The New Normal: The Weekend

I did my 20 mins rowing on Saturday morning, had a smoothie for breakfast (banana and apple) then worked from home until 5.30pm.  Hubby heated up a cheese flan with some salad and his home made  potato salad for lunch.   I forgot to take a picture and scoffed the lot!  I was able to observe the one minute silence to remember Prince Philip as the funeral began.  We had the tv on in the background so I was able to watch the coverage whilst working.  

There was only time for a quick tidy up before three sets of viewers came to see our house - they all seemed to like our things (lemon tree, cat, vintage bottle garden), but no offers.... we spent the evening watching The Prodigy on Netflix and dinner was a cheese sandwich and a cider.  Since oldest son moved out and youngest likes to cook his own we have been eating lighter.

On Sunday I did my usual rowing at home, had veggie bacon, egg, tomato and potato waffle fry up and then went to our gym for a booked swim - 34 lengths - with the ease of lockdown gyms opened up this month with distancing - I couldn't believe nobody else had booked in and I had the entire pool to myself - I was so lucky!  

The afternoon was spent with a fruit smoothie for lunch, then a nice rest in the garden with my new book - Justina Blakeney's Jungalow, Decorate Wild.  I pre-ordered this back in November and it has been a long wait for release date but well worth it - a fabulous book of inspiration for furnishing a home with a mix of countries and continents theme - lots of  ideas on style and colour,  and best of all embracing clashes of colour - something I am keen on ... I can't put it down!

It seemed about time I wore those fabulous Indian earrings from the selection my friend Vix sent me recently.  They really are beautiful and not too heavy - thank you Vix :)  The top is an old favourite but has always been too warm on  holidays - ideal though for our chilly British climate!   We reseeded the bald patches on the lawn and put net down anchored with pea sticks to stop the birds.  Mollie cat wees on the lawn and we are having trouble discouraging her - orange peel helps but doesn't look nice!

Mollie's favourite chair is also my favourite chair, she won't budge up 

and share but we haven't fallen out over it yet :)

My favourite room, the conservatory,  is disappearing under greenery! I have moved all our houseplants out there for some sunbathing - they need more light now they are in their growing season and it now gets quite hot in the afternoons if the windows stay shut, so ideal for them (and me!).

Hubby helped put our tomato and cucumber seedlings into bigger pots on Sunday, we have 30 tomato plants  - they are on every windowsill I can find - we are still getting a frost at night so they can't go outside for a while.

I received a gift from THIS isn't.... vegan food company this week - it was a lovely cool bag with their logo and inside was a range of their products to try out and give feedback.  On Sunday night I dry fried THIS isn't chicken - tikka flavour, serving it with salad and Waitrose spicy mexican rice.  Very filling and very tasty for a quick ready meal.

I had time to paint my nails and dip into that book again - then we sat in the conservatory with a few rum and cokes to finish the evening.

Hope you have had as good a weekend as me - it makes such a difference when the sun shines!

100 Days and More..

It's over 100 days since lockdown and the World keeps turning.  At Touchwood things are changing fast, two of the four of us are now unemployed, but I am putting a cheery face on, at least we are all together here and helping each other out.... getting out for walks and trips to blogland are a great escape for me.

I was up at six on Monday and found a Nuffield Health HIIT class on You Tube and got stuck in - these are 30 minute workouts (high intensity but with 30 second slow jog recovery periods between sets, so very easy to get into.  Still doing my 100 fitball sit-ups and venturing into the spider infested garage to do some weight lifting most days.

On our walks this week the fields have been full of these huge daisies.

Monday's walk with hubby was nearly 5 miles, I noticed the hedgerow is changing - blackberries are forming but still green, mallow, wild iris and foxgloves are out and the fields are full of yellow rapeseed. 

On Tuesday the seeds from eBay arrived (radish and spring onion).  Hubbys post wasn't so cheery, he got the Dear John letter confirming his redundancy.   But lets think pink and fluffy for now... this beautiful mallow is all over the hedgerows and roadsides here.

I won a 70s (allegedly) skirt on eBay which is due in the post at the weekend.  I often forget my EBay bids and lose out but remembered this one in the last 3 minutes when another bidder was creeping in.  I should set a phone alert next time.

Wednesday I planted up my spring onion and radish seeds in pots and weighted a tray with bricks on the shed roof - running out of space!  I am working lates all this week so have to rush out in the mornings whatever the weather to tend the garden - I have also done some more lawn seeding and dead heading of flowers.  The border is crammed now with snapdragons and nasturtium.

I flit from one cleaning job to another as I enjoy housework and it's good for keeping myself busy but I know its important to have quiet time too, lately I find it hard to get into books, I start them but dont finish.. (maybe I have adhd - it runs in the family!)  I just started Margaret Attwood's The Testaments - Handmaidens Tale fans probably read it last year when it first came out .. I forgot about it until it turned up this week on my library Ebook list.

Torrential rain this morning (Thursday) so just nipped into town for a few essentials and was pleased to find the rain had it's advantages - no queue at any of the shops or post office and loads of parking.  

I have discovered a jar of uninspiring black olive pesto but my goodness how delicious it was on my pasta with grated cheese and fresh basil from the garden - I think it's the fresh basil that makes it so lovely..  I've eaten it for lunch two days running.  

Ta da - sweetpeas in a wigwam pot.  First time I have had any grow from seed successfully.

The masks didn't work out well - the swimming elastic was all that Fabricland had at the time and it snaps easily - but I emailed them a new order on Tuesday explaining the problem and lots of elastic arrived next day l- brilliant service, I love popping into their shop in Brighton but their online shop has a very good range.  So with the weekend off I will be busy unpicking and sewing!

Here's hubby's collection of fridge magnets, - I like the tuktuk from India best... do you collect anything? being ocd I don't like clutter but can just about tolerate this little gathering :)

Things are not perfect for any of us in these strange times but I am grateful for the extra time to just sit in the moment and think, be and reflect.  I had my paints out in those spare moments this week which, for me, is very restful, will show you next time..... what have you been doing to keep yourself sane? 

 

A week in May

It seems a long time since I dropped in for a chat.... my garden is planted up, the sweet peas are climbing sticks and I now wait full of hope for the night scented garden to grow into something wonderful - let's hope there won't be disappointment, there are a lot of slugs around.  I found two toads in the shed so have been taking the slugs to them (the toads have a hole in the floor where some rats ate their way in a few years back so there is a safe exit into the damp soil below.  Last night I tried beer traps for the slugs and they have worked well - do you have any other natural methods that have worked for you?

This week I walked up along the airport perimeter where there were some beautiful wild flowers....

The bluebells are coming to an end now and

we are seeing cowslip, dead nettle and woodruff.

Isn't this bottle garden beautiful?  It was given to me by a local lady when I advertised on freecycle.  It's huge, very heavy and an original (Viresa).  I think I was very lucky as have seen them on Ebay for around £35 as they are quite desirable.  I also have a smaller bottle I found in a charity shop for a few pounds (it wasn't for sale but for display so I had to make an offer).  Some of the charity shops in our area do fabulous window displays but then put a sign saying 'not for sale' which seems ridiculous as the items were given to raise funds for a good cause!

As you can see, not much in them yet!  I think cacti might do well and am growing some small houseplant cuttings to add.  Does anyone else have one? I am not using mine to full effect yet as they should have a layer of stone, charcoal and soil and be sealed so that they become a little mini eco system.

I'm off to work now but Saturdays are a good day for me as the market is open and there will be lots of flowers to choose from, I am looking out for some daisies for my tubs..... have a lovely weekend  and thank you for stopping to read my ramblings.  Any advice on bottle gardens or slugs is appreciated :D

Ferns

Just stopping by to tell you that my night scented garden has begun!  Today the fence went up :( and the woods are not quite so visible but  I have a lovely big wooden canvas now to cover and today planted honeysuckle, lilac and mock orange. 

things are happening in the potting shed too

For ground cover I planted three types of thyme (hope the slugs don't eat them all! ... please tell  me they won't?), in the conservatory sweet peas are climbing merrily up pea sticks all by themselves.

Whilst waiting for everything to grow I have been painting.  I saw a pretty fern print in Ikea and wondered if I could paint one similar, first few attempts weren't quite right but then I tried my never before used super thin brushes (having read on Susan Branch's blog that she uses fine brushes) and things got better :D

So here I am with a cup of tea listening to the birds.  This morning was incredibly noisy and as I sat for a very long time the grey squirrel and then the birds all forgot I was there; three young starlings came and pulled out worms within a few feet of me, the robin whizzed past checking his hedge nest (bad news, somebody stole the eggs - the squirrel perhaps?) and I listened to blue tits, coal tits, blackbird, wood pigeon - you name it they were all joining in today, it was superb...(reality check we are also about 2 miles from the airport so every 3 minutes or so we get the noise of a take off interrupting, but we are very used to it - so much we don't notice and you can't have it all - the birdsong makes up for the plane noise!).

Bluebells are still out so I hope to get another walk amongst them this weekend.  Today has been hot and sunny and just right for gardening and drying laundry in the breeze and tomorrow - well rain tomorrow but that will be great for my plants!

Something else wonderful this week - our Queen is 90 ... she was looking great on the news this morning wearing fuschia pink.  I do hope she is still around at 100+

How's your garden growing?

ta da! framed (annoying blotches are on camera lens)