End of Another Week

Not a bad end to the week. It was below freezing when I went out for my walk this morning, but the sun was shining and that's always a plus! I had a nice walk with my friend. I had debated about going to do a mini food shop after or leave it, but that would mean going on the weekend and I really hate food shopping on the weekend, so I ended up going and picking up a few bits. Got the things done on my list and then messaged with sister for a long time. I had to really think about the time change difference again. The US changed did the Spring Forward thing a couple weeks back, the UK doesn't do it for another week. Instead of five hours difference we're on four and the end of our chat usually lands right when we eat. One more week and then we'll be back to normal lol. 

Tomorrow is another social day - too many - too many - lol. It's our first volunteer day at Asylum Lake. It's only for three hours, but that's more than enough. Half of me is looking forward to it, half of me dreading it. It doesn't help that I pulled my back a few days ago and I can still feel it. Not so good if we are bending over to pick up rubbish! I am going though as I can't go to the next three as we will be away. 

My plan is to go for a nice relaxing nature walk by myself, go home and get something to eat, pack up some water and then go a little early so I don't have to worry about parking as it is limited. I'll do the volunteer event (hopefully I won't have to talk too much!) and then I'm going home and taking a nice warm, relaxing bath. The high tomorrow is going to be just above freezing but at least the sun will be shining. 

I'm not planning on much beyond that. 

Just trees. I'm finding them quite fascinating at the moment. 

It's Friday!

Well, by the time a lot of people read this it will be Saturday. Regardless, it's the end of another week. I wasn't the most productive today, but I did take care of bits and pieces that needed to be put away. I also spent time talking with daughter and messaging with my sister. Daughter has been away on a work trip for three days. It's her first long time away from her daughter. She did say they had been video chatting. Daughter was at the airport when she rang me. I was wondering how she was getting on. This might be TMI, but she is still nursing the baby and has been expressing milk. I wondered how she would get on at airport security with the way they are about liquids going through security. Apparently, she had a really good experience, so I'm pleased they take nursing mothers into consideration. She had gone prepared with bits of info off the TSA website and such if there were any problems. She said she is happy to be going home though she has enjoyed her adult interaction! She works from home usually, so it was good for her I think

My sister in Ipswich said things were going well. It's been pretty chilly there and a bit wet too. Think Autumn is definitely in the air. My BIL (other sister's husband) had his first chemo treatment and things went well apparently. I'm hoping he's not too sick from it. He did ok last time he had chemo though this treatment is a bit different. Sister sent some pictures of great nephews (so adorable) and of some of the birds she's seen and a few of the waterfront at night. I really appreciate our Friday sessions. Makes me feel a little less homesick. 

What's up for the weekend? Not sure yet. It might - or might not lol - rain tomorrow. I might - or might not - get up early and try for a walk. Husband and son are going to husband's friends' tomorrow afternoon so I'm planning on having a bath and a read while they are gone. Sunday we are going out to the lakeshore. One of my favourite beaches now has free parking as it's the off season so we are going there. We avoid it in the summer as parking is too much. It will be quieter this weekend too! 

Do you have plans for the weekend? How's the weather where you are? Is Autumn in the air? 

The Beginnings of Autumn

Friday - Did it Snow?

Thanks for all the comments on the last post! I shall let you know which one falls first. They all looked the same today. 

That Midwest forecast I posted rang a little true today. The snow that was predicted to start at 10am didn't. It didn't start at 11 or 12 or 1 or 2. It must have started about 2.30pm. There's about 5 inches on the bird table from what I can see. As I look out of my window before writing this (10.49pm) there are two deer out there trying to dig through the snow and eat the seed that has gathered on the table. 

As the snow started this afternoon the birds were out in numbers trying to beat the rapidly falling snow to get some food before sheltering for the night. There was even a rabbit out under the table. For most of the winter they have been coming out at night - to stay away from prey I suspect - but this one was out this afternoon. 

I did manage to get out my walk today. It was okay. Cloudy and windy and we didn't see a lot, but the exercise was good. I came home, did the usual and texted with my sister. We always check in on Fridays. I listed a few more lighthouses on Ebay. I am almost done with them now. 

Not sure what weekend plans are. I suppose we shall get up in the morning and see how the roads are. It will be above freezing tomorrow so the snow won't be around too long. Hopefully we can get out somewhere. 

End of the Week - ramblings

I thought about this post being an update on my Creativity for the week. I am hoping to be more creative this year. However, I haven't been as creative (yet) as I had hoped this week. I have done some creative photography but will share that tomorrow when I will (hopefully) have some more creativity to share. We will be going out for a short time in the morning and then I plan to spend the rest of the day doing some crafting. 

Most of this week has been about getting into the swing of things after the holidays. I did get some of the house resetting done but there is still more to be done. I did make a meal plan for the week and meals are planned and food purchased for throughout the weekend. Husband cooks at the weekend and usually we end up going to the shops and spending a lot more money than we should have. Instead, I planned meals that I knew he could cook and purchased the items needed. I am sure this will save us some money. We have plenty of snack foods left from Christmas gifts and things I had purchased for our snack table. No need to buy any more. I am already thinking about the meals I will be planning for next week. Meal planning made things so much easier this week. 

It's been grey and dreary the last few days. There are mud puddles on most of the trails I've walked, and almost slipped a couple of times. Luckily, I caught myself. The weather is making me feel quite down. It's supposed to be sunny this weekend. I hope the weather forecast doesn't change. A good dose of sunshine will make me feel better. 

My laugh for the day was the weather bar on my computer. It said this

Really? Really? The sky is just completely cloud covered, we're talking monotone, no definition to the clouds at all. It's been drizzly all day and we've had snow showers. There wasn't even a patch of blue. How my computer - set to the town I live in - decided there would be a great sunset I don't know! It was like that in the blizzard. The snow was coming down outside and the computer weather bar said it was sunny out. Sigh. Maybe it's just wishful thinking lol. 

Here's to some sunshine tomorrow!

End of Week

Not a productive day today. I had a lovely meandering walk, but I think I overdid it as when I got home, I just could not get warm. I ended up snuggled under a blanket and dozing most of the afternoon. I did chat/message a lot - chatted with daughter and middle son and messaged with sister. Other than that, I didn't do a lot until it was time to make dinner, do the washing up and complete the two lots of clothes that I had washed. I managed to get up into the craft room for a little bit this evening but that's about it. 

I turned on the small heater in my living room for about half an hour this morning. Sigh. I was hoping to hold off but it was chilly. I think that's part of the problem - the living room is getting cooler now but I am really trying to hold off turning on the main heat especially as I seem to be the only one affected by the cooler temperatures right now. 

I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. Daughter sent me this photo this morning.

She got her first snow today! She was not happy lol. Luckily it melted away really quickly. I'm not quite ready for that yet! 

Things That Make Me Smile Day 287

It was so peaceful being out here this morning all by myself. I stood and watched the geese squawking and getting ready to fly after spending the night on the lake and listened to the Red-winged Blackbirds sitting up in the trees getting ready to fly. I can usually walk right out to the tree stump and a little past, but the lake is high, and the water is flooding the end of what we call The Point.  

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Tomorrow I am going to try to post about The Sleeping Bear Dunes that we visited earlier in September. I tried scheduling the post while I was away the other week, but Blogger was being finicky and wouldn't let me post photos from my computer. Fingers crossed it will work this time!

Snow or No Snow?

 Well, yesterday's snow did not end up really bad.  A few inches. Middle son is closer to the lakeshore and he said he got quite a bit of snow, so much so that his work ended up sending them home to work for the rest of the night. Our snow was worse today! It snowed most of the day. The roads were pretty terrible. Husband had to leave work early as his work does not want them to have overtime but he had to work extra hours the other day. He came, took me to the park and I walked in the cold and snow while he went home and shovelled the snow out of the driveway, pavement outside the house and raked the snow off the roof! It was quite a workout for him.

Some of the phone photos taken on my walk. I had forgotten how much energy it takes to walk through deep snow! It was really hard to judge how deep it was and I had to be careful where I was putting my feet!

I have started to make some lists! I feel as though I am finally getting back on track. I shall work on them some more over the weekend. 

Finally the next two photos for my Photo-a-Day challenge. I am doing Phone Photos - Things That Make Me Smile.

6/365

It wasn't the photo I planned. I wasn't going to do another outdoor one. When I did this same challenge in 2020 I had a lot of outdoor photos. I was going to try for a variety. However as we were supposed to have a really bad snowstorm I was so happy when the sun actually came out yesterday afternoon. Who wouldn't smile at that? 

7/365

Smiling (and a little bit of crying with this book). I know, I know, it's a Christmas book and Christmas is over, but it's been in my to-read pile for a while. I really enjoyed it. It was what my Mum would have called a family story. It's one of those books that I would probably keep, pack in my case and take for her to read. 

It's Friday!

I started the day off with my usual walk. It wasn't quite as cold today - still below freezing when I started out - but it warmed up - and the sun was shining! I have to say that certainly makes you feel a bit brighter when the sun is shining! As my friend and I were starting off our walk we saw this beautiful sunrise through the trees. 

What a wonderful colourful way to start the morning!

I feel as though I got quite a bit done today. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night (again) and woke up early. As I was up early I was looking for a certain pair of socks and ended up pulling out two drawers and sorting through them. I got rid of a whole lot of things! It wasn't on my list, but it was nice to get something of mine sorted. I did manage to look through the things I've already bought and have found that I bought 2 of the same game for my son! I will have to take one back. Sigh. A good reason why I should probably write more lists! 

I did get to my craft room and made a couple of small boxes. I am waiting for better light to take photos of them. By the time I finished making them it was quite dark - a hazard of the shorter days. I have put a ring light on my wish list so perhaps I might get one. I think that would help with the lighting trouble. 

Tomorrow will be quite busy. Depending on the weather - we're due wind and rain - we might go out for a quick walk or a trip to the lakeshore if the waves are right. Husband wants to get his booster jab. They are accepting walk-in appointments. We have to pick up an order for bird seed that is finally ready and make a stop at the post office, probably a trip to get some food too. I also want to get back into my craft room if possible. I want to get some of daughter's presents wrapped. We are taking a long weekend visit to her over her birthday (19th) weekend and we will share our gifts then. 

Oh - one good thing about sorting out bits and pieces are found things you forgot you bought. Take these gift tags. I found them just in time for this year! 

Friday

This week has been flying by. Not surprising really. It's my first week back. Still feeling a little off, but I did get up into my craft room this morning. It's been so hot and humid. Today when I woke it was raining and I hoped it would cool things down a bit but it hasn't. You can feel the moisture heavy in the air. I managed to get in a walk between rain showers and I could barely move without getting sticky and sweaty. Yuck.

It was really lovely over at the lake. The fields are filled with wildflowers and everything is so very green. It's so pretty at this time of year - the hazy, lazy days of summer before the days get shorter and the mornings more crisp. I certainly shouldn't be wishing for those things, but I find myself looking forward to Autumn. It's my favourite time of year. I love the changing of the leaves, the cooler temperatures and the beauty Autumn seems to bring.

We're off camping this weekend. The weather is supposed to be okay and the temperatures on the other side of the state, where we will be, a bit more bearable. I'm not quite sure what possessed me to book a camping trip for this weekend as I barely have my feet on the ground as it is.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!