Category Archives: Holidays

Places we go and would like to go!

Shrove Tuesday or Shrovetide.

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Today is Shrove Tuesday or Shrovetide, commonly known in the UK as Pancake Day!   Ashbourne, where Eldest is, have their own unique football match which runs along the twon streets and you can only play if you are born in Ashbourne and are on the Up’Ards or Down’Ards sides which is split by the River Henmore which runs through the town.  It has been played in the town since 1667 and takes place during eight hours on Shrove Tuesday at 12.00 Noon and Ash Wednesday again for eight hours.  The goals are either end of the town and last year the Down’Ards won 1-0 the goal being scored on Shrove Tuesday.

Today is also Chinese New Year and this year is the Year of the Fire Horse which if you read about it, the Fire Horse sounds quite frightening.  I always thought my Chinese sign was dangerous, which is The Dragon but the Fire Horse represents Power, Stamina, Independence, Loyalty and Prosperity.  However each trait is amplified by it’s combination with Fire which is the most volatile of the traditional Chinese Elements.  Oh boy as if 2026 was not already bad enough!!  

We actually saw the sun on Saturday and DH got some gardening done, I will show you some pictures when I get chance.  We have quite a large area that had a Box plant in (the large bush on the top left of the bed)  but sadly it caught Box blight last year so we had to dig it up.  As you can see how big it is it has left a big hole and some of the other plants have died too, so it is a whole revamp of this bed.  We have some plants arriving in March so I will again show you pictures then.

Jayne and I went out for lunch today which was great.  We only went to the local pub, but the food is always good.  It was lovely to spend a few hours catching up with each other.  We also have a new Book for our Cosy Book Club between the two of us.

I hope you are having a good week.  Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

 

Another Week.

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I keep seeing on Instagram all these people putting up their Christmas decorations!  Now you know I love Christmas but even I think it is a little too early on November 17th to be putting them up.  I know the stores have had the decorations up for a while now but it is sort of expected and the decorations are going up in the towns but I have seen quite a few homes already decorated.  I think it is because people are so fed up with the World as it is at the moment that the decorations add a little bit of cheer.  Saying all this I have decided to get our decorations down and sort them out next weekend!!!!

I think I will change my Blog over to a more Christmas feel in the next few days.

DH was out all weekend and I did get some quilting done which is not quite finished yet.  I still need to get five more little quilts done before Christmas so may take the odd day here and there to ensure they get done.  

Speaking of Christmas this film is 35 years old on November 16th!  Now how did that happen?  DH and I went to the cinema to see it when it first came out, I was 26 and DH 33 and we had been married for two years.  I remember sitting in the cinema crying with laughter at the film, I don’t remember any other film ever having that affect on me.  I just loved it and still watch it now all through the year but especially at Christmas.  I think Christmas movies are like Christmas songs there are a few which you play every year and are never fed up of and will play them on repeat well Home Alone is definitely one of them.  I do not like Home Alone 2 or any of the subsequent ones just the original.  

Here are some pictures of our garden in its Autumn finery.  The big space in the picture above is where we have had to take out the Box bush so that will stay like this now until Spring when I have some plans for some new plants to go in. 

Our two trees in the garden the one onthe right which is the cherry tree has lost all of its leaves now.  The one on the left is the Cotoneaster which keeps its leaves all year except for a few is sheds.  It was trimmed when the men came into more of a round shape.

The conifers have also had  trim and shape as well at the top of the steps.  We still have a little bit of work to do with trimming some of the summer plants which need to be done in the next two weeks when it will be the last brown bin of the season.  

Coco is having a snooze this morning!!!!  The weather is turning this week into more of our normal Autumn temperatures with freezing overnight so she is getting into hibernation mode!

Have a wonderful week and I will post photographs as and when I get the Christmas decorations up!! 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Bonfire Night!

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Today is Bonfire Night :

“Remember, Remember The Fifth of November, Gunpowder, Treason & Plot!”

The Night we remember Guy Fawkes when he tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 but was stopped at the very last minute when the Authorities received an anonymous letter telling them of the plot.  Fawkes was arrested that night whilst guarding the gunpowder.  We let fireworks off to represent the gunpowder and we have bonfires where we used to burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes.  

Here are a few pictures of the Boys and the fireworks we have had over the years in the garden.  DH is out tonight running Event Control for the Council Bonfire.  Normally I would have gone with him but it is cold and I don’t fancy sitting in the Truck or the cold van for a few hours!!!!

The Boys with sparklers

Fountains going off in the garden.

The firework below was at an organised event we went to.

It has been getting colder here and Coco’s quilt cover is cotton and so I decided to get her a brushed cotton one which I think will be warmer for her.  They arrived last week, they have penguins on them, and she loves it.  She immediately got in her basket and snuggled up!

I managed to get two for £16 which is a good idea as she gets them mucky quite quickly!!!  So one on, one in the wash!  This was one of the reasons she did not do her Coco’s Corner post yesterday, she was too comfy!

I have been keeping up to date with work and home jobs and getting a few other things sorted including things for Christmas.  This weekend DH is home all weekend so we are going to carry on doing the de-cluttering in our garage.  It is a job I am determined to get finished by the end of the year and we have a few days between Christmas & New Year to get it done finally.  Part of this is also our attic although quite a bit of what was stored up there is now in the garage.  We are giving things to the Boys that we have saved including baby things so that is working well.  

©Netflix

I have been re-watching Series 4 of “Stranger Things” to remind me what happened before Series 5 finale starts at the end of this month.  I have found that when you have such a long time between series you forget what has happened.  I realised this when I was watching Game of Thrones all the way through with no breaks, some things made sense that never did before because of the gap between the series.  So I now go and watch the previous series so I know where I am up to.

I will take some pictures of the garden, most of our leaves are now off our trees although the very big trees which are in the field at the top of our garden have not started to lose theirs yet so we will be in for more leaf gathering.  Coco is enjoying the space we have created in the bed where we had to take out the Box plants and I am planning which plants to put in next Spring but I am not doing anything with it until then.

I hope you are all having a great week, tomorrow is Thursday and I have a friend coming for coffee and biscuits in the morning to see me.  Have a good rest of the week. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

I Am Home!

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I went in on Tuesday October 21st at 7.00am for my Op and fortunately I was second on the list for that day so did not have to wait too long before going down to theatre.  I will not gross you out with the details but after four hours I was back on the Ward with DH!  An hour later I was up and walking to the bathroom and getting things moving.  I was in a bay with three other ladies, two had new knees and the other had had an accident and had plates put in.  I was determined to get home as soon as possible but ended up staying for three days.  I have found, the few times I have been in hospital, that you never sleep properly, they are always too warm and the constant checks they do on you during the night when you have just nodded off!!!!  Anyway my Consultant was happy for me to come home on the Thursday evening, I did stay in bed on Friday catching up on my sleep, got up Saturday and then spent Sunday in bed.  Monday I was back at my desk working.

The best bit of it all, there is no pain in the hip!  Yes it is sore and of course swollen but I can cope with all of that as there is no pain.  I did have the clips taken out on Friday, all sixty of them (!) and the Nurse checked the wound which is all fine and healing well.  The only problem is that my skin around the wound has reacted to the dressings and has blistered in places but it is fine.  I have been doing my exercises every day and the only thing which is taking time is going up and down the stairs but everything else is fine.  

At the weekend I managed to get all the cleaning done and the washing and now have a basket of ironing to get done.  

Friday I was at Eldests getting two weeks worth of his work done and he is now up to date.  Just before I went in  to hospital there was a software upgrade to the Accounts package we use and this new version is running with AI and it is dreadful!  It takes fifteen minutes just to log in and has obviously not been thought through properly at all!  Anyway despite all that he is now sorted.  Our work is also up to date although DH’s laptop for work, which he uses all day every day, stopped working the weekend I was home so he has had to have a new one and get all his data across!  He has spent the last week doing work onhis phone which is never easy but today he is back up and running!  

I missed saying Happy Halloween to everyone and we did have a few Trick or Treaters on Friday evening, although I was still with Eldest.  DH came home to feed Coco and let her out and sort out the shopping whilst I finished Eldest’s work.  The weather was not very nice so we think that put a few people off.  

DH over the weekend raked all the leaves in our garden and had a tidy up as the weather was nice and the best bit of the weekend I got out of Hospital was that we put the Hour back and gained an extra hour in bed!!!  I know that means that it will be getting dark earlier but I do love this time of year! It is cosy and I love drawing the curtains and putting the lights on.

I did get quite a bit of reading done whilst I was in hospital and will show you what I have been reading next week.

Coco missed me and spent the two days I stayed in bed next to me snuggling.  When I saw Little Man he wanted me to pick him up and give him a hug which I am now able to do because my hip has been fixed!  I have my six week check up on December 3rd and then I will be able to drive again, although Eldest has my vechicle at the moment as he is doing some jobs on his!

DH had his Birthday in the middle of the week so everyone came to us on Saturday for a family dinner, which was a takeaway as I am not quite up to cooking for seven of us just yet.  It was lovely to have everyone here, they came early and then went home early evening and I must admit I was quite tired by the end of it!

DH has been busy with events of course, the Finale of 100 years of Carnival in the village with a big firework display where 1000 people attended.  He also did two weekends of County swimming events and one of our other local swimming club’s Ghoul in the Pool Open event.  Next weekend we have nothing on so we will be getting some more de-cluttering done in our garage. I am still determined to get this job finished before Year End and also empty and tidy the attic too.

I cannot believe that it is November already?  The months really do seem to fly by although with me being a little less mobile this month I am hoping that I will be able to get lots done at home.  I have capitulated and bought our Christmas Cake, pudding and mince pies this year because although I have a few weeks before Christmas I do not want to be rushing around trying to get things done.  I can do all that I normally do next year!

I have been buying Christmas Presents as I have seen things and have a few more things to get and then I am done!  I have all our Christmas cards ready for us to write and need to wrap the presents and again it will be done.  We have a few nice things to do during December and also seeing family and friends which is my favourite bit of the whole of Christmas so I am really looking forward to that.  DH and I are going to a concert on December 5th ” Vivaldi by Candlelight” which I am looking forward to, we also have a day planned to go around the Christmas Market and see all the Christmas lights.  DH has three Christmas Light Switch ons to do and the Presentation Night for the swimming club.  We are taking the Children to see Santa on the Steam Train again which will be great, we have Youngest’s Birthday and also a Fun Gala for the swimming club too.  It is going to be busy as always.  

Christmas will be here before we know it!!!  I am planning on doing a two step decoration set up this year rather than trying to do it all on one day, just so I can concentrate on getting things done properly.  Our tree, we always have a real one, will be the last thing done at the beginning of December.  It made be laugh looking at the TV films on Friday it was ALL Halloween and then Saturday the schedules were full of Christmas movies!!  There did not seem to be any gap between the two!!!!!!  I do love the Christmas movies and will be watching them when I have had enough of all the Horror movies!!!

DH does have another two day weekend swimming event on November 15th and 16th so I am going to spend that weekend in my sewing room getting some things finished!  I will show you it all when I can.

Anyway I hope you lovely lot are all okay and will have a great week. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Foggy!

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Well I can honestly say we are having some very strange weather at the moment.  We woke up on Tuesday to thick fog!  Not mist thick fog!  You could not see past the end of our garden and this was the view out of the front of our home.  Normally we can see across the valley to the hill and all the trees but as you can see nothing!  It soon burned off and I think it was after all the rain we had had and it was still warm, it was just a bit of a shock!

Little Man loves the garden, but he is only allowed out once the sun has gone off the garden, he is also very keen on water play.

I got all of Eldest’s work done yesterday and the cleaning for him and then DH and I had dinner with them and Little Man as we will not see them for a fortnight.  Today I have been working all day.  I was planning on getting home jobs done today but I have moved that to tomorrow now, along with the ironing, packing and a quick tidy of the garden!

I will be taking my sewing machine away with me to try and get the bed quilt finished!  I also have a selection of books going with me too.  The first week we are on our own so I think we are going to have a chill week as it has been so busy over the last few months for us.  Of course last year I was ill the second week of the holiday so I am keeping everything crossed that I am fine this year!

Youngest, Fiancé, Gordon & Blaze are arriving tomorrow night for house and dog sitting and then the Animals will all be going to the kennels for the week whilst Youngest & Fiance are with us.  Then they will be back home when they get back for our final week, when Eldest and crew are with us.  Once we are all back we have a few other things happening and also the last Bank Holiday of the year at the end of August when we have a very busy weekend.  More about that later.

These were my books last year!

I will try and show you my book pile that I am taking away with me and I also have Book Club Friday whilst we are away too which I will be doing.  Have a wonderful Friday. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day

To the Patron Saint of Ireland and if you celebrate I hope you have a great day!

The weekend was quite hectic and today was busy with work, although I did sneak in a couple of hours this afternoon to get my ironing done and then this evening retrieved my car back from Eldest now he has his new vehicle, so I am mobile again!

This week is busy again with work, as always, which is a good thing and in between work I will be getting home jobs done and this weekend DH is out again on Sunday at another swimming meet commentating (!) but I will be able to carry on with my quilting.

If I get an evening free I will also be quilting or reading!  The quilt I am working on is a double (Queen) size so I am just in the process of making the blocks at the moment which are, when complete, 12″ x 12″.  I love the process of putting the quilt block together and then I will be able to put sashing between the blocks and work out how wide and then how long it will be.  I think at the moment it will be five across and five rows down, but I will see how things go. 

The Baby Qullt is smaller of course and quite bright and I know that will not take me long to do that.

Saturday DH is at home so we have a few home jobs to do which I need his help with but they should not take too long and if it is nice we may even be able to get some jobs done in the garden.  Thursday and Friday it is forecast to be 18°C during the day but dropping cold in the evening so that will be nice, it is absolutely freezing today!

Hope you lovely lot had a great weekend and a good week to come. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

#TBT.

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Today is #TBT, Throwback Thursday, and of course I love looking at Pictures.  One of my jobs during the decluttering is to tidy our existing photo albums and make sure I have written in all of them but we also have a clip box full of pictures from DH’s family and also from my family.  My intention is to get them put into photo albums and write who they are on them for our Boys.  We got DH’s father to write on the back of the pictures who everyone was, after I inherited my family pictures I can guess who some of them are but quite a few I don’t know them at all.  They are all obviously related to me but not where they are in the family tree.

Anyway one of the best inventions over the recent years has been digital photographs so we can store them on the computer and of course look at them when we want to.  Below are a selection of pictures taken during March, April & May between 2006 and 2010 when the Boys were between 10 & 6 to 14 & 10!

The above three were taken in Scotland around the Easter holidays.

This was in London in 2009 on the London Eye.

This one above is on the Pirates of The Carribbean Ride in Disney World 2008

The above one is at our Villa in 2010, the year of the Ash Cloud!  You can tell they are swimmers!

We loved going away with the Boys at the Easter holidays.  It was a great time to go because Christmas was always so busy and at Easter the weather was getting better and we were ready for the break.  It also worked out well being about three months between Christmas and Easter and then three months between Easter and the summer holiday in Scotland and then three months between that and Christmas.  As they got older we have not been so much, only on odd occasions and we are not going this year but maybe next, we shall see.

Coco also came home in April 2022 and this is how tiny she was!!!  I cannot believe that she was ever that small!

Happy Thursday everyone.  Today I have home jobs to do and shopping and tomorrow I have a Birthday cake to make and also have a day off as it has been a hectic few weeks and the weekend is due to be busy again as well. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

 

Happy Thanksgiving.

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To All My American Friends & Followers

Happy Thanksgiving!

The previous week and this have been so busy with work and family things, including a visit to the Dentist this morning!!!  So hopefully tomorrow and next week I will be back to a post a day.  I hope, if you are celebrating Thanksgiving, you have a lovely day wherever you are.  Although it is not our holiday I am very Thankful for my family who I love to bits. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

(NB.  For Susan & Tara; I have sent you a few emails but not sure you have got them, let me know.  Susie)

Coco’s Corner.

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The face of innocence or butter wouldn’t melt and all that!  Well last night or should I say 3.00am this morning Coco turned into :

She started howling!  She even managed to wake DH which is usually impossible.  She was quite obviously dreaming but oh boy!  Our other Airedales have been quite vocal but Coco is definitely a step above the others, she is not in the same league as Huskies of course but this howl was really spooky and quite eery.  She was actually asleep in her bed next to our bed but when she woke herself up she got on our bed next to DH and of course both of them went back to sleep.  Me, awake until the alarm went off at 4.30am!

Speaking of which the company we work with in Nottingham (also the company we work with in Derbyshire as well) have decided to work longer days Monday to Thursday and then have Friday off.   This is due to a bit of a slow down with work in the run up to Christmas and to change the fact that on a Friday they come in just for the morning and then go home at lunch and then work on Saturday morning until lunch.  It may all change again once the New Year is here but they are giving it a try.  However it means that I am now getting up at 4.30am Today was the first day and having been awake since 3.00am was not too much of a shock although I did go into my sewing room to sort a few bits out and then found myself sitting staring into space for about fifteen minutes!  The only thing I will say is that I will be able to get a lot of jobs done but have decided to shower and wash my hair in the evenings now, instead of first thing in the morning, as that is far too much stress and rushing around at 4.00am!

November 5th Bonfire Night

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England’s overthrow.
But, by God’s providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James’s sake!
If you won’t give me one,
I’ll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn’orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

The above is from around 1870 but the actual Gunpowder Plot was in 1605 and was to try and blow up Parliament and especially King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) who became King after Queen Elizabeth I.  The Conspirators; Robert Catesby, John & Christopher Wright, Robert & Thomas Wintour, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby and Frances Tresham.  They were unhappy with the lack of religious tolerance for English Catholics which of course all stemmed from Henry VIII turning away from the Catholic Church when the Pope would not give him a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn. 

The Conspirators idea was to kill King James, Parliament and with it a lot of the Protestant families and Privy Council of the country and install King James’ daughter, Princess Elizabeth as a Catholic Queen figurehead.  Guy Fawkes is the name that everyone remembers through history, who had been in the army during several conflicts in Europe and was used to handling gun powder.  He was a staunch Catholic committed to the cause.  However through various letters and people reporting to the King about the plot the Conspirators were found out and all captured.  After trials they were all hanged but because of how audacious the plot was, it became very much a part of British history.

So on November 5th each year we celebrate the fact that Guy Fawkes failed to light the 36 barrels of gun powder under Parliament, with fireworks.  We are fortunate that Coco does not mind the fireworks and any of the loud bangs she just barks at.  Blaze was okay although he was not keen on the loud bangs.  The big orgnised fireworks mostly took place at the weekend so tonight will be local and family events.  We decided we were not going to do any this year, but may do next year when Little Man is older. 

If you are attending or having your own Fireworks, stay safe and have a wonderful evening.  The weather is supposed to be cold and misty tonight but at least no rain.  I cannot tell you the amount of times I have watched fireworks being let off whilst sheltering under an umbrella or getting soaked! 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx