Spidey’s Serene Sundays | But I Smile Anyway...

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 280 – Read

12 Jul 2020 40 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Quote, reading, Reviews, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday

“Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body.”
Joseph Addison

Thanks, Spidey! I always appreciate your quote selections, and I love that you chose to think about reading today. This quote makes me happy that my brain is being exercised as much as the rest of me at the moment, perhaps even more so!

I love books.

I definitely have an addiction.

I try not to buy too many physical books, because – space. But somehow they still end up in my basket. My Kindle is groaning with the amount of books I hvae waiting to be read.

I’ve even started adding ones I’d like to another list, on Amazon, so I don’t get them, just yet, as I must do justice to the ones I already have! (Unless they go on sale, in which case, it would be foolish to not!)

And as I read, I always review. I have done for the last few years, since I started blogging, and getting to know authors. The importance of reviews stretch beyond just letting other readers know what you think.

Well constructed reviews are also crucial for authors too. It’s not just about the ratings and getting five stars across the board. A good review will give the author food for thought. There may be huge praises involved for the writer, but sometimes there is constructive advice within reviews too, things that may help an author refine and hone their skills for the next book.

Since I started doing my monthly review posts, I realised that initially, I wasa automatically giving any book I read 5 stars, because I felt I should. And to be honest, I rarely read books that I wouldn’t like. Tried and tested authors.

But my range changed as I began blogging, and I found my preferred genres widening. Becoming a member of NetGalley further expanded my reading and reach, and I realised that blanked 5 stars were no good for anyone!

So, over the months, I honed my ratings to the meanings below. I shall be including this in all my round up review posts, so you will know what the ratings mean to me!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - loved it so much, I need ALL the books this author has ever written!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - great read, something I'd read again
⭐⭐⭐ - enjoyable storyline and characters
⭐⭐ - an okayish read
⭐ - really wasn't for me

And please remember, your reviews and ratings mean a lot to all authors!

If you’ve read Marriage Unarranged, and haven’t quite got round to reviewing… pretty please do!

So tell me, how do you rate books you read?

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 279 – Storm

05 Jul 2020 33 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday, Storm

“Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.”
Roy T. Bennett

Thank you, Spidey, for another profound quote for me to ponder upon.

We’ve certainly, as a whole planet, weathered a huge storm this last few months.

I don’t think there are many people out there who haven’t been affected by the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

If there is anyone, lucky you.

Most people have either known someone who has contacted this nasty virus, if they haven’t suffered themselves, or they know of someone who has been taken from this earth too early. Another victim of COVID-19.

If the virus hasn’t physically affected you, you still feel the effects. Be it your job. If you weren’t in essential jobs, suddenly you were at home. Either working from home, furloughed (if in the UK, at least) or you found yourself out of work.

Kids sitting at home, parents trying to be teachers.

Worry on your mind for members of family or friends who were sheilding, as vulnerable members of the community.

Who’d have thought that a time would come where you wouldn’t even be able to hug your own friends and family, if they didnt live in the same house as you?

Four months of a storm that is only just showing signs of calming a little. But it hasn’t disappeared yet.

There is still a chance the storm may pick up it’s severity again.

But we can’t live in fear either.

So, we carry on with life, as best we can, hoping that we don’t get caught in the storm… again…

So… tell me, are you hopeful?

Have a peaceful Sunday Peeps And enjoy your week! ❤

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 278 –

28 Jun 2020 34 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Change, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday

“Things do not change; we change.”
Henry David Thoreau

Thank you, Spidey. An apt one for the current situation, I think.

Physical things do not change, in their essence. (Yes, I am aware of certain things, like caterpillars, tadpoles etc. but I’m being metaphorical!)

But situations do, as do people.

We are all currently going though a metamorphosis of our own, as we evolve through the pandemic.

People are finding that they are enjoying certain elements of lockdown, and the gradual lessening of the restrictions has brought about a bit of conundrum to some.

Over three months, it has become apparent how much they are enjoying more family time, working at home, no commuting, cooking more, online shopping rather than going out, enjoying their gardens and discovering DIY projects they haave taken great pride in completing.

I went out to town yesterday, for the first time since the majority of shops opened. It was quite surreal to see how there were queues outside most of the shops. I’m used to supermarket queues, but to see them outside certain clothes stores, wasa strange.

And yet we have all adapted. Lil Princess went with me, and she hasn’t seen any of this at all over the lockdown period. She was amazed at the way everyone walked in their designated family groups, avoiding one another. Most people were respectful enough of each other, to give way when needed, and there was an aura of calm about the place.

We have settled into a different way of schooling in a way no one would have actually forseen, with online learning, as well as the small bubbles within school.

Adapting as we see ourselves through this strange time.

And even meeting our loved ones, restraining ourselves from hugs, sitting apart in the gardens, just to get a chance to speak to our family face to face, rather than via video call.

See. We’ve all changed in one way or another. And maybe for the better.

So… tell me, how have you changed over lockdown?

Have a peaceful Sunday Peeps And enjoy your week! ❤

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 277 – Father’s Day

21 Jun 2020 33 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Fathers Day, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday

“Some people don’t believe in heroes, but they haven’t met my dad.”
Unknown

Thank you, Spidey for that great quote!

It’s father’s day, and the day wouldn’t be complete without me paying tribute to the great fathers in my life.

I have my Pops. He is truly the greatest father a girl could have. Pops has been there, a constant support and mentor, my whole life.

Pops isn’t a reader, but he’s even reading my book at the moment. He takes it page by page, but still, for a man who doesn’t do books, he’s determined to read a 378 page tome by his daughter!

I love my Pops. the best dad – Ever.

Then there is my husband, father to my children. You know, they say a father is a girl’s first love, and her choice will be influenced by that first love. I have to agree. Though they don’t share physical features, Pops and Hubby Dearest’s thinking, generosity and support are the same. Hubby Dearest is the most wonderful father to our kids. There is nothing he won’t do for them.

My Father-in-Law – I have to thank him for giving me my husband, and being a great granddad to our kids.

Happy Father’s Day to these three special dudes in my life, and to all the wonderful daddies out there!

So… tell me, what are you doing to make Father’s Day special?

Have a peaceful Sunday Peeps And enjoy your week! ❤

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 276 – Normality… Kinda?

14 Jun 2020 54 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Normality, Quote, Routine, Serene, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday

“But I’ve strayed so far from normal now, I’ll never find my way back. And the truth is, I no longer want to.”
Alyson Noel

Thank you, Spidey, for another great quote!

We’ve been living in this way now, for twelve weeks. Some class it as the #newnormal, some think of it as a phase, some have barely changed what they were doing before…

It has been tough, for everyone, in so many different ways.

We lost the freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted.

We had to learn to spent twenty-four hours with the people in our households. People we love, but who we’ve not spent so much time with, with out a break

We learned how to adapt our working lives or school lives, to working from home, with children bursting in, in the middle of Zoom meetings, or trying to calm a child’s meltdown as they didn’t get their home learning task. (quite often, it was the parent melting down because they didn’t get it!)

We adapted in many ways, using technology, where possible, to keep in touch with friends and family.

We tried our hands at different things, once we’d settled into this surreal way of living. Cooking different things, baking, DIY, arts and crafts, gardening. All sorts of stuff.

We almost enjoyed the extra hour in bed because there was no commute in the morning. (Unless you have a cat like mine, who sings the morning breakfast chorus in your ear at stupid o’clock, until you relent and go give him food.)

We took time out to go for walks, or attempted to use that one outing for exercise to cycle, or run. Something some of us had been wanting to do for ages, but never found the time for.

And now, as lockdown reaches the next stage of easing… how are we feeling?

I know I have had a strange one. Not totally isolated as I had to go into school regularaly, and get the groceries in. Planning and working from home has been a strange experience. Not seeing my class at all has been horrible.

But the extra time at home has been enlightening in so many ways.

My almost daily walks have been with Lil Man, and I am proud of my nearly 15-year-old, and his thinking. We have talked, frankly, about so much, over the last three months. I feel that our relationship as mother and son has reached a different level.

Lil Princess has been a harder nut to crack. She hasn’t taken to lockdown that well, and disappears in to her room for hours at a time, not wanting to go out, or even have conversations, but we’ve been trying. She’s really missing her friends. She will do all the online learning, but she misses school. And with no sign of her going back, before September, it is tough.

Hubby Dearest and I have reached a relaxed way of living. Work hours are just that, and breaks and evenings are spent sitting, talking, eating, planning the future…

I’ve written some, read lots, learned new crafts, baked, experimented with different recipes. I’ve let my hair go, the grey is rife. My nails are as au naturel as the day I was born.

Am I happy that my life is falling into more of the old normality, come Monday?

Hubby Dearest will still be working from home. Lil Princess will still be distance learning, as will Lil Man, but with some allowances for either video call or face to face meetings to discuss his next steps, as he is in Year 10, meaning GCSEs next year.

I go back to school to a much-reduced class, only 11 out of a possible 30, (and one of those is actually from the other class as we have a set of twins, and needed them in the same bubble).

There are mixed feelings.

I have loved being at home, spending time with my family, and being able to do more of what I love, on top of working.

But, I was born to teach. And I have missed my class far too much. I can’t count the hours I have spent, worrying about certain children and whether they are okay, if they are even trying to access any of the learning we are setting for them.

Yet, I still have an underlying anxiety about going back. And I blame the government and media for this. Is it safe to go back, or not? Are we the country’s guinea pigs? Some schools came back partially, a couple of weeks ago, and they’ve reported back that things are okay. Weird, but okay.

And as a BAME member of the community, should I be even more cautious? Hubby Dearest would much rather I didn’t go back. He even offered to keep the household ticking over so I could hand my notice in. He’s scared.

I can’t do that, though. School is so much a part of me. Yes, the idea of not working sounds great. I could legitimately devote all my time to writing, but that is one full income we’d be down by. I’d feel like I lost a part of my independence.

But, I do wish there was an inbetween. A little more home time, a little less school stress.

But, for now, I’ll just have a go at the cards we’ve been dealt, and see what happens… cautiously.

So… tell me, as things inch themselves back to a semblance of normality, how are you feeling?