Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 26

Week 26 already. That's halfway through the year!Is it just me or does time speed up in direct ratio to your age? This has been a pleasant week. Nothing exciting happening but nothing bad either and that's the sort of week I like. 

Firstly 'Thank you' to all those who took time to read my blog last week and leave nice comments. I hope I  got back to you all. My computer is in my craft room which is in the roof, i.e. it is a loft conversion, so in this weather it gets a bit like an oven and I tend to only come up here in the morning, but I am actually trying to make a run of Christmas cards as I am very behind with them this year, so my browsing time has been limited.

I did have a fairly drastic haircut last week which is fine for the summer, so I will try to get the photo changed for my profile. It is a bit shorter than I had planned but it will grow again so that's fine.

I happened to cut through an alley between some shops on my way home one day, and I spotted a little shop that only sold anything related to cats. Of course I had to pop in to take a look and I came away with a new mug. Some of you may remember that I have a pint mug which I fill with tea in the morning and again at tea-time. (The rest of the day I mainly drink water so it is not really too much tea). Anyway, with there just being the two of us, I only put the dishwasher on every two days so I wanted a second mug for day two. However I have tried many and although they are described as "fine bone china", they are too thick and therefore too heavy even before I fill them. My new one is proper fine china, lighter full than my most recent one is empty. It is so fine that I can see the level of tea in it through the sides. It also has a big wide handle making it easy to get a grip.

As you can see it has a 'happy' cartoon cat on the side, and there is a small one inside as well. I was chatting to my son Ben on a video call and he was having fun experimenting with Ai to edit photos and make videos. I am not a fan of Ai as I want to believe what I see, but when it is just family playing around I don't mind. He wanted a photo to show me what it can do, so I sent him one of my mug, (taken at an angle to show inside as well), and said "Tell it to change the cats to Maine Coons" and within seconds it sent me this one back. 

It's a pity it isn't for real because I like it better than the original, but I must admit it is clever, and a bit scary at the same time.

I made my strawberry jam as planned, and it is so good! It made more than I expected but I have given some to my boys when they popped in on Father's day and the rest will see us through the year.

Despite the heat, I prefer to sit outside rather than in the house, and in the afternoons the back garden does have some natural shade, so I have been sitting out there to do my sewing as the light is so much better and I can do it without using the magnifier. I like listening to the birds, and watching the bees going in and out of my foxgloves. The rose petals shower me like confetti when the breeze blows. I sit next to that shrub I showed a couple of months ago when its new leaves opened like tiny curled ferns. Now it is in bloom with clusters of tiny, frothy white flowers.

And I am so pleased to have my first flower on mum's Peace rose. She would have loved it too.

I don't see sunsets here because of all the housing at the back of us, and at this time of year I am not up early enough to catch the sunrise! But up here in my room I can see over the roofs a bit and managed to catch this pretty sky one evening.

And that is enough rambling for this week. It is time to get back to my card making,

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 25

Time is running away so fast that I am not sure I will ever really catch up with myself. But here are my high spots from this week.

Sunday morning I drew back the bedroom curtains to see marquees once again going up in the park, and soon we heard a PA system being tested. I cut across the grass to go to church but I couldn't decide what was going on though there was some stripey flag bunting being tied around the bandstand. My knowledge of flags is not good enough to tell me what was going on. But by the time our service was over and I was walking home, I had learned that it was a special celebration for the Bulgarian community in our area. I had no idea there was that many of them around, but there were delicious smells coming from their food tent, their music was cheerful and their costumes were beautiful. I stood and enjoyed watching some of their traditional dancing. It reminded me a bit of Spain with music costumes and traditions. And it was a lovely day so they enjoyed themselves until passed teatime.

As I walked home I spotted this little fellow on the grass. Apparently it is a red-tailed bumble bee.  I didn't know there was more than one type of bumble bee, but we learn something new every day!

My new sewing project is making progress, albeit slow progress. It is a real struggle to see what I am doing for long, so I usually only sew one long thread and then have a reast. Meanwhile I needed something a bit more simple to take to my knitting club and they were meeting this week. (1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month). So I decided to make a start on a crochet project that has been calling to me for several months, ever since my daughter-in-law got me interested in it. I won't tell you what I making yet as it will be a Christmas present for someone, but here is just some of the wool I will be needing.

Today I popped into town for some essential food shopping and Sainsbury had a huge pile of strawberry punnets all on today's date, so they were marked down to half price. (Obviously World cup viewers are more interested in the huge mountain of cheap beer than in strawberries and cream!) I immediately thought "strawberry jam" and bought some. Now there is just two of us, I only need to make a small amount, and I don't intend to get into selling it like I did in Spain. But the fruit is perfect, and very sweet and juicy but, of course, they will not keep for long, so after this I shall make a start on the jam.

Tomorrow I am busy with a hair appointment in the morning and a Spring Covid injection in the afternoon, but I will get round to you all over the weekend.