My Thursday Smiles 2025 # Week 41

 You may notice I have changed the name of my blog from Friday Smiles to Thursday, as it is generally more convenient for me to sit here writing it on a Thursday afternoon, and Friday mornings are usually busier. And of course, while there is no-one to link up to on Friday mornings, I may as well post it when I write it.

Anyway, that is enough waffle.  The week has gone very fast again. Last Friday we got drowned walking to a doctor's appointment and then doing the shopping. I discovered the coat I thought was waterproof, wasn't!! but I have just sent for a waterproofing spray to treat it. Fortunately the rain did stop in time for us to cross the park again for a fish and chip dinner with our son Jonathan who had the day off work. He lives even closer to the chippy than we do, so it is an easy place to meet up.

By Saturday the rain had eased a bit but it was windy enough for the park gates to be closed again. On Sunday Ben came over to have "one of mum's Sunday roasts". He did a few little jobs for us and then went over to see his brother, Jonathan. It is convenient for him to be able to see us both in one visit. He stayed here overnight and on Monday he took me to another doctor's appointment and helped with a big shop from Iceland (frozen food shop). Then we decided to go out for lunch before he went home and we ate at a little pop-up shop on the corner of a small square in town. Most of their seating is outside and it was like sitting out on a summer's day. The sun was really warm and everyone was shedding coats and jumpers because they were so hot.

When Ben had left, hoping to make it home before the end of school traffic slowed him down, I spent the afternoon planting spring bulbs randomly around the front garden. My little friendly robin was beside me again, quick to spot any worms I dug up. I hope we will have some colour in the front next year now. I love all the spring flowers.

The pansys I planted a week or two ago are looking good now. They were enjoying the brief spell of sunshine we had on Sunday.

Following on from last week's post, I have had one more rearrangement in my craft room. I knew I wanted to buy an exhaust box to cover my laser cutter. It takes all the smoke and fumes through a hose and out of the window, But I hadn't realised how big they were. So the one I needed wouldn't fit on my existing table. In the end I bought a bigger table and moved my desk along a bit to make space for it. Yesterday I built the box. The frame was relatively easy but it was extreemly hard to pull the tight cover over it. But I wouldn't be defeated, and in the end I did get it on. So here it is now almost ready to go. 

I decided to wait and let Chris attach the fan and hose as he can do screws up much tighter than I can, and it needs to be a good fit to work.

I do seem to have a lot of doctor's appointments at the minute but I am having injections for shingles, flu and covid, all on different days, plus a blood test to see whether the medication I take is still working for me. Next week I have an ECG and a session with the diabetic nurse, so it is a good thing the doctor's surgery is only a short walk from here.

This morning I had a message from my granddaughter to say she was stopping at the park with her little boy, on the way home from the school run, so I walked across to meet them. We had a nice chat while little Reuben collected acorns and chased after squirrels to feed them. Needless to say he never caught up with one but he had fun trying!

As I entered the park I spotted this fungi growing from the crack between the pavement and the wall. I don't recognise them but they were rather splendid.(Google lens gave me some highly improbable results as it thought they were growing out of a tree, not the wall).

My fan for the laser exhaust is now fixed firmly in place (Thank you Chris), and I have edited my first simple file ready to cut tomorrow, to test out the settings before I try anything more complicated.

So it is about time to publish this. Thank you to all who took time to visit me last week. 

P.S. Friday morning I took a better photo of the fungi and can now identify it as a shaggy inkcap. Apparently it is edible when young, and makes a sepia (smelly) ink!

My Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 40

It would seem that I lost count of the weeks during my absence and it is now week 40. So hopefully I have caught up right now.

I was slow to link up around the usual Friday posters as we had a very busy weekend. Our son Jonathan, his wife Ella and daughter Aisling arrived in Oswestry on Friday afternon to take posession of their new home, just a short walk across the park from us. So of course we went round to welcome them and see if we could offer any assisstance. of course Jonathan and Chris straightway got into a discussion about phones, internet, anf Football, but their dog Rudi, decided to park herself between them. In a strange place, the familiar settee was the safest spot to be I guess. 

They are settling in well. Aisling loves being in 'Big school' and has enjoyed her first full week . 

Jonathan's commute back to Manchester for work each day takes very little more time than navigating city traffic did when he lived there. And Ella is able to work from home, though after next week she will be on leave ready for the new baby due early in November. So it has been an exciting week for them.

I invitied them all over for Sunday dinner and despite my very limited cooking facilities, I managed to get a roast done and we spent some happy hours chatting together.

Apart from that I have spent my time going through the last boxes which won't be unpacked properly until the new kitchen is installed. But I did, at last, find my missing air pump and cables so I can now set up my laser cutter. I am very lucky to have a big craft room at the top of the house, with two desks - one for paper craft, and actually assembling my makes, and one for the computer, printer and cutters. Having got them almost set up, I decided it would work better if I swapped the two desks round, so today Chris has helped me rearrange everything, and made sure I was connected up correctly and safely.

So now I will give you a quick idea of how my room looks. This is just inside the door. All my shelves of 'really useful boxes' fitted on one wall. They are not packed correctly yet as I fitted lots of oddments in for easy packing and travelling. But I will have them all in order soon and make new labels for them. 

Further along the next wall there is a wide opening, (with sliding doors), leading to quite a spacious under the eaves storage area with a velux window in the roof to let in light. 

Opposite the shelves there is a book shelf and a tall narrow shelf set that house all my books, files of rubber stamps, and folders full of metal dies.

Next to them is a bin holding all my rolls of vinyl, and then it is my work desk, not quite ready yet as my green mats don't fit; but I will work something out there soon. And further along from that is a set of wide, strong, (untidy) shelves where I have put my Cameo cutter, a die cutter, reams of paper, and anything else that didn't have a home!

The room is L-shaped, and across the narrow leg, opposite the shelves, is my computer desk with printer at the end, and my laser cutter on its own table along side it.

And one final picture to show how those last three fit together. 

So how lucky am I? I am really looking forward to using this lovely space, to get back into card making, scrapbooking, and of course, some working with wood as well.

And that really is it for this week. I will try again to find you and link my post to you over the weekend.