Skywatch Friday

Somerset skies - taken from the plane on our way to Spain.



and Spanish skies the following day.



Thanks to the SWF team. For more looks at skies around the world, please click here.

ABC Wednesday - K

K is for:

Katie our much loved cat, when she was a kitten



with a kindred spirit - our much loved Buster.



Speaking of which - me and 3 friends at kindergarten age, on our trikes. (I am 2nd from right).



Finally - the King of Cool - possibly as you have not seen him before - with his daughter, Terry, in Los Angeles in 1964.



The photograph is copied from a book "Steve McQueen - A Life in Pictures" published by Pavilion.

Thanks to Mrs Denise Nesbitt and her team who host ABC Wednesday. For more looks at the letter K, please click here.

Holidays and Routines

Well, we made it back from our holiday. Delayed about 5 hours due to the French Air Traffic Control strike, we finally arrived home at about 11 pm on Thursday night. We had a good holiday though and that was the only problem we encountered. It was a week of relaxing in the warm sunshine, swimming, reading and catching up with old friends. OH celebrated his 69th birthday whilst we were there and the day we came home was our 22nd wedding anniversary!

No further plans for holidays as yet though we may try to get away for a weekend or two before Christmas. Family in Australia are still planning to return to UK and have now instructed agents to sell their house. Because of that, as much as I would love to see them all, and it has been nearly a year since I was there, we are not making any arrangements to travel that far yet. My step-daughter and her family live in New Zealand though so we will be travelling that way before too long.

For now though it is "business as usual" - back into our usual routines. Apart from that though I do have some extra things to do. I have committed myself to holding a coffee morning in aid of charity and will have to arrange that this week. I may be starting at a sewing class this week. Something I have been wanting to do for some while as although I can sew, it is usually confined to sewing on buttons and the odd hem! I have recently become friendly with my next door neighbour and she is encouraging me to go. I think it might be fun! I think she may also be encouraging me to go swimming with her once a week also - watch this space!

Of course, Christmas is already all around us in the shops and eventually, we will have to plan and arrange for that. And my new friend is keen to make Christmas cakes!

Today is going to be busy. I am going to see my mum and do some jobs for her and then meeting a friend for lunch. Later, weather permitting, I hope to go for a walk and pick some blackberries before it is too late. So, I had better get going - I'm not even dressed yet!

ABC Wednesday - J

This is a scheduled post as I am away until the end of the week.

J is for Jam - well, I had to chooose this didn't I?



and for Jacob, my grandson, whose 10th birthday falls on 20 September.

I know I mentioned him at G but I'm using grandparent's licence here. Happy Birthday to my lovely boy.



Thanks to Mrs Denise Nesbitt and her team, who host ABC Wednesday. For more looks at the letter J, please click here.

Must Dash!

Having just about unpacked and got my breath back after a few days visiting my daughter in Stratford on Avon, case is now re-packed and husband and I are off to Spain for one week. We will be staying with friends in a village in the south east. We have been there a couple of times before and are looking forward to it very much, catching up with old acquaintances and generally relaxing (husband's mobile will be staying at home!).

Update on my Mum - one scan showed quite severe arthritis in her neck, hence the numbness in her head and tingling fngers and the other showed some thickening in the bowel so she is to have a colonoscopy. Her doctor said it could be nothing but he wants it checked out. I'm wondering if it is scar tissue from her previous operation, as she is showing no other signs of anything sinister! So now we await that appointment and then see her specialist again - on 15 November!

I have scheduled my ABC Wednesday post and will be back again at the end of next week.

ABC Wednesday - I

I is for Indian Chief. This statue of Sitting Eagle (John Hunter) is in the city of Calgary.




click on the picture for more detail.




Thanks to Mrs Denise Nesbitt and her team who host ABC Wednesday. For more looks at the letter I, please click here.

ABC Wednesday - H

H is for:


Baby Hedgehog



Honeysuckle



Hibiscus



Hexagonal shapes in the roof of part of the Eden Project in Cornwall






Thanks to Mrs Denise Nesbitt and her team who host ABC Wednesday. For more looks at the letter H, please click here.

Busy Summer Days

I can hardly believe that Summer is almost over. The longed for days, when we were knee deep in snow, are now making way for Autumn and then we'll be into Winter again! I have had a busy time lately and when I got to wondering what exactly have I been doing over the past 6 to 8 weeks I realised just how much I have achieved.

I have not been much into blogging it is true and have just about managed to "keep in touch" with most of you, only posting for ABC Wednesday for weeks now.

At the moment I am suffering with a gum infection and have been in quite a lot of pain. I thought at first it must be an abscess but my dentist assured me, after taking an X-ray, that my teeth are in fine shape and that it is a "just" an infection. I have now been on antibiotics for nearly 2 weeks. No pain as such now, but still a fairly sizeable swelling on the roof of my mouth. So first thing on Monday I shall have to contact the dentist again for further advice!

My mother, who is now 88, has been complaining of numbness in the right side of her head and was referred to a specialist in care for the elderly - a lovely man, who was most kind, considerate and thorough. He gave her a really good examination, covering all aspects, taking X-rays, blood tests, an ECG and sending her for two CT Scans. We get the results of all these tests tomorrow. I feel that there is nothing seriously wrong with her and that it is old age taking its toll. He did say to us that he feels that the numb feeling in her head could be due to a trapped nerve in her neck. He also said that she is in very good shape for 88. On Monday we will know for sure.

Our 6 year old grand-daughter came to stay with us for a few days, the first time she had been away from Mummy and Daddy (her parents are divorced so she is used to being apart from one or the other but had never been away from both of them). She was as good as gold, even on the day when she was definitely unwell and could hardly wait to get to bed. We all enjoyed it and when I mentioned to daughter that if she would like us to have her at half-term it would be OK, she replied that Imogen had already asked when she could come again. The only problem we had was that the weather was cloudy and cold and we only made it to the beach once (we live less than 50 yards away).

Fruit and vegetables have done well this year and everyone seems to have a surplus of everything. I took advantage of this last week and managed to make a batch of sweet piccalilli and also chutney. No strawberry jam though!










A very sprightly family friend celebrated her 90th birthday in August and decided to throw a party for her family, a few friends and neighbours. Asking us what we thought about the idea, we wholeheartedly agreed it was a great plan and I volunteered to make her birthday cake. So that was another task to be accomplished.



On top of all of that, I decided I wanted to redecorate our bedroom. Now I am not one to change for change's sake but I had never been happy with the decor since we moved in last October. Husband agreed to help with repainting the walls and I undertook to do the wallpapering. We kept the same colour (eau de nil) and we are both very pleased with the result. Strangely though, it makes the room look bigger!



Next week I shall be going to spend a few days with my daughter in Stratford upon Avon, returning next Monday and then the following Thursday husband and I are off to spend a week with friends in Spain. It's all go!

Skywatch Friday

What a difference a day makes! This shot was taken at 8.30 pm one evening -



and this 24 hours later




Thanks to SkyWatch Friday team. For more looks at skies around the world, please click here.