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!