Five on Friday

Hello there, How are you, had a good week? We've had odd days of intermittent rain in Lincolnshire. You daren't leave home without a coat. Thank you all for visiting and leaving a comment, it's good to hear from you.  

Library Books: Monday was the mobile library visit. I haven't ordered any new books this time, just returned books that I'd read. The top item is a DVD box set series of Little Women, I've not seen this before. My favourite version is (1949) with Elizabeth Taylor as Amy March, I must've seen it at least 15 times. I watched Emma Watson's version recently but didn't enjoy it as much.  

Finished: A Fatal Mistake by Faith Martin, the second in the Ryder and Loveday mystery. Probationary WPC Loveday assists Coroner Clement Ryder in more suspicious deaths, set in Oxford 1960. I'm enjoying this series, Trudy Loveday is puzzling over Dr Ryder's symptoms and wondering what they mean. He is doing his best to hide the onset of Parkinson's, whilst helping WPC Loveday to stand up for herself and be more confident. Policing at this time still lacked respect for women, who were seen as little more than tea makers. 

Books to read: this month, 2 of these are from the library. Library books can be renewed up to 6 times, which is useful, as I have other read-a-longs for this Month.
I'm reading Trouble in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope first, then Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie for the April 'Read Christie 2023'.
Also a chapter a day of The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel for the Bookclub. It's not my choice but it's nice to read different genre's, the beauty of book clubs.
If I get chance, I'll read Storm in the Village by Miss Read which is part of  the Fairacre series. Written in the first person, they are a wonderful escape.

Crochet Project: Once the initial set up row, it's a simple project of repeating the same row. I find it's an ideal project to take to Knit & Natter, no real concentration is needed, so a chance to natter. The pattern is on Ravelry, it is called One Skein Chevron Scarf. It's crocheted in aran weight yarn, however this particular yarn is chunky with one size larger crochet hook. It's 100% recycled wool and quite soft.   

Knitting Project: A KAL (Knit-a-long) Scarf for Lent, I heard about this on a friend's Instagram account. There are weekly print outs with a daily reflection, each week has a theme eg the sample was a tree which was knitted upside down. When I've finished I'm going to list all the clues, there is 1 week left to finish off. 

Beautiful Glasses: and a spoon holder for cooking, purchased today from Boyes in town. After a glass broke, I had a look in town for a new one... and came home with 2 different ones. There was limited choice in stock but below is a leaflet of other designs. Aren't they just gorgeous! 

I like the tulips, blue gerbera and probably most of the others designs too! They are quite tall and wide, larger than a tumbler but not as tall as a high ball glasses. There were gin glasses too like these, they are all hand painted. The Daffodil stock and gin glasses aren't with these floral glasses, I wish things were altogether in shops. 

This afternoon Johnny and I planted out some hyacinth bulbs that weren't too happy inside on the windowsill. All the ones growing outside have flowered beautifully. We also tidied up the edge of the grass on the driveway, it was spreading a bit. Then we spread some woodchip on the rutted up grass/clay soil front garden, that serves as extra parking spaces. Eventually it will be a proper driveway with shingle for drainage.

Bye for now, enjoy the weekend
Cathy  

Flowers and Plans

Lounge Beauties

Bedroom Beauties

Kitchen Window Beauties

Hello there, how are you? All good I hope. 

Flowers from my amazing boys on Mother's Day. I also had some chocolates, all were lovely gifts and we got to spend the day with them both, including being at church together. This week seems to have flown past too quick.

Today I've been to a Talent Event at Church in town. I brought home fish & chips afterwards so dinner was very quick tonight. Johnny was off out straight afterwards to meet Nat, they are going to the cinema to see John Wick... not my scene but they'll love it, I'm sure.

Decluttering has started up again. We cleared so much when we downsized to a smaller property but we still have far too much stuff. My ideal would be to have nothing stored under the bed. At the moment it is chock-a-block with things. A  replacement pedestal sink for the ensuite (waiting) a pair of leather boots, photo albums, craft items and other miscellaneous items. 

I've also renewed my efforts to declutter my old laptop. There are lots of photos that need saving or  duplicates deleted. The ones to keep will be uploaded onto memory sticks, at the moment there are too many to save. Most of the files can likely be deleted, anything of use will be on the replacement laptop now. It's such a long and tedious job. Added to which are a lot of foodie photos from early blogging days such as Penny's cookery calendar challenge, they make me feel hungry.  

I've written a new chart for decluttering and will work at it each day (hopefully) whilst listening to @theorganisedmum show podcast on Spotify. I'm enjoying the 10 mins of motivational waffle for umph in my day. The chart simply lists a cupboard or a box to work through, not lots. All the easy things have gone, it's now all the emotional stuff - photos, memories etc. 

Cleaning I'm finding The Organised Mum Method really helpful: 30 mins a day clean in designated rooms (level 2 jobs), with daily level 1 jobs of basic upkeep. The 30 mins Friday Focus (deeper clean) is more tricky, at the end of the week after cleaning for friends, I just want to put down the duster and step away from the mop! 

A taster of the talent event. I've created a playlist on Spotify 'My Creative Life' - not all the events could be found, the poems may be unavailable as free and some are halfway through a track. I particularly like the Ballad Pour Adeline Piano Solo by P. de Senneville. It is beauuutifulll. Do have a listen and tell me if you found it relaxing. 

The rest of the week I've:

Finished reading The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie, part of the Agatha Reading Challenge - Read Christie 2023 for March.

Started A Fatal Mistake by Faith Martin. This is the second book in the Ryder & Loveday Mystery... see fantasticfiction.com for full list,

Continued my efforts with knitting 30 minutes a day to finish projects. WIP (work in progress) A  KAL (knit-a-long) Scarf for Lent. Also a knitted cloth - hopefully fit for cleaning as it's made from bamboo yarn. 
Crocheted a bit more of my One Skein scarf at Craft Group - free pattern on Ravelry.

Clearing some woodchip delivered to the front lawn. It's hard work shoveling it up into bags and wheeling them round the back. We are making a pathway down the side of the bungalow, it's on clay soil and very slippery. Johnny helped me on Wednesday by spreading some under the wheelie bin area, it looks very smart now. 

Bought a new calendar last week. I know we've already started the year but I was fed up with squinting into tiny spaces to read. I've gone back to my favouite Box Clever Home Planner one. 

I've not walked as much this week so need to add more walking in next week. 
What are your plans this week?
Have a good week whatever you have planned. 
Ttfn
Cathy

 

 

Fresh and New

Hello there, happy Friday! Everything in the garden is springing to life. Out the front is the Weeping Pussy Willow. Under the hedge we planted some bulbs last autumn: crocus, daffodils and hyacinth. It's not in a border, just scattered bulbs woodland style. My Orchid is blooming still, it was a Christmas gift from my Son & his Fiancée. The roots were dyed blue but, still looking blue for now. 

A Greengage tree in bloom looking lovely in the back garden. Angus always loves the fruit, with a plum tree, apples and pears, you need to keep your eyes open in the Summer. So many hazards for dogs, if only you could reason with them. I love al the cheerful daffodils at this time of year, so many beautiful trumpets. 

This afternoon we popped into town to get my new glasses adjusted, why do they always hurt initially. They seem comfortable now. We took Angus with us so he had a walk too. Stopping at the market stall we bought him a new cushion bed for our holidays this year. As he's a large Golden Retriever, he needs a huge giant bed. We're hoping that this will reduce the vibrations through the Motorhome floor when travelling. He wasn't too happy on the last trip, it is very noisy on the road. All the plates and cutlery etc. shake and rattle in the cupboards. We hire the motorhome so you've no idea until collection.

On our last holiday, we purchased pillows and pillowcases from Sainsbury's. We'd intended to go back and get more bedding as ours needed replacing anyway. Last weekend we went to get a new set of cotton rich in white, the duvet is covered with the quilt. It's so nice to have new bedding, I'm not interested in ironing bedding, like I said, it's covered anyway. I was tempted by the Egyptian cotton which is lovely but more expensive. I remember a lady chatting once about bedding, she said that she washes and irons it more than once a week. She implied daily as she liked her bedding to look like a showroom catalogue. Are you fussy about bedding, do you iron yours?

This week I've finished reading Mercy by Jodi Piccoult again, I'd forgotten the details so it was still a good read. The question of euthanasia is slightly over shadowed by the chief policeman's affair, however both relationships are brought into focus concerning a measure of love... 'who loves more.' From 60/40 to 30/70 relationships that are under pressure, one person loving more than the other. It was interesting to see how the Chief's wife changed after the affair. Euthanasia is always a controversial subject, however I felt a depth of compassion toward the accused. 

On to the next book: The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie. I've still a huge pile of library books to get through!
Craft wise: I've been knitting everyday, a KAL Lent scarf. I'm changing colours at the end of each week of knitting. I'll try and post some photos soon. 
We've not been involved with things at church in town. Mark had Covid again, 3rd time despite vaccinations. 

Village life: we launched our first pop in at the village hall. The idea is to drop in for a cuppa and chat. Bring projects to work on, borrow a book, do a jigsaw puzzle or play a game. I took crochet but as there was only a handful of people, we chatted and played a game called Dobble. It's a speedy game that needs quick concentration and reaction. 

Right I'm off to cook dinner, take care and thanks for stopping by to read. 

Do leave a comment, I love to hear from you. 
Ttfn
Cathy 

From the photo gallery - ing

Hello there, How are you all, thank you for your comments on my last post, it's good to hear from you. 
I've not taken any photos this week except for a few on my phone. Whilst browsing the phone gallery, I saw a few projects that were posted on Instagram. I thought it'd be nice to see them here. 

Looking: a photo of  Angus aged 4 years old, taken last year. He's staring into my eyes, so it must be biscuit time. We've since had a stove fire put in which is lovely and warm. It's great for drying washing overnight and warming sleeping dogs.

Decluttering: This week I've cleared out the food cupboards, I blame the supermarkets stock issues. Most of my shopping is done at Aldi with the poultry shop, butchers and a few other shops in town for the rest. When items have gone out of stock, they've been unavailable for so long. Sometimes items came back in store but quickly sold out again. Eventually the items have filled the shelves but it caused me to grab 3 or 4 instead of 1 or 2. I struggled to find things in the food cupboard or things would fall out into Angus' water bowl. Now the cupboards have less in, I can find things again. I took these 2 bags to the outreach in town, they'll be divided up into food parcels.  

Reading: I've finished a library book, yay! 1 down 9 more to go I think. One is a library ebook - Mercy by Jodi Picoult, that's my next read. The Word is Murder is first in a 4 part series, it was a good story with lots of revelations. I'm going to read the others eventually but not yet! Too many books in the pile just now. 

Looking: this way and that, never at me long enough to snap a picture. I often pass the horses when walking Angus. 

Crocheting: The Willow Square, pattern in this book and first seen on Mitzi's blog. I've got 4 or 5 more matching cotton yarn balls in modern colours. I've always admired this pattern square and wanted to try it. The square will languish in my craft store for now, whilst I complete other projects. 

2) One Skein Scarf pattern on Ravelry, it's crocheted in one thread yellow bamboo yarn and one thread WYS Marie Curie daffodil yarn - bought online with a required donation.  

3) Crocheted Twirley from the church ladies craft night last year. There are some patterns on youtube, easy to do - putting extra stitches in the next rows, the row is pulled round into a twirl. 

                                                                                                               

Knitting: A Katia sparkly shawl, all finished. It took a while to sort out the pattern, it's from a chart with a few sentences and nothing more. An ebook finish from the library, another of Rebecca Tope's Cotswold series. Thea Osbourne is a widow who takes up housesitting to ease her loneliness at home. She takes her trusty spaniel Hepzie to all her different commissions. Bizarrely, somebody always dies in mysterious circumstances on the house sits. Developing relationships in the series makes reading the books in order best.

2) I couldn't get on with this library book, I love Miss Marple, have even knitted 3 Miss Marple scarves, but I'm not a lover of short stories. I read a few and flicked through the rest on a speed read. This blue yarn scarf was a present for my Great Aunt's Christmas present. 

Waiting: Knitting socks in WYS blue lagoon 4 ply yarn. The pattern is another of Winwick Mum's Supersocks.  These are languishing in a craft bag at the moment. I finished Debbie Macomber's The Christmas Spirit book at Christmas time. A job swap to change characters. 

2) Another project waiting in the craft bag, this is another chunky knit cardigan. I knitted a red one a few years ago in James Brett Marble yarn. This one is the same yarn in a different colour blend. I think this will be the last chunky knit I make, as I prefer DK yarn. 

Chipping: I'm going to adopt a top tip I read from Christina's blog recently... consistent 30 minutes a day to chip away at finishing projects. 

                                               

Cooking: Dinner last month, a basic layered dish that I saw on Instagram. Fry to soften your chosen ingredients such as mince to brown, onion/garlic/carrots/celery/pepper, tom puree and tin chopped tomatoes, season and add beans and pulses if wanted or sweetcorn. Cook for around 20 minutes in the pan, then place half in a greased oven dish, take 3x tortilla wraps and spread Ricotta Cheese on them. Lay the first one cheese side down on top of the cooked mince mixture. Layer up with mince mixture and repeat with wraps, the last wrap cheese side up. Top it with grated cheese and bake for 30 - 40 mins at 180'c. 
It's like a lasagne without all the sauce and pasta, very tasty.
You could make this up as a chilli and it will still taste great. I will definitely make this again.  

Thank you for stopping by, do leave a comment. 
Have you any projects languishing in craft bags? 
Ttfn
Cathy x

Book, Books and more Books

Hello there, happy Friday everyone! Thank you to everyone who left a comment last time, I'm slowly catching up with your blogs. I'm enjoying the slower life in blog land and appreciate your visits, each one of you. This week I've been to the opticians for new glasses, held a bookclub in my house with cake and tried to walk more. Today I reached my 6000 steps, that may not sound much but for me that is good. I don't carry my phone around at home, so I'm only clocking up steps at work or when I'm out. 

I tried copying photos from my camera to the computer, instead of opening each folder and pasting them across, I pasted all the unopened files. We searched the computer, including recycling bin... all lost. I can't remember what they were other than all the photos taken between now and the last time I blogged. Even my camera says it's empty of photos, usually I have to delete those separately after I've copied them into a file. Anyway lesson learnt, do it properly next time. I managed to transfer 2 files of photos, all the books. 

All my library books came in at once this month... total nightmare! They were ordered and collected from the mobile library. I had 2 left over from last months order: Anthony Horowitz - The Word is Murder, I'm halfway through but am losing interest and Faith Martin - A Fatal Mistake, part of a series. They've both been renewed and are all due back on the same day. 

Meanwhile I remembered that I needed these Agatha Christie books for the Read Christie 2023 challenge. I quickly ordered them and collected them from the library in town. The Moving Finger is the book for March, Sparkling Cyanide for April. I can renew library books up to 6 times unless they've been requested. Two books have already been requested, so they will go to the top of the pile. I have 4 books at the top of the pile:

The Word is Murder
The Moving Finger
Mercy
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick was my choice for the book club, it's a very good story. I heartily recommend it, we had a fantastic discussion about it. There were questions in the back of the book, also some online. 

The next bookbook club read: Mercy by Jodi Picoult is one that I've read before in a previous bookclub here 

I've started to read it already and am enjoying the memories as I try to figure out what happened. 

As well as starting a new Bookclub in the village, I'm also helping another lady run a monthly Village Pop In. People can drop in for a cuppa and bring their own craft projects eg knitting, crochet and sewing or crossword/puzzle books, box games or any artwork. I'm hoping that we can leave a jigsaw puzzle out permanently, for anyone to work on when the hall is in use. There will be donated books and jigsaws to borrow on a book case. 
I'm taking something yarny, either knitting or crochet to do. Hopefully lots will attend and enjoy chatting over a cuppa. There isn't a pub, cafe or even a shop in the village anymore. We like it but you definitely need a car to get anywhere. 

Thank you for visiting today, do leave a comment and let me know:
Do you support your library?
Do you have a pile of books to read? 
Do you belong to a book club?
Do you keep a count of your daily steps and cups of water consumption? 

Ttfn (Ta-Ta For Now). 
Cathy x