Relaxing into the new year....

Hello!

I have actually taken down the New Year banner but have replaced it with a big yellow bauble!! It was bigger than I anticipated, the joys of online shopping, but I'm seeing it as a positive.... a big yellow ball of sunshine during these grey winter months x

It's been wet and cold and grey and miserable!!

This photo was taken 2 days apart. So much water lying around!

On Tuesday, I enjoyed my first walk of 2025 with my friend Lynn. 

It had to be up and around the Tor.

We were the only ones up there!

And in the distance you could see snow up on the Mendips.

So, on Wednesday, I went in search of snow.....

....over to East Harptree Woods.....

...and I found it!!

There wasn't loads, but it was still about and made for a nice wintery walk.

We had a new visitor to the garden. 

To our neighbours tree really, but I could sit at my desk and watch it tapping away.

Thursday, and another cold but dry day, I decided to head over to The Newt. 

Do my first visit for the year and check out if they still had any snow....

...and they did! Enough to make it look beautiful and wintery.

The paths were nice and clear, so another good walk in the bag and I avoided the shop and their delicious pastries, poor Jeff, no treats for him either.

Friday morning, and I was up early and lucked out big time, to open the shutters and capture this scene on my phone. The starlings flying out from their roost over at Ham Wall. I often see them in the distance, like shadows flying past the Tor, but these were flying a lot closer and whilst I was just taking a picture of the Tor, they flew over, right in front of me. I was up early for an exam and then.....

.....back into school in the evening for the Student Exhibition 'Private View'. It was brilliantly busy, a great evening celebrating all the student work on display. And I was home in time to watch the Traitors!!

So another early start on Saturday, but a treat of another beautiful sky.

And the first of three Saturdays, hosting the Student Exhibition in the Atkinson Gallery. I LOVE this little job. The Art Department is really friendly, I get to meet some really interesting people and spend my day surrounded by the most fabulous art work! What's not to like!

Unfortunately, I can't show you any of the work on display, as it's current exam work but if your local, you can come and see it for yourself, for free! 

So today is Sunday and my only day off for the next week. I have exams Monday to Friday and all day Saturday in the Gallery. I do have a theatre trip booked in and Sam is coming home for a few days, before I take him back up to Cardiff, so a busy week but another week of January ticked off!

Have a good week x

Walking in winter!!

I'm determined this year, as with most years, to focus on me! I start with good intentions that almost always, go by the wayside! One thing I do want to do is walk more. It was my therapy in Lockdown. Whenever I could, I walked. I have carried on, it was something I vowed to keep doing, but the amount of time I actually do walk has slipped. So, if it's dry enough to get out and I have no plans, I intend to go out for a walk! 

So on Thursday, Jeff and I headed over to Ham Wall for a walk.

It was quiet, still, calm.....beautiful! 

Friday morning was even better. We'd had a hard frost overnight and we woke up to the most perfect sunny, blue sky morning. I got up with Jeff, who was in school for INSET day and headed out. Initially back over to Meare, but as I turned off the main road I received a phone call, from the doctors, offering me an appointment at 10am! So I turned the car around and parked up in Street, to do a different walk along the river Brue.

It was beautiful. 

Had I had the time, I would have stayed out all morning.

I LOVE mornings like this, just me with my camera.

No one else around!!

Just birdsong  and the crunch of your foot on the hard ground.

The doctors was fine. I'd contacted them about a few moles/marks on my face that had become itchy. She looked, explained what each one was and reassured me that there was nothing to worry about. They've been there for years but the kids said I should get them checked out and a family member over Christmas mentioned a skin cancer scare and you Google...... so it was just worth getting them checked out and now I can ignore them! Just annoying that the appointment time, cut my morning walk short!

So yesterday was our final Saturday off! 

Jeff's term starts on Monday, a 6 week term! He works Saturdays and I will also be working the next four Saturdays in the gallery. I will be hosting the Student Exhibition, then I'm in for a day, so that artists can drop work off for the February/March exhibition.

I spent Saturday afternoon catching up on TV viewing! I always feel really guilty watching TV in the day! No idea why!?! We tend to only go into the sitting room and watch the telly about 8pm, it's just something we do. I guess we just tend to spend all our time together in the kitchen. Sophie will go into the sitting room during the day, when she's home, to read but other than when I'm feeling poorly, I never use that room.

So today, Sunday, our last day of the holidays. Jeff is back in work proper tomorrow and I am back in on Friday for the first exam. The mocks were supposed to start on Monday but have been pushed back a week. So, if the weather is nice, I intend to get out and walk. We had snow late yesterday evening, was gone by bedtime, and today is just wet and grey and miserable. So, as I thought I'd be working, I have no plans, other than my first walk with my friend, booked in for Tuesday, so if it's dry, I'm walking!

Pinch and a punch.....

Pinch and a punch.....

.....hello January....

....2025!!

May 2025 be filled with love and kindness, and good health and happiness.

Here's to lots of travels and adventures, good coffee and cake and plenty of sunshine.

(not much to ask for!!)

As with every passing year, a simple £1 bunch of daffodils is the best way to get through a grey January. Plenty of Spring bulbs dotted around, with the promise of better days ahead.

We took this pic before Sam headed off! 

I wonder what's in store for us all this year. 

Sophie? A new house, maybe!?! 

Sam? Graduation, a move to London, a job!?!

Me? Less aches and pains please.

Jeff? Stay fit and healthy!

No dramas please x

Sam spent last night up in Carlisle with Poppy and we had a quiet evening at home. 

We never really celebrate the New Year. I think if Jeff didn't have to go back to work straight away, I would be possibly up for seeing in the New Year in a different country, but here, in grey, wet, cold England, there isn't much to entice me out!!

We do try and stay up to see the New Year in and watch the fireworks, 

both from our neighbours and London on the TV!!

Sophie was up and headed off super early this morning. She's gone back to Cardiff . It's been lovely to have her home for the past two weeks. She and I are off to Italy in the Spring, just for a few days, back to Florence/Pisa and wherever she wants to see. So the countdown begins.

I made lots of promises to myself last year, that I didn't keep. I wanted to lose weight for our month in Greece but it didn't really happen. I think, in all honesty, I've settled where I'm at, if that makes sense. This is my natural weight. Yes, I'd like to be a stone lighter for the scales, but I generally feel okay as I am and am happy in my own skin. What I do want to do, is improve how I feel. Improve/manage my menopausal aches and pains. Losing a stone could help and if that's a by product of eating better, moving more, then excellent, but it isn't going to be my main focus! Good health is my focus for 2025!

So we go into a new year with a blank page. 

A time for new beginnings, fresh focus, hopes and dreams.

I always try and focus on the positives, look for the good in people, in situations.

I saw this, this morning!

"Make sure you're happy in real life"

This is going to be my mantra for 2025!

Happiness x

FAREWELL 2024

Farewell 2024!

I LOVE to look back on the year. See what we've done, achieved, enjoyed!!

I tend to look for the positives, rather than dwell on the negatives. 

It's been a good year other than my menopausal aches and pains. I'm loving my new job(s) and the flexibility it gives me and time off with Jeff during the holidays. And we've had some good holidays!! Travel is still very much a priority for us both. Whilst we have our health and the money to do so, we want to travel as much as we can. We've been lucky enough to visit Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal this year, with our month in Greece being a huge highlight xx 

My love of musical theatre is still strong and I've enjoyed many a trip to the Bristol Hippodrome - Wicked, Jesus Christ Superstar, Everyone's talking about Jamie, Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, Come from Away, SIX, Grease, Mary Poppins....with another 7 shows already booked for 2025!

I saw a few films at the beginning of the year - Wonka, Next Goal Wins, All of us Strangers, Wicked Little Letters... my visits tailed off but ended with the film of the year, WICKED Part one!! Looking forward to WICKED Part 2, Bridget Jones, The Salt Path in 2025.

There was some great TV - One Day, The Post Office drama, Freddie Flintoff's 'Field Of Dreams', and I've loved The Piano, Great Pottery Throwdown,  Race Across the World and the Gavin and Stacey grand finale on Christmas Day!! Oh, and the Traitors, with a new series about to start tomorrow!

Take That, Fairground Attraction, Will Young, and the Christmas Spectacular were my music highlights for 2024. We've 3 concerts booked in for 2025 but sadly missed out on tickets for Coldplay! Things are either on whilst we're away or really expensive!!

I've walked lots this year, perhaps not as much as the previous year but still go out with my friend Lynn. I've been over to the Newt , down to Cornwall, up to the Lakes!! I do want to try and get out a bit more locally, like I did during Lockdown, weather permitting!!

Jeff has been busy at work, had a few aches and pains, we're getting old!! He's spent many an hour watching car maintenance videos on YouTube and then spent many an hour lying on a "good bit of cardboard" under one car or another!!! He's also found his love again for the garden and planting this year. But I will add, spent a good few hours asleep at the bottom of the garden too!!

Sophie got promotion at work this year and seems to be enjoying her new role. She enjoys living in Cardiff and hopes to buy her first house there in 2025. A big highlight for her this year was seeing Taylor Swift, not once but twice!!

Sam is in his final year and can't wait to leave Cardiff, having spent the past 4 years there. He met Poppy in April and is currently up in Carlisle with her and her family. She's studying in London and I think the plan is to move down there, when he graduates (fingers crossed) in the summer. He still has no idea what he wants to do job wise!! Just see what presents itself!!

All in all another FAB-U-LOUS YEAR xx

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

2024 TRAVELS

FAMILY X