Saturday Smiles: Thoughts On the Arrival of Autumn & Roses in the Rain

Hi Honeys
Happy Autumn everyone 😊 Yesterday was the first day of Autumn or Fall.  What happened to this year?  It's just flown past with super speed again.

This is usually the time of year when I start telling all who'll listen that I want to hibernate till next Spring 😊  I'm just not an Autumn/Winter person honeys.

I absolutely thrive on the optimism of Spring, the "I can't wait to see what this year brings" feeling I get as the darkness and cold of Winter begins to leave.  Closely followed, of course, by the longer days of Summer bringing with them the possibility of (hopefully) lots of lovely laundry days 😊

Nothing, for me, compares to the excitement of opening the curtains in the morning to see blue skies, fluffy clouds, knowing I don't have work that day and I can happily spend the day pegging out laundry 😊

Autumn brings the shortening of days and with it the encroaching darkness that will have us in it's grip for months until the blessed release of next Spring.

During the deepest parts of Winter, here in the west coast of Scotland, it is completely dark by 3.30-4 pm and won't begin to get light again until sometimes after 9 am next day.  That is a whole lot of darkness dear ones and just drains the life out of me.

The damp and cold also play havoc with my arthritis too so you can understand why I don't welcome this time of year and instead want to scoot off upstairs with a hot water bottle and our furbaby Jade (she loves to snuggle as much as I do, she's my cuddle buddy) not to be seen again until the weather is fit for a small Rosie to peg laundry out in 😊

So, with almost constant rain this past week and in need of some cheering I headed out into the garden (next to being in the kitchen doing laundry, our little garden in my next favourite place) and found my smile 😊

How can anyone feel even remotely glum honeys when they open their front door and see this...

Is there anything so beautiful as raindrops on a rose?

Every raindrop caught resting on a rose petal is forever preserved and protected in a bubble of time.... or at least in a photograph I can look at to cheer myself up while waiting for Winter to finally end 😊

Have a wonderful weekend honeys, whatever you have planned, have fun, smile lots and hug even more.  Till next time dear ones, huggles always xx

Amazon Pet Supplies Sample Box for Dogs

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any products, just sharing a gift I found for our furbaby x

Hi Honeys
How are you today?  I'm having a rest day today.  Yesterday was far too busy and pretty much drained me.  I'm still battling what's left of the horrible chest infection that's been bothering me for over 6 weeks now and saw our Doctor yesterday morning.  He asked me to go to the hospital to have a chest x ray.

Off to the hospital I went with Hubby (he has holiday time still owing and booked this week off) had x rays done and then we ran some errands too but I was just exhausted by the time we got home so I just hugged Jade for the rest of the evening.

Speaking of our much loved furbaby, we had a paw covered box delivered by Amazon for her and I thought I'd share 😊

While passing time on Amazon, as you do, I spotted a listing for a Pet Supplies Sample Box for dogs.  Always on the look out for treats for Jade I was curious, clicked on it and was quite surprised.

Basically, the sample box is a collection of products chosen for dogs from across the Amazon range.  Some are trial sizes, most are full size products.  The box costs £9.99, but this is credited to your Amazon account to be used towards anything you buy from the pet supplies department.  Since we buy our baby's Vet's Kitchen (dry kibble) from Amazon it's a win win honeys.

The box was very heavy and unfortunately arrived looking a little the worse for wear...

The products inside were entirely fine and undamaged though. Let's have a look shall we?

Autumn Smiles In The Garden

Hi Honeys
How are you today?  I'm feeling a bit better and today I thought I'd have a look around the gardens and see what's happening.  I'm glad I did because it's cheered me up no end and I thought I'd share 😊

Earlier this year our precious roses were again the victims of attacks by aphids, tiny little fly like bugs who are also tiny little bringers of devastation to anyone's roses 😞  Our beloved roses do seem to be making a comeback though but I'm getting ahead of myself 😊

Why not grab a coffee, and maybe a cookie, and we'll have a look shall we?

We're lucky enough to have a good sized (though not huge by any means) back garden, mostly laid to lawn other than having our apple tree, an ever growing blueberry bush and even bigger mulberry bush.

The back garden is also home to two huge planters which are home to lavender and to our much loved peonies which bloom every year and always make me smile 😊

The front garden is quite tiny bit it's home to our roses and it's where I'm always happiest...well... of course the back garden is where my washing lines are and if you've read any of this blog at all you'll probably know how much I adore laundry soooooo.... ok, maybe I'm just happiest whenever I'm in the gardens then 😊   In the front garden there are the roses I love so much and in the back garden I get to (weather permitting) peg out laundry 😊

Let's have a look shall we?

Rosie's Luscious Lemon Chicken...

Hi Honeys
How are you?  I hope your week is going well so far.  There is a change in the air dear ones, autumn has arrived, leaves are starting to change colour and fall from the trees and there has been a remarkable number of references to Christmas during the past weekend at work!

Apparently, or so I was told, we have thirteen more Mondays till Christmas.  How did that even happen?  Now this is the part of the year that I start telling everyone who'll listen that I want to hibernate.  I'm so, so so not a winter kinda gal.

The cold and damp conditions make my arthritis flare and the almost constant darkness (we have less than six hours daylight in winter...yikes) seems to suck all of the joy out of my whole being.  It would be so much easier if I could just trot off upstairs around the end of September every year with a hot water bottle and our furbaby Jade, snuggle under the duvet and snooze happily until around early/mid March.

Then Hubby could wake me with a cup of tea saying "it's a sunny day, I've set up nice new washing lines on the poles outside and your first load of laundry is on the go."  Bliss!! Heaven for me is a sunny day and a huge pile of laundry to wash and peg outside.  Not much fun for the arthritic old bones but it's sheer joy for my soul 😊   

Unfortunately though, I'm not a wee grizzly bear so hibernation isn't an option.  Instead, at this time of year my mind turns to planning yummy, warming dinners to welcome my sweet, hard working Hubby home at night.  He's out the door very early every day, has a long commute to work and is really tired when he gets home at night so what better welcome when he arrives home than a delicious smell of something yummy coming from the kitchen? 

Who can resist lemon chicken honeys?  It's an extra yummy dish perfect, either hot or cold, for summer with crispy salads or for cooler days served with rice or steamed vegetables.

There are so many different variations of lemon chicken to be found, as many recipes as there are cooks who make it.  Everyone has their own little touches to make their lemon chicken perfect but it's such a delicious, and easy to make, dish, well I thought I'd share my own little method...


I adore all things lemony.  Lemon curd (homemade of course!) delicious lemon drizzle sponge loaf (which you can find here) and of course one of Hubby's faves chilli chicken fillet burgers with lemon mayonnaise (which you can find here.)

I love, love, love experimenting in the kitchen, you never know what you'll come up with and you might even find a loved one's newest favourite dinner (Hubby does still love those chilli fillet burgers) 😊  Let's get started then, shall we honeys? To the kitchen.....

Colouring, Coping & Catching Up...

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any products or business. I'm just sharing my latest smiles.

Hi Honeys
I'm sorry I haven't been posting much lately.  I'm still battling this awful chest infection. I'd started feeling a little optimistic during the start of this week because there is now a (slightly) longer wait between coughing fits. Unless I walk from room to room.

Changes in temperature appear to set the coughing off instantly, even going to the back door to let our furbaby Jade out into the garden. It's been over four weeks now honeys and I'm so, so fed up with feeling ill now especially since earlier this week I started to feel a little better only to slide backwards again.  I've said in the past I don't do pity parties, and I so don't, but I've had it.  I'm willing to admit that it's almost beat me now.

Pain I can live with, all Spoonies do, so the sore lungs and the painful muscles supporting them can be put up with.  Arthritic pain is far worse, but not being able to breathe is frightening.  Waking up coughing and not knowing if I'll end up with my head hanging out the bedroom window desperately gasping for air, well honeys, that I can do without.

I was born with a form of bronchitis which damaged my lungs.  So the breathless thing has been with me for as long as I can remember.  As an adult I know winter usually brings a chest infection and I pretty much know how to cope with it till it gets better but usually it will last no more that a few weeks, generally around three.  This time though, zooming towards my fifth week, I've just had it.  This is the second chest infection this year, the last being in January and I'm praying it'll leave soon.

Enough of my moans dear ones 😊  So, how have I been passing the time then honeys?  I'm tired all the time because I can't sleep (I'm propped up with so many pillows because if I try to lay down, my breathing is apt to just (literally) stop and during the day I'm propped up on the sofa with cushions, a snuggly throw and our furbaby who won't leave my side, bless her.  So, not a whole lot of anything being done around here.

Do you remember I recently blogged about having discovered adult colouring books and how calming they are honeys?

Well, I'm not exaggerating when I say that colouring has been keeping me (as close as it's possible to  be right now) happy, especially when it hurts to even breathe these past weeks.

Even though I'm not at all good at it, that doesn't matter.  I find it so calming honeys.  I can sit happily colouring during the night by the light of my bedside lamp without bothering my dear Hubby.  It's a far better distraction from the coughing than the looped info-mercials that seem to dominate night-time TV after a certain hour.