Memorable Moments.........

 
Saturday will be written in the history books as the day Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was laid to rest with a funeral he totally organised himself some years ago. 

We did watch it all but not live as we had friendsM&P here for a garden cuppa. Only the second time I've seen friendM in over a year (for many years we saw each other every day). Thankfully it was the warmest, sunniest day so far and we chatted away in comfort. 

Oh my, the youngest grandchild is now 12 years old. 

By his request birthday cake was sticky toffee pudding and custard, not the easiest to put a candle in and light in the outside breeze. O and I took the opportunity to nip inside and update my bathroom height chart and he's grown nearly 8 inches in 18 months which was his last mark. So at 5ft he's also overtaken me! I look up to my whole family now 😂

No coats needed for this week's on-your-own-drive coffee morning if was so sunny and warm. And Tuesday was another lovely warm day for our first going out social in a very very long time. We've had family and friends into our garden but this time we were invited to our very dear friendsR&S for afternoon tea in their garden. Lots of catchup chat and they've had a Son's wedding and twin baby grandchildren born so plenty of photos to show me while Hubby popped inside for a quick DIY job they needed help with (distance, masks and sanitiser of course).

Oh how Wednesday weather changed, cold and windy and I was more than happy to do inside stuff. 

I'm still slowly sewing up my knitted cardigan and noticed the front borders are pulling a bit so as it's not a button and button hole edge I thought maybe a zip would be rigid enough to hold it straight. Having a good rummage through my stash I found a zip that's open ended, a good enough colour and the right length, so then I had to set it free from the hood of a rain jacket (that's sitting in my stash waiting to be made into a lightweight water proof back pack...... yes my life is full of ongoing projects).

First pull of garden rhubarb, quickly made into rhubarb sponge, yummy. 

Finally finished the cardigan.

Hubby had to buy more salt tablets for our water system and his preferred supplier has moved to join an existing farm shop and garden centre so I went along. We were very disappointed at the condition of their plants, some looked almost dead so he just loaded down my car with ten big bags of salt (half each with our NeighbourA) and drove to the Range for bird and fish food. Home for lunch then out again to a lovely large garden centre at Capel St Mary and bought these. 

A new arrival this week is the hot composter. We have used two large compost bins for years but never with great success and it takes forever, this hot one supposed to be the speediest method and can cope with all organic waste even cooked meat scraps, but it does have very specific loading instructions.

 No plans for this weekend apart from planting yesterday's garden centre purchases and at the moment it looks sunny and warm enough for outside stuff, so I'm off to get dressed and head out to join Hubby who's already working hard out there.

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In A Bubble........

 
We have a house guest, R has moved in for a short while so the three of us are now a bubble, never had a bubble before but do like to experience all this pandemic has to offer...... except the virus of course. 

I've now finished knitting this cardigan and onto the bit I enjoy the least, the sewing together so might take a while. 

Tuesday we had an early morning lovely surprise when friendKK came for breakfast in the garden. She had been hunting for a specific hot chocolate drink that appears to have gone out of stock in both Tesco and Sainsbury where she normally shops but then discovered it was on the shelves of Asda. She loves to walk and got very excited when she remembered there's an Asda near my house, even though it's about four miles from her house. The early text warning sent me rushing off to get dressed and she arrived about 9:30am when thankfully the sun was out. It was so very lovely to see her as this was only the second time in well over a year.

Get ready for a long story........
     Surprise surprise about 2pm friendKK was back, in her car this time.  After leaving here earlier and continuing her walking then meeting her husband for lunch on the Waterfront they finally headed home and she couldn't find her house keys! Convinced she could only have dropped them in Asda she drove back and went in to check if they had been handed in, they searched but found nothing, so she came here in case she'd dropped them here. We searched. She hadn't. 

     Later Hubby said he'd walk down to Asda in case she'd dropped them en route, meanwhile I logged into Nextdoor.co.uk and asked my very local community if anyone had seen them. No,  but someone had remembered seeing a post on the fb page for another local estate. It's a closed group which I'm not on, but Daughter is. 

     I phoned Daughter who remembers seeing the post for keys, and the post said handed in to Asda. 

     I phoned Hubby as he was still searching pavements and grass verges and told him and sent him the photo, so he went into Asda and they searched everywhere but no keys! 

     Asked Daughter to ask finder to describe who she handed them to. By the time we got a reply Hubby was home so back he went. It turns out that instead of being put into the "right place" they'd been put into a drawer and to keep them safe they'd gone into a tin inside the drawer! 

     Hubby came home with keys. He'd contacted friendKK who had already got two vital keys recut and she couldn't believe we'd got them back. 

     I thanked everyone and asked Daughter to pass on the thanks too. 

So a very happy ending all thanks to social media and my strong network ☺ 

Another week ends, R is now back home, we've had a few garden cuppas with guests but nothing else has changed yet, we are not in any rush to be out shopping or eating out as I'd like it to get a bit warmer.

Hope you are enjoying a little more unlocking, but stay safe. 

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Seasonally Unpredictable.........

 
Good Friday was so cold sitting outside with Son and Fiancé, but look at this Sunday sunshine 🌞  So lovely sharing tea and cake with Daughter, M, R and O. Lots of Easter egg swapping too. 

 Monday it snowed! 

Thankfully not much and we still managed a bitterly cold coffee morning, starting a little late as we were all watching to see who was brave enough to come out first. 

There have been some email conversations with cousins and second cousins about staying in touch. Last year we had a zoom meet up which was UK cousins and those in Australia, we also wanted to include the US but couldn't manage a suitable time for everyone. More recently another family member who hadn't been involved then has now got in touch and suggested a private Facebook group so we can easily share photos etc. It was suggested to help everyone with how we fit together that we have a family tree, so I sent a photo of the one I did years ago. Unfortunately the software I used then is now obsolete so I've just got a printout that I scribble on. So the problems to solve is how do we get the couple of cousins that are terrified of tech and not on Facebook to join in, what software to use for a family tree and who is going to create it (I'm keeping my head down).

Busy day on Thursday and we are so out of practice for busy days. 8am and Hubby heads out for our click and collect shopping and then we both did the whole sanitising ritual before putting everything away. Then relax with breakfast and toasted fresh crumpets. Late morning we were out getting our second jabs, both done together this time. Only out the house about an hour but we were both ready for our lunch and the fresh tiger French stick (love shopping day). After lunch Hubby went outside again to carry on fence and shed painting and I had a few jobs to do. Thursday evening is always family quiz night. Hahaha we'll sleep well tonight, provided we don't roll onto the jabbed arms.

Friday we both reported nothing worse than sore achy arms that's jab related. Poor Hubby has had toothache for a while and when the filling fell out he made an appointment for next Wednesday, but yesterday half the tooth broke away so he remade an urgent appointment for 11am today. Unfortunately the tooth can't be saved so today it was Xrayed, cleaned and smoothed and covered in anti-germ stuff. In next Wednesday's appointment they will discuss and move forwards with either a denture or inplant.

And it's Saturday yet again. They forecast it is getting warmer by the middle of next week so hopefully a few more garden gatherings can be arranged. 

Meanwhile stay warm and stay safe.

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So What's Changed?........

 
Saturday and Sunday and nothing has changed. I discussed with my children in our group WhatsApp what we want to do over Easter and we all decided that confidently planning ahead now seemed trickier and a little unnatural.

Monday 29th March is the start in England of unlocking lockdown for hopefully the final time. We can now meet up again outside up to six people or any number if it's just two households. 
Coffee morning with the neighbours as usual and this afternoon Daughter came over with R, O and the dog. 

Got my letter from the government to officially say it's time to stop shielding. 

Daughter lent me this book. Serious covid from the patients view point. Brief, poetic as you'd expect from Michael Rosen, insightful, anyone whose ever been in hospital can relate to so much of it, and so so powerful. I'll say no more as you need to read it. 

Good Friday was very good as Son and fiancé came over for the afternoon with their adorable little dog. In the garden of course, with heater, windbreak screen, blankets and hot water bottles and still really chilly. 

Happy Easter everyone, enjoy your new freedom but stay very safe.

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