Monday, 26 February 2024

50 Things to do before I’m 60 :: 2023 Update

Hi there everyone 😀

Well … although it’s been a slow start to 2024 we are slowly easing back into some good habits and routines that seemed to have gone by the by for a while.

We are back on top of the house cleaning and laundry routines. Meal planning, shopping and batch cooking are ticking along nicely. We even spent our first couple of hours in the garden over the weekend.

I’m up to date with my Lodge Life posts so it feels like now it’s time to catch up with where I am on my 50 Things to do before I’m 60. After all … I now have less than a year to go.

For those of you who don’t know … this was a goal I set myself when I hit 50. I didn’t set all of the ‘50 Things’ in one go and some of the goals have come and either been adapted or ditched completely if they somehow no longer felt inspiring or relevant.

If you want to see how I’ve got on along the way you can go back and have look at my previous posts …

50 Things to do before I’m 60
2015 … Update
2016 … What’s Next?
2016 … Update
2017 … What’s Next?
2017 … Update
2018 … What’s Next?
2018 … Progress Report
2018 … Update
2019 … What’s Next?
2019 … So far so good
2019 … Update
2020 … What’s Next?
2020 … Update
2021 … Update
2022 … Update

There are a lot of links and I don’t blame you if you can’t be fussed with looking back through all of them. It’s taken me a while to refresh my memory with what I said I wanted to do in 2023 …

6 - Become competent at using my iPhone Camera
For 2023 I changed my 6th goal from completing an online photography course to this new one, which just felt more relevant. I’m really happy with how I’ve got  on with this goal and have taken lots of photos that I’m really pleased with. I think I am happy to say I’ve achieved this one … but I’d be interested in knowing what you think. Here are a selection of some of my favourites …
9 - Holiday in all of the National Parks of the UK
I was still working on this one with four of the 15 parks still to be visited. I think, with the purchase of our holiday lodge in North Wales, that … whilst I would still like to achieve this at some point … it’s not going to be before I’m 60.

14 - Go swimming once a week
I must have been feeling very committed and enthusiastic when I swapped out a Geocaching objective for this one. We kept it up until the lodge park opened up in March and then that was pretty much game over 🙈

17 - Wear a nice dress for Rachel & Tom’s Wedding in August
Last year I swapped out a losing weight related goal for this one, which I am happy to say that I’m ticking off as wholly achieved …
33 - Display some of my own Artwork
I’m happy with how I’ve got on with this one. As well as the bits and pieces I already had at home I’ve added some fabric art, which will be hung somewhere at the lodge …
… and a new watercolour that I did at craft group, which is waiting to be framed …
42 - Cycle to Elford Walled Garden
It’s been another year where the bikes have only made it out of the shed if we’ve needed to reach something behind them. It’s sad to admit it but I think I need to replace this with something else.

45 - Visit new places in The Peak District ... Padley Gorge, Cheedale Stepping Stones, Three Shires Head, New Mills
Whilst we did have a day out in The Peak District, visiting some of our favourite spots, we didn’t actually manage to visit anywhere new in 2023 …
48 - Visit more Cotswold Gardens ... Sezincote, Bourton House, Batsford Arboretum, Cotswold Lavender and Cerney House
Another one with no progress at all for 2023. We definitely need to find time for a few days out when we are at home this summer.

49 - Redecorate all of upstairs
Frustratingly there has been no progress in this one at all. I am blaming it on the fact that we have a leak in the roof somewhere that we don’t seem to be able to resolve and until that is done there is no point doing any decorating.

50 - Replace the windows on the front of the house
I don’t seem to have achieved much this time but I am ending on a high as we did get the windows on the front of the house replaced and, not only that, but we are very happy with them too …
I have to say with all the chopping and changing and some goals part completed I have ended up getting completely bamboozled and I have no clue as to how may I’ve done or how many I need to ditch in favour of something else.

On that basis I am going to leave it here for now and do a separate post listing the full 50 all together … then hopefully I will know what I want to do for the rest of this year.

Back soon 😀

Monday, 19 February 2024

Lodge Life :: December 2023

Hi there everyone 😀

After our two week visit in November we hadn’t really been planning on visiting the lodge again until the New Year, but we’d had a particularly cold snap, so decided to head over for a few days just to check everything was ok ahead of our New Year visit.

As we were only there for a couple of days we didn’t really do much, though we did stop at Attingham Park on the way to take in their Christmas trees …
As well as checking everything over we did manage to have a day over on Anglesey, with a drive down to Penmon …
… where we warmed up with lunch of pizza and loaded fries in the Pilot Cafe …
We then had a breezy walk on the lovely quiet pier in Beaumaris, before heading back for a bit of lodge warmth …
It actually ended up being a nice short break away

We were back on the 28th ready for our first New Year at the lodge, with Jackie and Phil joining us on the 29th.

Martin and I were full of cold so got well stocked up with every cold remedy under the sun and tried to make the best of our time away.

Though the weather was very changeable we managed a lovely day out in Bangor … visiting Penrhyn Castle to see their Christmas trees …
… followed by a very breezy walk along the pier, with a bacon sandwich stop and a bit of caching thrown in …
On New Year’s Eve we spent the day bimbling around Criccieth … taking in the rest of the yarn bombing …
… before hunkering down with a nice dinner, Rick Astley and the fireworks on the Thames.

We spent a lazy New Year’s Day … Martin and I were really struggling cold wise and I can’t even remember what we did 🙈

Jackie and Phil headed for home on the 2nd and Martin and I didn’t really do anything or go anywhere until we came home on the 7th … still full of cold. 

Though we did get to catch a pretty spectacular sunset …
Not quite the start to the New Year we were hoping for … though it had been lovely to spend it at the lodge 
🙈🙈🙈

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Sunday, 11 February 2024

Lodge Life :: November 2023

Hi there everyone 😀

I know this is a bit late but I am playing catch up with my Lodge Life posts.

The park is closed at the moment … it opens again for the season on 1 March and we can’t wait to get back … but for now here is what we got up to in November.

We managed a two week break back in November and it was a real mixture of weather and activity. There was plenty of relaxing, a birthday weekend visit from Jackie and Phil and a bit of exploring.

Our trip over was an interesting one, with not much visibility over the mountains …
… but clearing as we came down into Bala … with plenty of autumn colour …
We did our usual detour along the front in Criccieth to look at the sea … where it was wet but starting to brighten up a bit …
As usual we spent our first full day just relaxing into lodge life but decided to make the best of the weather on the following day …
We had a ride to Bangor for a walk on the pier… which is always a treat …
… and a sausage sandwich in the cafe …
We were lucky with the weather the following day too so just had a ride into Criccieth …
… where we did one of our favourite wanders …
… and had a look at the start of the Christmas yarn bombing …
It was then time to welcome our guests and we had a lovely few days. We had a big day out in Llanberis
… followed by a day mooching round the Christmas craft fairs and shops in Caernarfon, with a trip for lunch at our favourite garden centre thrown in for good measure …
We even ventured out to Nomi, a restaurant we’d had recommended to us, for a birthday evening meal …
… which was followed by a late night Christmas shopping visit to a very nice and quiet Asda 😂😂😂

After Jackie and Phil had headed for home Martin and I went on an exploratory mission to a new cafe we’d seen … to check out the breakfast. It was a bit off the beaten track … but we thought it would be good when we saw all the white vans parked on the car park … and we weren’t disappointed …
After our breakfast we did a bit of exploring. Firstly a quick look at the reservoir by the power station …
Then a drive up some very narrow lanes to the Cwmorthin waterfall … which was stunning …
We drove back via Blaenau Ffestinniog, hoping to get a glimpse of the Stwlan Dam, which we did … from a distance …
It’s somewhere I would love to visit but, sadly, the road isn’t accessible to public vehicles. It is possible to walk up, but that would be way beyond our capability.

Our last big day out before heading for home was to Conwy …
… where we did a bit of mooching and had a good wander around the harbour …
… before trying out the Conwy Dylan's for lunch …
The day before we came home we woke to see our first frost and it just looked lovely …
We’d had a lovely two weeks away. It’s so nice to get to see places at different times of year. Everything really does look so different 😀

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