Very sad news yesterday that one of my most favourite Authors, Clive Cussler, passed away aged 88. Over the years he wrote over 80 books and in recent years worked with co-authors and as far as I am concerned is the only one to have got it right! I have read a few co-authored books and they are just terrible and really do not stick to the style of the original stories but Mr Cussler got the right people.
I have loved all the series that he wrote and have a whole shelf of his books and can read them again and again. In fact my January Book Club was “Shadow Tyrants” in the Oregon Files series. We will have to wait and see if the family allow the co-Authors to carry on the writing. Obviously family and friends will be devastated by his passing but so are his fans as the work now stops.
Mr Cussler was a master of the thriller novel and took you all over the World in his books and I am really going to miss him but thankful that I have his books to read again.
This was the first book of his I read and it just captivated me. I then had the pleasure of going back and reading all of his novels before this and then bought each book as it was published. In fact I still have a few to get!!!
Rest In Peace Clive and thank you for all the books.
Do you ever have those weeks where you get up in the morning and the day disappears in a cloud of work, home jobs, cooking etc and no sooner have you got up then it’s time to go to bed? Well the last two weeks have been like that here!!!!!
It also feels that at any moment the Sky is going to fall!!! I don’t usually watch the news but do read it in our only reputable newspaper in the UK (The Telegraph) but to be perfectly honest it sounds dreadful!!! The Coronavirus is going to get us all, the flooding is getting worse in certain areas and I am heartily sick of Megxit!
Eldest is working really hard to get his shoulder stabilised so he can go back to work! He has been off now for eleven weeks and it is driving him insane!!! He loves his job and is not one for sitting and doing nothing. However we are getting there with his work so hopefully in two weeks time he will be able to go back!!!!
Youngest is away all week trainining and they have had to move to a different hotel as where they normally stay has been requisitioned as a Coronovirus quarantine place!!!!! If they stay there the next time he goes down I am sending him there with lots of antibacterial wipes!!!!
DH was really busy over the last two weekends at the Derbyshire County Swimming Championships so I had two weekends of prevarication!! I had lots of things I could have been doing but wasn’t sure where to start!!! So I didn’t do anything in the end except in the afternoons I sat reading!!!! It is one of my Aims this year, of course!!! The weather was not good both weekends with gales and lots of rain, hence the flooding again, so I didn’t feel too bad about sitting by the fire and reading!!!
Yesterday DH and I had an appointment with our Accountants regarding the business which lasted for a couple of hours and then we snuck a couple of hours for some lunch!!!! It was great to spend a few hours especially for DH after such long weekends.
Youngest’s Girlfriend used to own horses and compete at National level but it was decided that as she was going to Uni and wouldn’t have as much time for the horses to move to new homes. However after a year she really, really missed them so here is her new arrival:
Welcome Simon!!!! Please note the nosy neighbour in the top of the picture!!!!!! We haven’t been to see him yet but Girlfriend says he has a great personality and is very chilled!!!
Treacle loves horses but I am not sure we will take her when we got to see him!!!
Treacle is still hibernating as she is not very keen on wind and rain. I have a new App on my phone which makes squeeky toy noises and it gets them to look at you!!! The above is my first attempt! I suspect she will get used to it and will then not bother to look at me!!! Airedales too inteligent to be fooled!!!
The above picture was on Tuesday morning when it was very windy, as you can see she is not very happy!!!
Tuesday evening, DH had just got home and this is the “Hi lovely to have you home Daddy, dinner time please!!!!”
Working today at home as always and DH left at 5.00am to go and see a customer, tomorrow and Friday I have home jobs to do and some errands to run. Now don’t faint but this weekend DH has no commentating jobs to do!!! I know I mean what will be do with ourselves? All the jobs which haven’t got done over the past several weekends!!!!! Tee hee!!! However we are doing some nice things too, Friday night we are going to go to the cinema and Saturday night we are out for dinner with some friends!!!!
Of course Saturday is Leap Day, ie February 29th! An “extra” day! What are you intending to do with this extra day? Is it going to be a lazy, rest day or do you intend on being up early and seizing the day? Us? We have some errands to run and out for dinner in the evening so I think ours will be a social, spend it with family day!!! Sunday is supposed to be better weather here so that can be jobs day!!! I am hoping we will be able to get into the garden!!!! Who knows!!
I hope you are having a good week and I will be back to blogging every day now!!! I am also going to go forward with a positive, happy outlook and S*d the news!!!!!
I am off to the Doggie Day Spa today!!! I will be washed and have an Airecut and blow dried and look all fluffy and smelling alot better according to Mom. I, of course, don’t think I smell bad now but hey ho!!!!!!
I will show you pictures later!!!
Have a Woofy Spa Day!
Treacle x
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Here I am back from the Spa!!! It was raining when we came out so Mom and I got wet, again!!!!!!!! Mom says I smell so much better (!) and look a lot better than I did before. My ladies did not cut me too short on the basis that it could still be cold but Mom says it will be easier to brush me now!!!
Here is a picture of the top of my head!
Side view of my Airecut.
Full face view, I haven’t managed to tame my beard just yet!!!!
Mom always washes all my beds, towel, quilted mats and my collar so everything is fresh and clean as well as me!!!!
So I have to lie on my quilt inner until they are clean and dry!!!!
I have read a few of Michael Connelly’s books now and really enjoyed them. He does a few series books and this is about Harry Bosch.
Harry is a retired Detective who looks into cold cases and this time assitsted by Detective Renee Ballard who has her own problems. She had reported a case of sexual harassment and because of this had been sent to the Graveyard shift!!! When she gets back to the precinct one night to write reports, she catches Harry snooping in their filing cabinets! He is looking for old information on a cold case of a young girl murdered and it is more complicated by the fact that Harry is currently letting the young girl’s Mom stay with him!!!
I started reading this book whilst DH and I were travelling around Scotland last week and am hooked!!!! It is one of those books that you think “I will just read one more chapter” at night when I should really be putting it down and going to sleep!!!!
Can recommend Michael’s books!!!
So far I am keeping up with this New Year’s Aims of doing more reading!!!
I hope you all have a great weekend whatever you are up to. It is a bit wild and windy here today!!!!
I hope everyone has a lovely day and sending out lots of love to everyone whether you are single, married, partnered or whatever. We need more love in the World!
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Over the last few days I have had a lot of visitors to my Blog and I just wanted to say Hello and Welcome and I do hope you have found some fun, facts and friendship here.
Tonight DH is home but is busy setting up all the sound equipment for the weekend!!! I will cook us a meal for when he has finished but I am used to this. Just a shame that today falls on a Friday night and we could have gone out to the cinema but never mind! I will spend the evening with Netflix instead!!!!!!!!!
I hope you all have a great weekend whatever you are up to.
I read in the Daily Telegraph the other day one of those reports on a “Study” done my some professors!!! Their conclusion was that the vast majority of women these days were suffering from weak bladders because we sit down a lot!!!! Their conclusion was that we should not sit down for longer than 18 minutes a day!!! Do these people live in the real world? A lot of jobs which women do, tend to involve sitting for a good portion of the day, like myself as a Secretary. How do they suggest we do our jobs without sitting? Yes I know there are those stand up desks but not very practical.
However what I don’t think they have taken into consideration is in the last twenty years or so we have been encouraged, again by those in the health sector, to drink lots more water a day! What is it now two litres a day? As well as our normal drinks ie tea! Don’t they think that this may have had some impact on this subject? I remember my mother and grandmother who would drink cups of tea during the day; one at breakfast, one mid morning, one at lunch, one in the afternoon, one at dinner and possibly one in the evening. They were pefectly healthy and hydrated and did not have an issue with weak bladders and my mother was a clerical officer who spent a lot of time sitting at her job!!!!!
There will no doubt be another result of a study next year with a completely different finding!!!! Perhaps I should not be reading the news!!!!!!!!
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When I lived at home we always had milk delivered to our doorstep by our milkman from the Co-Op in glass bottles. Once used we would wash the bottles and put them out for the milkman to collect and they would go back to the dairy for re-filling! Fast forward thirty years and they started delivering milk in plastic containers which can be recycled but it just seems a waste.
Anyway when our milkman retired we decided to get our milk from the local farm in the next village who have the cows on the farm and they are milked there and the milk is then put into the plastic containers but still delivered to our doorstep each morning. Well the end of last year they have started to use glass bottles and when they are washed and returned, are refilled and delivered again!!!! Amazing isn’t it!!!!!! Something which was originally done since the 1920s’ is not being done again because it is much better for the environment!!!! Good riddence to the plastic containers and I can actually say the milk lasts longer in the glass bottles than the plastic ones!!!!
PS My water glass in the background!!!!!
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#TBT This was the snow this time of year 2018!!!! So alot more that we had this week!!! As you can see Treacle was loving it!!!!!
Home jobs to do today and grocery shopping tomorrow. DH will be home tonight after the exhibition and then he is busy all weekend at the county swimming championships announcing. I am going to get my sewing organised over the weekend and a few other jobs I want to get done. The weather is supposed to be gales and lots of rain so definitely a weekend to stay warm in doors.
Well I did have a bit of snow to play in this week but it has all gone now:(
Mom and Dad bought me some great things from Mungo & Maud when they were away and they also ordered me a new bowl.
My very good friend Molly has a raised bowl so Mom and Dad thought it would be a good idea for me too. It has taken a while to get used to it but I now think it is a great idea!
Thank you Mom & Dad!
Mom has also booked me in next week for a spa day as she says I am getting a little bit wooly. However it will probably be freezing cold as it always seems to happen when I have an Airecut in winter!!!!!!!
Here I am waiting for Eldest to get up this morning so he can come and play! It is great having him home at the moment and he also has a very big new bed for me to lie on it is great!!!!!
Eldest is back in his room that I was camping in as my sewing room! This is what it looked like when we originally did it for him.
Then when we decorated it again and sorted it out in 2011:
This is what it looked like when I was camping in it, as my sewing room:
And now it looks like this:
Kingsize Bed instead of his senior school single bed!
New wardrobe and chest of drawers.
The desk has been shortened a little and turned around.
We are just waiting for some cushions which will be instead of a headboard for the back of the bed.
He loves it. Although this is the smallest bedroom it is, in fact, quite large and I did not think we would get a King size bed in there but we did and it is so much more comfortable for his 6’2″ frame!!!!
Just now need to sort the driveway out so we can get five cars on the drive and we will all be sorted. Of course that will mean when we have done all this he will get his own home and move out!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is now having intensive physio on his shoulder and their aim is to get it stabilised and stronger to hold it in place so he is able to go back to work!!! However whilst he is off he is helping me in the office and light jobs around our home which is a great help and I will really miss him when he does go back to work!!!!
We were battered around this weekend with Storm Ciara!!! What a name! We got up on Sunday morning with it still blowing a gale and a tree branch was on our patio and we have no idea where it came from!!! Treacle was not happy on Saturday evening with the wind and slept in her basket downstairs next to my desk. It kept me awake most of the night.
DH, Eldest and I went out for dinner on Saturday and it was a lovely evening. A lovely restaurant and the food was good!
DH is away all week on business at an exhibition and Eldest was out at physio and then ran some errands. He got back at lunch and then ten minutes after he was back this started:
It came down thick and fast and settled really quickly, although it was dry snow it has already started to melt!!!!
Treacle had fun in it for a while!!!
But then hated being dried when she came in by Eldest!!!
In contrast DH and I were in Scotland last week for three days and we had glorious weather. Here are some pictures. We were right up at where we stay on holiday, just a shame we couldn’t stay longer!!!!
Baxter’s Visitors Centre – Great place to visit and their restaurant is really good.
Looking down to the River Spey.
Dusk coming.
Cold but bright sunshine.
Winter still has a hold here but we saw the sun.
Across the moors from Elgin back to Edinburgh.
There was some snow on the mountains.
Not enough for the ski lift to be working though!
It was a long few days but great to spend time up there. We will be back at Easter for a holiday and can’t wait.
I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and if you are in the UK were safe and sound after the storm!!! Have a great week.
Well January has left us and the weather has been up and down, quite grey but no snow!!!!! There are signs of Spring, however, in the garden with all the bulbs pushing their way through the wet soil!!! That’s of course the ones the Squirrels have left us!!!!
Very busy and quite frustrating week and weekend but I won’t go into that!!! DH and I are off to Scotland tomorrow for the next three days on Business again so hoping that the weather will be kind. Eldest is still at home recovering from his shoulder injury but he is off to the Physio tomorrow morning, fortunately he can now drive. He is kindly looking after Treacle for us as Youngest is away for the week training!!! It is all go in our Home!!!!
We are hoping to collect Youngest’s new car at the end of this week and there are changes on the Home front with Eldest’s room which I will hopefully be able to show you next week. Next weekend we have home jobs to do which have not got done previously and on Saturday evening we have a business dinner to go to!
Have a wonderful week. Pictures of Scotland at the end of the week too!
Hugs, Susie xx
You come home on Saturday after spending a few hours with friends to find Eldest Technician son has dismantled the piano to see how it works!!!!!!!
Treacle: I am NOT coming downstairs whilst you have my brush in your hand!
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