I'm Still Shielding (week 19).......

Saturday 18th July
 Lovely weather today, not too hot, and we fed the fish about 2:30pm and watched them while we ate strawberries and cream! Very pleasant.

Another now wearable item. This cardigan had taken me ages to knit and it was not comfortable to wear. I'd made up the pattern myself and obviously included some errors as the collar had never laid down and the sleeves were far too wide. So I bravely machine zigzag altered the sleeves and a full seam down the back and cut off the excess (praying it wouldn't fray). Finally taming the collar into a roll and sewed it in place. Feels so much better.

We are both trying to get back into walking round the garden, as I've almost run out of excuses😉 Hubby is on the go all day anyway but I seem to have lots of sitting down jobs. So 18 laps equals about 1.7 miles.

I'm still not going out anywhere but thought I'd make a few masks, trying a couple of different patterns, as I'm sure we'll be needing them for a long while to come.

We both prefer shaped ones (rather than pleated) as they come up the nose more without wire, essential as we are both glasses wearers and this avoids the steaming up. Also I've found strips of Tshirt for around the ears more comfortable than elastic although we'll need to wear them to find out if it's effective enough.

A regular part of our week is quiz night, which we play on YouTube while combining as one team with our Daughter&co on zoom.

This week was a triple zoom screen event with me and Hubby in our house, Daughter's family split with the three girls at their house and the three boys at the club (isn't technology amazing). So even having to cope with the  timing issues of YouTube questions delays, especially tricky on the audio round, we got our best collaborative score yet of 47 out of 50!

Talking of quizzes, we like quite a few of tv quizzes as easy watching time fillers and I'm sure they help keep the brain active. What makes us laugh is how often the same question comes up in a different quiz on the same day we watch, not only are they all recorded sometimes years apart but we often watch in our own catchup time. Well today was even more coincidental, we saw the same contestant in two programs on the same day!

Nothing much else to report on really, nothing bad has happened so that's always a good thing!
See you next week then. Take good care of  yourselves.
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I'm Still Shielding (week 18)......

Saturday 11th July
Last post ended as this post starts with this morning's visitors 😊 so worth sharing twice! 

I had a really long catchup phone call with friendN, I've been trying to get hold of her for days. Turns out they no longer use their land line but it's still connected for the broadband, so I can hear it ringing but they can't doh! Mobiles only in future. So finally getting together I wasn't going to cut it short and dinner ended up a quick one out of the freezer and our Sunday roast was on Monday. Don't think he noticed 😉

This programme was a suggestion from our Son. Good to have a story line that's very different and makes you think. A six part drama The Capture.  We both enjoyed it and hadn't guessed all the twists and turns. 

I saw this advertised and thought it perfect for our kitchen sink as the tap there could do with some help. It swivels so the spray can be directed around the sink. I know nothing of plumbing so sent the link to Hubby and he just said if I want it he'll get it, bless him eh? 

 Well it arrived, and doesn't fit the tap we have! 

 But rather than being cross with himself for not checking the details first he's now happy to have another DIY project! So now he's hunted everywhere for an adapter that he knows he has and feels he's seen quite recently, but doesn't know where! Garage cupboards and drawers, multiple tool boxes, two of the three sheds, and all the cupboards in the house, no luck. He even started looking online to change the taps completely. He's settled for ordering another adapter. 

I've managed to save two items of my clothing from the charity shop bag. The shirt was a bit too snug to button up any more and this lacy top was given to me by my lovely friendL, it had never been worn as it wasn't a good fit for her but she'd not got round to sending it back. It wasn't a good fit for me either but the front panel of one made the perfect insert to the other. 

The rest is just the usual pottering around and chatting with friends who are venturing out and sharing their horror stories of what other people are not doing that they should. Which reminded me of the first bit of advice from my first driving instructor..."you have to assume that everyone else is an idiot so you have to be extra careful".

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Not All Together in Isolation (part 17)........

Saturday 4 July - wow half the year gone!
Although there's been a gradual relaxing of the lockdown rules over the past couple of weeks it seems from the media both official and social that today marks the most changes and the country is almost unlocked but still with certain rules and restrictions! Although after relaxing a little Leicester was declared at risk and locked up tight again with the PM holding it up as a warning.

I may have to rename these posts again as there's no more mass isolation. I thought about "I'm still shielding" but I then feel the need to belt out the song Elton John style hahaha.

There was this.....

And this......

Easy watching and a good excuse to sit knitting.

Sunday 5pm we were asked to clap for the NHS 72nd Anniversary, but it wasn't really advertised like it had been before and only a few of the neighbours joined us, but we could hear the bagpipes a few streets away.

Rolls for tonight's burgers and the loaf is rye. House smells amazing...... but I can't get the bloody things out of the tins ggrrrrrr

I talked to them in my stern voice and eventually they came out, and were yummy.

Monday's coffee morning started 10:30am as usual but finished early when we felt the first drops of rain, turned out to be more of a threat than a soaking but we'd said our goodbyes by then. Wednesday's neighbour's exercise session didn't even get started as it was raining and that's how it's been all week. Hubby gets the figits if he's stuck inside and has made a start cleaning windows inside and all the open frameworks.

And a slight delay posting this today (no I hadn't forgotten again) due to lovely visitors arriving this morning to sit in the garden drinking tea with, neither sibling knowing the other was coming,  and Daughter brought pineapple upside down cake yummy!

Not All Together in Isolation (part 16)........

Saturday 27 June - although doesn't really matter what day it is 😉

Been wet on and off and very windy at times but still reasonably warm. Late afternoon and nothing worse than football on TV with canned crowd noise urrgghhhh!
So we watched a film

I was very pleased to see it wasn't just a remake of the original it was a whole new updated story of its own.

Oh dear, Daughter came round with R and E mainly just for a quick escape from their house and it also gives the dog a garden run around. The girls noticed the dog acting weird and running right through bushes and getting covered in bits of foliage...... then she got closer to us and we all realised she'd rolled in something and stank! So we found her some shampoo and Daughter had to give her a full lather up and garden house rinse! The look on her face was obedient humiliation.

Another film this week was Bumble Bee, a more modern transformers story. I found it after hunting through Sky Movies and knew Hubby would love it and I actually enjoyed it too.

Change of tempo Thursday as we had to leave the house, only my fourth outing in 103 days and all of them medical related. I need another operation relating to the recurring bladder cancer. Discussions between consultants decided that Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital could provide the best procedure. So we went to the hospital and saw the same consultant who had also done major surgery on me in 2017.

All went quite well at NNUH, a long chat with the consultant who explained everything and says he's doing this keyhole and robotic, which is a new one for me. Thankfully they managed to arrange my pre-op, ecg, bloods and another long chat with an anaesthetist without too much waiting around. So a long time there but saves us another 100 mile round trip.
Surgery is planned for 7th August and I'll need the covid swab test just before and I'll carry on shielding till then too.

And we were home in plenty of time to join Daughter&co on zoom and take part in the online pub quiz. 👍

And today it's quite grey and very windy, so here's my wonderful lavatera/mallow before the flowers go. Always reminds me of  mum who gave me the first small cutting from her's about a million years ago!