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!

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 34

It is getting exciting. This time next week we will have the keys to our new home. We seem to have gathered quite a few new pieces since we arrived here, so I have started packing some items into small boxes. Our son Tom is collecting us in a hired car and we have to get our cases, lots of small boxes, and three bodies into it, so hopefully he will get one big enough to cope.

I have done a bit of baking this week though it has been too hot to do much, but I tried out a recipe I saw for rock cakes cooked in the airfryer, and they were fairly successful. Today I bought the first bramley apples (cooking apples) I have seen this season, and they are one thing I really missed in Spain, especially as I had a very prolific Bramley tree in my garden here before. So I bought a couple and mixed them with some plums to make a big family sized fruit crumble today.

Summer came quite early in UK this year and I am wondering whether Autumn will also be earlier than usual. One day I walked to the local park again and I took this photo. 

As you can see the wild rose shrub is already covered in ripe red hip berries, and in front of them there are some stems of cardoon cynara . These are a semi-wild version of the globe artichoke. First they have a big, purple thistle flower and then this very impressive seed head which does resemble a globe artichoke. The picture just shouts Autumn to me.

As I was walking through the park I stopped at the croquet lawn where these two were engrossed in a game, and were taking it very seriously. I watched for some time but never quite understood what the aim of the game was. I know they have to use their mallet to knock a ball through a series of hoops, but there was also a 'jack' ball which confused me a bit.

The garden continues to surprise us with plants we didn't really know were there. This week there was a beautiful pink lily. The first flowers are fading now but there are lots of buds, so it will go on delighting us for some time.

Last week I showed you the blanket that I made for our new baby in November. It now has a pink rabbit in each corner. I had quite a lot of wool left over so I made a matching cushion for her big sister, with one rabbit in the centre.

Another little treasure from the garden is this pretty butterfly that was flitting between the little daisies and coltsfoot on the lawn, and it actually sat still enough for me to take a photo. I looked it up and found it is a Gatekeeper Butterfly, also known as a hedge brown.

I wonder whether you have seen these funny shaped nuts on the floor near you. They are malformed acorns caused by a Knopper wasp laying an egg inside each acorn as it is forming. As the lava grows it causes the acorn to mutate, and then it crawls out and feeds on it. After some years when knopper wasps have been relatively scarce, they are making a come-back this year. Sometimes they only affect one tree, but around here nearly every oak tree is affected. Although long term it does not seem to harm the tree at all, it will severely affect the acorn harvest, so squirrels and other small rodents may have to hunt extra hard for their food this winter.

For obvious reasons I am unlikely to post next week. I am sure we will be very busy and will not have internet immediately, but I will publish this tomorrow and link with Annie's Friday Smiles. And I will be back as soon as I can. 

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 33

Once again I have very little news except that today we exchanged contracts for the house, with completion still set as 21st August. So just two more weeks now.

It has been a bit cooler this week with a fair bit of rain but we have still managed some sessions sitting outside in the sunshine.

Yesterday I went to my daughter-in-law's workplace and sat doing some crochet while she did some necessary paperwork, and then we took a bus to Beckenham. So now I have seen another little town in the surrounding area, and it was a nice High Street, with a range of shops and places to eat. Jo and I visited all the charity shops, and came away with a few bargains, including a mid to late season dress with long sleeves, which was just my style, and fits beautifully, so it was a good find.

I have done some more of my hedgehog cross stitch picture and there is not been too much left to do now. It will be good to finish something, but I do need good day-light to sew, and it only gets done, 'little by little'.

In the evenings I have been working on another different project with crochet.This time it was making a blanket for our new grand-daughter due in November. I thought being a winter baby, a warmer blanket would be useful. It has turned out a little warmer and heavier than I expected, but I am quite pleased with it. My son and his wife aren't into pale pinks and white so I chose a pretty yellow for the main blanket and edged it with a deep purple-pink border. I needed to get it done as I bought the wool from a little shop on our High Street, and I had no idea how much I wouuld need.

I wanted to bring a little of the pink into the body of the blanket, just to break the yellow up a bit, so I made four pink 'bunnies'. When they have little white bob tails added, they will sit one in each corner of the blanket. So my next job is to get that done. 

Meanwhile I continue to make motifs for the colourful wall hanging, diamonds now, and also squares for the Winter jacket I am making. I expect it will all get shelved again soon, when I have boxes to unpack, and a house to arrange, so I want to get as much done as I can now.

So back to my hook now and this will be published tomorrow and linked up with Annie's Friday Smiles.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 32

I am back though I have very little news, but what I do have is making me smile, and that's what matters. This week we have been busy at home, dealing with more admin. and as a result we have fixed a date for completing on the house purchase and collecting the keys and it is Thursday August 21st. We won't be living in it immediately as we have no furniture etc, but all our boxes are arriving from the storage unit on Tuesday 27th. (The Monday is a bank holiday so they can't bring it then). So the first few days will be spent buying some essentials like curtains, fridge, kettle and paint! But it is all very exciting.

Last week some of you commented on my 'nice little bit of garden' at the front of the house, which I am sure I will be able to tidy up in no time, so today I thought I would share what is at the back of the property.

As you can see it is quite long, but not too wide. Mostly it is laid to stone slabs and gravel and there is quite a good patio just under the kitchen window with enough space for a small table and chairs. There is a usable, pedestal bird bath just by it which will be cleaned up and give me pleasure watching for visitors.

The rest is very overgrown, because the house has been empty for six months or so, but once it is cleared I will be able to decide what I want to do with it. One thing for sure, there will be a small area for a rose garden with my mum's favourite rose (Peace) as one of the plants. I promised her I would plant one when I could, and it will be a nice little memorial to her. She loved all the flowers in the garden, just like I do.

There is a long path running the length of the garden with a nice long washing line above it, and at the end there is a locked gate leading into a short alley to the road at the side. This will be the way to take out our refuse bins for collection, and will probably be our usual way out, to avoid the front steps, and the road with no pavement outside the gate.

And just to make you smile, here is one wall in what will probably be my craft room. It was previously a boy's bedroom, (from the name plate on the door), which may explain the wall. It is one of the reasons why Paint is on our first shopping list!

My other happy news involves some forward planning. Today I managed to book tickets for Chris and I, my son and daughter-in-law, and our grandson to all visit the Tower of London a fortnight tomorrow. Spaces are selling out fast so I am glad I did it today. I especially want to see the 'sea of poppies' that will be there until November.

Also we will be returning here for a weekend on the day after my birthday in October. Some friends of ours are getting married and their celebration party is on Saturday 18th October. It will be an opportunity to meet up with several of our friends from Spain who will also be there.

Then on the Monday Jo and I have tickets to see the stage version of Les Miserables. I have only seen the film version and loved it, but I have been told the stage show is much better. I am familiar with all the music as we sang a long medley from it with our choir in Spain, that made up almost half of the programme. Chris didn't want to see it but he bought me my ticket for my birthday, and Jo is happy to come with me although she has seen it before.

So that's lots to keep me smiling and plenty to look forward to. and now I will get this ready to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles tomorrow.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 31

I did miss posting last week although I was not anywhere that it was possible to do so. However we had a good visit back to Oswestry where we were able to take our time going around the house, measuring spaces and marking all the sockets on our floor plan etc, so we can start planning what we want to do.  The surveyor has given us a verbal report which was positive, though we won't have the official one until the middle of next week. Here is a photo of the front of the house that I took from the park across the road. It is a mid-terrace house which has the advantage of keeping it warmer in the winter. As you can see, the garden is in need of a little TLC but I will get it sorted by next spring.

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So what else have we been up to in the past couple of weeks. Well we had a visit to Greenwich market which is one of my favourite haunts in London. It was busy of course, as the tourist season is now in full swing, but I bought some lovely water glasses, and strong fabric shoulder bag. 

I love the way much of London is full of flowers. So many bars and shops have hanging baskets and troughs just spilling over with flowers.

We returned home via the water taxi down the Thames, and then the underground train.

I was even brave enough to return there on my own to pick up a few more things. I haven't done much travelling on my own since we got here and the underground is quite different from when we left with new lines, and changed names, but there are still some of the old trains running too. I am not a fan of the long downwards escalators, (I don't mind the ones going up), but the different lines are all on different levels, so sometimes the escalators are a better option to long flights of stone steps!

Another night our son and DIL took us to ABBA Voyage, and it was an amazing show. It took place in a purpose built arena by Stratford, which was mostly made of wood bolted together so that it can be taken down and moved to a new location next year. But of now it is still attracting huge crowds every night. 

I loved the ceiling of the foyer with all its coloured lights. 

This is where there was a selection of bars, cloakrooms, and merchandise shops. Jo and I couldn't resist the capes, so she she bought the blue one and I the red one, and we had a picture taken under the ABBA sign.

Then someone in the queue offered to take one of our 'other halves' as well, and for once we are all smiling.

The ranks of seats soon filled up as did the triangle in the centre for dancers, and I managed a quick photo before we were all asked to put out phones away.

There was a small band and four backing singers, but the main screens were taken up by avatars of Abba back in the day, and they were so realistic it was hard to convince ourselves that they weren't really there on the stage. They sang all their most well-known songs as well as a couple I didn't recognise, and throughout the whole show, there were moving lights coming down from above, and chasing round the outer wall. It was a lot to take in, and all in all it was a fantastic show. And you didn't need to be a huge ABBA fan to enjoy it.

This week Chris and I went back to the Outernet at Tottenham Court Road, and although the display I wanted to see wasn't showing that day, there were still some fantastic light displays to enjoy. Here are a couple of the photos I took though I couldn't catch all the sparkle. These were on the roof above us.

I took this one to show my daughter-in-law as all her family love pink flamingos!

This one was an animated under-water scene and little shoals of fish swam in and out of the reeds. I caught two little 'Nemos' I thought were cute.

We sat on a sunny plaza outside for a while and I indulged on a treat I find it hard to resisit - a frozen yoghurt bought from this bright red bus!

Here's someone else cute. This little fellow regularly visits the garden, and is not a bit shy. If we are sitting quietly he will come almost up to us.

This afternoon, for something different, I did some baking. So I made a batch of sweet potato, oats and almond flour cookies, and some Welsh cakes. In wasn't sure how well these would work as I always cook them on a heavy cast-iron griddle. But today I used Jo's skillet because it was nice and flat, and they came out just fine. So now I will go and butter a few for our tea and I will publish this in the morning and link it to Annie's Friday Smiles.