Saturday, 24 May 2025

True WOW Moments........

 
Our early visitor Saturday morning, beautiful but sadly with our fishpond under scrutiny he was unwelcome. He flew off as soon as Hubby opened the patio door. 

We were far more friendly Saturday evening when we joined our friendsN&T for the Great Horkesley W.I. quiz night. FriendN does a lot of the organising and makes all of the ploughman's plates for the interval. Hubby and I have been part of this team for quite a few years now so it's lovely to catch up with those there we know. We didn't win the quiz or the raffle (not even close) but always good fun. 

Long story coming but bear with me cos I think it's a definite series of wow's.
Last week I was thinking about O needing props for his 1976 reenactment weekend and I thought we had some old maps (no GPS or smartphones in the 70's) unfortunately nothing suitable in the very large ring binder of maps I still had. Deciding I really didn't need to keep them anymore this week I offered them to neighbourT who does a lot of collage art and told her to throw away any of it she didn't want. 
A few days later she brought back the ring binder with the empty plastic sleeves and said she'd found plenty of very useful stuff. She had also found an unopened envelope.......
Wow how old is this? 
How did it get mixed up with the maps? 
Neither of us could remember those names as a couple we knew? 
Thanking us for a Sunday, did we entertain them? 
The photo enclosed was Hubby's brother's wedding which was before I even joined the family, unrelated? 
Hubby thought he possibly recognised the handwriting but wasn't sure. 
Later Hubby took the ring binder upstairs......
Wow there on my desk was a small pile of old photos waiting to be put away and on top was this..... 
That's our garden, there's children playing and there's Gordon with a woman we didn't remember so that must be Joan? Hubby emailed the photo to the guys, his three school friends, and they were amazed and between them thought it was about 1990.
Coincidence, magic or was something unseen pushing things in the right direction? 

And today we got up to a very wet day, a pleasant change that is long overdue. 
May all your wow's be ones to smile about.
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Saturday, 17 May 2025

Mysteries and Memories.......

 
Well this was the first time I'd encountered a camera shy butterfly. On the front edge of this terracotta bowl is a really beautiful bright orange and black butterfly but you will have to take my word for it, as every time I took a photo it had closed up, eight times before I gave up. 

Daughter and Son went for one of their long walks. 
With this WhatsApp message came the challenge to "find the dragon".
I saved the pic to my phone and zoomed right in as much as I could. 
Told it wasn't what I thought was possibly a dragon statue. 
Son did the laughing emoji when I suggested it was reflected in his sunnies. 
Eventually they sent a zoomed pic of the field way way in the background! 

I spotted the lyrics to this song posted on Facebook and tagged SisterP. 
This conversation followed.....We shared this with sisterS and thankfully she remembered it the way I did. 

R is now home from New York. That month seems to have gone quickly. 

Collected my new specs on Tuesday and so far so good. 

When people say they are just going out to blow the cobwebs away, I doubt they've ever meant it literally. Wednesday we popped out for a short trip to Shotley Marina: very picturesque drive along the river Orwell, not too far from home, pretty walk, interesting activities to watch and a good pub. 
That's the Port of Felixstowe you can see the other side of the river. The yellow boat is the Shotley- Harwich foot ferry. 
We watched the loch gates open and close to let a boat through.
It was so windy I had to use hair slides to secure my cap but it still meant our walk was shorter than Hubby would have liked. Still fun though, and lots of pointing and remarking on the changes we spotted as we haven't been down to Shotley for a very long time.   
And a drink in the pub gave us free parking. 

Thursday afternoon had a lovely visit from Daughter, R and O and the dog of course. Caught up on the news about O's recent GCSE exams and R's adventure in the US. Os mentioned his next reenactment trip to Kentwell is for'multi-period' and he is part of the 1976 group. Hubby remembered having his dad's picnic box here, totally authentic and O was thrilled to borrow it. 

Friday we had a quick trip into town to ask Specsavers to make a slight adjustment to the new frames as the arms were a little tight behind my ears. Seem more comfortable now. 

I'll be wearing lots of layers this weekend as it's much chillier than it has been recently, suggest you do the same, well it is still May.
Have a good week.
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Saturday, 10 May 2025

Love Where We Live.........

 
Saturday morning and the dog arrived at 8am, brought my M. About 9am Son arrived as he finds it easier washing his car on our drive than his own. Daughter's dog is Son's biggest fan and she shows it a lot. In fact she was really vocal until he agreed to take her for a walk. 
By the time they got back Hubby had almost finished washing Son's car for him. 
We had the dog again on Sunday but thankfully not such an early start. 

Bank Holiday Monday was the ideal time to celebrate the 80th anniversary of  WWII's victory in Europe. 
As we often do, our Close had a street party. 
The day started with rain arrggghhh, but the forecast was dry for the rest of the day. So set up began at 10am starting with the bunting.
Suddenly there's a neighbour outside my bedroom window. 
It stayed really windy and chilly all day, but that didn't stop everyone enjoying it all. 
Our garage was filled with shared food and drinks. 
Hubby put the speakers out and played lots of music from that era. 
We started at noon and packed it all away after 5pm.

Tuesday morning Hubby and I both looked beautify tanned..... it's definitely wind burn but let's keep that as our little secret. 

Thought I'd end with an orchid update while it's at its best, because we never know how long that will last now a couple of petals have dropped. 
Now it is definitely getting warmer and a lot nicer to be in the garden. Hubby is gardening and I'm usually just checking on his progress and giving lots of encouraging praise hahaha. 

Use your sunscreen and see you next week.
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Saturday, 3 May 2025

I'm Just The Same........

 
We really enjoyed watching O, aka Charlie Blackwood, perform an acoustic set in the Ipswich HMV
His parents are the perfect roadies. 

This week's coffee morning was our first outside in the garden, so lovely and warm. Hubby said he would take a photo but he forgot so this is the best I could get from the security camera (it's only pointed to see if someone breaks into the back door).
As our neighbours arrived each one praised the blossom on the apple tree that greeted them. 

I had my Specsavers eye test this week and pleased to report very little change in prescription and was told the Macular Degeneration in my right eye is no worse and unlikely to get any worse, so that was good to hear. Having worn the same frames for three years now I did choose a new pair to collect in two weeks. 

Hospital finally rang with my CT Scan results and there were a few medical explanations but basically no significant change, so specialist nurse and consultant happy I keep going as we are. I'm very pleased about that. Next scan approximately four months time. 

I just had to share something that really made me smile. I opened the lounge curtains about 7:15am on Wednesday and spotted this baby elephant relaxing outside a neighbour's house. 
Of course it was just a shadow and I'm so pleased I took this photo immediately as he didn't stay long at all. Maybe he's looking for a circus. 

I'm posting this now, nice and early, as it's a Doggy Day Care day and she'll be arriving any minute.
Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend. We are remembering VE Day's 80th on Monday. I'll tell you all about it next week.
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