4th Day of Gratitude

 For the fourth day of gratitude I am sharing a favourite place to walk

This is the country park that is a very short walk from our house and I am so very grateful to have such a lovely tranquil place to visit so close to home.  This place was a welcome sanctuary when we were in lockdown, we were allowed outside to exercise or walk a dog for an hour a day and I can't think of a better place to be at any time of year.  

Hard to believe that when we moved to this house, this lake did not exist.  They dug it out when they built a new housing estate a little way away and it has just filled up naturally.  It's a haven for ducks and moorhens, and this year we even had two swans appear for a few days.  These ducks will never go hungry, it is a popular place for family walks.

My husband is part of a volunteer group who help with the park's maintenance and they work hard to keep it looking good and attract as much wildlife into the area as possible.  We are so lucky to have this five minutes walk from our front door.

PS Our last day before lockdown.  Our last day of looking after Max for at least a month 😢 I keep trying to reassure myself that this initial phase is 'only' for a month and then maybe they will lift a few restrictions and we may be able to see him again outdoors.  Then I also remind myself that I have a friend who has twin grandchildren who live in Australia who she only sees once every two years so I must put this in perspective!  It's a very strange day today, although we are really fortunate that we are both early-retirees so do not have to implement too many changes.  This time I must remember not to bake (and eat) so many cakes 😉 

3rd Day of Gratitude

 Today's prompt is for Home, and I am very thankful for a warm, cosy home.

The minute you open the front door, Coco will always rush to see what's happening and don't be taken in by her hesitant pose, she is an escape artist if you keep that door open too long!

Yes, that's me by the front door!  (excuse the slippers!) We have lived here for 29 years now and moved in when Rachel was 5 and Jon was 18 months.  Even though we don't need a 4 bedroomed house anymore I can't imagine moving for a while yet.  We have firmly put down our roots in this area.  

We are five minutes walk from the countryside in one direction and ten minutes walk from a small shopping area which has a supermarket, chemist, newsagent, hairdresser, dentist, doctor, pet shop, laundry and fish and chip shop.  What more could you want!  We are also 20 mins drive from London Stansted airport, 10 mins to the M11 motorway and we have train links which can get you to London Liverpool Street in 40 mins.  When we are not in lockdown we have a good choice of shops in the town, and a market every Thursday and Saturday.  We've lived in this town all our married life and I think we were very lucky in our choice of area. 

PS Daily news - 2 days to lockdown and our last day of having Rosie here for the day and Leo here after school.  The rules say we can only form a childcare 'bubble' with one family and as we look after children from two families that would mean choosing which one to help.  That really isn't fair and so we have decided not to 'bubble' with either, then if there is an emergency and one suddenly needs help we can step in.  It is such a shame as we will miss our childcare days but can't think of an alternative.  It's like being asked to choose your favourite child! Rachel has been able to arrange an extra day with the childminder who has Rosie and Leo on the days we don't have them and Jon has been able to rearrange his work hours to cover the day we have Max so I don't feel we are letting either down but boy will I miss seeing them all.

2nd Day of Gratitude

 Today's prompt is for Fresh Produce and I was tempted to pop into the supermarket and take a snap of the fruit and veg aisle but then I realised that I had something that perfectly displayed the best of British produce already in my fridge.

In my opinion nothing tastes quite so nice as a fresh British strawberry.  They are at the end of their season now and whilst we can still buy strawberries that have been imported from overseas throughout the winter, they do not have the luscious, juicy strawberry flavour that British ones have.  This will probably be the last pack that I buy before the season starts again next year so we will make the most of them.

Imagine a bowl of these, sitting in the sun with a glass of champagne, a little cream poured over them, watching the Wimbledon final.  Bliss.

PS Daily news - lockdown happening in 3 days time.  Fortunately no queues to get into supermarket this morning and shelves well stocked so fingers crossed there will not be panic buying this time around.  Stocked up on dog food for Coco, I know where my priorities lie!

1st Day of Gratitude

 Today's the day!  The first day of the 25 Days of Gratitude photo challenge!

So come on in, it's chilly outside, British Summertime officially ended last weekend and this time next week all of England will be back in lockdown, so it's definitely time to be grateful for Comfort Food.

Sit yourself down with a nice glass of wine while I dish up dinner.  I hope you like beef casserole with herb dumplings, jacket potato with butter and green beans.

I can't take all the credit for the recipe, it's based loosely on Mary Berry's Beef Bourguignon I miss out the bacon and brandy but add a few thickly sliced carrots.  Of course, by substituting those ingredients I have turned it from a French classic to a homely British dish so naturally have to add some suet dumplings to go with it.

It's a perfect start to things we are grateful for though isn't it?  There's nothing like food like this to warm you up and stop those hunger pangs.  Plus, it's one of Paul's favourite winter meals so he is grateful too, that I 'had' to cook it to show on my blog!

We are having our daughter and family round for lunch today, which will be the last time they will be in our house until early December.  That's a strange thought!  Even though we knew another lockdown was probably inevitable, my heart still sank as I watched Boris walk into the Downing Street press office and make the announcement.   It will make me even more thankful to have this branch of the family tree around the table today.  (The other 50% live in another area and not allowed to mix with other households at the moment.  Plus we have the Rule of Six, so couldn't have everyone here, much as we would have liked to have had a big pre-lockdown lunch)

A sentence a day in October

 Another month bites the dust! Spoiler alert, there's ups, there's downs, and then right at the last minute it does not end well ...

Day 1 Zumba! The new patio area is finished and we are so pleased with it, now all we need is a dry warm day to go out and enjoy sitting on it.

Day 2 Today is not that day ... it rained non stop all day!  

Day 3 Started decorating the lounge, am finding little speckles of white gloss paint in random places on my clothes.

Day 4 Rachel and family came for Sunday lunch - with an unhappy Rosie who had squished her finger in the bathroom door before they came #beginningofahorrendousweek

Day 5 An early morning visit to A&E confirmed that Rosie has broken her finger!

Day 6 Looked after Rosie for the day, being ultra careful with her poor finger

Day 7 Looked after Max, was a lovely day so spent a lot of it outdoors at the park or feeding the ducks

Day 8 Anxiety ridden trip to the dental hygienist, Rosie back at hospital to have her nail pierced to release a massive blood blister, then Rosie's doctor rang to say he wants her to go to A&E at a different hospital where they have a plastic surgeon for their opinion on what needs to be done - they were at the hospital from 4.15pm to 11pm so we had an unexpected guest (Leo) for a sleepover Day 9 #longestsentenceever

Day 9 An anxious day where Rosie had her operation to have her nail removed, damage to the nail bed repaired and the broken bone inspected, another night with our sleepover guest.

Day 10 Jon and Max popped over to see us and then Rachel and Rosie turned up to say hello - was lovely to see the cousins together, Indian takeaway at friends in the evening

Day 11 A Sunday to ourselves - there may have been an afternoon nap taken by one of us #itwasme

Day 12 Rosie pulled her bandages off so an early morning trip (5am) to the hospital for her and her mum!

Day 13 An anxious day of childminding Rosie and worrying about her hurting herself

Day 14 My sister popped in for a chat while I was looking after Max

Day 15 New carpet delivered - who will be the first to spill something on it? #whoeveritiswillbeintrouble

Day 16 New chairs delivered, now the fun begins of finding new cushions and throws to accessorise the room!

Day 17 Went to friends for an Indian takeaway - discovered they have just put their house on the market so will be moving away.

Day 18 A quiet day, just the two of us, a nice long dog walk to start the day off well.

Day 19 Caught up with chores, popped into town to collect new cushions for the new chairs - the lounge is now officially complete!

Day 20 Childminding day - plus Coco went to the groomers so is looking particularly pretty.

Day 21 Our day for caring for Max, Coco's pristine white fur no longer pristine due to torrential rain during morning walk, meal out with friends in the evening (have to make the most of going out while we can!)

Day 22 So very tired - Coco had us up twice in the night to go out into the garden, she is not in our good books today!  Not sure how I survived Zumba when all I wanted to do was catch up on my sleep, but I did and even kept awake during my haircut.

Day 23 Invited to friends for a cup of tea in the afternoon - even Coco was included in the invitation which made her very happy.

Day 24 Went to a small local garden centre for inspiration on what to plant around the new patio area, bought a tree which only just fitted in the car!

Day 25 Clocks went back an hour so we are officially no longer in British Summer Time - both our children realised that when you are a parent, this never means you get an extra hour in bed!

Day 26 Another day another garden centre! 

Day 27 Childminding for Rosie and Leo, made some cupcakes - and quite a mess.

Day 28 Childminding Max who enjoyed 'helping' Grandad in the garden planting some of the plants we bought on Monday.

Day 29 Decided to have a tidy up of the toys we have accumulated for when we have the grandchildren over for the day, updating them and donating a few which are not played with to the local charity shop.

Day 30 Someone gave us a bag of cooking apples so I used a few to make Mary Berry's Spiced Dorset Apple Traybake which came out of the oven just in time to have a warm slice while we had a cup of tea - Coco went on a sleepover to our daughter's house while we had a takeaway with two other couples.

Day 31 Awaiting confirmation that the whole of England is about to go back into a month of lockdown 😭

On that depressing thought, let's have a roundup in video form of what we did while we had a little bit of freedom 

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Almost Allhallows

 How can it possibly be almost the end of October?  What a year!  We don't have that many young children living around us, they have all grown up and got too old/cool to go trick or treating (however that may happen this year!).  But that doesn't stop me buying a 'few' sweets ready to hand out - just in case.  I am sure that someone (me) will eat them if no-one turns up at the door! Luckily I've only bought sweets that I like 😉

But if it's almost the end of October, then it is also almost time to start the 25 Days of Gratitude posts!

Which will be a challenge in itself as I have given myself an extra rule, that I have to post one photo every day.  Shall we take bets now on whether or not I manage 25 daily posts?  In anticipation of doing this I had a video call with Leslie and Jennifer last night.  Well, last night for me, and yesterday afternoon for them!  It's always interesting to actually speak to someone whose blog you have been following.  I love listening to other people's accents, we don't notice our own do we?  

I hope everyone has a good weekend, I know that those of us in the UK are probably in different kinds of restrictions as to what we can do.  We are currently on the lowest tier, but I suspect we could be about to change so we will make the most of being able to have our daughter and family over for Sunday lunch.  We can't see our son indoors as although he only lives 14 miles away, his county is in Tier 2.  We are also seeing friends this evening for a takeaway meal.  The hosts' son in law is a doctor and I know they are taking things seriously and the husband of the other couple has a lung problem so they are being careful too.  I only feel comfortable being indoors with other people who are following the rules the same as we are!

Take care and keep safe!

What's your style?

 Well, we went to the garden centre on Monday and I knew they would be full to the rafters of Christmas decorations as well as all the plants and shrubs.  But I think that their idea of interior design may be slightly more flamboyant to mine.

This model village display is wonderful to see, but I don't think we'll be able to replicate it with our small collection of Duplo.

Maybe we should go for a safari scene.  I mean, nothing says Christmas like a life-size tiger in your lounge does it?

Oh that's more like it, polar bears and penguins, a pretty snowy scene.  I'm not quite sure how Coco would like it if we brought home an 8ft animated polar bear to sit in the lounge.  To be honest, the penguin was about her size and I think that would have terrified her too!

Lovely to look at, but none of them made it home with us and while we may upgrade our Christmas tree this year, I think I'll be sticking with our very traditional Christmas decor again this year!