November round-up

 I am still using items from my craft stash, the extra balls of yarn for my brothers blanket are not on here, that was taken from our Christmas gift total, not much in the garden, which is often the case at this time of year. I have purchased a few Christmas bits, and being lazy I've not recorded my spend, nothing expensive,  just small bits, even the poinsettia blooms were only £6 each.

Household spending was OK, we had to replace our kettle, the lid was sticking and we did purchase a bigger speaker for Alexa, we both love music and our current model would not stay paired with our sound-bar, which meant switching on the TV every time we wanted music. I think we have all we need for Christmas, other than fresh bits. I paid daughter £50 for Lilly towards her vet bills.

No waste again, we even made pumpkin soup with the real pumpkin I had in my display, not many harvest from the garden, just leeks and parsnips, both are smaller. 

I've been without my fitbit, so I am trying to move as much as I can, my weight is much the same, I did have my pre diabetic and cholesterol blood test this month, both results came back the same as last year, which was very pleasing.

Soft, bubbly and fresh

Lilly with her brothers and sisters, they are all active and starting to try weaning mousse, Lilly is in the middle, the light grey kitten, next to her is a biscuit coloured kitten called Freddie, daughter is keeping him, the others all have nice homes to go to. It's a case of waiting until they can feed themselves before bringing her home, sometime between 8 and 10 weeks, they are almost 5 weeks old now. 

Hubby has started his first sourdough, he's following Paul Hollywood's recipe, just something new to try, I have everything crossed this takes off, but we are aware often they just don't start to bubble.

This week we had leek and potato soup for lunch, the leeks came out of the ground and into the soup maker in less than an hour, I said my leeks were small, but that has not impacted on the taste. With a fresh baked roll, pure delight. 

I have used my poinsettia blooms and turned them into this plant, it's a great size and tucked back it looks real, which is brilliant as the leaves start to drop the moment a real one comes into our home. I just need to add fake soil.

 

Looking back on older post my decorations in recent years been up by now, I aim to have them sorted by Sunday, daughter and children are coming for a Sunday roast after going for a winter wonderland walk, so it would be nice for them to see our tree all lit up, it will also brighten our home. I have my Christmas music list ready on Alexa, the first play is always the day our tree goes up.

Nothing much is happening here, both hubby and I have coughs and a cold each, for once not from the little ones, I am reading and sorting the edging on my brothers blanket, and I've wrapped a few gifts. I only have to find something for daughter, we don't have many gifts to get, most of the grandsons like to have money. 

I am loving the blue skies again, dry days, laundry on the line (not fully drying), nothing to do outside, just occasionally watering the greenhouse, ensuring the bird feeders are full and the water spots are not frozen. We do wake up most mornings to our roofs being white, just an air frost, nothing on the ground.

A bit of retail

 Daughter and I popped to Southampton, where they have their Christmas displays and huts, I wanted a photo here, but people kept walking through, I will stop them said daughter and she did, long enough for this photo. The poinsettia stems she is carrying are fake, I manged to get long stemmed big blooms.

It was lovely blue skies, dry and warmer than recent days.

Most of the huts were selling food from all over Europe. Visiting on a Monday, it was not too busy, daughter got the few bits she wanted, I got a couple stocking fillers for Molly. We don't often come here, preferring Portsmouth water front Gunwharf Quays.

Southampton has a huge inside shopping centre, all the main and designer brands, John Lewis over many floors, the section inside the doors was given over to Christmas decorations, they were beautiful, neither of us wanted any, I was so pleased to find the poinsettia blooms, I have been looking for a big fake plant, the blooms worked out much cheaper, plus I have a pot I can use, with a bit of florist tape, it will look good. Afterwards I popped back to daughters and had a cuddle with Lilly, I did not do the school run as George was very upset on Sunday when I went home. It was more a day together than full on shopping, daughter visits shop brands different to where I would go. 

Tuesday was a lazy day, another dry sunny day, we walked to the village, I raised the nets over my broad beans plants, I harvest a few leeks, they are not so big, but lovely in leek and potato soup. I picked up leaves, not many, I've been placing them over my rhubarb crown, I planted another Amaryllis bulb and sorted the pot for My fake poinsettia blooms. Hubby had a busy baking day, blackberry and apple crumble with custard, he has also started a sourdough mixture, I gave the Christmas cakes another drink of brandy. 

This morning I'm with Molly for an hour, it's too wet to be outside, so we can play inside, later we are bringing down my Christmas boxes, I want to redo my silk greenery displays, I rather do it early than rush it next week. With my back being so weak I will do our decorations over a few days.

Getting ready

We have written all our Christmas cards, ready for posting on last day of November, I got a few packs back in January, when at half price they were great value. The cost of stamps make it expensive, most of our siblings live scattered around UK. I do love to send and receive cards.

This is as always a family photo opportunity, in previous years hubby and I have sat here with various grandchildren, this year both Will and George are at school, so we did a 3 generation photo, as next year Molly will be at school.

Our favourite garden centre has so many places to take photos, all free and child friendly. Molly loved being here with the reindeer, so many happy children, we looked at all the Christmas items, she did not touch anything, she did love all the lights.

Lilly like the other four kittens is growing, Lola (mum) is now happy for the kittens to be cuddled, daughter allows each child to have some time with them, one at a time so they don't scare them with their excitement. I have been told by hubby who has only seen our kitten for the first time, he's not sure about the name Lilly.

It's been a family weekend, daughter and children came over on Saturday, they had been to a local photo shoot, it had loads of activities for them to try, they played well and did not notice there were less toys here. Sunday I popped to daughters to sit with Will and George whilst Molly went to a party, hubby checked all the house radiators, as the one in George's room was staying cold, without daddy around I am on call to help with parties, so most weekends I am with them. 

Storm Bert did it's thing, a cold wet and windy weekend, our garden is OK, loads of leaves everywhere, which I will pick up in the week once everything is a bit drier, nothing was moved or damaged. Just glad the temperature has risen back a few degrees, no settling snow for us.

Crafting week

I have finally finished the crochet on my brothers lap blanket, I have clips along the top and bottom just to flatten the square joins, it took longer than expected. I have a green yarn to knit the icord edging, then I can sort all the loose ends, I'm really pleased with it. 

Hubby has been busy as well, I purchased these beautiful lamps in 2009 from BHS, they had a touch base, where you could have three levels of light, for me the best ever bedside lamps. A couple of years ago they started turning themselves on in the night, so we switched them off, but left them in place as we loved them. We are now ready to start working on our bedroom and the lamps came into our conversation, I really love these, so hubby took them to his garage and rewired them without the touch feature, and they are staying.

Daughter was checking George's school page and sent me this, I've covered the teachers name, so I'm famous, he is doing so well, smashing his start targets, we are all so proud of him. Can you see me in his masterpiece. He had his 5th birthday this week, it was a family affair, he will have a play session with friends this weekend.

Another great book, it's an early title, another enjoyable book, a whole family has gone missing, an old friend of Rakers wants to know what happened to her sister. Set in Devon, with ties to USA, things unravel, people show their true faces, ending in Las Vegas. Book 80 read this year.

We had heavy covering of frost on Wednesday morning, the bird baths were frozen, my wildlife pond had no ice, it became a really sunny day, so everywhere looked good by lunchtime, I picked up loads of leaves, our neighbours oak tree is huge so we are getting leaves in our garden for the first time. 

Thursday morning I walked 5 minutes to our doctors surgery for a blood test, I walked in icy rain and sleet, on the way back, less than 20 minutes later it was snowing and cold, it lasted for an hour, too wet for any to settle, but enough to cheer the grandchildren. I have my long winter coat and duffle coat out, ready for whatever is to come.

This morning we have blue skies after a heavy frost again, we are all sorted before storm Bert arrives, just heavy rain and strong winds for us, I hope you are all OK, warm and snug inside, we have no plans for the weekend.

Just rain

With so many negative things happening in our world today, 

I though I should pop this back up.

We did have a huge sort out under our stairs, which is accessed from our office, before there were toys tubs, wine and shoe racks and coats hung up. Now we have sorted and removed all the toys, these seen here are for the charity shop in the village, most are not played with anymore, I sorted the shelves in our sitting room behind our sofa, it now contains all the books, puzzles and toys the little ones love. Now is a very good time to donate toys and unwanted gifts.

I am so pleased the buds have not fallen off this cactus, and are opening.

My new Amaryllis is grown loads in it's glass pot, the Paperwhite Grandiflora narcissus are shooting in the second glass pot, not a perfect fit, I'm just so glad I already had a glass pot, the Amaryllis in the white pot is a bulb from last year, I repotted 7, this is the only one showing life, a few have already died, it does look as if they are only leaves, normally the flower stalk is the first to show. 

Hubby's eye is much improved, he can see much better, which makes me happy, his eye still aches with all the things he had done, he's improving which is the bonus, his older brother is still in hospital, he had another huge operation on his leg and hip, in hope this time everything will heal, which in turn will allow him home. The funeral of his BIL has happened, his sister is doing well, it was very small, due to the distance and so many having aliments and unable to travel. 

My sister went home on Saturday, allowing her partner to have Sunday resting, before he's back to work on Monday, we had loads of time together, lots of chatter, not much crafting, we love different crafts these days. 

Nothing much is happening here, I'm not reading, just busy with my brothers lap blanket, we did all the laundry over the weekend, Monday we popped to town for fruit and veg, got a few more Christmas gifts, it rained in the afternoon, not heavy, at least it's not snow, just a heavy frost overnight. I've started giving my Christmas cakes their drink of brandy, two get 4 drinks, daughters cake only has two, the little people love my cake, so I prefer not to have it too boozy. I have watched all the first series of Wolf Hall and loved it, we are now watching Ludwig, again another good show, it's a very clever storyline. Zoe Ball is finishing radio 2 breakfast show in December, with Scott Mills taken over in January, we are both happy with that, Zoe has done a brilliant job for 6 years, PS, I have a sore throat and sniffles, I'm hoping it passes quickly.

We received our first Christmas card through the post, it can stay in its envelope until December 1st, far to early.

Additions

This cactus is in full bloom and looks stunning in our bathroom, it loves this spot, I look forward each year to see it bloom once more.

I've been adding to my house plants, I have purchased an Amaryllis bulb in a glass before, it grows well, this should bloom white, once it's finished I will use the glass for candles in the garden. I did not have a white blooming cactus, so I've put that right, the cyclamen is very unusual blooms.  

A yellow rose outside.

I have cyclamen outside, I do love these plants, these can be seen from my chair, giving me colour in my view. I do dead head them often to keep the blooms coming.

These are the last two pots, the top pot is brilliant, the lower pot has pansies in, I have had a few blooms, but the plant is now growing rather then blooming, which is OK, colour to come. 

These sunny blue sky days are such a joy, it's much colder, but I don't mind it at all, you can always wrap up warm, cold and wet is a different matter. I did get outside for a while yesterday, I got the bark I wanted to go around the Olive tree, the rest went on the square garden, not really deep enough, but as they say every little helps. 

I took my sister to our favourite garden centre an got a few things from their inside food shop, we went to B&Q for the bark, I got an half price plant, just £3.50, spotted the till over charged me £5 on the bag of bark, which was put right and then to Home Bargains, nice shopping trip. The plant, Saxifrage, dancing pixies thea, with a lovely white flower are late season blooms, which will help with colour at this time of year.

Des res

 This is a group project, hubby did the building, I did the collecting, Molly helped with the filling, we have solitary bee holes in three levels, and a butterfly box at the top, the holes or shelves are filled with different stuff with hay added, I used hay as I thought it might be beneficial to the bugs, who I hope will move in. 

My plan was to pop it infront of the raised garden by the pond, hubby made it the same height, but there is just not enough room and I did not want it to go over the water, it could go on the side behind the blood red grass, I'm sure it would just fit in there. For now outside the greenhouse in this corner, where we don't often go, it's on a concrete base, so it's stable, it's also a sunny spot and the raised bed will protect it from some of the rain. 

We have corks from wine bottle, pinecones, bark and wood which is going soft, twigs, I have also popped a few broken clay pots in the hay for extra homes, everything is natural and untreated. The butterfly house I have had for years, I've never seen a butterfly close to it.

I have had this in mind and been working on it since the summer, it's bigger than I first thought, hubby decided the size, the frame is old decking boards, which should stay good for years, our only purchase was the front wire grid, it came in a bigger roll, I shall make a few cloches in the spring with the rest of it. 

Now as it's getting cooler is the perfect time to have it in place, another completed job outside, there is very little to do, I added half a bag of mushroom compost to my tiny broad bean shoots, I'm sure it will be better on the garden than in a bag all winter. I'm still picking up leaves, most drifting in from neighbours garden, I have a pile over my rhubarb crown, in hope it will help the crown grow next year.

I am really enjoying these sunny dry days, my mood has improved so much, it's good to be out in the sunshine, with nothing to do, I can spend ages outside. We have my sister and her partner here for a few days, so going to a garden centre later.

What are you doing?

 I saw it far too late, after a row of 12 squares and 3 grey squares of the next row, I noticed for some strange reason I used the wrong shade of pink, pale instead of rose, it did not look out of place, my brother would never notice, but I knew it was wrong. So 15 squares ripped out and rose pink used, I'm happy again.

This is Lilly, she is beautiful, I love grey cats, so she is perfect, daughter took kittens and mum cat to vets for a check up, all are OK. She is the smallest of the litter, which is OK. I had my first cuddle, which I hope to regularly do, so she gets used to us, daughter has one on our cat baskets, so when we we bring her home she will already be happy in her basket. Daughter has found homes for all five kittens, everyone is sharing the vet cost, to help out. 

I missed Wolf Hall the first time round, I watched the first episode of the second series on Sunday evening, it was so good, I decided to go back and watch the 6 episodes from series 1. I am watching every day, something I never do, it's made so well, even though I know what happens,  I can't wait for the next episode on Sunday. 

Our Spanish friends are OK, their small town is almost back to normal, the lower section was flooded, most of the homes there have garages on the ground floor, so not too much damage was done. Other friend in Valencia have a much harder task, the mud stuck to everything, once that is cleared they need an architect to check their homes, Spanish house bricks are very different to ours, they are hollow and much lighter, so many building now need checking. There is so much anger in the city, the centre, which was not hit so bad looks back to normal, main roads are open, but still many places need lots of work.

Hubby had his cataract removed and a lens put in place on Monday, a very different process than he had a few years ago, our eye hospital is away from the main hospital, it's very modern and very efficient. Hubby saw the optician only 3 weeks ago, and it's all been sorted, last time he had a few months to wait, this new unit has completely cut waiting times. Sadly his brother in Wales is getting near the end of a two year wait, he is still in hospital, due another operation on his leg, this time the hope is to have him home soon, he's been stuck in there for months. 

My back is much better, I've been doing small bits most days, I picked up leaves in the back garden on Monday, and a bit of weeding. I need to raise my netting over my broad beans, the shoots are getting big. We have had rain twice both times overnight, and lovely blue skies next morning, it is getting colder, which does not bother me.

Back inside

Molly had a sleep over on Friday night, she was very excited, recently both George and Will had sleepovers at Grandma's house, mummy dropped her off in the morning, we walked to the village, she chose a Disney Princess magazine where she could colour and use stickers. She was very good, asleep soon after going to bed and not getting up until 6.45am, which is later for her.

I've done loads to my brothers lap blanket, I'm hoping I will have the crochet finished this week, then I will knit an i-cord edging, I am enjoying these different colours, this is a very easy design to make.

Hubby has finished our stairs, I'm really pleased with the results, it's everything I asked for, at one point I thought he was going to give up trying to strip paint of the handrails and post, it was not an easy task. Once our bedroom is decorated (hopefully before Christmas), we can then have new carpet, already we have popped back some of the photo's, loads have been packed away, in this case less is much better.

Molly was also my helper in the garden, we planted all my tulip bulbs, mainly in two huge pots, we also planted a small pot of tiny tulips and some hyacinths in a pot for inside, we soaked ranunculus ready for planting Saturday. We ensured she had time to ride her bike around the patio section and have a game of football. Molly prefers to be outside, she loves to wear her garden gloves and has her own set of plastic hand tools, she helped to fill all the bird feeders as well.

Daughter with friends took the children to a big firework display Saturday night, with a twist, her friends took them to a local carpark, where they could watch the higher section of the display, far enough away for George and Molly not to be frightened of the bangs, plus no entry fee and easy to jump in their cars and drive home. The friends has a child who loves the fireworks but not the noise and crowds, perfect solution for both families. 

I have pulled my back again, I decided to clean the bottom of our shower cubicle,  rather than getting inside I made just a silly twist, and ouch. Which with these dreaded grey days is not doing anything to help my bleak mood, at least I have a clean house, having dry days are good, but I do need to see some blue sky. I'm not reading, preferring to work on the lap blanket, plus there are a few more interesting things to watch on TV, time slips by, and hopefully my mood will improve or hubby will rightly lock me in the garage out the way.

Our colourful world.

Our village has been yarn bombed for the first time, they tried last year, but not enough poppies were made, it's so nice to see colourful including purple and white poppies everywhere, the shop windows are adding to the displays. 

We took a walk through our park, the leaves on the trees are changing colour and dropping. We do love to be so close to this wonderful space. 

We still have some blooms giving colour, this is a favourite spot for little ones on bikes the path goes around this bed, plus a couple of benches to sit and watch them, it's off the main path, so they are not likely to crash into anyone.

These rose beds always flower late into the cold season, each bed full of one colour and each bed is a different shade to the others. Hubby loitering waiting for me to take my photo's. 

We love our village, it's an interesting place to live, we have all the day to day amenities which we require, including a library, and loads of places to relax and enjoy ourselves, just a very short bus trip to Fareham, and on the express bus route to both Portsmouth and Southampton. 

It's firework time, some are very loud, and for the first time in ages I am missing Grace, she hated the noise and would always snuggle on my lap, our local facebook page is full of moaners, this happens every year, it's only for a couple of weeks and not every night, I believe in 'live and let live'. and the bangs remind me someone is having fun. 

I've had another birthday this week, a very quiet affair, which suits me, hubby got me a gardening book I wanted, we had lunch out with daughter and a Chinese takeaway later, so no cooking, with a nice glass of red wine. 

It's also a sad time as hubby's eldest sisters husband passed away, it was expected but quicker than thought, he had been poorly for a while and had Alzheimer's which complicated things. As they live in Newcastle, it's too much of a trip to get to the funeral, hubby is having his second cataract done on Monday and it's too far for me to drive.  

Less outside

 This is the before photo, we got a local guy in the shape our Magnolia tree, this year it has grown loads, we often cut it back ourselves, but decided it needed an expert to take it smaller. We used the same guy as last time, he is very good at explaining what he wants to do.

Now it looks so much better, and all the leaves sorted in one go, hubby shredded everything and I've popped it all into our 2 black dustbins, more leaf mulch next year. It does look bare, next spring it will fill out again, I'm happy it's small again.

I have broad beans sprouting in one bed and a few parsnips growing, as well as onions and leeks in the other bed, and a lone winter cabbage, I will order 4 bags of FYM to spread across, a local family run nursery delivers to our area on a Friday evening.

Inside my cactus in the bathroom is full of colour, these will bloom for weeks, my orchid looks great back in the corner, where it can be seen and not knocked, the poinsettia is fake, I've had it for years, I can't keep the real ones alive in this house.  

The garden looks bright again, the tree was taking away so much light, it's no longer over the veg bed, and hardly any leaves left to fall. I love we still have loads of colour around our plot, the grasses around my wildlife pond are different shades of green, which will help later when the final colours have gone. I have my tulips to plant, they all go into pots, I have worked out where each will go, it's just a case of getting it done. 

I've deep cleaned our kitchen, being open plan the dust from the stairs had got everywhere,  I do like to give everywhere a clean before I put up the decorations, this year I did the kitchen on two separate days, a sign I'm getting older, it's a job I love once it's done. Next to do both bathrooms, again they are not dirty, mainly dusty, but getting  into corners will give me the impression it's cleaner.

We have seen loads of the three little ones this half term, Friday we walked to the village together, and then home with loads of musical instruments to play with, Sunday Molly and Will came over, George went to a birthday party, daughter is not able to leave him, Molly and I did some crafting, mainly stickers and colouring, she was happy. 

Going out

 Thursday evening we saw Elton John by candlelight, in our newly opened venue, which is now much bigger and very comfortable, (our council with partners knocked the old small building down) hubby who is 6'2" had plenty of leg room and the seats were a great size. Looking at the local site, where they link you to a ticket supplier, there are loads of great shows coming up. We even took the bus in and home, it's only 15 minutes from our house.

 There were 4 singers, one woman, all preformed wonderfully, giving everyone a really good night. This company have had shows across the world and are very polished, most of the songs they sang true to the original, a couple they jazzed up, my only small negative was the lady got a bit screechy on the higher notes. They encouraged us to dance and singalong, just a fantastic night.

I have been very slow to get back to going out, the pub does not call to me, I rarely drink these days, most of our friends don't socialize so much, we have chatted about using the new venue, hubby got these tickets because I was not able to see Elton John in his farewell tour, cost and distance put me off. We will again start to go to midweek afternoon films, the cinema of our choice is by the big marina, so a nice walk is always added to the visit. 

The sad side to this wonderful venue is our local Ashcroft centre will close at the end of the year, it's where we have taken craft courses, sadly most have been cancelled this year, we have seen shows but the seating is old without much leg room. I should expect the building to be sold as it's in a prime location for flats, it's an old school, we will have to wait and see. 

On the funny side, a few days after we last had lunch at our favourite seaside restaurant it burnt to the ground (now being rebuilt), a few days after visiting Spain they had huge floods, should we warn the venue last night to expect a swarm of locust, or just wait and hope.

This is our November

 5 little kittens, 1 grey, 1 beige, 1 ginger and 2 tabbies born on 29th October, it will be a while before we can work out which are girls and boys, I would like a girl, male cats roam, and I like the idea of having a cat which stays in our garden. Both Molly and George are not touching them, George spends loads of time sat watching them. Daughter got a kiddies netted side, ball pit, which will keep the kittens in and allow mum to escape if she wants and loads of old towels for them to lay on.

We all say we have the best grandchildren, but these three in the 'spooky' PJ's look adorable, oldest boy Will was not sure if he wanted to wear his, Molly and George now look like twins, people are always asking daughter is they are twins. Lovely and clean after their bath.

I have started my brothers lap blanket, I have a few more colours to add, these will go well in his sitting room, again very different colours than I normally use. I have purchased a few balls of yarn, but this is a Christmas gift, so it's not recorded on my stash list.

Christmas cakes are doing well, I used one recipe and made two smaller cakes for brother and daughter, our bigger cake will be baked later today, I have loads of dried fruit left over, as I purchased for 3 cake mixes and will only make two. 

It was days before we heard from our Spanish friends again, we knew they had no electricity, so did not expect to hear from them, they are all well and dry, their ground floor like so many others is a garage, it escaped the flooding as they were on higher ground. Still no electricity and very limited phone coverage, they cant get out their town, their new large supermarket, which is close to their flats is open for limited supplies, its a case of sitting it out. The huge issue in Spain is the ground is so parched so the rain ran off rather than soaking in and took loads of top soil with it. We are both shocked to see the devastation in Valencia, it's hard to match the scenes with our recent visit. Valencia has loads of street parking, which are always full, so seeing so many cars wrecked us not a surprise to us.

We have daughter and the children here today, so I have left all my Halloween decorations up until they go home, it's going to be a messy noisy day, filled with laughter and fun.