August 2025

 

Christmas in July - Week Five

If this is Tuesday, it must be England #185

  

Happy Birthday to Prince George who is 12 years old today.  Prince George is the eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales and heir presumptive to the British throne.  Interesting fact, he can no longer fly on the same aircraft as his father to safeguard the line of succession.

Christmas in July - Week Four

 

Christmas in July - Week Three

Wimbledon 2025

 It's been two glorious weeks of cucumber sandwiches, strawberries and cream, spotting the famous faces in the Royal Box, and at times, nail-biting matches.  Congratulations to the winners of the Ladies and Gentlemen's Finals, a first-time Wimbledon win for both players.

Loved the Wimbledon home page for all the schedules, players, and more.

Christmas in July - Week Two

 

Christmas in July 2025 - Week One

Christmas in July starts on the Hallmark Channel tonight!  My Norwegian Holiday was one of our all-time favorite movies, looking forward to watching it again.

Memorial Day

 

Happy Mother's Day

 

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and caregivers of human and animal children.  To my Mum, my sister, and my mother-in-law in heaven, and to all my friends near and far, have a lovely day and I hope you are spoiled. 

Remembering my Mum - everything I learned about love, respect, kindness, and compassion and a thousand other things, I learned from her. The pain of losing her will never go away, but the wonderful memories keep her in our hearts every day.

VE Day

Remembering those who served and came home, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

If this is Tuesday, it must be England #184

The Queen and Harrison Machin, 5, plant the final poppies in an installation at the Tower of London to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War. This act of Remembrance saw Her Majesty representing all those who served the Nation, with Harrison planting his poppy on behalf of the younger generation.
 
‘The Tower Remembers’ installation recalls the sacrifice and resilience of the wartime generation and will stand as a reminder of the long-lasting impact of conflict.

The Tower, which was itself bombed during the Blitz, will display nearly 30,000 ceramic poppies on the lawn to mark the year of Remembrance.

If this is Tuesday, it must be England #183

Source:  Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIvvG3LpmsN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Happy Easter

Life Last Week

 

Finally getting back to a regular blogging routine now that the sickness than ran through our house is gone.

The weather:::

A break from the rain until Friday but it's oh so cold out there!

On my reading pile:::

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

On my TV:::

Our January Rudolph Day movie was Once Upon a Christmas Miracle, inspired by a true story.

And also inspired by true events, The Last Rifleman starring Pierce Brosnan.  Have your tissues ready for the ending.

Checked off the list:::

• All the Christmas decor is finally put away!
• Vic is back at work full-time and no overtime right now, so he's been able to devote the weekends to the deck.
• I sorted through Vic's uniforms and got them ready to donate to the costume library at the local school district office.
• Not on the list but a new discovery - I joined the I Love My Aga! Facebook group.  Oh, my goodness, how to be dissatisfied with your range/stove set-up.  I grew up with an Aga, but we'd have to reinforce the kitchen floor and take out a second mortgage to put one in this house.  For now, I'll have to be content admiring the beautiful photos in the group.

And perhaps I'll pick up one of these.

Crafts roundup:::

The Christmas 2024 and Hallmark Cruise album came to a halt when I ran out of 8 1/2 x 11-page protectors - I use them to save family newsletters and other letter-size items I want to include.  They should be here tomorrow.  All of my photos are off of my phone and ready for me to sort, label, and print.

And in other news:::

Finally made it to IKEA to pick up a Raskog cart to organize my December Daily supplies.  I have been ruthless and just kept what fits in the cart.

Another failed tea - I had such high hopes for this one but no, too many faults.  I think I should be a tearoom judge!

Mismatched cups and saucers.  I guess it's supposed to be eclectic but there are so many places to pick up matching cups and saucers.

Another teapot fail - we drank the first pot and asked for a second whereupon the server just poured more hot water into the pot.  The result was tea that resembled dishwater.

Always a fail for me - afternoon tea that starts out with salad and/or soup - nice enough for a lunch but not for afternoon tea.

Sandwich tier - tomato ricotta tart, coronation chicken with crackers, ciabatta roll with prosciutto, open-face cucumber sandwich.  Tart was lukewarm; why oh why didn't they put the chicken between two slices of bread, cut the crusts off and serve it that way; prosciutto on ciabatta was awful, hard, stale, so bulky; cucumber sandwich was just ok.

Scones were the wrong texture with zero flavor.

They tried with the dessert tier, creme brulee was delicious, neither one of us cares for peppermint so we didn't eat the tarts, macarons were tasty but look at the ginger cookies.  How hard would it have been to cut them, so they were not so misshapen?  I know, picky, picky, picky.

$52 per person and a score of 4/10 from us.  Even Vic was more disappointed with this one.

On a happier note, this weekend brings Sophia's birthday, and I have been asked NOT to include her age on her birthday card!  I think she's at the stage where she is 29+ forever.

From this:

To this:

Finally, anyone else feel this way this month?

Rudolph Day - January 2025

 

What's Rudolph Day? Here was the definition according to Organized Christmas, sadly the Rudolph Day pages don't seem to exist any longer, but I fortunately saved the details:

A few years ago, members of our Christmas community began to observe "Rudolph Day" on the 25th of each month.

On that day, we take a few moments to plan some simple tasks for the month ahead, in order to get ready for Christmas Day with plenty of time to spare. By starting early--and working a bit at a time on each month's Rudolph Day--it's easy to prepare for Christmas, save money on gifts, and cut holiday stress.  

Here's the annual line-up with the sub-theme in parentheses:

January - Tie Up Loose Ends (gather ideas and organize your Christmas notebook)

February - Begin a Holiday Letter

March - Birthday Gift-Buying Strategy (party planning for the holiday season)

April - Plan Holiday Crafts 

May - Catalog Shopping Tips

June - Recipe Round Up

July - Choose a Holiday Plan (Christmas in July celebration)

August - Craft Control (thinking ahead to Elf on the Shelf)

September - Prepare for Holiday Gifts and Giving

October - Plan Holiday Meals

November - Write Holiday Letter

The bottom line is...prepare for Christmas by doing something every month and make the 25th of each month a Rudolph Day by doing something Christmas-y!

Tie Up Loose Ends is your opportunity to sweep through the house and see if there is any Christmas decor still out.  A holiday towel in the bathroom perhaps, or late Christmas cards still in your in basket?  I did pretty good, just need to remove all the Handlez from the kitchen cupboards.  I've been walking by them every day and haven't given a thought to taking them down but down they will go today.

If this is Tuesday, it must be England #182

 

King Charles III, along with many other members of the ruling families of Europe, will be present in Poland for the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 2025.  May we never see such horrors again in our lifetime.

Memorial and Museum

Auschwitz Birkenau

Wednesday Hodgepodge - Volume 585

 

Here are this week's questions, which you should answer on your own blog and then pop over to Joyce's blog (click on the graphic for the link) Wednesday to add your link to the party.

1.  It's been said January is 'the month of opportunity, inspiration, and change." Which of the three do you need most right now? Elaborate. 

Change - out with the old and in with the new as they say.  It's time for new planners, decor refresh, any resolutions to be put in place.

2. Do you consider opportunity as something that comes to you or something you create for yourself? 

I suppose it's a little of both.  An opportunity can come up when you didn't expect it but you can also plan for one.

3. The British Museum opened on this date (January 15th) back in 1759. Do you like visiting museums? Do you have a favorite? 

I love museums.  The museums in Washington DC are among my favorites - Sophia and I visited the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of Natural History on a trip to DC when we lived in Virginia.  We also toured the Franklin Institute on a trip to Philadelphia and the Air and Space Museum in Hampton, Virginia was Vic and Sophia's favorite.

4. It's National Oatmeal Month (yes, apparently it gets a whole month as opposed to a single day). Do you like oatmeal? How often do you eat a bowl of oatmeal? How do you like yours? What about an oatmeal cookie? Is that a sweet treat you enjoy? 

I like oatmeal but it's usually Quaker's Instant with maple and brown sugar.  Yes, to an oatmeal cookie and I make these raspberry oatmeal bars that are delicious.

Recipe

5.What's something useful you learned in high school? 

I learned a lot in Home Economics.  I can still turn out a mean fried chicken using the seventh-grade recipe, and my Choco-Peanut Butter Bars were from that era as well.  I was thrilled to find the recipe on one of those sites where you can research old recipes and restaurant dishes.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

In the midst of all the junk on Facebook these days, I was happy to see a recommendation for this page - Slow Simple Seasonal.  Its description is Create a Beautiful Life from Ordinary Moments.  Every day there are lovely illustrations that just warm my heart.

If this is Tuesday, it must be England #181

  

Two milestone birthdays coming up for ladies of the British Royal Family this week.  On 15 January, Princess Michael of Kent, wife of the late Queen Elizabeth II's cousin Prince Michael of Kent, turns 80.  A somewhat controversial figure in her words and actions over the years, Princess Michael has mellowed especially in light of the 2024 suicide of her daughter's husband, Thomas Kingston.  Thomas Kingston and Lady Gabriella Kingston had been married since 2019.

And celebrating her 60th birthday on 20 January is The Duchess of Edinburgh.  Formerly The Countess of Wessex, wife of King Charles III's youngest brother, Prince Edward, she has been known as The Duchess of Edinburgh since her husband's elevation to the title in 2023.  A full-time working royal, you can read more about the Duchess and her support for the monarch here.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh at the coronation of King Charles III

Share Our Lives - January 2025

 

It's the second Monday of the month and that's time for Share Our Lives.  The topics for 2025 are listed below.

January's prompt is Saving Time on Chores.  I'm a paper planner girl so I'm resolved to log what needs to be done when and keep to the plan.  I've been a bit hit and miss for the last several months.  I like the room-a-day schedule, but since we have the hairy monster, Malone, I have to add a daily whiz over with the vacuum to keep the dog hair and at this time of year, the pine needles, at bay.

My favorite planner sticker Etsy shop, Bottled Honey Designs, has a great sheet of stickers to add to your planner or calendar.  It keeps you on track with what room needs attention and you get that sense of accomplishment when it's checked off!  Some others use a program like Fly Lady as their cleaning guideline.

I also find that clutter is a big time waster when it comes to chores.  A quick once over before you go to bed ensures "Everything in its place and a place for everything".  It also prevents those things like "Where are my keys?" and "Where is my wallet?" in the morning!  LOL, that's for you know who, perhaps you have one in your house!

I'll give you an update next month.