Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 9

I ended last week saying I had a busy weekend ahead and it was. Our youngest son Ben came over on Saturday, because Sunday was his birthday. (My baby will be forty next year. How did that happen?!) I had huge potatoes baking in the oven when he arrived with mounds of grated cheese, beans and coleslaw. Comfort food for us and for him!

I wanted a small gift for him so I did some real 'old school' crafting and made this rainbow spiral, nail and thread art. I had a big picture made in this way back in the seventies. I like the way it turned out and Ben loved it so that was good.

Late afternoon  we walked across to 'Festival Square', a small patio in the centre of town, to see the Lantern parade. This was an arts and crafts workshop for the end of half-term, where the children could all make a simple lantern on a stick.  Then they assembled on the square for an anouncement by the Town Crier, and led by the Snow queen, they set off for a parade through the park up to the market square for a fire show. There was quite a lot of them though their lanterns don't show in my photo.

In the back of the Town Crier photo you can see two of my sons, Jonathan's wife and her sister, and my smallest grand-daughter tucked snuggly in her pram. Her older sister was already running off with her lantern, making sure she wasn't left behind. I would have done the parade with them, but we had arranged to meet up with other family members to have a drink with Ben, so we went straight to the bar, and had a lovely evening of lively chatter. I always enjoy a family meet-up, for any reason.

It was a weekend of birthdays because on Saturday my sister Dorothy was 91. She lives down on the south coast so her daughter drove down and took her out for the day. They went to Longleate House and fed the giraffes. I gather it was an amazing experience which they both enjoyed. What a fun way to spend your birthday!

Living on the England/Welsh border we expect to see daffodils growing everywhere, and they are just opening in all the gardens in time for St.David's Day on Sunday. These ones are in the park, fighting for a space among the crocus, but they are on every patch of soil, in gardens, and along the roads, all with buds at bursting point.

My little tete-a-tete ones in the front tubs are looking so good with the last of the winter pansies adding a little lilac colouring.

Another of my finds as I walk through the park is this tree. I am not sure what it is until the new leaves come in Spring, but all winter it had grown lichen, I think, on all the thicker branches, leaving a perfect camuflage pattern. I love it, and I am going to use these photos to make some background paper for a scrapbook page.

I am trying to get back into crafting, and making a few cards. I needed two for last weekend anyway. So this week I have done some stamping, cutting, printing and colouring, so I have a few elements ready to turn into cards soon.

I have also dug out the jacket I was making back when we first arrived in England and were staying with our son in London. I finished all the squares a while ago, but then they got stored away. So yesterday I layed out the ones for the 'body', i.e. the back and fronts, following a scheme that came with the pattern. Now they are tacked and pinned together and I have the task of crocheting them all together. Then I will need to work a border all the way round the bottom, fronts and neck, and some mock rib on the sleeves. 

This is the wool I used. It is a lovely combination of greens and purples, with a touch of gold and blue, but it actually looks much greener in real life than it does in my pictures.

Needless to say, I have a new project in mind and am waiting for the yarn to arrive in the post. I wanted a smaller piece to occupy me when I am going to the hospital on the bus each day. It is only just over a week until Chris' operation now, and I shall be visiting him each day if possible.

And finally, I bit the bullet and had my hair cut really short yesterday. It feels strange but I am happy with what she did. I have taken a photo to use as my new profile.

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 8

 ....And they are out. The crocus in the park finally enjoyed a brief spell of sunshine and opened up. Aren't they so pretty? Sadly the next day was very wet and they all closed up again. Yesterday was again sunny but last night it snowed! The poor flowers must be so confused.

We were only on the edge of the snow belt and the first fall soon got washed away. Last night was again only a light covering but today is very cold, so it is quite icy in shady areas. We had to go to Shrewsbury for medical appointments, twice this week, and on the bus home we could clearly see a cap of snow on the Welsh hills. (That is how close we are to the border between Wales and England).

Last Friday was a happy day as the builder arranged for a skip so he could take some of our waste away. There was a lot of it, cupboards, and carpets, bags of rubble, plus lots more from both the kitchen and the utility. It couldn't be taken daily as we have no parking at the front of the house, just a stepped path leading straight on to the road. At the back the parking on the street is usually packed , but fortunately our neighbour has a parking lot just big enough for his car at the back of our row, and he let us put a small skip on it. 

It was a dreadful day, wet and cold, but the builder and his assisstant moved as much as they could, out the back gate and along the short alley to the skip. The rubble and wood were piled all over this patio, up level wth the utility window, so I am glad to have that cleared. Now we can cut back the shrubs so our little seat is ready to use when we get the weather for it.

They couldn't get it all on the skip, but we just have this much left, all piled at the bottom of the garden. Hopefully we will have another skip to clear it all very soon.

February wouldn't be February if I didn't make some marmalade, would it? There is an independent shop in town which is sort of a health shop though it doesn't sell anything medicinal. It has ethically sourced dry goods, local farm produce, and organically grown fruit and vegetables. As I was passing it last week I saw a box of Seville oranges so on Saturday I went back to buy some, plus some huge lemons, and on Sunday afternoon I made just one batch of marmalade. In Spain I made three or four batches to sell but I don't have a market for it here, and standing to chop the fruit I felt that one batch was quite enough these days. It isn't the best I've ever made but I was spoiled by having fruit straight from friends orange trees and our own lemon tree in Spain, and it is still nicer than any I can buy in the shops!

We had a nice chat with our son Tom in the week and planned his next visit from Denmark for March, so that will be good, and hopefully Ben will be with us this weekend, so we will be busy, but I will get round to visit you all as soon as I can.

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 7

First of all a big apology because, despite my good intentions,  I am not sure I got to visit anyone this week. It has been a very busy time with multiple clinic visits for Chris ahead of his surgery, and Shropshire seems to use a different town for each branch of testing, so we have spent a lot of time sitting on buses and trains, (or waiting for them when they don't turn up!!). 

The good news is that he now has a provisional date for his operation on 6th March, providing the right team are available to assisit the surgeon. Otherwise it will be at the end of March. It is major surgery but he has a 98% chance of coming through it OK. I am a positive thinker and that is so much better than dwelling on the 2% chance that he won't make it! As we are still settling in here there is quite a lot of paper work we need to do before the date, but we are working through it. 

Next week is much quieter so hopefully I will do better at visiting you.

Meanwhile I am enjoying the garden and finding out what is growing there. This week I have almost got my first daffodil. One day of sunshine and it will be out along with all the others I planted.

In the back garden there is a shrub which was bare when we moved in, but very soon buds appeared up the stems and this week they are unfurling. They are such a pretty colour, almost lime green with pink tips to each leaf. I didn't recognise is so I asked google lens to identify it and apparently it is called 'sorbaria sorbifolia' or 'Sem' for short. Its leaves will lose the pink and turn a darker green and it will have small clusters of tiny white flowers. When they die the leaves will again turn pink and then dark red, and will fall late autumn, so it sounds like an interesting plant to keep an eye on.

When I was planting my spring bulbs I forgot about crocus, so I was pleased to spot these as I walked through the park. The border that runs between the path around the park and the back railings, is full of these little mauve spears. They will look beautiful when the sun shines on them, though this week the sun has been in short supply. Maybe it will show its face next week.

And while in the park I thought how my pictures are all of the view from our house, so I took a few from the other side. It was an opportunity to have a chat with an elderly man about taking photos with a phone on a rather grey day. I always say "Hello" to the people I pass in the park but it was nice to have a proper conversation with one of them, and I did get some acceptable photos despite the soft drizzle.

This one is taken directly across from us. If you can spot the house beyond the park with bright green window ledges and door, we are the one next door on the right. Our door etc is dark red right now but I hope to brighten it up later when more important tasks are done.

And this one is taken from the side, looking across the little crazy golf course, which is deserted except for the squirrels, but it is very popular in the summer. There is also a good playpark behind this with swings, slides and climbing equipment. Again it is full to capacity in the summer, and any weekend that is dry through the winter.

I have managed to get a little bit of crafting done. I have finally finished my page per month calendar. Better late than never, and it has been very useful as we have been sorting out all the clinic appointments without clashes. I make each page using photos of the same month last year. Here are a couple of pages to show what I mean.

Now I have a couple of cards to make so I had better stop my ramblings. I'll finish with this photo.

So pretty aren't they? The bird with its long neck sweeping up to the flowers is made from peat-bog pine, preserved underground for hundreds of years. We visited the studio of the sculpture when we were on holiday in Ireland back in 2012. He has buckets full of pieces of gnarled old wood, and he started each piece with no plan, just letting the wood dictate what he made. We love our bird, and it is a reminder of a rather special holiday.

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 6

Just a little post to highlight the things that have made me smile this week. But first an apology if I didn't get to visit you last week. The days are flying past so fast, and last Friday my utility room was finally finished so my weekend was spent unpacking more items to go in the new cupboards, and also working through a backlog of washing. I must say having my own working washing machine again is really something to smile about. The same , to perhaps a lesser degree, can be said for the dishwasher. So here are a couple photos of the room before I fill it up and make it untidy again!. You can see the dishwasher on the left of the sink, and opposite it is the dishwasher , less obvious because it is built in so it matches the cupboards.

The room does of course, match the kitchen with the same floor and wall tiles and cupboard doors. Both in here and in the kitchen there are still several plain plastered walls awaiting a lick of paint, but we will let the dust settle before we worry about that. I feel so blessed to have these lovely rooms to work in now.

I am trying to put a little fresh food out for the birds each day rather than filling a bird table. This is partly because every morning crows, jackdaws and pigeons, and the occasional seagull, all swoop over our house to settle in the park for a breakfast of worms etc that appear after the rain, and I don't want to encourage them to stop in the garden. So I put a small dish of dried fruit, suet pellets and dried mealworms, one at the back and one in the front garden, every morning. And the birds do appreciate it. Mrs blackbird was the first to come for breakfast yesterday.

I also put fat balls with berries and seeds in a holder on the wall at the back. I can't hang it yet as there is still a lot of builders rubbish in the garden - hopefully to go in a skip at the end of next week. So I sit it on the wall, sheltered by a small fence and the sparrows and blue tits come to this. Amazingly they can eat one of these in a day or two so I only put one out at a time. The sparrows were quick to come to this one,...

...while this little chap sat above them waiting for his turn.

Chris and I both had our second shingles injection this morning. Fortunately neither of us hardly felt it and apparently have no side effects, so that's another good thing out of the way.

We will be up early tomorrow as our son Mike is picking us up on his way to work, to take us to Shrewsbury station. Then we will have a short train ride to Telford, and another bus to the hospital there, for Chris to undergo another test. It is days such as this that we do miss having a car, though most days one is totally unneccesary, but the boys are very good at helping out when their work allows.

And finally I had a surprise this week when my latest bunch of daffodils opened to show bright orange frilly trumpets. They are quite diferent from the ones I have had so far, and I love the variety in the narccisi family.

I saw crocus buds showing mauve in the park today. Spring flowers are so uplifting. And we have really noticed the days getting longer now too. It will be nice to have a break from these grey, misty days.

I will try to do better at visiting this week, but that is all for now.