I Heart Saturday

Hello my lovelies!

How is your Saturday shaping up?

As the man works permanent night shifts plus overtime most mornings it is rare that we see each other until I get home from work and that is literally just for an hour before he has to go off to bed to sleep prior to his next shift starting. Our Saturdays, therefore, are very precious to us as you can imagine.  Our day usually starts with a cuddle and a coffee and a catch up in bed and then we take ourselves off for breakfast in town before doing the weekly shop.

Today we tried a recently opened coffee shop called Vines. We were drawn in by the board outside advertising a full English breakfast for £2.95.  The man opted for the full English with toast and coffee. I chose the Panini with bacon, egg and mushrooms plus a cappuccino. The whole bill came to 5 pounds and 40p for both of us. We were extremely impressed with the food which was freshly cooked and I can honestly say the Panini I had was probably one of the best I have ever had! 

Not too shabby eh?

People might think it odd, but we actually love shopping. We never see it as a chore and always find something to giggle about (mostly other couples who are arguing between themselves or ranting at small children!). 

When we eventually get home (which is always a lot later than we anticipated) (and Charl is on his arse through sleep deprivation!) we unpack the shopping (unless I can palm it off onto the kids because this is a job I hate!) and then he retires to bed and I have a couple of hours to myself to completely chill out for the rest of the afternoon. I may cook something nice for dinner and then again I may have something that I can just chuck into the oven and escape to my shed for that time I would have spent cooking! Now don't look at me like that! I will have you know that today I have stuffed a mushroom! How is that for domestic goddessness?!

Here are some quick photos of some things around the house which are making me smile this freezing cold but very sunny Saturday.

The hellebore in the owl pot was a gift and should be outside really but for fear of hooligan trampling it I've kept it safe inside.  Please note the inventive use of an unused cafetiere for a tulip vase!

I love having fresh flowers around the house. The daffies were just one whole English pound for three bunches and the tulips 99p a bunch. 

Whilst I was sitting typing up this post I was visited by this lil fella. Actually not so little! He was a biggun!  

He appreciated my vases of flowers too! 

 Build it and they will come so the saying goes. Well. My new birdie table has been built and installed. I havent seen any visitors yet though. How rude!!

Steak and mushrooms for dinner then. I'd better put on my pinny and fluffy mules darlings!!

Hope your Saturday is a pleasant one!

Sky-watching

Look it!!!  Mad skies over Wollescote!

Altocumulus I do believe!!

I found this on the Met Office website

"Altocumulus clouds

Height of base: 2,000 - 18,000 ft

Latin: altum - height; cumulus - heap

Altocumulus are small mid-level layers or patches of clouds - called cloudlets - in the shape of rounded clumps. These are white or grey, and the sides away from the Sun are shaded. Mostly found in settled weather, altocumulus are usually composed of droplets, but may also contain ice crystals.

The presence of shading can help tell the difference between altocumulus and cirrocumulus. Cirrocumulus are white but altocumulus can be white or grey, and the sides will be shaded."

S'fab innit?!

I've been a right little sky watcher these last few days - I have a crick in my neck from constantly looking skywards!

A Warm Weekend

 

Just some photographs from the weekend.

Scene at the rear of the house..........

Whilst out front this was happening .....

It was my first Samaritans' training today.  Whilst I enjoyed it, I was a little sad to be indoors all day on such a glorious Spring day. 

When I emerged late this afternoon, blinking like a mole coming out of a hill,  I admired the signs in their pretty little garden which herald the fact that the Wheel of the Year will be turning once again very soon...

Camellia in full bloom. 

.

Fat buds on the magnolia tree 

Delicate blossom in the palest pink. 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend blossoms@

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