Hugh’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Week 11 – Rust

This week I am pleased to be able to join in with Hugh’s Photo  Challenge.  The theme is ‘rust’, and I knew that I would be able to find something rusty somewhere around here! Well, actually I didn’t need to look very far at all.

Our poor old barbecue got rather knocked around this winter as it was pretty windy and it is looking rather sorry for itself. As you can see, the little extra ring at the side has got quite rusty too.

Our barbecue is our best friend during the warmer weather. We use it quite a lot, and it is always lovely when we invite some of the family over to join us. Mr Grump is in his element taking charge of the cooking, and he does a damn fine job of it too. Roll on spring!

 

The Great Book of Lists Chapter 1.2: The Little Things you Love.

This photo captures numbers 2, 3, and 6 of my favourite things all at once!

 

We all have those little things that get us through the day, and La Duchesse d’Erat had suggested that we make a list of the little things that mean a lot. Here is mine:

1. When Miss Hap calls me Mama, like she used to do when she was tiny.
2. Having my hair brushed, it really relaxes me, but I usually have to bribe Miss Hap to do it for me!
3. Seeing a vase full of pretty flowers. It reminds me that spring is coming and brings cheer to the dreary day.
4. The rare occasions that Roxy comes and has a snuggle with me. She is normally ‘daddy’s girl!’
5. Finding something to wear that actually looks nice on me!
6. Blogging. All the aspects of it, reading other’s posts, writing my own, and interacting with others.
7. Mr Grump’s delicious cooking!

 

 

My Goals for 2016!

Now that I’ve given up smoking

And have long since ditched all the booze

I see no need for resolutions

They only give me the blues

I hardly have any vices

I gave them all up long ago

Except of course over-eating

I never know when to say no!

I always eat lots for comfort

When I am under duress

Then get mad when I find out

That I am bursting out of my dress!

 I need to find some new ideas

To kick off twenty-sixteen

So I can stop all this gorging

And go from stocky to lean

I have to find motivation

To make it all a success

Then, this time next year

I will weigh a couple of stone less!

TJ’s Household Haiku Challenge – Attraction

For the last Household Haiku Challenge of the year, TJ has given us ‘attraction’ for our prompt word.

I have a few fridge magnets that I enjoy looking at, and this one is something that Mr Grump spotted, and thought I might like. I wonder why?!

Here is my take on it.

 

Food is my first love

A passionate attraction

-holds a lot of weight!

 

A Christmas ‘Thank you’

Christmas for me was waking up at 4.30! I had told Miss Hap not to wake me before at least 5.30 am but I couldn’t sleep, so went downstairs as quietly as I could. Not 2 minutes later I heard the galloping of excited footsteps, and she burst into the front room all wide-eyed and excited. Needless to say, we got stuck int to the business of present unwrapping!

My sister (Mrs Masterchef) and her husband (Mr Musician) were our hosts for Christmas dinner, and along with us, my mum and my niece were going to be there.

As always a huge amount of thought and organisation had gone into the day. From the personalised table settings to the egg tree decoration in the centre of the table (my sister had blown some eggs and decorated them in glitter, putting our names on each one, plus one for my niece’s bump) to the fantastic menu (turkey, beef and gammon).

Just before we were to eat, we sat around the table to partake in the ‘silly present’ giving that they love to do. We all get to pick a random present which is usually something funny. As you can see from the pics, Miss Hap had some lovely new ears, and my niece had some rather fetching ‘fly glasses’

I had been a little bit down when I first arrived, due to one thing and another, but Mrs Masterchef went out of her way to make me feel better, as did Mr Musician.

We had a brilliant day. The meal was superb.Not only did we have all that  meat but there were sausages wrapped in bacon, home-made stuffing balls, the most massive Yorkshire puddings you ever saw, dauphinoise potatoes as well as roasties, and cauliflower with cashew nuts. To say we were stuffed was an understatement! In fact, there was no room even later on, for the chocolate and maraschino cherry trifle with Kirch.

My niece’s husband arrived around 5 pm as he works on the railways and had finished one night shift, and was about to start another. Mrs Masterchef had plated him up a meal which he tucked into whilst we all chatted together round the table.

Some of us braved the drizzle and wind to go for a walk with Milo their labrador as we needed to burn off a bit of room to be able to sit down comfortably! It was a pleasant walk, looking at all the Christmas lights around the neighbourhood as we went.

Once we got back it was into the front room to play some games. Miss Hap got ‘Articulate’ for Christmas this year from my mum, so we started with that. Well, once we had argued over the rules that is! We had a few laughs with that especially as mum didn’t quite get the gist of the game at first and gave some rather bizarre clues that no-one had a hope fo guessing!

Around 10 pm we were all tired and came home. My sister and her husband must have been exhausted but they never gave any indication of it.

I know my sister reads my blog, and although I have thanked her, I just wanted to share with everyone just how much of a star she really is. Her own daughter and step-children were doing their own things this year, so her and Mr Musician could have just spent Christmas on their own, or gone away, but being the type of people they are, they wanted to share it with family, and make everyone else’s day special which they certainly did.