Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 10

I have been struggling this week to update my blog, with very little success, so please excuse the incorrect side bar. I will keep trying and have enlisted the help of another blog friend, so it might improve soon.

I didn't expect to be posting this week as Chris' op was scheduled for 6th. Unfortunately his last test showed he needed some blood work first, so the operation is now postponed until the end of March. So here I am after all.

I have also returned to my craft blog after a year's break and wrote a post about my first Christmas card for this year.

This morning we woke up to a thick mist/fog over the park. I couldn't even see the bandstand. Of course it soon burned off and we had a lovely sunny morning so I walked across and did my monthly grocery shop. Now it is raining!

However, yesterday the sun shone all day. It was so warm I felt confident to walk to my knitting group wearing just a thick cardigan. (I only wear a coat when I really have to). In the morning I stripped the bed and washed the sheets and they actually dried out on the line. That always makes me happy.

There were lovely streaks of light and shade on the grass as the sun began to sink at teatime.

Last Friday my daughter-in-law came over for the morning with our youngest grand-daughter.  She is such a sweetheart, and didn't cry once all morning. Ella brought me some flowers and they look so pretty together.

On Sunday I got a message that Chris was meeting our son Jonathan in the park to collect some paperwork from him, so after church I walked across to join them. We had a little shower of rain although the sun was out, so there was a complete rainbow over the playground.

Jonathan brought baby Niamh and her big sister Aisling with him and he challenged Aisling to climb the high cone with him. She is only four but she got up there with no help. She turned to smile at me, but then looked down and wasn't at all sure how to climb back to ground level. But Jonathan got behind her and helped her find each rung and she was soon back down with us.

Although I finished making the motifs for my wall hanging back before Christmas, it had not got any further, so this week I got it on poles and hung it on the hall wall. It makes a lovely splash of colour as you walk out of the sitting room. But it is a bit creased here. It needs to be stretched and steamed and I hope I can do it where it is, without steaming the paper off the wall!

I also woke my laser cutter up this week. I miss having a clock on the wall, and although I almost always have my smart watch on or my phone with me, it is nice to be able to glance up at a clock to see the time. So I made one. It is only 30cm, (12") high as that is the largest size I can cut with my machine. I made a solid back layer from a piece of mahogany ply and the more intricut front layer from basswood ply, and glued them together. Today I have given it a light spray of varnish and now I need to buy a clock mechanism with the right length of hands, and then we can hang it up above the fireplace mirror.

I have quite a folder of 'park' photos now, but I need some spring and summer ones before I can make a scrapbook page of them.