January …

Hi there everyone 😀

I can’t quite believe it’s been three years today that we had our last chat with dad …

I remember it was snowing and I took some photos on our way over to visit …

All in all it’s been a funny old January … in fact the words of the old Pilot song come to mind …

“January, sick and tired, you’ve been hanging on me” 

Having suffered with horrible colds over the New Year we are still not quite right. We are still doing plenty of coughing and, whilst we are now starting to get on with a few bits, it doesn’t take much exertion at all before we are both shattered. 

We’ve not really been anywhere or done anything since we go back from the lodge and it’s becoming a bit frustrating. 

For me January is normally a time for revelling in the lethargy of a dark, cold, wet month … whilst starting to get excited about plans for the coming year. 

This post couldn’t be more different to my post at pretty much the same time last year when we were cracking on and trying lots of new things. 

This year, so far, January has been about watching lots of stuff on the TV, a bit of reading, no housework, no gardening, not much blogging, not really seeing anyone, a couple of food bank shifts, getting up late and loads of laundry … including all the end of season lodge bedding. 

I’ve only taken one photo so far this year on my phone … and that was of last night’s tea …

Today I have finally motivated myself to spring clean one of the bedrooms and Martin has cleaned the upstairs windows. It has worn us both out and we are now just recuperating 🙈🙈🙈

We have a clear diary for the next few days and I think we are going to try and slowly get ourselves going … write some lists … catch up with some jobs and maybe start to feel just a little bit more motivated. 

Hopefully my next post will be a little bit more upbeat. 

I’ve just done a quick google for positive song lyrics for February but all I can find are lots of sad songs about relationship break ups so I’m opting to finish this post with a quote from Gertrude Jekyll …

“There is always in February one day, at least, when one smells the yet distant, but surely coming, summer.”

— Gertrude Jekyll

Bring it on 😀

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2024 … Not quite the start we were hoping for 🙈

Hi there everyone 😀

Just thought I’d pop on with a quick one to wish you all a Happy New Year. 

I know some of you will be excitedly looking ahead to what the year will bring and I know some will be wondering how on earth you are going to get through it. 

Whatever situation you find yourself in I hope you find the strength and support you need to make the best you can of every day … and that you are also able to recognise and take comfort from the love that you will undoubtedly be surrounded by 💜

It’s been a bit of a strange start to the year for us. After Christmas spent at home meeting up with friends and family we decided to see in the New Year at our lodge in North Wales, with our good friends Jackie and Phil. What Martin and I weren’t planning on was being struck down by the most stinking of coughs and colds. The germy onslaught plus the almost incessant rain did kind of put a bit of a damper on things a bit. 

Jackie and Phil, who by some form of miracle did not seem to be targeted by the germs, headed for home yesterday and I can’t quite believe the view I currently have …

It’s the first bit of sunshine we’ve seen since arriving last week. 

Martin and I are both still feeling pretty rough and he has retired back to bed for a nap and I’m not feeling like doing very much at all. 

In an effort not to beat by the lurgy we have been dosing up on every cough and cold remedy known to man and we did manage to get out and about a little bit whilst Jackie and Phil were here … starting with a visit to Penrhyn Castle to see the Christmas trees …

As there was a problem in the cafe … meaning no hot drinks were available … we braved the wind and the rain for a walk along the pier at Bangor … ending up in the cafe for bacon sandwiches and welcome hot teas and coffees …

There was then time for a quick call in at a couple of garden centres on the way back. 

The following day was New Year’s Eve and we stayed fairly local with a bit of mooch round Cricieth, where I managed to catch up with the Christmas post box toppers, which were fabulous as ever …

After a quick visit to Pwllheli for a light lunch and a quick visit to the arcade we got back to the lodge nice and early. We were thinking a nap might be a good idea if we were hoping to last till midnight to see in the New Year. 

Fortunately we had been very organised with the planning of our New Year’s Eve meal, with it all pretty much being ready and waiting for us in the freezer. We were going for the best impact we could get for the least effort. 

We took our time over our meal of a scallop risotto served in large scallop shells … courtesy of Tesco Finest … followed by beef wellington, from our local butcher, dauphinoise potatoes, cauliflower cheese, carrots and peas. We even had a frozen millionaires caramel meringue courtesy of Asda. 

Whilst the beef wellingtons weren’t the best … we did enjoy our meal and it wasn’t a massive effort to put together. We managed to keep ourselves going with board games and quizzes until midnight when we saw the New Year in with Rick Astley and the London fireworks, which were fabulous. 

The usual NYE cocktail making went by the wayside, which was a shame as we’d taken everything with us we needed to have a good go, but I just wasn’t feeling like drinking at all. I think we ended up heading for bed at about 1.30am so we didn’t do too bad. 

On New Year’s Day we had a bit of a drive round Llanystumdwy and Llanbedrog before having a walk on Quarry Beach, hoping for some respite from the weather in The Sandbar, but it was just so busy that we gave it up as a bad job and came back here to raid the fridge instead. 

We had been planning on finishing Jackie and Phil’s visit off with a nice breakfast out somewhere but on the 2nd Martin and I were feeling even worse and it was absolutely throwing it down so they decided to just head off for home and we just lolled around all day, with Martin just venturing out for a drug top up and some tins of Heinz tomato soup. 

We’ve done pretty much the same today and the soup went down very nicely. I am really hoping that tomorrow we might start to feel a bit better 🤞🤞🤞

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