Oh Woe is Me!!

 

Just me, stood on my doorstep, pondering life.

Sorry to be missing in action, but Mum's care home went into lockdown due to Norovirus on Monday, one day after we visited on Sunday.

Guess what?

Yep, we both started with it simultaneously on Monday teatime ... thank goodness we have separate bathrooms.  Ginger started the next day, poor thing.  There's nothing worse than listening to your beloved pet yowl while jettisoning liquid from both ends.

On that note I will leave you, I'm not a sympathy seeking person. 😷  

See you next week, when hopefully I have more energy and brain power to write a proper blog post. 

 You would not believe the amount of corrections I have had to make on this little post!!

Sue xx

A Scenic Autumn Wander

All images by Michael Coleran.

Shared with permission.

If you start near the river, it's the River Wyre by the way, you will see if you are lucky one of our residents Herons.  They stand proudly on the banks, eagle eyed for looking for fish in the fast moving water.

If you are very very lucky, you might also see one of the few otters that have recently taken up residence.

Wandering along the riverbank will take you to this lovely grassy area, but beware of Labradors and retrievers running happily running up to you after a swim in the river, they have been known to shake and shake and leave the occasional muddy footprints. 

The ruins of Greenhalgh Castle.

If you keep going along the river and step out onto the end of the High Street where I used to live and then walk over the bridge past Sainsbury's you will eventually come to the ruins of the castle.  There's not much left now, but once it was magnificent.  Lots of houses in our town boast a few stones in their walls from the original castle.

You can get as close to it as Michael got here to take photo, but access to the ruins is now not allowed, it's even fenced off from the sheep.

Years ago it was accessible to everyone, but I guess one too many little boys thought that scaling the walls was a good idea.  

We did make sure that Simon was very conscious of causing no damage, and he only posed for the photograph.

Come back into town and walk past Sainsbury's, keep going and you will pass the Royal Mail sorting office, then cross the mini-roundabout and take a left and you will come to the park on your left and Aldi on your right.

But if you keep going along the lane you will come to the canal bridge, and then you can walk down the ancient stone steps for some more nature and glorious Autumn colours.

I love the old bridges that are all along the canal.  It's Lancaster Canal, and is unusual in that it has no locks over it's 42 mile length.  Which we really appreciated when we had our little holiday on a narrowboat on this canal a couple of years ago.  

The colours are magnificent aren't they, this is truly my favourite time of the year.

I hope you enjoyed this little jaunt around my current home town.  

Many thanks to Michael for permission to use his lovely photos.  He's one of our official town photographers, and is there for all the events that go on as well as being out and about snapping away at the wildlife, nature and changing seasons on his early morning walks.

Sue xx

Beautiful Things

I do love old china, and if it's in shades of green and white and displayed on antique lace cloths or doilies I seem to love it even more.

As my modern plates and dishes break I am instead replacing things with charity shop finds, gorgeous old china that doesn't necessarily match anything I already own, but that is simply pretty in it's own right.

I like this beautiful old kitchen, but even more than that I LOVE the wallpaper.  What a gorgeous statement in a very rustic looking room.

And to end each day in this lovely bedroom must be wonderful.  I even quite like the pinkness of this room, muted as it is slightly by all the little green touches.  I'm actually letting my bedroom get more and more girly, mismatched ... and yes green, as time goes by.

Sue xx

Just a Relaxing Sunday Post

 

Abbot's Bay, Derwent Water in the Lake District

Photo copyright Graham Shaw - my brother.

A peaceful, cooling photo for what has been promised to be a hot, hot day.

Cleaning Fruit by William K Blacklock

Something a lot of us are doing at the moment, before jam making, bottling or freezing.

A beautiful green kitchen, and you all know how much I love a green kitchen.  💚

And finally, somewhere to sit and drink the coffee that you make in the beautiful green kitchen.

Hoping you have a lovely relaxing Sunday.  

Sue xx

Sunday, Beautiful Sunday

 

A gorgeous cottage.

Which I think is slightly reminiscent of the fake cottage used in the Christmas film 'The Holiday'.  I was so disappointed when I found out that it wasn't actually real.  The set was beautiful.  😟

A lovely kitchen.

Old books, and china in shades of blue.

Although I have the urge to 'iron' that wall ... and those of you that know me well, know that I don't iron anything!!  😄

And finally a pretty cup, which reminds me it's time to get and get another cup of coffee before we hit the road.

Hope you have a lovely Sunday.

Sue xx

To See You Through the Weekend

 

What beautiful Lilacs, in a painting by Sergey Khamalyan.

Absolute perfection. 💜

A dream cottage in the woods, what a fairy tale it would be to live in such a location.

The most gorgeous of kitchens, I could happily live here.

But maybe I need a little more lace around the window.

Just some lovely images and thoughts to see you through the weekend.

I do hope it's a good one for you.

Sue xx

Just Some Lovely Images

 

I used to have lots of scrapbooks, I saved clippings from magazines, pages from books that had fallen apart and little bits and pieces that would be stuck in to decorate the pages.  Then lots of house moves happened and one by one the books and folders were no longer with me.

Now I see a lovely image on the internet and save it for me to pore over in the computer memory.  It takes up a lot less room and I can save at the press of a button.

And when we next move house there will be no heavy box to carry.

Anything can catch my attention, but beautiful houses, rooms or china are pretty much my favourite things to save.  For a few years I tried to save things on Pinterest but it simply wasn't as easy to me as it is saving them into my photo folders on my memory backup box, and I rarely went back to visit them.

  So it was just an online version of dusty photos in a box at the back of a cupboard.

Isn't this lovely cool looking bedroom inviting after all these hot nights we've been having recently.

  Although in the dead of a cold Winter you would have to hang some lovely rich looking curtains, and add cushions, throws, and rugs on the floor to cosy it all up.

Yes, photos make me think and plan.

I think I would look forward to washing the pots, if these were the pots that needed to be washed. 💖

Of course it's not all just staring at pretty photographs and 'pie in the sky' dreaming.

It was looking at photos like these that helped me design my own kitchen when we moved into our current homes.

Useful and beautiful ... William Morris would be proud.

Sue xx

Set the Table Nicely

 

I've got so many random bits and bobs in the fridge at the moment that I have decided to use everything up before I buy anything else to go in there.  It will also help me with the fact that I have very little money left after paying off my credit card this month.

There's even less in the fridge door!  😕

Don't panic I won't starve, there's stuff in the cupboard too and I do have my savings if push comes to shove.

Oh well, if I set the table nicely no one will notice that there's not that much food on it.  😄

You may notice the Instagram logo has appeared on my sidebar again.  I decided to re-join as I was missing following some of my favourite Instagrammers.  I do have a page of my own once again, but this time it's mostly about small home and small budget type things rather than photos of my family.  So if you would like to follow along just click on the button on the sidebar and then Follow.

I am just going to be sharing some images from in and around the lodge, foodie things and moneysaving things and my current reading material.

Sue xx

Random, Random

 

I almost lost this beautiful pot of Primroses the other day due to the heat in the back garden.  Luckily I spotted the droopage just in time and gave the poor plant a drink.  Now, as it's roasting outside again today I  have to remember to water all the pots, especially the Lupins, they all have huge flower buds on just ready to open ... I do love Lupins.  💚

This isn't what you expect to find on the draining board is it!!

I had my car washed the other day, the first time in almost a year ... there are perks to having a battleship grey vehicle ... and when I got home I noticed my rear number plate was holding on by a whisker.  It's been a bit loose for a while, and no wonder, when I touched behind it all the sticky had gone from the sticky pads.

I tried all the shops around town that might sell the adhesive pads or rolls of tape that you use to re-attach number plates, but no luck.  So I had to use Amazon, this is always my last resort these days.  Hopefully, I'll be all legal again by tonight, with my number plate back in place for all to see.  In the meantime I have my chauffeur Alan to ferry me around. 😁

We called to M&S after we had visited Mum on Monday for some necessary supplies for both of us.

It's a good job we are happy to share the cost.  😄

Poor M&S they are having such a bad time with all things 'computer' at the moment aren't they.  Even the tills have come out in protest.

Sue xx

Going Back to Simplicity

 

Those of you who follow me on Facebook will have seen this image yesterday along with the message that I am now no longer on Instagram or Pinterest ... if you followed me on these too, I'm sorry but I really have vanished. 

I simply decided that enough was enough, more than enough in fact, so I shared this message and the above photo:

Just in case anyone is wondering ... or has even noticed ... this morning I have deleted my Instagram account. Facebook is currently hanging on by the skin of it's teeth, but I am fed up of social media and all it's bombardment of bad news, fake news, vitriol and adverts. I am stepping back to simplicity and it feels good. You'll probably find me in the corner with a book.

 It was nice to almost immediately get so many private messages from family and friends saying that they completely understood.  It seems that we are all getting fed up with adverts, AI generated posts and the proliferation of keyboard warriors.

  At this rate I'll be living in a log cabin in the woods, eschewing all modern conveniences and inventions.  😃

Sue xx