Ho Ho Ho Again.....

 
Saturday 24th January and the table is set for 10.

Gifts are wrapped and ready for those that didn't make it here on everyone else's Christmas day. 

And we are ready to have our own 2nd Christmas day. 

It didn't go totally to plan, which is as expected, R didn't come as she was feeling unwell. We all knew it was mostly exhaustion and stress from the chaos at work the theatre is under, however E was worried about R germ spreading if she was brewing an illness of any sort. So Daughter ate with us and plated up a dinner for R and left early. She was going to leave anyway as she was working, rehearsing then performing with people new to her. 

M arrived just as we were finishing our dessert, as he had been working, but we had saved plenty of dinner and dessert for him. 

Lots of stories from Son&fiancé's holiday. Board games and chat. Tea and cake of course and a really lovely day. 

The consultant's phone call appointment happened to be right in the middle of coffee morning, but that wasn't a problem as he likes a very short phone call. His last call was back in September but he still doesn't linger and I'm not sure how much he even listens to my answers as his report letter afterwards slightly distorts the facts, though nothing that I would need to correct. 

 

I found an unopened jar of lemon curd in the fridge that needed to be used and the quickest way is a basic sponge mix thrown into a cake case and dollops of curd swirled in then baked. Yummy. 

We had a phone call from one of our neighbours whose garden backs onto ours, they had caught photos on their garden camera of two otters that had been disturbed before taking all the fish from their pond. They had got into their garden through a hole they had made in our fence. So finally we had confirmation of how all our fish had disappeared from our pond late last year, we knew it hadn't been a heron or fox as the pond was netted and when ours was attacked so had at least three other neighbour's ponds. There was speculation of otters but no proof and we did seem a long way from the Brook. So Hubby repaired the fence, warned the rest of our neighbours and we have decided that for now we won't restock our pond just keep it healthy for wildlife as we can't compete with otters. 

Within two days this week we heard of an old friend, Charlie who died after about four months in hospital. We haven't seen him or his family for quite some time so it was really appreciated that they let us know and we will definitely go to his funeral. Very sad. 

Then my niece messaged to let us know that her daughter, my great niece, is pregnant. Life goes on eh?

Remember to make memories. 

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Time Worth Saving.......

 
When we got up Saturday morning Son&fiancé were about eight hours into their second flight home, first was South Island New Zealand to Auckland on North Island and then leaving Auckland for Singapore. Daughter was at Heathrow to pick them up Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to seeing them. 

I've decided to reduce my needless tasks, like not renewing my Flickr subscription last month. Now my free membership allows me storage of 1,000 photographs and as I currently have 14,600+ I need to do a lot of deleting before the app does it for me. I've till the 1st March so I'm enjoying the wander through and remembering. 

I've also decided it's a needless task to print my blog posts. Originally I treated the blog like I've always treated my diaries as physical evidence and reminders of my life, I used to joke that if/when I get forgetful I would have them here even if the blog server was long gone. However, it's not good for the planet to waste all those trees and especially daft now the monthly subscription price of printer ink and paper has gone up again. So I've stopped! 

Hubby was on his mission this week. He has continued with the office warming up mission, and it has been continuous heavy physical work. He is determined to save our energy bills. The whole room is now back how it was with the addition of extra sealant around all the edges under the existing double floor. He hasn't taken final heating readings because as soon as he had finished we both had to move straight into preparing for Christmas! 

Yes today we are hosting our second Christmas day now our travelers are home. 

So I'll have to leave you now as there's food to cook and the table to set before they arrive.

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Sad News......

 
We did get one little flurry of snow over the weekend but it was sleety so didn't settle. The rest of the week has mostly been cold, grey and wet. 

Very sad news this week when we heard that Joanna Carrick had died, she was just 58 years old. You can put her name into Google and be swamped with information and glowing reviews so I'll not put that all here, however in brief, she was the founder and Artistic Director of Red Rose Chain Theatre Company in Ipswich, highly respected for her personal acting talent, as a prolific playwrite and for her inspirational community work. Most importantly to us is she was R's employer, director and mentor within the theatre, Daughter had worked with her over the years too and the whole family have been in the audience of so many of their performances. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the theatre and the ethos Jo has built is such a strong legacy that it will live on in her name. RIP Jo Carrick. 

I had just decided there was nothing else to tell you when Hubby announced he has a new solution to resolve an ongoing problem. We had an extension built about 25 years ago, part of which extends beyond the original house footprint so giving us four outside walls and the concrete floor remains colder than it should be even though it has double layers of insulation and double wood flooring. Hubby is now planning to add a more modern underlay but he will need to empty the room and very carefully lift the current wood floor so it can go back on top before all the furniture goes back. A very big job. I'll keep you updated. 

So now I really do have nothing else to tell you so I'll say cheerio for now and hope to see you back here next Saturday.

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Too Krispie?.......

 
Last Sunday and the weather was so cold the pond was still frozen but this beautiful rose was alive and in full bloom. 

Monday morning we woke to this covering of overnight snow. 

Hubby cleared a safe walk way to our front door and walked with a neighbour to ours to make sure she didn't slip. Our neighbours at coffee morning made sure they had the right grit-bin codes and two of them made sure our Close was gritted. 

By Wednesday morning it was all gone. 

We decided to borrow M's carpet shampooer as a few places needed freshening up. Ideal time as Hubby didn't have any other jobs to do and was  getting a bit cross with his new jigsaw. So the main walk areas in the lounge were done, some of the hall and the bathroom was done, then Hubby and I popped out to a couple of shops. We were actually shopping for a few extra Christmas presents, sounds crazy but we have a second Christmas day planned for when Son&fiancé are back from their travels and hopefully E&boyfriend will be able to make it here too. 

Even though our heating was on it wasn't the weather to have a window open, so back from shopping and the carpet was still too wet to walk on so we had lunch in the dining room then relaxed in the office and Hubby did a bit more of his jigsaw (it's a really tricky one).

As we were wasting time... or should I have said keeping busy away from wet carpet? I decided to make Marshmallow Krispies as there were lots of marshmallows bought for festive season recipes that never got used. 

As you can see the shapes are totally varied as I couldn't get the blooming things out of the dish and called in my backup but Hubby struggled too. There were pink and white ones so I cooked them separately. I used the traditional recipe, however I found a video of someone who did it all in the oven saving so much hob stirring and halving the washing up, so I went with that. The result was a lot more crunchy, mainly I think because of too big a dish so spread too thinly, but still a yummy sweet treat that I'm eating far too many of mmmmmmm.

Sitting most of the time under a blanket I've caught up this week with some admin spreadsheets, my accounts, my online address book and my online dates are now all current and usable. There are neighbours helping with recycling used postage stamps and Christmas card fronts so I've passed those items on and this information on. Those big plastic tubs that our Quality Street and Crackers for Cheese came in are being saved here for when we next go to a Green King Pub as they are recycling them for Macmillan fundraising. I've passed that info onto all our neighbours too. 

Enjoy your week ahead, keep busy and keep warm. 

See you next week.

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Hello 2026......

 
Last Saturday it was a slower journey to Canvey Island than it should have been with lots of traffic delays and when others arrived they all reported similar even though we all came from different directions. Suffolk(us), Twickenham, Berkshire, Surrey and the furthest driving down from Leicester. One nephew and his partner came by train, I think it took four trains in fact as they came down from Edinburgh! 

It was a lovely day, as it always is, when so many of our spread out family make it all together and hug in person. Our hosts, my nephewE and his wifeN made us so welcome and laid on a huge amount of food. 

They even created a fun picture quiz and that's when I took some photos but not sure I caught everyone. 

Thankfully it was a much easier journey home.

The next day Daughter was driving O into the West End and amusing herself while O and a friend saw a show. Two of my niece's were also going into Paddington to visit their uncle/ my cousin in hospital. Daughter arranged to meet up with them afterwards so then I got a phone call for his latest medical update which was useful as I could then update my siblings. 

Wednesday morning and I sent Son&fiancé a Happy New Year message as they are 11 hours ahead in New Zealand. At midnight UK time they sent one back, but I didn't actually see it till we got up Thursday morning as for the first time in my adult life I went to bed and didn't 'see in' the new year. I hadn't felt 100% all day and the TV countdown, fireworks and entertainment are not worth staying up for. There were fireworks going on outside we could hear almost all evening. We knew we could put the bedroom TV on at midnight if we wanted to but we were actually both fast asleep long before that. 

When we got up on a new day in a new year it felt like our festivities had been lovely but also felt over, so our decorations were taken down and packed away. All back to normal. 

Got a visit from Daughter on her birthday which was lovely. I had asked days before and she had replied that there was nothing she wanted to do to celebrate the day, so the visit was lovely. 

Well another year has ended and they are definitely whizzing by faster than they used to but I don't really mind, especially while it's dark and so cold. 

I hope you enjoyed the year gone and I wish you all a year ahead that is all you want and need it to be.... but for now stay under that blanket.

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Santa's Week......

 
It will probably be the spring before we catch up on all the recorded Christmas TV specials hahaha. We did enjoy the Strictly final, mainly because they were all so good and we didn't mind who won. Much the same for the Celebrity Masterchef winner too. I'll not name names in case you haven't caught up yet and want to.

Son and fiancé recovered enough to make their rescheduled flight on Monday. So relieved for them but still worried, well that's a mum's job to worry isn't it. 

Daughter drove them to Heathrow, after she had taken me and O to our dental appointment, just a checkup for all three of us. O got a clear result, Daughter has another appointment for a filling and a hospital referral for a root removal this dentist can't do and I survived the trauma of someone poking in my mouth and pleased she found nothing that needed treatment. She could tell it was a trauma and became extra gentle. 

Tuesday morning was another blood test, yes life gets that exciting! 

By Tuesday evening our travelers had arrived in Brisbane, which was Wednesday morning for them. Hubby of course had tracked their flights including the nearly three hour stop in Singapore. That leg stretch is so appreciated after such a long first flight and I've been told Changi Airport is amazing in places and worth seeing. Sadly I never saw it like that when we were there in 2006 as it hadn't progressed beyond a large and very efficient airport then. 

Christmas Eve Daughter and O came over and helped with the veg prep, so helpful. At 2pm our time we wished Son and fiancé a very merry Christmas as they are 10 hours ahead and got some lovely photos back on the group chat. 

We set the table just before we went to bed. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS DAY EVERYONE! 

Daughter brought the rest of the food here and along with the eating crackers were the pulling crackers for the table. No tacky useless plastic toy, these ones had a pair of Christmas socks inside each one. Brilliant aren't they! 

We have never had as few as six round this very large table for Christmas Dinner before, so pulling the crackers was a fun arm stretch (especially for me) but it did mean there was room to put all the food on the table rather than me dishing up and everyone who wanted seconds (or thirds) having to go to the kitchen worktop and get it.  

I enjoyed all three courses (a little of each) and everyone else tucked into a lot of each and as always so much left over. It would have been mean not to share. 

It was definitely time to do nothing in the lounge for a while and let it all digest. 

No board games this year as that's E's thing and she wasn't here, so tea, chocolates and chat then when it was time we watched the Gladiators Celebrity Christmas Special. After that O and M were ready to go home. Not much later there was the Strictly Come Dancing Celebrity Christmas Special that Daughter and R wanted to stay and watch with us. That seemed a really good time for Daughter to bring out her cheese and crackers buffet. None of us needed much but it's amazing how extra room is found for tasty nibbling hahaha. 

When we waved our last guests off home Hubby and I dealt with all the leftover food, he carved all the turkey while I was boxing and wrapping then trying to decide what's best used very soon so fridge and what's good for freezing. After that it was a cuppa and more tele and the rest could wait. A lovely day all round. 

Friday morning Hubby ran the dishwasher again and tackled all the roasting tins by hand (quicker when there's lots). Cutlery was put back into canteens, posh crockery back into it's dining room cupboard, extra chairs back round the table, table mats back in the drawer and the hot dish trivets too, then the  table cloth went back on and our lovely table can go into hiding for another year. 

We did smile when congratulating ourselves that we don't have to do it all again on Saturday on the grand scale as this year my nephew E and his wife N are hosting family day that we have held here for many many years and definitely all of the last 14 apart from when we were covid restricted. All family of varying ages and has been as many as 34 people some years.  This year Hubby and I are taking Daughter and O as the rest of our immediate family can't make it which is a shame. 

For the rest of Friday Hubby had a couple of jobs to do.  One of the garden wall lights wasn't working but he couldn't get the cover off to see what size bulb, hopefully just too cold so he'll try again another time. There was also a big problem with a fuse and routers and hubs up in the loft and buying a new 18 port something to replace the 24 port something......... and that's about all the explanation you'll get from me as I didn't understand the rest. 

Saturday and the 27th which had been my dad's birthday, which is why our family day was usually held on the 27th when Christmas Bank holiday and work structure allowed. So the four of us are driving off soon to Canvey Island which should be about 1hr10 ish from here. You'll hear about that next time. So have a good weekend and keep celebrating through to the new year. 

Tinsel Time......

 
Another festive dinner, this time with my Wednesday gang although we had to do it on Tuesday. We were at The Orwell Hotel in Felixstowe on friendM's highest recommendation but I thought both the service and the food were not as good as we'd had elsewhere. 

The hotel has recently been taken over by a new company and the renovations inside look lovely. They are a Dubai based investment company and for some reason they have installed a mechanical elephant in front of the building. 

Apparently rubbing his trunk brings good luck, so friendM did, it also made him pee hahaha. 

On a not good subject Son didn't pop over to see us last weekend as he is full of head cold, this got worse and turned into a chest infected and he is now on antibiotics and steroids. Fiancé is unfortunately suffering the same developing a few days behind. The most disappointing thing is for a whole year they have planned and booked a four week tour of Australia and New Zealand and they should have flown out yesterday, Friday 19th! Disappointments, logistics and huge costs involved and their travel agent has moved their first flight to Monday 22nd missing out Sydney and flying direct to Brisbane. Daughter has managed to rearrange Monday so she can still take them to Heathrow. Now I'm keeping everything crossed they are both well enough for Monday and survive long haul which is exhausting anyway. 

Then, as Daughter wasn't driving to Heathrow on Friday Hubby offered to wash her car so she came over with R and it gave us our only opportunity to discuss our Christmas day menu. Daughter has a Tesco delivery slot booked for Monday so we added stuff to that after what we already had between us. 

So this time next week I can tell you all about our Christmas day and boxing day and all that's left for me to say is

Quite Calm.....

 
Two festive lunches this week, Monday was with the coffee morning neighbours

And Tuesday was with my xBT work team. 

I actually enjoyed them both, managing to eat a small turkey meal each time. I'm being a rebel and not taking the evil pills at the moment, sometimes I need a break. 

E is spending a few days at her mums so Hubby and I popped over for tea and chat Wednesday afternoon. 

I've got the gifts wrapped and under the tree, I've also done all the money gift transfers scheduled to move on the 24th so I'm feeling a lot more organised. Need to think about food next. 

Hubby got totally engrossed in the latest jigsaw a neighbour brought up. This one has very irregular shaped pieces so more of a challenge and it helped that snooker was on the TV at the same time. 

Friday morning we had a meeting with the agent from the will shop to finalise the paperwork for the updated legal stuff which of course includes handing over lots of money. Shouldn't have to give that a thought again. 

And today is a full day Doggy Day Care day so the best reason to relax. 

Enjoy your weekend.

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Going Nowhere.......

 
We all expect subscriptions to cost more each renewal and around inflation level is acceptable, however Flickr Pro has definitely out-priced itself this year. Daughter mentioned it a couple of weeks ago and when my email hit the inbox I totally agreed.  

Hubby has done a great job of transferring the hundreds of folders containing the thousands of photos collected over so many years and downloading them onto the home computer. Not as convenient, not auto saved, but so much cheaper! 

And now it's December! 

Cards all done and a pack ready for the scouts to deliver locally for us, which is a great fund raiser for them. One air mail stamp for the US. Second class stamps for the largest heap, two of which are birthday cards and a few left for hand delivery.

R and O were here Sunday and this

became this

although Hubby and I had to finish it as a lot of the time they were like this

A lot of the time before that had been a busy full house. Son arrived first, later Daughter messaged us she was arriving a bit later than planned as R had a hangover. O arrived straight to ours with his girlfriend and her parent who had driven from Norwich to save him getting the train, they all stayed for tea (by which time Son was on his third). Daughter and M arrived bringing R and the dog, Daughter and M stayed long enough to make polite conversation with everyone. O's girlfriend and parent went home then Daughter and M left as they had planned a trip into Woodbridge. Son and Hubby had to take the dog out for a walk to calm her down a bit, then Son went home. Eventually just the four of us here for lunch followed by quite a lethargic pace for the remainder of the day. Daughter came back later, had tea and took them home eventually. 

Friends LA and SG finally managed to meet up for tea and cake, however friendLA works at The Academy and said because there was a lot of covid and flu viruses there she suggested we meet up here at my house and they brought the cakes. A lovely long chatty afternoon. 

Everything else has been delayed as I've had a migraine which is hopefully going away now. 

See you next week.

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Everyone Wants To Eat.......

 
....... except me! 

I started this week collecting in the menu choices for the Christmas meal of my ex-work team, I'm gathering them together on the 9th.  The Maybush Inn has a really good two or three course festive menu. The medication I'm on has severely disrupted my appetite and thankfully when I sent in the list I asked if I could have just one course and to make it a small portion and they were happy to do that. 

Monday we had our usual coffee morning and this week NeighbourA has a birthday so he brought in a large birthday cake and asked me to cut it and share it out. I cut myself a really thin slice and ate a small nibble to join the celebration but then removed the rest for later, which actually Hubby got to eat. After all the neighbours left my friendM picked me up and we drove round to The Belstead Brook Hotel for us to finally have our lunch together as my treat left from her late September birthday promise (better late than never eh?). I just had a small smoked salmon salad starter and left a lot of the greenery. I enjoyed it but then couldn't eat anything else for the rest of the day. 

This restaurant is also where we are having a Christmas lunch for the coffee morning neighbours on the 8th and neighboursT&S are organising it and they have been to great lengths to meet staff and ensure I can have a suitable menu choice even if it's not on the two or three course options. I really appreciate the effort they are making for my benefit but I don't enjoy the public fuss.

Wednesday night our usual group of six and this week we ate at The Dooley Inn, Felixstowe. Really good pub grub and they actually do a small plate menu as well as saying anything on their specials board can be a small plate portion too. I had lasagne and their small plate was still twice the size of what I could eat and Hubby helped with some of what I left. 

You may remember a couple of weeks ago we cancelled a meal with friends at the last minute because I was having a migraine well they have sent a few dates to try again and the only one we could do was this Friday. The Fox and Raven one of the Vintage Inns. Always lovely to catch up with friendsL&K. 

And I'm sure you'll be pleased to see something not food related at all. 

Our first Christmas card arrived, from my lovely friendAC. She always sends her own hand made cards and this year it's lino print.

I'll say cheerio for now as Hubby needs me to finish the list of food needed for the weekend so he can nip to the shop! 

Oh and happy thanksgiving to anyone that celebrated.

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