Friday's Fave Five - 10/3/23

Friday again!  Time is flying.

Time to take a breath and look back on the week for the good things.

1)  We spent time with Nathan and Ella on Saturday - but again not a successful babysit.  Their Mummies wanted to get out for a meal but we had the usual screaming from Ella when they left.  Eventually she calmed down and even started to look sleepy.  However when I tried to take her up and get her settled for the night she was not going to play ball.  The screaming started again.

Consequently when their Mummies got back, fortunately at the reasonable time of 10 pm, both children were still up watching TV.  I had managed to get Ella to sit with me and I'd hoped she'd drop off to sleep but nope, she was still wide awake!

Still it was nice to spend time with them and fortunately we had eaten before we arrived.

2)  Supper with my "Lunch" ladies on Monday evening.  Ana was our host and we switched to the evening as Catherine's sister Monique was over from Holland and it was her last evening before going home.  Ana had also invited her elderly neighbour Kate who as a former actress is quite a hoot and full of reminiscences.  It was an entertaining evening with good food too.

3)  My house is finally straight again after the decorating and visitors.  Everything is in its rightful place and the bedrooms are ready again for our next guests.

4)  Maisie is knitted!  She isn't stuffed or assembled yet but the extra yarn I ordered arrived and she now has 2 complete shoes.

5)  A walk today - we had a covering of snow on Wednesday which fortunately didn't stay but the weather has been miserable all week including this morning, then this afternoon it seemed to clear up a bit so I was determined to get out for some fresh air.

I did the lap around part of the golf course.

Good to see some spring blossom

The water level is much higher than usual in The Ching

And the bridge needs a repair!

The sun was trying to break through behind the clouds.

Bonus - I've managed quite a bit of reading this week thanks to the horrible weather.  I finally finished A Prayer for Owen Meany and a couple of crime thrillers.  Thanks to taking so long to get through Owen Meany I have some catching up to do for my Goodreads challenge!

Have a good weekend all.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 8/3/23

The Hodgepodge is hosted by Joyce here.  Hop over there to see who else is taking part.

1. We're in to a season students call 'spring break'. Did you/your family travel over spring breaks when you were growing up?  Tell us something about a 'spring break' you remember (from childhood or adulthood, either one). 

I don't remember going away for spring break as a child - here it is usually in February and you can never guarantee what the weather might be like.  I can remember taking our kids to Ireland during a spring break and the crossing on the ferry was horrendous.  All 3 kids were sick, hubby was sick.  Lots of passengers were being sick.  It was awful.  The weather all week was pretty grim but fortunately we had gone to visit hubby's brother and his family so we still had a good week.

2. Last thing you broke? Was it a big deal? 

Hmm nothing important comes to mind although the handle of one of my photo mugs broke recently.  It was one of the older ones though with pictures of Grandson Nathan when he was little and having gone through the dishwasher a few times some of the pictures had come off so no, not a big deal.  Especially as I have some more recent ones.

3. March 7th is National Cereal Day...are you a fan? What's your favourite? If not cereal what's your favourite breakfast? Your typical breakfast? 

I do have cereal for breakfast but not every day.  I usually have something like cornflakes or raisin wheats or occasionally porridge.  Some days we will just have croissants but we'll often have a traditional English breakfast of egg and bacon with various trimmings.  Hubby will also make an omelette and I like to do poached eggs on toast with smoked salmon.  That's one plus of being retired - breakfast rarely has to be rushed.

4. Break ground, break of dawn, break down, break the bank, break one's stride, break the ice, break a law, break a habit, break bread...choose one of the idioms listed and tell us how it applies to your life currently. 

I'm not sure that any of those apply at the moment.  I'm trying to build habits rather than break them.

5. Where do you go to connect with friends and family? What do you like to do most when you're home alone? 

Immediate family usual meet here as our house is just about big enough for us all.  As an extended family we often get together at a social club some of us are members of as there are too many of us to use someone's house now.  

When I'm home alone I do a variety of things - read, craft, puzzle or just watch TV depending on my mood.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Well it may be spring but we woke to a thin covering of snow on the ground first thing!  It has disappeared already but the day is very miserable with rain/sleet and it's cold!

Book Review - A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen doesn't believe in accidents; he believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul is both extraordinary and terrifying. At moments a comic, self-deluded victim, but in the end the principal, tragic actor in a divine plan, Owen Meany is the most heartbreaking hero John Irving has yet created.

It took me a month to read this book! John Irving does not mince his words. This is the story of Owen Meany, a small person with a strange voice and a calling.

It's the 3rd book by Irving that I've read and although they've all impressed me they've all felt too long. This is a very slow story of Owen Meany's life as told by his best friend John Wainwright. I'd like to say it gathers momentum to a satisfying ending but it doesn't. Irving takes his time. He goes into great detail about everything. Set in America there is a lot of information about the Vietnam war and what was going on in America around that time. But the events revolving around Owen Meany are in the past for the narrator so we also get his views on American politics in the 1980s. There is also a lot about religion in the book, particularly the different churches in America.

I'm glad I made it to the end but it wasn't a compelling read for me. I hate giving up on books so I persevered. I've given it 4 stars because I couldn't in all honesty recommend it for reading without a lot of caveats but the way Irving pulls this story together is impressive.

View all my reviews

Friday's Fave Five - 3/3/23

Not sure how but it's Friday again!  So much for trying to keep blogging on a regular basis - well I guess once a week is a regular thing.  Friday means it's time to reflect on the week and find the good things.

Susanne is our host for this over at Living to Tell the Story.  Hop over there to see who else is taking part.

1)  The decorating is finished!  (For now.)  It's been very chaotic here with the kitchen, dining room and utility room all being decorated this week.  We moved our dining table into the lounge and set up the kettle and toaster in there and we muddled through.  The team were very good at clearing up at the end of each day so we were able to prepare dinner without too much hassle.  They actually finished on Wednesday and I spent most of yesterday getting things straight.  We still need to put a bookcase back into the dining room and we're done.  Although of course the lounge then needs to be cleaned and put straight.  One thing leads to another...... lol

I haven't taken any pics because all we've had done is repainting rather than remodelling.  Our grey walls are now a pale green but everything looks clean and fresh.

2)  We've had a water butt installed in the garden so we can save some of the rainwater and use it for the garden.  Thankful to be able to find someone recommended and get that job done quickly.

3)  An impromptu meal out last Saturday with hubby.  We'd been binge watching a series on TV (Happy Valley - not for the faint hearted) and it had got late so we talked about getting a takeaway but in the end we decided to take the train up to Chingford and take pot luck.  We found a nice Italian restaurant that had a space and we had a nice meal.  Hubby had lamb chops and I had a pasta dish with chicken and bacon in a creamy sauce with a balsamic drizzle on it which was delicious.

We had Tiramisu (me) and Strawberry cheesecake (hubby) for dessert.  Again no pics - I am so forgetful!

4)  Time with Rory and Vinny on Wednesday - they were both at home as Vinny has had earache and Rory just seemed exhausted what with long school days and disturbed nights with Vinny so I went over in the afternoon to give my son a break.  Fortunately I had books from the library they hadn't read so we worked our way through them and then watched some TV.

5)  Maisie is almost ready to take shape!

She now has a dress, cardigan, french knickers and..... one completed shoe!  The other shoe is almost done but....I ran out of the pink yarn.  I was so cross because this was bought as a kit and I wouldn't say that I knit on the loose side, if anything I think I knit quite tightly so it was very annoying not to be able to quite complete the other shoe. Fortunately I was able to source the yarn online.  Hopefully the colour won't be any different, if it is I'll have to redo the top of the first shoe.

Of course I couldn't just buy the pink yarn - I would have had to pay for postage so I now have enough yarn to make a dog.  The clothes for the dog look much less complicated than Maisie's outfit.

The yarn arrived today so hopefully I'll soon have Maisie finished.

And a bonus for this week - a knit and natter evening on Wednesday.

Have a good weekend all.