#WBOYC in May

 

In theory this month should be easily summed up as there are only the three letters in May!

M

Meals out with friends three times.  

Missed the Northern Lights that were experienced where we live while we were away for the weekend 🙄

A

A weekend away in Whitstable with Coco.

A week off from Zumba as it was the school's half term holiday at the end of the month, however there was more childcare that week as both my son and daughter work full time, so I feel as though I did just as much exercise, just in a different way and without the music! 

Y

Yearning for some settled weather - we have had whole weeks where we have one good dry day followed by one wet one and I am more than ready for continuous warm dry weather! It really hampers making plans that involve anything open air.  

It feels as if I haven’t had much of interest to report this month, it seems like there were a lot of routine days apart from our four days away. Here’s the proof, my month of May - 1 Second Everyday

Linking up with the other Deb over at Deb's World in Australia, her month was much warmer and busier than mine!

Me on Bank Holiday Monday

 Another Bank Holiday Monday!  Although when you aren't working, every Monday is a non-working Monday.

I nearly had an unpleasant experience this morning while taking Coco out for her walk.  You know how horrible it is if you open the front door and take a step outside without realising that there is a cobweb right in front of the porch way?  That horrible feeling of cobweb on skin that you can't get rid of?  Well, now imagine that but with caterpillars on a thread. Our route took us around the country park at the back of where we live and as we approached the lake I could see something moving around in front of my face.  I stopped abruptly and saw that it was groups of threads reaching from the branches of a tree, all the way down to the ground and it was covered in caterpillars!  

Not a brilliant photo but it was windy and I had visions of the other columns of caterpillars blowing into me from all directions! Apparently it is a moth that is covering some of the trees in the park in caterpillars and munching their way through the foliage.  Lucky I saw it or I would have been imagining caterpillars in my hair for the rest of the day.

I'm making the most of a quiet day at home today as we have extra childcare duties this week as it is the school half term.  I've stocked up on a few craft supplies to try and keep them occupied and hopefully that will keep their interest.

This is pre-holiday week so hair cuts have been had, packing lists are being made, manicure appointments booked and no more meals out arranged.  I may have/ definitely didn't eat particularly healthily last week as we ate out a few times which inevitably ends up with eating more rich food and well ... just more food in general than I would have if we were at home!  So good intentions for ultra healthy home cooked meals are in place this week to undo that damage.

Have a good week!

Me on Monday

 Last week saw a lot of work in the garden (mostly for Paul with me in more of a supervisory role 😉) This is a great time of year to be out there and I think we have reached that stage where the plants have established themselves and are happy to do their own thing once spring has arrived.  I cannot take the credit for all of this, Paul is the one who spent a lot of last week tidying, planting up pots and mowing the lawn.  I was happy to admire his hard work at the end of the day!  The red shrub in the first photo has excelled itself this year, it's a weigela and its sister plant with the pale pink flowers and variegated leaf is in the second photo.  Last year I was ruthless with my cutting back after they had flowered but boy has that paid off, this is the best they have ever looked.

The third photo shows the right hand side of the garden where we had to remove our flowering cherry tree last year.  I actually think it looks much better and the plants that were beneath it are enjoying all the extra light and sunshine.

So, weather permitting we will be doing a bit more tidying out there before the rain returns although first I have to go to the shops to buy some new gardening clogs; my old ones completely split down the front when I was wearing them at the weekend.  Again, much of the work will be down to Paul as I am meeting some friends for lunch and will probably be out for much of the time that he is gardening!

Have a good week x

Whitstable weekends

 We are just back from a long weekend in a seaside town called Whitstable, which is in the county of Kent. It's just under two hours from us but involves the M25 motorway and bridge crossing which can be notoriously bad for traffic problems.  We were so lucky to have no holdups in either direction which can be considered a minor miracle!

We rented a very dog friendly Airbnb flat which was the whole ground floor of a house very close to the seafront.  The beach there isn't sandy, except for one long stretch which is only visible at low tide, but it makes for ideal conditions for catching oysters. Whitstable oysters are famous, but I can't bear the thought of eating one.  I guess you are either an oyster fan or you aren't!

There are lots of little alleyways in town, apparently used in the past for smuggling  and this one has a fun name

Apparently the local policeman was a rather portly gentleman and mischievous children would run down this narrow alleyway knowing he couldn't fit in it to chase them!  We discovered it shortly after enjoying a delicious freshly cooked doughnut in one of the cafes along the front and fortunately I still managed to fit between the walls!

Whitstable Castle was very close to our house and we enjoyed a lovely walk around there in the sunshine.  Boy were we lucky with the weather!  My shorts were seen out in public for the first time this year 😉

We didn't venture too far as it was just so nice to wander and explore the town.  We did go to the next town along and caught a beautiful sunset.

The only other place we visited was Reculver where there are the ruins of a Roman fort.  When it had fallen out of use, a monastery was built in its place in 669 reusing the brickwork from the original structure.  It's a very imposing structure even now it is derelict and a lovely place to walk around on a sunny afternoon.  

So that was a lovely break from our normal weekend routine.  It's so nice to live fairly close to so many coastal resorts.  I need to get the map out and choose our next destination!

Busy Bank Holidays

 Isn't it strange how one extra day at a weekend can make such a difference?  Even stranger when you are retired and every day should, in theory, be the same.

We had such a mixed bag of weather this weekend and unfortunately the day that we had invited all the family over for lunch (yesterday) was the day it rained.  No chance of getting the children out into the garden to run off some energy!  I still find catering for ten a bit stressful, but decided to reward myself by baking my favourite dessert - lemon meringue pie 😀

It was a weekend of sweet treats actually as we popped into a new local bakery on Saturday and discovered that they sell pastel de nata, which we love when we go to Portugal.  Coco was disappointed to find that we had only bought two and neither of them were for her!

It's a different week for us as we are going away for a couple of days, more on that next week!  But even though it's not for long and in this country, my packing list seems to be growing daily and most of the things on it are for Coco.  If only our weather was more settled and you didn't have to pack clothes for all eventualities!

I'm off to have my nails done very soon, I'm so pleased with the BIAB nail polish/gel that I've had this year and it doesn't seem to be spoiling the condition of my nails, in fact they look and feel very healthy.  I'm so glad I got back into the routine of having them done properly, I got out of the habit in the Covid years, which now seems quite a long time ago doesn't it?  

Hope you have a good week and I will probably be writing my next post in a week's time rather than my usual Me on Monday.