Enjoy…..

…..completing my latest jigsaw. It was interesting to do and I liked the picture when complete, too. I am also really enjoying my amaryllis. It was a Christmas present and has grown well.  It really lives on the kitchen windowsill and I think it smiles at me when I go into the kitchen and makes…

Eat Brussels Sprouts

I never eat Brussels sprouts unless I really have to – even at Christmas.  But I have been eating these. My great-niece obviously does like sprouts as she told me that she and her cousin (my younger great-nephew) had a “sprout off” at Christmas – who could eat the most, I assume?  She said:  he…

Mild winter or Global Warming?

Or maybe global warming leading to a mild winter?  It has certainly had a weird effect in my garden.  I had a rose out on 1st January.  It wasn’t perfect but it was fully out. This one, from the same rose bush, was open in the middle of January.  Also in the middle of January…

Collect a treadmill

I was about to go out one morning and my nephew phoned – very unusual.   Would I pick up a treadmill for him?  (I assume it was something from e-bay or something.)  Sounded simple enough (and maybe I wasn’t really thinking clearly) so I said yes. Then I started to get the texts…..  The…

Twin my toilet!

Toilet twinning is an initiative of Tear Fund.  The idea is to pay a certain amount and this goes towards a project in a fairly remote area where villagers are brought together and consider working to improve their lives.  They start by making suggestions and working towards projects they think they need.  As they gain…

Walking and Sightseeing – St Ives II

There were different places to visit in the second half of my hf holiday in St Ives. The next day, Wednesday, we went by coach to the Geevor Tin Mine.  On getting there we were able to leave our bags in a room and then had to pay and get our hard hats. We had…

Walking and Sightseeing – St Ives I

Another hf holiday, but it didn’t start that well as I had booked a 1st Class train ticket by “advanced purchase” and I had to change at Westbury.  When I got to Westbury I found that the train I was supposed to get was cancelled!  Eventually found a nice man who worked out that I…

Family Meal

As my older sister was 70 she decided to have a family lunch to celebrate.  She chose a pub near Swindon which had a play area for children – Swindon being about the mid-point for everyone except my brother and his family.  It is also near where my niece lives. So who came?  Everyone!  My…

Cat transport

I seem to have been providing transport for cats several times recently – and cats don’t like going in their baskets and more especially in cars (see, for example, “Mog and the V.E.T.” by Judith Kerr). Izzy – black and white, elderly – was the first one.  She had to go to the vet for…

“Self-Guided Walking” holiday.

I put this on the end of my Industrial Heritage of Shropshire so as to make it a week away.  I wasn’t intending to do that much walking, but I did do more than several other people – who went out in their cars or stayed at the hotel, by the swimming pool! The first…