In the News this Week - 17/2/26

The LOCAL news story I spotted was one where a convicted criminal escaped from custody not once but twice while being removed from prison and taken to hospital for treatment.

I mean really?  It's bad enough to let a prisoner abscond once, but twice?

Thankfully he's serving a sentence for conspiracy to commit burglary and not murder.  

INTERNATIONAL news as usual is full of doom and gloom but I did spot that the Irish National Seamus Culleton, who is currently being held by ICE pending deportation has had his deportation paused for 10 business days.  It seems that although he has been in the US since 2009 and is married to an American citizen he arrived on a visa waiver and is only now about to finalise getting his green card and work permit.

I'm thankful that my son didn't travel to the US until he had got his VISA sorted and he has his Green card and work permit.  Hopefully he'll be granted citizenship in due course.

SPORT continues to be dominated by the Winter Olympics which has been quite exciting.  I mean what could be more scary that sliding down an ice track at speeds in excess of 70 mph on a thin tray?  Oh I know, get someone to lie on top of you while you do it! (Luge Doubles event.)

In ENTERTAINMENT news:(taken from the BBC website)

LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER will be representing the United Kingdom at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria in May 2026.

LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER is a multi-talented solo artist, experimental singer/songwriter, live electronics performer and composer, inventor of unique musical machines, and self-proclaimed Eurovision fan based in Kent.

LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER says: “I find it completely bonkers to be jumping on this wonderful and wild journey. I have always been a massive Eurovision fan, and I love the magical joy it brings to millions of people every year, so getting to join that legacy and fly the flag for the UK is an absolute honour that I am taking very seriously. I’ve been working a long-time creating, writing, and producing my own visions from scratch, and documenting my process. I will be bringing every ounce of my creativity to my performances, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear and see what we’ve created. I hope Eurovision is ready to get synthesized!”

I hope he's prepared for the fact that we seem to get NIL Points at Eurovision.

And finally, 

Happy Chinese New Year - we're now in the Year of the Fire Horse.

It was also pancake day today and I actually made some as Grandson Nathan was here at lunchtime.  They weren't that great but he seemed to like them.  I didn't take any pictures apart from this one:

 As you can see, a lot of chocolate spread was involved!

A bit of Waffle - 16/2/26

Well it's only going to be a little bit of waffle tonight as it's now almost    11 pm and it's been a tiring day.

Granddaughter Ella was dropped off here just after 9 this morning and although she's quite easy to look after she does demand attention.  We played lots of games, according to the rules of Ella, and we also watched a more recent version of The Sound of Music.  Ella loves to sing and dance.

I gave her lunch and then my DIL, Hubby and Grandson Nathan arrived back from a morning of Top Golf.  They all stayed for a bit and then I took them home.  Thankfully they are only a 10-15 minute drive away from us so the round trip doesn't take much more than half an hour. (Temporary traffic lights excepted.)

Tonight I was at the Foodbank taking in deliveries from the local Tesco stores.  These are all their reduced items that are about to go out of date etc.  We could have opened a florist shop with all the flowers we got today.  Hardly food of course but it is nice for the people coming to the Foodbank to get something to brighten up their homes.  Hopefully they'll keep ok as we didn't have enough containers to put them all into water.  Nice to have 1st world problems.

Tomorrow it will be Nathan's turn to be here while Ella goes on a playdate with a school friend.  It's half term holiday this week so I'm glad to be able to give my DIL a break and my daughter has taken a bit of time off too.

Right I'm off to bed now and I might try to read a bit more of this book:

I'm finding it very hard going but it's one of my book club reads so I'll persevere.  Goodnight.

Weekly Photos 8th-14th February 2026

And I've managed another week of photos!

Top left (Sunday) is the bag for Ella - the main parts were finished on Sunday.  Since then I've also made the horns and ears so now I just have to sew it all together.

Middle top(Monday) is the chart I'm using to keep track of taking the collagen supplement I'm taking.  Too soon to see if it's making a difference but so far the chocolate flavour hasn't triggered any migraines and I think taking it in warm milk before bed is actually helping my sleep.

Top Right (Tuesday) is the book I was reading at the beginning of the week which I've since finished.

Middle left (Wednesday)  I took this when out walking. The local secondary school is being rebuilt and it looks like the demolition stage is almost complete.

Bottom left (Saturday)  Spot the difference!  The light doesn't make it easy and that's my excuse for pairing them incorrectly in the first place.  I have a nephew who delights in wearing odd socks but not me.

Bottom centre (Thursday) this is the next book for the evening reading group I'm in which I'd collected from the library.  I read The Miniaturist by the same author and wasn't as mad about it as the hype suggested I should be.  Hopefully I'll like this one more.

Bottom right (Friday)  I finally put my wool winder to use.  I bought the wool over a year ago and a pattern to make a jumper for me.  I just have to finish a (few) WIPs first but at least the wool is now ready to use.

I realised after I'd put the photos together that I'd got the layout slightly wrong - that's the problem with being retired I often have to check what day it is!

#SoCS - 14/2/26 - Love

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “love.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun, and happy Valentine’s Day!  To join in the fun go here.

Well of course Love is an appropriate word for today being St. Valentines Day.  

We don't make a big thing of it in our house.  I did get a card from Hubby - well he tried to sign it anonymously but it was a bit of a give away that it was left on the bed for me to find.  I don't need big displays of affection or expensive bouquets of flowers to know that he loves me.

I know that he does in the way that he supports me especially when things are difficult.  He's always there for me when I need him to be, holding my hand when the children arrived.  Helping me through loss when my Mum passed away.  Ready to listen when I need to talk but not pushing too hard.

Stepping up when he needs to.  (Although he might need a little reminder here or there lol)

He has never let me down.  And of course I love him for all of that and so much more.

He's great with the grandkids too! 😂

Friday's Fave Fives - 13/2/26

It's Friday so time to look back on the week and find the blessings.  Susanne hosts this blog hop here and keeps us on our toes each week.  Thank you Susanne. 

1)  Lots of family time last weekend with my daughter and her family.  They all ended up here for lunch on Saturday and then we went to them for a Sunday roast.  

2)  A few spells of sunshine this week.  We still didn't get a rain free day but just a glimpse of the sun always makes the day feel better.  On Wednesday the rain held off long enough for me to walk down to the library and walk back through the park.

3)  A good meet up on  of the evening book club I'm in.  7 people attended and we'd all read the book so there was a good discussion on that.

(Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris.)

4) Progress on the crochet bag for granddaughter Ella.  All the pieces are done.  I just need to put it all together.

5)  Appreciation at the Foodbank.  As volunteers we help out because we want to and we get satisfaction from knowing we're helping a lot of people in the local community.  But it's always nice when someone makes a point of saying thanks for doing a good job.

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 12/2/26

Not a bad week for reading.  I finished The Names by Florence Knapp:

The Names by Florence Knapp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found the premise of this book interesting - how does the choice of a name affect our lives going forward? The book follows Cora's baby son who is named either Bear, his 9 year old sister's choice, Julian (Jules) his Mother's choice, or Gordon after his Father and Grandfather.

The story is told from those 3 POVs and moves forward in leaps of 7 years starting in 1987 and ending in 2022. It is beautifully written - the author definitely has a way with words. However it felt a little bit disjointed to me and although some things were covered in detail, others were not.

The name choice also isn't what really affects the life of the baby but rather the effect Cora's decision has on her marriage and the events that follow. It should be noted that the marriage is an abusive one for anyone who likes to steer clear of domestic violence.

Overall it's a good debut but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's great.

I also attended a Book Club meeting on Tuesday evening where we discussed The Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris.  It was a good evening as we had seven people there who had all read the book.  Most people liked it.  I was on the fence.  There were things in it I felt didn't quite gel together.  It was a bit slow too.

This week I've also managed to finish this book:

The Guardians by John Grisham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a John Grisham book. Of course there are lots of similarities in many of them - based around the American legal system, often involving injustice and frequently drug cartels and conspiracies.

This one was a bit slow initially and there are several storylines to get your head around as we follow Cullen Post, an innocence lawyer and minister as he tries to prove the innocence of convicted criminals and get them exonerated.  The pace picked up and I really enjoyed it.

I now have 2 books to read for the book clubs:

 and 

I have the Cotterill one on my Kindle App and I have a physical copy of The Muse.  There's a few weeks before the clubs meet again so I have plenty of time to read them.  Hopefully I'll like The Muse more than I did The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.  I found that quite hard going.  I haven't read anything by Cotterill so that may or may not be interesting.

Of course I'm trying to match these Book Club reads to the 52 Book Club Challenge list of prompts wherever possible but I'm not sure where these will fit yet.  I'm sure I can fit them in somewhere but it may be at the expense of books from my TBR pile! Thankfully I've managed to not add any more books to that pile so far this year.  For anyone who missed it these are just some of those books:

I'm not going to check how many unread books there are on the Kindle App lol.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 11/2/26

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

1. What's something recent that had you 'tickled pink'? 

I actually can't think of anything.

2. A bed of roses, everything's coming up roses, every rose has it's thorn, stop and smell the roses, rose-colored glasses, a rose among thorns...which rosy expression might currently be applied to your life in some way? 

Well I'm retired so I definitely have time to stop and smell the roses.

3. What makes you feel loved and appreciated? 

Little gestures.  A thank you, an acknowledgement.  An offer of help.

4. A box of chocolates or a bouquet of fresh flowers-what's your pleasure? Any special plans for Valentine's Day? 

Could I have both please?  Oh, only one then it would be the flowers - they'd last longer lol. No plans for Valentine's Day.

5. Share a favourite quote, scripture, or song lyric relating to love. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I managed a trip to the library today and a walk back through the park without getting wet!  The threat of rain is always there though as you can see in the pictures I took.  It's fun to photograph the trees without their leaves so you can the structure of the tree.

In the News this Week - 10/2/26

Locally it seems that Kier Starmer's days as Prime Minister may be numbered, particularly given that he appointed Peter Mandelson as Ambassador to the USA, but Starmer's Chief of Staff seems to have taken the fall for that one.  However with Mandelson's homes being searched at the weekend that may not be enough to keep Starmer in office despite his Cabinet members rallying behind him.  

I know I've been guilty of moaning about the amount of rain we've had - it's miserable again today - but at least we don't face the prospect of the flooding that's happened in some areas.  Please say Spring is on the way.

It's difficult to find an International news story that isn't likely to upset someone.  I did manage to find this uplifting story of how a 13 year old Australian managed to swim to shore and raise the alarm after his family were swept out to sea.

In Sport of course the big story is the Winter Olympics.  I've enjoyed watching the Ice Skating and the Curling has been worth a watch as our mixed pair started off well but lost in the semi finals so now they are competing for Bronze.  One of the big upsets though was Lindsey Vonn crashing out of the Downhill Skiing events.  Personally I can't imagine why she even wanted to attempt the downhill run with ruptured ligaments but competing in the Olympics means so much to some athletes that they are prepared to take big risks.  The fall Lindsey sustained has led to a really bad injury to her leg which will require multiple surgeries and a long recovery period.  But she has no regrets as stated in this article.

In Entertainment news the release of the film adaptation of Wuthering Heights has received mixed reviews. I've struggled to read the book - I've started it twice but have yet to finish it.  I do prefer to read before I watch so I won't be rushing to watch this version.

And for Miscellaneous I have worked out why the Foodbank is getting such huge donations of potatoes from the charity Felix.  (Felix takes surplus food that would be destined for waste and either makes meals from it or passes it on to Foodbanks.)  Anyway according to an article I read in the paper at the weekend, farmers estimate that demand for potatoes is down by as much as 10% and they blame this on the rapid increase in people taking weight loss drugs who are eating less and avoiding snacks which include potatoes as well as frozen chips and starchy foods.  It's estimated that between 1.5 and 1.6 million people in the UK have used weight loss jabs in the past year.  Well their weight loss is our gain as we are being given crates of potatoes each week.  The trouble is we're finding it hard to pass them on - our demand seems to have dropped too.  Beneficiaries are still enjoying the jacket potatoes we provide each week though.

And finally, Glasgow's Tree of the Year will now be competing against trees from Europe to be named best in Europe.  Personally I wouldn't want it right outside my window!

A bit more Waffle - 9/2/26

Waffle Cartoon by Vecteezy

It's been a weekend full of grandchildren Ella and Nathan. I had to pick Ella up from school on Friday as Nathan was off, then on Saturday my daughter popped in with Ella while Nathan was at a golf lesson.

They all ended up here afterwards for lunch.

Yesterday they returned the favour by having us to a lovely Sunday roast dinner.  

Hubby did another school pick up today, dropping Nathan and our DIL to another golf lesson and then bringing Ella here while that was going on.  Ella is easy to entertain but she does have her own unique way of playing games lol.

Tonight I've been at the Foodbank taking in deliveries so now I'm off to bed.  I had good intentions of getting lots of chores done today but....tomorrow. (Maybe😉 - there's lots of Olympics to watch.)

Weekly Photos - 1st - 7th February 2026

Here we go:

Sunday - top photo - sorting out my TBR pile of books for the 52Book Club challenge.

Middle row:

Confirmation my passport application had been submitted correctly.

The outside temperature of 4℃ on Tuesday morning - it comes up on my dashboard with an audible sound that is the same as a fault sound so it's a bit alarming until you realise it's just a warning about possible ice.

Morning feeding time for the birds on Wednesday. (Spot the squirrel!)

Bottom row:

Thursday My current read which I finished in the early hours of this morning. (The Names by Florence Knapp.)

Friday my "baby" who turned 36 on Friday.

Saturday - my passport arrived!  Can't fault that turnaround time.

#SoCS - 7/2/26 - Chapter

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

To find out more about the Stream of Consciousness Saturday which is hosted by Linda go here.

I'm sure when I was young I would be pleading to read just one more chapter when it was time for bed.  

I've always been a reader.  I worked my way through a lot of Enid Blyton's books, then things like Little Women, What Katy Did, Black Beauty and so on.

As an adult I've read a lot of crime thrillers, including Agatha Christie, some classics, and a few fantasy and science fiction books.  (The Lord of the Rings, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)  I like to challenge myself so I'm doing the 52 book Club challenge again this year which involves reading 52 books over the year relating to a set of prompts.  Some prompts are simple - e.g. book title beginning with the letter O, some require more research e.g. Author's bio mentions their dog.

This is the third year of doing the challenge and it has pushed me to read books I wouldn't normally look at.  I've also been in 2 in person book clubs since last year and that has also widened my reading.  

I'm currently reading this:

which starts of with Cora going with her 9 year old daughter Maia to register the birth of her new born son.  What follows is the story told from 3 POVs depending on whether the baby becomes Bear, Julian or Gordon.  The book seems to be moving on in 7 year gaps but each new year has a chapter about each of the 3 individuals.  So of course you can't just read one more chapter when the time moves forward, you have to read three!

Good job I'm now an adult and can do as I please, and retired so I can have a lie in if I've read late into the night.

Friday's Fave Five - 6/2/26

Yes it's Friday again (how?) so time to look back on the blessings of the week and then link up at Living to Tell the Story with other like minded bloggers.  Susanne is the one who keeps us on our toes.  Thanks Susanne.

1)  A lazy weekend.  It was good to just be able to quietly relax at home with no commitments etc.

2)  I made it to my keep fit class on Tuesday despite waking up feeling really lazy and my back wasn't great.  Glad that I did because of course it helps with my back and I get to socialise with former work colleagues.

3)  A good book club session on Wednesday - this was with the afternoon group that meets at the local library.  There were only 4 of us but 2 were new members who both seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a good discussion on the book we'd read - The Power by Naomi Alderman.

4)  A Knit and Natter session on Wednesday evening.  I'm making good progress with the little bag for Ella.  I've done the main bag and cover.  I've started the strap so then it will just be the ears and horns to do.  Need to brush up on doing a magic loop for those.  It's a long time since I did any crochet apart from granny squares!

5) 

Happy birthday to our younger son.  He is such a great Dad to these two and he's settled well into life in the US - he even got a promotion in his job recently.  He probably gave us the most grief when they were growing up, particularly as a teen, but so proud of the man he is today.

And a bonus - I applied to renew my passport earlier this week - it was really easy to do online but they won't start on the process until they receive your old one which I posted off as instructed.  Well I heard today that they've already printed my new one and it will soon be on its way to me!

Have a good weekend all!  Wet and dreary here but I have more daffodils in the house and spring is coming!

Read then Write - 5/2/26

This is what I am currently reading:

This was gifted* to me at Christmas by my eldest son and his wife although I'm sure she will have been the one to pick it out.  I'm only a little way in but I'm already loving the writing.

It's been a bookish week.  On Sunday I decided to see which of the books on my TBR pile I could use for the 52Book Club Challenge.  I think I managed to pair about 14 books to the prompt list so I'll be reading those first.  

This is some of the TBR pile.  There are a few more in the house and then quite a selection in our garden room.  

The trouble is that now I'm part of two book clubs I'm reading books from the library so the TBR pile is not going down very fast (if at all - see above*) but I do enjoy reading.

We had a good meeting of the afternoon book club this week and we discussed The Power by Naomi Alderton which I reviewed here.  We all agreed that it was quite a clever book even though none of us really enjoyed it.  It turns out that none of us are big fans of dystopia. 

Hopefully our next read will be more fun:

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 4/2/26

It's Wednesday so that means it's time for the Hodgepodge which is hosted by From this Side of the Pond.  Thanks Joyce.

1. The Winter Olympics kick off on Friday, February 6th...on a scale of 1-10 how excited are you? (1= eh and 10=watching every event all day every day). What's your favourite Winter Olympic sporting event?

I'm probably a 5.  I know it's happening - BBC keep running ads for it - but I just had to google where it's happening lol.  (Milano Cortina) Thankfully there isn't a massive time difference (+ 1 hour) between here and where the games are being held which makes viewing easier, although with today's technology that isn't as much of a problem as it used to be.

I like watching the Ice Skating and we've often done well at Curling so that's one I might check out.  Ice Hockey isn't really my thing but I was just reading an article which suggests one of the rinks may not be completed by the start of the event plus:

"The rink in Milan, approved by the International Ice Hockey Federation, is shorter than the minimum requirement in the NHL, leading to suggestions there could be an increase in high-speed collisions. The quality of the ice has also been questioned.

The NHL said it was "pleased" with the test event at the arena in January, although that did not pass without incident. During the event there was a short delay while a small hole in the ice had to be repaired." (Taken from the BBC website.)

2. In other sporting news, the Superbowl (American football's championship game) will be played on Sunday, February 8th. So tell us...what's your superpower?

Oh gosh I wish I had one.  I guess I'm quite organised and logical and usually calm in a crisis but I really wish I could teleport.

3. Are you a romantic?

Not really (see above) but I do like to be surprised with flowers and reading romance books.  (In between the crime thrillers that are my favourite genre lol.)

4. Blue cheese-yay or nay? How about feta? If you said yes to one or both, what's a dish you like that calls for one of these?

NO AND NO! I do like plain cheese though - especially a really mature cheddar.

5. What's more important-doing what you love or loving what you do?

Ummm is this a trick question?  It seems not. (Thank you AI.)  In an ideal world we'd be doing what we love and following our passions.  Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world so I think it's more important to love what you do and find ways of getting the most out of what we're doing.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

One of the things I do is to keep our bird feeders topped up and today I'm loving watching the antics of the birds as they come and feed.  The parakeets are usually the first followed by the smaller birds but the pigeons hover on the ground waiting for anything that drops.  Until the squirrel appears.

Have a good day all.

In the News this Week - 3/2/26

Well I'm trying to keep my blogging up so I'm resurrecting this idea which I was doing 10 years ago!  The idea is to find stories under the headings of:

LOCAL

INTERNATIONAL

SPORT

ENTERTAINMENT and

MISCELLANEOUS

LOCALLY the big talk seems to be about the works that Thames Water are doing in our area.  This has led to various temporary traffic lights all over the place where the road is restricted to single file traffic.  There are also some roads that have been completely closed involving diversions.  These are often planned works - our Victorian infrastructure is gradually being updated but.....then add in works due to burst pipes here and we have chaos, particularly when some bus routes are on not one, but often 2 diversions.  It's produced some heated discussions on Facebook and there is no end to this in sight. Sigh!

One of the big INTERNATIONAL story that keeps rumbling on is all about the Jeffrey Epstein files and why no one is being prosecuted despite their clear associations with Epstein.  Prominent figures here in the UK are of course Andrew Mountbatten (the former Prince) and Peter Mandelson (former US Ambassador).   Although it seems clear that if any prosecution were to be brought against Andrew he would not be getting any support from the royal family.

In SPORT - well who knew that the production of cricket bats was such a complicated thing?  Not me for sure.  But the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) which seems to be the authority on all things cricket, will be amending Law 5.8, entitled "categories of bat" to allow bats that were previously illegal to be used.  As well as 72 other changes to the Laws.  And I thought it was just a game lol.  People do seem to take it very seriously though. 

One big ENTERTAINMENT event this week was of course The Grammys.  Obviously a star studded affair with all sorts of wonderful (?) outfits on display which you can read about here.  Many of the names were completely unknown to me including that of Olivia Dean (winner of the Best New Artist award) despite the fact that apparently she grew up in Highams Park where I live.

And for MISCELLANEOUS  I give you SKIPTON, apparently the happiest place to live in the UK.  Not in the news this week, the poll results were back in December but hey my blog, my rules.

As you can see I've stayed away from too much doom and gloom or anything contentious but I'm working my way back into this gradually.

And did you know that the BBC are about to air a four part dramatisation of William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"?  There's an article about it here but personally having read the book I'll be giving it a miss.

A bit of Waffle - 2/2/26

Waffle Cartoon PNGs by Vecteezy

Mmm that's how I like my waffles.  Sorry if I'm making you hungry.  I've just finished my dinner but no waffles in sight.  We had chicken with a pesto and leek sauce and small crunchy roast potatoes plus some brussel sprouts that needed to be used.  The meal was a HelloFresh meal which actually came with peas but we switched them.  That's the royal "we" of course because apart from unpacking the HelloFresh box when it arrived I did nothing to get the meal prepared.  Thank you Hubby!

I like to think I'm a fairly organised person but not when it comes to planning meals in advance, especially not for the whole week.  I commented on Kim's post today - we have 3 HelloFresh meals coming which will take care of Monday - Wednesday.  After that who knows?

I've actually had a fairly productive day - got quite a few chores done, including changing our bed and doing some laundry.  The big thing ticked off my to do list though was renewing my passport.  It was really easy to do online, the only annoying thing was having to get a new photo done.  I thought I might get away with using the photo I had done for my free travel pass but that was over 6 months ago and the photo has to be within the last month.

Thankfully our local supermarket has a photo booth that does a digital code to use online and I had a bit of shopping to do so I did that, got the photo done and the application is now complete - they just need my old passport to process it and that's also now in the post to them.

But why do passport photos always look so grim?  Mine looks like a mug shot.

I mean would it really be so bad if we smiled?

I'm off to pay some bills now and then I'm off the the Foodbank to take deliveries in.  Hopefully it won't be raining.

Weekly Photos 25th - 31st January 2026

Well this week the photos are all from the correct day lol.

Starting at the top and working left to right:

Sunday - Playdoh with Granddaughter Ella.  One of her favourite activities.

Monday - spotted this pair of Egyptian Geese on my walk around the lake

Tuesday - Hubby took a long nap in the afternoon so we ended up having an Indian takeaway.  I had lamb tikka masala with mushroom rice.  Yummy.

Wednesday - yes that is all bird and swan food!

Thursday - the daffodils are still doing well.

Friday - Spotted this sign while on my walk around the lake and yes we do have toads crossing the road there to get to the lake and there are volunteers who will watch out for them.

Saturday - I started this on Friday night and finished it on Saturday.  I gave it 3 stars.  It was a real page turner but getting my head around all the different characters was tricky at first and there wasn't a lot of depth to the book.

And just like that January is done.  I've managed to blog every day thanks mainly to Linda who hosted the Just Jot it January challenge.

I'm hopefully going to keep to the following routine going forward:

Sunday:        Weekly Photos

Monday:        A bit of waffle

Tuesday:      In the news/ Did you know?

Wednesday: Hodgepodge

Thursday:    What I'm reading this week

Friday:        Fridays Fave Five

Saturday:    Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Having the regulars such as photos/Hodgepodge/Fave Five/SoCS gives a good framework and I'm always reading so that was another easy one to slot in.  I'm also good at waffling but Mondays might be one you want to give a miss lol.  And Tuesdays?  Well at one point I did do a regular post about what was in the news that week but it fell by the wayside.  I'd like to start something up again but nothing too heavy - the news can definitely be depressing at times most of the time hence the Did you Know alternative.

We'll see how things go.  Don't hold me to account.

Plus it's only another couple of months before the A-Z challenge.  I have a plan for that which I actually started work on before Christmas which I need to get back to.  Thank goodness I'm retired!

#SoCS / JJJ - 31/1/26 - Scratch an Itch

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 31st and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “scratch an itch.” Use it any way you’d like. To join in the fun click HERE.

I was thinking about taking this prompt literally and wondering out loud how I would cope with scratching an itch if Hubby wasn't around.  You know the one, that point on your back that you just can't quite reach no matter how much you contort yourself. 

But of course scratching an itch is also about satisfying a craving.  I've been good this week and not given in to the temptation of chocolate that's in the house.  Mainly because I've started taking a collagen supplement that is chocolate flavoured and I'm mixing it with warm milk.  It actually tastes really nice but I'm just a bit wary of having a migraine induced chocolate overload so I haven't scratched that itch.

I also went to the library to return a book, one that I hadn't even read, and came away with no new books despite browsing the "New In" book shelf where several books caught my eye.  But I have enough books on my TBR pile to probably last me a year so I really don't need to scratch that itch either.

So now, is it just me, or does writing about this topic create an itch in that impossible to reach place?  Thankfully Hubby is in the house so I will get my itch scratched!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.

Fridays Fave Five - 30/1/26 (And JJJ - Cinnamon)

It's Friday and time to look back on the week and find the blessings.  Susanne keeps us on our toes and you can find her blog and all the details here.

It's been a fairly uneventful week here but there are always good things going on

1)  It's been incredibly wet over the month of January but I did manage a walk around the lake on Monday despite it being incredibly muddy so thankful for my wellies.

2)  Tuesday I did my keep fit class and then had coffee (well tea for me) with friends who also attend the class.  Always good to have a catch up.

3)  We spent time with grandchildren Nathan and Ella on Sunday.  Ella who is only 5 is getting much better at playing games but we also had a long spell playing with the Playdoh. (And the colours didn't get mixed!)

4)  Yesterday was Foodbank day and as always it was very busy.  We had two visits from schools.  The first one was a group of older students who are studying Charity and Money Management as part of their course so they were very interested to hear how the Foodbank operates etc.  Some of them brought donations and several wanted to know how they could volunteer.  We often have students who are doing their Duke of Edinburgh awards spending time at the Hub so there are opportunities for them.

The second visit was from a primary school group of Year 6 pupils who had done a week of collecting for the Foodbank and they brought in a huge donation of canned and dried goods which we're always grateful for.

We also had an unannounced visit from the Hygiene team from the local council and we retained our 5 star rating!  

It was such a busy morning that Sally (who usually works with me in the stockroom) and I didn't even have time for a cup of tea or in my case a chocolate croissant or in Sally's case a cinnamon pastry.

(Just slipping in today's Just Jot it January prompt there lol.)

5)  I've decided to give a collagen supplement a go.  The order was delivered earlier this week and thankfully the chocolate flavour I ordered is delicious.  So I'm thankful that it shouldn't be too difficult to fit it into the daily routine and that I didn't have to think about the cost either.

I also got a delivery of garden bird and swan/duck food this week.  Again I'm thankful that we're in a position to be able to do these things now that we're retired.

Now I'm off to try and get a walk in before the rain returns.

Have a good weekend all.

(The Just Jot it January prompt was from Tessa K who blogs  HERE.  The Just Jot it challenge is hosted by Linda HERE.)