I’m having a slow and relaxing to the start of the week, with a bank holiday weekend and additional leave thrown in too, and it’s been great. MOH also took the day off yesterday, but he’s back to work today at the dining room table while I have another day off. It’s been nice to spend some time away from the screen, and while I planned to catch up with myself, sometimes I think you just have to go with the flow and not feel guilty about it at all (well hardly at all)
For me, screen time, has been the most challenging part about working from home and it’s taken a while to fathom out why. I mean, in usual times I spend a lot of time online at both home and work, but I’ve realised recently that these are punctuated by commuting breaks, which of course isn’t happening now. Instead the two screen activities - work and blogging - have merged into one, with work hours tipping over into time I used to blog in. And that’s where the pressure has built up, there’s not enough time to do both, and it’s been here that’s happened less. I’m ok with that for short periods of time, but it’s not something I want to perpetuate for longer than it needs to. The break helps, but also doesn’t, as that doesn’t get blog posts written, or read, either. But recognising where the pinch is, helps I think.
And so does our monthly delivery of gin. With a longer weekend than usual, some lovely weather then gin - this one is Gin Aux Agrumes and garnished with juniper berries and orange, is the latest offering from the gin box, and is from the only distillery in Monte Carlo. I’ve a feeling this one won’t hang around for long - and that’s potentially a good thing as our drinks trolley is looking a little full right now.
We’ve been spending more time in the garden and slowly the flowers have turned from their spring yellows and blues to pinks. There’s still lots to do, but part of that is always to enjoy the peonies - which this year seem to be growing horizontally - and the self-seeded aquilegias. Another pink to add to the list is the Gertrude Jeckyll rose, which is adding pink pops to the trellis on the patio.
Our cherries are coming along, and the pigeons have left us some. Hopefully we’ll win the race against them for at least the cherries we can reach - wish us luck!
In more celebratory news, I finally managed to thread the needle on the sewing machine. I’d tried and tried, and the tried to make the automatic needle threader work, but with no joy. Inspiration struck though, and with my contact lenses out, I had success. So with the needle threaded I was able to make great headway (no pun intended) with the masks I cut out a week or so before.
The diddy iron also helped - it’s an early birthday present (thanks mum and dad) and will, I think, encourage me to sew more. I know that’s an odd sentence, but as a reluctant sewer and and even more reluctant ironer, anything that makes this harder - like having to move between floors, or moving the iron to another floor - means very little sewing. Now the diddy iron can live in the same room as the sewing machine, and I’ll have removed one of the excuses I have for sewing.
I’m pleased with the masks - well as pleased as you can be about masks - they fit us, haven’t fallen apart and the actual sewing part looks good. They’re made from old shirts which I’d kept for many years, nominally for patchwork, but they work for this too. They are on the dark side, and therefore warm when the weather is as warm as it has been, so I will make some in lighter colours too.
Mum had sent a lighter coloured shaped version which is great, and I’m planning to make some of those too. Without much evidence, or actual use yet, I think my preference will be for those that tie rather than the elastic version, as I’m already struggling with having too much hair growing around my ears, and while I’m hacking that back as best I can, I think I’ll fiddle less with the tie behind my head.
It’s also hard to know how many masks we’ll need. I mean, they should only be worn once before washing, and if they need to be worn to and from work, that’s at least two a day (not that we know when office-based work will resume) and let’s face it my washing isn’t always that prompt either, so I’ve a feeling we’ll need more than we think. I think though that I’ll keep making a few every now and then, just so we have some.
The hardest lockdown thing for MOH is knowing his mum is on her own, especially following a recent health scare. We all know that video calls and phone calls don’t make up for seeing people in real life, even when that’s socially distanced. So after much debate he cycled down to check on his mum in person, and had planned to get the train back (it’s forty miles away) The train thing didn’t really sit well with either of us, so I got in my car for the first time since the lockdown started and drove to pick him up. While he finished cutting the grass and mending some trellis, I amused myself and took some photos of her garden, and it was so nice to have something different to photograph. And it was weird to be driving again.
Our garden is making the most of the nice weather and continues to grow. We aim to bring it back into control bit by bit, and often our intended jobs get thrown off track a bit, and that was the case this past week. The plan was to tidy up the forsythia and trim the lilac, now that both have finished flowering. The forsythia is done and is looking as we wanted, but what we didn’t realise was that it was also supporting a hefty chunk of one of next door’s tree, or bush. Either way, our plan changed and so that’s now tackled too, instead of the lilac. It’s one of those plants that have a lot of branches, and while the law says we can cut what overhangs and return the cuttings, like many neighbours our unwritten agreement is more practical than that, making use of each other’s green bins as appropriate.
The lilac will need to wait for another day, along with finishing cutting the euonymus and another hedge-like bush, which I always call the slopey bush (because of its shape), which we are waiting to flower. There’s plenty of other jobs to do too, and hopefully we’ll be able to tackle most of these - green bin space permitting - in our week off next week.
I know I’ll have a busy couple of days at work making sure everything’s done - or as done as it can be - before that week, but in the meantime I also know that you have to enjoy yourself (and your garden) too.
A mojito made with rum from our trip to Barbados and home grown mint, seems just the thing.