Wednesday Hodgepodge - 7/1/26

Joyce provides the questions, we provide the answers and then we join up here.  Join the party.

1. What are three words you would use to describe your 2025? 

Joyful

Satisfying

Peaceful

2. I ask this question every January, and I always get comments about how we shouldn't be banning words. This is fun and games so just play along : ) 

Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness (go here to read about how the words are chosen). Here's the list for 2026- 

67 • demure • cooked • massive • incentivize • full stop • perfect • gift/gifted  • my bad • reach out 

Which one (if any) do you use most often? Which one of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word you think should have made the list? 

Well obviously I would use cooked and I do sometimes find full stop creeping in and I use things like perfect, massive and gift/gifted in the appropriate context.

I'd definitely like to see 67, incentivize and my bad banished.  Can't think of any words I would add to the list right now but I'm sure there are some.

3. What are your nightly rituals? Is that different from your 'ideal' nightly ritual? If so what's your ideal? 

So my ideal nightly ritual would involve a skincare routine that looked after my aging skin. Doesn't often happen.

4. January 6th is/was National Bean Day. Do you like beans? Which one is your favourite? Last thing you ate made with beans? 

I'm not mad about beans.  The ones I eat most often are baked beans in tomato sauce.  Which I probably had with breakfast at the weekend.

5. Are you easily embarrassed? Elaborate. 

I am soooo easy to embarrass and I hate it.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I had lots of good intentions of doing a lot of chores this week as in back to normality after the Christmas break.  I'm not doing well on that front but I have been blogging every day and today I finished this:

Jigsaw of a Fantasy Bookshop - 1000 pieces.

I started it way before Christmas so I was determined to get it finished.  Now I just have to stop myself from starting another one just yet.  But I have taken all the Christmas stuff down and it's away in the loft until next year!

And this definitely counts as a huge jot for the Just Jot it January challenge.

JJJ - 6/1/26 - Intentional

Today is day 6 of our Just Jot it January 2026 prompts—almost a week’s worth already! Our word of the day is courtesy of our very own delightful Dan. Thank you, Dan! Please be sure to visit Dan’s blog to read his posts and say hello. And follow him while you’re there if you’re not already.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 6th, 2026 is “intentional.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Hmm Intentional would be a good word of the year for me.  I'm full of good intentions.  Just not so great at carrying them out.

Yesterday was going to be the fresh start of the year.  I know it was already the 5th of January but the time between Christmas and New Year is always down time and then of course you have to start afresh on the first day of a week i.e. Monday.

Well the week did not get off to a great start - getting out of bed proved difficult.  It's really cold here at the moment - we even had a very light dusting of snow earlier.  Anyway:

Get up and start straightening out the house V staying in a nice warm bed?

Well the bed won, for a while at least.

Our daughter arrived to WA(P)H (Work at parents home) and we also got a request to have our grandson for a while in the afternoon. So reluctantly I got myself up and sorted.

But.... I cut myself some slack.  I did get all the Christmas decorations, tree etc down and boxed up ready to go back in the loft.

I did go and collect our grandson and have him here for the afternoon.

I have stripped all the guest beds and washed the bedding.

I did go and collect a food donation from one of the nearby supermarkets and I did do my volunteering stint at the Foodbank last night.

Not totally unproductive just not as productive as I could have been or indeed intended to be.

I think I'm going to frame this Christmas card we received:

It reads:

Hug

Love yourself

Stretch

Volunteer

Walk More

Bake a cake

Smile and be kind

Be less angry

Breathe deeply

Feed the birds

Enjoy the simple things

Be more mindful

Read a good book

Live in the moment

Visit a museum - have a cuppa in the cafe

Do something creative: draw, sew, paint, knit, sing, craft

Write someone a letter

Send a postcard

Turn off your phone

Spend time outdoors

Count your blessings ever day

and overall In 2026 take time to live well.

A great list of things to be intentional about that actually aren't that difficult.  Even I should be able to manage them!

JJJ - 5/1/26 - Nature

Hello! And welcome to the 5th day of Just Jot it January 2026 prompts. Today’s word comes to us courtesy of the most joyful J-Dub. Thank you, J-Dub! Please be sure to visit J-Dub’s blog to read her posts and say hello.   And if you want to find out all about the rules etc of the Just Jot it challenge go here to our host Linda's blog.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 5th, 2026 is “nature.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Regular visitors here will know that, despite living in the North East of London we are very close to the lake at Highams Park which leads on to Epping Forest.  It is lovely having nature on our doorstep.

The forest actually goes back down to where we used to live but it goes further north too and it's managed by the Corporation of London.

Over the last few days we've had a very cold spell of weather.  The days have been lovely and sunny with blue skies but the temperature hasn't got much above freezing.  The lake has patches of ice on it.

Not far from us there is another lake called Connaught Water.  This is near one of the Epping Forest Visitor Centres and recently they have made a pathway from the centre and around the lake that is accessible for wheelchairs and buggies etc.  There is also a parking area and a Brambly Hedge Trail of sculptures.  More info on this can be found here.

It's very popular.  But essentially it is still just a lake in the forest with lots of birdlife around.

It seems that at the weekend there was an incident involving an off lead dog and people going into the lake to rescue the dog.  There are signs around advising owners to keep their dogs on leads around the water and wild birds.

But apparently there are no lifebuoy rings around the lake and this caused a lot of debate on Facebook today.  Personally I don't recall seeing many lakes or ponds with lifebuoys on them.  You don't surely expect to go walking through a forest, stumble upon a lake or pond and find it has a lifebuoy in place.  I certainly wouldn't expect to find one.  Because once they are put in place they would need to be maintained.  And checked etc.  But the consensus seemed to be that the Corporation of London should provide them.

I think it's much easier to expect people to have a bit of common sense and not venture onto ice covered lakes and keep their dogs (and young children) under control. But human nature isn't always sensible.

JJJ - 4/1/26 - Arms

This is the  4th prompt of Just Jot it January 2026 courtesy of  Cheryl. Thank you, Cheryl! You can visit Cheryl’s blog to read her posts and say hello. 

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 4th, 2026 is “arms.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

This challenge is hosted by Linda here.

Of course one definition of "arms" relates to weaponry as in "weapons and equipment used to kill and injure people" but I'm not going in that direction.  

I'll stick to arms as in the plural of arm as in the things attached to my shoulders that are actually quite useful.

They're good at carrying things.

With hands they can carry out all sorts of tasks:

Swimming (yeah I'm not great at that)

Playing an instrument (yeah not good at that either)

Playing sports, particularly ones that require holding a piece of equipment hmm memories of rounders and hockey which both resulted in black eyes spring to mind.

But cooking and driving I can do and I'm very good at talking with my hands and arms flapping about.

Overall I'd be lost without them.

Now on a different note, I decided I would try and take more photos this year inspired by Kim who has just completed a year of taking a photo a day and is now onto the next year.

Well so far so good:

Top left are the Mandarin Ducks I snapped at the lake on New Year's Day.  

Top right is the lovely dinner Hubby cooked on 2/1/26 - it was nice to have something different from all the leftovers etc. (Pork chop and lots of root veg and peas, plus apple sauce and gravy.)

Bottom left is the latest pic I have of Grandsons Noah and Miles that I got at Christmas and snapped yesterday and

Bottom right is the glass of wine I finished off after my daughter and her family had gone home today after being here for Sunday lunch.  The kids were actually quite good until it was time to go home but playing lots of games with them is quite a challenge.

Phew I'm up to date.  Have a good week all.