Hi and a happy Friday to you all.

Well maybe not the happiest of Fridays, as just about all of us are now back in lock-down. I certainly found it much harder to contemplate this time, but now day one is behind me, I'm settling back into a routine that's really only a little bit quieter than it was before, given that life was quite restricted anyway. I hope you are all coping OK and with less of the practical problems there were first time around with shopping for those shielding, etc.

Like last time the weather seems to be treating us kindly to cheer us up a bit. What lovely crisp autumn days we've had here this week. It's a joy to go out in. Probably my most favourite time of the year. Which season is your favourite?

On a personal level, my sister had her op on Monday, and although she's still in pain of course, it's less now that her fractures have been reduced, and my nieces are caring for their dad, so everything's under partial control for now anyway. That's the thing with crises. They send us into a flat spin for a while, but once everyone's been able to have a think and put a bit of a plan in place, we usually manage to navigate what's been thrown in our path. I decided not to call for a day or two, to give them all a bit of space and just said to call me if I was needed.

I did a bit of experimental baking this week and made a pound cake using condensed milk that I found on the internet. Wow! That was a success and I'll be doing it again for sure. It was really simple and quick and tasted delish. It's really easy to find a similar recipe by typing 'condensed milk cake' into any search engine, so if you'd like to try it too, I won't bore you with the details as I'm sure you'll find a similar one easily.

So, wishing you all a safe and happy journey through lockdown and if you do start to struggle, please come and share it here, as a trouble shared really is a trouble halved.

Hope you all enjoy the weekend as best you can. Take care 💕