Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 42

 I already have a lot to smile about this week so I am writing this on Thursday morning. The rest will be in next week's post.

Why is this a special week? Because it is a week of celebrations. Today is my husband Chris' 80th birthday. My 79th is on Saturday and our son Tom's is next Monday. So today all five of our boys are coming to Oswestry,Including Tom who is flying in from his home in Denmark this morning, and we will be going out for a meal together this evening.

But first we had a party at son Mike's house on Saturday afternoon because his son, our grandson Finlay, is off on his travels. He has worked hard all summer in the mobile shop that goes to many of the main music festivals around the country. It is long hours, lots of tavelling and lots of heavy lifting, but also mad rush hours serving in the shop, and hours of few customers, but it pays well and he does have time to listen to some of the music. Now he is spending his hard earned cash by going with a group of mates to explore parts of S.E.Asia for three months. So we sent him off with a  barbeque for family and friends. 

The young lads did a good job cooking the meat while we at around chatting or phone-scrolling! 

Then of course, they all stood around the fire pit and burned all of last year's Christmas tree as Lucy cut it up for them. And those with a sweet tooth made smores, (for anyone not in the know, smores are marshmallows melted on a stick over the fire, and sandwiched between two digestive biscuits - preferably chocolate ones!).

All afternoon Fin's younger cousins jumped on the Trampoline. Oh to have a fraction of their energy. 

The youngest one, our grandson Reuben, amused himself with washing his cars. These are kept in a box at Grandad's house, and Reuben was so excited to find that they changed colour in hot water, so he ran a car-wash all afternoon.

Of course we took a photo of us, with Mike and his daughter and two of his sons.

We didn't stay too late because we had a Sainsburys delivery at 8.00 - the only time slot we could get.

Yesterday was another great day because our son Jonathan and his wife Ella, took me for a high tea at the Ironworks for my birthday. Chris did not come to this as it is not his sort of thing, but I did take a box of goodies home for his tea. Once we were seated they brought out tea on a three tier stand with a firework shooting flames from one of my cakes. They also gave me a glass of prosecco becuse Ella had put 'birthday' on the order.

There was so much food including a cup of chips each, various sandwiches, huge slices of cake, enormous scones with butter, jam and pots of cream, and delicious brownies. No-way could we have eaten all of it, and they know that and automatically give each family boxes to take some home. It was a lovely treat. My youngest grand-daughter was with us and she sat in a high-chair happily chewing on the crusts of our sandwiches, and was so good. (Her older sister was at school, but they took her home some cake so I expect she was happy with that).

Last time we went to the irnon works I was disappointed because the 'Knife angel' was off on its travels, so I was happy to see that it had returned home and was once again on display. This is the information board alongside it. I hope you can click on it and read it. If not, there ae links at the bottom that you could use.

You can see in the photos how all the body is made from the knife handles and the wings are all shapes and sized of blades. It is an amazing display and tells an important story.

I am loving all the autumn colours starting to show in the park. This is one of my favourite trees. It is stunning right now but at the first sign of frost these leaves will fall.

I bought a little plant that I spotted in the green grocers this week. When we moved to Oswestry the first time, our garden was full of little cyclamen, and they all flowered just as everything else was dying off. But there was only one small plant in this garden, so when I saw this one I thought it was so pretty, and it is now tucked just below our holly hedge in the front garden.

And I am going to stop there as this post is quite long enough for one week.

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 41

 I am writing a quick post tonight as I have been out most of the day and am now tired. I had an appointment at Shrewsbury hospital this morning but it turned out to be a bit of a marathon, because when we came out we had just missed a bus back to Oswestry and they are only one an hour so we had a long wait. Then it turned out that on its way from Oswestry the bus had broken down so we had to wait for a replacement to be sent. We left home at 10.15 and didn't get back until 4.00pm. However I did have a very thorough and helpful discussion with my dermatologist so I guess it was worth it. 

Last Saturday I went up to the market because it was a special day known as the Apple Festival. The aim is to encourage folk to eat some of the less known varieties of fruit. There were several stalls with baskets of apples, plus a few pears and I saw one lot of quince. 

I chatted to some of the stall holders and tried tasters of several apple varieties. I bought a kilo of the red ones in the central box which are called Jupiter and they are crisp and very tasty.

There were also stalls selling items made with apples such as pies and crumbles plus jams and chutneys. I bought a jar of apple butter though, if I am honest, it is not as nice as the one I used to make when I had a very prolific apple tree in my garden. I also picked up a little booklet of apple recipes.

Then I walked to the end of the street and at the cross roads there was a very colourful group of men and women. The men started playing instruments such as accordions and fiddles and the ladies started a folk dance.

When they finished I was quite surprised when it was all change. The ladies took over the instruments and the men did Morris dancing. It was fun and a good crowd gathered to watch them.

Sunday was Harvest festival at our church. I do miss the harvest services I went to years ago when the church smelled wonderfully of all the produce that had been given. I remember making up little boxes for my boys to take, which were later given to local elderly people. But times have changed and there are more needy folk than ever it seems, of all ages too, So now we are asked to donate tinned goods which can be handed to the food bank to distribute. But there were still beautiful flower arrangements on pedestals around the church. I particularly liked this one because it had sunflowers in it!

The rest of the week has hurried past. I have had a few video calls with our son who is trying to arrange a family day soon. So I am looking forward to that.

I have also made some birthday cards and put inserts into all my Christmas cards. I usually do that when I make them but this year I was just hurrying to catch up with the making so didn't stop to put inserts in. But they are all done now and I think I have almost enough cards ready to write.

And that is about it for this week.