Needs a Catchy Title.......

 

Do you find naming each post the hardest bit? I do. Sometimes as I add bits and pieces to the content I change the title, maybe more than once hahaha. And today (Tuesday) is the six month mark of when national lockdown had to start and now the second wave is increasing enough to have much stronger restrictions reintroduced just as schools/ jobs/ pubs/ restaurants/ etc were moving forward. I'll not change the title to counting weeks again! 

Last year I made quince jelly as I'd found a bush in my garden I didn't know existed, this year we seem to have three bushes in three very different parts of the garden (if it's birds or hedgehogs leaving gifts thank you) but this year no jelly as this is the sum total of fruit and they are all tiny. Smell nice just sitting in this dish though. 

Hubby was ready to drastically reduce this flowering cherry tree down again (happens every two or three years) and Son offered to help.........I have a whole family who love climbing trees! 

Lots of shredding, some long straight branches saved as plant supports and thicker branches chopped for Son's chiminea, and the job was done. 

I've also wasted spent quite some time watching a massive neighbour's tree being reduced to fill the back of a trailer. (Oops that's a massive tree not a massive neighbour).

Our lawn (bit cheeky even calling it lawn) is in a dreadful state at the moment with big barren patches of hard dry ground. 

And if you zoom in on this patch you'll see it's swarming with hundreds of tiny bees! 

And the whole week has included a game of people juggling with us two and Daughter's five, to cope with two needing the test and one pre-op isolating and two staying away till there were negative results. How lucky we are to have the facilities to allow us to keep everyone safe and stay within government restrictions at all times. 

With jumpers on and the heating too I'm happy inside watching Hubby and a neighbour replacing some fence panels in the wind and rain (no I'm not going out there to take a photo).

Hands - face - space and keep yourselves safe.

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And The Next Thrilling Instalment........

 

.....is much the same as all the recent weeks hahaha. 

Sunday was lovely weather and when Son, Daughter and R came over we had lunch outside. Later M and O came over as O had built a rocket so they wanted to launch it in our garden with an audience. It was very successful but they stopped after the fourth time when it came down in a neighbours garden onto their conservatory roof. Phew no damage done and the neighbour didn't seem cross. Oops!

We watched The Good Liar and both enjoyed it with so many twists to the tale and the good acting we expect from these legendary actors. 

Lunch today (Wednesday) was a beautifully crispy toasted cheese sandwich. You may remember the mini saga of the broken sandwich toaster, well yesterday I finally got a reply from Russell Hobbs to say as it's within the six months it's the retailers responsibility and to quote their reference number to prove that I've spoken to them. So off we went to Argos with the sandwich toaster and removable plates in a makeshift box together with all the long conversations about it printed out as proof........ and they replaced it without question! So of course once home I washed it and tested it out and working just fine. 

With all the lockdown gardening Hubby has been doing he's gone through the knees of all his scruffy jeans and has even relegated a semi-decent pair to scruffy status. So I've done some patching and tried three different methods. In the middle l used fabric glue (which feels a bit stiff), on the right l unpicked the side seams and machined with a stretchy zigzag stitch then had to machine the side seams twice as don't have any strong thread and finally on the left is the very slow hand sewing which is still in progress! 

Plus there was all the usual...... outside coffee morning with the neighbours, shopping by click-and-collect, quiz night, Daughter with R and dog coming over for garden cuppas etc. 

And now it's Jewish New Year, so here's wishing you all happier, healthier, safer, sweeter times ahead. Shana Tova!

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A New Adventure........

 

Oh my, I've a Granddaughter old enough to have now gone off to University! I'd asked Daughter a few times what we could get E, was there anything she needed and Daughter had said E was choosing all she needed and they had it sorted. Then at the last minute Daughter said jokingly/sarcastically that she'd probably love a blanket that grandma had knitted specially for her for when she was feeling homesick, then she laughed and said "you've got a whole week"!

Well of course if I'm challenged like that I just had to, didn't I? 

So with very chunky wool and big needles my little fingers steamed for a few days. Because I'd knitted on the diagonal it wasn't until I'd cast off that I discovered what an odd shape I'd ended up with. 

Too much work to undo and no time to do it again so decided to turn it into a poncho. 

Made a cord to lace the front with. 

Made a cushion cover for it, so it can be useful on her bed when it's not being worn. 

And thankfully she loves it, phew!

It won't be quite the free and easy teenage/ young adult adventure of previous uni freshers week with the Covid restrictions etc but I'm sure she'll have a great time. 

Yaay I've just had my nails done for the first time in six months! Instead of having my lovely nails lady come to my house as she'd always done, I went to her's as she has a professionally covid-safe setup with screens and extractors etc so seemed more sensible. 

Daughter and E drove north on Tuesday and stayed with friends overnight and E moved into her uni home on Wednesday. So R and the dog stayed here overnight for company. Another first for us in six months. Tilly never has a problem making herself at home. 

Another quick trip to the garden centre. 

The lemon tree is a gift for a really thoughtful and generous lady. I never know what to get her and Son happened to mention, just in casual conversation, that she'd bought a lemon tree for a friend and later had wished she'd bought one for herself. I didn't even think about getting one for us as anything that needs special care dies here. 

So remember "Hands- Face- Space" as the new slogan goes and let's hope this latest spike can be controlled.

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And What Happened Next.....

 

There's been more discussion with friendM about our October holiday in Spain. Originally three couples going again to friendM's apartment in April so bargain flights booked with Easyjet, then lockdown had us transfer the flights to October (had to pay a bit extra) and now Easyjet have stopped flying from Southend and Stansted so friendM has applied for a refund. She will book flights with Ryanair but I've suggested we wait till nearer the time. FriendsT&F have cancelled completely as they don't feel safe travelling anywhere yet and although friendM has holidayed there in July on her own and again in August with her partnerP and feels safe enough I'm still a little undecided as we watch the COVID numbers rising in parts of Spain! This needs closer monitoring and serious thinking about. 

A downward change in the weather, cold, wet and windy. Of course the new plants are enjoying the wet. Son visited Saturday morning and Daughter and R came over Saturday afternoon and both times we had to sit inside. Thankfully our dining room is big enough for us to sit more than far enough apart. Our heating even went on for a brief "take the chill off" hour! 

And actually there was nothing else worth writing about this week, it's all been the usual plodding along. Weather watching for getting bits of gardening done and pegging out washing and I've had a bit of a project to get done quickly which I'll tell you about next week. 

So for now I'll show you the new plants all looking quite happy planted out. 
Fingers crossed they fill out the spaces. 

And some round the pond paving to fill the gaps. Strange photo makes the water look like shiny black treacle 🤣

Plus there's more grass seed down and covered to try to help our horrid patchy lawn.

Till next week then TTFN.

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