Holiday Adventure and a Sad Realisation

 I mentioned in a previous post that we had booked a short break in the UK for March.  It was the first holiday for about 8 years and we were really looking forward to it.  We arrived at Holme Lacy, a Warner's hotel near Hereford on Monday lunchtime.  It has been our 'go to' hotel for a number of years, including for my 60th birthday (was it really 16 years ago??) when we went for an antiques break and met the expert Eric Knowles.  He is a lovely man 😊

Our first stop was, of course, the bar! A pint of Doom Bar for Gray and a small glass of wine for me.....

The Hotel has had a facelift in many areas including the creation of the 'pink room' for relaxing in, with comfy chairs and table service if needed....

The games room was lovely too with a pool table and shuffle board....

....and proper wooden boards for Monopoly and Scrabble, and a lovely chess table.....

There were two quizzes a day which we joyfully took part in and laughingly only scored around half marks 😂 Nonetheless, we enjoyed it.  

The food was hot, well cooked and plentiful although we much preferred the Market Kitchen buffet to the Bistro table service, and we partook of a cooked breakfast each morning. Absolutely, delicious !

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Our downfall was, as expected, sleeping in the same room for the first time in 8 years.  Neither of us sleep well and I'm often up in the early hours, maybe 2 -3am making a hot water bottle or a cup of tea. Gray snores and is very restless because of his neck problem.  We had booked a 4 night stay, Monday to Friday, but gave up on Wednesday evening and decided to cut it short by a day and return home on Thursday after breakfast.

The sad realisation is that it was to be our very last holiday ever 😭 Getting no sleep is no joke and it's simply not worth it.  Sad but true.

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well in our troubled world.

Love,

Angie 💗

Such a Treat!

 Post here over the last six months has been erratic and sluggish but I had a really lovely surprise last week.  The door bell gave it's cheerful chime and I opened to door to see a package on my porch wall.  Oooh books!  These had been sent to me by my lovely, kind blog buddy Gill 😀

Decisions, decisions......I think my first read will be The Last Dinner at Wisteria House followed by A Very French Affair but I'm looking forward to reading them all at some point as we seem to have very similar tastes in books.  I have enough to keep me reading for a couple of months at least😊

What are you reading at the moment?

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

First of March!

 Today is the first of March and the first day of meteorological Spring. Yes!! At last!  It has felt like an exceptionally long Winter but things should start to improve now.  Lighter mornings and longer days will be the norm from now on.  The garden is already waking up......

Take care and stay safe and well wherever you happen to be, 

Angie ❤️ 

Reaching the Century & Simple Pleasures....

 Another busy day today, this time we had errands to run in the village including dropping off another batch of cards at the shop.  It's always lovely to have a little chat with the staff who are friendly and welcoming each time I visit.  Today's cards (a sample below) bring the total up to 100 so far this year......

Afterwards, we drove the short distance to the park for a brisk walk in the fresh air, then homemade sandwiches were eaten in the car before consuming a welcome pot of tea in the warm cafe 😀 Simple pleasures....

What simple pleasures do you enjoy? Keep it clean please!! 😂

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Thanks for dropping by.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be, 

Angie ❤️ 

Library Day & £2 Cinema Bargain

 It was library day yesterday and, despite my reserved book not having come in yet, we went anyway.  I took my own current book to read whilst drinking my free coffee and relaxing in a warm, comfortable library......

As luck would have it, I had received an email reminding me about the Odeon cinema's 'Silvers' performance on Tuesday afternoons.  This week it was The Choral, set in 1916 and starring Ralph Fiennes, Alun Armstrong, Mark Addy & Roger Allam (from Endeavor) to name but a few famous actors.  I booked immediately online.  For the princely sum of £2 each we got a ticket for the 1pm showing, a fully reclining seat!, a cup of instant coffee and a wrapped Biscoff biscuit to take in with us.  The film was lovely and the seats gave us plenty of room.  If I'm too close to the cinema screen I come out with a pounding headache so I had chosen the back row.  It was a lovely relaxing couple of hours.  We'll definitely go again soon.

It's been a long time since we sat in the back row of a cinema !😂

Today we have the Wednesday club and the theme for the speaker this time is glass production over the centuries. Glass.... another favourite of mine.  This time it will be £4 each with drink and biscuit included. We are having a very busy week!

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Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Manor House Revisited & Booky Temptations

 Today (Monday) was the first mild, dry day that we have had for ages, so it was a 'no brainer' to take the opportunity to revisit Wightwick Manor using our free entry voucher pinned on our cork board in the study.  It's not far away, maybe a 20 minute drive.  The house, owned by The National Trust, contains a lot of William Morris designs and fits in quite nicely with the book I'm reading at the moment in which Sophy Winter inherits a run down Manor house from her Grandfather.....

   

The author of the book, Trisha Ashley, has worked for the Trust in the past and writes with such knowledge and enthusiasm that I've been drawn right in for the second time of reading it.

Wightwick Manor sells second hand books to raise funds and when I spotted this....

......I couldn't resist having a browse....

I didn't buy any books this time though as common sense prevailed.  I already have 3 books sitting unread on my shelf and I have more on their way to me from a bloggy friend .  In addition,  I have 3 reserved for me from the library,  although there is quite a queue for them still. but I really dont need to buy more. Do I??

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Tomorrow morning it is library Tuesday with free coffee and biscuits 😋 and I will have a browse too.  We also have an adventure planned for the afternoon 😀 More details tomorrow!

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be, 

Angie ❤️ 

Burning Mouth Syndrome Update, and Other Stuff !

 On November 28th last year I wrote a post about my dentist's diagnosis of 'Burning Mouth Syndrome' and many of you commented with helpful suggestions as well as sympathy, so I thought it only right that I give you an update.

Well....after consulting the GP's receptionist 😧(for goodness sake) and checking on whether or not my last blood tests had included B12 and folic acid tests (no) and insisting on relevant tests as advised by my dentist, I finally got the results on the NHS App.  Folic acid was fine but the B12 was slightly low , although still classed as normal......

 

There was no chance of any advice from my GP so I began taking B12 supplements off my own bat. Within just a few days, the burning sensation lessened, and Boots mouth ulcer lozenges  helped sooth the soreness.  After a week, I felt a little better, although my tongue was still numb in places. Now, almost 3 months on, I feel almost back to normal.  The relief is immense and I don't think I would have known what to try without my bloggy friends' input.

Thank you!

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In other news:

Why is life so bloomin' tough?  Just as I feel things are settling down to a normal rhythm something else knocks me off kilter.  This year so far:

• Grandson had a bump in his car in the January snow on his way home from work.  The insurance company very kindly wanted to write his car off.  He had the new-to-him- car in July for his 18th birthday 😭 He withdrew the claim and is repairing it himself.
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• Granddaughter has been ill on and off for weeks.  I think her work shift patterns are not helping and she might have inherited IBS from my side of the family.  All the women have suffered from it.....
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• My Son-in-Law (their dad) has now  just been given notice of redundancy from work.  He's been there just 7 years so a big pay out is not on the cards AND he has to return the company car 😔

My daughter must be at the end of her tether.  She is such a kind and caring soul and is always there if we or the family need her.  I don't know how I can help....

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It has rained again for most of this week so, I'm afraid, we have been eating out a few times.  There doesn't seem to be much else we can do!  Yesterday, the family (other than GS) joined us in the village pub for lunch and a pint.  They had hot beef stew and crusty bread for the men, while we ladies enjoyed cheese cobs.  They were enormous and so filling we barely wanted any evening meal at all.

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On Wednesday, I took more cards to the Hospice shop, another 16 making a total of 85 so far this year.  I'm hoping for a dry day tomorrow (Saturday) so that Gray will have 'garden' things to do and I can make more cards.  I have so many ideas buzzing around in my head!

I'm aiming to reach a grand total of 500 in 2026.  While they are sellin' 'em I'll keep makin' 'em 🤞

Take care everyone.  Stay safe wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗