Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Tuesday, 20 January 2026

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 20th December 2025

The last photo an hour date of 2025 took place on Saturday 20th December. It was a day of helping the Small Person do some sewing, then heading out to do some last bits of Christmas shopping before exploring some local Christmas lights on the way home! 


Here's what the day looked like...






12 lovely others joined in:

Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories
Alex joined in on Instagram Stories
Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Janet joined in on Instagram Stories
Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Sarah joined in on Instagram Stories
Jennifer joined in on Instagram Stories
Rebecca joined in on Instagram
Danielle from Underland to Wonderland joined in on Instagram Stories
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 


The first photo an hour date of 2026 is Saturday 24th January - see you there!
 
 

Tuesday, 14 January 2025

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 21st December 2024

The last photo an hour date of 2024 was Saturday 21st December. We went out for my annual birthday day trip to the seaside for hot chocolate and fish & chips in Weymouth. 


Here's what the day looked like...




12 lovely others joined in:

Josie joined in on Instagram
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories
Alex joined in on Instagram Stories
Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories
Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories
Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories
Jennifer joined in on Instagram Stories
Danielle from Underland to Wonderland joined in on Instagram Stories
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-)
 


The first photo an hour of 2025 is Saturday 18th January - see you there!
 
 

Saturday, 23 December 2023

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 16th December 2023

Saturday 16th December was the final photo an hour date of 2023!

We were away for the weekend at a local holiday park, at a cottage with a hot tub (my birthday present!). It was also Honiton Christmas Carnival in the evening so we headed down to Devon to watch that, picking up some chips and watching some Christmas lights on the way back. 


Here's what the day looked like...




11 lovely others joined in:

Josie joined in on Instagram
Sarah joined in on Instagram
Jennifer joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Jennifer from Pastry and Purls joined in on Instagram
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories
Alex joined in on Instagram Stories
Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 



2024's photo an hour dates will be decided soon :-)
 
 

Tuesday, 7 February 2023

Winter at the Duckpond

Not entirely sure how we're in February already but here we are. I've seen some daffodils and snowdrops and I'm writing this in the sunshine so fingers crossed spring is on its way :-)

A lot seems to have happened in the last few months!


  • Carnival season took place properly for the first time since 2019. We went to watch some of the smaller ones in September and October and then during the big carnival season in November, both me and Lily took part in the processions with our carnival club. Our club had decided to take part with a walking entry rather than a cart and we wore our 'Alice in Wonderland' costumes from 2018. It was good fun and great opportunity for the children of the club to take part. Lily was going to be one of the Alices and I made her costume for her. We really enjoyed it but oh my gosh, it was busy! In all the years I've been taking part in carnivals, I've never seen the crowds so big. Which is good, of course - more people in theory means more people know about the processions and therefore more money for charity. A team from Bridgwater Carnival created a cart to take part in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee last year and I think the publicity worked!



  • Good TV we've watched - 'Mayflies' on BBC iPlayer was excellent, heart-breaking but very well acted and put together. We also watched 'The Light in the Hall' on C4 which was also really good. And we've been enjoying 'Call the Midwife' as well (as we do every year).


  • I didn't complete my GoodReads challenge for 2022 :-( After going well over my target in 2021 (target of 52, total read 70), last year's target was 52 and I didn't quite reach it, reading 47. Still a good amount though I think. 

  • I had my 40th birthday back in December. We had a day out in Weymouth for my birthday, playing on the beach, getting a hot chocolate and ending the day with a festive chip supper from our favourite chip shop. 



  • We also went to Edinburgh for Hogmanay - something I'd mentioned could be my 40th birthday present many years ago. We stayed in a lovely caravan at Mortonhall Park and managed to visit lots of our favourite places over the week. One bonus was the fact that I had to work on the Tuesday of the week but of course, the 'home' in "working from home" doesn't have to be your normal residence! So I had a nice day working from our caravan with a lovely view and a roaring fire. For New Year's Eve, we didn't want to be in the centre of Edinburgh (too busy with Covid still rampant, plus we couldn't take Lily) so we ended up on the seafront at Portobello watching the fireworks and saying 'Happy New Year' to the locals who were also out watching the displays. It was lovely. 




  • Lily also turned 7 - which is part , "7, wow amazing" but also part, "7, how?". She picked a birthday day trip to the seaside to do one specific activity - play Jurassic Adventure Golf in Teignmouth, Devon. I think she enjoyed it!




  • Photo an hour round up for the last few months can be found here - October, November, December and January. Feburary's photo an hour date is Saturday 18th, feel free to join in if you want to. 

  • Oh and yeah, I was diagnosed with suspected kidney cancer. A week before my 40th birthday - which was not exactly the best birthday present ever. 'Twas only found because the GP ordered an MRI scan to do extra investigations into the high blood pressure I've had for years (it seems to run in my Dad's side of the family). Thankfully it doesn't seem to have spread anywhere which is good. The plan is to do a radical nephrectomy operation to remove the offending kidney and tumour so that's how the first half of 2023 is going to pan out for me. It's also going to involve lots of hot chocolates as that's the treat I give myself after every hospital appointment :-) 



Anyway, how was your winter/Christmas/New Year?
 

Tuesday, 10 January 2023

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 17th December 2022

The last photo an hour of 2022 (where did that year go!?) took place on Saturday 17th December. It was a rather chilly day with a mystery Christmas trip to see Father Christmas...


Here's what the day looked like...


11 lovely others joined in:

Jennifer joined in on Instagram
Naomi joined in on Instagram
Josie joined in on Instagram
Kezzie joined in on Instagram
Janet joined in on Instagram Stories
Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories
Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories
Alex joined in on Instagram Stories
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Christine from Christine Lucas joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 



Jane and myself have picked the dates for 2023, feel free to steal the below image to keep track of everything :-) 




The first photo an hour date for 2023 is Saturday 21st January - see you there!

 

Monday, 7 February 2022

New Year at the Duckpond

So here we are, in 2022 no less. Not quite sure how we're almost a quarter of the way through the 21st century and equally, not quite sure how it's February already. 


  • My Dad's still recovering from his stroke. He spent a few months in a brain injury rehab unit (with occasional trips to hospital for infections) and is now waiting for a space at a nursing home. We haven't been able to visit that often (as the rehab unit closed to visitors whenever there was a COVID outbreak) but the staff at the unit were able to help him do video calls. 

  • Christmas came and went. We took Lily to a couple of outdoor events with Santa - one festive-themed session of her usual sports class and one trip on an outdoor miniature railway. Both events were much safer than being indoors and she loved them anyway regardless of having to wear hats, gloves and scarves. 


  • All of us adults have had our COVID booster and we took my Mum for her 4th vaccine back in January (she was eligible for a 3rd primary dose then her 4th one was her booster). Lily is eligible now as well (due to living in the same household as someone immunosuppressed), we're just waiting to see when we can actually take her to have it done. 

  • I managed to overachive on my GoodReads Reading Challenge last year. I set a target of 39 books and managed to read 70 so that was good. This year though, I'm behind! 

  • Good TV and film we've watched - obviously 'Don't Look Up' on Netflix :-) Such a good movie, very well put together and definitely worth watching if you've haven't already. 'Call the Midwife' which we watch every year is just as good as ever. We're also very much looking forward to 'This Is Going to Hurt' on BBC which starts this week. I've read Adam Kay's books and we've also seen him perform live twice so fingers crossed, the series should be equally good. 'Back to the Outback' on Netflix is also brilliant. It's a children's film but is still very funny. 

  • Lily turned 6 - which is both great and horrifying (where did those years go!?). She asked for a birthday day trip (which ended up being 2 birthday day trips due to a last minute hospital appointment) and we had a lovely afternoon in the winter sun in Barry Island followed a week later by a car picnic in the New Forest with the ponies. 



  • We went to a theatre show - Dr Semmelweis at the Bristol Old Vic - which was a magnificant performance by all the cast and such a interesting story. It was a show I booked back in January 2020 pre-COVID and after being postponed several times, it finally had its performances from January this year. We were in two minds whether to go but a) I'd been looking forward to this one for 2 years (it stars Sir Mark Rylance!) and b) the theatre was still requiring people to wear masks and they also had details of their ventilation system on their website. We donned our FFP3 masks for the entire time and they must've worked because we came through it COVID-free. 


  • I've still been doing the photo an hour challenge every month over on Instagram but not actually getting round to writing them up on here. February's photo an hour date is Saturday 19th - feel free to join in if you want to! 

 


Sunday, 28 March 2021

A Photo Every Hour - 2019

Next up in my photo an hour round up, 2019 - the last "normal" year! 


19th January 2019 - Lily had a friend's birthday party to attend north of Bristol so we turned it into a day trip, starting with a Toby Carvery breakfast and taking in the new 'Hey Duggee' movie at the cinema. After the party we did a bit of shopping for Lily's birthday party the following week. 



16th February 2019 - We did some tidying and sorting then went out for a drive to do some geocaching and ended up at a soft play centre for dinner. 



23rd March 2019 - Another day of tidying and sorting out, with a purpose as the next day we were doing a stall at a local baby & children's table top sale. 



27th April 2019 - A day of travelling almost 300 miles home from our Easter holiday break in Anglesey. We stopped off on the way for dinner and a play at Gloucester Servives on the M5 of course. :-) 



19th May 2019 - A Sunday this time and also Andrew's birthday. In the morning I helped at a local baby & children's sale and in the evening, we had birthday pizza before watching a show at the Bath Festival. 



15th June 2019 - Another baby & children's sale, this time the local NCT one where I was volunteering and manning stalls. After the sale me, Lily, my dad and brother headed to the hospital where my mum was (this was the month she was diagnosed with cancer) and then came back to our house for dinner cooked by Andrew. 


20th July 2019 - Was our carnival club's annual fundraising fun day. Andrew took the lorry along as an exhibit, I made lots of cakes and also manned some of the stalls. Lily spent all our money on the stalls winning sweets :-)



24th August 2019 - This day fell on the weekend of Great Dorset Steam Fair and it was a lovely sunny warm day. In the morning me and Lily did our shift in the pay box of a friend's vintage arcade and in the afternoon I did a shift volunteering on the trailer rides around the ring. The evening was spent at the fairground whilst Lily's favourite area of the fair was the freak show (performed by the Circus of Horrors) which was not surprising as we camp directly behind their show and she'd seen all the performers every day. 



21st September 2019 - We went away for the weekend to help run the vintage arcade at Carter's Steam Fair in West Wycombe. It was a lovely autumn day driving there and a mild evening too with fab fireworks to finish. 



12th October 2019 - A day of tidying, cake baking and playing. In the evening we watched a live stream from one of the local carnivals taking place that day. 



16th November 2019 - The last time I performed on a carnival float! (as the processions were cancelled last year for obvious reasons). The morning was spent sorting out my costume and bits from the previous night's procession and then getting ready for that evening's one. 



21st December 2019 - It was our carnival club's Christmas party that day. We had a bit of shopping to do at lunchtime and then I made the cake that'd been requested by a couple of people in the club - a battenberg cake! 



Just one more year - 2020 - to go and then the first few months of 2021 :-) 

 


Friday, 31 March 2017

This Little Big Life - Autumn and Winter Doings

Last summer Sarah and Louise started a little link-up series called This Little Big Life, showcasing highlights from the weekend. Needless to say, none of us managed to keep up with posting on a weekly basis; as often happens, life just simply gets in the way.



I can, however do an almighty round-up of what we got up to over the autumn and winter :-)


September
September was spent enjoying the last of the summer weather with a holiday down to Brixham, a trip to a local lido and a sunny day trip to the beach at Weymouth. We also saw a couple of local small carnivals (in preparation for the big ones in November) and had a bit of work done on the house, in the form of a lovely shiny new wood-burning stove. We had some trips out to the playground, a visit to Bridgwater Fair and started some new baby classes: The Creation Station's Baby Discover (arts and crafts) and a Mum & Baby Yoga course.
 


October
October saw more carnivals, more playgrounds and a chance to dress as a novelty pumpkin (Lily, not myself). There was a local lantern parade which we joined in with and a trip to The Egg Theatre in Bath to see a show aimed at babies (about spongy things!). We spent too much money at an NCT Nearly New Sale and I had my first evening out with the little one (all us mums in our NCT group went out for a meal). I ended up being interviewed by BBC Radio Bristol all about National Fertility Awareness Week and we also met Kipper at the Bath Children's Literature Festival!



November
November was all about carnival season here in Somerset. Lily went to her first Bridgwater carnival and spent half of it asleep and half of it wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the lights, music and dancing. We also watched a couple of firework displays and visited the theatre in Bristol to see 'The Grinning Man' (which was A.MAZING). I also helped out at our local NCT Sale (which was great fun) and then ended up joining the local branch as a volunteer. We went back to visit all the staff at the fertility clinic to say hello and Lily ended up being on Twitter for a while. She also celebrated reaching double figures in months by spending the day asleep during Glastonbury Frost Fayre and a visit to Glastonbury Abbey.



December
December saw theatre shows, Father Christmas, reindeer and presents. Lily went to her very first classical music concert - a group called Music for Miniatures who run regular events locally in Bath and Frome - it was excellent and a really Christmassy start to the month. We had a mini holiday to the New Forest for my birthday and Lily met Father Christmas for the first time. We had day trips to Longleat for the Festival of Light and to a local garden centre for their Christmas displays. Me and Andrew even managed to have our first evening out on our own since before Lily was born! (We went to the Bristol Old Vic to see 'The Snow Queen' - which was quite spectacular) We had a real wreath on our front door for Christmas too - handmade by my own fair hands under the expert tuition of the lovely Gemma from Dora Flora Flowers. We made sure Lily had her fill of Christmas theatre too with four shows and one concert watched: 'Reindeer on the Roof'; 'Jack Frost'; 'The Christmassy Christmas Show of Christmassy Christmasness' (highly recommended); Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain'; and 'The Snowman' performed by Bath Philharmonia. We also had some settling in sessions at Lily's nursery!



January
It was the end of maternity leave this month, having had the full 12 months away from the office. My role was made into a job share with me doing the Monday and Tuesday. Lily also started at her nursery (a fabulous forest school set on a farm) and we settled into a routine of two days at nursery followed by three days of baby groups. Lily's social life is better than mine with regular classes of music, painting, messy play, toddler groups and swimming lessons! We also went to the theatre to see 'Snow Mouse' (which will be at the Barbican in London this Christmas) and me and Andrew managed an afternoon to ourselves seeing 'The Play That Goes Wrong' at Bath Theatre Royal - both shows highly recommended. We went to a friend's fancy dress 'heroes & villains' party as the Little Red Riding Hood story and then the little one turned one whole year old! I embellished a vest for her to wear on the day and then a few days later we had one big birthday party with all her friends and lots of inflatable and soft play stuff. It was good!



So how's life with you?


Thursday, 12 January 2017

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 17th December

So where did November and December go then? What happened to 2016? And how is my little baby going to be 1 whole year old in a fortnight?

I have no idea on any of those questions. Ho hum.

December's photo an hour though, needs a (long overdue) round-up. Saturday 17th December was the day - and here's what it looked like...


10am - Still asleep...


11am - Wide awake!


12pm - "Writing" Christmas cards


1pm - Off out for a walk into town.


2pm - Choosing peppers!


3pm - Finally finding 5 minutes to read an essential part of the festive season.


4pm - My contribution to that evening's Christmas party was a fruit platter, veg platter and a bowl of chicken pasta salad.


5pm - Fruit prep!


6pm - Ready to go.


7pm - Last minute wrapping for the party's secret Santa.


8pm - Festive selfie.


9pm - Playtime with Dad.


10pm - Christmas party games.

 
 
This time we had 16 lovely people joining in:
Janet from Someone, Somewhere joined in on Instagram, Twitter and on her blog
Alex from Odd Socks and Pretty Frocks joined in on Instagram and Twitter
Lucy from Lucy in the Clouds joined in on Instagram and Twitter
Hazel from World of Joy joined in on Instagram and Twitter
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Twitter and on her blog
Rebecca from Just Me joined in on Instagram
Jane from Is That You Darling joined in on Instagram
Amy from Fluffy Owl's Adventures joined in on Instagram
Rebecca from Writing, Fatshion, Me joined in on Instagram
Jennifer from Adventures in Pop Culture joined in on Instagram
Elizabeth from Lizzie Dripping joined in on Instagram
Rebecca from Halfway Home joined in on Instagram
Siobhan joined in on Instagram
Beemcv joined in on Instagram
Emily joined in on Instagram
And of course, myself here on this post, plus on Instagram and Twitter :-)


January's photo an hour is a date picked purely for selfish reasons - Sunday 29th January - the little one's first birthday party!

 
 
Also, check out what I was up to in...
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