Friday's Fave Five - 12/8/22

Yes I'm a day late this week but better late than never.

Time to join up with Susanne here to look back on the week and find the things to be thankful for.

1)  I'm thankful for all your kind words following Hubby's accident last week.  It's so nice to be part of a supportive blogging community.

2)  Hubby has really improved over the course of the week.  He still looks a bit battered and the bruising on his arms is more noticeable but he has a lot more movement in his arms and his right hand.  He's also in a lot less pain.

3)  He managed to get an appointment at the dentist that is on our road to get his teeth checked out.  The dentist advised waiting a couple of weeks to let his bruising etc heal and his teeth settle before having any repair work done so we have a follow up appointment booked for that.

4)  A catch up with our 4 local grandkids during the week.  We had Rory and Vinny here on Wednesday.  They were pleased to see us after their holiday.  Then on Friday we had Nathan and Ella here.  Nathan should have been at cricket summer club but he had croup earlier in the week and wasn't fully recovered.  I don't think the current heatwave we're experiencing is helping.

5)  Having no responsibilities.  During this current heatwave it's good to just be able to sit and do nothing energetic.  We don't have AC - many UK homes don't, but we do have several fans which get moved around the house depending on which rooms we're using and where the sun is.

I've also tried to cook things on the hob rather than having the oven on especially as the kitchen gets the sun from midday till the end of the day at this time of year.

I've been doing all the cooking this week as Hubby recovers.  Hopefully he'll be able to help out soon!

Enjoy the weekend all - our hot weather is set to last until Monday when they're forecasting thunderstorms with heavy downpours that could cause flash flooding!  But there's no such thing as climate change 😡

(Fridays) Sunday's Fave Five - 7/8/22

Yes I do know it's Sunday but when life throws you a curveball days run into one another.  Late on Thursday evening I got a phone call from a stranger on my Hubby's phone.  Never a good thing.

Hubby had managed to take a tumble on his way home from an open mic he'd been too. Tumble is probably not the best word to describe his fall and subsequent injuries.  He obviously put out his hands to break his fall but still managed to hit the ground with his face.  In short he has a grazed and battered nose, a black eye, damaged teeth but worst of all he has managed to crack the ends of the radial bone in both arms where they meet the elbow joint.

We spent many hours in A & E (ER for my American friends) overnight and came home Friday morning with Hubby having both arms in a double sling.  Thankfully the follow up call during the day from the Fracture Clinic was reassuring - the cracks will heal, no casts are required, in fact he has to mobilise his arms, putting them through their range of movements every few hours and wearing the sling in between for the next week or two.  Although it will probably take 4-6 weeks before he has full movement back.

His left arm is already a lot better and moving more freely.  His right arm is much more painful and the movement is very limited at the moment although improving.  Of course he is right handed though so lots of things are difficult (impossible) for him to do himself right now. 

I have told him that if he wanted me to do more of the cooking he only had to ask and not resort to such extreme measures!  We're trying to maintain a sense of humour.

Anyway that's why this post is sooooo late and of course, although things have been a bit difficult the last couple of day, there are still things to be thankful for:

1)  The kindness of strangers.  2 men helped Hubby immediately after his fall, one of them stayed with him until I could get there in the car to collect him.

2)  Our NHS.  It's definitely under pressure right now but it was there for Hubby and it's great not having to worry about insurance claims/what things might cost etc.

3)  Our DIL who cooked extra Cottage Pie on Friday so that we had an easy meal for dinner (and enough for Saturday) and our daughter for picking up some shopping for us.  

4)  A big walk in shower.

5)  Our son and his family are safely home from Vermont and we had a video call with them earlier today.

I usually finish by saying enjoy the weekend but of course that's nearly over so have a good week all!

Oh and if you want to visit other bloggers who joined in on Friday click here for host Susanne's site and the Linky list.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 3/8/22

If you want to join in or just find out more about the Hodgepodge, hosted by Joyce, go to

From this Side of the Pond.

1. Do you have a sister? Tell us something about her. If you don't have a sister, tell us about a friend who has been like a sister. Or tell us about a sister-in-law if you have one who is extra special. 

I don't have any sisters of my own but I married a man who has 6 and they have all been wonderful sister-in-laws to me.  My best friend has also been like a sister to me.  She and her husband move into the house opposite ours when I was expecting my first child.  We'd nodded but never really spoken much but just after I'd had my daughter in the May of 1986 Kim asked if she could see her - she was expecting her own first baby in the August.   The rest as they say is history.  We both went on to have 2 more children each and we spent many hours together during their early years.  We don't see as much of each other these days, we both have grandchildren now to keep us busy but we can always just pick up from where we left off when we do meet up.

2. Resister, assister, insister, persister...choose one of the words listed and explain how it relates to you and your life lately. 

Well I've always been a resister, particularly of change, I can be pretty insistent about some things (e.g. good manners) and I like to think I'm good at assisting.

Right now though I'm hoping I can be a persister - at getting out and walking most days, eating sensibly and dare I say it, blogging more regularly.  Time will tell.

3. Share a favourite song, book, movie, or television program that features sisters.

I'm usually rubbish at remembering titles, storylines etc but one programme I watched and enjoyed recently featuring sisters was "The Split" which features Nicola Walker who I think is a great actress.

4. August 3rd is national watermelon day...are you a fan? Do you like watermelon flavoured candy? Besides eating the melon as is, do you have a good recipe made with watermelon? 

No, no and no!

5. 'Tis August...what are three things you're looking forward to this month? 

Seeing my youngest son and his family when they return from the US;

Seeing my eldest son and his family and

Catching up with our extended family at our annual get together which we haven't done for the last 2 summers. I think this year's get together is going to be a bit manic - 5 babies were born during lockdown and several of the nieces and nephews have now got long term partners.  So looking forward to it though.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Well it's been a while since I did a Hodgepodge post.  My blogging output generally hasn't been great but trying to get back into it.  All credit to Joyce for coming up with the questions every week.  Huge commitment.  Thank you.

Chatting with Alice - 2/8/22

Did you just do a Hodgepodge post Wendy?

I did Alice. I’ve even scheduled it to post early tomorrow. 

Hmm, but will you get around to linking it to the hosting site and visiting other bloggers? It is a "blog hop" after all. 

Well I’m certainly going to try Alice. 

So you’ll be ignoring me again then. 

I don’t ignore you on purpose Alice but sometimes I’m just too busy to chat to you like this. 

Busy doing what? You managed to get through enough books to write a blog post about. And now you’re on this walking kick with music plugged into your ears so you can’t hear me even if I try to talk to you. 

Well you’ve done a pretty good job of keeping me awake the last couple of nights Alice. 

Oh no you can’t blame me for that. I seem to recall there was a lot of reading going on – certainly the first night. 

Yes well that’s the advice when you can’t get off to sleep – stop trying and do something else, so I opted to read. 

Good job you have all these spare bedrooms so you don’t keep your hubby awake too. 

He’s the one who keeps me awake Alice, with his snoring. 

Actually, when he has his CPAP* machine on he doesn’t snore at all. Unlike you Wendy! 

I never hear myself snoring Alice so I think you must be mistaken. 

Nice try Wendy but you know that I’m right. 

How are you coping with this heat Alice? 

Nice try at changing the subject Wendy but I’m used to dealing with heat – there's so much hot air in your head at times. 

If things are that bad Alice I don’t know why you want to talk to me at all. 

I often don’t Wendy but I know you’d miss me. 

Probably. 

Definitely. Now how about a political discussion Wendy. Which one of those 2 Tory people do you want for Prime Minister. 

Alice! Do you really want to scare my readers away? Anyway I don’t get to vote so there’s no point in starting that debate! 

That’s a relief. I was only joking you know. 

Sometimes it’s hard to tell Alice. 

 

*CPAP machine - used to treat sleep apnoea