#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.

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"