Reflecting on my week #128

Well, my online shopping arrived with almost no fanfare and no drama, except for some very late omissions which I still haven’t received an email about. There were the expected omissions - plain flour, which seems to be literally like gold dust here at the moment. Today though our local shop had some self-raising flour, so now do I too.

I made a cake at the weekend - a coffee and just-about-enough-walnut cake - which used self-raising flour, so I’m happy enough. The no-show from the shopping which left me slight more perturbed was the lack of tomato ketchup, thankfully that has been easier to source (pun not intended, but I’m keeping it in as it amused me).

Fish and chips without ketchup, nope, not here. Especially fish shop fish and chips, which has in fact been our only takeaway during the lockdown, and which tasted so good (with ketchup).

The cake was in part to commemorate VE Day, and so out came the cake stand and I even added buttercup, with walnut decorations too, though less than the recipe said.

When you read, or listened to the stories from VE Day it’s hard to imagine the enormity and the significance of the day. It was definitely a day that should be marked, and had the planned events taken place I’m sure we would have seen them on the TV, even if it was long after they’d taken place.

And so, out came my flag, which I bought back in 2012 and took along on our visits to the venues at the Olympic Park. It hung in our front window the whole day, and proudly too, even forming the backdrop for a video call, or two.

Much of the rest of the weekend was spent in the garden. Some gardening, some lounging in the sun. It was too nice not to! We were even out gardening on Sunday, which was much chillier than the days before. This weekend the focus of our gardening was on yet another tangle of jasmine and pyracantha, this time with some dogwoods, ivy and a cherry tree thrown in for good measure.

It’s looking tidier, but as ever, there’s still more to do. Though as you can see, there was some time spent tying the jasmine’s new growth (and some of the older growth too) onto the trellis.

We split a plant that dad had given us a few years back which had grown and grown, and was threatening to take over the raised sleeper bed at the end of our garden. It had grown with two stems, but even so MOH didn’t seem convinced when I handed him the saw and marked where to cut.

Both halves retained good roots, and so I’m hopeful both will survive. One half went back where it came from, and the second into one of the pots we manhandled into place just a couple of weekends ago. I’m findings that more and more, gardening is becoming a large puzzle and tasks are counter-dependant, so we find ourselves in a chain or sequence waiting for nature to catch up with us and our plans.

We’ll get there, and hopefully our plants will too - especially both halves of the one I had MOH saw!

Just before Lockdown Loos

It’s been a while since I’ve had a Loo Series post, so as I’ve got one from just before lockdown, and because I’m lamenting my second cancelled hair appointment, I’m sharing it today. We’d popped to Norfolk in the middle of March as we thought that things were about to change, in fact they changed after the following weekend, so our timing was spot on. We’d gone out for dinner to the Rose & Crown in Snettisham, which was a lovely place and one we’d go back to, and which had been on my parents’ to visit list since they moved to Norfolk in the early 2000s, so it was good to unknowingly tick it off their list.

At the time I was three weeks into my haircut cycle, with an appointment booked at the start of April. That didn’t happen, and my appointment was rearranged for yesterday, which clearly didn’t happen either. So now it’s 11 weeks since my last haircut, which for a regular six-weeker is quite disconcerting, and it’s what I’m liking least about the lockdown. Which makes me sound quite vain, but as my hair grows out as well as down, I have a lot more hair than I’m used to - there’s a reason why I have short hair and have it cut regularly.

Of course I’m not the only one missing their hair appointment, which means when they do reopen appointments won’t be happening immediately either. That’s frustrating too, though I’m decided that I will be taking the first appointment I can, even if that’s during the day. I’ve considered letting MOH loose on my hair, not just the fluffy bits on the back of my neck, but then again I’m not sure he’s qualified. I’m not qualified to cut my fringe and thin the shorter side, and it doesn’t and hasn’t stopped me, but that’s me doing it to me, not him. I’m not sure he’d be so keen either.

But anyway, back to the loos as you can see the advice to wash your hands was clearly on display. While essential, they weren’t a patch on the other artwork. Plenty of red, now that’s much more my thing.

The pub was busy when we went, perhaps that’s usual, or perhaps everyone else was expecting the lockdown too. We sat in an area towards the back, which as we’d parked in the road at the front meant we had to weave our way through the whole building. It was worth it though, both the food, decor and service were great and it’s easy to see why they’ve won the awards they have.

And just to prove my point about the length of my hair, and so this becomes part of my lockdown story. Three weeks in to my haircut and my hair’s not even at my chin - it’s also a lot less grey! And excuse my face, I’ve no idea what or why I’m pulling the face, in my defence it’s the only one I have!

Here’s looking forward to being able to visit family, restaurants and, sorry mum and dad, having my hair cut!

Reflecting on my week #127

Well, it’s the first Monday in May and it’s not a bank holiday. The signs were there, had we realised, that this could be a very odd year! Though given that the change of date was made after diaries and calendar went to print it’s possible some people are quite unaware that it’s moved.

We’re back at work, well, at the kitchen table, and today is a momentous day. Yes, we have an online shopping delivery, and for the first time in over ten years, it’s not from Ocado. I’ve already noticed some obvious differences, and am interested to see how it might all work. We’ll see.

The rain that was forecast last week came, and watered in nicely the two jasmine plants I’d moved. Canny gardening that. In between the showers I popped out to the garden, returning with a few stems of fragrant lilac for the house.

The beans I’ve planted have germinated and raced ahead of anything my slower broad bean seedlings might be contemplating, and I’ll need to make plans for them soon. I’ve had success with basil (briefly), all of my basil seedlings have now been munched, as have half of the lettuce seedlings. Clearly whatever it is has quite particular tastes as the parsley, tomatoes, dill and nasturtiums are safe.

Saturday saw plenty of crocheting, and I’m now just one final granny design from finishing my blanket. It’s been on the go for a while so it will be good to see it finished, and also because I think I’ve already found my next project, Which doesn’t seem to be on that’s already on my ‘to make’ list.

I suspect that it won’t be long before we’re all encouraged to cover our faces while we’re out and about, and I have mixed feelings about this. It’s not unusual to see people wearing them already, and those who do are the ones who come the closest, and even lean across people, in shops as If they have some kind of immunity.

Then there’s the point about people buying the types that are much needed by our medics, leaving them even shorter than they already are. And the effectiveness of homemade versions, as well as the demonstrations for making them out of scarves and an elastic band. I think, face coverings are likely to become ‘competitive’.

I will most likely make some from old shirting, or rather from old shirts, and I have a couple of patterns to follow, one of which needs the template printed. Which should have been fine, except that our printer is throwing a wobbly. We last used it, in probably January, and now the toner (which was already low) has evaporated, or completely dried up. It’s fair to say, we don’t print a lot.

Scuppered by the printer some more gardening took place. The Chilean potato plant with its pretty lilac flowers had a small tidy, but the most of the cutting took place partway up the garden with the euonymus and (another) pyracantha which are intertwined. Many full trugs later, and from the front it really doesn’t look any different (yet), which is kind of demoralising, but as ever, not everything that’s important is on show.

Some impromptu lockdown baking has also happened. I’d opened a jar of almond butter (think peanut butter, but worse) and let’s just say neither of us were fans. Rather than let it languish in the cupboard, with the addition of sugar and an egg it’s transforming into cookies, which actually taste pretty good.

Hope your week is as cookie-filled as you need it to be.