Friday's Fave Five - 13/3/25

Well I'm sticking with Spring flowers even though it was very cold again today and Hubby insisted that the rain we had today (Thursday) was more like sleet.  But there are still good things to look back on during the week and then shared at Susanne's site here.

1)  A fun time with our Daughter, DIL and grandkids Nathan and Ella on Saturday - we went bowling and then to a cafe near them for lunch.

It's a long time since I've been bowling and this was reflected in my score lol.  It was a bit hard for Ella (although she had a guide rack and bumpers) but Nathan enjoyed it.  It was a bit noisy even though there wasn't that many people there, certainly not when we arrived anyway but the game itself can be noisy and there were lots of arcade style games & machines there with lots of noises and flashing lights.  A very stimulating experience lol.

Lunch was nice though.  I opted for a jacket potato with tuna and it was huge.

2)  Sunday we spent quite a bit of time helping them clear out their shed.  It's a job we've been meaning to do for ages but it involved taking stuff from the shed at the bottom of the garden and then through the house so we needed a dry day.  We made several trips to the local recycling centre.  It was hard work, and thankfully spiders don't worry me but it was satisfying to get it cleared and swept out so that they can start to use it properly.  Of course the grandchildren wanted attention too so we were there for several hours.

3)  A clean oven.  I must confess my oven was long overdue a thorough clean.  It took a lot of cleaning supplies and elbow grease and, while it's not perfect, it looks so much better.

4)  Daffodils!

I love having them in the house.  I have some on my kitchen window sill and the others are in the living room.  The whole lot were quite cheap in the local supermarket.  They're in full bloom now but hopefully will last for another few days at least.

5)  Book bargains.  Someone on a local Facebook group was getting rid of a lot of paperbacks at just 50p each.  I'd picked out 8 that I thought I'd like and arranged to go and collect them.  I'm trying not to buy books this year but that will now have to be trying not to buy NEW books this year.  It was clear the woman selling them has similar reading tastes to me as she had a lot of books I'd already read but I did get 6 from her (the other 2 I'd picked had already been taken) and one of them has been slotted into a prompt for the reading challenge.  The others have been added to the TBR pile.

Have a good weekend all.

Book Review - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie (2025 #15)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Roger Ackroyd is a man who knows too much. He knows the woman he loved poisoned her first husband. He knows someone was blackmailing her – and now he knows she killed herself.

When Roger Ackroyd is found murdered, the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, is called in to find out who the killer is.

 

I'd picked this book out to fit a prompt for the 52book challenge and ordered it from the library. What I didn't realise was is that it's the edition for readers where English is not their first language. These versions are shorter than the originals and have been edited to make the language simpler.

It definitely felt short and consequently rushed. I read it anyway but I didn't enjoy it. Hopefully I won't make that mistake again.

View all my reviews Start here

A-Z Theme Reveal 12/3/25

Well I have been sitting on the fence about this one.  I managed to complete a January challenge this year but it was hard getting something posted everyday.  The A-Z challenge is even harder because there are no prompts given (apart from the letter each day) so it's all down to us bloggers to come up with a theme, ideas, etc etc.

Of course I've had some thoughts about the challenge but unlike other years, when I've done much more forward planning, this year I will be "Winging it with Waffle!"

I have loose plans for some of the letters but I will be mainly thinking of a word relating to each letter and waffling on about it.  So probably a bit of Stream of Consciousness going on, definitely not a lot of highbrow content, hopefully it might be entertaining. Just don't get your hopes up too high - my standards are low.

I hope to see you here soon.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 12/3/25

Joyce provides the questions, we provide the answers and you can join in here.

1. March 15th is known as The Ides of March, the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C....have you ever been to Rome? If so what did you love most about the city? If not, is this a place you'd like to visit? 

I haven't been to Rome but yes I'd like to visit.

2. 'Rome wasn't built in a day.' What project/activity/improvement (of any kind) do you have going on right now to which this saying might be applied? 

Well I've been making a blanket for a lonnnnnnnng time which thankfully is almost finished. So that's one thing but I also have a lot of things in my house, many of which are not even mine, that need to be moved on.  Either given away, sold, taken to a charity shop or the tip!  (Rubbish dump).  The trouble is sorting all of this is time consuming.  It's a work in progress.

3. Let's do a little this or that with some Italian foods...

• Caprese salad or Prosciutto with melon? 
• Bruschetta or Antipasto? 
• lasagne or ravioli?
• bolognese or Carbonara?
• Risotto or gnocchi? 
• tiramisu~gelato~cannoli? 

4. Of the colours red, white, and green which would I find most prevalent in your home? Which one do you think is most flattering to you in terms of your wardrobe? Have you ever had your colours done? Is that something you'd be interested in doing? 

Well there is a lot of white in the house - doors woodwork etc but I do have green in my kitchen and dining room.  I've also added red accessories in one of the bedrooms.

As for my wardrobe I do have some green in there and some red but I've never had my colours done.  Not something I've ever thought about doing.  I have used a personal shopper in big department stores a couple of times and bought things I would never have looked at if I hadn't been persuaded to try them on.

5. Life would be boring without____________________?

Grandchildren and books to read.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

There's nothing like expecting guests to kick start your spring cleaning.