Friday Smiles 2024 # Week 4

Hi everyone. I didn't get around to preparing this yesterday as I usually do, but I am sitting here on a beautiful sunny morning catching up on last week.

I am very pleased to say that although the nurse has again wrapped my hand up well, she says it is no longer infected, and I have finished my antibiotics, so hopefully when I go back on Monday, I will be able to have it uncovered, which will make life a lot easier.

I cover it with a silcone glove in the kitchen, but I did manage to mix up some dough and cooked it in the slow cooker. This is so easy and you don't have to let the dough prove because it rises as it cooks. It takes two hours on high, and it made a lovely loaf. It is rounder and flatter than I would have chosen, but my loaf pan is milllimeters too big to go in my cooker pot, so I will look out for a smaller one when I go shopping. The bread was lovely and stayed usable for a couple of days which is all it needed to!

As I walked into the village on market day I spotted something that always gives me a lift. There is an old almond tree on the car park and it had its first flush of blossom out. A sure sign Spring is on the way.

Our weather has been very unprdictable, but the past few days have been sunny and yesterday it was warm enough to be an early summer day. It is cold enough for the fire by tea-time but we have enjoyed eating our lunch outside. The high winds of last week have dropped too but I did get one photo of a very wind-swept sky.

I have sat round the back of the house and watched the starlings flying over the green zone. There are not enough of them to be a true murmuration, but they are still fascinating to watch as they swoop and swerve yet never collide.

I had a long chat with Ben again this week, discussing his play list for his first official gig, playing the piano and singing, on Valentines Day. He is now self-employed as an entertainer and music technician.

I also had a long email from my oldest sister who is 94. She is spending a couple of months with her daughter who lives in France. I need to answer it and also write my annual letter that I normally send out with Christmas cards, but couldn't manage this year. So I am half way through dictating it on my computer, and I am surprised at how well it hears and understands my voice. I will have to edit it a bit at the end, and tailor it to each person, but fortunately all but one of my friends use the internet so I can e-mail to them all.

I also made my first Christmas cards this week for the challenge I enter each month. Sadly the lady who hosts it is 'retiring' for health and life reasons. I am hoping someone else will offer to take it on. A few years ago I might have done, but I am not in the position to make that committment now. But it was a great incentive to make a few cards each month so I was prepared in plenty of time to send them out.

So now I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and go out to enjoy the sunshine.