Countdown Begins........

 
Yes I know this blog week started when it was still November, but the grandchildren wanted to put up our decorations as they have for the last 17 years, however R is in the Christmas performance of Wind In the Willows at Red Rose's Avenue Theatre which runs almost every day in December plus she's rehearsing for two other performances, so last weekend was her only opportunity. 

R and O started by sorting and building the big tree. 

O and Hubby then did the lights. 

Then R dressed it beautifully. 

There's also sparkle and garlands around the lounge, hallway and dining room as well as our little tree in the bay window. And all this was magically created with Christmas music on all the time 🎅🤶🎄

Hubby and I were already married with two young-adult children when my great-nephewD was born. As a small boy he'd come for sleepovers like his mum used to many years before. This week together with his 'nearly'husbandK they invited us over to their home. Actually their second home together but my health issues and then covid kept getting in the way but we got there eventually.  Both so hospitable and D had prepared lunch and dinner and had cakes and biscuits ready and he was up making constant tea. D gives the very best hugs too. A really lovely day. 

Having helped daughter prepare and paint all her hallway, this week Hubby has been removing carpet and getting it to the tip, then laying laminate flooring. Looks really good. 

I've still some cards to write (as I ran out and needed to buy some more) and more gifts to buy and just a couple of weeks left, so best get a wriggle on! 

See you next week.

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Lull Before The Storm......

 
There hasn't been much worth telling you about this week. The weather has been cold, wet and windy with very occasional sunny spells so we've mostly stayed inside. We did venture out for coffee morning and needed coats, hats, scarves and lap blankets and still not staying out for long. Our days have been filled with normal stuff punctuated with Daughter and O popping round for an afternoon and I've been out meeting a friend that I haven't seen for ages. 

I've nearly finished writing Christmas cards, only stopped because I need to buy more cards. 

Nowhere near finished the prezzie shopping. 

This weekend the decorations go up because the grandchildren still want to do it like they've done every year since the girls were three. Just R and O this year. They've never been up in November before but R will be so busy from next weekend right through December performing at the theatre that this is her only free time.

So from one of my shortest blog posts ever, I'll wish you a happy weekend. 

TTFN.

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Rollneck Sweater Weather......

 
Opened the curtains to lots of sparkly webs, photos never quite capture their magic.

One of the properties that backs onto our garden was bought at the beginning of the year and has had lots of work done building an extension and obviously lots inside too. Meanwhile the broken fence has been getting worse and Hubby has been wedging bits inside to ensure it's dog proof. 

Without warning a panel slid out and a man appeared, checked with Hubby it was OK for them to replace it and within an hour the old became new. Hubby now needs to make them as dark as the rest of ours. 

Hubby spent two days helping Daughter decorate her hall stairs and landing. I spent one of those days meeting friendM for lunch. Always lovely spending time just the two of us, however just as we'd started dessert her sister phoned to say they were in the area so they called into the hotel and ordered some bar food and when we left the restaurant area we joined them in the bar. 

I'd read on Facebook someone always soaks a banana skin overnight and uses that water for her house plants which are so much healthier for it. Comments underneath showed so many others doing the same. Why had I never heard of that before? So here we go!

I needed to shorten a door curtain and was really pleased that I already had thread that was a good colour match. So good infact that I moved chairs twice to get into the best light or I kept losing sight or where I'd been and where I needed to go hahaha. 

I've had to admit defeat. I try so hard to be sustainable and planet friendly with purchases, upcycling and reusing etc, however I've had to give up with crisp packets. We can't recycle them locally. About three years ago I discovered The Iron Man project where they iron them together to create waterproof blankets for the homeless and for the refugee camps. What a great idea. After a lot of searching I managed to find an address to post mine to after I'd washed them and opened each one to lay flat. At the end of last year they said to stop sending for a while as their storage was overflowing and they were moving it all to somewhere else. They've never published a new address. There is lots of talk of various drop off collection points but never a list of where they are. Plus postage has gone up so much. So for now I've given up and all the ones I'd saved, washed and were ready to go have hit the bin!!!

Hubby needed to pop into town so I went too hoping to get some Christmas prezzies. It was quite depressing to see how many shops have gone and the units are empty. I need to browse for inspiration but that's not so easy now. 

On a happier note we met with friendsL&K for a pub meal in Hatfield Peverel which is about half way between our homes. So lovely having a very long awaited catchup. 

Hope you have a good week. Wrap up warm.

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Supporting Roles.......

 
Hubby likes to get the best deal on all contract renewals. BT broadband just wouldn't budge low enough this time so he swapped to Virgin Media for the broadband and phone line. As we have used Virgin many years ago the cables are all still there, so the swap took their engineer less than half an hour. It will now take us a bit longer than that to change password connections for all our tech that uses the WiFi. 

Out of five ladies, two had had October birthdays but it's not easy finding a night that fits in everyone's diaries, so November and we finally got together for a celebration meal out. Barely a break in conversation to eat hahaha. 

Hubby has had a fun few hours with this IKEA flapjack...

Which eventually became this...

Christmas is starting to creep into my thoughts now. I've booked a Christmas meal for the team I used to work with and I've also taken in to the pub all our menu choices. FriendM has also done the same for our usual gang of six, this year it's a dinner and dance. Daughter and I have even briefly discussed the menu for 11 people which include carnivores, vegetarians, vegans and one that's gluten free! I really must start thinking about shopping for gifts before there's a last minute panic. 

O and the dog were here last night for dinner and when M came to collect them he stayed long enough to tell us all his latest involvement with the Tollywood film industry. Talking of films, O had recently been on a film making course and he directed his groups short film. If you want to see it click Red Glare

I'd better post this now as O and the dog are here again today and they will be here early. So have a good weekend.

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Time Ticks On.......

 
The clocks changed here going back one hour of course. Getting dark by 4pm means it's definitely "get cozy in front of the TV" time of year.

I thought our red alstroemeria had died in the summer drought, but it's obviously a great survivor. 

I mentioned last week that M spent some time on a film set, well this week they featured M in the local paper.

Our Wednesday night pub now has a variety of entertainment. One week it was open mike night, that was a few OK acts and some girls that were definitely not OK doing karaoke so badly it was a struggle for us to work out what they were singing. Another week there has been a quiz, well underway by the time we arrived so we sat in the other bar. This week was a chap singing a good mix of 60s country/ soul/ Irish and he had a great voice. 

I'm sure I take this photo every year but I do love our tulip tree when it's wearing autumn gold. 

Have a good weekend.

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Parties and Paint.....

 
Remember the children's program Mister Ben? Well Liz Truss went into the changing room and came out as Rishi Sunak our new Prime Minister. 

In another seemingly quick change my little nieceL has had her 50th birthday. We went to her celebration party Saturday evening and it was lovely to see her and other family members. 

I've been getting ready for Halloween. Gone are the days of pumpkin carving with the children and cooking a spooky dinner here and heading outside in the dark to catch the sweets the witches keep dropping off of their broomsticks. However the neighbours have young children and I'm happy to wrap sweets for when they trick-or-treat.

Instead of pumpkins I'll put lights in these milk bottles so they can see they are welcome to knock.

I've a happy Hubby now as he has decided to refurbish our bedroom; repair, repaint and recarpet. All prep and paint for now and carpet after Christmas when the sales are on. 

AND at the same time he is giving the office a makeover. Son had said he wants our treadmill and multi-gym but he's having major building works at his house so we won't move those for quite a while. So it's boxing up all the Atari, PlayStation and the Nintendo stuff which includes the SNES and the SNES64 (there's loads) that are no longer played with and sorting out what else can go. Hubby's researching what furniture can go in there to make it more cosy. However no new stuff can go in until old stuff goes and it's clear enough for him to install some underfloor heating as it's always been a cold room. 

Two long term projects, so a very happy Hubby. 😊 

For friendM's birthday eight of us went Turkish. Then back to hers for more drinks (I had coffee) and the birthday cake. A lovely evening. 

We should have had two grandchildren and the dog here all week and sleeping over, however both children ended up with other plans and M was happy being taxi and caterer until he landed two days on a film set so in the end we had just the dog for four of the days and no one sleeping here. 

Have a spooky weekend.

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Spot the Proud Grandma......

 

Still disappointed at not going to see sisterP on Sunday, especially as she keeps telling us all the food she'd bought and the planned menu, cruel eh? She tested positive too of course a day or two later (end of the week update, they are both nearly better apart from the persistent coughs). 

Mmmm I really fancied some rye bread and had caraway seeds in the drawer so made a very quick soda bread. It was yummy. 

There's been some major pruning. 

This lot is for shredding now. 

Apple cinnamon sponge came out well. Wish you could smell it. 

This whole week Daughter has been yet another character to meet and greet and prepare the mood for visitors to Kentwell's Scaresville event. 

Yaay I've already bought our tickets for Red Rose Chain's Christmas performance, so proud that Granddaughter R is a third of the cast. 

This week marked our 49th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately that day had horrid wet and windy weather so all of our outside suggested trips were crossed off the list. We actually drove to Clacton. We had thought some time ago about checking out the factory outlet shops at Clacton Village so went there first. Have to say the discounts weren't great but did buy a few bits. Then onto Clacton-on-Sea and as it had stopped raining we had a walk along the prom before heading into a pub for lunch. The heavens opened while we were eating so we took our time. As soon as it stopped and the sun came out we left and had another walk back along the prom to our car. 

We specially wanted to be home for our usual Thursday night virtual online pub quiz and this week's made us debate and laugh and finally reach an OK score. 

FriendKK and I used to theatre together all the time but haven't for years, I've now booked her ticket for Wind In The Willows with us and for this week she's booked us this....

I'll start by saying how well the four actors took on all the different characters and amazed how word perfect they delivered a huge amount of dialogue. The content was very dark and a bit weird. KK loved it and I enjoyed having our evening out together. 

If you want to read the whole Edgar Allen Poe poem you'll find it here The Raven

Son had been abroad all this week for work. The multi-national company he works for have avoided travel for almost three years. Son got a slightly earlier flight home as he was feeling a little unwell and once home discovered it was covid! Still everywhere grrrrr! 

Of course this blog is mostly my personal historical record but outside stuff which may affect me should be mentioned and as much as I hate talking politics........ Liz Truss has resigned as Prime Minister after a record breaking 45 days, shortest tenure in British history and no doubt a favourite quiz question in the future. 

Keep smiling everyone.

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A Mixed Bag........

 
Daughter came over to sort car stuff, O and the dog came too. O decided he was going to do some filming for a new short movie, so he films lots of brief takes of various ideas (often repeated many times so he can choose the best when editing). He asked Daughter to operate the camera (his phone) occasionally, he asked me to stand in certain places or to say a few words, or to give a certain look. He didn't tell us why or what the end result might be as he seemed to have lots of ideas coming and going but didn't share any with us. 
The strangest bit was when he decided he needed a briefcase full of mugs of tea! 

Tea is a precious product in this house so not wanting to waste that quantity I helped him create fake tea by finding some out-of-date coffee and very out-of-date powdered milk. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing the edited end result. 

I've been chatting to a lovely lady online who needs major surgery similar to what I've had, answering her worries and making suggestions when I can. The process for her has taken far longer than it should have done and it's been very stressful. She really kindly sent me a thank you card and prezzie. 

Two neighbours missed coffee morning this week as they came back from their holiday with covid. Still so much of it around! 

I've only really done  "freestyle" crochet, sort of do whatever stitch makes it fit, but never remember what the stitches are called. I've been a knitter for ever and knitting patterns make total sense, but a crochet pattern is a bit of a foreign language. This little square is totally working from the pattern and there are a few mistakes which I'll hopefully improve on by the time I've made enough squares to join and make into something.  

We've both had flu jabs now, and thankfully no major adverse reactions just the usual achy arm for about 24 hours.

Just heard from SisterP that her hubby tested positive this morning (he's had five jabs so hopefully he'll only have mild symptoms) which means unfortunately we can't visit as planned this weekend. We get to see them rarely, as they live two hours drive away, so we must reschedule as soon as they are germ free. 

Hope you've had a good week, enjoying the mild weather and beautifully emerging autumn colours. See you next week.

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Everything is Rosy......

 
We've been shopping...

And arranging. 

Straight after this Hubby planted them all of course. Then there are four in the garden to move into this bed and two coming from Son's garden. Just need the ground cover between them and we can sit and watch them grow. 

What is it that's so irresistible about the smell of bacon cooking (apologies to all vegetarians/vegans) I love that smell more than I love the taste, even love it the next day when the cooker hood hadn't done its job properly. Mmmmmm

I really didn't need to rearrange the loo rolls, but I do like a good pattern

I needed to clean the worktops a bit more thoroughly than normal, so moved the microwave etc from the corner but then couldn't reach far enough (and Hubby was out) so I improvised by attaching the sponge to the kitchen brush with an elastic band and just about managed. 

We've had a lovely family meet up with Son&fiancé and Daughter&O and both of their dogs, to have an early celebration for Son's birthday.  We started on the beech at Southwold so us and the dogs could have a walk. 

It was perfect beach weather for me. Then a lovely meal at The Sail Loft

This was a good try by O to get us all in one photo. 

Thank you Daughter for driving me and Hubby there and back. 

Hope you've had a rosy week too.

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L'Shana Tova..........

 
Sunday was the start of the the Jewish New Year of 5783.

Wishing anyone who celebrated and/or fasted a good year ahead.

On the same day as City Fibre arrived in our Close with their barriers, lorry, trailer and diggers, to dig up the pavements and lay their cables.....

....Hubby had his top soil order arrive on a big lorry needing to get up the close. Amazed the driver managed it. (Rubbish photo but the sun was full on the window).

And even though Son said he'd be over the following morning to help, Hubby couldn't stop himself from creating a ramp and moving the first bag in wheelbarrow loads from the drive around to the back. 

He went out again in the afternoon to clear a second bag. It did mean when Son came I got more chatting time as they moved the other two bags really quickly. 

Now we get to Monday!  

Barriers are up for nearly three quarters of the Close, right up to our drive and across it. Some neighbours checked if we were having coffee morning, but as it's so noisy and dusty out there we said it wasn't a good idea, had we not had grandchildren and dog here I would have invited them up here. Thankfully the barriers are mostly movable unless there's already a big hole! 

Both Hubby and neighbourA went out, in the rain, to check we could get off our drive. NeighbourA left home just after 8am. Barriers went back. 
     Then Hubby had to take R to work at 9:15am so barriers were moved, but it wasn't easy maneuvering around all their equipment so when Hubby came back he left the car parked in the road at the bottom of ours. 

     I was going out to meet a friend for lunch so Hubby and I struggled just walking around the barriers, over holes and cables and across neighbours' gardens, so I could walk down to collect my car, and I headed to Felixstowe.      My friendM and I had a lovely lunch out, this was my late birthday present as she'd been away, she chose a great seafood restaurant miles away so an hour drive there and back but worth it. 

     When we arrived back to Felixstowe we had seen the road back to Ipswich was jammed so bad, so I took various minor roads to avoid it but still hit the totally grid locked town centre when almost home, so my usual 20min drive took me more than two hours and it was raining a lot of the time. Finally back in my Close and I had to make them move all the barriers so I could get my car home. 

     Meanwhile O needed to be in Colchester 5.30pm till 7.30pm, Hubby was happy to take him and arranged to go to Son's in between. They moved all the barriers to get his car out. 

     I phoned him when I was in my jam and he said he couldn't get hold of R to see when she'll be home from work as she doesn't have a key, so sent her a message to say he was leaving the patio door unlocked and bravely left the dog alone for the first time here. 

     I finally got home just after 5:30pm (desperate for the loo), R had only been home a short while and said the dog had been fine. 

     Just as I'd managed to get my clutch foot pain-free Hubby called saying he was now stuck in traffic in Colchester! Found out later that O was just 10 mins late arriving which wasn't a problem. 

     I then got a call from the doctors receptionist to say they want to discuss my latest blood test so a doctor will call tomorrow. 

     Glad I made dinner first thing this morning, carbonara followed by apple strudel requested by O,

so I know O and Hubby had eaten and I could heat it for R (and a little for me) without any more effort! 

Did you nod off half way through reading this? 

Doctor did call and said although some blood results are outside the preferred range he had now checked my history and it seems this is normal for me so no action needed. Actually that's what I expected. 

Hubby and I have both had another covid booster jab, this time moderna (all previous ones were Pfizer), neither of us had side effects apart from a bruised arm which was great. 

Had a good catchup lunch with friendsR&S. Their second son got married recently in Italy and they had lots of photos to share. Only downside was I noticed they had chocolate brownie on the dessert menu as standard or small potion so I ordered the small portion, it arrived and looked lovely but it was rock hard and very dry, so they got it back and told to remove it from the bill. 

While the Jewish calender starts a new year, today the Gregorian calender starts a new month. Happy October everyone. 

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