ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 34TH OF 2026

 Good evening lovely people tis Friday time for

Well last Friday I was working which is most unusual but I'd swapped my week around due to my niece's wedding.  I was working from home and managed to finish a little earlier which was great.  

I had the weekend planned as hubby was boat training, my plan was to craft with Bridgerton playing in the background which is exactly what I did.  I have a friend and I make mini books for her two girls' birthdays each year and so I put together a new mini book. 

This was the one I completed on Saturday 

It was a different design than I'm used to so it was fun to create something different. 

and this was the one I did on Sunday

I was using an eclectic mix of papers as I'm in 'using up' mode.  Hopefully the girls enjoy filling them with birthday memories. 

I've been busy at work this week, swapping my days back to normal, so it was nice to go and harvest some of the items I've grown this year on Wednesday night. This is my first heritage striped tomato, some orange cherry tomatoes and cucamelons (which are very strange and fun to grow but definitely an acquired taste). 

and this raised a smile my first successful strawberry plant with a flower. 

and I'm going to leave you with these smiley photographs of my grandson

can you believe he is going to be one next month. 

And that my lovely people is my week, a quiet one but fun nonetheless. 

I hope yours has been grand.  

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 33RD OF 2026

 Good Evening all time to clock the silver linings and positive moments from the last 7 days. 

Well what a week it has been, last Thursday I spent the day with my niece and my daughter-in-law and Grandson as we spent the day making floral displays from artificial flowers for my niece's wedding which was imminent.  We were worried that we wouldn't get done everything that we wanted but to be honest the day went like a dream, my niece's vision was in line with what I had thought she wanted and we carefully worked our way through and managed to make the floral displays easily.  I didn't take any photos on the day (we were busy) but my hubby captured them in situ on the day of her wedding. 

So she wanted a display next to the mirror they had which had words on it. 

She wanted a display on the top table

And four plinths at the end of the aisle this was taken the night before so it is quite dark

this was on the morning of the wedding but you can see the bar as they were setting up at the time, obviously the doors were closed for the ceremony

Then we had a quiet Saturday pending our journey over for a two day stay over where they were getting married. 

We spent Sunday afternoon (the day before the wedding) setting up the flowers, ribbons and displays in readiness for the wedding. 

All the tables were set, table runners, flowers, candles, placemats, name cards ribbon bunting at the far end. 

Top table 

In the evening I asked her what she wanted to do with regards to the bouquets for herself and her bridesmaids as she'd taken fresh flowers and she was quite happy for me to make the bouquets up for the bridesmaids. 

So I started one and she was happy and so two more were added to the mix. 

I decided to leave the bridal bouquet until the morning of the wedding as I genuinely wasn't sure how the flowers would fair in the heat and didn't want rework.  So whilst everyone else was having their hair and make up done. 

I set too making the bridal bouquet, putting ribbons on all the bouquets and creating eight buttonholes for the groomsmen.  By then end the bouquets and button holes looked great, everyone had fabulous hair and make up and I looked like Cinderella sat on the floor not a morsel of make up and my hair scooped up in a clip. 

Thankfully an hour spent curling my hair and putting on some make up and we were all good and then the momentous occasion was upon us.  These are two of the photos that the bride and groom have shared on social media by a photographer called Jodie, who genuinely was an absolute star.  On Friday my niece got an email indicating that her original photographer was cancelling and so there was a mad rush on social media to try and find a photographer in budget that could help, the photographer on the day who travelled all the way from south Wales to Goole genuinely pulled off the most amazing day photos wise.  Her business is Click Photography and she genuinely travels all around the country for days like this, so if you need an excellent photographer then this business is highly recommended. 

Photos of me and my sister

Me, son and daughter-in-law (who was one of the bridesmaids)

Me, son, daughter-in-law and hubby

Son and daughter-in-law

Me and the stunning bride

In the ceremony room a chair had been saved for where my Mum would have sat, to say it brought a tear is an understatement, with one of her cardigans hung on the back of the chair. 

Rings shot

And the crochet bags that my niece asked me to create for the bridesmaids, not sure if I've shared them before but they were used.  Hindsight - I would have lined them, but hey they were made which was the main thing. 

And then it was done only the packing away to do on Tuesday and then back to normality and wedded life for them.  Wednesday become the start of my working week (rather than the end) and so that is the reason for my tardiness today.  

My heart is full and I feel eternally grateful that I was able to help in whatever way helped the day go so well. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 32ND OF 2026

 Morning all, I'm sure these weeks are speeding up, let's pretend it's 24 hours ago time to clock the silver linings and positive moments for 

So last weekend we had quite a relaxed weekend, I couldn't believe we were in the eighth month of the year already but August has arrived and the weather has remained with very little in the way of rain up to now. 

On Saturday we decided to revamp the door wreath again, I've now got a good collection of artificial flowers, so as well as the new sunflower additions I managed to locate the purple roses amongst my own stash and this was the finished product. 

I also added some ribbons to the bottom

and it is a lovely sight to come home to, very much a joint effort as the wires are taxing on my hands, but hubby was there to assist and we had it done in super quick time. 

I've also been reading some very different reads that I've found on my travels or picked up second hand.

This was one that hubby read that he found interesting, so I had a read, it proved an enlightening read, I've enjoyed clocking the seasons this year and really noticing the differences in our world outside so that definitely resonated but other elements, not so much, but hubby expected that. 

This was one I picked up in a National Trust second hand bookshop a few years ago, it is a children's book and I have to say I purely bought it for the way it looked, however, thought I'd give it a whirl as a lighter read and it really is a splendid story, so very detailed, I can imagine the author mapping the story for the set of 7 books that she has written for the series and yes having read book 1 I went off in search of the remaining 6, which weren't quite as cheap as the original. 

Then this absolute gem of a book, short stories and another by Gervase Phinn and written with such wonderful humour. 

I've read 62 books this year so far and still counting, I read 77 last year so not sure if I will read more or less than that, but I'm just enjoying reading which I think is the main thing if I'm honest. 

Hubby also had a baking day, he made the 50/50 granary rolls which were light and fluffy as always and a first for him a proper loaf in his new loaf tin which creates bread fit for a toaster (totalling square), which again was a roaring success.  I'm very lucky to have a hubby who enjoys embracing a non-UPF diet in the way he does including baking our own bread. 

and with the warm whether we've been enjoying some beautiful salads, this a watermelon and radish salad with rice noodles was mighty tasty. 

The rest of the week has tripped along, work was busy as always but I'm feeling better prepared for the audit which is good. 

I also enjoyed a wonderful catch up with my sister and niece with hubby at Ikea which was delightful. 

I hope you've had a wonderful week. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 31ST OF 2026

 Evening all I hope I find you well on this Friday evening time to clock the silver linings and positive moments. 

So last Friday hubby was busy doing a boat trip, so I used the time to have a wander around the shops, something I don't do very often it has to be said, I enjoyed a few hours of browsing and met up with him afterwards which was lovely.  

Our son and daughter-in-law let us know they were travelling back from Cornwall on Friday night, rather than wait until the Saturday morning, it was still a problematic journey home but they did land safely so that is definitely something to be joyful for. 

We've had some lovely catch ups with them this week post holiday, lots about their holiday and what they got up to and I managed to get this beautiful photo of son and our grandson together. 

I had a bit of a nightmare with my first crocheted blanket in the fact that I ran out of a wool colour four stitches from the end, honestly it was so frustrating but I genuinely couldn't change the tension on it, so I managed to source another ball of wool and this is the finished item, for my first attempt I am as you can imagine absolutely over the moon, it is definitely not perfect but I had great fun creating it. 

I'm currently on with a crocheted bag (well 3 crocheted bags) requested by my niece who is due to get married and wanted her bridesmaids to have something to carry, I have never crocheted with ribbon and it is proving exceptionally difficult if I'm brutally honest added to which I'm running an extra ribbon within the crochet for stability, I've no idea if the finished item is what my niece wants, fingers crossed she will be happy with the finished items if I get them done on time. 

Finally I've come to the end of my physio appointments for now, the hope is that I won't need to return once normal winter footwear resumes but we will see, thankfully he has been good enough to keep the appointment open for 6 months so I can return if things deteriorate.

After my physio appointment we ventured to YSP to meet my brother, his fiancee and her parents for a wander around the art and a catch up, I haven't seen my brother and his fiancee in a while so we had a lovely catch up and its the first time I got to meet her parents so that was joyful, however I completely forgot to take photos which is somewhat frustrating other than the pieces installed as part of the artist in residency work that we saw in the main centre. 

And that my lovely people is my lot this week, I hope yours has been grand.

Hugs 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 30TH OF 2026

     Evening can you believe we are on the 30th Rocking post of the year already, time to clock the silver linings and positive moments from the last 7 days as it is time for

I know I mentioned my d-in-law making a cake for my niece but there were no photos of the cake, so I've managed to get one albeit taken from the side, it was a lemon cake and was beautiful. 

So last Friday we had a very busy day, the house that backs onto ours had had a tree poorly cut recently, he'd mentioned he wanted to get it resolved and so hubby had offered to sort.  So on Thursday he chopped the tree and on Friday we cut up the piece and got them taken to the tip, leaving some of the trunk that we can season and use on the outdoor fire, the light levels in the house have improved dramatically so I'm glad that is finally sorted, our gardens are simply not big enough to cope with trees if I'm honest, shrubs yes but trees absolutely not, so now when I'm stood at the kitchen I can see the blue skies, so that is definitely a positive.  

Saturday was supposed to be a day where we went in search of some of the lions that are dotted around the area to raise money for Sheffield Children's Hospital.  

We found the final two at the Meadowhall this was the first

and this was the second which was actually a lioness

then we headed to the arena and found these two 

this one was called Puck and was in the ice hockey team colours (hence his boots at the back)

We were hoping to carry on and find a few more near Ice Sheffield and the Institute of Sport but there was a music festival called Bassfest on and we didn't fancy fighting through the crowds. 

On Sunday I went to catch up with school friends.  We worked out that we all met in 1984 so that means we've been friends for 42 years and none of us could work out how that had happened if I'm absolutely honest.  We are spread far and wide throughout the UK, so opportunities to catch up are few and far between, but genuinely when we get together it is like we were on the school bus yesterday, we laughed, had a good catch up, talked all things menopause and put the world to rights it was a wonderful afternoon. 

I've also been on with some crochet.  I bought this pattern an age ago and to be honest I didn't have a clue how to 'read' it, I've persevered with other beginners patterns and all of a sudden the gobble-de-gook that I was reading suddenly became more understandable.  So I set too having a go however the squares are making up larger due to the size of the wool but as it isn't a garment it doesn't really matter. 

I know they could have done with being put on a board to get them square, but the one hubby has bought me is 13 inches square and these are bigger and I was too giddy trying to get them crocheted together, it is a join as you go pattern which is proving interesting. 

This is just to show the size of them, they should have been 12" x 12".  

Now the hassle I've had this week is that I've run out of the outer colour and I'm only 14 squares in (of 20), so a big silver lining was after 4 attempts at getting another ball of this wool is that I've finally managed to get hold of one. 

Monday and I was having to attend a court case in Sheffield as a witness, which I wasn't looking forward to, so why make my rocking post you may ask, firstly I got to find a few more lions. 

this is the one for the Sheffield band 'Bring me the Horizon' 

and the other reason for clocking this is that my evidence was agreed and I was stood down as a witness so no need to go in the witness box which was definitely a win win. 

I had my first harvest of tomatoes, these were a cherry tomato and very flavoursome they were too, I'm very proud of them as they've been grown from seed.  

This beautiful moon on Wednesday night, the photo doesn't do it justice. 

Thursday we had a wood order delivered.  It might seem like a strange time of year for this because we definitely don't need the wood burner at the moment, but there is something therapeutic knowing that we have stores in in readiness. 

So that my lovely people is my silver linings for the week, I hope yours has been similarly awesome too. 

Hugs