Birthdays no longer celebrated

It would've been my Father's 85th birthday on the 7th of September. He died aged 77.

This is one of my favourite photo's taken of the two of us.

He used to moan about me taking photos and putting them on 'that internet' then he'd ask all day if we had any likes and 'how many?'

I took this photo on the Sunday on our last day out together, he died on the Tuesday. I'm so grateful for the those last 3 days we spent together. I'm so grateful for being in the UK when he died. But I'll be honest, I'm still not grateful, 7 years on, that I was there when he died.

It would've been my Gran's 115th birthday on the 14th of September. She died in 2006, one month after her 92nd birthday. This photo was taken on her 90th birthday. She's pictured here with my Father and my Uncles. They both died aged 66, in 2011 and 2016.

September is a sad month for me remembering my father and my gran. I still go to pick things up for them for their birthdays. The clock I bought my father for his birthday the year he died and I never got to give him has finally stopped working.

The second hand stopped working a month ago. I need to chuck it out, I don't want to be a hoarder like he was.

I still have the card, which sadly came true, along with emptying the sheds, the attic and several rooms.

There are times I pick up tea towels as souvenirs to give my gran, but put them back with a little sadness that she is no longer with us to give them to her, but I still use the tea towels she had daily, the tea towels she had pinned to the kitchen cupboard door that were given as gifts for her.

Whilst I feel sad, I'm also grateful to have these wonderful people in my life for as long as I did. For my children to have had a great grandmother they can remember spending time with and for them to have had a grandfather in their adult lives.

2024 Week 37 - One Daily Positive, Project 365 and A Selfie a Day.

My plan this week was to spend some time up in my craft room sorting out some crafts to be doing in the evening rather than sitting on my phone scrolling the evening away. I did manage to get a lot tidied and I ended up sorting Halloween gifts and brought some sewing projects downstairs that I've managed to do some work on.

253  Monday Finished setting up the classroom and printing out some resources and had two meetings. The day flew by. Picked up a prescription on the way home. evening spent watching TV, reading and blogging.

Peter met me for a coffee after work.

254  Tuesday I was overrun with students today. Training after work then coffee with a colleague. Evening spent sorting my wardrobe out, sadly looking for winter clothing. Bath and in bed by 9pm.

Anyone else never use their dining room?

255  Wednesday I was cold all day. Finally finished setting up my classroom. Only one student today. Walked part the way home after being dropped off half way to pick up a prescription then out to meet a friend for coffee, slight confusion over timings and I ended up having coffee alone. Caught up with friends in Germany on a WhatsApp call to organise their visit in half term. Home for a bath, watch TV and blog.

256  Thursday Busy day in work. Rearranged coffee date. Home to pack for camping trip. We booked the ferry for a trip to Northern Ireland later in the year.

257  Friday Three meetings in a row and a lot of juggling students, a long day. Camping for the weekend in the Forest of Dean. Peter collected me from work. We set the awning up and had the new gas stove so we could cook a wider range of food. It was cold so an early night.

Tomorrow's jumpers on, it was so cold.

258  Saturday We had a leisurely morning, then picked mum up and took her food a food shop and she bought a couple of birthday gifts for us to deliver. Off to Granddaughters to celebrate her 5th birthday, helped out with a party in the church hall, then back to the house for a BBQ with the out laws.

Grandson dialled in for Happy Birthday sing along. We can't post photos online of granddaughter.

259  Sunday Leisurely morning, packed up and off to Keynsham to visit MIL for the day. Home early evening, unpacked, washing machine on, work bag packed, bath and an early night.

I did some prep for work on the journey.

Books read this week: 

Die Trying - Lee Child

Re-reads for work:

Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Words written towards book: 0

Clothes bought: 0

On the blog this week: Garden plans for September 

Things that made me happy this week:

Having my own classroom for the first time since 2017, Granddaughters 5th birthday celebrations, camping and happy memories of those no longer with us.

New radiator being fitted in classroom. Last time camping table used was in Kruger National Park. Dad (on left) and his brothers and my gran, all no longer with us, taken on Grans 90th birthday. She would have been 115 on Saturday.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

13th - 15th September 2024 Post Comment Love

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

I finally got my new classroom sorted this week. I've not had my own classroom since 2017 when I taught in Dubai. This one is a lot smaller and I'll only have 4-6 students in it at anyone time.

Just waiting on a few posters and a kettle to arrive and I'm sorted. Plenty of time at the moment for lesson planning for the Maths and English tutoring and I'm more than familiar with the texts. The rest of the subjects for years 7-10 is provided by the class teacher on google classroom.

We'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter, tag us and we'll RT. You can find us on twitter here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby 

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Garden plans for September 2024

Peter is building a compost bin and I've designs for a herb garden.

My father gave me an iron wagon wheel many years ago and it was sitting, forgotten behind a shed in the garden for 20+ years, thankfully the tenants never found out, although one set did nick the ladders and when we dismantled the shed we've been wondering what to do with it.

It's been propped against the fence and whilst it looked decorative, we were worried it could fall and do some damage, especially with the grandchildren in the garden, so we've decided it will be best to have it lying down.

We had some bricks left over from last years building works that have been stored behind the shed also and now the raised beds are finished we're ready to start on the herb garden.

The compost bin needs moving, it's been here for 20+ years and the door has broken, the compost also doesn't breathe in the plastic bin and we need to level this area off to design a new path.

The compost bin is being built using the old shed roof and side panels.

By the time this post was scheduled to be published, Peter had finished the compost bin and had started work on the new path. 

2024 Week 36 - One Daily Positive, Project 365 and A Selfie a Day.

I started my new job this week as an Academic Tutor in Alternative Provision. I'm working with Safeguarding, Attendance and the Behaviour Support Team. It will involve visiting families with the aim of getting students back into school and eventually back into the classroom.

I haven't had much time for reading the last few weeks with the number of documents I have to read and familiarise myself with, plus the additional training and lesson planning. I last had a teaching role in 2017 when we lived in Dubai. I need to get myself into a routine.

246  Monday Back to school, no students in. Nice to catch up with everyone. Lots of training and paperwork and finding out what my new role is all about. Made my first home visit and safeguarding referral. Met Peter after school for a coffee. home to cook dinner, catch up with blogging comments, ironing while watching TV, bath and bed.

247  Tuesday Another inset day, more online training and so much reading. Popped in at the chemist to order more meds and make sure I get the right dosage as the Doctors keep sending me the old dose and I'm  having to collect a new prescription every 2 weeks. I have a 3 monthly prescription so it's not costing me anymore, but it's not the point. I cooked dinner, had a bath and washed and styled my hair. I managed to rip an earring out of my ear and I know have a tear in my ear.

248  Wednesday Year 7 and 12 back in today. School photos and my bum didn't hit a chair and I didn't manage a hot drink all day, lunch was eaten on the go. I did manage to get a classroom sorted. There was a lot of positive feedback from the Senior Leadership Team. Popped out to meet a friend for coffee, then home to sort through some paperwork, had an early bath and watched TV.

249 Thursday All school back. A strange day for me. Between tasks I found myself automatically wandering back to the learning base to check in with what I should be doing next. Forgetting that this week I'm working off my own initiative, organising my new classroom, sourcing supplies, familiarising myself with students, picking up any issues, checking in with students and just getting myself familiar with my new role.

250  Friday Into school and off to Monmouth for dinner with a friend and her family, then off to another friends for the night for a catch up. She was dog sitting so I joined her and slept in the van on the drive. Had fun at midnight after a beer trying to get the bed out in the van. Too wet to pop the roof and parked on a slope. Had to push the bench seat uphill.

251  Saturday Woke in the morning around 7am having slid into the kitchen during the night. After breakfast we took the dogs for a walk, then I headed into Monmouth for coffee and a walk. I stopped in Ledbury on my way home. Afternoon and evening spent planning some lessons and watching TV.

252  Sunday Had a lie in till 9am. Off into Worcester for coffee and some shopping, afternoon spent watching TV, reading and general tidying up.

Books read this week: 0 Safeguarding and Working together to improve school attendance documents.

Words written towards book: 0 Unless you count lesson planning.

Clothes bought: Shoes for work Pavers £27. Blouse Primark £12.

On the blog this week: Days out in the camper van in August 

What's made me happy this week:

At 53 I've finally managed to get my hair to do what I want it to do. and no, I don't colour it, this is my natural colour. I used to have really dark hair, but now it grows blonde. Peter finished the compost bin, recycling the old shed roof panels. I camped on a friends drive and enjoyed a walk in the woods with an occasional dog.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

6th - 8th September 2024 Post Comment Love

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

Back to school this week for me and my new job as an Academic Tutor. Mostly training for my new role this week and mucking in where needed while my new classroom and students are sorted out.

The summer holidays have just raced away. I can feel the cold in the air as we head into Autumn. I've changed the reef on the front door from the summer flowers to the pumpkin heart. I keep them on the landing and I'll be making a Christmas one in late November with my work colleagues. 

We've got a couple of camping trips lined up and plan to 'carry on camping' throughout the winter months as the van has a heater that runs off the diesel. We won't use the awning in the winter months, but have a small 2 man tent we'll pop up to store things in to save space inside the van and if we're camping off grid and using the solar panel, it will double as our toilet tent.

We'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter, tag us and we'll RT. You can find us on twitter here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby 

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

August 2024 - Days out in the Campervan

We were in Turkey for 12 days in August, then I travelled to Northern Ireland for a week to visit our grandson, so that only left us 12 days in August to get out and about.

I visited Glastonbury for the day with a friend. There was a day at a spa with colleagues from work, a hospital appointment and dog sitting for a friend over the bank holiday weekend.

We bought a drive away awning last month to give us some extra room when the weather isn't as nice and to enable us to cook more food, but we discovered our goal cooker wasn't compatible with UK gas bottles so we needed to purchase a new one. A new regulator wouldn't solve the problem, it was something to do with the pressure/bar and by the time we sourced buying an actual gas bottle and new hose and regular it was cheaper to buy a new one, which runs off gas bottles and saves space without lugging another gas canister around with us.

We managed one night away last weekend to the Forest of Dean. We visited our granddaughter on Friday and rather than drive home late we camped up for the night, we took the contents of the fridge with us for dinner and breakfast and just used the van, no need for the awning for just one night.

We've been struggling with all the bedding. It's such an inconvenience to keep putting the table up and down in the van to get the bedding in and out from the bench seat. As when the bed is raised during the day we can't clip it in place with the bedding up there. I had two S hooks in the garden and decided to give it a try. It's been a game changer. They're strong enough to hold the bed in place.

All the bedding is stored under the back seat, there's room in there for two sleeping bags, the covers for the front windows, 2 blankets, the sheets and towels.

Another tip we've found really useful is to move the back carpet over the plastic cover and to save stepping over it onto the step stool and it's made it much easier to get in and out of the van at the back.

I'm away on my friends drive this weekend, in Monmouth and I'll be using her facilities and the leisure battery and the following weekend back to Lydney for our Granddaughters birthday weekend.

2024 Week 35 - One Daily Positive, Project 365 and A Selfie a Day

I purchased a hair curler from Babyliss. It's amazing, just grab a strand of hair, the machine wraps it round, it beeps when it's ready and Voila, a curl. Lightly brush it through and it lasts 2-3 days. It cost me £60 from Amazon. My DIL had one and it's a game changer.

A friend in South Africa I haven't seen since 2019, put on Facebook that her 22 year old son died suddenly on Monday aged 22. I haven't stopped thinking about her all week.

239  Monday Migraine still in progress. Meds taken and off to Gloucester to visit Child 1. We took her out to Gloucester Quays for a coffee and a walk round and to do some food shopping. Dropped her home and I just about made it home before dosing up on meds and going to bed. 

240  Tuesday Doctors for B12 jab home and then Peter drove me to Kidderminster for my MRI. There was lots of waiting in the van in the carpark as they were running late. The noise triggered another migraine, just about made it home, dosed up on meds and straight to bed. Woke at 10pm till midnight, back to bed, awake at 7am, more meds, managed a visit to the nail bar and coffee shop. Home to sleep on sofa most of the day.

241  Wednesday Finally got round to cleaning a stain from the lounge carpet. Cooked a roast dinner mid afternoon. Peter started making the new compost bin using the old shed roof. I put my work bag back together ready for Monday.

242  Thursday Met a colleague from work for a coffee and a catch up before we go back in on Monday. Home to write some letters and sort post. Olive went home in the evening. We dropped her back with her owners in the coffee shop. Sorted out birthday cards and gifts for posting.

Grandson made his Nanny read Tractor Ted to me.

243  Friday Off early to the Forest of Dean, did a food shop for mum and dropped it off. Saw Thing 3 and Thing 4, my nieces children, we haven't seen them for ages. we then spent the afternoon with granddaughter and took her to the park and had ice creams and a play in the garden, before heading off to the campsite for the evening.

244  Saturday Up around 8am, had breakfast and a leisurely morning, packed up and headed off to my old neighbourhood in Lydbrook to visit old neighbours, then stopped at Goodrich Castle for lunch and a wander. Home and afternoon/evening spent just chilling out.

September

245  Sunday A food shop, coffee with friend, online training, some reading ready for my new job tomorrow. Blogging, reading, bath and an early night. Peter spent the day in the garden finishing off the compost bin. I spent the afternoon batch cooking.

Books read this week: Miranda's Big Mistake - Jill Mansell. I'm behind schedule by 3 books this year. I really need to make more of an effort.

Words written towards book: 0

Clothes bought: 0

On the blog this week: My garden in August

Things that made me happy this week: Messing with the security camera, meeting my friends new kitten and trying to smuggle it home, sorting out the garden and a night away in the camper van.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

30th August - 1st September 2024 Post Comment Love

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

It's back to school for me on Monday so a quiet week, catching up with jobs around the house and garden and a couple of coffee dates with work colleagues to catch up with their summer holiday news as we won't get chance in the first week with the new year 7 intake and in my new role as a Tutor I'll be working independently.

We've also been dog sitting this week. The cat was not impressed.

I've also had a migraine which was made worse with a MRI scan early in the week and I've spent a lot of time in bed waiting for the meds to kick in.

We'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter, tag us and we'll RT. You can find us on twitter here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby 

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My garden in August 2024

Jobs done.

I made a start on the front garden and a few plans.

There was a lot of weeding to be done and I moved quite a few plants. The neighbour came over for a chat, she loves our front garden in spring, but agrees with me that the rest of the year, it really doesn't look that good and is a bit over crowded.

We've decided to build the new bin store on the side of the drive, giving better access to the side of the house.

 The fig tree has been doing well in the pot but it is time to move it to the front of the house which is South facing and Peter has attached some wooden supports to the wall under the window so we can train it to grow nicely.

The box trees don't have enough soil to grow properly. We have some scaffolding planks left over, so we will be removing the shrubs and building a long, large wooden box and filling it with soil from the back garden (killing two birds with one stone) and replanting the box trees, eventually they will cover the planks as they grow.

At the moment we can only access the house down one side as we've been storing all the spare material out of sight, most of this wood is being used to build a compost bin and a cold frame.

This is the area where we will be building the cold frame and compost bins. The Bay tree has been moved. 

Once we've built the new compost bin, we can level this area off and use this soil in the front garden and reconfigure the path here.

The new path will run where the fir tree is.

I've moved the raspberry canes and the blueberry plant that wasn't growing and strung some fairy lights onto the raised beds

We've looked at different types of paving and I really want to move away from symmetrical lines and paving slabs, persuading my husband to use a mixture of bricks, rocks and gravel is going to be harder, but he has agreed that he likes the disorder of the garden of the garden in Turkey where we stayed on our holiday.

I think a visit to some antique/junk shops maybe in order for some random pots, Belfast sinks will be on my list next. I've been cultivating succulents and I love the idea of having them placed in random containers around the garden and on the patio.

Creating the perfect outdoor space has been important to me since we returned from living abroad. I miss the outdoor life.

The garden hasn't faired too well in our absence with the lack of rain, but it's salvageable and we're getting on with the next couple of jobs.

I've rearranged under the covered area as the chair pod was getting wet and blowing round in the wind. I doubt we'll be having both sets of doors open for a while. It's nice to have somewhere to dry the washing in the winter.

I've moved the succulents back under cover as they were starting to get too wet and not liking it.

The fig tree has been moved to the front of the house.

Things have started moving with the next part of the garden plans. the compost bin, the herb garden, the hedge in the front garden and the new path, but I'll save those for Septembers posts.