Showing posts with label REVIEW OF THE YEAR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label REVIEW OF THE YEAR. Show all posts

Saturday, 31 December 2016

The Annual Looking Back Post

The last day of 2016 and could it be the weirdest year ever?

Odd unexpected happenings here and abroad....................but I have no intention of writing about those!

For us it meant serious illness, giving up the smallholding after 23 years and a house move into town with Colin in hospital for long periods. Then 2 grandchildren, a wedding and another house move planned and the shock of finding  that we've got to go through the hospital stuff all over again........just further away.......


Here are some of the photos that make up the story of this year
Leaving our smallholding behind wasn't easy, this photo is from the summer of 2013

 and leaving  all my bookshelves wasn't good either.
Town Life - so different to living in the country

Buying a beach hut has been a wonderful idea, although if the council bring in plans to change the way they charge people we may be priced out, yet unable to sell.


 
Four generations when our first grandchild baby Jacob Rhys arrived in May


An interesting afternoon at this book festival finding out about British Library Crime Classics

A break in hospital treatment allowed us to have a few days away, this is Hereford Cathedral

Lots of sunny days at the beach hut

Brass band concert in Christchurch Park Ipswich

One of the nice things about town life is being able to buy cheap flowers from Aldi just a short walk away

One of the many second-hand book sales I've been to this year

Just a few of the library books that have been borrowed this year, in total 115 books have been read! and I've found many bookish blogs to read and enjoy which has opened up a whole new world of reading.


Baby Florence May arriving in October

Glimpse of our new home for 2017, we'll get there once the solicitor returns from her prolonged holiday and gets on with the paperwork. Pity none of our children wanted to be solicitors!

 Making chutneys for Christmas hampers

A visit to see Jacob in November

Holly on a walk in December

Son's wedding in December

One of my favourite photos from 2016, our daughters with the next generation

Celebrating the winter season without breaking the bank

The year has ended on a odd note too as Col picked up the winter Yuck virus from somewhere and has spent the last 36 hours in bed or in the loo! ...........but feeling slightly better today, thank goodness.

Anyway a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who reads and comments. Without you all this would just be a diary written in a notebook and lost.

Back Tomorrow..........looking forward.........it's the only way to go

Sue




Thursday, 31 December 2015

The pictures that made 2015

Like many other people on Blog-world at the end of each year  I go back and look for some photos that tell the story of our year.


 Here are just a few from 2015 


Crocuses in the kitchen early in the year

March and our first holiday for nearly 3 years, we climbed to the highest point on Exmoor
My 60th Birthday
Fresh from the poly-tunnel and garden in April

The arrival of the skip to clear the rubbish ready for putting the smallholding up for sale




Our eldest getting married in May



We bought a bargain caravan - off ebay for cheap holidays
Real frog meets stone frog in the garden sink-pond



The pest who pinched the walnuts


Townend my favourite NT house in the Lake District
End of an era, after 23 years, the very  last things that we put out for sale
The article in the East Anglian Daily Times that found us our buyer
The early Christmas family get together and our son-in-law and eldest daughter who are the parents to be next June


That was our year.

This year I found looking back very difficult, life seems upside down, so much has changed, there is much unknown ahead. We didn't know at the start of 2015 just how many health problems were going to appear or how serious they seem to be.
Financially it was a good year, my unexpected pension payout, the campsite income, selling our surplus at 3 car boot sales and the yard sale all boosted our income in a year when Col wasn't able to do the odd jobbing.
The garden was good in most parts and I have made a store of jams and chutneys to see us through the next couple of years.
We will have a new member of the family in June 2016 when our first Grandchild is due, which is exciting but I'm sad that we will have moved away from the smallholding and future grandchildren will never know what was here  and  that we kept goats and sheep and had all the fruit trees etc.
Then  our son and fiancee will be getting married in December  so that's another thing to look forward to
but we thought we would  have an opportunity to travel once we moved, but with illness - who knows. In March we climbed Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor but at the moment Col hasn't got enough energy for more than a short walk on level ground.
We don't know how we'll like living in town or if it's too big a change. Strangely our living costs will be more for a 2 bed bungalow in Ipswich than for our 4 bed home in the country - will we manage? Will our savings last until pension time.
As I said- upside down, topsy turvey and unsettling.

I'm struggling with blogging at the moment, there isn't much to write about here, whatever I mentioned over Christmas seemed to need justifying to someone in comments which gets a bit tedious or perhaps I'm feeling particularly sensitive.
So maybe I'll take a short break from blogging, perhaps for just a few days or maybe until  we know what Col's treatment will be. He has a bone marrow test mid month to confirm the diagnosis of  C.L.L ( Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia ) and then we will know what happens next.

Expect me when you see me!
Sue













Wednesday, 31 December 2014

Review of the year - looking back at 2014 in pictures

Like everyone else in blogland I'm looking back before jumping into the New Year.

So how was 2014 for us on the Simple Suffolk Smallholding.
Despite C seeing more of the hospital than we would have chosen, 2014 has gone by so quickly, we were very busy juggling so many different things; The Campsite, Growing for sale and for us, Chickens and Eggs, Haymaking, Cs odd jobbing.

We read dozens of books, visited car boot sales, sat in the sun now and again, cut wood to keep us warm, ate our own fruit and vegetables and generally lived a quiet and simple life.

Here are some of my favourite pictures from 2014



First violets of spring




Arrival of our new cats. Polly - friendly, Mabel - shy








My 59th Birthday

A reminder of some of the interesting things found at car boot sales this year
My new radio - saved for over 6 months
                                   



Our new garden shed, built from scratch by C and the shabby-chic ladder with plants



From a fruitful garden
Haymaking on our field
A free load of firewood
Family BBQ at the home of C's sister
5 Giant pumpkins
C after the Hardly a Heart Attack saying Thank you for all the good wishes from blogging friends
Free meals

Christmas dinner for 12



Thank you to everyone who reads and comments
Thank you to everyone who reads and doesn't comment!
Thank you to everyone who writes interesting blog posts for others to read
Thank you to people who give me ideas for books to read
Thank you for those who share recipes and crafting.




Back Next Year!
Sue



Tuesday, 31 December 2013

Review of the Year - Looking back at 2013

So here we are on the last day of 2013 and like everyone else in blogland I've been looking back.

For us it has been a record year in so many ways.

The largest amount of gooseberries we've ever picked and sold
The best crop of apples we've ever had
The best crop of pears we've ever had
The most figs that have ripened
The first year we have had 3 poly tunnels
The best income we have ever had from the campsite
The best income we have ever had from selling vegetables and fruit

AND

 The most times a member of the family has gone to hospital by ambulance!
Which resulted in the longest time I've ever spent here on my own.



Here are some of my favourite pictures from 2013
Good series of books recommended by a friend
My best ever hot cross(less) buns

My 58th Birthday

Poly tunnel  3


View of the garden taken from the top of a pile bricks on on a trailer

Early summer colour

Aquiliga

Allium

First strawberries



Gooseberries ready to sell
Surprise nomination for friendliest welcome

First Raspberries

Flower Show entries

Lots of eggs and veg for people to buy

Best ever crop of pears


Delicious figs

Best ever crop of apples

Him Outside restored to full health and strength

Winter sunrise

Christmas afternoon at Aldeburgh




Thank you to everyone who gave advice when I started blogging in April
Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on the blog.
Thank you to everyone who wished us well when Him Outside was in hospital
Thank you to everyone who writes blogs that I enjoy reading


Tomorrow I will be doing my regular review of the month for December and then we will start to find out what 2014 will bring for us all.

Happy New Year

Back Tomorrow - 1st January 2014








































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