Diary of a 60 Something......Thursday and Friday

Thursday  23rd March 

Today is very much an exercise day as I am joined by my husband.  We go relatively early and spend an hour there.  My husband does the treadmill and weights and me the cross trainer. 
We return home and I eat earlier than usual as I am going to my Pilates class at 1pm and need to digest! 

I have got back into the swing of Pilates again - I always felt the benefits but somehow going on holidays disrupts the pattern but now I am determined to be consistent and go to my twice weekly sessions.  Its surprising how much better my joints are now and my back is much stronger.








Feeling virtuous I return home and plan the evening meal.  Quiet evening tonight watching TV....bliss!

Friday 24th March

Put a load of washing on and catch up with the ironing. Quick session at the gym and then home. Hung out washing and then go to Lidl with my husband....when I tell my daughter what I have been up to in the day she usually mocks me by saying  "living the dream"😁

Back home have lunch and then I dedicate the afternoon to painting. One of my hobbies is painting

portraits.  Just recently my granddaughter asked me to paint her so she can put on her new bedroom wall.  She is delighted with it, however my grandson wants me to paint his portrait which is fine but I am struggling with his likeness.  Children have such perfect skin no blemishes no wrinkles and  its hard to identify distinguishing features.  Its much easier with craggier older faces!

Evening we have dinner with friends then home to bed....zzzz


So ends my week long diary.....as you can see quite unremarkable but very busy and we think very fulfilling.  

Now the weekend look forward to - the weather is going to be good so look like gardening will be on the agenda!

Diary of a Sixty Something .....Monday......Tuesday......

Monday 20th March

Day begins in the usual way.....

9am my husband and I go to the gym - he does weights and treadmill and I go on cross trainer and low level bike followed by weights...

Then home and I prepare lunch - pork steaks, broccoli, cauliflower and gravy......small portion of potatoes for my other half.

Noon we eat and after follow BBC2 Politics programme which we watch most days

Afternoon we both continue a clear out of old files and paperwork we have accrued.  I am still working on clothes and sorting out what I want to keep and those which have been hanging around for a long time.....

Uneventful day really but time was filled with worthwhile jobs which needed to be done!


Tuesday 21st March

Its my daughters birthday!!!  Cant believe how all these years have flown by.......

Start the day as usual ...
About to go to the gym when we heard the doorbell. Our delivery of a ton of top soil! We were expecting this but weren't sure when!!

When we came back from holiday just before Christmas we found that the

lawn had been affected by a snowy fungus and needed immediate attention and we have been treating it for the past three months. So now time to spread topsoil and reseed. So gym was shelved and we started work at 9am and we finished at 11.30!  We were quite pleased with ourselves.  Tired but not unduly so.  I am delighted that I had enough food prepared from day before to have for lunch today.












After lunch ...we may have had a little nap.......

On waking up my husband reminded me that he had run out of cake.... only has home made so I put a fruit cake in the oven and in the hour it would take to cook we nipped out to our garden centre for more lawn seed!  Back in time to take cake out......




Hang out the washing and prepare teatime snack looking forward to a night of TV.

...don't think we will be in bed late tonight.....tired already.....

Gardening Solution

Trying to take my mind off the car (previous blog) so looked out at our garden and this delightful sight.....feeling calmer now :)

This arrangement covers a really ugly manhole cover which the builders must have decided was a feature in the middle of the lawn....

Gardening help!

This time of year means sorting out jobs ready for the winter, If you have a garden no matter how big or small you know there are essential maintenance tasks to do. I know friends and relatives see this process as a mega imposition on their free time for me I just see it as preparation for the good things which come out of it! I also feel there us the added bonus of exercise and extra calories burned!

Some jobs in the garden can be onerous especially.......cutting hedges and foliage  - can be a challenge. In the past I have had hedge cutters which haven't been effective or efficient. They frequently jammed and the battery life on the cordless models was extremely limited. I wasted more time trying to solve problems leading to great frustration,

So with caution I ventured into research into latest hedge cutters and found several in Amazon which were well recommended in the feedback comments - I went for this Bosch which has proved to be absolutely superb - some challenging tasks take no time at all.  Mine is robust has a long battery life and is able to cope with just about everything I throw at it! Why did I wait so long to try again!!

The other gardening labour saving device is this flexible hose ,,,,,my friends laugh at my preoccupation with things they would regard me as viewing mundane ......little do they know! Ihave always been frustrated with our normal hose - watering takes far longer , the hose keeps "kinking" cutting off water supply and I find myself running backwards and forwards trying to remedy the problem. We saw an advert on TV about a flexible hose which resolved all the problems I have encountered - too good to be true - no! Does what us says on the box!!

We bought ours from Robert Dyas but am sure other outlets stock this. Why make life harder for yourself?

Week Highlights!

Well late Friday afternoon again!!  I thought time was supposed to hang heavy as you get older but it doesn't seem to be the case in our house!! It has been a very pleasant week with planned events and time to invest in our hobbies and interests.

As always I try to go to the gym most days as it really sets me up for the day.  I prefer to go early to when I feel at my best - if I leave it later then tiredness inevitably makes the seem trip less attractive. So how did the week pan out?

Monday was essentially gardening day.  Lots of trimming back, mowing lawn and hedge cutting.  So enjoyable and therapeutic and it was a reasonable day weather wise. I also treated myself to some of the roses as rain was on the cards and they would be ruined so I thought we would have the benefit indoors.







Tuesday I met a friend for a girly lunch at Balthazar in Covent Garden.  We haven't seen each other for a while hence need for a catchup. There's nothing nicer than a long leisurely lunch  with good company and not having to rush back to work!! Retirement does have its compensations!

Wednesday we went to see "Shakespeare in Love" at the Noel Coward Theatre. Splendid production - quite mesmerising and quite emotional.

We found the film excellent and the stage production didn't disappoint - very powerful in a different way. Highly recommend it.

As we were leaving a twenty something said to his friend ...."That was great and it was Shakespeare! Makes you feel cultured when you are not!"

Laughing  at this we then popped next door to Browns for dinner - end to a perfect day!


Thursday read our newspapers on line, did my tweets before getting up! Bliss!  Cooking, cleaning and ironing filled the rest of the day. It has to be done! I also did the finishing touches to an oil painting  of a member of our family.  Will have to let him have a look and see what he thinks!! Now have to look for another subject which is often the hardest bit.......







Today went over to Chiswick to have a brief catchup with my daughter took the grandchildren to school before heading back for lunchtime with my husband. 

I can honestly say i am never bored there are so many things I want to do and I am trying my best to fit as many of them in as I can. We can never stress the importance of planning for your future enough. When you are young you don't pay so much attention to saving for retirement as it seems a long way away.  However as we tell our children if you work hard, be sensible and save as you go along then your future can be assured and you can enjoy the liberation that retirement brings.  Thankfully 50, 60, 70+ somethings don't carry the stigma of age so much and remain vital and curious about life. Providing your health holds out the wonder of new experiences is still within your grasp!!

maintaining your figure!!

Continuing plan for the summer determined to get to the gym to maintain my weight and to  tone.....this routine has become very much a part of my daily objectives.

my day also includes

scales
daily calorie count
making the right food choices
portion control

     I also treat my tape measure as my conscience - it doesn't lie!!

I have found that as I have got older I don't seem to need or crave the larger portions I would have had when I was young. We were brought up to "clear our plates" whereas now it is more sensible to say I am full - my body is telling me this so leave the food we don't need. Fortunately the friend I met yesterday has a similar approach to food and watches the carbs and portions size.  Maybe surrounding yourself with like minded people is the answer when socialising and then you are not tempted to order fatty calorific alternatives.

This may seem to be onerous and prescriptive and I understand if this is the impression that is taken from this.  However once you have worked out a healthy diet content which you find appealing you will be surprised how you will become happy with it and more comfortable and the bonus you will start to see a difference in your shape, energy levels and well being. 

I am no saint and like a glass of wine and a bag of crisps like everyone else - however these are acceptable so long as they don't become a frequent components of your diet.

Its a little bit like learning to drive - you never think you will get the knack of being competent so many things to think about .....however driving eventually becomes second nature to you and part of everyday life!

No reason why mature women in age category 50 and beyond can't have a figure which is beach ready!!

Talking of everyday life the rest of the day will be devoted to catching up on jobs in the garden....cutting back, pruning, planting bedding plants and praying that there won't be a frost!

Keeping active and busy for me now in my 60s is vital and hope that it will help in the future with my health and my mind!!

Time for a cup of tea!!

Flower Power...........

Isn't it fantastic having a sunny day ?  Never thought we would get one.  One of the most frustrating things in a garden is that the plants and flowers never reach their full potential if they miss their biological timeslot.  We all know how disappointing it is when the climate is unkind particularly with frosts wiping out the blooms on magnolias and camellias.

Thankfully we are now enjoying the fruits of out labour in our garden.  We moved into a new build house 7 years ago and had to start from scratch.  My husband and I mused at the time about the number of gardens we had had to tackle and never fully had the benefits. We do intend this time to stay put and to tend rather than develop!


It has been a challenge trying to get the garden into reasonable shape.  We have extracted bricks, breeze blocks and other general builders rubble.  Even after 7 years we are unearthing rubbish  - you wonder why some plants don't survive and then you find out why!

Gardening is so rewarding. When I was working I found it very therapeutic and helpful in reducing stress levels.  Now in retirement it is another interest, an interest which enhances our property and gives us great satisfaction and a great environment in which we can relax and keeps us fit!

Our standard wisteria coming out at last!!