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.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 19/8/26

Thanks to Joyce for the questions.  The link up is here.

1. August 19th is National Aviation Day...do you like to fly? Last time you were on an airplane? The date is chosen in honor of the history and development of aviation, and celebrated on the birthday of Orville Wright. Have you ever been to the Kitty Hawk area of North Carolina? The city of Dayton in Ohio (their birthplace)

I don't enjoy flying.  I'm not frightened of it but, not being in a position to fly anything but Economy usually, it's not the most comfortable way to travel.  But it's a necessity for us to be able to visit our son and his family who are currently living in the US and the last time we flew was in June when we had a lovely visit with them.  Unfortunately the best timings for us to get to Boston airport and then home from Heathrow means taking an overnight flight and neither of us got much sleep. 

Never been to North Carolina or Ohio.

2. In what area of your life do you tend to 'wing it'? Is this an area you should be winging? 

I don't usually wing it.  I'm a planner and I like to be organised.

3. A favourite book, song, or movie that relates to flight in some way?   

Well the only thing that sprang to mind was the movie "Top Gun".  One of these days I might get around to watching the sequel lol.

4. Soft serve, gelato, sherbet, frozen yogurt, or good old fashioned ice cream...what's your pleasure? Your favourite flavour? How often do you indulge? 

Well we usually just have old fashioned ice cream in our freezer and mostly vanilla because it goes well with a lot of things but my favourite flavour would be chocolate or salted caramel.  We did have some lovely soft serve when we visited our son in Vermont, and of course we visited the Ben and Jerry's factory.  They have way too many flavours to choose from lol.

5. I never get tired of spending time with the Grandkids.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I didn't get around to many blog visits last week so thank you if you left me a comment.  I'm hoping to do better this week - I even had this post done last night and scheduled to post today!

A Weighty Waffle - 18/8/26

Well I am way behind in my posts, again!  Let's see, the last time I posted was the Wednesday Hodgepodge.  It's been a busy week.

Thursday was taken up with the Foodbank as usual, then on Friday evening my son and his family arrived from Nottingham for the weekend.  They were out during the day on Saturday, catching up with friends but we had Nick's sister Helen and her husband Bill here for lunch so Helen and I could discuss shopping needed for our upcoming family holiday.

On Sunday we had my daughter and her family here for lunch with the others so it's been hectic.

Yesterday I was at the Foodbank in the evening so as well as not posting on my own blog, I've not had time to read other blogs either.  But I have been doing some reading.

I finished this one just in time for the meet up at the library last week.

It got a mixed response.  I quite enjoyed it.  It certainly showcases Atwood's talent and her imagination.  

This is our next read:

This is the same author as "Americanah" which we read recently and I struggled to get through so I wasn't looking forward to this one much.  However I've found it easier to get into so hopefully I'll get it finished before the next meeting.  It's another long one!

I didn't even get to post my 5 things to be grateful for on Friday even though I had plenty to be grateful for.  The main one being running water.  I included that as a blessing a few weeks ago as some areas had been without water while burst water mains were fixed.  It was even more relevant this week as we had no water overnight on Saturday - it went off sometime after midnight but, thankfully, by the morning our supply had been restored.  Over 7000 people weren't so lucky as they had more than a few days without water while a major supply main was being repaired.  The response from the water authority was far from satisfactory too with the distribution of bottled water being chaotic.

We seem to be having burst main, after burst main with water gushing out all over the place and yet we have a hosepipe ban!

And of course there have been cases of fires around the country - the hot weather continues, but tonight and tomorrow we may get some rain.  The fires have caused such concern that on Friday evening the Government sent an emergency alert to mobile phones urging everyone to be careful not to set off fires.  The sale of disposable BBQs have also been suspended.  The alert was really loud and not like most of the tones we usually hear on our phones!

Anyway....that's me caught up. Now I'm off to check out the questions for tomorrow's Hodgepodge!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 12/826

It's Wednesday so it's the Hodgepodge.  Questions are provided by Joyce at From this side of the pond.  Thank you Joyce.  We prepare our answers and then the link up is here.  Why not join in the fun?

1. I saw a meme on Instagram that went like this-'The movie Dirty Dancing came out in 1987 and was set in 1963, so if remade in 2026 it would be set in 2002. Now I need a little lie down in a dark room for a while." 

Time is crazy isn't it? So...what were you up to in the year 2002? 

Ha initially I was going to say I was chasing around after a 6 year old, a 4 year old and a 2 year old then I redid the maths and realised the kids would have been 16, 14 and 12 so I was still probably chasing around after then with my Mum cab.  I was also back working full time so life was busy.

2. "Me? I'm scared of everything..." What's something that scares you that you'd like to try anyway? 

If something is scary I'm probably walking away lol.

3. Watermelon-yay or nay? Which melon is your favourite-watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew. Of the watermelon food/beverages listed which would you say yes to...

watermelon salsa~watermelon feta salad~watermelon sorbet~

a watermelon Jolly Rancher~a watermelon margarita 

My favourite would be cantaloupe.  I'm not a great fan of watermelon but it is refreshing, especially in this hot summer we're having.  We tend not to do anything fancy with it other than work out the best way to cut and serve it.

4. August 12th is National Middle Child Day. Are you a middle child? If not, where do you fall in the birth order in your family of origin? Do you think this has influenced your personality? Elaborate. 

I am the youngest of 3 (2 older brothers) but there are big age gaps between us so I grew up feeling more like an only child.  I think this left me quiet and introverted.

5. Would you rather talk to everyone at a crowded party for a short time, or have a significant conversation with two people? Explain. 

Do I have to do either lol.  (See above.)  Crowded parties are often not the best place for conversations so probably I'd just chat to people for a short time and then move on.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The heat wave continues.  I feel like I'm melting most of the time.

Friday's Fave Five - 7/8/26

Well it is still just about Friday here in the UK so I'm trying to type fast to get this post done on before the stroke of midnight.

Yes I'm up late.  It's been a busy week so even more important to stop and remember the good things.  Thankfully our host Susanne reminds us each week and we link up here.

1) My knees seem to be improving.  I've had problems with them in the past and I've found going up and down stairs can aggravate them.  This week however I've been at the Foodbank several times and the back entrance which we use for bringing in deliveries is down a flight of 6 steps.  Twice this week I've had to shift the empty food crates from outside the back door, i.e. at the bottom of the steps, up to the gate for the delivery van to collect them.  That's involved going up and down the steps quite a few times and I noticed that my knees were not protesting at all.  I'm assuming this has been helped by the collagen supplement I've been taking.  

2)  An abundance of food again at the Foodbank.  We've even been able to bring pizzas home as volunteers this week.  We had so many and no freezer space for them which was lucky on Thursday as Hubby had texted me to say he hadn't got anything out of the freezer for dinner. I was able to tell him dinner was sorted.

3)  A Hubby that cooks.  Even in the heat we've been having he's still just got on and cooked dinner every day.  Of course I get all the clearing up but I've been leaving that until it's started to cool down a bit in the evening.

4)  An active local community.  There are plans being put forward to develop the area right by our station.  The developers are proposing 5 blocks of studio apartments that will be 6-7 storeys high and will be for rental.  This will house about 360 single people.  There was a consultation meeting at the library last Saturday and there was a good turn out from local people.  It was clear that most people do not want this sort of development as it will really change the area.  I'm sure when the formal planning application is submitted there are going to be a lot of objections.

5)  A cooler day today but still warm enough to dry all the washing outside!

Have a good weekend all.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 5/8/26

Joyce provides the questions and we share our answers here.   Why not join in the fun?

1. What's something on your August calendar you're looking forward to? Or dreading if that's easier to answer. 

Our annual family get together at the end of the month.  Definitely something to look forward to but I do dread organising the shopping lists!

2. August 5th is National Oyster Day...do you partake? How do you feel about pearls? 

I do not partake of oysters.   Never have.  I'm not sure about a pearl necklace - something I associate with an older generation, even though I'm probably that generation now lol.  I do like pearl earrings though.

3. Tell us about a time when you felt like 'the world was your oyster'. 

Probably since we've both been retired, although we're not exactly world travellers.  Prior to that there was always some sort of commitment, e.g. work, kids, elderly parents etc that meant we couldn't be totally carefree.

4. Trip Advisor lists seven islands in the US that require no passport (for US citizens). If you're answering today from outside the US you'll still need to produce yours. An-y-way, have you been to any of the seven? Let's pretend you get an all expense paid trip to one this month...which one do you choose and why? 

Catalina Island California~Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts~Mackinac Island Michigan~Key West Florida~South Padre Island Texas~or Kauai Hawaii

I have no idea which of these I'd prefer.  I've never been to any of them.

5. Sylvia Plath is credited with the following- 

"August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time."

Agree or disagree? In other words, how do you feel about this month? 

I think I disagree.  August still feels very much like summer, especially here in the UK where the kids do not go back to school until September.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The temperature has been a comfortable 24-25 C today.  So much nicer than the high temps we've had.  No sign of any rain though. We're now subject to a hose pipe ban.

Weekly Photos - In need of improvement! 2/8/26

Well I did say "cheese" this week as we had our photo taken at The Hub on Thursday

We were saying goodbye to Tia (in the lemon dress) who has been volunteering with us for a little while but she's starting a new job next week and will no longer be able to juggle her work and volunteering.  She will be missed as she was always a ray of sunshine at our sessions.  To the left of Tia is Sharon the Hub Manager and I am second from the right.  It looks like I've cut my hair short but it's just pinned back.  It's been so hot I haven't worn it down in weeks.

As for taking pictures this week well it's a FAIL!

I did take some pictures of the swans and their cygnets last Sunday which I posted here but the only other photo I took was this one:

Yes it's my shopping list, complete with shadow lol.  We keep the whiteboard on the fridge and then I just take a photo of it before doing the shopping rather than write it out on a piece of paper that I usually can't find once I get to the supermarket.  Of course I have left my phone behind on occasions so then I've had to try and do the shopping from memory.  Never a good idea.  This list isn't too bad but sometimes Hubby decides to be creative about how he puts an item on there and then I need translation assistance.

Thankfully my DIL Amy is much better at taking photos and she took loads during their recent visit to Vermont and she posted them all on her Instagram stories so we could all follow along.  It was lovely to see the cousins having a great time together.  Can't wait for Christmas when we'll all be together again.

SoCS - 1/8/26- Draw

I had to draw in a deep breath the other day, so that I didn't say something I might have regretted to my Hubby.

We both have iPhones and we both have the wallet style cases for them.  

(I'll insert an example later.)

I've mentioned before how both of us having black cases, and our kitchen worktops being black has caused confusion and issues.  Hubby is often misplacing his phone in one of the various pockets of the clothing he's wearing too.  He does love clothing with pockets!  He has also more recently started using his own version of a Manbag that he also misplaces.  It's an ongoing saga.

Anyway the case for his phone had got really tatty so he saw a case in a charity shop (have I mentioned that he loves browsing charity shops? A lot!) so he thought he would get it.  Of course he didn't check in the shop if it was the right case for his phone.  In fact he didn't even pay for the case.  He just walked out with it.  Not deliberately you understand just his usual absent minded self.  He probably picked up the case and then spent ages looking at other stuff before walking out forgetting he still had the phone case!

Well of course I was not impressed at a) him now being a thief and b) the case not even fitting his phone.  Well the phone fitted in the case but the opening for the camera wasn't in the right place, rendering it impossible for him to take photos!

This week I decided enough was enough.  So I ordered 2 new cases.  One for me in bright red, and one for him in blue.  They duly arrived but Hubby was struggling to fit his phone into the new case.  I struggled initially too until I realised what the problem was.  Only my Hubby could pull the holding frame from the old case off with the phone still inside and then try and fit both of them into the new holding frame!

And then he wonders why I'm often drawing deep breaths!

This is a similar case.  The holding frame is the place where your phone sits inside the case.  It is not removeable.  It is not meant to be removed!  I have told him that he needs to return the case to the charity shop.  Hopefully he won't come back with something equally useless.

SoCS is hosted by Linda who blogs here where you can see all the rules and see who else is taking part.

Today's prompt was "draw"