And Then I Found Myself Here

Dashing through in haste. I did a shop late at night last night and completely forgot about the whole blog thing. Today I got an invite to a podcast so I've been researching frantically so that I don't sound like an idiot (it hasn't been recorded yet, and I'll let you know if it ever makes it to air). 

The weather has been silly. It was the most gorgeous golden morning on the school run, and we had hail, sleet and snow on the way home and I was glad to get in. The men are planning to do things with the trellis in the garden tomorrow, which is just as well as the honeysuckle is already starting to twine in after a few days with absolutely no encouragement from me.

I didn't put it there. It managed to find it all by itself!

The main reason I am posting is that this is one of the few places I can tell people that bear got an awesome school report today. It looks like he will get great grades, which is good. He is earning a reward, however, for having impeccable attitude to learning scores. His willingness to learn and to work is far more important. I am so proud of him.

I will be back and probably more sensible tomorrow. Though I'm pretty sure that I've picked up bear's cold.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Nothing Much to See Here

Sharon - Thank you! It must be a nuisance trying to find your way around a new supermarket. It always leaves me a little off balance. Fingers crossed that everything goes back to normal by October. And bear got home fine!

Cherie - I will be taking full advantage of better access to Tesco! The graffiti is sort of mixed. There is actually some cheerful stuff, like 'you're never fully dressed without a smile' as well as the awful tags. I shall take some more pics.

Col - that made me smile. Some of the local roads are more pot hole than road. But that stretch of water wasn't a hole. There had been heavy rain and that part of the road had flooded. I don't think that it was that deep, but I avoided it when I was driving out!

Eileen - I plan to take advantage of Home Bargains. The theatre trip was part of the drama groups 'thing' but it isn't for his course. I think it was just a chance for them to get exposure to the theatre, especially after the last few years. 

I've been armpit deep in writing stuff today. I don't feel that I have got that much done that I should have done. I didn't even get stuff that I wanted done. I'm still not caught up with the blogs. I think I shall have to seriously settle down and get some lists made. Bear is on leave from school next week so I need to get all cleared for that. I need to plan a shopping trip and stock up.

Bear came home fine, of course. He was shattered today, but he did well, apparently, in his tests. He should be getting his report through soon. I hope that he has done well. From my point of view he has spent more time working on his riffle shuffle than his homework, but his teachers seem fine with it so I'm not rocking the boat.

Writing stuff - I'm keeping up with the Wednesday chat stuff, and today I put a little about how I looked at research here.

Hugs and good health to all. 

A New Tesco!

Bless - thank you.

Cherie - He's already volunteering to carry heavy stuff for me, bless him. 

Eileen - I plan on having fun in the garden and I will share when it's fit. Thank you for setting the challenge. It's a real inspiration to look outward. I'm looking forward to the next one. I have a photo of my car with snow on taken on April 1st, so that has to be part of the challenge!

KJ - thank you, I know that you have an eye for these things so I feel very pleased with myself.

Briony - I was trying to think of ways of getting different H's. I never managed to get 'hiatus' or 'halt' in a pic, to my disappointment. Thank you!

I came home the usual route but, because I had been looking for something else, I found that was a Tesco even more on the way home than the massive one at Batley. It's much smaller and older. It reminded me of the supermarkets that were built in the sixties and seventies, which were quite square and not nearly as big. It was still nice and clean, though, and while there was less choice, there was still enough for me. The graffiti overlooking the (small) carpark was also good. I'll have to get some better pics.

There is also a Home Bargain next to it. I picked up some planters to push against the fence, but DH has had some other ideas, so I'm not sure what I'm doing now. 

Bear's school has had a trying day. It is the first Ofsted inspection since 2007 (school standards inspectors). This is obviously stressful, especially after a change of headmaster followed by all the disruption of the plague. It is also their 'Green Day' where pupils were supposed to bring in books, stuff for the Foodbank and unwanted clothes to be donated to appropriate places. This was supposed to happen after 3.15pm when school finished, so I didn't bother sending stuff in as I had to get bear home for the other thing that was happening (that bear knew about) - the school trip to the Grand Theatre to see School of Rock. Bear wanted to go in early to look around a particular shop so there wasn't time to drop stuff off and then get home for him to get changed and out. I said that the teachers would be getting deliveries of draft gin by the tanker. 

Bear, by his own choice, went by himself into town to get to the meeting point, and DH is picking him up. I'm glad that the school insist on the kids being met as Leeds City Centre isn't brilliant for kids when it is late at night, even on a Tuesday. Bear told me that I didn't need to wait up. I suppose that will be a little more relevant in a few years time. Right now, of course I'm going to wait up!

I've been caught up with writing stuff today, so I haven't caught up with all the blogs that I want to read. I am looking forward to them! 

Hugs and good health to all. 

March Photo Challenge - Things Beginning with H

Eileen - thank you so much for setting the challenge. I am quite disappointed that I couldn't find a really good 'hill' one as I pass several great views on the school run, but there is nowhere safe to stop! Thank you for giving me something that makes me look outward. 

I looked through my camera reel for March and found more than I thought!

Harry Potter

Honeysuckle

Heirloom

Hollow

Hedge

Half

Holly

Ivy (aka Hedera Helix in Latin)

Hazard

Horn

Hill

Hole

Horizon

Hawthorn (honest! I didn't get a good pic)

Holes

Hatchback

I got more than expected, and repurposed a few pics. I'm looking forward to next month!

Keeping Busy

Thanks for all the kind words on the WSPH. I had such fun. Eileen - thank you for setting it up. I was a little upset about some personal stuff over the weekend but I hope to catch up with blogs soon.

Bear is becoming awesome. Over the weekend I cleared some stuff and he was casually lifting the trellis over his head and hefting it around. I was deeply impressed. He is very helpful. 

The garden is starting to look a little better. It's still not fit for pics, but getting nearer.

Writing stuff - thank goodness I had this cued up from last week. A little story with the Grumpy Old Gods - and it made me snigger writing it. You can find it here.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Sort of Busy

Bless - thank you. I wonder if I could have convinced bear to have honey and black pepper. It may have really helped. 

Cherie - the weather is awful, but there are compensations. I wish I could have captured the absolute glitter and shine of the droplets. It looked magical!

Eileen - your garden is going to look amazing. As for the weather, it should have a long hard think about what it's done!

This was the view from the bathroom window this morning when I got up. It hadn't turned icy as the forecast said, which I was glad of. Instead it was snowing.

It had only just started there. By the time we were getting out, I had a terrible time clearing the windshield, far worse than yesterday. It was a combination of ice and snow, and the snow kept coming in huge flakes. The road was looking quite white by the time we left. 

And, to make things worse, the temporary traffic lights on the road works were playing up and I think snow covered the sensor that encouraged them to change. We were stuck in the queue for ages. We didn't get to school until 8.15. It was thirty minutes before bear needed to be there, but we are normally there around 7.30 to 7.40am! 

I picked up some bits for the weekend and filled up. There was a queue at the pumps and that took ages as well, but the snow had mostly gone by the time I started back.

Writing stuff - today an anthology Grumpy Old Trickster Gods came out, including a story by me! The anthology is on Amazon here, the trailer video is here and a little story leading up to my piece is on my blog here. I had so much fun writing it that it should be illegal. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Picture Scavenger Hunt - the end!

 This is in response to the Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt set by Eileen T on Bracelet of Days (thank you Eileen, it has been something of a sanity saver). I have made a right mess of copying things over, but here we are with my list so far...

1. Party Time!

I saw this and thought that it looked like the bush was having a party!

2. A Star - I was browsing the candles when I shouldn't when I saw this.

3. Something you use every day - my battered handbag (also holder for keys, pens, notebooks, lipgloss, hand sanitiser, etc etc etc

4. Form or Shape - Just some fancy sign in the supermarket 

5. Diagonal - the stairs at the car park where I wait for bear

6. Currency - A sort of sad one. When father was alive, I used to help out the Methodist Church fairs and events. There was a 'roll the two pence' where you rolled a two pence coin down a chute and see which square it landed in. It had to be exact and not touch any margins, but if you made it then you could win 2p, 4p, 6p or even 10p! There was just enough return to keep a young kid with 50p in tuppences busy for long enough for parents to catch their breath. It didn't make much money for the church, but it was very popular. I saved all the 2p pieces, but the board has fallen to pieces and they aren't having the sales and events that they used to. I'm going to use it in the self checkout now.

7. A Rainbow - I wasn't happy to spot this - my car has an oil leak.

8. In Profile

9. A Single Letter of the Alphabet

10. Trees - taken one morning in a supermarket car park

11. Represent your zodiac sign or your Chinese year animal - I'm using the fake birthday I have on my writing Facebook as I don't like giving out my birthday. I think it's Libra, but couldn't find scales, so I went for balanced.

12. Symbolic of the country you call home - sort of, I think. It's supposed to be an English Rose, and a white rose is the symbol of Yorkshire. Yorkshire may not be a country, but it has it's own international football team. (sad note, this bush blew over 5 Feb 2022)

13. Graffiti/Street Art - I spotted this a while ago, but I took another picture for the challenge.

14. A tea break/coffee break snapped at a cafe as I don't drink tea or coffee much these days.

15. An External Light - a rather rubbish one of the moon, which I guess is fairly external. 

16. Half - half a dishcloth because the yarn ran out!

17. Wheel(s) - I thought it looked sort of cool.

18. A Gift - my son's Christmas gift to me

19. A Decoration I thought this looked cool

20. Small - a small elephant

Alt A Free Choice - who can resist taking a pic of a mannequin's disassembled leg?

Alt B The Weather Today - when the weather was interesting

Alt C Square(s) 

This is what I have on 6 February 2022, but I may update with some better pics if I see them.