I’m the wrong side of 55, the youngest of 4 and closest to a brother who lives on the other side of the world.
I play the piano and love to write, be it letters, poetry or short stories. I like to cook and some of our favourite recipes have come about by accident. Reading is another pastime and despite the terrible miscasting of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, Lee Child still has my vote.
We have a dog and she is the best excuse to get out of the house and go for walks in the woods. She’s getting on a bit now, but still likes to chase the occasional rabbit or lift a pheasant or partridge.
I would describe my working life as a number cruncher though in contrast, I had a couple of quirky jobs in a museum and dog kennels!
Welcome to my world.
Oct 2013:
Thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in my writings. It’s been such a pleasurable surprise and though I’m still finding my feet with formats etc, I’m enjoying myself immensely.
Please, don’t hold back from posting a comment on anything I’ve written.
Jan 2014
I’ve been at this for a few months now, and trying to post an entry every day. Sometimes I lack inspiration and then I’ll see something (or someone) out on our walks which either triggers a memory or makes me think. More often than not I’ll go off on a tangent and the end result isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I started!
Thanks too are due to those writers who pop up in my Reader. Some of what they have written has made me see things differently, count my blessings, laugh, or inspire me to share a past event, some happy, some sad. My musings may appear disjointed at times, but I hope some are of interest to some of you.
Thank you for following me through this Blog.
Jan 2015
A lot has happened in the last twelve months, and for those who are new to my blog, we are now living on a narrowboat, so a lot of my entries are ‘diary-like’ as we find our feet, face new challenges and hopefully later explore the rivers and canals. Come along for the ride!
June 2017
With the boat now sold, we are officially house hunting again.
Jan 2018
We celebrated Christmas 2017 in our new home, a small bungalow on the Lincolnshire Coast. It’s a bit windy here (you think??), but we are close to the beach and fit in well with the neighbourhood.
In a way it was like coming home as we were in Lincolnshire before we bought the boat, but not so far north as we are now. Both of us admit though we miss the simplicity of boat living, but know we’ve made the right decision.
Onward with the Veg Plot!
So you decided to join the small clan of Uncle Spike followers…. That makes me a happy blogger now – I really appreciate you making that special mouse click.
Hope you like my upcoming posts and if you get bored one day, maybe you’ll enjoy trawling through some of my older stuff too.
If you have any likes, dislikes or suggestions about my blog, just let me know, either through ‘comments’ or via email. Always welcome reader input 🙂
Have a great old day…
UNCLE SPIKE
uncle.spikes.adventures1@gmail.com
Thank you
Great to meet you! Like you, I enjoy writing and playing the piano 🙂
Welcome and likewise. Seems we have a fair bit in common!
Hi!!! I nominated you for a Liebster Award: http://bloggedartistry.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/my-first-wordpress-award/
thank you!
https://wordpress.com/post/73629786/1397/ award nomination https://wordpress.com/post/73629786/1397/
Hi, I’ve nominated you for the Sisterhood Of The World Award: https://amommasview.wordpress.com/2015/01/20/sisterhood-of-the-world-award/
Thank you
Your are our latest Follower so welcome! I hope you get as much fun out of reading our (?) Posts as we get out of writing them although, between you and I, Ray is very good at giving me material to write about ….. but is pretty hopeless at the keyboard (big feet!) so I actually do the writing! 🙂
Maggie is the same, great inspiration as well as great company. As for helping out with the keyboard, well not quite, but my screen has got some interesting vertical rainbows on it where she rests her chin! 🙂
and thank you for the welcome.
Thank you for the invitation, I only view public access blogs.
I am one who reads the comments too (miss having a “like” button on comments, btw – easily added in settings if you decide) – and this one had me scratching my head.
What is a NON public access blog? Does that mean you only visit on WordPress.com or that you don’t view the ones you have to join to read – or something else? (I don’t read many of the blogs that make you join first myself, btw.)
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
– ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
So long ago, I had to access the comment. I’ve had a couple of instances in my reader when I couldn’t access posts because I didn’t sign up and the message said ‘Private’. I’ve just clicked on you and don’t seem to have a problem. Sorry if I appear a bit vague!
You’re not vague at all – I just thought that you were referring to something I hadn’t yet encountered.
Thanks for replying and letting me know (especially for popping over to ADDandSoMuchMore.com to see if my site had an access problem).
I only follow one mental health blogger who had to resort to “private” when she got swarmed by hateful trolls, poor thing. She emailed an invitation link to all of her legitimate followers to make it as easy for us as possible.
I am also frustrated when folks haven’t linked their site to their gravitar profile – I really can’t spare the time to search the web to find them so I can read their stuff and leave a comment (which I try to do any time anyone comments on my site).
xx,
mgh
My blog is a mishmash of loads of things, so nothing really special.
Health issues are the main topic at the moment.
They are most likely ALL “special” – just not topic-targeted.
I sprinkle a few posts on assorted “non-related” topics here and there, and try to inject a bit of humor. My dog Tink just started blogging, and his latest is the Halloween post this year [“THIS will REALLY Scare you!”] – check the right sidebar to locate most recent posts on my site – or use the search at the top right.
Most of my articles are informational in nature – sharing my efforts from the past 25+ years with those who lack the resources to hire my services privately.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the many who visit who are far below any mental health diagnostic line. That was my goal, actually, since none of us live a struggle-free life, and we can all use a bit of help understanding the source of at least some of our challenges – and are happy to learn of a few things to try that help to work around or overcome them.
I am IN LOVE with the writers – THE most supportive folks in the blogging community. I also enjoy adding a bit of fiction reading to my neuroscience-dominated book collection.
xx,
mgh
I love to play piano and write stories too!
Write a post on it! 😛
Maybe someday!
Lee Child is one of my favorites, and I could not agree more about the miscasting! I look forward to reading more! 🙂
Thanks so much for dropping by the craziness that is my blog. 🙂
You have a beautiful blog. Now I have to get out the door and go to work and stop reading these blogs. lol
Thank you and Welcome! 🙂
I’ve nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award! https://therattlingbones.wordpress.com/2015/05/07/the-versatile-blogger-award/
Thanks for liking, ‘A Magic Window’. It is very much appreciated! I like your about page and the dog…
Thank you. I hope some of my other posts may interest you. 🙂
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Hello 😀 I loved the warm welcome to your readers in your about page 🙂 Looking forward to read your musings 🙂
Welcome aboard. I hope you find some of my writings of interest! 🙂
You had me from the puppy pics! Glad I found your blog world.
Welcome aboard. Plenty of doggie pictures and posts herein (as well as a few other things!)
Dogs, boats and wandering. Looks like a good blog to visit. Off to look around a bit here
Welcome! Hope there are some things of interest here.
Thank you for posting! Nice to read you. 🙂 !
Welcome!
Hi so nice to meet you!
Hi to you too. Thanks for dropping by.
Thanks!
feel free to pop over and visit me as well!
You have chocolate recipes! Cake and brownies, buns and desserts! Only a brief visit this time, but I’ll be back!
ok thanks for visiting would love to follow your wonderful blog!
You’d be most welcome.
Thanks again for stopping by my blog. I thought I’d return the favor.
Your dog is cute. We have a sweet furry friend, too, who just turned 12 last month. She can’t resist chasing squirrels.
Thanks. Maggie (almost 11 now) rolled a squirrel when she was a puppy and has since given them a wide berth as she got a little nip. Pigeons and gulls are fair game but she leaves the ducks, geese and rabbits here on the marina alone.
I’m so glad our paths have crossed! I’m on the same side of 50 as you are and I look forward to being here for as long as possible.
I’ve only got six months before I hit the next decade. We should have a fair bit in common regarding our ‘era’ and can compare notes!
I’m actually on the far side of 60. But I do think we have a fair bit in common, too.
Hubby doesn’t care about age and says it’s more fun to act your shoe size. Bit odd being married to a ‘9’ year old!!
You and your hubby both sound wonderful!
How lovely of you to say. We consider ourselves very lucky to have found each other ( we met via an ad in the paper).
I met my boyfriend Michael online and we also consider ourselves very lucky to have found each other. I am now considering myself very lucky to have found you here!
Thanks again.
I am happy to have found your blog today. My husband Andy and I lived aboard our motor yacht for eleven years before selling it and moving into a motorhome, which we have been cruising for five years now. We cruised the boat (mostly) up and down the east coast of the U.S. Now we spend the winters in the Florida Keys (a string of islands reaching into the Caribbean) and traveling about the country in the summer. I’ll enjoy reliving the boating life with you.
Hello Dinata! Welcome aboard.
We are about to celebrate 2 years of being liveaboards, and it has turned out to be a good move for us. I hope you enjoy sharing our life here in the marina and some of my other posts. Pleased to meet you!
I love that you use the phrase “Finding our feet”–I first heard it in the movie, “Babe” (the pig newly separated from his mom) and find it such a gentle turn of speech 🙂
The Red Claw ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OYAXK6I\ ) has 9 reviews on Amazon – 10 is my current goal, but I’d love 100 😉 I know you said you like to read, so if you are interested in doing a review, I give free ebooks in return for honest reviews posted at Amazon. Contact me a jeannefoguth.author@gmail.com
Have a meowser of a day!
Sadly I don’t have a kindle, ipad or anything I think I could read an e-book on (lap top and basic PAYG phone for txts and calls only). But thank you for asking.
No worries. I know that I read a lot of books when we lived aboard, so thought you might be interested. Have a great day!
Thanks again for the offer. I clicked on the link and had a looksie. Is it something I could get from the local library do you think?
I have no idea which libraries have copies of my books and/or which book/s any given library might have. I can send you a smashwords code to download an e copy for free – I specify Smashwords because they offer all formats including PDF and text, so are generally adaptable to any reading device.
I don’t think this would work for me, but I’ll go up to the library tomorrow anyway and ask. You never know!
Let me know if they have any. Are you in the US?
No. UK.
HI! Glad I found your blog, has been interesting to read your different posts. Living on a narrowboat does sound adventurous. I am sure you have your days where you love it and days where you don’t quite as much 🙂 Looking forward to reading more.
Hello there! Thanks so much for the comment and follow! Welcome aboard! Have just got back from a mini trip, so photos are being prepped and posts ready to tweak. Even the bad weather didn’t phase us and the tan (read red blotches) is coming along nicely!
You got an amazing blog.
Thank you! Thanks for clicking on the follow too! Just had a peep on your site, Ronin is a Brilliant film ( we had the extended edition) and also had the entire 5 series of Alias (imo Jennifer Garner can wear her hair any style or colour and it suits her!) Have you watched it all? or is it a remake?
I’m on Season 2 of Alias now, and I love it.
It certainly gets interesting as the seasons progress.
Looking forward to more.
like your blog!
Thank you! Please continue to enjoy my ramblings!
Your introduction is charming 🙂
Thanks Jacqueline.
Hi there didn’t find a contact section so I will post here and you can maybe delete it afterwards. I was wondering if you’d like to do a guest article on eachothers blog? I have 200+ daily unique visitors. My demographic are mostly americans and females. I can send screenshots from stats if you’d like to. My top catecory is weight loss so I think our adience match.
I have 9 years of experence and research in my field and the content I write is written with quality. Looking forward to hear from you!
Thank you for your kind offer, but I respectfully decline.
Hi I have nominated you for Song Challenge (Music That Means Something)
The rules are:
Post a song a day for five consecutive days.
Post what the lyrics mean to you. (Optional)
Post the name of the song and video.
Nominate 1 or 2 bloggers each day of the challenge.
willow xx
Thanks Willow, but I’m having serious problems with loading pictures or videos just now. I’ll will however participate in a way by chosing five songs and posting their lyrics if that’s OK.
That is lovely it all just for fun no pressure 🤗💜
Will be able to work on it off line and post accordingly!
Okay please don’t feel any pressure.💗💝,
Hello! I hope this won’t sound terribly silly and trivial, but my fave part of your About is the phrase, “find, (finding) my feet”–wonderful 🙂 I, too, love cooking–often “therapeutic” cooking, to keep hands and mind busy when I’m not writing; lots of my dishes are “experiments”–some fail, some work out amazingly well. Wishing you the best today–God bless 🙂
Hi right back, and thanks for your comment. Not all my experimental dishes worked, but most tasted OK even if they didn’t look exactly how I had in mind!
I’ve noticed that sometimes my experiments lack in the “appearance/presentation” area–but taste fine 🙂 🙂
I used to cover failed cakes with custard and call them a Di surprise!
That is Brilliant!
It always went down well, and better still, nothing was wasted!
Yes, I don’t like waste either 🙂
Hello, I found you through Steve Tanham’s re-blog of your ‘If I could’ post. I am glad I did. 🙂
Hello Jane and welcome! Please have a dig around and see what else appeals. It’s a pretty mixed bag!! Thanks for the follow, pleased to meet you.
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Thanks Willow!
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Thanks Ritu.
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Hey ……… given that you play piano, do you read music, or do you play from memory? 🙂
I know my basic notes, but reading music is frustrating when I’m one of the lucky ones who can hear something and pay a version of it, albeit in the wrong key. Mostly it’s by ear with a twiddly bit here and there.
🙂