Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 3

Strange how it took me ages to get used to writing 2025, but somehow 2026 seems quite natural. And as usual we seem to be hurtling in to it, so I have little news this week, but still have a few smiles to share.

On Sunday I went to church again and this time the full choir were there after their New Year break, so we enjoyed some good music. When I got home our son Jonathan came round to collect a shoe rack we did not need and he did, so it will be well used. 

I usually have my alarm set for 8.00 though it is half an hour earlier on days when the builders are coming. But on Tuesday we were up even earlier. Chris had a phone call to be at Shrewsbury Hospital for some tests, first thing, so our son Mike picked him up on his way to work. As I opened the curtains dawn was just breaking and the sky had a straight line drawn across it and with the grass white with frost, it looked lovely.

I saw Chris off (I stayed home to see the plasteres who were coming in to work on the utility area), and then got my breakfast. By the time I sat down to eat it the sky was red and my whole room glowed.

Sadly it soon disappeared and we had a chilly, drizzly day, but at least I was up to enjoy the sunrise first.

They didn't get all of Chris' tests done so they kept him in overnight, and after tea, Mike drove me over there with his pjs, washing kit and medicines. Fortunately they did the main test the next day and eventually he came home. He has to wait for a date for one more test and will see the consultant the first week in February, so they are getting things moving now.

As I was on my own all day I had a long video chat with my sister in the afternoon and we had a good catch-up.

When I went out on Wednesday I saw how much my spring bulbs are growing. I put all sorts of bulbs in very randomly in the front garden and in between the pansies in the planters under the window. I saw a few shoots on the day it snowed, but now that has all melted away, I can see they are growing fast.

Then I walked through the park and spotted my first snowdrop. Such delicate little flowers but so resilient in the winter weather.

The plasterers did an excellent job in the utility, and soon all the discoloured walls and old brickwork was boarded and skimmed, so it is ready to be tiled and/or painted. Today the builder was back and he has spread a levelling compound on the floor so tomorrow it will be dry and he can lay the tiles on the floor and start on the plumbing and a little bit of woodwork and next week the cupboards and machines will go in.

And finally here is a true promise of Spring. I treated myself to a small bunch of tight daffodil buds on Wednesday, and look at them now. Aren't they lovely. I know they won't last long in our centrally heated room but they were only £1, so I can afford to replace them quite often. They make me smile every time I look at them.

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 2

Here we go again with another chance to look back at the week and relive those moments that made us smile. I guess this is officially week 2 as week 1 would have been New Year's Day. But I am looking back even further to the week before Christmas when we had a day visit by my sister Dorothy. She will be 91 next month so we don't get to meet up very often, but as she was spending Christmas with her daughter in Wolverhampton, Jo drove her over to see us. We had a lovely day chatting, showing them round our new home, and catching up on family news. In fact we were so busy chatting that we completely forgot to take any photos!

On Christmas Eve we walked round to our son Jonathan's house for a social evening. There was a very excited little girl - their daughter Aisling, so we fed the reindeers, and put out cookies and milk for Santa and then I asked her to pose for a picture with her new baby sister Niamh. She was torn between watching the baby and looking up for the camera, but I did manage to get this one. She is so good with the baby and although she is a 'live-wire' and rarely sits still, she is gentle with Niamh and takes on everything she is told. When I got the chance to have a cuddle Aisling said "Grandma; you need to support her head!" I was, but it is good to see her so caring.

Christmas day we stayed at home, though Mike and Lucy called in for a cuppa and a quick chat. I did cook a proper Christmas dinner in my new kitchen, and it is so good to be able to use it at last.

Our third son Tom came over from Denmark for a long weekend on Boxing Day, and on Sunday we all went over to Mike's house for a second Christmas dinner. All the boys and men in the family are Arsenal supporters and they all wanted Tom's jumper.

Some of Lucy's family were there too, and Ben drove over to join us for the day, so there were thirteen of us round the table. Here he is having a quiet cuddle with Bobby who used to be his cat. As his life moved on it was difficult for him to look after a cat so Bobby came to live at Mike's house where he has a similarly marked sister, and young lads to give him some attention, but he sems to remember Ben whenever he visits.

Mike is a great cook, (a chef  not a baker so he says), and refused any help in the kitchen except for his partner laying the table and his son Fin making the pigs in blankets, but he was happy for me to supply a dessert so I made my chocolate meringue layer cake which is almost a legend in the family.

It was a lovely day and we ended up playing board games together. Tom had to leave by lunch time on Monday, but he had used the new sofa bed and found it fine which is good to know.

The next week was chilly and wet so we mostly stayed at home. We had to clear everything out of my makeshift kitchen ready for the men to come back in on Monday 5th to start work on the utility. 

We had a quiet evening in for New Year's Eve, which is our norm these days, though we did video chat with all the boys. Just before tea time Mike popped in to see whether we would like a drive round to see the lights before they are taken down. We ended our tour at Llansantffraid where we saw this amazing light display. It covered a huge area and must have taken weeks to set up. I was amused to see a giraffe among the reindeer. That was a new idea for me.

We spent a long time walking round to see it all and then we had a drink in the little bar opposite to it, before Mike drove us home.

I really like the fireworks so we watched them on TV. I am always a bit unsure whether they are a good thing as thousands of pounds go up in smoke in just a few minutes, but I am told they are funded by the ticket sales so some folk still have money to burn, and I am sure the atmosphere along the Thames is electric!

On Sunday I decided to go the local Church. I have been following some of their services online, and they are a bit more traditional than I am used to, but the church is just at the end of the road, so it is the most sensible one for me to go to. The people were friendly and several of them came to talk to me. I am sure I will soon get to know some of them. When I came out, it was snowing! proper big soft flakes coming down in a blur of white.

It didn't last for long and soon changed to smaller icy balls, but they did stay on the paths and grass, and as it was a chilly night, it was still there on Monday which dawned sunny but very cold. The park looked lovely.

On Tuesday there was a cloudy sunrise which later turned into a blazing red sky, and eventually more snow fell.

At least it made the back garden look a bit better. All the rubbish from the building work has been dumped down through the garden, and when the utility is cleared too, they will order a skip to take it all away. It is not a great view through the kitchen window, but with a blanket of snow on it all, it doesn't look too bad.

For the first time within memory, I took my decorations down a few days before twelfth night. In Spain Jan 5-6 was the main Christmas festival so I always left everything up until after then, but I did back in England too. But as they now live in two crates in the cellar they had to come down at the weekend as once the builders had started on the utility, the cellar was not accessible.

Now everything is back to normal and I need to put some time in up here in my craft room as I haven't yet sorted out all the boxes and shelves, so I struggle to find what I want. It is on my list to do! And on that note I will close, and go down to make our tea.  There is always something else to distract me.

In case you were wondering about the 'nose' that keeps popping up on my photos of the TV, it is Brown bear who came to me on Christmas day. he is so soft and has long arms weightedin the feet, so he hugs round my neck and stays there until I move him.

You are never to old to have a new teddy bear!!