Two weeks ago today I was in Aberdeen. Now I’m back into the swing of my normal life. Work has been on and off these past two weeks with me be very busy last week and this past week not much. These things happen. Next week will most likely be very busy.
This month I’ve been writing a gratitude diary as part of my doing something every month. While this is something I have completed before it is a nice thing to do as it helps with feeling happy. It is, however, difficult some days to find 3 new things to be thankful for. But one from last night was my husband buying me flowers :-). They are lovely and sitting in the front hall.
One advantage with writing a blog I have been able to read back and see what was happening this time last year – 1 I had a very nasty cold, 2 I had just been back to the UK, and 3 we had, had a toad explosion one night – for those who don’t remember (and I hadn’t) it was a night with lots and lots of toads out all over the road. It was just one night and it has not been repeated since. I’ve also looked back to 2014 when my blog was brand new. We had just received notification for signing for our house.
So last weekend I spent in the garden, Saturday was a glorious day so I spent it moving a hydrangea – the 2nd one I’ve moved and replanting a bed completely with lavender – which also meant some moving of plants. Saturday night I couldn’t move my muscles hurt so much. But it did mean that I have the first step in my garden plan sorted. This weekend is looking at being another beautiful one so hopefully some more work in the garden this afternoon and tomorrow.
Reworked garden bed (with some bulbs still in it)
Tuesday our French class was cancelled last minute. So Pat and I decided to go for a different walk with Siena. We put her in the car and headed off to a local lake. One we knew of and had driven past but not stopped at. It was great. While it is a small lake to walk around there are lots of things to do there – there is an adventure play area (like Go Ape – not sure of the Australian equivalent) a huge zip wire (flying fox) over the lake (I want to try that). It is also the start of the Velo rail – which is a bit of old railway which you can hire a bike type contraption and head along the railway. These things are only open in summer so nothing was open as we walked around, but it was nice to be out in the sunshine.
The start of the Velo Rail (can you find Pat in the picture)
Today we are also doing something similar – heading over to a lake to join some friends for a walk around it and then we are heading off to an English style tea shop for coffee and cake. Our friends are looking after a dog for a week so we thought it could be fun for the dogs to have a walk together. We shall see.
The other thing that has happened over the past couple of weeks is that I finally finished another painting – this is the 3rd one for my bathroom. So now to get them framed up and in the bathroom, hopefully this won’t be too expensive. But I am glad that they are done, back to flowers now.
My final bathroom picture
The other thing that Pat and I have been up to is the 5:2 diet. While neither of us has gained weight while being in France, we have both been feeling it. And I must admit when you put your weight and height into a BMI calculator and it tells you, you are obese, you sort of start to think well maybe I need to do something. Generally I don’t have a lot of time for a BMI calculator, basically because when I was in my late teens and early twenties I was incredibly fit (any remember those days) and I ignored the results that the BMI calculator would come back with as I knew it wasn’t accurate. These days I can’t claim being super fit and muscle bound. While I’m not unfit I am larger than I would like to be. So we have just completed week 6 and I’ve lost just over 3 kilos which while not being huge I’m happy with. After measuring my hips this morning – 7cm gone – I’m very happy with the loss. Obviously the 3 kilos has gone from the hips. The first aim is lose 8-10 kilos. I shall be there by summer, which will be good and of course will mean – new clothes. But I promise not to turn this into a dieting blog.
So until next time.
Remember Pats blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk