Saturday Blog 5

As I am unable to add photos to this October blogging lark i will try and use Instagram for the photos and the blog chat here. To find the pictures my Instagram account is "@thepixiemum" so I will photograph the jars of marmalade I made today using oranges that had been in the freezer since last January. Delighted to say with the addition of white grapefruit and three lemons I have nine and a half jars of marmalade. In the afternoon DH & I had our COvid and flu vaccinations, the organisation and efficiency of our medical practice is to be applauded, even to arranging free parking in the street as the meters were not in use.

Day 4, blog 3.

Friday night so we watch Gardeners' World, how much is remembered after is doubtful, often I am knitting or attempting a suduku whilst listening rather than watching, I am not the gardener although I have been known to offer suggestions or offer to dead head the roses. our home is identified by the plethora of banana trees, in the front garden if it is at all breezy the large leaves trigger the proximity light, not a problem for us but disconcerting for family when they stay here, now we have a Ring camera we do turn the proximity camera off when the wind blows.

October blog 2 on 3rd day.

Well, so much for blogging every day, in mitigation yesterday was a busy day, I had a check up with the asthma nurse, she is more informed, understanding and pragmatic than many of the consultants about bronchiectasis, I've been very wheezy and felt unwell,lately, had taken the rescue antibiotics so a discussion about medication ensued. The appointment was 10am, later in the morning when I checked the NHS app a clear report had been posted, so much better than trying to recall the conversation. Then off to Richmond Old Town Hall for my volunteer role in Local Studies, indexing photographs that were in the paper exactly 50 years ago. As I was late in, then an hour for lunch I did not achieve so much. If I could do so here I have some photographs of the views from the staff room at the top of the building. For a long while volunteers, even those like me had worked for this local authority, were not allowed to use the staff rooms, the prohibition went when a new senior member of staff joined and quickly overturned the ruling. I intended to blog when home, however a Facetime chat with 9 year old grandchild, then a phone call from DD whilst she was driving home, before it was time for us to prepare and eat supper after which I was just too tired. Will try to keep going though.

October blog try.

Somewhere that is the online world I read about blogging throughout October, well I will try to do so, perhaps after a month I will return to my earlier style of recording the trivialities of our lives. These have formed a record of work done on our home in the past few years when I was recording such incidents as the extension of a cloakroom into a shower room. Life has been very much revolving around our house in the sense of maintenance and upgrading our 1930s home, the latest upgrad involved replacing the grubby carpet in our back room, sitting room, reception room - call it what you will - with traditional herringbone parquet flooring as was done earlier in the dining room, that is the front room in our upsidedown world. Joseph who laid this flooring commented that there was a problem with the bouncy floor in the above mentioned bathroom, turned out there is a leak from the toilet, the damp had rotted the plywood under the vinyl flooring, fortunatley the joists appear unaffected. we entered a new world, Joseph advised us to claim on our home insurance, we have done so, briefly Liverpool Victoria were most helpful, passed the claim to a company called Hexagon, they have supported us so we await the next visit from them to decide if the damp has gone before a new floor, covering and replaced loo avoid the trek upstairs everytime we need the loo! Can anyone explain how I can add photos to this blog please?

Musings

My get-up-and-go seems to have gone, replaced by much thinking about the past, the regrets, the conversations I would like to have had and ones and how life is o different from how I grew up. i do not mean the technological changes, it is the subtle ramdom changes in the domestic and social whirl of which I am aware whilst indexing photographs appearing in the local paper some 50 years ago. The subjects do not change, council houses were being sold at a discount locally long before the 1980s, homelessness, redevelopment of the town centre, bus services or the lack thereof, it is the social differences. For example, there was a dinner dance at The Bull at Shene arranged by Queen's Hall Old Time Dancing club, the people photograhed were all in formal evening dress, likewise guests at a reception and civic ball given by the Mayor & Mayoress, again all dressed up. There are jumble sales, home helps were given awards, a 19 year old girl won a silver ashtray. Considering domestic changes we have a drawer filled with items like tray cloths, duchess sets, tablecloths, mats to go under ornaments, we do not use them, DS and DD will not want them, many are beautiful examples of craft. This blog was drafted over a year ago, little has changed the newspaper of 50 years ago continues to delight and to invoke memories, the advertisements for such goods as electric fires, fridges, clothes and for much missed department stores. As this is a test in no particular order here are a few things I find irritating:- why is everything AMAZING? Why 'decades' and not 'years'? The latter is more precise. On TV 'see you soon' to the viewers, and 'still to come' especially irritating each week during Gardeners' World. Tattoos - why? I do not understand why anyone would want to cover most of their body in tattoos, why not have a design printed on garments and wear that to advertise their latest love or interest? So many news reports use the measure Decades rather than the more precise Years. An assumption in the media that everyone wants a holiday sitting on a beach in the sun, advertisements, clothes advice columns, cookery features all speak of going away and in August. THat is my first attempt to try and blog again.

What to do.

 I wish to carry on blogging, my iPad and Blogger do not seem so keen on contributing to that, I was unable to upload my photos, you did want to see the socks I have just finished after a year of on and off knitting didn't you? I am typing this on my laptop, however I have not uploaded photographs on to the laptop so this is not a solution either. It doesn't  seem possible to add the labels or to link back to earlier efforts.

When I have attempted to comment on other blogs using Blogspot it has been most difficult, although I know I am guilty of not commenting on blogs it is part of my attempt to reduce my screen time. I like to have a blog as a record of my life for such mundane domestic events such as when did we update the kitchen or record my crochet and knitting projects for example.

If you were yearning to see the socks I finished I have posted pictures on Instagram as @thepixiemum. This platform is good for picture heavy postings but not for musing,  Will head over to wake up Wordpress again if that will provide what I need.