Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 32

It is again time to look back at the week and highlight the happy moments. Well it has been a mixed week. On Sundays we have music in the park and this week it was a jazz band and as the sun was shining I decided to take my chair out onto the litle concrete step under the front window, to do my sewing and listen to the music. It was very plasant for a while and then it actually started to rain and I had to move indoors!

It turned out to be a damp and windy night and the next day there was a whole flock of seagulls on the grass. We are quite a way from the coast so maybe it was really wild there and they were driven inland. We do not usually see them in the park.

The garden has benefitted from some rain though we haven't really had enough to do much good. However my pink carnations are thriving, and I am pleased with these. Many years ago, my late brother-in-law taught me to grow them from the little side shoots that are always found on the stems when you buy a bunch as cut flowers. I had some several months ago and kept six side shoots in water until they started to root. Then I planted them in a container outside. The birds kept pulling them up, and I kept replanting them and five did take root properly and I have had a lot of flowers on them. They are a bit tall this year, but next year I will plant them in the garden and hopefully they will be a bit lower and bushier then.

We had a wasted afternoon on Monday as we had to go to the hospital in Shrewsbury for Chris' eye injection. The bus is only hourly so sometimes we have to arrive rather early. There is always a long wait at this clinic and I was annoyed that I had forgotten to slip my Kindle in my bag. After his initial check-up we waited an hour and he was then called down to the doctor's room. There were a lot af folk already down there so he came back because there was nowhere to sit. Eventually he was called again and then he came back almost immediately to say they weren't doing any more that day because it was too hot! It really was stifling in there so we were happy enough to walk outside for the shuttle bus to Shrewsbury bus station. But then we had another long wait for the bus back to Oswestry. We had left home at 2.00 and got back just before 7.00. A five hour trip for nothing, and we will have to do it again soon when they send him a new appointment. But the injections are helping a lot, so I guess it is worth it in the long run.

This is what has occupied most of my time. I saw the cutting file for this owl in an Etsy shop and I knew I would enjoy making it. It is probably the most intricate piece I have made so far, using my laser cutter. 

There are six layers of wood. Layer 2 is walnut and layer 6 is mahogany, and the rest are basswood ply. I went on Amazon and chose a range of wood dyes, and dyed each layer to get the contrasts I needed. Then each piece was varnished lightly and then it was assembled and glued together. I am really happy with it and he will go up on my wall with my other owls.

I have also managed to make a couple of birthday cards and aother few Christmas cards ao I catching up now.

The cloudier skies we have had this week have given us a few nice sunsets. I don't always see them because the sun goes down behind the houses at the back of us. But on Tuesday I was up on the third floor, in my craft room, and I caught this one from my window. It disappeared very quickly so I'm glad I spotted it when I did.

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week31

It is hard to believe another month has gone by, but here we are at the start of August which is usually a fairly quiet month for us. I mostly relax with a good book or do a little bit of sewing, and occasionally some crafting. I have almost given up on the garden until the autumn as I feel guilty hosing it at night, though I have managed to keep my tomatoes going, but many of the plants are dying off already. I hope they will return next year!

I have started having my milk and eggs delivered twice a week as it saves me carrying them from the shops, but the delivery is usually at around 3.00am, so it sits on the doorstep for several hours before I get up to retrieve it. While it is so hot I have agreed to leave the empties out in a cool bag with a couple of ice blocks in it, and the new delivery is put in there so it stays cold until I am awake. Last night I put the empties out just before I went to bed and I was captivated by the moon seen through the big tree in the park. I took several photos trying to catch the atmosphere and here are the ones I lked best.

Also peeping through one thing to see another, here is the main flower beds in the park, viewed through a statue of Wilfed Owen, a First World War poet and soldier who was born in Oswestry. His poetry tends to describe the horrors and futility of war, unlike other poets at the time. He is commemorated in various places around Oswestry, but this is a relatively new statue in the park.

The sun is now streaming through my window and I am too hot to sit here any longer so I will close for now and prepare this for posting in the morning.