Well, February 4th - no sign of any Spring weather here yet. Alright, I know it is early but really up here in North Yorkshire we are having a pretty miserable Winter one way and another. Yesterday around eight in ches of snow falling and although it didn't freeze only some of it went overnight. This morning is heavy fog and dripping everywhere as the remnants thaw. Then more snow is forecast for the weekend. It has barely got light today and there is nobody about at all.
I have spent half an hour trying to access my Green Bin account but been unable to do so and decided to ring and renew it instead. Yes, you have guessed it -'your call is important to us, please hold, you will be answered shortly'. When a human actually made contact she was lovely and dealt with the matter in a couple of minutes. Our green bin - which costs £25 from February to November - is invaluable. My gardener fills it easily once a fortnight (it is a fortnightly collection plus a special one for Christmas trees just after Christmas) and it keeps the garden tidy. Sadly I have no room for a compost heap.
Now one more job to do and that is to access my Gas Bill on line. I don;t really want to know but best to face up to it!
So what to write about today? Well our Book Club book came yesterday - Graham Swift's 'Mothering Sunday'. It came in the early afternoon. I started reading it and was hooked. I stayed up and finished it - it is three weeks to Book Group (Zoom) and I shall read it again nearer the date, but what a good story and how very well written. I thoroughly recommend it if you need a good read
It is thirty years today since my first dear husband, Malcolm, died of kidney cancer. We had been married for thirty nine happy years and had shared much music-making together and many happy holidays abroad. It all seems a life time ago.
In another month it will be four years since my farmer died - two very different husbands but both lovely, kind thoughtful men. We had twenty three happy years together, travelled all over the US and Canada as well as up the Norwegian coast. How lucky I have been to find two such lovely husbands.
Lovely to hear about your husbands and you have got lots of memories about travelling with them. It should give you peace and happiness just thinking about it. Lucky you.
ReplyDeleteYou have indeed been blessed with two wonderful husbands. Not many people can share that good fortune.
ReplyDeleteWe have had a day of torrential rain and local flooding here. I hope that the rain holds off soon before we float away!
Green bin collections cost us £40 a year. Fortnightly April to November and once in each of the remaining months.
ReplyDeleteYou were indeed lucky with your 2 husbands. You were really lucky for your dear farmer to go on holiday with you. Here in Northern Ireland it is very difficult to get a farmer to go on holiday.
ReplyDeleteSylvia
How wonderful lovely memories are on dark winter days! I do have a question though. Is 8 inches of snow unusual for you?
ReplyDeleteYou must have some wonderful memories.
ReplyDeleteOur green bin is actually brown down here in West Yorkshire and it costs us £37 a year I believe - so yours is a bargain! I have bulbs poking through at last too so I am hopeful to see some bloms soon.
How wonderful to have had two such happy marriages. You must have so many happy memories of both husbands.
ReplyDeleteNot particularly cold down here at the moment, just wet and dreary. At least with each day that passes we are just that bit nearer to Spring.
Yes Debby we rarely get that much snow these days and some winters have little or no snow at all.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your soothing posts. At the end of a busy day it's just the thing I need. How lucky you are indeed. Wonderful husbands, good memories.
ReplyDeleteYou have lived such a wonderful life. You are indeed fortunate to have had two very special husbands. I'm happy you enjoyed your new book club book. It must be good to finish it so quickly. I love that kind of a book that you don't want to put down.
ReplyDeleteYou spent a lot of years married. Lucky you found two good men. I hear there are only a few of us around!
ReplyDelete62 years of marriage is a good run! You said you had two good husbands but there must have been a good wife in the mix as well.
ReplyDeleteTwo good husbands
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful
A long time married. We see you were a dear wife, too.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I am buried in snow. 15 inches and that is down a bit because it was above freezing today. Blue skies and sunshine make the snow sparkle so it is very picturesque. Good memories do seem to carry us during these covid times. Are you familiar with Clematis, "Winter Beauty?" I would buy one but sadly it is not hardy in my area. It is a very beautiful vine.
ReplyDeleteMemories can be bittersweet, can't they. My mother dies over 30 years ago and I still miss her. Civid has had me dig into memories more and more, of people, and places, and wonderful trips; remembered, savoured, and appreciated anew. You've had two rich and happy marriages, and so carry those experiences with you daily. That's a blessing.
ReplyDeleteKeep well, keep moving, keep positive Pat.
Congratulations on 62 years of marriage with two great husbands. I've been married 50 years to one and I pray we have 12 + more. I enjoy your writings. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteOur morning temperatures are hovering around the 10 C mark, which I always view as 'acceptable'. No heavy winter coats or gloves needed, and we now often take our afternoon tea outdoors. Spring isn't far away.
ReplyDeleteYou really hit the jackpot twice with your husbands, Pat - after the death of your first husband, you must have been devastated; all the more am I happy for you that you found love and happiness again. I can't believe it's four years already, but then again it's been already 11 years last November that my second husband died; it's incredible how the time passes, isn't it.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was the first day in what felt like weeks that we saw some sun and not just the heavy grey lid of clouds. I took advantage of it and went out, spotting plenty of aconites and snowdrops in the gardens around here. It did me good! Rain and grey again today, but it's the weekend, and O.K. will be here tonight.
Joyful memories to give comfort in this winter, which has been so wet and miserable.
ReplyDeletecongratulations on two long and happy marriages. I to have been happily married for 61 years, 50 of those years we have worked together.
ReplyDeleteTake heart Weaver,spring is on its way. Yesterday I was working in the tunnels and noticed a small branch near the bottom of my aprocot tree. The buds are breaking and showing there colour, they will be fully open in a few days.
Kathy xxx
So lucky in love you were. I'm happy for you and hope your memories of Malcolm keep you warm today. As to the book, I looked it up on Amazon: a "vintage romance". Nope, nada, pooey.... just can't do vintage romances! But I'm so glad you enjoyed it and have your book club to look forward to. ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteThank you walking in beauty and congratulations on your long marriage - we are lucky aren't we?
ReplyDeleteThank you to you all
More snow last night and very cold here today. Luckily, my eldest son is here to shovel so I did not need to go out! I am so lucky to have him!
ReplyDeleteYou were a wonderful wife to your 2 lucky husbands!
I hate those "Your call is important" to us messages. If the calls were so important, then hire some people to answer them; there are people out there who would be glad to have the work!
ReplyDeleteWow! Your yard waste disposal program sounds like a real bargain to me. I have a large yard and many garden beds and they do generate lots of yard waste. I put out 6 to 9 65-gallon trash cans almost every two weeks. At a dollar a can I spent a little over $100 this past year. I do have a compost pile but the bins get filled with leaves in the fall and I use them as mulch during the following year.
ReplyDeleteYou have been extremely fortunate to have had two such wonderful husbands. You must be a good picker and have learned the importance of compromise in a marriage. A person can't always have everything the way they want it, something that too many people these days just don't understand.
I don't really like the cold either, but at least I feel we're having a proper winter.
ReplyDeleteDarling Pat,
ReplyDeleteIn these days when there seem to be marriages lasting only a matter of minutes, it is so heartwarming and reassuring to read of your two long and happy marriages. Both husbands clearly gave you great joy and that is something to be celebrated indeed.
Although many aspects of life in Hungary can be complained about, rubbish collection is definitely not one of them. Whereas in Norwich we have bins of all colours which have to be manhandled out to and in from the street on the correct day, in Budapest, collections are made three times a week, always on the same days, no matter the weather or the season. If one of these rubbish collection days happens to fall on Christmas Day, then, so be it.... the rubbish is collected as usual.
And, as for the cost....
Yes Weaver , we are very lucky.
ReplyDeleteKathy xxx
Jane and Lnce - amazing wish it was like that here although at least the cost of a green bin here in the Dales seems to be less than anywhere else and it is always on time.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that each of your Husbands would say they were so lucky to have married you too xx
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