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.