Sometimes It's Chaos.........

 
Weekend was quiet-ish apart from dog sitting again Saturday for Son and fiancé while they went into London to see Patrick Stewart. It was a bit of a late night for us as they had public transport delays on the way home and Hubby stayed up as he was picking them up from Ipswich Station. Then they needed to unwind with a cuppa and chat before driving home. I guess we should have had a lazy Sunday but actually I decided to strip and remake our bed, we did two machine loads of laundry which had to go upstairs on the clothes horse and hangers, went out shopping to hunt for the perfect present for a special friend and make an early roast dinner as Hubby was out in the evening playing pool. 

Coffee morning was a full and noisy dining room. 

Later in the afternoon M brought O and the dog and a little later still he came back with R after collecting her from work. The three of them are here till Wednesday. R's latest play opens Tuesday evening which I'm really looking forward to seeing later in the run. 

When R does evening performances she needs a dinner lunchtime and takes something lighter with to have later. Of course R and O like to sleep in late so dinner is also breakfast hahaha. I was meeting FriendLA and friendHD in the evening but a light dinner still filled me too much to order dessert when they did. M had a full London day but got home in good time to pick up R from work. They both came in (it was about 11pm) and M was gushing and telling us of his amazing day which included a meeting in Westminster and inside no 10! Eventually I also asked R how first night went and she said very well, in fact there were hardly any mistakes. 

Wednesday and again I'm making a dinner lunchtime when I was interrupted by O saying he'd had a nose bleed, I sorted the pillow and pillow case while Hubby dealt with the few spots on the bathroom and landing carpets. When R got up she told us that last night the bedside lamp bulb blew and started smoking! Then knowing that these things often happen in threes we were not surprised when we were all relaxed in the lounge with a little while to go before taking R to work and O and the dog home, the dog threw up on the blanket she was lying on! 

Hubby and I had our usual Wednesday night out with friends, Prezzo first then the Grosvenor. FriendsT&F gave us an anniversary card, unfortunately as we left the Grosvenor after last orders I realised I'd left the card on the table at Prezzo, very cross with myself. Thursday Hubby phoned Prezzo and thankfully they had put the card aside and Hubby will call in and get it Sunday as he is back in Felixstowe. 

Friday evening we were dog sitting again while Son and fiancé went to The New Wolsey to see Uncanny, that spooky thing on TV at the moment that Danny Robins has also taken on tour. They both really enjoyed it. 

A busy week, so lots of words, no photos and for some of these things I'm sure you wouldn't want photos anyway. 

Enjoy your weekend and remember the clocks go back an hour.

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Our Golden Week......

 
We decided to take advantage of the dry sunny Saturday to pop to Felixstowe and finally have a ride on the ferris wheel before it closed the next day. 

Twice round gave us plenty of time to have a good look at the view, town one side and the sea the other. 

As you can see by my hair it was very windy up there and I'm glad I wore my scarf as it was quite chilly. 

We ended up having a very long walk too as Felixstowe is prone to flooding at high tide so the flood barriers were closed along the whole prom. Not realising we parked in the car park half way along the sea front, so had to walk all the way to the end to get to the beach then half way back to get to the wheel and the same again afterwards. 

Sunday we had arranged with old friends to meet for lunch. When we arrived Hubby and I were surprised that friendsN&T and friendsV&N had arranged it as a celebration in advance of our golden wedding anniversary later this week.  

We had a big balloon, lots of cards, yellow and white bouquet and the table was scattered with confetti. At the end of the meal they paid for ours too. We were spoilt. We have such lovely friends.

Red Rose Chain theatre company are about to open their next historic play The Ungodly and as always there are a lot of online promotion photos. This one took me by surprise as the girl sitting in front is my Granddaughter R.

Who looks identical to her mum (pic below). Daughter has straight hair and R's is very curly so with coifs on nothing separated them.  

When my neighbour said she was enjoying the latest in the Richard Osman series of The Thursday Murder Club, I said I've read all three as ebooks but this forth one is too expensive for a kindle edition. So she finished hers and lent it to me. I'd forgotten how heavy a hard back book is and I need to have my legs raised and the book on a bean bag hahaha.

Hubby has reached the end of an era. He has been a biker for more than 40 years, however, this bike has been out on a run only three times this year. Either we are going out together and I don't get on the bike. He used to ride to see his dad or his brother, neither are with us any more. The friends he used to occasionally ride with he rarely sees now. So this photo is his last ride as he took the bike to sell it back to the shop he bought it from. The guys in the shop were amazed too! 

Thursday evening we dog sat for Son and fiancé. Their little dog can be a bit frustrating as she spends most of the time just staring at Hubby and neither of us can work out what it is she wants. Thankfully she doesn't get cross just stays staring. 

20th October 50 years ago was our wedding day, so this is our golden anniversary. 

Every one of the main anniversaries by year Hubby has bought the right pendant for my necklace (the necklace he put in my cracker about 40 years ago) so this is my new gold. Unfortunately it's the wrong fitting so it has had to stay on its own chain. Hopefully the two won't tangle.

The weather was awful, very wet and windy, not as bad as some parts of the country suffering Storm Babet, but not a day for forcing ourselves out in it pretending to have fun. So we stayed in and treated ourselves to a Chinese takeaway for dinner. I also made some lemon twists.... well lemon curd is gold. 

Hope you've had a good week too and not suffered bad weather.

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Staying Home.........

 
It's still really warm and sunny for the time of year, however these pigeons are obviously preparing for winter as they feast on the pyracantha berries.

After chatting to a friend about boilers, Hubby invited the gas man that changed theirs (as he was so highly recommended) to come and give a review on the best system that would work for us. Hubby hasn't been happy with our hot water pressure for years.

What we have at the moment is a condensing boiler fed by the tank in the airing cupboard which is topped up by the tank in the loft. 

Unfortunately Tuesday came and went and the guy didn't come. Hubby is now trying to track him down. 

He did track him down and after apologising said he'd call round Friday, he didn't! 

The large vase of flowers were starting to die and as I thinned it out I thought I'd take the opportunity to use my new birthday bud vases. 

Wednesday was a good day till the very end. Hubby went early to Daughter's with big gardening tools and helped tidy the overgrown side garden where they park the cars and caravan. It was Daughter's first day performing at Scaresville, when Kentwell Hall turns into the scariest venue for Halloween. Not wanting to leave O on his own all day when she left at noon, he came back with Hubby and the dog came too. We took them both home on our way out to Felixstowe at 6:30pm. 

Our usual Wednesday six was joined by friendsH&H (and they brought me a very belated birthday gift). We ate at The Dooley for a change then said goodbye to H&H and the six of us went to our usual pub. The guys had the pool table to themselves as the pub was in full swing of quiz night. Us girls struggled to talk over the very loud quiz master. Then friendT said she felt really tired but we knew something was wrong although she wouldn't say, so they left and we both worried about her. 

So that Hubby can drink I always drive home. Dropped friendsM&P home first of course then a very easy drive considering it was pouring with rain. We were back in Ipswich not far from home when I misjudged a roundabout and hit a curb hard. The front tyre had burst, this car does not carry a spare gggrrrrrr for no spare and gggrrrrrrrr at myself!!!

Our neighbour to our left owns a garage and breakdown service so we phoned his wife's mobile (only number I had) but at 11:45pm she quite rightly had her phone switched off. I managed to limp the car round to a safe parking space where we could leave it overnight and Hubby phoned friend&neighbourA (next door on our right) and he came out to get us. 

The two of them went back out Thursday morning and got it all sorted. Well done to them both.

I had fancied going out Friday. There was a large ferris wheel at Felixstowe that was closing this weekend and we'd not been on it but the weather was definitely not suitable Friday morning with heavy rain and quite windy. After lunch when it did dry up a bit Hubby reminded me this gas man was coming so when Daughter asked if we could dog-sit I agreed. Probably wise staying home as it was Friday 13th.

Sadly I have to write about more war in the middle east involving Israel, Palestine and Gaza land and the horrific attack by Hamas terrorists which seemed to be totally unprovoked. I'm Jewish with my whole life being part of a large Jewish family and being involved with many different Jewish communities so I feel for all those involved. I also feel for all the Jews around the world that now fear further terrorist actions against them. 

These are very scary times!

I wish peace for all 🙏 

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A Long Care List.......

 
30th September forty years ago we moved into this house with our two children, Daughter at four years old and Son ten days away from his third birthday. I love this house and the forever family home we have made. 

NephewE and his wifeN came for a lovely all day visit and brought these flowers, so good to catch up. They were here for lunch and dinner with dinner being timed for football half time as E has always been a strong Tottenham supporter and their game against Liverpool was on TV (everything is allowed for family). Tottenham won (only cos of a last second Liverpool home goal) so NephewE went home happy. 

I'm sitting down very carefully each time just now, no it's not a sore bum or any other physical problem.... I've broken my sofa. My side of the sofa made a nasty clunk the other day and now it creaks and groans every time I sit or move around. After close inspection Hubby said it's safe to sit on as there are four big springs underneath and only one has broken. He's phoned the company and sent them photos so fingers crossed it gets fixed before I do any more damage. 

I've always believed in counting my blessings and never more so than this week as thankfully we are all OK but I've heard about seven people I care about who are going through a medical trauma, had a nasty accident or suffered a bereavement, and it's only Tuesday. Life can be so cruel. 

We had two nights out, Wednesday the usual six of us in the usual places. Thursday should have been girls night out for five but another friend is unwell so I drove instead of being driven and the four of us had a good meal and a good laugh. Hubby was out Thursday night too for a pool team practice night and I got home before he did. 

Friday morning Hubby enjoyed a long lie in getting up at nearly 9am (very rare) had a cuppa then he went out grocery shopping. Relaxing afterwards when it was all put away he suggested doing the online quiz we missed Thursday. We've been doing this quiz since it started at the start of the pandemic and only missed a few so it does feel odd when we don't. 

And that's it for another week. Hope you're well?

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