Today would have been the 100th Birthday of the Late Queen, Elizabeth II. I am sure if she was still here she would be appalled at some of the things which are happening around the World!
DH and I got some more jobs done in the garden on Sunday last when it was quite nice and warm. I am very much a fair weather gardener! The bed on the right is where we took out the large box bush and several other bushes that were not doing well. It is something I have wanted to do for a while but not got around to it. The bed on the left has also had an upgrade and we have put some new plants in there too.
As my hip was so bad last year I did not put any veg in to my bed or the bags but this year I have. So far we have tomato plants in the veg bed, brocolli in the left two bags, strawbery plants in the right hand two bags and onions in the one on the step. In the pots behind there are two miniture apple trees and a miniture pear tree and I still have some other things to put in.
I have also put some seeds in my grow house in the hope that they do well, so far there are signs that they are growing although it is still a little cool at the moment.
The bit of warm weather we have had has greened up the garden nicely and the cherry tree is looking great after its trim in the Autumn.
We did trim the conifers at the bottom a little bit much to Coco’s annoyance as that was her hidy hole!!!!
The Rhododendron at the top of the garden is beginning to come out and I am sure will look great when it does.
My Spring cleaning has been put on hold as we were doing the garden whilst it was nice, but this weekend I am going to get all of upstairs done, as well as our Den and the Kitchen & Laundry. Next weekend we have a long weekend so should be able to get our Dining room done and the Sitting room which takes all day as we have all the bookshelves to do. So by the end of that weekend it should be completed. I will still have things to wash; curtains, cushions, pillows etc but am going to do those when I can hang them outside. Then we have the Garage and Attic to tidy and our cars to do, the front garden to tiday and then Spring cleaning will be done.
I had a check up yesterday at the Hospital for my eye and things are getting there and although I was hoping to be discharged yesterday I have to go back again in four weeks and I also have eye drops again! He is now thinking of doing my right eye to help with the vision in that one (!) but it will not be the same operation fortunately!
Today should have been Coco’s Corner but she has been having too much fun outside now the weather is picking up! This look says you have taken my hidy hole away!!!!!
I hope you are all having a great week. Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
I am sure that life was more simple, like in the 1980’s when we did now have all the technology we have now!!! The last few weeks at home have been chaos!
Youngest, Fiancée, Little Lady and the animals have settled in to their new home and DH and I have been helping with unpacking, mowing their new lawn and sorting out curtain poles etc. They are now in and settled which is so nice for them.
Work has been very busy which is good and one of the companies we work with has been going through some changes as the MD is retiring soon. We also have a big project on with one of our other companies we work with and that has been taking a lot of time too. Eldest is busy with his work and consequently so am I with the paperwork for him and us.
DH has also been busy with swimming events, one weeked it was both days and this weekend it was Sunday. Saturday we got quite a bit done in our garden and I have set up my grow house, which did not get done last year because of my hip. I will get some pictures to show you hopefully later in the week.
Little Miss Coco has had her Airecut two weeks ago (!) and I have only just gotten around to putting her “clean” picture up!!! She looks and smells so much better and we did have one day last week where it was very warm so I was so pleased she had had her cut for then. Speaking of the weather it is supposed to be nice and warm later this week. It is amazing what that bit of warmth has done for the garden, everything has bloomed and become very green again, although that means that DH is having to mow the lawn regularly again!
I know that I am late for Book Club Friday! I did start to do the post and then everything got in the way! I am hoping to get it done for this Friday.
Tomorrow Jayne and I are going out for lunch and a lovely catch up, cannot wait! It seems like ages since we have been out!
Have a great week you lovely lot. Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Our Lodgers have moved out, so we are back to just DH, Coco and I. Not the weekend just gone but the one before they were moving and of course DH was out both days at different swimming events in two different swimming pools and I was at our swimming club on Saturday evening at an event there! So we ended up moving most things on the Monday and then I spent all day Tuesday there helping! So Wednesday last week I spent the day catching up on our work, Thursday I was out at Eldest’s work and then Friday DH and I were at a very good friend’s funeral which took up the whole day!
Anyway all three and the animals have settled in and it is a brand new home so lovely and I am sure they are going to be very happy.
March is going out like a Lion this year but it did come in like a Lamb so I suppose it is right! However over the last few days we have also had April showers although it is not April just quite yet!
This weekend is Easter of course and we have a four day weekend, which will be so nice. I am hoping that the weather is going to be good and we can get into our garden and do some jobs. We did get some new plants for the bed on the right hand side of our patio and I am waiting for some others to arrive for the left hand bed and we are going to move some of those plants too. We got the plants in that had arrived, some on Friday evening when we got back and the rest on Saturday morning. The rest of the garden just needs a tidying up and a little bit of sorting out, as well as the lawn which has some holes which need repairing. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather. Also they are all coming for dinner over the weekend so that will be a busy day!
With my books I have been doing well with my reading doing a mixture of audio books and reading too. I will show you what I have been reading at the end of the week.
On Saturday evening our clocks went forward an hour which I never seem to recover from for weeks, or so it seems!!!
I have my six week eye appointment next Tuesday and I am hoping that I will be signed off but good news I can drive again which is a relief. This week is busy with work of course before the Easter break but it will be nice to have the four day break. Coco and Honey are in with our groomer on Thursday, Honey for a bath and de-shedding treatment and Coco for her haircut and wash . She is looking very, very floofy!!!!
The above picture is about how my eye feels at the moment, metal in it! There isn’t of course it just feels like it! I managed to develop a cold on the second day of my head down 45 minutes per hour which was, as you can imagine difficult. I was also supposed to lie on my right side in bed which I have not done for years having had both hips now replaced. I did have a go but woke up about 2.00am aching all over, so got up and went into the sewing room and did the head down business. I think I managed to do all the hours required over the five days but have a check up next week and hopefully he will be able to tell if it is all okay!
The one benefit of not being able to do anything for five days was I managed to get through eight audio books! Some were good, some were okay and one was dreadful! I will tell you all about it on Book Club Friday on March 13th! Perhaps I should be reading horror books as it is Friday the 13th!
The only other thing is I have not set foot outside for almost two weeks now and I am going a little stir crazy. I did not get any work done last week of course so have spent the first three days of this week catching up and on Friday I will be at Eldest’s catching up on his work as well. Tomorrow I have home jobs to do which did not get done last week either, so that is going to take longer than normal, especially with two dogs and a cat at home as well. I also have a basket of ironing to do and then there will be another load at the weekend.
The weather is getting a little better here and tomorrow it is supposed to be 17°C during the day which will be Spring like. These daffodils were from last year and they are in bud at the moment but not yet out. I am hoping that it continues to get better and over the Easter long weekend we will get chance to get into the garden and do some work.
I hope you are all having a good week. Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
So despite Phil saying we would have six more weeks of Winter (we are not in New York of course) it is rather Spring like here today with a top temperature of 15 and it is going to be hovering around the double digits for a few days, although they have said more rain as well!
You know when they say it never rains but it pours? Well Little Miss Coco is not well today and is off to the vets at 4.00pm! It sort of started yesterday with her being very needy, which although she is a cuddle bug she is never needy and then today she will not settle and is constantly panting although it is not that warm, so poor DH is having to take her to the Vet as well as looking after me and this stupid head down business! He will be glad he is back at work next week for a rest!
I will be released from my pillow prison on Sunday and life can go back to normal although I will still not be able to see properly for about another three weeks which is the length of time it takes for the gas which I have in my eye to dissipate! I am so looking forward to that.
I am getting through rather a lot of audio books though which is a good thing about all this and thank goodness I have my BookBeat account, it is about the only thing keeping me sane at the moment. I am trying to branch out a little bit from my usual love of Murder Mysteries to other types of books too, although I usually do come back to them in the end.
Last night was Drill Night for Eldest for his On-Call fire duties and they decided to do an exercise at his garage which he set up. All very exciting. We did not get o see it of course but it sounded like a good session, although he had to put everything back this morning!
I hope you are all doing well on this Wednesday, half way through the week and I iwill see you here tomorrow.
I do not like putting pictures of myself up too much, but thought you would like to see my audition for the new Pirates of the Caribean film!!!! I can honestly say after having both our Boys normally, a mastectomy and two hip replacements, this was by far the worst thing I have EVER had done! I will not go into the details as I do not want to gross people out but it hurt despite the area being numb! I am now into the second day of head down for 45 Minutes with 15 minutes grace per hour for the whole day. I have to sleep on my right side which is not easy and after five hours last night, I got up and went into the sewing room and spent the rest of the evening with my head down on the desk.
We had to go back to the Hospital this morning for a check and apparently it looks okay but with the gas in the eye we won’t know until it dissipates which takes up to four weeks so it is very blurred.
I am doing bits of work in between the head down situation but I cannot do any housework or even take a shower for two weeks!
In better news today has been warmer than the last forty days and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer too, then again at the end of the week we are going to have more rain again!
Have a great week, I will be keeping an eye on you (!!!!!) I am listening to quite a lot of books though, so one benefit!!!
As you know I am not big on watching the news, however I do read the headlines on The Daily Telegraph to just see what is happening. Most of the time it is so depressing however yesterday the headlines were a shock!
The foundations of Windsor Castle must be rocking after yesterday’s news headlines of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, an offence which if found guilty carries the sentence of life in prison! A lot of the news is just depressing but this is playing out like a soap opera. I am sure this is how our Parents and Grandparents felt when King Edward the VIII abdicated so that he could marry Wallis Simpson, a Constitutional crisis. I am sure all this is going to be a Netflix film when the dust settles!
I am going through another one of those periods where I am waking up anywhere between 2.00am and 4.00am! I do the same thing most days, eat more or less the same things so why one night I can sleep through without waking up and yet another period I am waking up at stupid o’clock is beyond me. However speaking to my friends I am not alone in this! Anyhoo I was awake at 2.00am today and I was wide awake so I got up and cleaned our home from top to bottom, before they all got up including the animals! It was quite peaceful really. I put an audio book on and I was off and do you know, it seemed a lot easier to clean at that time of day then during normal hours!!!! As you can tell from the picture above Coco did not even bother getting up when I left our room!!!
I have a few other home jobs to get done over the weekend and the washing & Ironing, although I have done one load already this week. I am trying to get up to date with everything before my eye op on Monday! One of our customers has had the same Op and he said he was fine although it was a nuisance doing the head down bit for the first five days but he is fine now! I will be really looking forward to a week on Monday!
Book Club Friday – Jayne and I had lunch on Tuesday and we have a new book to read for our Cosy Girl’s Book Club:
For those of you who follow me will know I have been reading Jane Bettany’s books and they are in the Cosy Mystery section of the bookshops. They really are very good. The characters are good and you learn a bit about them without getting bogged down and the stories do move through the book very well, with good conclusions. Very Agatha Christie based so if you like her books I am sure you will like these. I will let you know how we get on.
This is what I am also reading. Poppy Greer is getting married and has four of her old school friends as her Bridesmaids. Poppy gives all four of them a first class flight to a private Caribbean Island for a luxurious stay for her Hen Party, however the women underestimated their host and each other and secrets from their past surface and the trip of a lifetime becomes the hen do from hell!
I thought this sounded quite good. It is a paperback and only 340 pages long so I think it will be a quick read. I started it today whilst I was having my hair cut!
I hope you lovely lot have a fantastic weekend and are able to get some time to read and relax.
Today is Candlemas which was when Jesus was presented at Church and the purificiation of the Virgin Mary 40 days after having Baby Jesus, a tradition which lasted well into the Twentieth Century and fell into disuse at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s although some women do still go to Church after the birth of their children.
Candlemas is also the day that people would bring their candles for the year to be blessed at Church to light the dark nights and to show that Jesus is the Light of the World.
It is also Groundhog Day. The little so and so saw his shadow so anothr six weeks of Winter! I really would love an early Spring as I have a mountain of jobs to get done in the garden but hey ho it will be what it is!
The tradition for Groundhog Day actually began in Germany where the locals would watch the hedgehogs and other creatures to see how they were behaving and this might mean it would be an early Spring. February 2nd is the midpoint between the Winter solstice and Spring equinox and tradition says if there are clear skies and there will be more winter, however overcast meant an early Spring.
DH had a busy weekend at the swimming pool with the events and I was busy getting some quilting done which I will show you when it is done and gifted.
Today DH went away for the week for the business exhibition so it is just Coco and I with Youngest, Fiancée and Little Lady with Gordon & Blaze. The weather this week is due to be cold and raining again, although the sun did manage to break through the clouds for all of two seconds today! I am really hoping it is going to get better soon!
Wow last day of January already and it has been, to be quite honest, chaos as always! Getting myself ready for an eye op which did not happen (!), waiting for the safe arrival of our new Little Lady (she was late), getting back to work after a wonderful Christmas with our lovely family seemed harder this year and finally the weather. There has been quite a bit of rain but it has also been very cold, a lot colder than previous years, although we have avoided the very heavy snow. We have not done too much else, I always think of January as being a bit of a hibernation month after the fun of Christmas.
February is up next of course and as a little girl I always thought it was the longest month of the year, even though it can be three or two days shorter than all the rest! I think because it is the end of Winter and here in the Uk sometimes our weather in February can be worse. The swimming county championships have moved, AGAIN, and it is this weekend and next whereas normally it is the end of February so that has thrown me! I am definitely having my eye op done at the end of the month and will have to wait another four weeks until I am able to drive again!
Monday is Groundhog Day and will Phil see his shadow and we have six more weeks of Winter or not and we have an early Spring? I think he will see his shadow and we have six more weeks of winter!
February 17th is the start of the Chinese New Year and 2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse. This animal only comes around in a 60 year cycle and brings with it intense energy, independent and rapid transformation! It also says that it will bring with it a year of passion, ambition and volatile fast paced atmosphere which apparently encourages bold actions and significant although sometimes distruptive change! The way things are going in the World at the moment I would say that the Fire Horse has already been making itself known!
Of course not forgetting February 14th Valentines Day! Do you bother celebrating for those in relationships? In September this year DH and I will have been together for forty years and my love for him has never changed from day one. However I am not bothered about Valentines Day! I have always felt it was one of those days for the card suppliers to try and make more money out of everyone, especially after the Christmas period. Also we, as a family, do not tend to go out for meals on these types of days as the one time we did the food was dreadful, the place was full of course and the whole evening was just not good. This year it is on a Saturday so if anything DH and I will perhaps have a takeaway and curl up on the sofa with a film!
I hope you lovely lot had a good January and avoiding all the negative news that is out there at the moment and February will be kind to you. My Op is due on the 23rd so I am trying to get as much as possible done before hand and afterwards I will be relying on my trusty Book Beat subscription to keep me from going stir crazy! Have a wonderful weekend.
Today is Blue Monday apparently but I have been trying to change my mind set about January as I always associate January with Monday mornings! You know the feeling how Mondays feel and I always think January is like that, especially after a wonderful Christmas. However……
I think I will be changing my view because possibly tomorrow I may be having a macular hole repaired in my left eye! You know how I said that I would be leaving all medical things in 2025 and 2026 was going to be a much better year? Well it’s not! Apparently this type of problem with the eyes is often inherited (!) but after the Op is actually worse this time as I have to spend 45 minutes of every hour for five days with my head on my forearm which enables the gas they put in your eye to press on the hole for it to hopefully close! The Op is done under local again so I will be awake for it all!!!!
The other thing you need to know about me and eyes is I don’t do them! Whenever there is a film on with something about eyes I have to shut mine. I have worn glasses since I was eighteen for reading as I would never be able to put contact lenses in!!! Grr. The other thing is that it might not close and they have to do it all again and I cannot drive again for four weeks! Also I am not able to do anything whilst I have my head down so I will be utilising my over the head earphones and listening to some books to try and keep me sane!!!!!
On to more possitve things DH and I managed to get our garage finished with the decluttering and also tidied all the boxes so we are now able to see everything and it has all been labled. We also tidied the rest of the garage too and yesterday we did our attic so that is now complete. A job which began this time last year. We have managed to get rid of quite a bit, things we did not need or use, most to the Charity shop and the rest to the refuse centre. I also went through all my clothes at the weekend and got rid of some jumpers that I was not wearing and a couple of blouses again for the Charity shop. My final sweep of our home will be done when I do the Spring Cleaning later in the year.
I did very well for meals last week though! Jayne and I went out for lunch on Tuesday. We always try and go close to home at this time of year on the basis that we do not know what the weather is going to do. We have had a bit of snow already but it did not last long fortunately. We were okay with the weather and the pub we went to, we have been to several times before and the food is always good. There were a lot of people who had the same idea as it was quite busy. Then on Friday evening we went out to dinner with the Head Coach from swimming and his Mom, who I go out for lunch with also. It was a really nice evening and dinner was great.
The rest of this week all depends upon whether I have my eye Op tomorrow or not. If not then it is a quiet week with work and home jobs and a quiet weekend again too, but I am sure I can find some other jobs to do. If the Op does not happen tomorrow hopefully it will be next Monday.
I hope you are having a good January so far and I will let you know how things go tomorrow.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
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