Foggy Friday

Hello!

A warm welcome to The Vintage Kitten and to Vada Wetzel, my new followers.  Lovely to see you here! *waves madly*

I woke up to a very eerie looking field this morning.  I was transfixed for a good few minutes when I should really have been getting ready for work, watching the fog roll in and out, the landscape changing constantly.

Have a look - Mists of Avalon spring to mind.  There is no tint on these photographs - just nature painting the scenery in monochrome. Sorry there's lots of photos - I couldn't stop snapping as it was changing so quickly.   Click on the photos if you want to enlarge them.

Happy weekend to you all my darlings!

This week ...

I shall mostly be:-

Lunching with work colleagues - Tomorrow is a 'Costa Coffee and Cake Catch-up', Thursday is 'Someone's leaving to have a baby, any excuse for pizza buffet luncheon' and last but not least there's a  'F*** it, it's Friday' gossip session in the pub.    Sounds good to me!

Having tea with Mum, whereupon I shall be spoilt rotten and leave two hours later needing an elastic band to hold the button on my skirt.

Meeting my bestie for Mexican Night at a local hostelry.  See above. One Tequila. Two Tequila. Three Tequila. Floor.  Actually that's a lie - I've never touched the stuff and don't intend to start now!  The same cannot be said for some pretty awesome quesadillas however!

Trying to pluck up courage after 28 years to take some refresher lessons in order to start driving again.  I passed my test first time when I was 18 - I've not driven since.  Massive driving fail on my part methinks. Gawd I'm nervous.  Terrified in fact.  But I MUST do this.  I owe it to myself.

Packaging stuff up to post to my E of Bayness auction winners.  I've found out that it's extremely easy to use the app on my iPhone to list things so whilst I was tidying up my craft shed last week, I listed some stuff that was just sitting around taking up space.  To my amazement people have placed bids on most of it!  This is good news for my almost defunct Paypal account!

Trying to plan a 50th birthday for him indoors.  Its not until August and I had intended on it being a surprise one - until he announced that he wanted a big party for his 50th and asked his daughter to look into finding a venue for it. No more surprises then!  Doh!

 Attending my first Samaritans training day.  I was very happy to find out that I'd been selected last week and am very much looking forward to beginning my training journey.

Phew that's a busy old week!  I think I need a lie down!

Hope your week is packed full of good things too! xx

Lunchtime Wander

Hello darlings

A HUGE welcome to two new followers The Silver Bunny and  Algodaotaodoce - Thank you so much for visiting me here in my little corner of blogland and for following my randomness.

Well today was such a beautiful blue day that I decided to take myself off on a little walk at lunch time.  I'm lucky that my office is about ten minutes walk away from the canal, so off I went, trip-trapping over the ricketty-racketty bridge, watching out for trolls as I went.  Luckily she'd stayed back at the office (tee hee) so I was safe!  I purchased a sandwich, then trip-trapped back over the ricketty-racketty bridge to sit in the sunshine and watch the world go by.

These were just two of about ten Canada Geese who were all posturing and wing flapping and 

sounding off their authority of the waterways!  

I shared my lunch with this shy little freckly headed gull!

Our department is moving to one of the buildings you can see opposite.  Methinks there will be lots of

canalside lunches in the summer!

The silver birch trunks were so white they seemed to have been bleached. 

Whilst the sunshine lit up the leaves on the dog roses.

There were lots of barges moored today.  

As I watched, this handsome fella was let out of his bargey-house and sauntered off on an adventure of his own.  

I was only there for 30 minutes or so, clearing my head, watching the world go by.  But it was lovely.

I think I'd like to live on a barge.  

And sell freshly made onion bhajis. 

From my Bhaji Barge.

Oh yes I would :)

The Simple Woman's Daybook - February Edition

I enjoy taking part in the Daybook posts.  My religious views are completely different to most of the participants (for which I make no apology - each to their own), but I do enjoy the simple, homely and wholesome blog-prompting element of it.  Particularly for the times that I have brain fog and want to blog but have no clue as to what to post! 

To see other participants' entries, go HERE  

So, "FOR TODAY"

Outside my window... It's dark now at just a little after 8pm here in the UK.  It's getting cold too and I think I need to seek out my fleecy blanket to cuddle up in.  I'm 92 yer know! 

I am thinking... that a cup of hot choccie may be in order very shortly.

I am thankful... that for the most part, I am at last pain free.  Its only taken six months!  

In the kitchen... well its finished!  The skirting board is up.  A new blind and light fittings have been purchased and I'm still revelling in the extra space we have.  I still have to sell our fridge freezer though which is sitting in the corner of the room taking up space.  We've bought a new, smaller one which now fits in the cleared out pantry with the plan that without the fridge freezer in the kitchen, it will free up space so that we can have a table and chairs in there.  I need to start advertising!

I am wearing... A purple (get me!) top, black skirt, black tights and my favourite comfy black knee boots.

I am creating... Not much at the moment and that is driving me mad!  My craft shed is full of clutter and things set aside for charity shops and I can't bliddy well get in there! 

I am going... to have a giant declutter over the course of the next few days!

I am reading... right now - nothing, having just finished The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul.  This is the first book I've actually finished in months and months.  Am proud!!   It was a light, undemanding read which is the only sort of book my simple scarecrow brain can cope with!

I am looking forward to... catching up with friends I haven't seen in a while this weekend.

I am learning... that if you don't ask, then you don't get.  Remember me ranting about work and how unfair and divisive 'they who (allegedly) must be obeyed' were?  Well, over Christmas I did some hard thinking whilst I was recovering from my op.  Things had happened in my old department which I was furious about and the more I thought about them the more I got wound up.  Life is too damned short to be feeling like that about somewhere you have to spend the majority of your life.  I asked for a department transfer back to my lovely old department where I had worked for about 13 years, prior to moving three years ago.  To my delight it was accepted and I didn't have to go back to the dark and gloomy department when I returned to work.  The work I'm doing now in the clinical negligence department is so much more interesting (although harrowing at times) and, as a bonus, I don't feel like I'm a bottle of fizzy pop about to explode all the time!  I know that if I'd have returned, then the situation would have escalated, I'd have run my gob off at the powers that be and would have lost my job.  Thank goodness that I 'asked' eh?!   

Around the house... Aw its cosy cosy!  The lamps are on.  Red curtains and cushions bring more warmth to the room.  The candles are lit.  A furry hearthrug is making short work of a huge chewy whilst keeping an eye on the football on the tv.   Man is asleep before his nightshift begins at 11.  KTT is upstairs learning the theme tune to Friends on his guitar!  Its just ours and I love it.  

One of my favorite things... coming home from work.  As much as I enjoy my job now (blimey listen to me - that feeling has been a loooong time returning!) I just adore stepping through the front door into our sanctuary, being greeted by an over-enthusiastic ball of fur who obviously hasn't seen me for WEEKS, welcome home cuddles from the man, a barrage of chatter from the Diva about her escapades during the day, and (eventually when he deems it necessary to emerge from his bedroom) being grunted at by Kevin the Teenager.

A few plans for the rest of the week:  drinks with a work colleague tomorrow evening, shopping on Saturday morning, catching up with my bestie on Saturday afternoon, a training session at Samaritans on Sunday, MAJOR sorting out of the shed on Monday (no work for two days - yay!), and hairdressers and meeting up with a friend for coffee on Tuesday.  Phew! 

A peek into my day... he's been watching the football like this now for the last 20 minutes!! Barmy animal!

A Little Lighter

The nights sure are drawing out a little. This was taken at around five fifteen this evening on my walk down to the bus stop from work.  Quite a serene scene after the gale force winds and driving rain of late. 

Nan's 'treasures'

Once again thank you all for your very kind comments.  I feel blessed that you take time from your schedules to read and comment on my blog.  You're all wondrous beings!

A few weeks ago, I spent the evening with my dear ole Mum.  We had a great time looking through some old boxes of papers and items salvaged from my Nan's house when we cleared it.   Poor Mum.  She's had a real rough time of it lately.  My brother has been going through an extremely messy divorce and has had to take some tough decisions, I have experienced my bout of ill health, and, whilst I was in hospital her beloved dog became very ill and had to be put down last Wednesday leaving her devastated.  It has been a very trying time for her and, as she worries for England even when there is nothing to worry about, you can imagine how difficult this last few months have been for her.   Love you Mum - hopefully these next few months will bring less trying times for us all now.

But I digress..... back to the subject in hand.

Nan wasn't a hoarder as such, but she loved to keep mementos of things dear to her.  We rifled through her Father's (my great grandad's) discharge papers, birth and marriage certificates from ancestors who have long departed, a lined exercise book filled with neatly copied favourite poetry which begins as very precise and neatly scribed handwriting and, rather poignantly, ends with the spidery faint scrawl of an elderly hand.

I was fascinated by these postcards which were sent by the Salvation Army to my Mum for her early birthdays.  The colours are still very strong some 70 years later.

Such a sweet little face!

Shaped ones too! 

Bizarrely - an unopened packet of my Grandpa's Woodbines!  The last packet purchased before he passed away some 30 odd years ago!

I remember seeing the little horse from the pattern made up out of scrap fabric many years ago.  I wonder what happened to him?!  The pattern pieces are all still intact, neatly folded inside the envelope.

This old shopping receipt is great!  Look at how much you got for your money in 1928!  Butter, belly draft, cheese, sugar, tea, Rinso!

'Blue' for the washing, 'Lead' for the grate.
2oz of Pepper!

And note the foot note at the bottom of the bill!

Check out these old silk handkerchiefs.  

I doubt that she ever blew her nose on Queen Liz!

I remember this one being safety pinned around her purse - for what reason I shall never know!

There were lots more 'treasures' in the box - I'll try to post more soon! 

A little light ...

Hello everyone. 

Thanks so much for your kind words. I'm out of hospital now and recovering at home. 

As you will know I didn't have much respite from pain despite having had my gall bladder out in December. I had pain almost daily since then which really did not abate despite me eating next to nothing apart from freshly made soup and bread.  After nearly collapsing on the Monday night having endured a full day at work in debilitating pain, I presented myself to A & E a sobbing mess and completely out of control. I was promptly admitted, placed on IV fluids, catheterised, put on IV pain relief including morphine, scanned, endoscoped and given IV antibiotics. Goodness me I was a mess. 

It appears that a gall stone had become embedded in my bile duct and had caused a huge infection. It had passed through and left my bile duct ragged and infected which was where all the pain was coming from. I think as all the focus was on removing my gall bladder the stray stone was missed and instead of a steady recovery post operation I was still experiencing all the pain of the infection but just assuming, and reassured by medics, that it was just my body settling down after the op. Apparently not then!

So I hope you will excuse my blogging holiday as, as you can imagine, I have been rather distracted these past few months. 

Hopefully I'm now on the road to recovery (although I'm not speaking too loudly!). It's good to be able to eat relatively normally, particularly after becoming quite phobic about eating anything at all. Resultant weight loss is now totalling 45lbs. Probably the only good thing to come out of the whole process!!

I returned home after my eight day sojourn to this lovely sight!  All my spring bulbs coming into flower!  A little light in the darkness. 

Love to you xx

AWOL

Sorry for my continued absence.  This has been my enforced vista for the last week.  The end result of weeks and weeks of mounting pain which finally broke the banks last Monday.   I will be back. I will. I will.  Love and light. Xx

Ice-man Cometh ....

There are forecasts for snow and ice to be hitting the UK in the next week or so.  It will, in all likelihood, be 2 or 3 inches at most and of course everything will come to a complete standstill.  However those experiencing the devastating effect of the current floods must be dreading the next bout of bad weather, which will be particularly difficult if the big freeze sets in on top of the flood waters.

Check out this YT video of the 'creeping ice' phenomenon which hit Manitoba,Canada some months ago.  It is both eerie and strangely beautiful - but the damage it caused was awful.

Ice Ice Baby 

And also the  BBC News Report which explains what happened.

Mother Nature is a cruel mistress sometimes.

Keep safe!

New Year - New Kitchen!

Hello Bloglies!

Thank you for visiting me.  Isn't the weather bloomin' awful?  I'm enjoying my period of enforced hibernation and rejoicing in the fact that I don't really have to leave the house unless I really need to!

We've been in a state of flux here at Peapods over the last couple of days.  Towards the end of last year, the Council promised us a new kitchen but warned us that there could be a two year waiting list for the work to be carried out.  The old kitchen was barely serviceable with cupboard doors hanging on by one hinge, the work tops scratched and marked and the tiling looking decidedly jaded.   We had resigned ourselves to waiting their timescale, however just before Christmas I got a call saying that they would begin work on the 6 January!  The weekend was spent madly decluttering and dividing stuff in to keep/charity/throw away piles as you do.  The workmen arrived on Monday morning and proceeded to gut the kitchen - honestly the noise they made you'd have thought that the Tasmanian Devil had been let loose with a wrecking ball! They were extremely quick at removing the old units and tiles.

In just a couple of hours this had happened:-

and a little while later the old warped floorboards had been taken up too.

The base units were put in soon afterwards and by the end of Monday we had work tops too.   They finished the majority of the work on Tuesday, just leaving a couple of jobs for the electrician today.  

So here's the finished kitchen - we still have to paint and replace the light shades, and get a new blind for the kitchen window.  We also need to sell our fridge and get a new, smaller one so that we can move it into the old pantry cum storage/junk room (now clutter free!).  This will give us a lot more much needed room in the kitchen and will allow us to utilise the table.  To date the chairs matching the table have lived in the shed for around 8 months due to lack of space! 

Ahh look - there's my new soup maker steaming away next to the microwave!   I mentioned this in my last post I think.  I'm so pleased with it.  It's this one:-

I'm sure the traditionalists will be throwing their hands up in horror at the very thought of such a gadget - but believe me it is SO handy, particularly for those of us who work full time or have busy lifestyles. As you can see, it is no bigger than a large jug kettle and takes up hardly any room. I simply add roughly chopped veg of my choice and some stock and seasoning, press a button and 21 minutes (for smooth soup - 28 minutes if you like your soup chunky!) later the soup is cooked and blended to perfection without any need for transferring hot liquids between receptacles or retrieving the liquidiser from the back of the cupboard.  It makes enough for four people (well four - six meals for me at least!). It cooks and blends so quickly you could do it in the morning before work and decant some into a flask for lunch.  I shall continue to sing it's praises for a very long time I reckon and am currently experimenting with recipes.  I began with a mixture of sweet potatoes, carrots and onions.  Today I did pea and mint - which is my favourite!  450g of frozen peas, hot veg stock, an onion and a packet of fresh mint - or 20g if you are lucky enough to have it in your herb garden.  Yumski! And as I'm such a domestic goddess (cough) I made some soda bread to go with it.  I dunno how I do it for the money! A very frugal, filling and nourishing meal. 

Velvety smooth, and a delicate shade of froggy green!

Thank you for all the health enquiries and recommendations over the  past few weeks.  I very much appreciate them as always.  I saw my consultant last Saturday and explained my discomfort to him after meals.  He now wants to do an endoscopy to see whether I have anything else underlying which may be the cause of my pain.  I'm having to wait for his appointment to be sent through, however as I shall go via BUPA again he reassures me that this should follow in around 2 - 3 weeks.  

Stay safe and warm, particularly if you are being affected by Mother Nature's current bad mood.

Love and Light 

xxx

Simple Woman's Daybook for January

 xx  Happy New Year Everyone. xx

I  hope it brings you everything you wish for and more.  

Health and Happiness always 

With love from Peapods

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.co.uk/

Outside my window …  its blowing a ruddy hoolie, rain is lashing on the window pane and its cold!

I am thinking...  that I need to put some socks on cos my feet are freezing as I stupidly went trekking up the garden in nobbut me leopard print slippers and now they're soaked.**

** and clothes, obviously!

I am thankful... for another week and a bit away from work . I'm really not ready to go back yet.  My planned return is the 14th so hopefully everything will have settled down by then. 

In the kitchen... oh you don't wanna know!  The family had to have takeaway tonight as Its like a bomb site!  We are having it completely gutted and refitted on Monday and we are therefore in the process of unpacking cupboards, decluttering and are thus surrounded by bags and boxes of rubbish.  

I am wearing... grubby, less than glamorous worky clothes!

I am creating... apart from a mess, I'm planning to make a journal from recycling our christmas cards - more on that another time 

I am going...  to see my Consultant tomorrow for a post-op check up.

I am wondering... when my new soup maker is going to arrive.  I'd hoped it was going to be here today so I could play!  Home made soup is all I'm eating right now so its an investment!

I am reading... the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

I am hoping... that some plans I'm trying to put into place will come to fruition.  Fingers crossed.

I am looking forward to... new possibilities/new beginnings.  Hopefully a new chapter.

I am learning… that Life is a journey and nothing will change unless you MAKE it so.  To that end I have asked a question to instigate some change in my workplace for me.  See 'I am hoping' above.  I should hear in the next couple of weeks whether my request is listened to, failing which I fear a new CV may need to be drafted.

Around the house... more change - really looking forward to seeing the completed kitchen.  This is another step on the ladder to the house being 'ours' as in mine and lovely man's, rather than somewhere he moved in to.  The kitchen we currently have is dilapidated and very dated and so the thought of cupboard doors that actually close properly and are not hanging on a single hinge is very welcome!

I am pondering...   about the amount of decluttering that we really must find time to do this year.  No more procrastination. 

A favorite quote for today... 

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
Don Marquis 

One of my favourite things...  our new little console table on which I can display some precious things.  We recently moved our television to hang on the chimney breast to make some much needed space.  This little table is so welcome! 

A few plans for the rest of the week:   Consultant appointment, shopping, hibernating, sorting, recuperating, sketching (badly), trying to keep out of the way of various workmen, rocking quietly in a chair with my hands over my ears!

A peek into my day...  I won't bore you with pictures of bin bags and boxes.   So a picture of the new table will have to do!   Don't say I don't spoil you!