Cakes, Cars, And Cliveden

So how was your New Year? Last time I wrote to you I was knee deep in grated carrot while making a cake for my friend Jo’s birthday on the 1st of January.  Luckily this time I remembered to put in the sunflower oil… Previously I’ve had to add it to the mixture already in the cake tin!  I think it’s called being distracted, or maybe just getting older ☺️  That said,  I do hope you and yours were glad to wave goodbye to 2024 and have found the first fortnight of 2025 to be welcoming?

Colin and I took the decorated carrot cake saw the New Year in with Jo, Simon, Jonathan and Sara, plus a couple of rather strange appendages that were part of a game you’d only want to play when you’ve had several glasses of wine!  But it was a laugh ☺️

We were back again the following day to celebrate Jo’s birthday without a resolution in sight!  I don’t bother making resolutions as not only my bad at sticking to them, but I can’t always remember what they are! I put it down to having too many things to think about at one time, but that’s just a busy life and one I’m very grateful for.  Did you make any firm plans for this year? We are in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment as Sam and Elise have been told that the baby is rather large so Elise will probably need to have a Caesarean sooner than her due date. So… we could be welcoming baby Townsend into the family at the beginning of February instead of the 21st of that month! As you can see from this photograph, Elise is absolutely blooming and looked beautiful at her baby shower last weekend. 

It was great to get together with so many of her friends and to also have time with her mum and dad too – everyone is so excited! I have to admit to being in a bit of a panic as I am desperately trying to finish the blanket I started knitting for them at the end of October! To describe my knitting style as basic would be an understatement! Might be more accurate to use my nanny’s word cack-handed!  But, that said with a great deal of patience and a lot of counting I’m quite pleased with the way it’s looking and the wool I chose works perfectly with the colour scheme in their new nursery.  I can’t wait to wrap my new grandbaby up in it ☺️

What a joy when the clouds finally lifted last week, and although the temperatures plummeted, the air was clear.  I took this photograph just as the sun went down alongside Dorney Lake…  magnificent.  Two days later it was even more beautiful when the sky was blue and the hoar frost twinkled in the sunlight. Kathy Tayler and I went for a walk along the river to Cliveden House where I took the photograph at the top of the blog. It was bitterly cold but so nice to get some fresh air and catch up with her. We promised each other we’d try and visit more National Trust places this year and make the best of the British countryside as there are so many beautiful places to see.  Talking of which, have you seen any of the new BBC wildlife series presented by lovely Joanne Page who starred as Stacey in the TV hit Gavin and Stacey? It’s absolutely enchanting, and I have recorded it all so that I can watch some of it with my granddaughter Honey when she visits at half term.

We’ve also been enjoying a brand-new detective series called Patience.  It highlights autism in a very original and engaging way with an autistic actor –Ella Maisy Purvis – who stars as a police archivist.   As we have experience of autism in our own family, it’s definitely rung a few bells, but also helped to normalise it, which I think is a good thing. Something else I’m enjoying is a drama starring James Norton on ITV – Playing Nice. It’s taken me years to be able to watch anything with him in it as he scared me to death when he starred as Tommy in the number one thriller Happy Valley.  He actually has a rather lovely face and is a loving husband and father in this adaptation, which is beautifully written and very well acted but best of all, difficult to predict!

Talking of predictions, I have begun listening to the new Liane Moriarty novel Here One Moment, which expertly explores the power of predictions. I was hooked on the TV adaptation of her novel Big Little Lies and this new book is equally engaging. It’s very much all about the ‘what ifs’ in life, suggesting that if someone predicts something is going to happen to you, do you alter the pattern of your behaviour moving forward to avoid it happening? And could that in itself make the prediction happen?! It’s a bit ‘Sliding Doors’ I guess, but it certainly has made me think.   Have you read any of  Liane’s books, or is there another author you might recommend to me? I’m into my sixth year with Audible and am literally loving every minute of it. Also keeping my fingers crossed I hear this year from either Penguin Books or Orion with the offer of a voice over job to read a novel for them! They approved my voice reel last year, and this would be brilliant!

My son Jack was unfortunately involved in a shunt on an icy road last week and his very elderly car was written off so Colin and I travelled up to Bromsgrove to help him find a replacement.  After a lot of driving, and a fair few time-wasters, we struck  lucky with a Mazda 3 which had been very well looked after and had only two owners. It would’ve been impossible for him to go and have a look at anything if we’d not been able to drive him, so once again I was so grateful to have free time and not to be working.  Jack will be 32 on the 2nd of February and we’re planning to go back up to him so we can take him out for the evening for a meal and some live music from a local band we all like.

I think that’s probably all my news for now, but thank you for your lovely comments at the end of the last blog and for all your New Year wishes. You know that I wish exactly the same for you – good health, happiness and success. I hope you get time to drop me a line either here, on Facebook or Instagram and I’ll get back to you.

Take care and stay warm!

With my love,

Ali xxx