Word of the Week - Cat

Pushkins our expat cat, from South Africa. She moved in with us in 2012, 13 years ago, the vet said she was about 3 years old at the time.

We moved to Dubai the end of 2014 and she relocated to the UK with us in 2020. She's 16 now.

She's also not a she, but a he. We found out a year after our move to Dubai, we've had her details changed on her microchip and vet records, but she'll always be a she to us and she still wear her pink studded collar.

This morning we had a trip to the vets and I had to change pronouns. The vet gets quite upset with me as saying 'she' would make a huge difference if he was to get lost, in helping us find him. FFS microchip and records up to date. The vets in Dubai found it funny and called her, she. 

Anyway at 16 she is still very active, clearing the fence, starting and finishing fights with the neighbours cats. She's overweight (again a vet issue) she's always weighed 5 kg. She needs a tooth extracted as it's broken (again a vet issue) the tooth has always been broken and she needs blood tests and scans to check she doesn't have a, b & c (again a vet issue) she's a cat, aged 16.

We spend a lot of time with the cat, she's either on our laps, or under our feet or shouting at us for food. We think she misses Bob the dog still (it's been 18 months since he died) she's much more needy (could be old age) she's forgetful (can't find her food) and we don't think she can hear as well and recently she's got herself locked in a cupboard and in our shed, but I think that's more of a Peter problem for not checking than it was hers.

This week I got the paints out to make a card for my son's dog who is recovering from surgery. I found myself explaining to the vet (and to you now) that the card was for my 3 year old grandsons benefit and I only told the vet so they weren't alarmed if they found anything red on the cats paws.

After the vets we went for a coffee while Peter did a food shop as it was too hot to leave her in the car.

And the rest of the day we spent at home for cuddles, after feeling sorry for herself after her jabs.

She's disappeared out now for the evening, prowling her territory, she'll be back soon scratching at the living room door. Failing that, I'll find her under the neighbours hedge where she'll make me go and drag her out, purring her head off.

She'll be up early waiting for her food, then she'll take herself over the road to the neighbours where she likes to perform her morning duties. She'll return home for her food, that we'll have to take her to her bowl to eat 2-3 times before she realises her food is there and she stops asking us for it, then she'll sit out on the front door step in the sunshine, making us step over her as we come and go and she'll watch the world go by. On a school day she entertains the kids and the parents on the school run and stares out any dogs as they are walked past.

At 2pm she'll start asking for her tea, for cuddles, for attention until one of us gives in around 4pm, usually when I come home from work.

9th - 11th May 2025 - 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 had a full weekend over the bank holiday with a trip to visit our Grandsons. The 3 and a half year old and 2 week old.

This weekend we're off to South Wales to visit our great niece with a belated easter egg. On Saturday I'm out with a friend for afternoon tea and on Sunday it's the RHS Three countries show in Malvern. 

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 April 2025 - Flowers for Stephanie

I can't believe these photos are taken 20 years apart. Not much has changed, even the door mat is the same. The front door and the blinds have been replaced, the carpet in the hall has been replaced with wooden bamboo, the shrubs have been weeded out and the woodwork has been painted. In those 20 years, several other families have lived in our house as we rented it out while we lived abroad from 2010-2021 and Stephanie is no longer with us.

Peter and I bought the Jasminum x stephanense earlier in April and planted it by the front door in a pot. It is highly fragranced and we wanted it somewhere where we would see it every day.

We've involved our grandchildren with planting flowers in memory of Stephanie as they are too young to have remembered her and sadly our 3 year old grandson never got to meet her, she also has two new nephews born this year.

Our granddaughter planted these Angel Wings tulip bulbs after the funeral in October, given to us by a friend. As she watered them she said 'stay hydrated Stephanie'

They flowered in time for Mothers day.

Our grandson planted a rose bush 'In loving memory' that my mum bought for us to mark the 6th month anniversary.

We also planted some marigolds for great grandad (my father) his favourite flower.

In the rest of the garden, I finally planted the raised beds with a variety of vegetable seeds I had. I'm not hopeful for a lot of them, but I do have a good crop of radishes, beetroot, tomatoes, and one or two carrots, cucumbers, chilli and an abundance of parsley, coriander and Thai basil. 

The garden, although north facing, gets a lot of sun and isn't over looked. The old green house is ready for  the tomatoes and the compost is doing well in the new containers Peter built. We've bought a new post to re site the clothes airer so it doesn't block the view of the garden when sitting outside.

The back of our garden is quite stark with a wooden fence and the bare brick wall of the neighbours house but with do have clear open skies. I wanted to break up the brick work and the fence so I've bought a few fruit trees that are planted in pots to add a bit of colour and depth to the garden.

Apple

Cherry

Pear

They sit amongst the bamboo, magnolia, willow, bay and olive trees and shrubs, also in pots. There are a couple of exotic fruit trees, lemon and orange that are growing very well.

As well as the grandchildren helping out, Olive has been digging.

The front garden has been weeded and wild flower seeds sown.

BBQs are being enjoyed.

And the bluebells are out. Once they've finished flowering, this area needs digging out and the soil will be moved to the front garden to level it up and hopefully with some more soil the trees will grow and we'll have a hedge to stop the local dog walkers and kids from the local school running over our front lawn.

How is your garden coming along? Any plans? Or are you at the stage where you can just sit and enjoy it?

2nd - 5th May 2025 Post Comment Love

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I. I Hope you all had a good Easter break. I know even if you don't celebrate Easter you will have had some time off in most places around the world. When we lived in Dubai and I taught in an Arabic owned school with a dual curriculum Arabic and  British curriculum we had two weeks off to coincide with the Easter break, although obviously called spring break. Peter also had a long weekend off work as his company would observe all cultures and traditions. 

It's been busy and relaxing for us. We've spent time with the grandchildren at our house and visits to theirs, including the birth of our 4th grandchild where I am this weekend, getting my cuddles in.

There's been camping trips, sleep overs, days out to Castles and Stately homes, BBQs, picnics, gardening,  football matches (for me) time with friends also. There's also been migraines and the general level of sadness that follows us around after our daughter died last year, which we're beginning to accept is now part of our lives that we'll have to carry around with us forever, that shapes and changes our daily lives as well as our future. 

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.

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

Word of the Week - Football

Football is something we enjoy as a family. Well Peter, myself and child 3 & 4. Our two oldest grandchildren are showing an interest also.

My father was a goalkeeper and played in the late 50's/ early 60's for Barry Town.

Child 3 & 4 played football from the ages of 4/5 and child 3 took up refereeing. 

I used to work for the Football Association also.

I'm a Birmingham City fan. I started supporting them in 2006 when child 4 trained in the academy. Child 3 switched allegiance and started to follow them also. He was a season ticket holder. We went to all the home matches up till the end of 2010 when we left the UK. Birmingham bounced between the Premiership and the Championship. We used to travel a lot to Wembley for England games and attended a couple of cup finals.

When we left the UK we were able to watch all the Championship games on the TV in South Africa and when we were home there was the odd game we'd go to.

Since moving back to the UK in 2021, football wasn't a priority. I was back in work, our weekends were spent with Stephanie and the grandchildren that had now entered our lives. But I missed the football and was itching to get back up to the ground to cheer the blues on.

Nothing was stopping me so off I went, now in the First division and looking likely they would get promoted, getting a ticket was getting hard. With a stadium capacity 29,409, the matches were selling out fast. Even in the Premiership it wasn't that hard to get a ticket.

I am wearing an official BCFC item of clothing, it's just from a few seasons ago. 

The season is over now, I've joined a queue for a season ticket for 25/26. The atmosphere in the ground has been outstanding, being part of something bigger than you as a spectator is amazing.

Sadly there was a pitch invasion and things took an ugly turn at the last home game of the season when Birmingham won 4-0, won the league and were promoted to the Championship. But a handful of idiots won't spoil my enjoyment of the game and they'll be banned from the ground now.

The Good Bits of April 2025

April has been busy and packed full of fun with 2 of our sons, DIL and grandchildren. The weather has been perfect for being out and about and we've made the most of it. The 2 weeks Easter Holidays felt so much longer and despite packing so much in, we've also had plenty of time to rest, watch TV and just chill.

Things that made me laugh:

April Fools Brownies. I made these for my students. I work in a secondary school, they humoured me.

Parking the white car. My other vehicle is a camper van, a Ford Transit. I can park it anywhere, this thing takes several attempts and a taxi to the pavement. I took this photo to prove I can actually park it.

The grandchildren have provided us with lots of entertainment from 'She was naughty for 3 minutes' When granddaughter spoke to her friend at the park and didn't give her cousin the full attention he wanted. Being told by granddaughter that I am her favourite, but not to tell granddad. Also the importance of a half year has been discovered. And I best not mention the punch in the face I gave our granddaughter when I was trying to put her seatbelt on.

Places we visited:

Forest of Dean - Beachenhurst with Peter and the grandchildren for the park and lunch

Malvern Hills - Walks with our son's dog and to see the bluebells on our own

Park - We're fortunate to have several nice play areas in Malvern to take the grandchildren to

St Briavels - Two nights camping together and a walk to the local pub

Chepstow Castle - Day out with Peter and our granddaughter

Easter Party - In my old neighbourhood with DIL and the grandchildren

Much Wenlock - English Heritage Wenlock Priory in the morning with a friend, then

National Trust Benthall Hall - Late afternoon before I headed to my camp site for the night.

National Trust Berrington Hall - On my way home

Countrytastic - Three Counties with Peter, DIL and grandchildren

Birmingham City - Two trips to watch Birmingham play

Croome Park - A day out with Peter, DIL and our grandchildren

Goodrich Castle - A day out with my friend and her 2 children

Keynsham - Peter and I visited his mother as there was some DIY to be done - catching up with reading on all the trips

Meeting with friends - Lots of coffee visits, meals out, just chatting and drinking tea moments also

Things we did at home:

Gardening - Lots of moving pots around really for best sun light

Grandchildren to stay

Tidying up after the grandchildren had visited

Had a visit from the Easter Bunny

Had fun with Olive our friends dog we looked after for the Easter weekend

I'm not sure May will be as busy but I do start and end the month with child 4 with a bank holiday weekend and Whitsun holiday, so who knows? How was your April?