Shalom.........

 
Early start Saturday as we were on Doggy Day Care and Hubby needed to take R to work first when he picked up the dog and was going to take O to R's work too so he could walk to the station very soon after, however it was raining quite hard and he was doing an overnight trip so carrying his bag and tent and his guitar. His train wasn't for another hour so Hubby brought him back here and then back to the station at a better time. Bonus for me as I got a good catchup chat and a bonus for him as he helped himself to breakfast. 

Tuesday was the first day of the Jewish New Year. With all the conflicts around the world at the moment we ALL need to wish each other good health, peace and 'a life as sweet as honey'.

I didn't use apples or honey but I did make a rhubarb cake. 

Yes we had eaten half before I took this pic hahaha. 

This little diamond ring was my mum's and I've been wearing it since she died 16 years ago. It's a bit big for my little finger but not big enough to be promoted so I wear it behind my puzzle ring to stop it falling off, but it annoyingly spins round and round. 

Over the years I've tried various things to tighten it that haven't worked and knew that one day I'd have to get round to walking into a jewelers. 

Meanwhile I had another idea when I remembered I had clear nylon stretchy bead threading cord so I did a bit of boy-scout lashing.

This close up photo shows I wasn't particularly neat, even though I was wearing two pairs of specs it wasn't easy to see where it was as it's clear. So far it's not uncomfortable and has reduced the spinning a lot. Hope it lasts a while. 

Daughter and Son have both needed their dad this week. Daughter asked to borrow the big hedge trimmer and really appreciated when Hubby arrived and stayed with it so it was done in half the time. Son's problem was his fish pond suddenly losing a lot of water quickly. He felt like he needed to top it up twice a day and all that tap water wouldn't be good for the fish. Adding to the problem is Son is part of an annual fundraiser and this year they have been walking individually all September and coming together on Saturday(today) to climb Snowden, so he will be away Friday morning to Sunday evening with nobody at home to watch the pond. Between Son and Hubby the plan was to transfer the fish, plants and pond water to a temporary paddling pool on Thursday afternoon and re-line the pond properly after this weekend. He definitely needed his dad to help as he was still working and had conference calls booked. As it happened when Hubby and the ordered paddling pool plus nets turned up it seemed to have stopped draining itself (like getting a doctors appointment and the pain has gone). They cleared a lot of the plants and watched for quite a while and decided to leave it as it is. 

The charity Son supports is called Elgon Empowerment, which is quite a small charity that really helps women and girls with a basic need they are deprived of that most of us take for granted. They need to fundraise to provide help and also to provide education and the means for the females to help themselves in the future. Please click on the link and read what it's all about and if you can add a little to the pot it will be put to very good use. 

A Very Worthy Cause!

Thanks for popping by this week and I'm looking forward to seeing you again next week.

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Nothing Unusual........

 
We had a quiet weekend, my foot was still healing and the weather was absolutely dreadful. What was beautiful sunshine was suddenly turning to a thunder and lightning storm, with rain coming down like "stair rods" as my mum would say. 

To brighten our lives, give us something to do and make the house smell yummy we made a cake together. Basic Victoria sponge sandwiched with the quince jelly mmmmmmm

Mid-September and the heating has been on a couple of times. Two days this week I've worn a roll neck. But by the end of the week it was warm again, Friday afternoon back up to 24°C.

As we were washing the covers for these two chairs (a rare event) Hubby wondered if we could improve the padding in the seats. 

Easiest solution was I cut some layers from a redundant thin duvet that we'd replaced and Hubby then had the really difficult job of forcing the really tight covers back on and ensuring it still attached to the velcro fixtures. 

So pleased it was him not me. 

Two bread puddings came out well. One for our cake tin and one in the freezer. 

You may remember July last year (2024) I went through Specsavers and got hearing-aids but then couldn't wear them once I'd started with these cancer drugs mid-August so took them back. Well I've decided to try the NHS Audiology route and a GP this week has put in the required referral. I've heard lots about their incredibly long waiting list so let's see how long it takes. 

I'm going to post this and dash now as we are booked for Doggy Day Care with an early start to get R to work and O to the station too. So while Hubby is chauffeur I need to dog proof the lounge with matting on the windowsill (her favourite viewing point) and blankets on the leather suite. 

TTFN

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Hugging My Cousins........

 
A few years ago, when I discovered we had quince growing in our garden, I found a recipe for quince jelly and loved it. Since then the quince hasn't grown big enough to do anything with, until this year. 

This bucket full was only about half the gathering. 

Looking up on the Internet I found a very easy recipe that said the quince roasted well, so I tried it in the airfryer but it refused to absorb any of the sugar syrup which left it far too sour. Hubby's face was very amusing when he tried a tiny taste hahaha

Changing the subject, on Tuesday we arranged to meet up with some of my cousins from my mum's side, which we try to do once a year. We didn't manage it last year so this year seemed even more important. 

Hubby and I drove nearly 80 miles and cousinJ drove from Nottingham so over 100 miles, but we were all so pleasantly surprised when we were joined by a cousin and her husband from Australia who just happened to be in the UK this week. SisterS told them of our plans then kept it as a surprise from the rest of us. 

We all met at a favourite fish and chip shop then all back to cousinsB&A's for plenty more hugs, chatting and cake. 

The older we all get the more precious our meetups are becoming. 

Wednesday it was back to the quince and I was joined by Daughter and R for another preserve session. 

A very easy recipe that just needs chopping with skins and cores thrown in the pan too. Both girls chopped, then Daughter did the hob cooking. 

She did a great job. 

I did lots of the sticky jar cleaning and R always does all the lables.

On Thursday friendM and I went out for lunch and a proper catch up. I took her a jar of plum chutney and a jar of quince jelly as a gift, only fair as she paid for my lunch, still calling it my birthday lunch even though that was a month ago!  

So quite a busy week but I'm resting up today as I've a painful foot again, which is a side effect of this medication. Keeping everything crossed it will disappear as suddenly as it came last night. No plans to spoil so that's good. 

Let's see what next week brings.

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Popping......

 

There was a reasonably loud clunk under my chair and when Hubby checked he said one of the seat springs had broken away from the frame. He definitely assured me, more than once, that it's still safe to sit on and I'll come to no harm. If you don't hear from me for a while please investigate.

Son popped in Saturday morning for a cuppa and to collect something we had printed for him. He prints so rarely that it's cheaper for him to drive the 45 mins here than it is to get his clogged up ink cartridge sorted out hahaha. He had tea, chopped some more logs to take and we had a good chat. 

Yaay we (mostly me but very grateful when Hubby helped) finished prepping all the apples and have two very full bags in the freezer. 

A good amount was coated in cinnamon and made into this strudel (we had eaten half already).

Daughter popped in Monday afternoon as E wanted some craft things from her storage stuff she has here, so Daughter came to get it, so O could take it on the train Tuesday and E will meet him at Norwich Station. Like Pony Express! O is going for his college induction day. Bonus for me was Daughter had E on a video call so she could help sorting through the boxes, so I got to chat with E too. 

 Should have been a quick pop across town for my regular blood test, however, as too often happens, an accident by the Orwell Bridge brought almost all the Ipswich traffic to a standstill. 

We have no other choice but to crawl along with it and get there when we can. 

Hubby had been helping neighbour-friendA repair his wife's memorial bench and Friday they drove together to put it back in her favourite place in Derbyshire, so should have been three hour drive each way but actually took them seven hours to get there.  

With all this talk of popping I couldn't resist....

Have a fun weekend.

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