A Photo An Hour: 21 March 2020

Hello friends! Saturday was the day of the Photo an Hour linkup and, thanks to social distancing, for once I wasn’t the only one spending the entire day inside 😉

Here’s what I got up to:

10 a.m. Kettle is boiling for the first cuppa of the day.

11 a.m. Tooooast! (Just noticed the state of my toaster. Yikes!)

12 noon. Finally starting this book that everyone has been raving about.

1 p.m. About time I got in the shower.

2 p.m. More tea! Jan is up now so I’m making two.

3 p.m. Can’t concentrate on my book while Jan has crap TV on so I’ve escaped to my craft room (otherwise known as the office). Making Easter cards for Post Pals.

4 p.m. Putting on some laundry.

5 p.m. Getting some reading in while Jan’s in the shower.

6 p.m. Cooking. Soup seemed like a good idea.

7 p.m. Drinking beer, watching the news.

8 p.m. Getting some exercise with a virtual reality game. (Please ignore the mess!)

9 p.m. Back in my PJs.

10 p.m. Watching some YouTube.

11 p.m. Time for bed.

How did you spend your weekend at home? (I hope you were at home – unless you work for a health service, supermarket or similar, in which case THANK YOU!).

Photo an Hour is hosted by Louisa and Jane. The next link-up is on 18th April. Will we be allowed out by then? Only time will tell.

A photo an hour: 21 September 2019

Happy Monday friends! I’ve come to the realisation that photo an hour posts are my least popular in terms of both views and comments. But that’s okay – this is not a complaint, just an observation. I shall continue posting them because I quite enjoy being able to look back and see what I did on a random day two years ago – even if it mostly wasn’t anything interesting. Anyway, September’s photo an hour date fell on Saturday. I took part on Twitter and now I shall also share the photos on my blog. As always, Jane and Louisa were the hosts.

9 a.m. Starting the day with tea, as always.

10 a.m. Cross stitch, but soon I’ll be going for a shower.

11 a.m. I got dressed – yay me! Now opening my post, which included this candle. Look how shiny!

12 noon. Off to the Post Office, where I sent my brother’s birthday present.

1 p.m. In town. There was an emergency services event happening.

2 p.m. Back home. Time for a cuppa before I commence cleaning.

3 p.m. Gotta empty that dishwasher! (And then refill it. Where do all the dishes come from?)

4 p.m. Hoovering the living room.

5 p.m. Second load of laundry about to go in.

6 p.m. Jan was at an all-day choir rehearsal, but he said he would be home by 7 and would want food… guess I’d better get started then.

7 p.m. (ish – I got distracted and took the photo a little late). Food and Pointless Celebrities.

8 p.m. Going back to the 90s as I start my Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-watch.

9 p.m. More Buffy.

10 p.m. On to episode 3. When this was finished we went to bed, and since it was still before 11 there are no more photos.

How was your Saturday? A little more exciting than mine, perhaps? If you want to join in next month, October’s photo an hour will be on the 12th. Simply take a photo every hour and either post it to Twitter or Instagram (or both) using the hashtag #photoanhour or save them all up and write a blog post. Or do all three! Whatever floats your boat. Have a great week my lovelies.

A Photo an Hour: 20 July 2019

Hello lovely readers! Saturday was July’s photo an hour day. I took part on Twitter and now I also want to post the photos on my blog.

10 a.m. Obviously my day starts with tea.

11 a.m. Shower time. We’re still using the bath but the glass for the actual shower is due to arrive on the 29th! Also, we are not currently using those plastic bottles of shampoo/shower gel but of course I haven’t thrown them away because pouring out half the contents is even worse than having single-use plastic bottles in the first place!

12 noon. Waiting for a bus.

1 p.m. We met a friend (technically Jan’s friend, but who’s keeping track?) and went for a drink by the river.

2 p.m. Still by the river. It started to cloud over (but then brightened up again)

3 p.m. We went for food. I took this photo slightly late because I got distracted by eating 😉

4 p.m. Jan wanted caffeine. He went to Starbucks (which we never usually do) because he got a discount for being part of the Basel tattoo cast. Annoying that they give you plastic cups even if you sit in! This branch didn’t have any normal glasses and only small mugs.

5 p.m. Slightly delayed again as I was paying for some purchases then had to run for the bus. Photo taken on said bus.

6 p.m. Home and reading my penultimate book for Erin‘s reading challenge.

7 p.m. Another tea – ginger and lemon this time so I switched cups. Looks more like autumn than summer.

8 p.m. At this time of year I have lots of cards to stitch (it’s also about time I started Christmas cards!). This one is for my friend’s son, who is turning 5.

9 p.m. I wasn’t hungry for dinner after that huge lunch, but I popped to the shop because I fancied some chocolate. Plastic-free options are limited at the only place that’s open at night… I pretty much had the choice between this and Toblerone (or a grapefruit Lindt bar which quite frankly sounds disgusting).

I could have taken a 10 p.m. photo but I didn’t because I always like to have an even number, so that’s yer lot for today.

What did you do on Saturday? I hope it was a good one!

A Photo an Hour: 16 February 2019

Over a week ago, I took part in February’s photo an hour with Jane and Louisa. I had planned to write up my day over the weekend but instead we spontaneously decided to go to Lugano. So here I am finally posting about it over a week later. Whatever. I was also taking part in my first ever readathon that weekend, organised by Show Us Your Books hosts Jana and Steph, so my day involved quite a lot of reading.

Let’s just get on with it shall we?

9:30 a.m. Morning cuppa… a literary mug seemed appropriate for readathon weekend.

10:30 a.m. Reading in my pyjamas

11:30 a.m. I had breakfast. By the time the hour was up I had finished eating, so my photo was a very uninspiring one of an empty plate. (I had toast with fig jam if you’re wondering).

12:30 p.m. I finally actually had a shower and got dressed. A miracle?

1:30 p.m. Another tea and on to my next book.

2:30 p.m. I had to pop to the supermarket for some bits.

3:30 p.m. Back home and back to reading

4:30 p.m. Reluctantly washing the dishes.

5:30 p.m. Emptying the dishwasher.

6:30 p.m. Time to start cooking.

7:30 p.m. Colourful food!

8:30 p.m. Jan put on The Great British Sewing Bee. It was surprisingly compelling viewing.

9:30 p.m. Changed into clean pyjamas and back to reading.

10:30 p.m. Time for bed. Introducing Cuddles the bear, who I picked up from my dad’s at the beginning of the month.

If you’re interested in taking part in Photo an Hour, the next date is 23rd March. Simply take a photo every hour to show what you’re doing and post it to Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #photoanhour or save your photos and put them into a blog post once the day is over(or you can do both, like me).

A Photo an Hour:15 December 2018

On Saturday, I took part in the final photo an hour of the year, hosted by Jane and Louisa. I had decided it was going to be the day that I finally got the last of my Christmas cards sorted, but I also wanted to clean the flat and had a ticket for Jan’s concert in the evening. So much to pack in to one day! Here’s how I got on…

9 a.m. We had no milk so my first act was to jump in the shower before heading to the shop.

10 a.m. Showered and milk purchased, now I can have a cuppa. Yay!

11 a.m. A busy week of work with lots of overtime plus one day in the office in Germany meant my kitchen was severely neglected and I had dishes to wash…

12 noon. Finally getting round to stitching and making the final few Christmas cards.

1 p.m. Cross stitch made into a card. Hoorah!

2 p.m. Another cuppa while writing out some of the cards I’d made. The ones in the background were waiting for Jan to sign them.

3 p.m. Jan signed the cards and I started putting them in envelopes.

4 p.m. Another card made!

5 p.m. Jan left for his final rehearsal and I got the hoover out. Also, how pretty are my slippers?

6 p.m. Cleaning the bathrooms, but I need to head out soon!

7 p.m. On the way to watch Jan’s concert. Terrible photo taken through the window of a tram.

I missed 8 p.m. as the concert was in progress.

9 p.m. Concert over, still in the church waiting for Jan to grab his stuff. Martinskirche, if you’re interested.

10 p.m. We went for food. By this stage it had all been eaten and I was finishing my wine before we got the bill.

11 p.m. Home and having a hot sage and honey drink to warm up… it was freezing on Saturday!

I was tucked up in bed by quarter to 12 so no more photos needed to be taken and symmetry in my blog post is preserved 😉

I did, in fact, manage to get almost all my cards made, written and addressed. Only my dad’s remained to be sorted. And I did quite a bit of the housework I had planned to get sorted, although putting away the washing ended up being a task for Sunday evening. (And I still haven’t cleaned the oven). All in all a productive day.

What did you get up to on Saturday? I hope you all had a lovely festive weekend.

Three Days, Three Quotes Take 2

I have been nominated again for the three days, three quotes challenge – this time by She of This Door is Alarmed. I will be breaking the rules slightly this time though since I’ve run out of people to nominate! If anybody would like to do this (or do it again) let me know and I’ll nominate you tomorrow.

Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for three consecutive days.
3. Nominate three bloggers for each post.

I have seen the following quote around a lot (there was even a pattern to stitch it in one of my cross-stitch magazines!) but I can’t seem to find its origin. Some sources say it’s an Irish proverb, although I feel like anything that sounds profound is assumed to be an Irish proverb. Anyway, I should probably show you the quote:

Inspirational and involving tea… how could you go wrong?

Since I’m feeling generous, here’s another tea-themed quote. This one it seems actually is an Irish proverb, although it’s usually misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt.

Basically you never know how much you can take until you actually face challenges… but with tea, which makes everything better.

I hope your day is like a perfect cup of tea (or coffee or gin and tonic, whatever you prefer).

Come back tomorrow for another quote.

A Photo an Hour: 24 March 2018

Hello friends! As some of you know, Saturday was this month’s Photo an Hour day. I took part on Twitter and now I want to add the photos to me blog, too.

10 a.m. Jan brought me a cup of tea in bed! Don’t be too jealous… it’s only because I was on day 3 of a sore throat 😉

11 a.m. Time for a shower! I used the one above the bath this time since Jan was in the other one.

12 noon. The sun was shining for a change and it was actually warm so we decided to go for a walk in the woods. On the way there we passed this field, which is usually full of horses. You can just about spy one at the back, by the tent thing.

1 p.m. After leaving the woods we reached a café where we stopped for a drink.

2 p.m. Heading home. The train is on its way to Basel from France.

3 p.m. A late lunch. This interesting looking twisty thing had bacon pieces in it. SO tasty!

4 p.m. Jan was busy doing something for his choir, so I started a new book. My final one for Erin’s challenge!

5 p.m. Time for another cuppa.

6 p.m. Doing some colouring. Jan laughed at by baby dragons colouring book – mean!

7 p.m. More reading while the potatoes cook for tea.

8 p.m. Eating baked potatoes and watching Pointless Celebrities

9 p.m. Still watching TV (although we switched it off 2 minutes after this photo was taken!)

10 p.m. In bed with my book. I’m determined to finish the challenge this month!

11 p.m. Refilled my water, now it’s time to sleep.

So, that was my Saturday. How was yours?

As always, Photo and Hour was hosted by Louisa and Jane.

A Photo an Hour: 28 October 2017

After months of missing the reminders, on Saturday I finally managed to take part in Photo an Hour again. Hurrah! Here’s what I got up to:

10 a.m. I am awake… so obviously I need tea! (I am very predictable. One of these days I’m going to start reusing photos of tea and I bet nobody will even notice.)

11 a.m. Some Christmas card stitching… I’m way behind!

12 noon. I managed to shower between hours for once. Woo! Now clean and dressed in all the birds!

1 p.m. Back to stitching… wondering whether Jan ever plans to get out of bed!

2 p.m. The boy got up – hurrah! This calls for a celebratory cuppa 😉

3 p.m. Lunch! There was nothing in the fridge so I nipped to the shop for some juice and a sandwich.

4 p.m. And back to stitching… nearly finished 🙂

5 p.m. I lit a candle and made some apple and mint tea before I had to head out into the cold.

6 p.m. Off out to watch Jan sing (for the second weekend in a row) – I had to leave early because he forgot to buy me a ticket. A selfie was the best photo I could think of.

7 p.m. Terrible photo thanks to it being dark and my camera flash being broken – but when the door opens right as the clock is striking seven it has to be the subject of my 7 p.m. photo! Welcome to Switzerland 😉

I missed 8 p.m. because it was during the concert so…

9 p.m. A quick snap of the stage before I left the church (St Martin’s, in case you’re wondering). We then went to eat with some other members of the choir after the concert so I missed 10 p.m. as well since I didn’t want to be rude. At least this way symmetry was preserved 😉

11 p.m. A glass of water before bed.

And that was my Saturday. How was yours? Good I hope!

Linking up with Louisa and Jane, of course.

Friday letters

Hello everyone! Now I’ve posted once this week, I thought I should at least try to keep up. So Friday letters it is. Let’s get straight to it, shall we?

Dear boyfriend. If you’re going to wake me up snoring/grinding your teeth does is really have to be within 2 hours of the alarm going off so I’m pretty much guaranteed not to get any more proper sleep before starting the day? After two days in a row of that I am tiiiired today!

Dear biscuits. I should not have bought you. Once I start tucking in it’s soo hard to stop!

Dear autumn. Well, it looks like you are truly here now with all your cold, wet miserableness.
As an aside, do any other Brits remember singing a little verse in school that went “Here comes autumn, bringing the mists and rain“? I’m sure that’s why I associate autumn with cold and dark and soggy, slippery leaves rather than the gorgeous colours, long walks and crisp leaves everyone else goes on about. Or maybe it’s just that Britain really is miserable in autumn? 😉

Dear post person. I am not impressed that you sent my order back to the sender claiming that I had failed to pick it up from the post office. I requested for a second delivery of everything I had a note for, so that means there was no note for this one!

Dear flat. You’re actually still looking half decent right now after we cleaned for visitors last weekend. I wonder how long we can keep it up?

Dear birds. I’m guessing by constantly coming and perching on the empty bird feeder you’re trying to tell me something? It’s getting colder now so I’ll buy you some lard balls soon.

Dear kettle. I’m sorry I keep boiling you so many times before I actually manage to make a cup of tea. Please don’t decide you’re overworked and go on strike – and I promise to try and actually make my cuppa the first time!

Dear autumn fair. It looks like it’s going to be cold for your opening day tomorrow but the forecast is currently not saying rain. Maybe I’ll consider popping by for the first Glühwein of the season.

Dear readers. Thank you for sticking around even when I fail to post for weeks on end or don’t even have anything interesting to say. I appreciate every single one of your comments.

And on that soppy note, I shall stop typing and brave the rain so I can get something to eat. This is supposed to be my lunch break, after all and my fridge is looking rather uninspiring. I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

A photo an hour: 17 June 2017

I know what you’re thinking… wasn’t it only just photo an hour day? (That’s what I was thinking when I saw Jane’s reminder anyway). Actually, it’s been almost a month since the last photo an hour link up! To be precise, May’s photo an hour was precisely a month ago tomorrow. 2017 is definitely going too fast!

Anyway, for those of you who didn’t follow along on Twitter, here’s what I got up to on Saturday.

10 a.m. Obviously I started my day with a cuppa. I could just reuse the photos from previous months for this! (But I didn’t. Last month’s was different – see.)

11 a.m. Time for a shower. In an effort to make things different, I took a photo of the shower curtain this time.

12 noon. Off to the post box with this pile of happy mail.

1 p.m. Finishing off a birthday card to be sent to a Post Pals sibling.

2 p.m. Finally quiet time is over and I’m allowed to take away the recycling! (I feel like I should point out that this wasn’t all drunk at once!)

3 p.m. Back from recycling and the supermarket. Time for a tea on the balcony.

4 p.m. Housework – boring but necessary. Emptying the dishwasher.

5 p.m. Once you start it’s never ending! After sorting the dishes I hoovered and now I’m sorting clean laundry.

6 p.m. Off into town.

7 p.m. A choir Jan sings with was having a CD launch party and I was on my way there. Crossing the Rhine.

8 p.m. Beer in a fountain. How else are you supposed to keep it cool?

9 p.m. Drinking beer! They’re not both mine…

10 p.m. Still at the launch party. Candles on a table.

11 p.m. Waiting for pizza and it was too dark to photograph anything but this lantern!

Midnight. Waiting for a tram home. The building is part of the art museum.

1 a.m. Finally bedtime! Eeyore says goodnight 🙂

And that was that. A long day! How was your Saturday?

Linking up with Jane and Louisa, as always.