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.

October round-up

 Nothing on craft, I did get a couple of balls of yarn but hubby paid for them as I used them on the raffle prize blanket, so not recorded here, the new shed was expensive but very useful and just a few bulbs, if I had not got the shed it would have been a very cheap month. 

Household spend was higher, we got the new towels for our bathroom, and purchased a few christmas and birthday gifts, our soup maker broke and hubby found an slightly upgraded model, plus the cost of paint and new stairs lights. All our holiday cost had already been paid, our spending money was low as we had loads of euro's already. 

We picked our last crop of runner beans, we froze two bags, for two meals, we are back to eating soups at lunchtime, so any bits needing to be used are added to soups, so nothing has been wasted again. 

My fitbit was working again, I reinstalled it on my phone, no change, so I let the watch fully run out of power, something it has never done, I charged it and it started updating data to the apt, sadly this week it has started playing up, so I have given up on it. On the plus side I get to wear a wrist watch I have owned for years and love, but £12 for a battery! Nothing to say about my weight, the weight I am is where my body naturally wants to be.