More Chocolate!!

Look what arrived earlier today from my darling Aussie daughter, a gift card from Hotel Chocolat, beautifully packaged and with some lovely new tastes for autumn. Should keep me busy for a while!!

What diet?!!

~ Be safe and well ~

Polly x

Birthday, Chocolate And Weight

Pre covid I was doing really well losing weight. 

Half a stone from January to March, then lockdown + frustration + some boredom = binge eating. Weight has been see sawing for months.

but I have been back on track for the last two weeks.

see saw

My darling grandson bought me my favourite chocolate for my birthday yesterday,

a large Lindt teddy bear. I forgot to take a photo before diving into it! 

My desire to lose weight is constantly at odds with my desire to eat chocolate!  😋

~ Be safe and well ~

Polly x

Woodbridge and Aldeburgh

Woodbridge is a pretty market town on the banks of the river Deben in Suffolk. With lovely shops, pubs and restaurants, and on the edge of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty it is a perfect place to stay for a few days, or as a base to explore the Suffolk coast.

M and I visited a few weeks ago as one of our day trips. We had a lovely day with beautiful weather.

The Guildhall 

Market stalls behind the Guildhall with a lovely open air cafe

St Mary's Church

It's very pretty

 

And home to the Deben millenium frieze. A brief history of Woodbridge over the past two thousand years seen through the eyes of some of the creative and artistic people of the town. It grew from an idea by Sarah Evelegh and her husband Mike, chairman of the Woodbridge Millenium committee who, in 1998 approached the Deben Decorative and Fine Arts Society who agreed to support the project. It was a labour of love, started in September 1998 by sixty volunteers sewing individual pieces in their own homes, and completed in March 2000.

The Tidemill

A short drive away was our next stop, the seaside resort of Aldeburgh. The High Street offers wonderful opportunities for browsing, with trendy boutiques, antiques and arts, a glorious book shop, a cinema, over priced ice cream shops, and a huge variety of culinary feasts. Unfortunately the two fish'n'chip shops were take away only so we went to one of the many cafes. After browsing the shops and lunch we walked along the promenade.

Aldeburgh Lifeboat Station

Further along the beach is the iconic scallop shell. This four metre high sculpture was conceived by Suffolk-born artist Maggi Hambling, and made by Aldeburgh craftsmen Sam and Dennis Pegg, It was unveiled in 2003 as a tribute to Benjamin Britten who moved there in 1947 and was the founder of the Aldeburgh Festival. He wrote "I write music now, in Aldeburgh, for people living there, and further afield, indeed for anyone who cares to play it or listen to it. But my music now has its roots, in where I live and work."

I set off to see it up close, it was about a mile walk, M rested up and sat on a bench. I didn't get there though, not because of the distance but because the weather turned very hot, there was no shade and I didn't have any sun screen with me. I bought a postcard instead.

I saw this on my way back, perhaps I should have hopped in it :-) 

~ Be safe and well ~

Polly x

Libra September 23rd - October 22nd

Miss Claire Voyant's horoscope for Libra

Sharing your Libra birthday with ME, John Lennon, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Julie Andrews, and a few million others.

The Personality

Libras are best known for our love of balance, not in the way of tightrope walking, but in keeping everything on a fair and even keel, hence the scales. We thrive on making things orderly, harmonious and aesthetically pleasing. We cannot stand chaos or mess. We are the astrological equivalent of Marie Kondo!

Being ruled by Venus the goddess of art and pleasure we have a love for all things beautiful, and we ourselves are charming and beautiful social butterflies.  Relationships are important to us, we love being in love. We make excellent friends, being supportive and loyal confidants. 

We can also be super creative and clever, which is why so many Libras are artists, writers, actors, actresses, athletes, and dancers. Sometimes, we can even be politicians, especially due to our diplomatic nature. We are people-pleasers, which usually makes us popular with others, and if there’s drama afoot, we love playing mediator and exercising our diplomacy skills. We are the kings and queens of compromise. And we are extremely generous.

WOW we're almost perfect  😂

We're not though so let's look at the negatives. We can be:

Indecisive (yes often)

Overthinkers (yes)

Superficial (oh dear I hope not)

Shallow (ditto above)

Self-indulgent (occasionally)

Gossipy (well someone has to be!)

Libras prediction

The presence of major planets like Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn in the fourth house denotes that a major change is in the offing, so get ready to ride the train of success.

This is a good time to follow through on projects. Leaving many unfinished matters in your life only creates clutter that keeps other things from entering the picture. Either dismiss the project entirely or finish it and move on to something else. Don't leave things hanging, including people. Tell others what's going on and you'll be more successful in the long run. 

A Venus-Mars trine (an angle formed on a birth chart) can point to some romantic excitement or a rekindling of feelings. Love (or lust) may be starting to grow. For some Libras this could be a romance that makes your toes curl.

Some news that you've been waiting for could arrive, and it will leave you feeling pretty darned delighted! You need to find a way to share your happiness with the people who make you happiest. If you can plan something around food, try to arrange a small get-together. If not, just bask in the accolades that you so richly deserve. This could be the beginning of a whole new chapter.

~ Be safe and well ~

Polly x

A Good Read

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley

For animal lovers this is a real tearjerker. It’s a story about love, a deep and beautiful love for that special someone you trust and can’t live without. For Ted that special someone is Lily, an ageing dachshund.

Ted is a lonely, middle-aged gay man who loves no one as much as he loves Lily. Lily ‘talks’, they have conversions. After ten wonderful years together Ted notices a lump on Lily’s head, which he calls the octopus (because it resembles said mollusc), an octopus that no dog or person should have. 

Everything Lily has to endure Ted is there to endure it with her. Like the time she has a seizure and urinates on him, Ted just keeps holding her. It's heartbreaking.

The journey to eliminate the octopus becomes surreal and Ted's constant repetition about it and how he "looks it in the eye" and actually talks to it becomes a little tedious. Despite this and the outpouring of tears I did enjoy this endearing story.

〜 Happy Reading 〜
Polly x

Another Nice Walk

Another walk you might like to join me on.

I like this walk but we don't do it very often because it goes round a fishing lake that is open all year round so I don't let the dogs off their leads. I went a couple of times during lockdown, but even without the fishermen there it was difficult to let them off because I couldn't see far enough ahead to get them on their leads if anyone was coming towards us.
I don't think I will do this walk with Buster anymore, he's doing very well, he loves to run off the lead, but this is quite a long walk and I'm not sure he would cope. It's difficult to gauge just how far he can go, he doesn't know that wherever we go we have to do the same distance home!

Back to the lake walk. From my house, down the road

Past the school

the horses

and the duck pond with a bridge across to their cute little houses

through the mighty oak trees

onto the field.

We're heading for that row of trees on the horizon. On hot days there is no shade, on cold winter days the wind whips around the fields, and with no trees or hedges for shelter it's mighty cold.

Arriving at the trees heading for that bridge barely visible behind the grass.

Dear Buster, before his operation.

more bridges into the wood

and we arrive at the fishing lake

There are over 40 pitches. It's a lovely site.

The guy at this tent had everything he needed for a few days stay. A comfy camp bed and sleeping bag, cooker, cool bag and food. All the comforts of home. I wouldn't mind camping in this pretty and quiet area, as long as it stayed warm and sunny!

These parents were making a heck of a racket which I thought was aimed at me

Then I saw the other family a few metres away

Continuing all the way round the lake coming back to where we arrived.

Back through the wood, onto the field and back home.

I hope you have enjoyed the walk.

~ Be safe and well ~ 

Polly x