AROUND AND ABOUT FROM 3-31-25 TO 4-6-25 AND AN UPCOMING BLOG BREAK

 Hello Family and Friends, as mentioned yesterday I will be taking a blog break starting tomorrow, Wednesday, the 9th. Family is arriving from overseas and I still have a lot of things to get ready. So, this is my last post for a while. I hope to be back on Monday, May 10th. 

Thank you for reading my around-and-abouts and letting me know that you are still enjoying them. I very much appreciate you doing so. I know I will miss visiting you all while I am away, but I am beyond happy to see someone I haven’t set eyes on in a long time. 

A fun photo for you!

We borrowed our son and daughter-in-law's car recently and I found this out in the open. I seem to remember the story behind it, but can’t remember the exact details, a small gift from our son to his sweet wife. Love this little tiger and another photo op. 

I can give Grumpy Bear a break now.

I noticed I had put two posts on yesterday. I was obviously, like my dear backyard birds last Saturday, suffering from brain fog. 

This is another play with the collage app. The photo inserts are mostly taken of the spring flowers so far, with the exception of one or two.

This week's weather forecast from 4-7-25 to 4-13-25.

 Monday, March 31st, 2025 at 4:34 p.m: our son and daughter-in-law arrived home this afternoon from their trip to Los Angeles. They left last Wednesday. I am eager to talk to them to find out how it all went.  

I didn’t go anywhere today. Gregg visited Home Depot as he is fixing a couple of things this week. He also went to Costco. He bought a rotisserie chicken which we will be having for dinner.

For breakfast I had my usual Weetabix with blueberries, pecan halves and warmed almond milk. 

For lunch I fixed myself a couple of deviled eggs which I mixed with a tablespoon of mayonnaise and a tablespoon of sweet pickle relish. Gregg is not a hard-boiled egg fan and while he was out he went to McDonald’s. The eggs were a very nice change, and I will make them again soon. I got the idea from Debbie at It’s All About Purple, and the rotisserie chicken from Costco was her idea also. We have bought them before but not for a while, so thanks Debbie! 

Dinner: a real lazy meal, rotisserie chicken with rice and four leftover dates! I enjoy dates usually as a snack and never added them to steamed rice before but they were really good. Got to be kidding me you might say. The dates were staring at me in a small container on the kitchen table saying eat me. Should have been greens but there is always tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 1st., 2025 (actually it's Wednesday as it is 11 minutes past midnight. I am up late. I watched a movie on the downstairs TV. My dear other half has been upstairs for a couple of hours. I have seen better movies, but I enjoyed this one called "Lost and Found." A familiar premise when two brothers are sent to an island to stay with their uncle. Family dynamics, treasure hunting and a story of good and evil. A family movie and it was entertaining. Felt myself pulling for those boys. It had a satisfactory ending but will give no more info in case anyone wants to check it out.

We went out for breakfast/lunch to the place we were at for Gregg’s birthday meal, deciding it is our new favorite place. The collage above also shows a jeep that was parked outside. Someone is big into putting duckies on the dashboard tradition. Link here to read the story. 

 Gregg ordered a cold cut and me, my breakfast sandwich with all the greens, the same as last time. I had coffee (a delicious latte with a pretty design on the top of the foam) and we took two slices of cake home for later that evening. The portions were the right size we thought. Hard to tell but smaller than the normal size you get at restaurants, which is why we splurged, a tasty treat. They were a bit bashed up in transport but their taste was excellent.

The phone rang when we were in the car on the way home. It was our son asking if we would like to get together as he had finished his work earlier than he thought, and wouldn't be seeing our dear daughter-in-law for a couple of hours as she was still working. I asked to be dropped off at home - knee was once again pitching a fit and I knew I would definitely slow them down. 

Once home I put my feet up for an hour, looked at and listened to the birds, got my Merlin app out and found that the one I had been hearing lately was a Tufted Titmouse. Then I did a load of laundry and tackled some chores upstairs.  

Our mailman is retiring after 30 years.  I put a retirement card on our shopping list. He is one of our unsung heroes, and I look forward to wishing him a very happy retirement. I will thank him as we have never had a problem with our mail in all the time we have lived here. He has been on our route for a good part of that time. Once he even stopped our mail when he realized we were away. We had forgotten to stop it ourselves in all the rush, the first and the last time. We thanked him profusely on our return. We will be giving him a gift also.

He delivered my new Real ID license today. I was curious what it would look like. The photo was actually a decent one, which leads me to our other unsung hero, the man at the DMV. When he was taking my photo, after the first one he said, “Hmmm…let’s take another photo.” He took another and said, “Let’s try one more time. Maybe you could lift your chin.” A diplomatic guy I thought at the time and yes, I am smiling. Third time’s a charm and he appeared satisfied that I would be satisfied with that one. And I am as I will be staring at that photo for who knows how long. Thank you Mr. Nice Man from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025: are you getting a lot of scam mails in your text messages? They keep on coming here. I keep deleting and reporting but it is like the onrushing tide. This one was supposedly from American Express (we don’t have that card). Nope, not going to type in those numbers. I am slowly getting around the world with these things and not even leaving home.

Enough of that! 

Breakfast: good old Weetabix with warmed almond milk, but this time I had no fresh fruit, but did have some frozen blueberries in the freezer.  I did a deep dive and found them right at the bottom.

Late lunch/dinner: sliced chicken breast with stuffing, mashed potatoes and Brussels Sprouts. 

Thursday, April 3rd, 2025: For breakfast Gregg fixed scrambled eggs, sautéed cherry tomatoes, a slice of sourdough toast and a small glass of orange juice.

Dinner: Similar to yesterday, minus stuffing and potatoes.

I spent a good part of my day cleaning and tidying bedrooms. I have been into closets and now am seeing space, while sorting out old but still decent to look at clothes to take down to the church. We will also be taking a bag of non-perishable food items for their blessing pantry. 

And talking about the pantry, Gregg fixed the door on ours and a big hurray for Mr. Fix-it!

 

Friday, April 4th, 2025: the two Adirondack chairs and table arrived yesterday. Gregg has put them all together and they are outside now. We are both pleased with how they look. These are a darker blue. I loved the yellow ones I saw at our local garden center a while ago - see here in case you missed them - but like this blue color very much. There was also a choice of white and black. I thought the white would have been washed out with the background we have. Blue is one of my favorite colors, so it was an easy choice to make. 

Now, once I sit down, can I get out of them? I haven't tried yet, but these will be for our company to enjoy when they are here. I am hoping to get cushions which will make them even more comfortable, and more elevated. There are also a couple of decent camping chairs that we use to throw in the trunk of our car for sitting by any peaceful river we came across when road-tripping. That was the idea anyway. They are still in good shape, and I can get out of those, no problem, just need to dust everything off. (Since I started writing this I had a trial run sitting and getting out of the new ones, and I had a good laugh with the process. Gregg gave me helpful hints. No problem but I am still planting my flag on one of the camping chairs.)

Spring is always a lovely time to sit outside before the humid weather and mosquitoes arrive, 'so sayeth an English woman'. That's Gregg's sentence not mine and he told me to put that in my journal as it gave him a chuckle. He has seen me turn into all shades of red, purple and blue in humid weather over these many years, plus looking like a pin cushion after being outside with those pesky flying things. 

(Our American Elm is coming back to life. I saw these pods and said I had to get a photo or two.)

I never sit around in one place long enough to be made a meal of, but on our walks in various places, it has been unavoidable and quite a trial. I don't think it's only people like me that has this problem, what say you? The man on the other hand can stand these hot, summery and humid days. He is a Virginia boy, the hotter the better! If you have any natural mosquito repellent ideas, I would be very happy to know them.

Saturday, April 5th, 2025: I did another puzzle. This is for all the kitty lovers out there. Such a cutie and this was fun to put together!

The azaleas are starting to show, as are the first sights growing out of the ground like the coneflowers and lilies. The hellebores are looking very healthy too. Always happy when the flowers and plants survive for another season. 

Still sorting out and tidying upstairs, more drawers and closets being cleared and getting ready for family.  It’s a real spring cleaning.  

Sunday, April 6th, 2025: Son was over this morning.  We spent a good part of the time asking him where he thought we could take our company as they are nearer the same age. He said “I would take them to…” and offered a lot of suggestions. He and our daughter-in-law will be over while they are here.

The new chairs and table we showed him outside, were covered with a thick layer of pollen. Never gave that a thought. We will have to take a water hose to them. A dove has taken a liking to one of the arm rests! We will buy proper covers eventually. 

While out there son asked if the gunshots he was hearing were from the firing range. We have one a couple of miles away and if the wind is in the right direction, they can be heard quite clearly, or so I am told. I read comments on our neighborhood app, from worried people hearing gunfire and wondering if there is anything serious going on. These are usually from people who have recently moved into the neighborhood. Depending on the day, I don't hear the sounds because my hearing isn't that good anyway. 

This afternoon we made a chicken pot pie for dinner using a couple of shortcuts, the rotisserie chicken and store bought sheets of puff pastry.  I didn’t feel like breakfast and as we were test-tasting, snitching a few carrot and celery sticks before dicing them, we will be able to wait and have a good appetite at dinner time.  I think next time this is made, making individual pies would be a good idea, putting any spares into the freezer. My Domestic Science teacher from my school days, who gave me the nickname of Flour Queen because I used to get said flour everywhere possible, would probably now call me the Freezer Queen.

It is now 9.13 p.m. and the pie was seriously good. Gregg did most of the standing up at the stove top, stirring and adding things. I sat at the kitchen table and joined in the chopping of vegetables. I will add it to the list of Monday Morning Recipe posts and it will be on here sometime after I get back. Thanks again Debbie for the idea. We all seem to have our favorite recipes for Chicken Pot Pie.

That's the end of my around-and-about and last post until I get back after May 5th. My hope is I will be able to catch up on comments during any down-times. Have a wonderful rest of the month.