Monday - Friday

 Sorry I didn't reply to all comments yesterday. I think the rain affected the wifi connection as everything went slow.

Typical! was my thought on Monday morning when I felt the en-suite radiator and found it stone cold, that was after I'd looked out of the bedroom window and seen the ice on the car windscreen. I pulled on some clothes, coat and hat and went to the garage to look at the boiler - yep - low pressure light was on and, Thank Heavens, that's the one boiler problem I've learned how to solve in my 2½ years here.

After I'd got warmed up and had breakfast it seemed like a good idea to do another thing I've had to learn  since Colin died - checking the car tyres and putting some air in. It's easy now I've got a hand-held battery powered compressor thing - it looks like a battery drill and the instructions, which I have to read every time I use it, are in plain English.

The cold weather didn't last and the rest of the week was milder with some damp mornings but I zoomed round the back grass one afternoon before the battery ran out again on the mower - it's not holding it's charge so long nowadays. Another job done this week was to give the inside of the greenhouse glass a good wash, I'm ready for next spring now except for the worst job of washing all the pots. I'll do that inside the greenhouse sometime using the water butt full of water that's in there all summer as a basic sort of heat-sink.

No exercise group again as the electrical work at the village hall had over run (No surprise there then!) So a trip out for a visit and for shopping and a walk up the road for a haircut and library van were my only outings.  

Friday was the day that we got the heavy rain that had been talked about all week and rain it certainly did.  This was what happened just  a few yards down the road on the corner.

The little ditch that usually has no water running through it was overwhelmed  by water running off the fields - the sewer pumping station is not far away on the right of this photo below - very worrying!

Water was coming up out of the drains

and 4 x 4's were going through gently

and it got worse a few hours after this photo. I was very glad I hadn't booked a swim as I wouldn't have got home and might not have even got to the pool anyway as there are several places on the way there that probably flooded. 

At midday I texted son to tell him that I'd heard that my village was more or less cut off for small cars and he'd probably have to use the works van to pick up Daughter-in- Law from our primary school here and the children from their primary/pre school in the next village. He rang back a while later to say schools had been closed  and said he'd had to try 2 different ways to get from his office to our village and been through rivers running down roads between our village and the children's school. There was a transit van floating in one place! and worse news was that they had no water out of the taps in their part of their village. I straight away filled up some jugs - just in case. This is all very unusual for Suffolk.

Very glad that my bungalow is several feet up above road level and a good thing that there were no burials being prepared on the burial ground over the road, the mini digger would have made a right ol' mess getting through the gate - coffins would have floated in any graves dug!

Places in Scotland had even more flooding than our little bit of Suffolk and I really feel for the people who've had to move out of their homes and will be going back to a dreadful mess.

 I'd thought about visiting another  National Trust property this weekend before their times change for winter but the heavy rain will have caused floods everywhere so maybe not.. I'll definitely be watching the second semi-final of the Rugby World Cup when England play South Africa. England have done so well to get to the last 4 as they were more or less written off after their poor performances in their pre-tournament friendlies. I've managed to watch nearly all the games but can England  beat South Africa ? that is the question.

 Hope you all have a good weekend.

I'll be back Monday with Octobers library book photo

Sue.

The Fifth Year

I can hardly believe that it's five years today since Colin died aged just 61. That was  after having hardly a day off work until the heart problems in 2013  and then the Mantle Cell Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma was diagnosed in 2015.

Two grandchildren have been born since he died and I moved house and have settled into a way of life that seems to be OK most of the time.

Last year I wrote about the things I'd learned from four years being a widow and another year on my feelings are much the same.

I still have a hard shell around me and find it difficult to get involved in any way with illness of friends and family even though it makes me feel so selfish. 

Goodness knows what will happen when it's my turn to be  ill.....maybe I'll be one of those people found in their house weeks later when the neighbours notice the flies!!

 And now I've upset someone by deciding I couldn't cope with going to a wedding on my own - it's not in Suffolk and would have needed an overnight stay so the person giving me a lift could join in with the drinking and it would have meant quite a while between times waiting around on my own. I'm considered odd to that part of the family as I don't do alcohol.

Oh well.

This is how I love to remember Colin - up to his elbows in grease and dirt mending the Fiat tractor at the smallholding . A Photo from October 2013.

Striding ahead of me whenever we went out for a walk

Best of all he liked any job that involved driving a bit of machinery - in this photo he is driving a neighbours tractor on the field next to the smallholding - working for another farmer

Colin is still missed by me and our children every day and will never be forgotten or replaced.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Downsizing at the Right Time

 When to downsize - that was the question after Colin died. I would have loved to stay at Clay Cottage but it just had too many problems waiting to happen and the never ending driving everywhere got more and more annoying once I was on my own. 

Plus there's the fact that one person just doesn't need an acre of land to care for and a big council tax bill every April.

 

So when I found that there were so few houses for sale due to the year of covid and those that were for sale were fetching a good price and selling quickly I put the house on the market and it's sale was agreed so soon that I had to find something else without delay.

 

 I'd previously joked with the family that I would buy one of the new builds in Bacton, because they were planned for a field conveniently in between the shop and the doctors with a pub just over the road and the village hall 200 yards away. But no one knew when they would be started. I looked at new builds in the village where son and family live but the decent sized houses were expensive and the whole estate seemed very squashed together plus the houses I liked had huge trees at the back.

So I gave up looking for new and decided I didn't really need a house with 4 bedrooms, and after looking at half a dozen houses, I found this bungalow in one of the villages I was happy  to move to.

When I moved here someone in blogland wanted a floor-plan of the bungalow and I've finally got around to drawing a rough sketch. It's not exactly to scale (the kitchen and living room are not as wide as they look on the plan and the two back bedrooms are a bit narrower) but just an idea of  sizes and where the rooms are.

Explaining why I'm moving the en-suite to the front of the bungalow as a toilet that you can't use when the electric goes off is just silly

Selling then was a good move because since then the 80 houses on the estate between shop and doctors in Bacton have been started and they are not building any bungalows  and the 2 bedroom homes are selling for the same price as this bungalow was a year ago!

 There's another small estate in Bacton also being built just around the corner from the first one and there a 3 bedroom bungalow is selling for £100,000 more than I paid for this place and it isn't so big.

Look how small the Living/Dining room is.

I'm glad I didn't wait for them to start building in Bacton and picked a good time to sell so that it worked out well in the end.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

( Blue Sky) Thinking...........

............is very enjoyable on a blue sky sunny day but my thoughts were worrying . ( Not worrying in a really worried sort-of way, just in an "I need to sort this out" kind of way)

When Colin died 4 years ago I was 63 and  remember saying to someone that if I kept well I might live for another 15 or 20 years on my own and whatever would I do with myself? It seemed such a frightening prospect.

Another thought came to me, something a friend, who developed MS much too young and was quite poorly right from the start, said to me at the beginning of her long battle. She said "it was important not to give up and retire too early" - she kept going out and about when ever she was well enough right to  the end of her life.

One of the things I had written in my diary for last weekend was Open Gardens In Eye, but in the end I didn't go -it didn't appeal enough to take me out on my own. But that made me think about J. Her husband P. was Col's boss for a long time in the Suffolk County Council Bridge Office. He was less than 10 years older than Colin and retired at 60 and then had a brain tumour and died a few years later. J came to see us at the smallholding one day and said she'd been on one of the Open Garden visits in a village nearby  and realised that if she didn't sort herself out, visiting gardens would be the only excitement for the next 20 years. So she bought herself a camper-van and carried on doing the things that she had done previously when P was alive..

Made me wonder................Have I retired too early? Am I mouldering away in my bungalow - going out to things just for the sake of it? Is my life going to be the same for the next 15 years? I don't feel particularly bored and never have been, I enjoy the things I do but should there be More or Something Else! ( not a man for sure - couldn't replace the one I had!)

Or maybe it's because I've not had a proper holiday for many years. I've always said that there's no point going on holiday when you're retired and live alone, because any day could be a holiday, but of course it doesn't work like that. 

 Like I said,  need to think about this and sort myself out before I get any older!

So................this weekend? ............Car boot sales  if the weather is fine and there's a Flower Festival in the Church and an Art show in the school in a nearby village. I visited it in 2019 and hope to go again, because I do enjoy an art show. 

Then maybe I'll do something very surprising!? but what?

Back on Monday - God Willing

Sue

 

Four Years A Widow ....What I've Learned

 Yesterday marked my 4th year as a widow - this is what I've learned - (this is just me and I'm guessing everyone's experience is different) 

I've never wanted to be a weak and pathetic widow so have tried to avoid depending on other people

A lot of time is spent  alone - so best get used to it

I seem  to  have put a bit of a hard shell around myself ...protection

People don't expect you to be widowed aged under 70

To start with I found some things are OK to go to on your own but other events for families can make you feel very lonely which isn't a good idea, although I'm getting used to it now.

The only way to get through the grief is to just get on with things. Grief doesn't stop so it's no good waiting for it to go away.

I'm glad I always managed  the finances and paid bills etc - would have been hard otherwise

No one can replace the person you've spent all your life with

Find a friendly garage to look after your car (unless you are a mechanic yourself!)

Crying is no help at all, nor is stamping your feet and shouting "Its' Not Fair" 

You will get through - as the alternative isn't an option.

Treasure your loved ones ....they don't always survive as long as you hope.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

2 Years Ago

Well, it's the 11th May and I've been on my own for 2 years now. Thank goodness we didn't have Covid 19 back then with no families being able to visit people in hospital and hardly anyone allowed at funerals. I feel so sad for the people who've had a loss in the family at the moment - a 'proper' goodbye and funeral is one of the things needed to help with the grief I reckon.

The loss of someone you've spent nearly 40 years with isn't easy that's for sure. It leaves a Bloody Great Hole.

But mostly I'm OK, there's really no choice.

The family, the grandchildren, the garden, books to read and my friendly blog readers have helped me through.

Thank you.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

PS  Thank you Debbie I now have your address - that's all four parcels now ready to go.

What was I doing ..............

............................... last week, while not writing daily blog posts?

 I wrote and posted some thank you notes
Filled in my 2020 diary with birthdays etc.
Took down the Christmas tree and shoved it back in it's box and bags
Untangled the Christmas lights and got them back in boxes
Took down the Christmas cards, sorted the bits that make shopping lists and put the rest for re-cycling.
Chopped some kindling
Picked up twigs for kindling from the meadow
Did my seed order.
Went to Asda for a bit of shopping
Popped to Ipswich town centre
and visited two Suffolk churches
Shifted wood into the woodshed


 I also read all the new posts from  everyone's  blogs and  all the comments on my January 1st post and there was one that made me sad....

It said..........
 "Well hope this decade is better for you, growing old alone is shit for me, there seems little point in life but you seem to find your way through so hope it all goes well . Sarah in Dorset"

What would your reply be?

Thinking about growing old alone........... Maybe I'm lucky but on a normal day I don't feel alone or lonely now and I can't worry about growing old because it's going to happen anyway and I have no idea how I'll be affected but what to say to Sarah in Dorset?
I really hope that Sarah too can find a way through and get past the thoughts of there being little point in life............that just sounds so awfully sad.
 

Back Tomorrow
Sue

The 11th Of The Month

The bonfire and fireworks  get together on Saturday evening was, I think, a  success. I needed someone to help me with burning up the big heap of hedge cuttings and other non-compostables  that had just got bigger and bigger since Colin died. Having a good bonfire was one of his favourite jobs, so not something I got involved in and I was a bit nervous of doing a fire on my own.

BiL arrived in daylight to sort out the heap and check for hedgehogs and when everyone else arrived we had Hot dogs, pizza and party Indian nibbles before going out to light the fire.

BiL and Son set off the fireworks and we found the  cheaper fireworks for home are slightly underwhelming and MUCH quieter than the huge noisy and expensive ones they have at the big village events, but more fun. The two little girls weren't frightened by the muted bangs, crackles and fizzes and the whole event took me back 50+ years to family November 5ths with Mum, Dad, Sister, Grandad and the neighbours.


 


































 It seems apt to be remembering those who are no longer around on the 11th of the 11th and can you believe its now exactly 18 months since Colin died? on the 11th May 2018. Sometimes it seems longer and sometimes just like last week.  I'm not sure about "time healing", I think the sadness stays but just gets further away and, mostly, not quite so raw.

I was thinking about the 11th of the Month. So many things have happened on the 11th of a month in our family..............Col's birthday was on 11th early in the year, his funeral was on the 11th a month after he died on 11th and his Mum died on the 11th of the 11th, several years ago. My nephew has a birthday on a different 11th and then eldest granddaughter was born on the 11th too.

Very strange.


Thank you to everyone for the kind comments on Saturday's post. Don't get too excited by my (sort-of) challenge, it won't be as serious as Sue-in-Wales' challenges and I've now got to eat all the left-over non-local food from Saturday first!!

More photos of two little cousins at Nana's House, when I see these two together I always wish Eldest daughter and family lived closer so they could join in too.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Snag Tights

PLEASE NOTE - this post is NOT sponsored and I'm not expecting anything in return!

I try to avoid wearing dresses  because I hate wearing tights - for one reason - they NEVER fit, anything big enough for thighs has meant a gigantic top that comes up right over my bra and then falling down to wrinkly at the ankles like Nora Batty..........Not a pretty sight.

 I wear leggings and tunics (shorts in summer) most of the time and only possess three dresses - one black and white dressy  cotton for summer weddings or funerals, one simple cornflower blue long dress for summer BBQs or similar occasions and one navy and sparkly bought for Son's winter wedding.

When the new WI  Life magazine arrived (that's the national magazine for WI members) it had an advert page for  Snag Tights................Tights that finally fit!

I had a look on line and they have photos of real people wearing their TIGHTS with their height and what size they are wearing  plus a chart where you decide what body shape you need for your height. So I thought I'd send for a pair, more in hope than expectation. They are not cheap like you could pick up in a supermarket if you are a "normal" shape, but on the other hand if they fitted it could open up a whole new world of things I can wear.

They do all sorts of colours (takes me back to the 1980s when I was thinner and often wore green or red tights)I decided to go for the thicker tights for winter, in navy blue. They arrive promptly and  came in a thick paper envelope and inside wrapped in tissue paper, no plastic  anywhere.

 And they fit...........properly...........no falling down............and the waist is where the waist should be.


Yippee do!

Now I need more dresses!


Back Tomorrow
Sue

Mending the Workshop Door

A few weeks ago I asked Col's brother if he could find an hour to mend the bottom of the workshop door as it was looking very  rotten with bits falling off. Unfortunately he couldn't spare the time because  he'd just decided to start knocking his house about to find the old fireplace in the living room where he wants to put in a wood-burner ... before he retires in a few years and because very soon no one is going to be allowed to put a wood-burner in a house for the first time (I didn't know that) and as he spends all his weekends hauling and cutting wood to sell so has a ready supply of free wood.
He said he would find me a bit of metal to cover the door and I could do it myself!
I gave him the measurements and he found a bit of metal at work and drilled some holes in it for me ready to fix it on.

I started by clearing away the soil and grass from around the bottom of the door. Room for mice and rats to get in. I don't really want rats chewing the ride-on mower cables!

I used some pieces of wood for the plate to sit on to get it in the right place. Drilled some small holes to help the screws go in easier. I thought I was bound to find plenty of metal washers to sit beneath the screw heads but had to search through several boxes of odds and ends to find enough - good thing I hadn't chucked them out.
Eventually I got all the screws in through lots of the holes BiL had drilled. The bottom hinge side was too rotten to fix.

 Ta Dah!

 Andrew found me the brown mastic and mastic gun that he'd used when he'd linked two water butts together for me. But I couldn't squeeze the gun thing hard enough to get the mastic out, so sealed the top edge of the plate with some white bathroom mastic sealer I had in the garage.It will have to do for now.

Took me ages to do, but it should stop anymore bits falling off the bottom of the door and keep out everything except the smallest mice......I hope.


Back Tomorrow
Sue


 

After the Show and Harvest

A completely different weekend to the week before with sunshine on Saturday for Bacton Fayre and on Sunday so I could visit the small local boot sale.

I was too shattered when I got back from Bacton Fayre to even think about loading the car to take all the workshop stuff to sell at the boot-sale so will have to hope for another fine Sunday.... Fingers crossed for next weekend. But I did have the energy to nip down to have a look round.

I picked up some more wooden railway bits for £3. I think there is now enough to give some to Florence for Christmas  and for Willow (+ new baby) for the future, Jacob has already  had some.  I got the two packs of Christmas pot-pourri for £1.50........... something for the hampers I think. The 12 piece jigsaw in a tin for a grandchild was £1, as was the book - one I hadn't come across before (and as Sue-in-Wales-and-England  said the other day........ sometimes the cover sells the book!)

On Friday they started to cut  the wheat field beside the house and when I went out on Saturday the combine was back to carry on and by the time I got home they were starting to bale it and Sunday morning the tractor and baler was out again. Rapid Harvests nowadays.

Once the field is baled and cleared it will soon be prepared for whatever next....... probably oil-seed rape and that means summer is ending and autumn coming quickly.

There is one problem with having such a good day out on Saturday and that is the flat feeling and loneliness afterwards, Sunday and Monday felt very low and then looking forward to autumn like this I sometimes wonder what on earth I've got to look forward to now without Colin, but  luckily by the time I'd gone to WI on Monday evening and then called in to deliver prize winning cake to Colin's brother I was back to normal again. Cheered up and ploughing onwards! Then I got even more cheered up when I watched, on iplayer, the "Who do you think you are?" featuring Jack Whitehall and his Dad, his reaction to the distant relative True Blue Tory was very funny.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

One Year On

A year ago today was the awful day when Colin died. In the third year of treatment for Mantle Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma the end came suddenly after what we thought would be just a week in hospital on antibiotics like he'd had so many times before. But this time he didn't get home again.

It's been a strange year since then - that's Suffolk Understatement! and this last week especially hard, back to loneliness with a bump after the holiday with family and  then a Bank Holiday Weekend, when everything  always seems to be organised  for families and couples to enjoy, but not for people alone.................  I didn't know that some days would feeler harder to get through now than they did a year ago.

 I've learned a lot in a year........ how to do things I couldn't do before, how to organise jobs that Colin would have taken care of. I've also found that some people who you think will help actually don't and some friends can't cope with being a friend to a single person. I'm really glad I have children and grandchildren to help fill the hollow empty-ness, something that is so difficult to describe and unlikely to be filled by anything.

But I've have got through a year by myself and life goes on and on the whole I've found out how to manage alone. My way is to find things I like doing, to keep busy and to make life as interesting but as normal as possible.

So there's no point dwelling on sadness, it won't make Colin come back and as it's Saturday again here's the happy things  I did last week............................

😊Flower "arranging" .........................I brought in the last of the tulips from the cutting garden


 

😊Bargain hunting....................... last Saturday, around a village which had garage/yard sales but blimey the wind was cold. I found a lovely Gap cardigan for Willow for £1 (no point in knitting......not that I can........when secondhand finds are as cheap and good quality as this); a Duplo truck; more books for the grandchildren and a little step to go by the toilet for Jacobs next visit. Then it started to snow! which turned to hail and  rain and I went home to keep warm and watch the snooker.

😊Gardening................sorting the outside pots and then mainly in the greenhouse, putting the tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and peppers into the big pots and fixing up canes. On Bank Holiday Monday morning I planned to tackle the grass cutting but found both the ride-on and the small mower had flat batteries.....(Duh! note to self - put batteries on charge more often) so that job had to wait until afternoon and luckily it stayed fine although very grey and cold.  Looking at the rows that should be beetroot seedlings there are huge gaps - I've never had much luck with sowing things straight into the ground which is why we had His and Her jobs at the smallholding. I'll try and fill the gaps with more seeds. Courgettes have been planted out and covered with a plastic tunnel cloche. Squash and peas have been sown in pots in the greenhouse ....a bit late really but they'll catch up hopefully. I bought some cheap flower plug plants from Asda for the shabby chic ladder then discovered all the things I used to plant things in that fit on the ladder steps have fallen to bits/gone rotten/vanished.

 ☔☔☔Keeping dry and warm.........................we've had plenty of rain now - it can stop please, as the water butts are all full and as well as rain it's been chilly all week. 🔥I lit the wood-burner a couple of times.


 The forecast for the weekend is better and warmer for next week too - hope it's right so I can get out to some boot sales.

I really have to think hard to find things to be grateful for this week, not the best of weeks.........

• Rain for the gardens after several weeks dry
• A lovely collection of library books 
• My home in the peace and quiet of the Suffolk Countryside

Hope you all have a good weekend, tell your loved ones that you love them.......often.                                                                      

Back Monday
Sue

Another Week

Some weeks are good, I get through without thinking too much about the great big hole in my life, other weeks are not so good, everything is hard work and the future just looks lonely and never ending. The beginning of the week just gone was like that, I don't know why because I went swimming as usual, did my stint at the charity shop as usual, read a lot, planned some blog posts, watched TV as usual, started a new jigsaw, got out for a short walk, shopped, did some housework ...... but then by Friday I was OK again so there is no rhyme nor reason to sadness hitting for a few days.

The only plan is to grit teeth and just get on with life and with car boots starting and spring somewhere around the corner perhaps all of next week will seem better.

I'll be there most weeks now, But not at 7am! walking round, searching for interesting things...... unless it rains, snows or something else happens to put me off....or until I get fed up with seeing the same old stuff!

Better think about what I'm looking out for and what's NOT needed this year.......must make a list, always a list!
 
The Six Nations Rugby, which I enjoy watching on TV and is a signal of spring arriving  has started too and  I have got through the worst month of the year all on my own. It was a test this winter to see how I would manage up the end of a lane - would I feel the need to move into a village? (or heaven help me, a town!) but No, it's OK. I don't mind coming home in the dark to an empty house - although Polly is always pleased to see me and I've kept warm, coping with lugging wood about etc etc.
 Of course there's still the chance of getting snowed in but I have food enough and plenty of split wood for the fire. Earlier this winter I bought a re-chargable lantern to go with my wind-up radio in case of electric going off and I always have a stock of candles.  Touch wood it's been OK so far this winter. I also keep some bottled water in the freezer because there have been lots of burst pipes locally.
 Think I have it all covered 😊


Many thanks for comments this week and the ones I found late which I've now replied to and hello to new followers, hope you enjoy reading.

Have a good weekend
Back Monday
Sue

Fixed it Myself

To anyone who is handy with drills and screwdrivers and bits of wood the small job I did the other day is peanuts and not worth a mention. But I wasn't handy with DIY stuff, I didn't need to be, I had a husband who loved fiddling and fixing so he did it all,  as he would have said "by the time I'd have explained how to do it I could have done it myself"

During the summer I noticed the wood staging in the greenhouse was sagging on one side.
  The tiny bit of wood that should have been holding it up wasn't man enough to support the weight of 6 pots of peppers and 5 pots of aubergines I'd got growing.

Less than an inch wasn't big enough to support the staging

  I couldn't do anything except prop it up until all the pots were taken out.

After clearing the peppers out  last weekend I was able to have a go at fixing a new bit of wood to hold up the staging and eventually after a couple of attempts I succeeded. I had to use the drill with a wood drill bit to drill through the block, find a long screw and screw it through the wood and into the greenhouse.

The new bit is an inch and a half..................much stronger

The Ta Da ! moment!

I thought this was a job that was going to need brother-in-law's help, so I'm feeling quite chuffed.

The next thing I want to have a go at is replacing the lock on the garage door.
Should be another learning curve

Back Tomorrow
Sue

One Week into October and More Expense

First week of October gone already.

Job Done......................
I got the paint out for the downstairs bathroom, didn't have to buy any - just  used what was left from doing my bedroom, it only took a couple of hours and looks tons better. I had to stick the skirting board on with gorilla glue and do lots of filling as there were gaps where either the wall or the skirting board weren't straight. Then painted skirting and door frame  and by the end of Monday that was another room finished. I'm pleased with what's been done here regarding bath and shower rooms, everything is much more sensible now.

Grrrrrrrr........twice..............
I wasted nearly 45 minutes of my life traveling 8 miles further on than the village with the swimming pool so as to visit a church, only to find it was locked, with a phone number to ring but as I wanted to get to the pool on time for the over 50's hour I couldn't stop to ring. Huntingfield church ....outside view only

 One of the villages I went through on the way home had a speed-camera  van half hidden in a gateway, I should have been going 30mph,  might have been going 34mph - Oh Dear. That might mean a fine and speed awareness course! Then I thought "Oh well - something else to write about on the blog!!" And if I do get a fine and have to do a course Col would have been livid as he was always moaning at me for letting my speed creep up over 30 through villages, just because  he spent 40+ years driving round Suffolk and never got caught for speeding once!

Yum................................
Monday night was the Birthday meal for big WI. (99 years) It was at a pub in Big WI village. I'd chosen a chicken something followed by Eton mess. I remembered why I don't like going out for meals with a huge group (over 30 of us)- too much sitting and waiting. Service was sooooooo  slow. Some people had starters so the rest of us had to wait even longer. There is a new chef at this pub apparently and the meal was all fancy.  What they call presentation I call faffing about! I'm not sure what the round potato thing was, sort of a cross between mash and roast. Presented with a few pea shoots and a piece of  chicken breast with something stuffed in it, then cut in half and stood on end. (can you tell I wasn't impressed? Although I will admit the chicken was very tender).
The Eton mess was delicious ........see empty plate!

 My back was very painful from 2½ hours very upright on a hard chair so I didn't stay for the coffee and  entertainment which was I think was two old blokes doing sea shanties! ( or something similar)

Going, going, gone..........................................
More things went out of the house this week - a small selection of my clothes that haven't been worn for about 5 years - most came from charity shops in the first place so have now gone back plus yet another bag of books that I've tried on ziffit several times but they've not wanted them. Also another small box that ziffit did want - just £9 worth but better than nothing. From the workshop two old wire brushes and a couple more random small bits went into the bin.
I also turned some more 3D decoupage sheets into birthday cards.

Grass....................
Thursday was a beautiful day, dry and warm so I got both mowers out and did everywhere - hopefully for the last time this year.

And the Expense?
Well, we knew some of the infrastructure here was a bid odd and Col said a few times that he thought the hot water system wasn't right and too complicated, and when it was repaired last year we were told that it was a set up that isn't used anymore. So when the pressure of hot water out of the taps got slower and slower over the last couple of months I knew something needed mending. In theory the company who did the shower and bath stuff ought to have been able to do the water but they didn't seem very keen and I wasn't keen on them doing more here anyway. So I rang the company who did solar thermal at the smallholding but they've stopped doing anything to do with thermal systems. But I did get a phone number of another specialised heating and plumbing company and the man came and looked and tutted - as they do - and told me the bad news which I was expecting. I need a whole new simpler hot water tank without the strange system which they no longer use which involves a coil thingy which is full of lime scale.
 The quote arrived...................not cheap, but it has to be done.


I keep forgetting to say welcome to  new followers, number 422 and 423, hope you enjoy reading.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, weather forecast a bit iffy here

Apologies for not replying to any comments yesterday - ran out of time. I'll catch up with myself sometime!

 Back Monday
 Sue

Another Week Bites the Dust

 Apart from the off/on/off/on work in the downstairs bathroom  not a lot happened. No one turned up Thursday so I rang up Again............. " having trouble sourcing a small enough pedestal or wall hung basin"........WHAT, come on, this is 2018 - anything and everything is source-able surely. No one turned up Friday either so I rang up AGAIN " should be delivered here Monday will get it fitted first thing Tuesday as long as it arrives on time". Oh good, once that done the bathroom is finished.

Meanwhile I washed some flower pots, went swimming and shopping and the boiler got serviced - another thing done before winter. Heating oil was ordered and I bought a new washing up bowl and washing basket - I really know how to treat myself!

Weeding two of  the vegetable beds  was done early in the week while the sun shone - it soon got a bit too warm and I retired inside to finish a book.  This author has written dozens of books and this one combines characters from two of her series to solve the disappearance of a student 20 years ago. A quick easy read.

I went to Small WI one evening to hear a really good speaker, although she didn't speak much but got us all making a flower brooch from ribbon.  Originally from Australia she always wanted to make hats but was persuaded by her very conventional Australian/Greek parents to become an architect. Then she came here to work and met her English teacher husband, had 3 children and then eventually realised her dream and went on art and  millinery courses to learn the hat making craft.  Her business is called  "Madge Hatter" and she works with a friend who does hair and make up to create wonderful hats, fascinators  and tiaras for brides and bridesmaids and anyone else who wants something unique . She was very funny and delightfully OTT....... She told us she once wore a tiara to go to a quiz night at her children's school. Just because!
This is my rather poor copy of what she made - took her a few minutes - took the rest of us all evening! It has a brooch pin on the back.

T'was a bit windy mid-week............  Daughter and Florence popped over for a couple of hours and I worried in case there were trees down on their way home.

Cooked a meal for Col's brother one night and got him to demonstrate using the drill so I could finally get pictures up in my bedroom. I was so excited to finally learn a new skill. For 38 years I held the hoover pipe while Col drilled the hole, should have learned years ago. Brother in law said there would be no stopping me now, I'll be drilling holes everywhere!........... I hope he is exaggerating.

 This is my bedroom and the corner where the big ugly shower was. No one will ever know now..........note the baskets on top disguising the fact that the coving is missing!
New grey carpet instead of nasty old  dark pink. Nice light walls instead of the beige/pink dull paint previously. And a picture I stitched AND HUNG myself - whoop!

 One of the reasons for loving this house is  that the living room, kitchen and two of the bedrooms have what the Estate Agents like to call "double aspect". The double aspect from my bedroom is  a view west of the workshop and fields

 and a view North of part of the garden and garage

The weather forecast for the weekend is mixed so I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet. Hope you all have a good weekend with interesting things happening.


Back Monday
Sue

Why I Want to Stay Here

People keep asking me if I plan to move now I'm alone.
A lady past 60 in a big house with a big garden and a bit of meadow, up the end of a lane, miles from anywhere, surely it's not sensible ........too much work, too much responsibility, too much expense, too many things to go wrong.


But I would like to stay a while longer

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Sometimes.............

................just for a few minutes I feel as if I'm counting down the days ............until.............I don't know what. Living in limbo ..............waiting................for what? ......................Something that isn't going to happen.

Then I have to pull myself up quick and get on with the day............and the week and the rest of my life.

I'm thankful the minutes of "waiting" really are just a few.

So what did I do this week.

On Monday
 A bloke came to take out the huge old shower cubical from the corner of the bedroom. I wasn't best pleased when he said he thought he was "just capping off a shower". "No" I said - "you're removing the whole horrible thing" at which point he looked at his watch pointedly as if to say he hadn't got time. Anyway he got the thing to pieces and out but he couldn't finish the job because he hadn't got any of the bits to seal the drainage pipe properly, or to make safe the electric socket. He did say he didn't mind what work he did but actually he'd been employed to work with the Solar energy part of the company - I found myself apologizing for something that  isn't  my problem!. The guys who work for this company are all OK but the organization is dreadful.

I filled all the holes where the cubical had been fixed to the walls and gave the remaining bit of coloured wall a quick coat of paint. I thought the dull biscuit colour I was covering in the rest of the room was bad enough but behind the shower there was evidence that the walls had once been an even darker sort of cinnamon brown  - very 1970's!

New record for frogs in the mini-pond all at once = 13!

On Tuesday
 The friend who was our neighbour in 1980-84, who I visited  a few weeks ago came round for a cuppa.  We caught up more on people we knew from back then, nice to be close enough to meet up after all these years.

After moaning at the company who are doing the plumbing alteration work they sent another young lad round to finish off the work.

In the afternoon I crashed the ride on mower..........and yes, that was as bad as it sounds. Big repair needed. Heavens knows what Colin would have said!  I rang a machinery repair place not far away who advertise in the parish magazine and they came out and collected on Wednesday afternoon. The repair guy will look at it next week and tell me the cost of fixing it.Luckily I had finished all the big areas of grass, so it won't need doing for a week or so.

On Wednesday
 Shopping, putting courgettes and peppers in the freezer, cutting the rest of the grass paths and corners with the small mower,trimming all the brambles where they were sticking out from the hedge and probably other things I can't remember.

On Thursday.
Put another  coat of paint over the corner where the shower came out of.
 Both granddaughters here for a visit in the morning and for lunch.........brought by their Mums of course! I always love to see the reaction of a baby to a toddler, they are fascinated and vice versa.
In the afternoon I got the third coat of paint in the corner and second coat of paint all round the rest of the room.
So BEFORE I got going with the sander and paint roller

and  AFTER a bit of work

Better..................... but the wardrobes will hide it anyway.


On Friday
 I weeded the cut-flower bed and then went out and  did things that will feature in blog posts next week and the week after.

So apart from a few minutes, the week was good.

Thank you for comments yesterday. 

Back Monday
Sue

Ideas For Autumn and Winter

The days rush by so quickly so it's never to soon to make a list for filling the days of autumn and  especially winter when I'm always at my lowest ebb anyway, so add in alone-ness and I need a plan.

Here's what I've thought of so far..................

• Clear the garden 
• Clear the greenhouse and wash down
• Wash all the used pots 
• Clear the patio pots of summer stuff and then
• Plant up some pots for winter colour
• Keep swimming
• Keep going to monthly craft group
• Sort through Colin's clothes and send to charity shop/clothes bank (I cleared his chest of drawers several weeks ago because I need to move it but the wardrobe is still full)
• Make a memory box for the grandchildren. A lovely idea that a friend (who was a Cruse Bereavement counselor) gave me.
• Go through Col's books and sort.......... to Ziffit/Charity shop/ keep/donate to Mid Suffolk Light Railway Museum ( I've actually made a start on this already)
• Go through Colin's DVDs and CDs and sort as above
• Visit more churches in Suffolk including a
• Day out in Bury St Edmunds and a 
• Day out in Felixstowe
• Make lots of birthday cards - I've stocked up on 3D Decoupage sheets ready to get started
• Start the HUGE job of sorting out all the might-come-in-handy stuff in the workshop. I have no idea what a lot of it is anyway. Sort into crates for selling at Auction and stuff for a skip.
• Help at a charity shop? 
• Read (goes without saying!)
• Visit local NT properties that are open.
• Chop kindling and pick up twigs for fire lighting.

I just need the energy and enthusiasm...........which some days, the days when everything seems pointless,  is difficult to find.

Hello and welcome to a new follower and thank you for comments yesterday and the day before.

Has anyone else had weird page view spikes? My daily page views are usually between 2,000 and 3,000 but have suddenly shot up to nearly 4,000 on the last few days. Strange.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Fortune Telling

This is a Birthday Book I was given maybe 50 years ago, it has birthdays of people I was at Grammar school with so must have been given me around then and my handwriting of "Me" looks like how I wrote at school.

 This is what the "Fortune" says for my birthday on April 16th

For years I've been doing exactly what it says in the book....................

So look out Son and DIL, because Willow, who was born on my birthday this year, might well  be a very independent little girl and she might listen to what you advise but if that doesn't agree with what she wants to do then she'll probably do her own thing. Just like her Nanna!


Have a good weekend folks

Back Monday
Sue