Get together with my 'new' sister, walking and rummaging.

Hello again! 

I forgot to post an outfit photo when I left you a fortnight ago so I'll show the jewellery I wore instead. Pre-loved, of course and the earrings are real silver. I don't know about the stone which is amethyst in colour. I also have a real silver ring I found in a charity shop aeons ago and it's one of my favourites. The tunic I wore in this outfit (above) was put into the charity shop bag; I'd had it for about 7 years and no longer liked it that much. I was trying to wear as much of my summer clothing before the inevitable change in the weather forced me into warmer clothing.

 I didn't walk with the group on Wednesday but planned to walk on my own in the afternoon. Big mistake. It began to rain heavily about 12.30 ish (when we would have been almost at the end of a group walk) and continued to do so for the rest of the day. It was also a very, very windy day; lots of tree debris around but luckily no big branches or tree trunks!

I had a pottering about sort of morning. I had a lie-in; getting up at 8 am after OH had left for work. I decided to remove all the very lightweight summer clothing from the wardrobe and bag it up for the loft. I filled one bag which made a bit more room in the wardrobe; I bagged up mostly summer dresses with short sleeves but also my summer PJs; the night are much cooler now. I removed all the cushion covers from the sofas in the living room and washed them. I should have taken advantage of the recent wave of hot weather and washed my curtains but that will have to wait until Spring now...

Everything I wore on Wednesday was pre-loved. Jacket; by Viyella; cropped trousers by White Stuff; top by Next; shoes by Hotter and all jewellery pre-loved. The beads were a recent find on a rummage in one of the Bedford charity shops. I know, I gave away a bag filled with beads and necklaces but I liked this one so much I had to buy it; at 1.50 it was cheaper than a cup of coffee...

I then ventured out into the rain to go to the cash point and realised I'd forgotten my keys and was locked out! That meant a walk in the pouring rain to middle grandson's house to borrow his key and then back again to let myself in. I needed some stuff from Aldi for the get together on Sunday so after picking up some groceries there; I decided to go to Kempston to the library to pick up the last in Elly Griffith's Brighton series; I'd managed to find the rest in charity shops. I've now completed that series in full. Whilst I was in Kempston I popped into Barnardo's and found a pair of trousers in the sale. Home to catch up with blogging and blog land.

Started Thursday morning with a swim. It was quite cool in the morning so I wore a long cardigan over my pre-loved Wallis trousers and Fenn, Wright and Manson tunic with retail sandals. Later on when it became sunny and warm I wore my multi-coloured denim jacket.

All jewellery pre-loved.

Thursdays are still manic. Once I had eaten breakfast and got ready; I went to Lidl for the food shopping and stopped at Sainsbury's to collect some new boots I'd ordered. Once the shopping was unpacked and put away I collected middle grandson; made dinner for us all and then took grandson to basket ball practice. My daughter has new job and is now free on Thursdays so in future she is going to bring grandson to my house for dinner and all I'll have to do is to drop him at basketball. He has basket ball practice 4 times a week so I'm glad to help out when I can...

Look what had popped up on my morning walk round our garden!

Buds on my magnolia plant. They're about 7 months too early...

Roy offered to lead an unofficial bus walk on Friday to Olney. It's a very small town in Buckinghamshire but only about 11 miles from Bedford. Famous for 'Amazing Grace' (the hymn) written by John Newton. Also famous for William Cowper; the English poet and there is a museum in the town called the Cowper Museum dedicated to the two men and to the history of Olney. I must take time to visit it next time. You can find out more about it HERE. Olney is also famous for its annual pancake race on Shrove Tuesday.

We walked for 5.7 miles in total with a coffee and cake stop in the middle and at the end, but I went for a quick rummage instead to the three charity shops and the Oxfam bookshop. I found the Elly Griffiths book that I had just borrowed and read from the library, but I bought it anyway so I have the complete collection. I shall pass them on to Margaret; a fellow walker and Elly Griffiths fan and then onto Hilary.

These are the trousers I picked up at Kempston Barnardo's on Tuesday afternoon in the sale. I love black and white clothing but this is only the second pair of black and white trousers I have. The top is also pre-loved by Laura Ashley; pre-loved jacket by F&F; sandals from Vinted. All jewellery pre-loved. I wore the same earrings as yesterday; they're a recent find from a rummage and I like them.

Once I was home again I set out on some more errands; I had something to return via the post office; and a couple of more things for Sunday's get together and a flu jab at the chemist. While I was in town I noticed Poundland had everything 50% off so I went in. They're not closing down but moving to a different street. Most of the shelves were empty but I found two metal decorative balls for the garden and some small notepads; useful for writing shopping lists. Sum total spent £1.25!

A lot of our walk on Friday was close to the river Great Ouse:

Olney has lots of buildings made of Blissworth Limestone which is a warm honey coloured stone.

This looks like a church steeple but is in fact the War Memorial.

St. Peter and Paul Church, Olney. For once we didn't go inside. The stained glass window looks interesting...

Olney was on the side of the Round Heads (Parliament) in the English civil war and routed the Cavaliers (King) at the battle of Olney Bridge in 1643.

Saturday was bright and sunny so I got up and went for a 5.6 mile walk along the river to Great Denham but started from Biddenham village; doing this frequent walk in reverse. Then it was home for breakfast and housework as we wouldn't have time on Sunday. I had to go to Sainsbury's for some last minute items then came home and chilled out reading and blogging.

I hadn't worn this pre-loved Nomads dress in the summer so grabbed the chance to wear with a pre-loved denim jacket; this dress has short sleeves and I wear jackets like cardigans - probably because I have so many! Sandals from Sainsbury's. Beads and earrings pre-loved.

Sunday was the big get together. There were 17 of us in total and we were so lucky that it didn't rain. Here we are:

Middle grandson, his mum and his brother had left by the time we got round to taking photos; daughter's partner took this photo. 

My outfit was all pre-loved except the sandals from Monsoon. Dress from Asos; jacket by Betty Barclay both via my Barnardo's. All jewellery pre-loved.

We had a lovely day. Luckily there was enough food and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We had goat curry; rice and peas; barbecued chicken; burgers; sausages;  a chickpea and aubergine dish for the vegans courtesy of my daughter; salad, potato salad and coleslaw. For dessert I made a lemon drizzle tray bake (I've made 2 cakes in one week not having baked any cakes for ages) a vegan rice pudding; and we also had a chocolate gateau and a salted caramel cheesecake. 

It was a very warm (21 degrees) sunny day on Monday. The donations at Barnardo's were stopped again as we had no floor space left at the back and half the shop floor was full. I did the banking and then processed donations all morning. In the afternoon I went for my Covid booster jab; did 2 whites washes and hung them out and generally tidied up. No need for cooking; we had left-overs to eat up...

Everything pre-loved. Wide legged trousers; Phase Eight, Next tunic top; shirt by Isle; sandals by Dune. I took these photos at the end of the day; no wonder I look knackered! In the evening we started watching the latest BBC 4 Saturday international crime drama series 'Black Snow' set in Australia.

I woke up to what looked like imminent rain on Tuesday morning and rushed downstairs to rescue the washing. It did rain but later on in the morning. My colleague still wasn't in when I got the food bank. She had come down with Covid which was why she wasn't in last week either. Lynne and I packed up dozens of food parcel crates and managed to get everything done before it was time to go. 

 I had a hairdresser's appointment and after that I had quick look in the hospice shop near the hairdresser's house; followed by a quick look round the Castle Road charity shops. I found nothing that took my fancy...home to make dinner and put the washing away.

Tuesday's outfit all pre-loved. Next jeans; Joules striped tee shirt; kimono; Paul Costelloe. It's too tight across the shoulders and has been put into the donations bag. Shoes by Clarks and are the sensible option for working in the warehouse. Although it was warm enough at 20 degrees on Tuesday to wear sandals.

I swapped the earrings for smaller ones after I  took this photo.

It was a bit of a gloomy day on Wednesday. I was out and recce'ing my walk by 10.30 am. I now have a route for the November walk of 6.6. miles but in the last third of the walk there are 2 other options I could take. I'm going to check both of those out before I make a final decision; it would be good if I could make the walk 7 miles. The weather brightened up and was quite warm; I had to remove my jacket in the end. I sat on a stone bridge to eat my breakfast and drink my coffee with the sun on my face which was lovely. I saw and heard several buzzards; a couple of jays and a skylark. The birds are pretty quiet at the moment; it's moulting season and they don't draw attention to themselves.

I wore the same Next pre-loved jeans again as I was walking; pre-loved tunic by Izabel; jacket by Primarni (old) and sandals retail; J. D. Williams.

The sandals were swapped for walking boots and socks.

All jewellery pre-loved.

After my walk I walked into town to run some errands. I returned a parcel for my daughter; returned my library book and bought some household stuff in Savers. I popped into the newly refurbished Keech charity shop in town and found a bangle. It began to rain in the afternoon and I managed to rescue the washing just in time. I had pre-ordered a book; 'The Running Grave' by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K.Rowling author of the 'Harry Potter ' books among others) which was delivered in the late afternoon and began reading it. I'd forgotten that I'd ordered it so it was a bit of serendipity as I had just finished a book. This one is the seventh in the Comoran Strike series. I also discovered that there is seventh book out in the 'Brighton series' by Elly Griffiths - something else to look out for!

Thursday was busy as usual. I went for a swim and then after breakfast and getting ready went to do the Lidl food shopping and popped into Sainsbury's. On the way to Lidl I dropped off a small bag of donations at the Keech Hospice shop and picked up a green floral jumpsuit for 3.00.

This was Thursday's outfit. All pre-loved. Skirt by Tu from Barnardo's; t shirt by M&S; denim jacket by Sussi; sandals by Timberland via Vinted.

All jewellery pre-loved.

Once I was home and had put away the shopping I made dinner for the grandsons and dropped youngest grandson to basket ball practice. I actually had time to put my feet up for about an hour and read my book - bliss!

I'd thought about going to London on Friday and recce'ing a walk. I had 2 books of walks in London I'd picked up at various charity shops and was going to try and combine 2 short walks to make 1 longer one. I'd asked Bernie if she was up for recce'ing it with me but unfortunately she was dog sitting for her daughter and couldn't make it. I decided to recce my Rambler's November walk instead; the second of the three options. It turned out to be too short at 5.8 miles although I know how to add at least another 0.75 miles to it. I had one option left to try which I would do the following week. Before I went for the recce I took my daughter out for lunch at the vegan cafe in town; we both had a couple of errands in town to run as well. After the lunch and the walk; I weeded out more summery items from my wardrobe and brought down some warmer pyjamas and a couple of cardigans and jackets from the winter clothes I had stored in the loft. The evenings were definitely getting chillier although the month of September had been mostly warm and dry.

I wore my floral denim jacket with this pre-loved outfit on Friday but forgot to take a photo. Jumpsuit secondhand from Bedford market; top by M&S; belt by River Island; retail sandals by Monsoon.

I needed a wee whilst I was out walking and had to virtually strip off thanks to the jumpsuit; not a clever choice of walking gear, really. I spent the evening reading and finishing my Cormoran Strike book; 900+ pages. The last book in the series was just over 1,000 pages so I should have been grateful... it ended on a cliff hanger, too, so can't wait for the next one in the series. We lit the fire for the first time on Friday evening; OH had ordered some peat online and it had been delivered.

On Saturday we went to visit OH's family and also had a rummage in Kilburn and then walked to West Hampstead for a rummage there. This jumpsuit was a mistake; it had a zip at the back from the neck almost to the waist and it was impossible for me to either do it up fully or undo it sufficiently by myself. I think you'd have to be a contortionist to manage it unaided and had to keep asking asking OH to do it for me. Very poorly designed garment despite the pretty floral print and lovely deep green colour; off to the donations bag it went. Shame on you New Look for such a poorly designed product - was it ever modelled by a human being I wonder?

Everything pre-loved. Pleather jacket; can't remember where I got it from. Top by F&F; shoes by Clarks plus I wore my orthotics in them as I knew we'd be doing a lot of walking on hard pavements. I'd also gone out first thing in the morning for a short 3 mile urban walk while I waited for OH to get up. He has a well deserved lie-in at the weekend.

All jewellery pre-loved.

London was horribly busy and the charity shops didn't yield much; at least what I was prepared to pay for. I found a pair of winter trousers by Zara for 4.00 in Kilburn Cancer Research and an ethnic type dress for 2.00 in Kilburn Oxfam. I bought a couple of small bowls in the Crisis charity shop also in Kilburn and nothing at all in West Hampstead, but we had a coffee and cake stop whilst we were there. We were home by 8.30 pm and watched more of 'Black Snow'. 

We finished the series on Sunday evening after a day of morning swimming; afternoon housework and cooking a roast dinner. I also used up a courgette and some beetroot making a delicious (well I thought it was) chocolate courgette cake; recipe HERE. Neither of the grandsons liked it; even though I didn't tell them what the ingredients were...I also put more of my summer clothing away for the loft and almost filled a black plastic bag. I wasn't quite ready to swap everything over yet, as I believed there were still some warm days to come.

All jewellery pre-loved. Yes, it's those earrings again...

I started out with a black and white long shirt pre-loved, naturally, but it didn't look right so the suedette jacket was a late substitution. Everything pre-loved; top by Karen Millen, trousers by Waikiki; metallic sandals by Dune.

It was overcast but warm on Monday and the jacket was a bit too warm for the day. Busy morning as always at Barnardo's; lots of customers and lots of donations. I fancied chicken soup so made some when I got home and did 2 lots of whites washing and caught up with blogging and blogs. It rained in the afternoon and later on in the evening there was a thunder and lightening storm.

There was no one in at the food bank on Tuesday except me. I made up 25 crates of food parcels, put toiletries away and then went to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned. It was cooler with a brisk breeze but it was bright and for that I was grateful. I hate the gloomy overcast days. I had a rummage in the high street charity shops on my way home and bought this book:

That's tonight's reading sorted!

For a change I wore this pre-loved two-piece (skirt and long shirt) by Adini with the shirt tucked in so it looked like a dress. Pre-loved shoes bought in a Co. Donegal charity shop and pre-loved leather belt.

All jewellery pre-loved.

I have planned a walk for Wednesday to recce the third option for my Rambler's walk in November; an unofficial bus walk on Friday with the group; and a walk in London with my daughter on Saturday so lots to do and to look forward to. I'll see you in a fortnight...