ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 6TH OF 2024

 Morning all tis Friday time for

Last Friday we headed up to the hospital for the ultrasound scan for hubby, he was also due to have a biopsy but they initially decided against that but have since changed their minds, so please keep him in your thoughts for a positive outcome so we are returning today for that. 

We had a quiet day around the house on Saturday, we decided to head to York on Sunday as my sister who was on annual leave could come too.  The annual ice trail was on around the city, this year 33 ice sculptures to find, unfortunately the weather was against us but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

This is a selection of the ice sculptures we got to see, from Willy Wonka

and his golden ticket

to the hat of dreams outside The Grand hotel

A crown throne opposite the train station

and dragon and trailer at the Judges' lodgings

I always love the one outside the jeweller, there was a robin on holly leaves inside the egg

The weather got worse late morning, so we took refuge in a café and enjoyed hot drinks and drying out for a while.

We continued on but by the time we got to Spark things were genuinely starting to melt considerably 

and by the time we reached the Yeti, we decided it was time to take stock and start to head back, we managed 30 of the 33 and were all well over 15,000 steps for the day so a win win in my book. 

We enjoyed facetime family chat on Monday catching up with everyone, my Mum had had her first visit from the nurse so she was feeling a bit more comfortable. 

Hubby and I have been doing lots of talking, chatting and engaging with each other which has been positive, we've started to do a daily walk which is good. 

Thursday the day turned decidedly wintry unfortunately, we headed out for a walk

The village was very pretty although the roads were quite difficult to pass by the time we headed home. 

We grabbed a snowy selfie

The fields were covered

We got back and spent some time in the craft room, hubby enjoying silversmithing and I was doing some scrapbooking. 

I hope you've had a good week, please keep fingers and toes crossed we can get to the hospital appointment tomorrow. 

Have a great weekend and week ahead. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 5TH OF 2024

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

Last Friday we had a lovely morning with our son, he came over to have a natter and catch up and was here when we were having lunch so we shared a meal together, I can't actually remember the last time we did this but he was mighty grateful for the bowl of turkey soup that his Dad made - genuinely nothing finer! 

These spring beauties that my sister bought me such a welcome reminder that the darker days of winter are growing lighter and that spring is on the horizon. 

We ventured up to Yorkshire Sculpture Park last Sunday we enjoyed a sausage sandwich which was very naughty but very delicious and then we had a really excellent walk together, blowing off the cobwebs, chatting, talking and just enjoying time together - nothing finer. 

Skyspace was a little mundane due to the cloud cover but still fun nonetheless

We witnessed some of the trees that have succumbed to the recent storms and sad given how long they will have been in the park. 

Photo of hubby enjoying the lakeside view, they are doing a degree of grounds maintenance taking out some of the invasive rhododendron plants to allow the trees room to move. 

Snowdrops - yayyyyyy - I love snowdrops so these made me happy

and hubby got down and got this photo for me. 

Selfie of the two of us in front of the snowdrops

A new sculpture we hadn't seen before - not my favourite but a great pop of colour

Spring blossom which smelt divine, I think possibly a viburnum but I'm not sure

You can see the blossom in front of the sculpture

The rest of the week has tripped along, we had a lengthy meeting on Wednesday which focuses on future plans and needed some fairly in depth thought process on our part but things are still not finalised but we are getting there. 

Thursday and we took my Mum back to the hospital, things haven't improved since she left hospital, so an x-ray and an ultra sound showed fluid on her lungs again, it was agreed that a drain be fitted again and they took off 350ml of fluid straight away, we then went for a drink and then collected her prescription.  She'll now have a district nurse visit 3 times a week to deal with the drain.  Please keep her in your thoughts, her quality of life at the moment isn't brilliant, we just want some more time with her and that she is well enough to enjoy that time together, but she's still smiling as always. 

We are actually back at the hospital this morning for hubby, he's having a biopsy so if you can keep him in your thoughts and prayers as well that would be lovely. 

Hope you've had a fabulous week.

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 4TH OF 2024

 Good evening lovely people I'm late - so sorry time for

Well last Friday we ventured back to Wentworth Woodhouse for a wander using our new membership, we had a different route around the garden and found a few different sculptures. 

We had a lovely view again over the valley

found these sculptures in the tree

hubby waiting for me taking photos - as you can see it was somewhat cold. 

We really did enjoy the walk

I had to smile when we saw some of the Christmas decorations still in the tree

The weekend flew by we had everyone over for bacon and sausage butties on Saturday, we whiled away a few hours catching up which was great, even my Mum managed to come and we managed to feed her a bacon butty. 

The beginning of the week was spent catching up on house jobs, I even managed a full clean of all the kitchen cupboards including the plinths, cornices and architrave followed by a full clean of the floor, so the kitchen feels so much better. 

Wednesday morning we were at the hospital, hubby has found a lump in his neck which he knows has been there some time and a previous doctor had said it was nothing, but he noticed it more over Christmas, we went to the Doctors again and they referred him and we went for the first appointment on Wednesday, the Doctor was thorough and used a camera to examine his throat, I could see how worried he was but being with him, it meant that I could keep him calm and everything was fine.  They are now going to do an ultra-sound biopsy to make sure it is nothing untoward which is later next week so keep him in your thoughts if you would. 

Wednesday evening and we were out to the theatre my Mum should have been with us but she is still really poorly, so we went on our own, we had pre-theatre dining. 

I had salmon gravlax and beetroot and fennel salad starter 

And crusted cod with chickpea and chorizo stew and butternut squash puree, it was lovely

Pudding was mango bavarois 

then we went to watch Witness for the Prosecution an Agatha Christie whodunnit which was really good. 

Thursday and we had lots of medical appointments, hubby had a blood test, I had a doctor's appointment and then hubby took my Mum (as it clashed with my appointment) to her appointment.  

Thankfully hubby is fairly formidable when he needs to be and managed to get her some antibiotics for the chesty cough she has had since her time in the hospital, which is very obviously infected so we are hoping she will now start to turn the corner.  They also gave us some hope that there are other treatments they can try for her cancer that may provide some degree of quality of life and longevity but we need to get her built back up before they consider that. 

Overall this week I've been grateful for my beautiful family, I feel very blessed to have such wonderful people in my life who support us and in turn we support them, it is a true blessing. 

I hope you've had a great week. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 3RD OF 2024

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for

I hope the week has been kind to you in your corner of the world, we are still working through big changes but in amongst that we have been making the most of trying to do things to benefit our mental health and wellbeing and communicating.  It's weird when you can live in the same house as another person and see them every single day and yet not truly connect, not talk on a deeper level about plans, aspirations, worries, future and everything else mixed into it.  Me and hubby have genuinely spoken directly to one another on a level we haven't really connected with for some time and it has been somewhat humbling, it has also been a reminder of how when things need change the only change you can enforce is the change in who you are, how you react and be true to yourself, in turn this has made our relationship even stronger. 

At the weekend we decided to venture to Yorkshire Sculpture Park for the first time in what feels like forever, it was bitterly cold but we really enjoyed the walk and the new artwork. 

The sound organ in the chapel is triggered by voices weather they be talking or singing and depending on the note change colours. 

We then walked to the Weston gallery for a new exhibition which I genuinely loved, so many amazing textile pieces. 

Apparently inspired by things Wakefield cathedral, but I struggled to reconcile that statement with this piece if truth be told.  It was huge, made from polystyrene, felt and an awful lot of blanket stitch. 

My favourite piece, probably because of the name 'they tried to bury me, they didn't realise I was a seed'

Later in the week we decided on another bitterly cold day that we needed to venture out and get some blue skies and some fresh air, so we headed to Wentworth Woodhouse and did just that. 

The Camelia house is now finished and is due to open as a tea room later this year. 

The blue skies and sunshine were wonderful. 

We had a wander around the house which we enjoyed as well. 

We've had a few days of visiting my Mum in hospital, things aren't great at the moment, but on Sunday I asked her when she wanted to get out of hospital for, she genuinely just rolled her eyes at me and I said, not think about it and plan.  So she said she wanted to be sat at her kitchen table by Thursday and on Wednesday night they let her leave.  My sister is apprehensive, the nurse in her tells her they could have done more etc, but Mum just being at home in her own bed doing her own thing has made such a difference.  All we need now is for the fluid she is carrying around her body linked with the lung drain to basically stop and let her get some degree of normality back, so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. 

Have a wonderful weekend and week ahead, biggest hugs. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 2ND OF 2024

 Morning All

I know this is almost a week late, but I'm determined that I continue the therapy that is 'Rocking my World' 

We are going through the mill at the moment, so writing about the positive things can prove difficult if I'm brutally honest but that was the whole point of these posts, to put pen to paper even when life seems to be giving you lemons. 

I know you already know my Mum is very poorly, unfortunately things really haven't improved much, but I am grateful that I can still chat to her, I am grateful I can visit her as well and I'm hoping and praying that things start to improve and that we get her home soon.  Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. 

Do you ever have that gut feeling you need to make changes, sometimes not even little changes but huge life changing changes and that when you resist or don't walk the path then the world aligns in that way anyway, that is what I'm currently facing and I'm genuinely having a rethink about my whole life currently, every portion of it in every single way, however the rock steady side of things are my family, my son and his beautiful wife and their puppy, my sister, my niece and her other half, they are always there for me even when times feel really tough and we are going through one of those phases currently. 

So my main positive is my family, for being there for us when we need them and for the world showing me that the blue skies are still there and the sun is still shining even when things are changing. 

I hope the beginning of 2024 is proving less testing for you, much love. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 1ST OF 2024

 Evening all I'm late but it is time for

So we've still been enjoying some time off work, I've been enjoying some downtime reading books that I've been bought for Christmas and I've also enjoyed making next year's Christmas cards.

The weather has been pretty appalling for the duration of Christmas but on New Year's eve we decided to venture to Chatsworth for a last visit before they close for their seasonal deep clean. 

Me and the hubster

I thought I'd share the Magi oil painting that was in the oak room this is normally in a bedroom and unseen but given the coming festival of the epiphany it makes sense to share it now. 

I've really enjoyed doing my Christmas cards for this year up to now, usually I do one design and then making just over a hundred of them, but decided on doing lots of different designs which has proved lots of fun, these are the ones I've done up to now. 

New Year's eve was a fairly quiet affair, said 23 year old and his missus popped over in the early evening for a catch up which was lovely, then we had some food, watched a bit of TV and before we knew it the clock was chiming midnight and hubby saw the new year in, letting the old one out through one door and 2024 in through the main door with the following, coal for fuel for the house, bread for food in our stomachs, a coin to keep money flowing, salt for prosperity and alcohol for good cheer. 

We were up late and did family face time with close family until almost 1pm and then fell into bed.  

We then had family chat on the 1 January 2024 in the evening, we hadn't ventured out as traditionally we don't go out on the 1st January, however we were all concerned with a virus my Mum seemed to have picked up. 

2nd January 2024 and she got blue-lighted into hospital with respiratory problems, not the start to the New Year we were hoping for obviously, her right lung had only 20% use which was causing her grief and in turn that was putting a strain on her heart.  It has been a very tumultuous week and I can't say that we are out of the woods yet, but I'm hoping that things start to improve for her, they've drained the lung, but she's still in a lot of pain and still very poorly, so why on my Rocking post when I'm giving thanks for positives in the week and the answer to that is my sister, she is a surgical nurse and genuinely without her knowledge and expertise and pushing for things I don't think that we would be where we are.  If you can send some prayers or positive vibes out to my Mum I would genuinely be eternally grateful. 

Yesterday, despite everything else hubby dragged me along to see White Christmas musical at the Crucible in Sheffield in the evening, I really was reluctant to go but to be honest it did us the world of good to just switch off from everything else and do something positive for a couple of hours. 

The magical Christmas tree at the end was fab. 

I hope the start of 2024 for you has been good, 

Hugs