Friday's Fave Five - 8/1/21

 

Thanks to Susanne at Living to tell the Story for this reminder every week to sit back and think about our 5 favourite things from the week.

Well it's been a quiet week but there are always things to be thankful for and here are mine:

1)  A surprise invite to see Rory and Vinny last Sunday (and my son and DIL of course) including dinner.  Rory was very excited to see us and Vinny is really smiling and cooing now.  This was just before our lockdown started and Rory went back to nursery.  Not sure when we'll see them again.

2) A good week for blogging.  I've managed to blog every day so far in January.

3) Despite being in a national lockdown we are still able to be in a support bubble with our daughter and her family.  This means we can still see them in their home (or ours) and help out and were there twice this week.

4)  Back to a more normal routine.  The Christmas decorations are down and there's no pressure to get stuff done.

5)  We're well and healthy. The Covid situation in the UK has gone from bad to worse this week and we're now locked down again.  The NHS  is under severe pressure and is struggling to cope.  

And when things feel really hard there is always this:

Nearby open space to walk and clear my head.

 

 

#JusJoJan - 7/1/21 - Caught

 

Well time has caught up with me today - we spent the day at my daughter's helping out with the kids and the house.  It's a full on day for both of us and we were a bit later home than usual.

Fortunately hubby cooked our Hello Fresh meal (Lamb & Aubergine curry) and then I finished my online shopping order ready for tomorrow and then we just chilled in front of the TV.

Now I'm off to bed so this is my jot of the day! 

Details of the Just Jot it January challenge can be found here.

Review - In the Dark - Cara Hunter

In the Dark by Cara Hunter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A woman and child are found locked in a basement room, barely alive.

No one knows who they are — the woman can't speak, and there are no missing persons reports that match their profile. The elderly man who owns the house claims he has never seen them before.

The inhabitants of the quiet Oxford street are in shock. How could this happen right under their noses? But DI Adam Fawley knows that nothing is impossible.

And that no one is as innocent as they seem ...

In the dark is a very dark story. There are lots of twists in the plot and a lot of characters to get your head around. Some reviewers complained about the number of characters but a book that follows a police investigation of a gruesome crime is bound to have lots of characters. And when it becomes linked with a previous unsolved murder cue more twists and more characters.

The book kept me interested and guessing but I wasn't completely sold on the ending.

View all my reviews

 

#JusJoJan/Wednesday Hodgepodge - 6/1/21

 

One size fits all today - taking part in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, kindly hosted by Joyce at From this Side of the Pond

and using it as my Just Jot it January post as hosted by Linda here. 

1. What advice would you give yourself as we begin this new year? 

Try not to stress too much about the pandemic, take each day at a time and ditch the guilt.

2. If you could throw a themed party for yourself what would the theme be? 

I have absolutely no idea, especially as I hate being the centre of attention.  That brought to mind an idea that everyone should be masked then no-one would recognise me but wait, we're all wearing masks at the moment anyway!

3. Tell us where you were and something about what life was like when you were 20- 21.

Still living at home (in London's East End) but engaged to be married.  That wedding never actually happened thankfully!

4. What's on the menu at your house this week? 

Well we've got 3 days of Hello Fresh meals so haven't had to think too hard about the menu.  Plenty of food in my new fridge and freezer so the other days will take care of themselves - especially as hubby does most of the cooking here.

5. What should you do more of this year? Less of? 

More of? Staying in touch with family and friends.  When we had our first lockdown in 2020 I made a point of phoning family and close friends so that I spoke to someone most days.  As time went on I got really lazy at that.  

Less of?  Eating chocolate.  Again we started off well by trying to make sure we got out for a walk each day during lockdown and if we did the reward was chocolate.  Now I'm just eating chocolate anyway.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

These questions are good reminders right now as we've just started our 3rd national lockdown and are having to "Stay at home!"  Of course this will be tougher as the weather is not so good for getting out for walks and we know that this will last at least until mid February.  

In keeping with one of my intentions for the year and being positive, at least two vaccines are now being rolled out. And I keep getting lovely photos of these little ones to brighten my day:

How can I not keep smiling?