ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 15TH OF 2024

         Tis Tuesday and I'm exceptionally late for my Rocking post, but determined to do it nonetheless.

Well it was an exceptionally busy week last week, I was technically finishing my job of 10 years on Thursday, but having had the passing of my Mum recently and taking some bereavement leave, I was behind on closing the year end down, something that I genuinely wanted to do before leaving.

 

Therefore I set to working around the clock, occasionally stopping for tea, the process is something I normally start in January and drip feed documents into the file as I go, alas that wasn't to be this year, so I quite literally started the process last Monday, my first day back in work after my Mum had passed. 

I worked solidly all week and by the time I finished on Monday morning this week at around 10am, I had completed 77 hours of work and the file was done.  I'd tidied up emails, said fond farewells by email to people I will genuinely miss and then dropped my files off, lots of post it notes, handed keys to one of the workers and left before most people had arrived.  Not a fanfare on leaving, I simply sauntered away, glad to close a chapter of my work life if truth be told and move on to pastures new.  

I now have a little time to decompress and in all honestly, start to grieve properly, something I thought I'd started to do, but don't think I actually have. 

So why have I included this on my rocking post leaving a job I obviously no longer love but feel saddened to leave you may ask, because it represents freedom and change and moving forward rather than being stuck.  

On Wednesday last week my best friend from school popped to see me, I say popped she was visiting family in the neighbourhood which is a good job as she lives over 400 miles away.  It was good for the soul to meet up and chat and talk about what had happened, talk about loved ones that have left us, talk about how sad it leaves us and that the hole of grief in our lives never changes, but our life around that grief does, this is when I started to realise I'm only just starting to process things properly and I genuinely adored the meet up despite the half box of tissues I used crying during the evening, the talk was most definitely good for my soul. 

I also had a board member at work check in on me and hubby last week which was a blessing and a volunteer who gave his condolences and a hug when I needed it most, I feel very blessed to have such lovely people in my life. 

And that my lovely people is it for that week a line drawn as it were, but one that I feel was most definitely needed. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 14TH OF 2024

 Morning all tis Friday time for

As I continue to process my Mum passing away, it has been fairly essential to get out and about to stop me four walling life at the moment.  

We had an evening out to Cast in Doncaster to watch Frankenstein interpreted by Imitating the Dog, it was unusual that has to be said and we all enjoyed it, we even dragged my sister with us to get her out of her four walls. 

We had a jaunt out to see the Snooks in York last weekend, designed to raise money for a York Hospice we had great fun wandering the city in search of them.  There were 21 in total 19 within walking distance of the city centre and obviously that meant we found all 19. 

This one celebrating the Yorkshire pudding wrap was all gilded

One of our favourites the one documenting the book Dracula

We even grabbed a selfie with him

Daffodils by the city walls

I thought this one was strange, painting a woman on the Snook itself, not sure I was that keen

and this was one of my favourites, I loved the colour and the glasses!

This was the first one we found next to Clifford's Tower and will definitely be appearing on a scrapbook due to the colour co-ordination. 

Our weather has been decidedly changeable and so we've had to make the most of dry days. 

Sunday was relatively dry so we headed to YSP, there was some new artwork in the upper space in the main visitors centre, we've seen this artist before. 

These were seriously tiny, all the artwork made from a single block of wood. 

The Chapel also has a new exhibition from an artist who was in residence last year who upcycled lots of items and was a nod back to her own heritage, the artwork was amazing. 

We enjoyed the walk, although the circular route down past the boat house is still currently closed. 

The rest of the week has tripped along, we've been and sorted some of my Mum's items out for my step-Dad to try and make the house a bit easier to manage.  My Mum was a crafter like me so we expect this to take some time if truth be told, but we've made headway. 

As for the youngsters they've been enjoying a break away, including my niece and her other half who have announced their engagement whilst away, which has genuinely raised a smile.

Before my Mum passed away my niece's fiance asked her permission to marry her grand daughter and said 23 year old captured this on video, now they are engaged I've watched the video back and to say it raised a tear is an understatement, but is definitely something to cherish.  

I've also retrieved my Mum's Christmas journal from the Christmas just gone, she'd made little headway into it, but had made a few notes and between the notes, Facebook, Whatsapp and Messenger I've managed to pull together things relevant to Christmas and complete the book as best I can, whilst it makes me sad currently I know it is something I will wholly cherish moving forward and for that I am truly grateful. 

And that my lovely people is it for this week, hope yours has been grand. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 13TH OF 2024

 Morning all tis Friday and Good Friday at that time for 

Well it has been the hardest of weeks as Tuesday was my Mum's funeral, but I'm determined to still find the silver linings in amongst the week. 

The first has to be meeting the Celebrant that conducted my Mum's service, he was genuinely lovely, spent time listening to our stories and took what I'd written and used it as the main element of the service on Tuesday.  I'm proud of my brother, son, sister and niece's partner for carrying my Mum into the crematorium, I'm pleased that the service was ultimately the most personal of occasions and I think relayed some of the stories of my Mum.

I'm pleased that myself and my sister managed to deliver our part of the service even if to a degree I had to be on an auto-pilot mode to ensure I could deliver the speech, but so many people afterwards said that it really made the service and I think that my Mum would have approved, it felt like the last thing I could do for her writing the speeches for her service and co-delivering one of them. 

Afterwards we all congregated and caught up, well a lot of us did.  It was nice to reminisce see people even if it was an immensely sad occasion and enjoy time together and to celebrate my Mum's amazing life. 

I've continued to receive sympathy cards throughout the week, which have meant a lot, two of my Aunties gave me cards indicating they'd had masses said for my Mum which was lovely and my best friend from school sent me a letter to say she was having 10 trees planted in my Mum's memory in Scotland as part of their rewilding scheme, it is something my Mum would genuinely love and it really did bring a real tear to my eye, she said she knew that my Mum always loved Scotland and she thought it was apt. 

I'm also grateful for the little nudges this week which seem to be reminding me that my Mum is still about.  The first is the pairs of magpies I have seen, since my Dad passed away when I was 16 I've always felt he was close when I saw a solitary magpie, so I've decided when I see a pair now it is my Mum and Dad.  

Also the day after my Mum's funeral, we got in the car and the radio came on with Cat Stevens singing Morning has Broken, which was the track we had played in the middle of my Mum's service, I have genuinely never heard the Cat Stevens version until Monday night this week, so for it to be playing the day after my Mum's funeral seemed like a nod to let me know she is OK, I know it sounds mad but once people have gone finding little things to hold on to really does help. 

Also Wednesday evening, I'd booked tickets for hubby at Christmas to see Robert Plant and his band Saving Grace,  hubby has always been a fan of Led Zeppelin and I had a feeling he wouldn't book tickets himself so it seemed sensible for me to buy them for us to go and see him.  Whilst it was only the day after Mum's funeral, it still seemed the right thing to do and we were treated to an intimate evening listening to some beautiful music, much of which spoke of people passing away and he played a song called Angel Dance, again seemed to give me a nod to what I've been going through this week. 

Thursday morning and me and hubby were back at the hospital for his pre-assessment for his upcoming operation, I'm grateful that they appear to be dealing with this relatively quickly, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers over this next few weeks.

I came home and managed to finish some crafting I'd started, it feels good to be creative again, if that makes sense. 

 

I hope you've had a good week and enjoy the bank holiday weekend. 

Much love

xxx

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 12TH OF 2024

 Afternoon all I'm a wee bit late, just forgive my tardiness, time for 

Well it has been something of a difficult week following the loss of my Mum last week as I'm sure you will appreciate but in amongst all of that there are still positive moments and silver linings if I'm honest. 

There is the number of messages and phone calls and texts that I've received offering words of sympathy and condolence which have meant the world, the hugs I've received when I've met with people and the memories I am relying on to keep me remember the good times. 

There is a plethora of cards that have slowly descended onto my door mat this week. 

The stunning flowers I received from a friend, genuinely they made me cry and they smell utterly beautiful and I absolutely know that my Mum would love them.  They are in the window just out of full sun and I keep getting a bee outside getting rather cross that he can't get them, bless him. 

I was brave after the first day and swapped them into a vase and they are doing really well. 

The theatre which really was the last thing I wanted this week but genuinely made me smile, it was a local theatre groups version of 'Allo Allo' and was fun to watch. 

Hubby keeping me on an even keel helping me write the chronology of my Mum's life and the anecdotal tales that we've come up with. 

Family for remembering some of the fun things that my Mum did and raising a smile when we are all feeling a little deflated.  Praise from the celebrant for my writing, maybe I will push myself and try writing some stories moving forward. 

Getting things sorted for my step-Dad and a few others stepping up to help including my sister and hubby to get bills and accounts sorted out. 

And that my lovely people is going to be my lot this week, I hope your week has been good. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 11TH OF 2024

 Good Afternoon 

The hardest of weeks and I'm dedicating this one entirely to this amazing lady.  

My Mum passed away at 4.08am on Wednesday 13 March 2024, my sister held her hand as she took her last breath and we are absolutely devastated.  

She was always the light and soul of the party, that infectious smile and those sparkly eyes never changed.  

She loved us all so fiercely and we never wanted to let her go, but it was her time. 

She leaves the biggest hole you can imagine, but big personalities and beautiful people do that and whilst we are broken I take solace in the fact she was my amazing Mum.  She always gave great advice, was bubbly and happy, loved seeing family and friends and I was blessed to have her for the 51 years I've been on this earth. 

I will remember her always sat at her kitchen table when we visited

her love of shopping, (emptying Ikea)

enjoying fine dining and the theatre

always so beautiful

her love for family and her grandchildren

and children

Her love knew no bounds and I will miss her for the rest of my life, I have already needed to ring her so many times for advice since Wednesday, we aren't sure how we are going to manage moving forward, but we will and we will do it for her. 

Until we meet again Mum, fly high with the angels. 

xxxx

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 10TH OF 2024

 Afternoon all tis Friday time for

Well it has been another tough week if I'm honest, but let me see what positive moments I can find from the same. 

Last weekend, we had another great walk around Yorkshire Sculpture Park blowing off the cobwebs, unfortunately it was just as muddy as I'd imagined after the rain we had had and there was a point where I did wonder how we were going to get along the path and I didn't fancy turning back, knowing how much mud we had already walked through, but in amongst all the slipping and sliding we did manage it. 

I loved this ivy covered urn from back when Bretton Hall was in its element

The water was rushing down this week, they'd opened the sluice gates last week so it was being diverted, the noise was wonderful

beautiful cloudy reflections on the water

and visions of another art display coming soon. 

Monday was a busy work day, but things took a bit of a turn on Monday for my Mum, so after a difficult family chat on Monday it was all hands on deck on Tuesday, the Macmillan nurses have managed to sort a syringe driver and this was to try and reduce the nausea, they also managed to get her booked into the hospital to have the excess fluid drained from her middle and a hospital bed for home scheduled. 

In amongst this we cleaned and sorted a few cupboards and drawers getting things sorted to ready for the hospital bed. 

Unfortunately the drain in the hospital hasn't been quite as positive as we'd hoped and today is the third day of her being in the hospital which isn't great for any of us, but particularly her, but until they get top side of things she really is in the best place.  Please keep her in your thoughts this week. 

As for me, I had a good online meeting the other day, unlike most people who got used to Zoom and Teams in the pandemic I worked through the whole thing and so never got used to the online platforms, so I was a little apprehensive, but thankfully all went according to plan and without a hitch which is great. 

And I think lovely people that will have to do me for today, I hope you've had a great week. 

Hugs 

PS I'm behind on blog reading, forgive me I will catch up. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 9TH OF 2024

 Morning all hope you are good tis Friday time for 

So we had a lovely catch up with said 23 year old on Friday last week, putting the world to rights definitely good for the soul.  

On Saturday we travelled over to my Mum's for a family catch up, my niece came down from Leeds and we had a few hours at my Mums which was lovely. 

Sunday and we decided to blow the cobwebs off, we headed up to Yorkshire Sculpture Park for a wander, the sky was blue

the walk was long (and a little bit muddy in places)

We enjoyed the chat and the catch up

and despite the trails and tribulations of life we genuinely just enjoyed the day together. 

The reflections were great. 

Working week has tripped along at speed.

Tuesday night we went to see Bill Bailey at the arena, it was a great gig and genuinely made us smile

selfie together

Wednesday night we went to see Ross Noble, he genuinely makes us laugh until our faces ache, which is always good.  We really enjoyed the gig and took said 23 year old and his mrs. 

Other positives in the day, hugs from hubby, family chat, my sister being super awesome and getting things sorted for my Mum, genuinely she is an absolute star and took her shopping this week and sent us this happy photo. 

I also had a fab chat with my Mum on Thursday evening.

I hope you've had a good week.