouded over at one point and was quite blustery but the rain held off until the early evening and it was a good day for the local community.  We also raised over £400 for the Foodbank.

4)  For the last few weeks we've had 3 or 4 students helping out at the Foodbank from a nearby Special Ed school.  They are all between 16-18 and each one has a member of staff with them and I think they've all enjoyed their time with us.  I'm grateful that we can give schools the opportunity to visit and help out at the Foodbank.  Also grateful for a local group that stepped in with a donation to replace one of our freezers that had stopped working last week.  The new one arrived on Tuesday and we were up and running with it by Thursday.

5) Dry, sunny and very hot weather forecast for this weekend which is a bank holiday weekend (no work on Monday for most people).  In fact they're forecasting that the temperature may be record breaking - it will be over 30 degrees.  (The record is 32.8° C.)  The washing is on the line and the garden furniture uncovered and ready to use.  My son and his family are arriving tonight for a few days.  All good here.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 21/5/26

Well I think I need to speed up my reading - I'm still ahead of schedule but I don't think I've been reading as much and the books are piling up!

I finished this last week and I was impressed with it as a debut novel. 

"When teenager Nora Sheehan fatally shoots her brother Nico in their family home one evening, her parents’ lives are left shattered. Nico had been diagnosed with a terminal illness – was what Nora did an act of mercy, or something far darker? And what will happen to her now, alone in a juvenile detention centre awaiting trial, unable or unwilling to speak?"

The book follows Nora and her family as they navigate the US legal system and deal with their grief.  Angie and David feel like they have lost both their children as Nora is facing the prospect of a long jail term.  Initially they rely on a local lawyer, Martine Dumont but she calls on her son Julian to take on the case as he is a high powered defence lawyer working in New York.  He is also the ex-partner of Angie and their parting was far from amicable.

Additionally, there are lots of secrets between the characters, some which are revealed early on, others later.

The story is well told and the focus is definitely more on the aftermath of the shooting, and the history between Angie and Julian rather than why Nora shot her brother.  Personally I would have liked to have had more insight into what was going on inside Nora's head leading up to the shooting.  But the lack of that didn't spoil it for me. 4 stars for me.

I'm currently reading:

This was the choice of the afternoon book club and it's a re-read for me, although it was a long time ago so I don't remember it that well, other than that I liked it first time around.

On my bedside table I also have this one:

which I picked because it was a magazine recommendation and it ticked the "published in 2026" prompt on the 52 Book Club challenge but Penitence ticks that box too so I might have to get a bit creative.

I also need to pick up this one from the library as it's the next pick for the evening book group:

I'm not sure I can fit this one to a prompt but maybe when I've read it I'll be able to work it in somewhere.

After this one we're going to read Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell which feels fairly recent to be on the library list but then I checked and found it was first published in 2020.  Time is going too fast!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 20/5/26

It's Hodgepodge time again.  Joyce provides the questions, we give our answers and then we join up here.  Thanks Joyce.

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

I'm not sure that I do make things complicated although when planning any journeys I'm always factoring in toilet stops, even if that means on public transport we might not take the most direct route.

2. What impresses you? 

Acts of kindness, people going the extra mile.  Natural beauty - e.g. sunsets.

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all) If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one colour what colour would you choose? 

I'm not that picky but there are some things I will not eat so probably a 7.  Don't think I'll ever get to 10 lol.

A meal of one colour?  Urgh.  It would probably have to be a chicken and rice dish of some sort but I think I'd be cheating with the sauce!

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel 'balanced'? 

Well for working people that would mean having balance between your work and home life.  Being retired that's no longer such an issue.  But there still needs to be balance between the things I need to do, the things I want to do and the demands of the family.  I think we're pretty balanced.

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

Well my first destination would be Vermont where my son is currently living with his family and I might not travel anywhere else.   Of course his in-laws who are our hosts when we visit might have other ideas lol.  I'd like to visit New Zealand and Japan but I'm not sure I'm up for too much long haul travel any more and I've definitely been put off cruises with the various issues some of those have had.  I could probably spend a year travelling around the UK with its various islands if I put my mind to it.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Some heavy plant vehicles for road resurfacing went past our house this afternoon.  Felt like we were in an earthquake.  Goodness only knows what it's been like in the road they're actually resurfacing!

A load of Waffle! 20/5/26

Well the last few days have just whizzed past!  And yes I know that Wednesday is Hodgepodge day but hopefully I'll get to that later.  First there's some catching up to do as I haven't posted since Friday!

Saturday started off busy as I was at the Foodbank all morning, taking in a delivery, unpacking it, dating it and trying to put it away.  That's tricky on Saturdays as the stock room also houses the mobile shelving units we use on Foodbank days.  I was on my own for most of the morning too. 

I was glad of a restful afternoon because on Sunday it was the Highams Park Spring Festival. (There are some great photos from the day here: (4) Highams Parklife | Facebook) 

Thankfully the rain held off and it was a lovely day.  I was there at 8 am to help the management group get things set up for all the various entertainment and stall holders but from about 10.00 am until the event finished at 4.30pm I was helping in the Foodbank stall.  I did get a break at lunchtime and joined Hubby to watch friends of his performing on the music stage.

Lots of people attended.  In addition to the various stalls either selling food or promoting local businesses/charities etc there was a display of classic cars, a shire horse display and also a small funfair.

But, by the time I'd helped pack down the Foodbank stall and brought a carload of stuff home to take back to the Foodbank on Monday I was exhausted!

Needless to say Monday was a quiet day although we did take the things back to the Foodbank and I did do my usual Monday evening shift there.

As usual my photo taking was sketchy.

This was the scoreboard from one of the games we had going on the Foodbank stall.  I think the adult winner probably spent as much on having lots of turns as the value of the prize!  He was determined to get the highest score.

Laura and Richard who Hubby knows through his open mics and band events.

Shire horses

Lots of cereal donated to the Foodbank.

I didn't get around to doing a News post yesterday - I was at keep fit in the morning, we did the school pick up of grandchildren Nathan and Ella in the afternoon and then there was a Knit and Natter session last night.  We're aiming to make that a weekly thing now rather than fortnightly and although we couldn't use the pub last night we will be able to in future - apart from when the World Cup is taking place!  We met in the local Costa which is inside our big Tesco store and it worked fine.  It was very quiet in there and will probably be a suitable alternative when we can't use the pub although it closes at 9 pm so we won't get as much time.

And the only news worth reporting yesterday was that the BBC has finally announced who the new presenters of Strictly Come Dancing will be.

You can click on the link there if you're interested.  I am slightly underwhelmed.  The two presenters who left (Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman) have been replaced by 3 (yes 3!) new presenters:  Emma Willis who is a well known presenter, Johannes Radebe a former strictly professional dancer and Josh Widdecombe a comedian who also took part in one of the Christmas specials - dressed as a penguin!  It will be interesting though to see how their roles will be defined and how the dynamics work.  I do love watching Strictly.

Phew that's me caught up.  Off to check out the Hodgepodge now.

Friday's Fave Five - 15/5/26

I felt like posting the snowy picture this week - we've had a shower of hailstones twice this week and it's been decidedly chilly!  But there are always good things going on too and thanks to our host Susanne we are reminded each week to post about them and then link up here.

1)  Well my first one is actually from last week but I didn't include it then so I'm doing it now.  Last Wednesday our TV box (provided by Virgin TV) just seemed to die.  It suddenly stopped working.  I checked all the wires were plugged in, rebooted the system etc but no, it was dead.  Thankfully I was able to get an engineer booked in for the following day and the engineer was great.  He provided us with a new box but also checked all the cabling etc to make sure there wasn't anything else going on.  He was a really pleasant young man and we were pleased to be up and running again without too much delay.

2)  On Saturday I was on the rota for taking in a delivery at the Foodbank but I got a call about 8.30 from the manager to say the delivery would be arriving in about 15 minutes (way earlier than it usually is) but she would take care of it as she was already up and ready to jump in her car to get there in time.  I probably could have got there not too long after her but it was nice not to have to rush around and have the whole day to do as I pleased.

3)  Two meet ups this week - Knit and Natter on Tuesday evening.  We've switched to Tuesdays and are now meeting in an upstairs room of the local pub.  This means we have more space and we can enjoy a glass of wine etc while we chat.  (And knit of course.)  We're hoping to make this a weekly instead of fortnightly get together too as long as the room is available.

The second meet up was the afternoon book group which meets at the library.  I don't think many of us were impressed with Hotel du Lac!  Hopefully our next read of "Three things about Elsie" will be better.

4)  Another baby expected in our extended family.  There are now 3 expected, 1 in September, 1 in October and 1 in November.   Lots to look forward to.

5)  And finally I mentioned her in previous posts this week, my daughter Rebecca turned 40 on Wednesday.  She is definitely a blessing in my life.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 14/5/26

Well since last week I have finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. I did enjoy it but I found some of the historical parts of the book a little bit confusing to follow as they weren't always in a chronological order. However following Faith's recommendation I watched the film which I really enjoyed and it helped make more sense of the book.

I've now moved on to Penitence by Kristin Koval which is about what happens after teenager Nora shoots her brother dead.

Yes I know it sounds a bit grim but it was recommended in a magazine I read and yes, it ticks a 52 Book club prompt - the Kindle edition was released in 2026.

We had a good meet up with my afternoon book group yesterday where we discussed Hotel Du Lac. Most of us didn't enjoy it that much and found it quite slow. Good to be in the majority.

And now for something a bit different which I'm copying from Faith, who copied it from Barbara who got it from Paula at Between the Bookends.

1. Bookmarks or dog-ears?

Absolutely has to be Bookmarks. I have a lot of them. Quite a few are promotional ones from when I had a book club subscription and there aren't any really fancy ones but turning corners down is a big no for me.

2. Book accessories?

I have a reading light somewhere but I hardly use it. What I need to get is something my husband has that keeps the book open. His is a really simple version of this:

IF Charcoal Gimble Traveler hands free reading tool.,Urban grey,20 cm : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen

(This one folds when not in use, my Husband's doesn't.

3. Are you a fast or slow reader?

I'm definitely not slow but I wouldn't say I'm exceptionally fast. And it depends on what's meant by this. As in do you read quite quickly when reading. Or do you get through books quickly because you're consistent with your reading? For me that would depend on how engaging the book is. Some books I might get through in a few days, others might take me a week or longer.

4. Have you ever written to an author?

Not exactly but I did follow an author's blog for a while and we'd exchange comments.

5. Have you ever met an author in person?

No

6. Do you have a favourite character who is not the main character?

It's too late in the day to think of an answer for that.

7. Do you have any bookish merchandise?

No - well apart from some bookends on my shelves.

8. Favourite book from childhood?

Little Women, the What Katy Did series, lots by Enid Blyton.

9. Do you read one book at a time, or several?

One at a time usually.

10. Favourite genre?

Crime Thrillers

11. Genres you don’t care for?

Gothic, Science Fiction, Westerns

12. Best movie based on a book? Worst?

It took me a long time to get through Lord of the Rings and then I binge watched the films which I loved. I've enjoyed all the Harry Potter films too.

I can't remember watching a film and thinking it wasn't as good as the book or that the film didn't follow the book.

What are you currently reading?

Wednesday Hodgepodge - on Thursday 14/5/26

Joyce asks the questions, we post our answers and then the link up is here.

1. What's one piece of advice you would you give a recent or soon-to-be graduate? 

It's ok to change your mind about your future plans or just to take a break before rushing in to anything.

2. May 15th marks the birth date of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At this point in time are you more in need of brains, courage, heart, or a trip back home? Explain. 

Courage I think.  There are still a lot of things I put off doing at times.

3.  "There's no place like home" is an oft repeated line from Baum's book. When was the last time you felt the truth of that statement? 

Probably every time we're away or busy babysitting the grandkids and then we come home to a quiet peaceful house.

4. May is National BBQ Month...do you own a grill? Who does the grilling at your house? What's your favourite thing to throw on the grill? What's the last thing you grilled? 

No we do not currently own a grill.  Haven't done for some time.   We'd need a covered outside area to be able to regularly grill here in the UK.  The weather doesn't always co-operate.  Today for example we had a hail storm just as we were picking up grandkids from school.  And the weather forecast mentioned the possibility of frost overnight in some areas.  It's May!

5. What's a memory you replay in your head when you need a little joy? 

Don't have one in particular but it's bound to be something to do with my kids when they were young or the grandkids.  I can usually find something to remind me/bring a smile to my face if I scroll through photos on my phone.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Well I'm a day late to this week's party - we were out celebrating our daughter's 40th birthday yesterday.

The restaurant surprised her with a little cake

And we did proper cake back at my house.

And this was taken at a party she had recently - with more cake!

Daughter Rebecca on left with her wife Vicky.

In the news this week - 12/5/26

Well our National news has been dominated by the results of the local elections last week and whether the Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer will resign. 

Locally, our council which has been Labour run for a long time is now controlled by the Green Party.  Our own ward still has 2 Conservative councillors and there are still some Labour councillors but the Greens have the majority.  Even in our former area, Newham, there were massive changes with Labour still having the most seats but with no overall control, although they did elect a Labour Mayor.

The number of Reform candidates that managed to secure wins is slightly alarming.  But already there have been cases of candidates resigning or being expelled from the party.  One candidate had even resigned before the election took place but was still on the ballot paper and was elected!  I wasn't sure what happened in those circumstances so of course I googled it to find that a by-election will be held "if requested by local registered electors".

There has also been a story today about the leader of the Green Party, Zack Polanski who may not have paid the council tax due on the houseboat he was living on.  There seems to be a lot of people who will call themselves something else but basically they're just dirt diggers.

The International News has focussed on the outbreak of hantavirus on the cruise ship MV Hondius.  It seems that passengers have disembarked and travelled on to various locations during its travels and this must be making it difficult to trace all those who may have come into contact with the virus.  The long incubation period (up to 6 weeks in some cases) means monitoring will be going on for a while.  Hopefully there will be no further deaths.

In Sports the two big London clubs, West Ham and Spurs continue to try and hang on to a place in the Football Premier League.  West Ham will be bemoaning a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) decision that cost them a late equalizing goal and denied them a point in their match against Arsenal at the weekend.  The decision to disallow their goal took 4 minutes.  It looks like who goes down will not be decided until the last game of the season on 24th May.  The winners of the Premiership title might not be decided until then either although Arsenal look more likely than Manchester City.  All the teams play their final games on that Sunday with the same kick off time of 4 pm.  There will be a lot of nail biting going on.  And probably some shouting at the TV.

Entertainment news continues to give us hints as to who the new presenters of Strictly Come Dancing will be but no actual information has been forthcoming from the BBC.  I wish they would just get on with it!

At least we know who the next celebrities taking part in Traitors will be.  Another good line up. (See here for more info.) Can't wait.

And finally under Miscellaneous, the Japanese snack giant Calbee has switched its packaging to black and white due to problems with ink supplies due to the Iran war.  Somehow they don't look as appetising!  See more including pictures here.

A (little) bit of Waffle 11/5/26

Well its already 11.26 pm as I'm starting this post so I think it will have to be short and sweet so I can be in bed before midnight.

Firstly a belated "Happy Mother's Day" to any American or Canadian Mothers reading this.  I hope you all had a good day yesterday.  My American DIL had a good day that included putting up some shelves and marking papers - but apparently my son occupied their boys so she could do that and she was happy.

Mother's Day was back in March here in the UK so just an ordinary Sunday for us but we did have my daughter and her family here for dinner yesterday. Ella had been entrusted with Ozzie the Owl from her class for a few days so we had to take a photo to show that Ozzie had visited Nanny and Grandpa at the weekend.

Saturday was spent in town, doing a bit of shopping and also attending a Flea Market at the library.  Members of the various knitting groups organised by the one I attend were there doing some knitting to promote the various groups.  It was quite relaxing sitting inside the library doing a bit of knitting, especially when someone was selling homemade, delicious, chocolate brownies just outside.  Well it would be rude not to support a local business right?

Today I had an errand to run with my DIL this morning and then it was a few chores before heading over to babysit our Grandkids Nathan & Ella.  

Spring has decided to retreat today - on the way home from our daughter's the car flashed up a warning that the outside temperature was only 4 degrees C.  Brrr.  Time to get snuggled under a duvet.

This is not a weekly photo post! 10/5/26

Well I think this is a more accurate picture of my camera this week, not that I have an actual camera as all my photos are taken on my phone.  But this week I have taken very few and most of those were included in my Monday post here.  I really haven't got into a routine of taking photos.  Maybe I'll do better this week.  Although probably not.  I will have a photo to include from today but it wasn't taken by me!

#SoCS - 9/5/26 - Contrast

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

These weekly prompts are provided by Linda and the link up is here. Thanks Linda.

Well the idea of these posts is that we don't really think about them too much - just get writing and see what flows.  I'm having a hard time thinking what to write about this word.  I know what it means but what to write about it?

In contrast, when I know what I'm going to write I can waffle on for ages.  I've just recently finished the A-Z challenge during April and had a lovely time waffling on about authors and the books that I've read.  Reading is another thing I could talk about for ages.  I love reading and proper books mainly although I will read e-books too.  In fact I've just downloaded one from the library to read.  

I'm trying to work through my TBR pile but failing miserably.  That's what happens when you join two reading groups and you're also doing a challenge based on 52 prompts for the year.  Thankfully the reading group choices have worked for prompts on the list so I'm keeping the number of books I need to read over the year manageable.  I can usually get through a book a week without too much trouble.  Depending on the book of course.  Some of the reading groups choices have taken a while!  Not because they're particularly long but because they weren't as enjoyable.  The discussions on some of the books have been interesting.

Oh and there has been contrast there with people either loving or hating a book!

Phew got that in eventually. 

Friday's Fave Five - 8/5/26

And it's Friday again.  How does that happen?  I'm sure it was only Monday yesterday!  Anyway time to look back on the blessings from the week and then join up with other like minded bloggers here on our host Susanne's site.

1)  It's been a pretty uneventful week here, with just the usual activities like my keep fit class and the Foodbank sessions but sometimes it's just nice to have a quieter week and not feel like I'm chasing my tail.

2)  A more motivated week - I've done more walking and I've been trying to eat more healthily.  Hubby has also listened and reduced the size of my dinners.  It's easy to slip into the habit of cooking too much and then just eating it - until you get on the scales and realise the combination of too much food and not enough exercise is leading to weight gain!  I've also been going to bed earlier.  

I managed to spot one of the terrapins that live in the lake on one of my walks.  There are two and they can sometimes be seen out on a branch taking in the sun but I could only see this one, just under the surface of the water.

3)  A long chat with my cousin last night.  She was struggling with something she was crocheting so I was able to offer advice on that but then we had a good catch up.  This particular cousin is the closest thing to a sister for me.  (Along with all my lovely SILs too.)

4)  Going to bed earlier has meant more reading time so I've managed to finish both the books for the Book Club groups so now I can read something from my TBR pile - except that a book was recommended in a magazine recently and I was able to get the electronic version of it from the library.  That TBR pile is never going to go down lol.

5)  A good visit to the optician today.  My prescription has changed slightly but even if it hadn't I would still have to get new glasses as I broke the arm on my current pair last week.  But all the tests looked fine - they do a retina scan, pressure check etc.  My new glasses won't be ready for a couple of weeks but I've managed to tape the arm of my current pair so I can still wear them.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then write - 7/5/26

Well it's been a while since I posted about books (not including all the 26 A-Z posts I've recently done!) so I have a few books to talk about which I read during April. Firstly:

The Distant Echo by Val McDermid 

This series features Karen Pirie a Detective working on cold cases.  Having seen a televised version of Karen Pirie and read #6 in the series I decided it was worth checking out #1. It didn't disappoint although Karen Pirie has quite a minor role in this book.

Set between two time periods, 1978 and 2003, it started with a crime that happened in 1978 where a group of 4 friends stumble onto the body of Rosie Duff who, by the time the police arrive, has died. She had been raped and stabbed. The police initially treat the friends as witnesses but as they struggle to find the murderer they try to establish if one of the four could have murdered Rosie and treat them as suspects.

With suspicion aroused repercussions follow but eventually the case is left unsolved.

25 years later a review of cold cases, including the Rosie Duff murder stirs up memories and 2 of the original witnesses/suspects die in suspicious circumstances. New evidence comes to light and the remaining 2 try to clear their names and find out who the actual murderer was.

I enjoyed the book as it didn't keep switching between the time periods - we had the earlier events and then moved forward. And it came to a satisfactory conclusion. I'd liked to have seen more of Karen in the book but I'll be looking for #2 in the series at some point to see how she progresses.  4 stars

Next was:

Show me the bodies: How we let Grenfell Happen by Peter Apps

This book ticked a prompt on the 52 Book Club challenge as it will pair with another book I'm intending to read.  Basically it's read 2 books by authors related to one another.    

Not my usual sort of read but it was written by someone who attended the same school as my sons - in the year between them.

It is a very detailed account of not only the event of 14th June 2017, i.e. the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in Kensington, London, that claimed 72 lives, but how successive previous governments had allowed the situation to occur. It details the failings of the construction industry that allowed cladding, that not only contained combustible materials but also released toxic gases, to be fixed to buildings but also the short comings of local authorities in their management of social housing, in particular high rise blocks of flats.

Grenfell Tower with its external cladding and maintenance issues was a disaster waiting to happen. But the disaster was compounded by the Fire Brigade's response to the situation. Their expectation in fires in high rise blocks of flats is that a fire would be contained within the flat where it started and residents are therefore advised to "stay put". They were woefully unprepared for the rapid spread of the fire and how to arrange an evacuation of the building.

The book also touches on how the local authority badly handled rehoming the large number of people that were made homeless overnight, losing all their possessions, documents etc.

It's not an easy read and there is quite a bit of repetition about the fire testing regulations for the cladding panel but the author had clearly done his research well, including talking to many of the survivors who had horrifying stories to share.  5 stars

One of the prompts for the 52 Book Club Challenge is:

34. Inspired by the top-grossing movie the year you were born

Well the top grossing film in the year 1959 was Ben Hur!  This immediately conjured up images of Romans and chariot races.  I haven't watched the film but I knew that much at least.  Reading more about it I discovered that betrayal was a feature of the story so I went for:

Betrayal by Kate Furnivall 

Could you kill someone? Someone you love?

Paris, 1938. This is the story of twin sisters divided by fierce loyalties and by a terrible secret. The drums of war are beating and France is poised, ready to fall. One sister is an aviatrix, the other is a socialite and they both have something to prove and something to hide. 

I enjoyed the book although some of it was a bit predictable. 4 stars

My final read during April was:

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner.

Well I'm not sure how to start reviewing this book. It's supposed to be a classic and it won a Booker prize. It's also been described as a love story.

Firstly it's hard to pin down when the book is set. It was written in the 80s but it seems that the setting is the 50s. The main character, Edith Hope, is a romantic novelist who has been advised by her sister and friends to spend some time away in Switzerland at the Hotel du Lac. Eventually we find out why but details are vague.

I found the book dull and slow. There is a lot of descriptive text about furnishings, weather and, to be fair, some of the other people staying at the hotel but not about the important events in Edith's life.  I found it hard to get my head around Edith's character. There is also a lot of misogyny in this book.

This is an edited version of the review I posted on Goodreads which included spoilers.  I read it for a book club. It will be interesting to see what others thought of it.  I gave it 1 star!

Thankfully it ticked off another 52 Book Club Challenge prompt. 

49. From the 800s of the Dewey Decimal System

I'm currently reading Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg which was my other book club's choice but also ticks off another prompt: 

40. Author’s first and last name start with same letter

So far I've been able to pair quite a few of the book club reads to the 52 Book Club Challenge which makes things a little bit easier.

Apologies for the odd formatting where I've copied from Goodreads.  It's too late in the day to go back and edit it.  Goodnight!

A-Z Reflections Post 2026

Well it's time to do a reflections post on the A-Z challenge and one of the co-hosts, J Lenni Dorner gave some pointers on what to consider including so here goes:

• How do you feel about the Theme Reveal? (Especially if this is not your first year doing the Challenge.) I think it's useful to let people know you're taking part and what you're planning to write about but I'm not sure having a list on the A-Z site is actually that helpful. (Although it probably is for the co-hosts to gauge what the level of participation is going to be.)
• In what ways does the reflection post help you?  It's a good way of looking at what worked, what didn't etc.
• What experiences have you had in the past, or hope to have this year, with the Road Trip?  I've tried to do the Road Trip a couple of times and have failed miserably.
• Does the HTML on the badges/ graphics page help you? Yes, thanks.
• Did you meet your blogging goals in April? I did.  
• What were your top five favourite blogs from the challenge to visit in April this year? Difficult to say - I'm still working my way through the list but several people who I already followed did the challenge so I enjoyed following them through the challenge.
• Did a co-host (J Lenni Dorner, Arlee Bird, Zalka Csenge Virág, John Holton, Jayden R Vincente, or Ronel Janse van Vuuren) comment on your blog during the challenge? Yes, several of them, thank you.
• Is there a comment you received on your blog in April that is your favourite? "Wendy, how do you remember all of the authors you've read! I am amazed at your A-Z this year and you are only on "D"!! Wow!"  This was left by one of my regular readers who always leaves me great comments.
• Who were your top comment-leavers this challenge, and did they do the challenge?  Definitely Terri, who left the comment above, plus Kim and Joanne who did not do the challenge. Of people that did do the challenge Joyce at http://www.fromthissideofthepond.com/ and Faith at GOLD in the CLOUDS were regular commenters.
• Is your blog open to comments from everyone, or only comments from those who "sign in" to the platform? Open to everyone.
• Do you feel this helps or hurts your blogging comment goals? Helps
• Are there any other blog hops you regularly take part in? Wednesday Hodgepodge at From this side of the pond, a weekly gratitude post at Living to tell the Story and I also try to join in with a stream of consciousness post on Saturdays here.
• Did you discover anything interesting because of the Challenge? Lots of things.
• Will you plan to do the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in 2027, and why (or why not)?  I probably will if I can think of a suitable theme.  I definitely work better with a theme.
• Will you recommend this blog hop to others?  Difficult to say.  My regular followers are already aware of the challenge from visiting my blog and new visitors have tended to be people doing the challenge anyway.
• If RoadTrippers only visit one of your Challenge posts, which would you suggest and why? (This question is also the prompt if you create a RoadTrip post.) Probably the A post.
• Do you plan to visit the A to Z site every month? I look at all the new posts as and when they're posted.
• Did you refer someone to hope to win a guest post spot? No
• What else could the team offer you to persuade you to encourage others to join the challenge?  I don't feel I need encouraging, I just don't have that big a circle of people.

Phew that was a marathon.  I really enjoyed doing the A-Z again this year particularly looking back at the books I've read and their authors.  What frustrated me, as it seems to every year, was that despite deciding on my theme way back last summer, I still wasn't totally prepared by the start of the challenge.  Consequently that meant I didn't have as much time as I'd like to work my way through the list of people taking part.  I think I'm about half way through the list now and I've tried to comment as much as possible.  I will continue to work through it but it will probably be at a more leisurely pace.  The way the commenting system works on Blogger still frustrates me too as it's hard to see the continuity in the same way as you can on Wordpress sites but I have no plans to switch platforms.

Finally 2 big thank yous - firstly to the team that make the A-Z challenge possible.  I can't imagine how time consuming it must be for you all especially when you all have your own sites to maintain and many of you are published authors.  Secondly to all those people who did visit my A-Z posts and particularly those that left regular, encouraging comments.  A lot of my blogging is about keeping a log of my daily life so I'd do it even without the comments but it is great to feel that your posts are not just disappearing into the web.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 6/5/26

Joyce asks the questions, we prepare our answers and then the link up is here.  Thanks Joyce.

1. What's something you may do this month?

I might get a haircut.  Been saying that since February!  That's the problem with a long hairstyle - it doesn't need as much maintenance so it's easy to just leave it growing.

2. Hola! Hodgepodge Day lands just after Cinco de Mayo... how do you feel about Mexican food? What's your favourite dish? Do you make it at home or is it a strictly dine out option? 

I'm not a big fan and it would definitely be dine out as I wouldn't make it at home.

3. When the children of today grow up what do you think they'll say about this time period? What do you most hope they remember? 

Oh goodness, that's a tricky one.  How long have we got?  It's hard to find the positive's with all the unrest around the world.

4. What advice would you give a new mother? 

Trust your instincts but ask for help when you need it.

5. What's a phrase your mother often said to you? If you're a mom do you say it to your own children? 

I can't remember a specific phrase but we were always reminded about good manners if we forgot, which is something I also did when my kids were younger.  They're all grown adults now with kids of their own and I love that they're reinforcing good manners with them.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Going back to question 3, our 3 youngest grandchildren were all lock down babies, born in 2020.  What I hope they'll say when we talk about lockdown is "what are you talking about" because they will have no memory of it as long as it doesn't happen again.

Hmm hope that makes sense!

In the news this week - 5/5/26

Well it's been a few weeks since I did one of these posts as I was busy doing the A-Z challenge but now that's done I'm trying to get back into my regular blogging rhythm.

As far as the International picture looks, nothing much has changed.  The USA and Iran are still at war despite a ceasefire, Israel is still attacking Lebanon and nothing seems to have changed in Ukraine.

Moving on to local news then and everything seems to be about the local elections taking place on Wednesday - this is for our local councillors.  It's not looking good for Labour.  We did our votes over a week ago by post.  So much easier than having to get to the polling station on the day.  Especially as you now have to remember to take photo ID with you.  It will be interesting to see just how badly Labour does but hopefully Reform won't do as well as they keep saying they will.

In sport, our football season is drawing to a close with Arsenal set to win the Premiership and possibly get through to the Champions League final. They're currently ahead in the semi-final.  At home we're waiting to see if West Ham or Tottenham Hotspur will be relegated.  Hubby is a West Ham supporter, I'm sort of a Spurs fan through family connections but I don't really care.  I was just looking forward to the summer break from football when, oh yeah, there's just the matter of the World Cup taking place this year!

The Entertainment news that caught my eye was this one about the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest Semi-finals next week.  It seems to me this contest has got more farcical over the years and as this year it turns 70 it will probably be worse.  I mean since when has Israel been in Europe?  But then again if Australia can take part I suppose anyone can?  Apparently it's all to do with Broadcasting areas.  Our entry this year is Eins Zwei Drei by LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER.  I don't think we have a hope.  Apparently it has  "many iconic UK references like roly poly with custard"   so why give it a German title?  I probably won't be watching.

And for miscellaneous I bring you this article from the BBC website on the wonderful creations stars wore for the Met Gala this week.  Many of which would probably have prevented the wearer from sitting comfortably!  (Or even walking very far!)

P.S. Arsenal made it through to the Champions League final - my Grandson Nathan and my DIL will be very happy.