So it has been a while since I last wrote a blog and a lot has happened!

We have finished the two rooms of our house that we were decorating now and they look great. We may have another two to do at a later stage but we will wait until the warmer weather arrives.

It was decided that we needed a break as we had not been overseas to visit our parents for a while. It had been about five years since we had last been home. That was predominately because of the Covid outbreak and the travel chaos that ensued afterwards. The costs were at that time, astronomical to say the least.

Finally we made it! We took a three week break and flew home. The time with family and friends was fantastic. The weather could have been a little nicer, but hey, we didn’t go home for the weather now did we? We fitted in some touristy things, that we felt we could now do, as we don’t live there anymore and they were exciting. As a tourist you see a country completely different than you do whilst you lived there. The trip was not really a holiday as such, more a catch-up and driving around to see everyone. Sadly we didn’t get to see everyone, but we tried to see as many as we could.

The three weeks went really quick and soon we were back home again. Time goes real quick and to think we have already been back home for a week!

The garden looked a little overgrown as there was sun, rains and winds whilst we were away. Now is the time to start the pruning and replanting of the vegetable boxes. The grass has since been cut and looks good. Will be a good couple of weeks or so to get the garden back to looking normal again, but hey, if you have time away, what can you expect!

Who knew that flying was so tiring. We had around twenty-six or so hours, including transfer times, there and on the return journey. Planes seem to have been made smaller and aisles narrower. The flight crews trolley just about rolls up and down the aisles. “Mind you fingers and toes, I think.” Space costs money, but a little more room for the most of us who use and pay for a trip to wherever. It doesn’t have to be a large amount, just a little here and there would be nice.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

Oh my goodness, where has the month gone already? I was meant to write this at the beginning of the year, but I guess, better late than never.

Happy New Year to you all and hope you all had a great Christmas and are starting the New Year happy and well.

We have been doing some work on our house and keeping it up to date as much as we can. We have had new appliances in our kitchen and replaced units in our bathrooms too. Over the last week or two we have stripped the hallway of wallpaper, sanded the walls down and painted them a neutral colour. I have also been staining the fence along our boundary, which is fun, but also very long!

We have had a few days away which was nice. Even a few days away from home is a rest for us, although we do a lot of walking etc so it can be tiring.

Easter will soon be here and it just seems the months are flying by. I was told by a friend that the world is not moving faster, just that as we get older, we are slowing down! Damn, its okay to get old, but when you hear that, it makes you realize that you are in fact getting older. I don’t feel my age at all, but I know that I am not as quick at doing somethings as I used to be, or I should say that it is probably more of an effort to do some of those things.

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year and to the year of the Dragon, of which I am one. Hopefully this year will be a lucky year for me. Fingers crossed!!

Smile and have a great day 🙂

It has been a busy period up until Christmas Eve. So much to do and organize.

Today is Christmas Eve and we are able to put our feet up a little. Everything is ready for Christmas day which is great. The last of the housework was done this afternoon.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have rains and some thunderstorms, which is a shame as we have a Santa parade around where we live. It is great to see so many children and parents out and about on Christmas morning.

We have had warmth and humidity for the last week and now that Christmas is here the weather has clanged.

We took a train to the City yesterday and I have to say I was surprised how quiet it was. I thought it would pick up after lunch, but it never really did.

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and peaceful 2024.

Smile and have a great day :

It is that time of year again and thoughts of Christmas. I having been thinking about what gifts to buy people for a few weeks now. I have been lucky to have brought some and had them sent overseas already. This may sound crazy, but because I have a few to send I try and split them into two or three a week, otherwise there is an extremely large bill at the end of it!

Postage and freight charges have gone through the roof and it does pay to send early and post in small batches. Overall the cost is the same, but it does lighten the load.

Now I have a tricky time with parents who wish for nothing. They have not particular hobbies and do not really eat out or go to hotels. The dilemma I have therefore, is what can I buy them? I have done charity donations, i.e. Oxfam Unwrapped and Food Banks etc., but, I cannot do it every year. If people have hobbies it is a little easier, although not that much.

With the overall cost of goods, then the postage and now it is getting near Christmas, I am stuck!

Food hampers look great but you really have to check through each one to make sure there are no items in there that people are allergic to or who will be unable to eat.

Dilemmas at Christmas time!

Smile and have a great day 🙂

Technology is all around us that is for sure! The world has changed so much with the advancements of technological items.

Mobile phones for instance. They were very basic years ago with very little on them, with regards to all the various apps etc. These days we have smart phones that have so many apps on them, some of which we never use. The storage/memory on phones now is too small, as usually filled up with the apps loaded onto them.

The storage on my phone is almost full and I don’t have much stuff on mine. My photos are saved to a sim card, None of my apps can be put onto my sim card and so I am always clearing my cache and history, every couple of days or so,

My new laptop has some outdated drives already and so I appreciate that technology is always evolving, but it seems to be overtaking us. It is sometimes hard to keep up with it all. Sad, but true!!

When it all works, it really is amazing and extremely efficient, however, when it does not work, everyone seems to suffer. We all use something every day of every year, from cash points to computers and phones. When the internet or any part of the systems are disrupted it can have a knock on effect to the next person/job.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

I thought this was something that happened when you grew older, but no!

I have bouts of forgetfulness some of the time. I hate it when I think I must make a note to do that and by the time I get to a pen and paper I have forgotten. I doesn’t happen often, but is really unhelpful when it does.

Brain fog is what I was told it was as that happens more when you are in Menopause. Good news that I now know what is causing it, but it still doesn’t help feeling a little useless sometimes.

The symptoms of Menopause can last up to ten years I have been advised. Imagine that the forgetfulness with only get worse, or will it?

I am one of those people at the moment who have notes to remind me to do certain important things. I have a wipe-off board by my laptop so that I can jot things down if I need too. Luckily I haven’t forgotten anything important so far!!

As I get older I probably will forget more, because of aging. I think that is a fact of life for most, if not everybody.

At least I haven’t forgotten to write up a blog this month!

Smile and have a great day 🙂

We have three vegetable boxes in our garden. One still has a pepper plant, a chili plant and a blueberry bush in it.

Over the last month I took out all of the soil/compost and sieved it all through a garden sieve to remove all dead roots, weeds and other bits and pieces. Once sieved I added some new vegetable compost to it and restocked the vegetable box. It now has garlic and shallots in there, ready for winter picking.

Over the weekend we did the same to the second box and mixed some new vegetable compost into it and replaced it into the vegetable box. This box was planted up with potatoes. The price of potatoes here are high and so we decided to grow our own again. Last time we grew them we had so many, we needed to freeze them. We froze some as chips, wedges, roasts and then sliced. We had so many, but as they were relatively small, we didn’t think that others would be interested in having any of them.

This year, if are are blessed with the same amount, we will post about them on our local community page and hope that some people may be interested in picking some up.

Let’s hope they grow in abundance.

Our vegetable boxes have been a godsend with what we have grown. Makes our grocery bill slightly less and also tastes great, knowing that you have grown your own too.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

We have had so much wet weather of late and over the weekend, we finally had a dry day.

We ordered a skip bag so that we could put all the garden waste into it. Once we have finished, we will give the skip company a call and they will come and pick it up.

It is surprising once you get started just how much you have to put into the bag. We thought a three cubic metre would be too big! It is nearly half full already and we still have to finish the last section of pruning and cutting down/back. Luckily, we can put other things like wood, and large household items, although not fridge/freezers, paint, tyres and other hazardous items.

If we have any other household rubbish and have the room we will put in, but for the most part we have actually completed the garden project that we’ve been trying to do for the last few weeks.

It is a great achievement to look out the window and be able to see other plants that were covered by overgrown shrubs. Normally we are able to have a good tidy up before winter, but our weather has been shocking over the last six months or so and so it can’t be helped.

The garden does look good, and I think it will appreciate what we did.

Smile and have a great day. 🙂

So, a quarter of the year has now passed us by and where did it go, really?

What did we all do with it?

We had floods and a cyclone and now we have more flooding, just as everyone was clearing up after the first one. This apparently is going to be the norm for most of us. Wet, wild and unpredictable weather and the like.

We are still trying to tidy up in the garden and pruning plants and bushes ready for the Summer. With the weather as it has been, it has been a slow process. The other thing is, where do you put all of the pruning’s etc? We do have a bin for garden waste and access to a skip or a bag to be collected once filled. I am not sure at this stage what we actually need.

The other thing that has kept us busy is the tax year end. It is not a job that people enjoy, but, taxes and death are always guaranteed in life, so they say. We collated everything that needed to be done and forwarded to our wonderful accountant to finalise and forward to the tax office. For some it can be a stressful time and I agree it is not a good time for a lot of people.

For a lot of us, we are already stressed from the Covid situation, work, weather, money/debt, living expenses. The list could go on and on. For those of us who do need to sort the taxes out, it is just another added stress. Thank goodness we have an accountant who helps us deal with it. It really does help take the strain away.

So, onwards and upwards through the next quarter.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

We are now into Autumn and the clocks have gone back an hour. The dark mornings are here for a while now.

We didn’t have much of a Summer though, with flooding and a cyclone causing devastation in places. The weather is making up for it now as the sunshine’s brightly above us, The temperatures almost Summertime ones.

Over the weekend a couple of tornadoes hit a couple of areas, one not to far away and the way down from us.

I am not sure what has happened to the weather these days as these sorts of events are occurring all over the world now. A lot of people claim it to be global warming, climate change, but I am not too sure. Yes, a lot of it has to do with it, but I think we have been bad at looking after our planet.

For sure, we all do our best and sometimes I think I should be able to do more and maybe I can! Mother Nature is for sure upset and is venting frustration at us all! I guess we as a planet can expect more bad weather events in the future.

Sorry Mother Nature, I promise I will try to do better.

Smile and have a great day 🙂