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

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 23RD OF 2026

 Morning all I hope you've all had a wonderful week, time to clock the positive moments and silver linings over the last seven days. 

Well last Friday we had had a lovely chilled day and neither of us fancied cooking so we ordered in which was incredibly naughty but very very tasty and because there was so much we had it for two evening meals so more cost effective.

At the weekend we decided to pop to Wentworth Woodhouse for a venture, we have our membership cards and so we put them through their paces.   We wandered the house but there wasn't anything new to see but we did enjoy wandering around the gardens. 

These irises were stunning the colours absolutely beautiful, this one was my favourite colourway

we also saw delphiniums

and plenty of rhododendrons flowering

a new woven sculpture in the 'forest of bewilderment' 

quick selfie in front of this pink beauty

and we enjoyed the flowers in the mulberry garden which has been replanted

the sight was beautiful and the smells from the roses absolutely superb. 

I think this was my favourite rhododendron

We then headed in to the cafe and shared two slices of cake, a lemon and blueberry cake and this one was a Bakewell cake and it was absolutely beautiful.  

On Sunday we headed to YSP for a wander, the weather was kind so we made the most of it. 

We saw some goslings on our travels, they were very cute

it was fairly breezy over the water 

one of the sculptures partially submerged

selfie in the woods

enjoying the woodland walk

we stopped for a coffee and cake

and found a new sculpture, which we think belongs to the new exhibition due to open mid-June. 

Monday and Tuesday I worked from home and had very busy days.  I finished my latest crocheted item on Monday night in time to present it to my lovely daughter-in-law who has a love of bright colours, she was over the moon with it and I was very happy with my second garment.   She visited on Tuesday night with our son and grandson as they came for tea, it was lovely to have a natter and catch up. 

On Wednesday we went to see 'Dirty Dusting' by a local am-dram group.  It was very funny and the three main characters (there were only four) had an awful lot of lines to learn but they did splendidly and didn't miss a beat, it made for a fun end of working week it has to be said. 

And that my lovely people are the positive moments and silver linings from the last 7 days, I hope yours have been good too. 

Hugs