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.