My Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 46

There is not a lot of news this week, but I did have a lovely meet up with an old friend from Spain. Chris and her husband Phil returned to UK a few years ago, mainly for health and declining mobility problems, but we have kept in touch by video calls and this week she had a hospital appointment near us so we arranged to meet in town. I didn't invite her here as I knew she couldn't manage the front steps , nor the stairs up to the bathroom, so we met at 'The Old Schoolhouse', a small but cosy café/restaurant in the grounds of the big parish church near here. It had been highly recommended to us, and we enjoyed a nice lunch while we chatted and caught up on all our news. Just before they had to leave, my Chris took this photo of us which I know my friend Chris will share around others from Spain that she has kept in touch with.

I did manage to do some more crafting this week, and the pile of cut out pieces I showed last time, are now a set of 12 Christmas cards. They are basically all the same design with some small differences in layout and backgrounds. Now I am working on a new design to make another batch from.

My walk through the park to the shops is now very autumnal, with the ground carpeted with leaves in every shade of green, gold and red, and the trees are looking barer. You can see a suirrels drey up in the branches of this one. 

I chatted to one of the groundsmen this week. He spends every day sweeping the leaves off the grass because it ruins it if they are left to rot there. He told me his team aim to have them all cleared by Christmas when most of the trees will be completely bare.

My real news this week is that we have a new grand-daughter, born at 11.15 this morning. I won't share a photo or her name yet as I haven't asked her family if it is OK to do so, but maybe next week I can. It is lovely to have another little girl in our male dominated family, and I can't wait to have a cuddle.

My Friday Smiles 2025# Week 45

Well I am back this week. I am still plagued with a bad cough, but I feel much better than I did last week.

My post today is mainly about the weekend I had in London a fortnight ago as I wasn't up to writing about it last week.

We caught the train up to London on Friday morning. We managed to get a train that went all the way from Gobowen (the nearest station to Oswestry) to Birmingham New Street. There we had to change and take the five minute walk to Birmingham Moor street to get a second train to Marylebone Station, and another short walk to  Baker Street. Then the underground took us to our son's place in Sydenham. Our son Jim actually came to meet us at Marylebone as there were cancellations on some lines and he wasn't sure we would find the best way on to him. It sounds a bit of a mission, and although it is not a huge distance it does seem to take up a whole day, but we had good seats on all the trains, (they need to be forward facing for me!), so we were quite comfortable.

We spent Friday evening with the family and Saturday morning. But Saturday evening we went to a lovely wedding celebration party by Crystal palace. These two dear friends were married with a small group of family members to support them, last month, so this was a party for all the friends and wider family. 

There were well over a hundred of us there  and it was lovely to sit and chat with friends old and new. We knew David and Darren from my church in Spain, but they came back to UK over a year ago and happen to live very close to our son. My special friend Margie and her husband, who also returned to UK a year ago, were there, and Dawn who still lives in Spain came with her daughter, so we were able to have a good catch up and it was lovely to see them all again.

Sunday again was a family day for us and we went out for a lovely meal at a nearby cafe/restaurant that has quite a special menu.

It was my birthday on Friday, and for my present Chris had booked two tickets to see Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre on the Monday evening. He was not interested in going himself so my daughter-in-law Jo came with me. And it was all I hoped for. The theatre was beautiful. We had seats in the front row of the upper circle so it was a long way down to the ground floor seating. We made sure to arrive early so it looked quite empty when I took this, but every seat was filled by the time the show started.

This rather beautiful ceiling and chandelier were immediately above us, and from our elevated position we could easily see the whole stage.

I love all the music. The songs are familiar to me because when I was in the choir in Spain, we sang a long medley encompassing most of them, which took up half the programme for a concert. I wanted to sing along with them on Monday night, but I managed not to spoil it for those sitting around me!

At the end of the show we took photos from the front of the theatre. It always amazes me how busy the street of London are at any time of night. This was getting on for midnight and it was quite wet, but the trafiic never stops and the pavements are crowded.

We decided to go home by bus as there is one that goes from there all the way to the stop outside our son's house. So we strolled along to the stop and on the way we passed the M&M shop. I couldn't resist going in and had to take a photo of this rainbow array of M&Ms. Who knew there were so many colours made, and different flavours too.

Anyway we got on the bus and settled down as we knew it would be almost an hour's journey. But on the way there was a problem with the side door and wheelchair ramp, and we ended up having to all get off and wait for a replacement bus to come along. But we made it home in the end, and I had a goody bag of programme, T-shirt and fridge magnet to remember my special evening out.

We travelled home of Tuesday and I knew by then that I was not 100% and I ended up spending a few days in bed, or huddled in my red furry 'oodie' in a chair, while Chris did the shopping and laundrette run. Now he has the cold, and I am a bit better, so I am back shopping and I did the laundrette run today. It will be good when the kitchen is done and I have a washing machine again, but we are managing without so far.

This is half term week for the children but I haven't encouraged visiting by any of the children as I don't want to share my cold with them. But on Sunday our son Jonathan came around with his hedge trimmer and did a great job cutting the shrub that grows all over the back gate, and also the holly hedges on either side of the front garden. 

Yesterday our son Mike came round and took all the bags of trimings away to the tip. We do have a garden waste bin now but it only gets emptied once a fortnight so it would take ages to off-load all the bags we have, so taking several to the tip was a great help. 

Mike was going to visit sooner. He works in a school so has half term off too, but on the day we returned from London, his own son who is 18, (maybe 19 now!), was taken to hospital with appendicitus. He had an operation the next day so Mike's half term was taken up with driving to and fro between his Home and Shrewsbury hospital. But Finlay is back home now and he is making a good recovery. The NHS gets a lot of flack these days but Mike and Fin couldn't say enough about the fast and efficient treatment he had.

I have managed to come up here to do a little bit of crafting the last couple of days and have been busy cutting out, frames, robins and holly, ready to assemble a run of a dozen Christmas cards tomorrow. I am usually making a few all through the year, but of course this year that hasn't happened, so I am making a batch of just a couple of designs, so that I have enough for immediate friends and family at least.

And that is my fortnight catch-up. I hope things will all be back on track by next week.

My Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 43

For anyone who comes looking for my weekly post, I am sorry there isn't one this week. After a lovely long weekend in London, I find myself with a head full of cotton wool due to a bad cold, so I did not venture up to my computer to write a blog post or for anything else. 

I will write about my weekend next week when I am sure I will be fighting fit again.

My Thursday Smiles 2025 Week 42

Thursday again, and I am doing a quick post. Later I need to pack a case ready for a long weekend in London. 

It has been a bit chilly and overcast this week so last night we gave in and lit the fire in the sitting room for the evening. We are not using the central heating until we get back after the weekend, just in case there are any problems, but the fire was just right to make the room cosy.

I have managed some crafting this week. Of course I wanted to try out the exhaust box for my laser cutter so I made these two little angels.

I have since made a set of six of them , and also two of these hearts. I made these previously from paper but thought wooden ones would be more durable.

Despite my decision to buy as little craft equipment and materials as possible now, (I have enough to last me three life times as least!), I did buy a new set of pens this week. Even as a child I loved having a new set of colouring pencils or pens, and as soon as these arrived I sat with them balanced on my knee while I filled in the colour chart they provided. These are acrylic paint pens which I have never used before, and they are lovely to use. They are very smooth and for a block of solid colour they are perfect. I am not sure how well they would blend but I haven't tried that yet. I bought them to add colour detail to some of my wood cuts and for that they work very well.

Chris has been busy in the garden tackling a variegated ivy that had swamped our out buildings. It was tough work and at the minute he is managing with secteurs, but he got it down. The debris has filled two bins so far and there is still some to be done. We decided to leave some ivy at the bottom as it is more attractive than the brick wall, but at least we can nearly access the shed door now. We still have to cut back next door's climber that crept over their fence but that can wait for another day.

The birds seem to like the well pruned tree across the road from us. After the rain, the grass in the park is covered with worm casts and the crows come in every evening to have a good fill. They like to perch on the very top cut branches of the tree to survey the area before swooping down to ground level.

I said I was looking forward to seeing the colours of autumn in the trees and this week they  have been shining everywhere. Sadly some dropped their leaves very quickly but there is still plenty of colour across the park, because there is a wide variety of trees over there. So here is a collage of some of the trees.

As I write this, my cutter is working away next to me. It has nearly finished so it is time for me to sign out and get our lunch, so I am ready to find a suitcase this afternoon.

My Thursday Smiles 2025 # Week 41

 You may notice I have changed the name of my blog from Friday Smiles to Thursday, as it is generally more convenient for me to sit here writing it on a Thursday afternoon, and Friday mornings are usually busier. And of course, while there is no-one to link up to on Friday mornings, I may as well post it when I write it.

Anyway, that is enough waffle.  The week has gone very fast again. Last Friday we got drowned walking to a doctor's appointment and then doing the shopping. I discovered the coat I thought was waterproof, wasn't!! but I have just sent for a waterproofing spray to treat it. Fortunately the rain did stop in time for us to cross the park again for a fish and chip dinner with our son Jonathan who had the day off work. He lives even closer to the chippy than we do, so it is an easy place to meet up.

By Saturday the rain had eased a bit but it was windy enough for the park gates to be closed again. On Sunday Ben came over to have "one of mum's Sunday roasts". He did a few little jobs for us and then went over to see his brother, Jonathan. It is convenient for him to be able to see us both in one visit. He stayed here overnight and on Monday he took me to another doctor's appointment and helped with a big shop from Iceland (frozen food shop). Then we decided to go out for lunch before he went home and we ate at a little pop-up shop on the corner of a small square in town. Most of their seating is outside and it was like sitting out on a summer's day. The sun was really warm and everyone was shedding coats and jumpers because they were so hot.

When Ben had left, hoping to make it home before the end of school traffic slowed him down, I spent the afternoon planting spring bulbs randomly around the front garden. My little friendly robin was beside me again, quick to spot any worms I dug up. I hope we will have some colour in the front next year now. I love all the spring flowers.

The pansys I planted a week or two ago are looking good now. They were enjoying the brief spell of sunshine we had on Sunday.

Following on from last week's post, I have had one more rearrangement in my craft room. I knew I wanted to buy an exhaust box to cover my laser cutter. It takes all the smoke and fumes through a hose and out of the window, But I hadn't realised how big they were. So the one I needed wouldn't fit on my existing table. In the end I bought a bigger table and moved my desk along a bit to make space for it. Yesterday I built the box. The frame was relatively easy but it was extreemly hard to pull the tight cover over it. But I wouldn't be defeated, and in the end I did get it on. So here it is now almost ready to go. 

I decided to wait and let Chris attach the fan and hose as he can do screws up much tighter than I can, and it needs to be a good fit to work.

I do seem to have a lot of doctor's appointments at the minute but I am having injections for shingles, flu and covid, all on different days, plus a blood test to see whether the medication I take is still working for me. Next week I have an ECG and a session with the diabetic nurse, so it is a good thing the doctor's surgery is only a short walk from here.

This morning I had a message from my granddaughter to say she was stopping at the park with her little boy, on the way home from the school run, so I walked across to meet them. We had a nice chat while little Reuben collected acorns and chased after squirrels to feed them. Needless to say he never caught up with one but he had fun trying!

As I entered the park I spotted this fungi growing from the crack between the pavement and the wall. I don't recognise them but they were rather splendid.(Google lens gave me some highly improbable results as it thought they were growing out of a tree, not the wall).

My fan for the laser exhaust is now fixed firmly in place (Thank you Chris), and I have edited my first simple file ready to cut tomorrow, to test out the settings before I try anything more complicated.

So it is about time to publish this. Thank you to all who took time to visit me last week. 

P.S. Friday morning I took a better photo of the fungi and can now identify it as a shaggy inkcap. Apparently it is edible when young, and makes a sepia (smelly) ink!

My Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 40

It would seem that I lost count of the weeks during my absence and it is now week 40. So hopefully I have caught up right now.

I was slow to link up around the usual Friday posters as we had a very busy weekend. Our son Jonathan, his wife Ella and daughter Aisling arrived in Oswestry on Friday afternon to take posession of their new home, just a short walk across the park from us. So of course we went round to welcome them and see if we could offer any assisstance. of course Jonathan and Chris straightway got into a discussion about phones, internet, anf Football, but their dog Rudi, decided to park herself between them. In a strange place, the familiar settee was the safest spot to be I guess. 

They are settling in well. Aisling loves being in 'Big school' and has enjoyed her first full week . 

Jonathan's commute back to Manchester for work each day takes very little more time than navigating city traffic did when he lived there. And Ella is able to work from home, though after next week she will be on leave ready for the new baby due early in November. So it has been an exciting week for them.

I invitied them all over for Sunday dinner and despite my very limited cooking facilities, I managed to get a roast done and we spent some happy hours chatting together.

Apart from that I have spent my time going through the last boxes which won't be unpacked properly until the new kitchen is installed. But I did, at last, find my missing air pump and cables so I can now set up my laser cutter. I am very lucky to have a big craft room at the top of the house, with two desks - one for paper craft, and actually assembling my makes, and one for the computer, printer and cutters. Having got them almost set up, I decided it would work better if I swapped the two desks round, so today Chris has helped me rearrange everything, and made sure I was connected up correctly and safely.

So now I will give you a quick idea of how my room looks. This is just inside the door. All my shelves of 'really useful boxes' fitted on one wall. They are not packed correctly yet as I fitted lots of oddments in for easy packing and travelling. But I will have them all in order soon and make new labels for them. 

Further along the next wall there is a wide opening, (with sliding doors), leading to quite a spacious under the eaves storage area with a velux window in the roof to let in light. 

Opposite the shelves there is a book shelf and a tall narrow shelf set that house all my books, files of rubber stamps, and folders full of metal dies.

Next to them is a bin holding all my rolls of vinyl, and then it is my work desk, not quite ready yet as my green mats don't fit; but I will work something out there soon. And further along from that is a set of wide, strong, (untidy) shelves where I have put my Cameo cutter, a die cutter, reams of paper, and anything else that didn't have a home!

The room is L-shaped, and across the narrow leg, opposite the shelves, is my computer desk with printer at the end, and my laser cutter on its own table along side it.

And one final picture to show how those last three fit together. 

So how lucky am I? I am really looking forward to using this lovely space, to get back into card making, scrapbooking, and of course, some working with wood as well.

And that really is it for this week. I will try again to find you and link my post to you over the weekend.

My Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 37

I was sad to see that Annie is no longer hosting her Friday Smiles but I shall continue to write my weekly 'diary' blog and hope we can still be found by one another.

I haven't done anything very significant this week but Sunday was sunny so Chris and I did manage some gentle gardening at the front of the house. Chris dug out several baby trees, self seeded by birds and wind from the park I expect. He also removed a dead shrub that was taking up a lot of space. Meanwhile I cut back the cotoneaster on the housewall to reveal the three planters hidden under it. I dug them out and filled them with new compost and planted some winter flowering pansies and tete-a-tete daffodil bulbs.

It already looks a lot better. We still have to remove the bush by the front wall which is deseased, and in the spaces we will be planting some roses. I am told November is the time to do this, and a big rose nursery near here, delivers ordered bare root plants at the end of October, so we don't have to wait too long.

This little chap hopped about between us all morning. He was so tame and he enjoyed a good Sunday lunch from all the worms and bugs we dug up.

We have been entertained all week by some tree surgeons who have worked their way across the back of the park pruning the trees. Last week I shared the one they cut right down, and the next day they came with a grinder and ground the stump down to ground level. But all day Tuesday and Wednesday they worked on the very big tree immediately opposite our house. I sat and watched them for hours! One man climbed the tree and roped himself on. Then he used his chain saw to cut branches down. He tied each of the larger ones to a rope so that he could lower it to the ground safely. Then he adjusted his own tether and swung across empty spaces to the next branch needing attention. I am filled with respect for his climbing ability, care and knowledge.

Three men on the ground continuously gathered up the debris and after sawing up any large useable logs, they fed the huge chipper which made short work of the rest. It all seemed a bit drastic at the time, but the main man had a good eye for what he was doing and the final result is a neat, well shaped tree. It lets more of the autumn sun into our front room, and has opened up our view across the park.

This afternoon I have been pinning out some of the squares for my jacket onto my blocking boards. In the morning I will steam them and leave them to dry and then I have about two more lots to do. The squares are all finished but they need to be blocked before I join them to make sure they are all the right size. Then it will be easier to work them together following a layout plan in the pattern.

And that is all I have time for tonight, as I need to go and prepare our tea. I had a quick look at how to install a Linky on here for everyone to use, but it was too complicated for me right now, but please continue to drop by at the end of each week, and I will visit you too whenever I can.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 36

I will start with Week 35 which I wrote last week and then managed to delete when I went to publish it!

Firstly here are two lovely memories from my last week in London. On the Friday my son and his wife went with Chris and I to the Tower of London. We saw many interesting things there, but I really wanted to see the poppies and here they are.

This main display depicts a wounded soldier bleeding out in a trail of red poppies across the grass. There were smaller displays elsewhere in the grounds and altogether there were 30,000 ceramic poppies.

On the Monday, I took myself off to London Bridge to visit Southwick Cathedral, to see the display of 'Peace doves'. This was thousands of paper doves each one carrying a message of hope, love, peace, dreams, written by cathedral members, visitors and children's groups. With subdued lighting and gentle organ music in the background, it was very beautiful.

On Tuesday evening our son Tom arrived with a biggish car and the next morning we loaded it up with all the things we had brought with us, and quite a few more that we had aquired since. This is the back seat, and the boot was equally well stuffed. There was just room for me to sit on the other side.

The journey through London was slow with multiple speed limits and road works, but we finally got to the  motor way which was at least moving steadily. Deciding to stop at a motorway mall for a drink we pulled in to the parking lot, but because I had been sat in the same position for some time, my feet were a bit numb and I managed to take a tumble just at the entrance. Passers by were very kind offering packets of tissues and wipes, and then Chris and Tom hauled me to my feet and got me to the nearest seating area which happened to be in Costa coffee. Again the Costa staff and M&S first aiders were great. They cleaned me up and put a temporay dressing on my head, and after ice/packs and free bottles of water and cups of tea, they directed us to the nearest A&E where an hour or so later I emerged with steristrip stitches and glue, and a neater dressing, plus a developing black eye, but at least we were on our way again. Talk about arriving in style!

Soon we were in Oswestry and the next day we picked up the keys to our new house. Several family members came to welcome us on our first day, and we has a lovely time catching up with one another.

I love this photo of some of my menfolk on our stairs, Husband, son and two grandsons. Our little great son was too tired and confused to cooperate and sit on the bottom stair. he thought it was going to be his house and kept asking where his toys and his bed were.

Our boxes arrived from storage on Saturday so we could rummage through for items we needed straight away. Since then it has been a blur of shopping for essentials, chairs, fridge, wardrobes etc, and sitting here waiting for them to be delivered. Our boys have been wonderful, from moving boxes and depositing some in the cellar, carrying the heavy items up to the top of the house, and taking several loads of cardboard and plastic to the tip.

This is the mantle shelf in the main room. Tom bought me the sunflowers on our first day here and they have stayed looking beautiful for three weeks. I had no idea they make such good cut flowers.

We are now feeling quite settled with the sitting room and bedroom both finished, plus Chris' office and my craft room nearly there. The internet is now installed after a coupe of false starts, and everything seems to be running smoothly. 

The dining room which will be our new kitchen is almost empty, (apart from the fridge), and we have agreed a design and chosen colours for floor, walls and cupboards. The tiny room, supposedly the kitchen, will be a utility area but for now I have a sink, my Ninja foodie and a microwave, plus a kettle and toaster of course, and between them I seem to have managed to produce reasonable meals. The builder has said he would try to do the work before Christmas but couldn't promise because he is very busy.

And now for this week,

The garden cannot be our priority yet but we did spend some time out there this morning just tidying it a bit. Chris has cut back the brambles that are trying to take over, and we will continue to work on them. I pulled up lots of weed seed heads, and trimmed the shrubs to keep the path clear. We did find some hidden gems among the mess, a little winter cyclaen is flowering and this blue ground cover companula is everywhere, growing out of the walls, between the steps and anywhere else it can finda space. 

We have some heather which my dad loved so I just trimmed that for now, and there are several varieties of fuschia that look very healthy.

 

You may remember I searched for years for a yellow rose in Spain, well now I have one. And despite not being pruned for a very long time, it managed to produce two pretty flowers.

We are also enjoying these pink roses that hang over the fence from our neighbour's garden. They are still a mass of flowers despite the wind and rain.

I expect you had the same high winds as we did on Tuesday. We noticed that the park gates across the road from us were closed and we soon saw why. A huge branch had fallen from a tree just inside the railings. It took the groundsmen all morning to saw it into manageable pieces and take it away.

The next day the gates were open again and I walked across to the shops, and I noticed a big white and brown bird that I hadn't seen there before. I walked closer and thought "If I wasn't in Oswestry, I would think that is a seagull". So I took photos and put them into Google lens and sure enough it came up with a definite identity of a herring gull. So the poor thing had been blown a long way off course to get this far inland, but I haven't seen it since, so I guess it found its way home.

We saw a notice on the park gates a week or two ago saying the gates would be closed for "Tree work" so this morning we weren't surprised to hear a chain saw in action. I said to Chris that they seemed to be taking a lot of branches from one tree, and by this afternoon they had felled the whole tree. There are plenty more trees in the park but it is still sad to see one go, but I presume it was in a dangerous condition. Even with their heavy machinery it has taken them all day to move it, and last time I looked they were still cutting the trunk into huge slices. I hope they get used to make something nice.

Goodness I have rambled on all afternoon so I think I had better stop now. Ben is about to ring me for our weekly chat anyway.

I was surprised to find that there was no link for today and reading back a few posts I found Annieis taking a much needed break as she is very busy with her sewing business. Unfortunately the lady who was going to take over for a while has not been able to install Linky so far, so I will try to add a link to my post in comments. If I don't manage to do it right, feel free to look for me in 'search' . I'd like to keep in touch if I can. 

Well done to anyone who has stayed with me to the end. It will be a lot shorten after this!