Relaxing

 Relaxing now after a busy weekend!  Hubby had day off work on Friday for our Annual Christmas Shopping Spree.  Lists have been received rather on the late side this year, but I'm sure Father Christmas can sort things out in time!





 
Dan has been home from Uni, but we have not seen much of him as he has been at various 'Do's' with his girlfriend.  He has gone back to Uni now, where he is going to another 'Do' with his Uni pals!  We did have a nice evening on Friday though, sharing a very tasty Chinese meal.                                                        

Yesterday I spent some time wrapping presents, and today I have written Christmas cards so hopefully we are well on track. Bit unimpressed with the new tags we bought recently - I like to keep the tin nicely stocked up with a variety of gift tags... but these new ones open the wrong way!!  My peeps say it doesn't matter and I suppose it doesn't.  😐

Also yesterday I painted the roses on the table. Doing another coat tomorrow.

 

Regarding Hillary's letter, I decided to call her and ask for her email.  I'm sure you wondered why I didn't do that in the first place, but that's not what we've done in the past.  Anyway -  that's all sorted and I can take my "Letter for Hillary" to-do note off the front of my organiser.  Finally!!  It has been there all year.  😌 

Suzie has been working on her personal statement for Uni, and has had a couple of mock exams.

Don't see much of Barbara any more, I miss the laughs and wondering whether my new shoes will look good on her patio.

Hope Dan enjoys his evening.

 

Red Roses

Finally I have completed both of the bistro chairs and now I can focus on the table.  In between the rain showers today, I used the wire brush to get rid of the loose paint and I threw a couple of watering can fulls of warm water over it.  Then I brought it inside to dry it off and set about painting the 1st coat. 

Looks like it had been blue at some time or other, you can just see bits of blue paint underneath

Definitely going to paint the roses red, but do I leave some of this darker green showing through for the leaves??  Hmmm, might be a bit too fiddly.  I'll have a think before doing the second coat tomorrow.

Write Soon!

Have spent all day writing a letter to an ex-work colleague, Hillary.  She sends a letter with her Christmas card every year.  I try to do the same, but last year I just ran out of time and had to get her card in the post without having written a letter.  I did however make a rash promise that I would write 'soon'.  Big mistake!

Here we are 12 months later and I am desperately trying to put a letter together before I receive this year's card with yet another letter!

I have typed it, as once I started I seemed to have quite a lot to tell her and I wanted to add photos to make up for it being this late!  But adding the photos has been a right old struggle - kept knocking the text out of sync.  Nightmare.  Anyway I have done it now - but have we got any ink?? No!!  So Hubby will have to print it out at work for me and then I need to get to a post office because I want to send it recorded delivery. ( After having waited 2 months for Dan's original birth certificate to make its way back to us, I am more than a little nervous using the postal service.)   I'll let you know if I manage to send my letter before I receive mail from Hillary!  The race is on..!!

They're up!!

The decs are up!!  Had a really lovely day, all has gone smoothly!  Suzie has been playing her Christmas playlist for us to create a festive mood..  Dan and his girlfriend were here in plenty of time, for him to do his washing(!), construct the tree with Hubby and decorate it with Suzie.  I have been unsure of what to expect regarding this year's Christmas preparations - with Dan in University.  We would have understood if things couldn't be done in the usual way, but it would have been rather sad.   It did feel a little different as Dan's girlfriend was helping this year, but it felt right and it was a lovely sight to see the three of them dressing the tree.  Dan and Suzie also have their own little trees which they sorted, and the stair bannisters are always adorned with tinsel right to the top of the house!  Hubby was busy sorting the outside lights - he likes to have lights in the bush along the path to the front door. He'd have them there all year round if I'd agree to it!   The main living room window lights needed more attention this year.  I don't mind a mass of colour, but for the window it has to be a tidy mass of colour, so we have pulled the netting slightly tighter to keep the lights more in line!   

Yes, it has been a lovely day.  However, something is missing - where are those Christmas lists that I said needed to be in by the end of today??! 

Advent

Yummy December 1st at last!!  Been waiting to open my Advent Calendar! 

Yum!

Dan arrived home from Uni this morning.. his lectures had gone on too late yesterday to drive home - he was hungry and tired.  This morning however he seemed refreshed and we managed to have a chat before he was swept away by his girlfriend to meet her newly acquired puppy.  I'm sure she will bring him back tomorrow in time to assist with Christmas decorations, before he needs to travel back to Uni.  We miss him.


Suzie has been to singing and drama today, hubby has taken his car through the car wash.

I have been pottering.  Have put my wildlife camera out by the mousehole.  I have read that they leave a trail of leaves so that they can find their way back home quickly and safely.  It has been amusing over the last couple of days to see a small pile of leaves on the ground right outside their 'front door', possibly creating a barrier against this cold weather.  It was decidedly colder this morning and there was one leaf slapped right against the wall over the mousehole.  So funny, would love to have seen them placing it there.  So anyway, maybe I'll get some pics if they venture out when it gets dark.

Yes you can just make out a little nose poking out from behind the leaf!! 

Here he is a on his way back home after a midnight outing!

Thursday Already!

Not much to report.. JJ came round last evening for a chat, but couldn't stay long.  Weather is grim - the bird seed was blown everywhere yesterday so had to take the main feeder down.  Desperately do not want to attract another rat family, so I was trying to brush it up as best I could, whilst fighting to stay upright against the wind!  One of the garden gates kept opening, which produced potential risk to the fencing, so I jammed it shut.  Then realised I had hindered the neighbours' access to the rear of their property.  The gate isn't solid so they managed to reach through to push the restricting garden bench out of the way, but I felt a bit rubbish and kept a low profile for the rest of the afternoon... 👀

Here are some more pics from my walk with Hubby the other week -

Early Start

 I had an earlier start to my day than planned as Suzie missed the school bus!  First time ever so I can't complain!  After I'd got back from driving her, thought I might as well get on with painting the first coat on 2nd bistro chair... 

Good Evening!

How was your Monday?  Mine was pretty unproductive and I am disappointed that I have not completed the first coat of paint on the second bistro chair.  I'm aiming to have both coats finished by the end of the week.

Need to start thinking about Christmas - at least we all have advent calendars now, that's a start!

I have some pics for you.. Hubby had a day off recently and we went for a lovely walk.  Too many pics to post at once, but here are a few...

So Proud

Well, here we are at the end of a busy and amazing two weeks.  How proud we are of daughter Suzie, for her poise and elegance in last week's musical and for her outstanding solo performances in this week's musical.  She has worked so hard and finally she was given the opportunity to show everyone the confidence and ability that we as a family have always seen.  And wow did she smash it!!  💖

1st Chair Completed!

Second coat in a slightly lighter green. 

Happy Monday!

Thought I'd show you today's progress with one of the chairs from the bistro set!  Really pleased actually.  This is the first coat, second one still to do.  Unfortunately won't be able to do anything with it tomorrow, as I am working all day, but I will be back at it on Wednesday 😃

Catchup and Garden Journal

Hello after a very busy week!  We have been ferrying daughter Suzie to and from the Theatre where she has been performing with her local Musical Theatre group.  They have worked very hard and produced an amazingly professional performance.  Monday they were practising with the orchestra, Tuesday was the Tech run, Wednesday was full dress rehearsal, then performances were Thurs, Fri and 2 on Sat.  Dan and his girlfriend came with Hubby and I last evening for the final performance.  We had booked our tickets months ago and had forgotten we had booked front seats.  Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and Suzie looked perfect in her outfits.

Another busy week ahead, as we have the school musical to look forward to.

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Hoping to get the chance to do a bit of upcycling - I spent my pocket money on a 'pre-loved' garden bistro set!  Hubby has got me a wire brush for cleaning/preparation and I chose what hopefully will be a fairly bright green metal paint.  The table is quite ornate with a rose design - this will be my favourite bit and I already have the red paint for that.  Here's how it looks at the moment, stored by Hubby's shed...

Here are some more pics from my garden journal...

This is one of the cute little mice that appear and disappear into a hole in the dividing wall between us and nextdoor.  I think it's a wood mouse/field mouse, rather than a house mouse?  So cute 💗

Here we have Rattie, one of a family of rats that were probably attracted by the seeds dropped from the main bird feeder.  For a while, we were only aware of the one rat and you have to admit he/she is rather cute.  However, when multiple baby rats began appearing we realised the situation was not ideal!  Hubby made so many trips to release the babies that wandered into the humane traps we put out.  Following nightly path disinfecting and excess bird food removal, we are currently rat-free!

One of the many baby rats!

 

This is Shrewie!  Isn't he lovely?! Action camera caught him popping out for a rare daylight forage!  He appears from the same hole that the mice use.  I suppose there must be a lot of connecting tunnels within the wall.  Fascinating!

This guy was on the inside of the kitchen window recently.  Kindly agreed to a photoshoot before gracefully flying off in no particular hurry!

Found this pretty lady struggling away in the birds' water dish.  I scooped her out and let her dry her wings off a bit before placing her in the petunia flower basket.

  

Was surprised to spot this majestic visitor to my little old garden a couple of months ago.  Wasn't really impressed with what he was having for lunch, it took me ages to clear up all the feathers he had plucked, but that's nature I suppose. 😟

One of my favourite afternoons ever!  Dan and his girlfriend found this tiny cutie on our front path.  He didn't seem able to fly and one eye was closed.  (From cctv footage, we later discovered he had flown into one of our windows.)  He let me scoop him up and I popped him into one of Suzie's hamster cages that we had stored away.  I sat with him all afternoon, talking to him and offering him water.  He sat on my hands and then cuddled up on my shoulder!  Couldn't believe that he was letting me so near.  Wonderful experience.  Slowly but surely he regained his flying confidence, and was flying around the room.  I waited just long enough for Hubby and Suzie to get home so that they could meet him, but then we had to let him go.  I took him to one of the bird feeders, so that maybe he would find his way back to us.  And off he flew. And there were tears!  I loved him straight away and hope he will visit again one day!   

Here he is feeling a bit better.  Isn't he so gorgeous?