Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 48

The weeks do fly past, and here we are approaching the end of yet another month. I wasn't  sure I had anything to write about , but there is always something to smile about, so here goes.

Firstly for those who weren't sure, the lovely pink and yellow rose I posted last week, is indeed the Peace rose, bought in memory of my mum. Chris has done a further big tidy up of the front garden so we are ready to plant the roses as soon as we have a dry day when the ground is not frozen!

And talking of frozen ground, on Monday we woke up to a park white with frost, and this time it was a hard frost that lasted for most of the day. The grass was so hard that folk were cutting across it on their way into town, instead of using the foot path that goes all the way around the park. It is a short cut we have used many times but it has been too muddy to cross most days just lately. Again the sun came up for a while and cast shadows of the trees across the land. So lovely. Sorry for all the photos of the park, but next summer I shall do a scrapbook page of the park through the year, so I can't help taking snaps every day.

The builders have been hard at this week. The ceiling and alcove cupboard are now plaster-boarded and the walls have a coat of "blue/green grit" which apparently seals everything up nicely and they will be back on Monday to skim plaster all over it. 

Then the builder will be back to do the floor. It has to be cleaned and a levelling material laid and then the new tiles can go down. We have one tile here that the supplier brought round to make sure he ordered the right one. It is propped up against the wall in the hall. As you can see they are big tiles so there won't be too many joins to try and keep clean.

I have been continuing with my crocheting in the evenings and am now joining up all my little coloured motifs. It is a tedious job and needs some concentration, but hopefully it will be finished soon. Then I need to block it, and work the border. I will try to get a photo for next week. I have found a sort of 'knit and natter' group though it is not quite like my one in Spain. The group is called Oswestry Makes, and they meet twice a month in the library foyer on a Wednesday afternoon, twice a month on Wednesday mornings at a place called the Climate Hub in the centre of town, and once a month on a Saturday afternoon at a local art gallery. Some of the ladies only go to one of these groups, some go to all, and some just pop into whichever one is convenient for them. So it will take me a while to get to know everyone. So far I have only been to the library group, but on Saturday I am going to the Willow Gallery to help another lady try some crochet.

My son Ben came over on Sunday afternoon and stayed overnight. He helped me move some furniture in my craft room so there is now a space to take a double bed-settee, ready for his next visit, or anyone else who wants to stay overnight. On the Monday we went to a big garden centre. It was always one of my favourite palces to visit when I lived here before. I was sad to see it had changed hands, and the Christmas displays were nothing like as good as they used to be, but it was still nice to look around.

I love my Christmas decorations, and always get them out the first weekend in December, and leave them up until 12th night, on 6th January. But this year I have very little space, and will have to be much firmer with myself. Our big double fridge-freezer is currently in the sitting room until the kitchen is ready for it, so I cannot have my usual big tree, but I was determined to have something all the same. I managed to find a little 4ft tree, (artificial), with white lights already attached. It looks a bit sad right now, but time I have finished putting my favourite, and special decorations on it, I am sure it will look fine. Update picture next week.

But for now I will close, and get back to making some quick and easy Christmas cards.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 47

Having checked and double checked, I have decided that this really is week 47! Hence I have been numbering wrongly ever since I had a break a few weeks back. So this is my second post titled week 47. (Might as well get it right before the year ends).

We woke up to frost across the grass in the park today. That's a first here. The water in my bird bath is still frozen. But it was a bright sunny morning, so while I ran some errands, Chris did a bit in the front garden, cutting down a small shrub that is very deseased, and also tackling the catoneaster that is growing throughout the back and front gardens. It was all along the front of the house and was very neglected so it was full of dead branches and rotting leaves. We want it gone because we have just ordered some rose bushes and there will be a pink climbing rose on either side of the window. They have been dispatched and are on the way to us. I have also ordered the Peace rose I promised mum I would have in my garden. It is a more meaningful way to remember her than occasionally visiting her grave, (not really within visiting distance for me anyway). I am sure I will be talking to her most days by her rose.

Some more of the cotoneaster is growing in three places along the back garden wall. They all looked much the same when we moved in, but now one has lost most of its berries, but has dense green foliage, one has lost its berries and the leaves are mostly  yellow now, and the one in the middle is bright red with its overload of berries. A big blackbird comes to sit at the top of it and feast himself. Yesterday the bush was caught in a shaft of sunshine and it shone out like a beacon. We won't be cutting that one down until the winter is over.

Walking through the park I felt quite sad to see all the bare trees. Even our favourite little red tree has lost its leaves now. But one tree, though leafless, is covered in small bunches of pink blossom and it is so pretty. I took a couple of pictures so I could ask Google lens to identify it, and apparently it is Viburnam.

Our workmen arrived on Monday and we now have the fire taken out, and the alcove cupboard removed. As the builder is also a plumber he has brought water pipes down from the bathroom to feed the new sink, and removed a radiator which will be sited further along the wall once the plasterers have been in.

When he took up the carpet we found the floor was covered in very old red and black tiles in a checker-board pattern. If they had been in better condition we might have kept them, but several are chipped or broken, and the floor is not level, so it will be treated with a levelling gel, and our new chosen tiles will be layed on top of them.

The electrician was also here and he has chased in the wiring for all the new sockets, and made holes all over the ceiling ready for the spot lights.

We are in limbo now as the plasters are needed next and they are not available until next Wednesday. So we have to be patient. At least the work is underway now.

And that is about it for this week. I will try to send my link round in the morning.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 47

I expect for many of us, this week started with a service of remembrance on Sunday, or an armistice parade on Tuesday. We went for the Sunday service held at the front park gates. We walked round in the dry, but it had started to drizzle before we went home. There was a good crowd and the local  Porthywaen silver band provided music for the hymns and played the Last Post and Reveille.

Afterwards many folk placed a wreath on the park gates.

I have spent many November Sundays at this event while one son played trombone in the band, and the younger boys were on parade as scouts and cubs. I used to put extra layers of clothes underneath  their uniforms as it was often colder than it was this year, and they had to stand there for so long. I was pleased to see they now have warm, matching fleeces or jackets, which is a lot more sensible.

Monday dawned with a lovely sunrise. As I drew the main curtains this is what I saw. Of course I reached for my camera though it is hard to catch the full beauty of a scene.

The low sun cast long shadows across the grass and it was very peaceful.

As the sun rose higher it sent shafts of brightness between the branches.  The wall at the bottom of this picture is our front wall so you can see how close to the park we are.

Soon the sun was right up and shining brightly through the trees. The little red tree in the centre of the grass is a favourite of ours, and of our son. It holds on to its leaves longer than the others (except for the oaks), and it has turned a lovely deep red. The sun sent a shaft of light across it almost like a spotlight high-lighting it.

We walked across the park to our son's house just a few minutes away, so we could meet our new grand-daughter, Niamh Violet. (Niamh is an Irish name and is  pronounced Neeve). She is beautiful, just like a little doll. She was so contented and didn't so much as squeak all morning. I cuddled her for ages, and even Grandad had a little hold. Even with all the picking up and putting down she didn't stir. I hope she stays that way for a while, so her mum Ella can get some housework done and have time to rest. 

Ella sent me some comparison photos of her with her big sister Aisling, who is so excited to have her little sister at last, and they are like 'two peas in a pod'. But so far they do not have the same temperament.

It will be such a joy to watch her grow. I didn't meet Aisling until I came over for her first birthday, so I missed all the stages they go through.

My oldest grand-daughter Emma, lives on the outskirts of Oswestry and she popped over last night for a couple of hours. We put the world to rights and caught up on all the news of her three boys. It was lovely to spend some quality time with her.

The rest of the week has been rather wet, though not too cold, and we have only gone out when we really needed to.

But we did spend one afternoon at the company who are going to build our new kitchen. We checked out the details of the appliances we will have, and confirmed our choices of colour etc for the cupboards, walls and floor. They are hoping to make a start on the work next week. There are so many men to be co-ordinated, but the first step is to the strip the floor and walls, and wire in where the sockets etc will be. Then the plumber will do his bit and the plasterers will make good the walls.  I think the floor is next and then the cupboards and work surfaces. They have said they will just work on the back room which will be the kitchen so they can hopefully finish it before Christmas. Then we will be first on the list in the new year to have the utility room stripped and fitted out to match the kitchen. So I can continue to use the utility to cook in, as I do now, while the first phase is being done. Then I can move into the new kitchen while they work on the second room. It is all very exciting.

I will publish this in the morning and try to get it linked up with everyone else. It is not so easy now we don't link through Annie, but I don't want to lose touch with my blog-land friends.

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 squirrels 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.