'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.'

Hello there! It's been quite a while since my last post and things have changed considerably in the intervening period. A gold star, 2 Brownie points and 5 'Wallaby Hops' to anyone who can identify which novel the quotation in the post title is taken from. Clue: it's the opening sentence of the book. Another gold star etc. to the person who can tell me which TV programme the phrase 'Wallaby Hops' comes  from! 

The quotation seemed quite apt as we have recently been self-isolating for 14 days. R has been working from home for a few weeks now and has had cabin fever since day 2. I feel I have fared much better as my temperament and normal lifestyle are well suited to being at home.

After 2 weeks of isolation I found that I became quite 'institutionalised' (if that's the right word) and didn't feel like going out. The thought of a trip to the supermarket filled me with dread but it had to be done. After 2 weeks at home I was like Old Mother Hubbard. The low points were a blood orange rice pudding - the oranges were too far gone to eat normally and it seemed like a good idea at the time ....... it wasn't! - and swede laksa which, yes, is as disgusting as it sounds. The supermarket queue was ridiculously long, snaking all the way through the Shrek-like cordon, round the side of the building and across the car park. It took me the best part of an hour just to get to the entrance! We now have a fully stocked fridge and larder though, so we'll be fine for another couple of weeks. Evening walks have resumed and the silver lining of the great Coronavirus cloud has been our exploration of local public footpaths. We've lived here for 20 years and we're only just discovering a lot of them. I hope that our exploration and the sense of community spirit that has developed will continue when all this craziness is over.

Here then are a few photos of the last month or so. Some of them were taken before lockdown when life was more normal. It seems like such a long time ago now.

Photo to show how high the river was after all the storms in February. There is a bridge somewhere under that lot!

Sowing my seeds. The following day a wee beastie of the rodenty kind tunnelled in and ate a lot of them. I was forced to clear out the greenhouse, flags were laid on the base and then all the seeds resown. To be fair, it is a lot tidier now :0).

A trip to London to hear L play in a concert. Her orchestra were accompanying some opera singers and it was brilliant:

Whilst we were killing time before the performance we went for a walk and explored Portobello Road market. It was slightly disappointing in that there were no dancers and it wasn't a bit like in 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'!

I bought a book from a second hand book shop - not the one made famous by Hugh Grant shown below which is, sadly, full of tat - and we sat outside a coffee shop and shared a vegan croissant.

About a week after our visit I developed a fever, headache, chills and a dry cough which lasted about a week. It was probably just some random bug but it would be quite nice to know!

Jaffa Bites from the Happy Pear recipe book:

A drive out in Bridget to the New Forest for the first picnic of the year. It doesn't actually look that foresty in these shots!

We walked around the village of Beaulieu which was beautiful and I'd like to visit again when we're back to normal. There was a lovely community garden that we really liked:

We had 4 (yes, count them!) 4 flowers on our small magnolia tree this year. That's 3 more than last year, so I'm thrilled!

R finishing off the fruit and brassica cage which was his present to me for our homemade Christmas. The birds stripped all the fruit off my bushes last year before we even got a look in and, after netting all my kale against the cabbage whites, I was horrified to find that a blue tit had got caught in the net. I'm  hoping that this will solve the problem.

Playing with clay. I was trying my hand at a coil pot which is harder than you'd think - my coils were oblongs! Now that it's dry I was tempted to draw a picture of a Coronavirus on the base to remind me of when I made it. E, however, informs me that that would be in poor taste!

Making a 'Quarantine Quilt' with my scraps. It's a Flying Geese type design and I made the decision to make 2 squares a day (I need 72) and not to use my unpicker at any point! Some of them are real shockers but it's keeping me sane:

 I'm reading a lot:

 My Mother's Day card from L finally arrived - she was self-isolating on the day and couldn't post it. It contained a beautiful cross stitch bookmark that she made from a kit she received one Christmas. I love it.

 My favourite blossom against a blue sky:

We went for a walk (part of our daily Government sanctioned exercise) in the bluebell wood. I forgot to take my camera, so here are some from the garden:

As I was the member of the household doing the food shopping, R hadn't been able to buy any Easter eggs. He made me a robin's nest box instead which is much nicer, I think. I also get to share his egg!

 Knitting by the river with the ducks:

 Duckling spotting:

 Taking a photo of the garden before the rising winds blow off all the cherry blossom!

 Finally, Hamish finding himself a patch of sunshine to snooze in:

Well, that's all for the moment. I hope you're all finding something to keep you sane in these strange times. Stay well, my friends and, as always ....

Toodle pip for now. x

Hand Washing Central

I think I was 18 when I first developed eczema. It coincided with leaving home to go to uni and was probably a combination of stress and having to do all the washing up for the first time - this was in the days before I discovered rubber gloves! Over the years it has come and gone . Hard water exacerbates it and I can always tell when our water softener needs more salt because my hands flare up. Much as I love the thought of scented soaps, any that are given as gifts end up in my sock drawer; my hands being averse to anything with the slightest hint of colour or scent. The current advice to hand wash for the duration of a verse of the National Anthem is doing them no favours. They're red and sore and the Hydrocortisone cream has made a reappearance. 

Coronavirus is all over the news. When I went into London last week, the woman sat opposite me on the train made herself very unpopular with her persistent cough. People kept shooting her dark looks and I was trying to hide behind my book.

I had an appointment at my bank this morning.The virus was mentioned and, as we were parting, the chap went to shake my hand. I jokingly asked if we were doing that and he told me that businessmen in Japan are now shaking feet instead - so we tried it just to be able to say that we had shaken feet with someone that day! :o)

Aside from worrying about viruses, the past few weeks have been very pleasant. There have been a couple of Knitting shows, 2 trips to the cinema - if you haven't seen the film 'Parasite' I would heartily recommend it - trips to see both daughters and a fair bit of crafting and cooking. I have battled with my sourdough starter (it's winning!), nurtured my kombucha and failed to sow my veggie seeds as I can't face sploshing down the garden to the greenhouse.  

Here then are this month's happy photos:

Enjoying my bird feeders:

 A trip to the cinema to see this. Andrew Scott (of Moriarty / priest in Fleabag fame) was brilliant:

 Valentine's Day roses:

My Valentine's Day 'frogilo' from R. I've positioned it in the hosta bed as that's where I most often see frogs and toads - probably lured there by all the hosta-munching slugs.

 

My granny square blanket made using the bag of scraps of Stylecraft DK that I discovered during a cupboard clear out. It now lives in the car. It's a 'well done' present for Lily for passing her MOT! 

 Enjoying my Camellia:

 

 A trip to Unravel at the Farnham Maltings with my friend, W.

 My purchases from Unravel - a book, 2 skeins of DK to make the Linus Shawl and a sweater quantity of worsted yarn to make the Weekender sweater.  

Starting the Linus Shawl. The yarn is called 'Space Jam'!:

 Rereading L's copy of 'Emma'. One of my New Year's resolutions was to read more classic books. I'm sticking to it apart from my monthly book from Audible. This month's was 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' which I bought after failing to find it at the library. I loved it.

 Finishing my Christmas Eve cast on socks. These have been my travel knitting which is why they have taken a while. The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply in the 'Robin' colourway. I didn't have a red mini skein for the heels and cuffs, so it's more robin against a blue sky!

 A visit to the Stitch Festival at the Business Design Centre in London. It was much easier to access than the Ally Pally and didn't seem quite so crowded:

I met up with L afterwards and we popped to the British Museum to see the Troy exhibition and share a pot of tea and a cake in the members' cafe:

 We then met R and had dinner here. It was YUMMY!

 A trip to Bristol to see E. She had an orchestra rehearsal in the afternoon, so R and I had lunch at Wahaca and then trawled the charity shops and explored the Cathedral whilst we waited. Apparently, the first performance of Handel's 'Messiah' in a church was done here:

 Lastly, Hamish playing dens. He does love a nice cardboard box:

Well, that's all the happies for this month. Hopefully spring will be on the way soon; I think we could all do with a bit of sunshine. In the meantime, take care and remember to wash those hands! :o)

Toodle pip for now. x

Riding It Out.

We spent yesterday morning battening down the hatches in preparation for storm Ciara. Bird tables, dovecotes, wheelie bins and garden chairs were laid flat. Pots were moved to more sheltered spots and all my 'danglies' (wind chimes, twirly things and the like) were removed from the cherry tree to prevent damage. I'm glad we did, as the wind is currently howling down the chimney and I'm keeping an anxious eye on all the trees. Despite the anxiety, there is something rather cosy about it all and I'm planning an afternoon knitting and reading in front of the stove. Listening to the Shipping Forecast, we were surprised to learn that the Beaufort Scale goes up to 12 - having always assumed that 10 was the maximum - and were very grateful to be safe at home, with nowhere that we need to go.

I thought I'd spend half an hour before lunch unloading my camera, so here are a few photos from the last month:

A visit to Old Sarum. Sadly, my camera battery died almost as soon as we arrived, so this was the only photo of our visit. We loved the castle and the sense of history. What we didn't enjoy was the sight that met us as we walked around the moat. Apparently, rabbits have been causing damage to the structure and so English Heritage had called in a company to 'deal' with the problem. We had noticed a couple of men with dogs, acting, it must be said, rather furtively. As we drew near we saw dozens of rabbit corpses strung up along the fence. Now, this was a Saturday afternoon and there were plenty of families with young children around. One man that we passed was so upset that he called the police. 2 officers came to investigate, only to discover that the men were there legitimately.

It really put a dampener on the day. I can understand the need to preserve the monument, but I'm sure a quieter time of day could have been chosen and the bodies not have been displayed so openly. R sent a letter of complaint to EH, who agreed that it could have been carried out in a better manner and promised to have a word with the people involved. We came home and gave Hamish an extra long hug!

 Finishing my Trapeze Dress with fabric bought from the Knitting and Stitching Show. 

 Tending my air plants - a birthday present from E. If anyone has any tips regarding their care, they would be gratefully received!

 Growing avocados. These are both now potted up, so I'm hoping that they flourish:

Taking a leaf out of  Barbara's book, I decided to join in with the RSPB's bird watch. I feel I should apologise in advance for the poor quality of the photos! My camera isn't the best and I got so excited when a bird landed that my hand tended to jerk when I clicked the button so they're all a bit blurry. If you want better photos, I would head over to Barbara's blog as hers are superb! I did my count whilst drinking my breakfast smoothie and the hour flew by. Later in the day there were flocks of long tailed tits and goldfinches, but, sadly, they were nowhere to be seen at 8 in the morning! Here then are a few, dodgy pictures from my hour :

For R's birthday, I bought him a one day wood turning course. He went along clutching his lunch last weekend and returned at the end of the day with these:

The candlestick was more to learn the techniques involved. He loved it and now wants to clear out the garden shed and buy a lathe!

I tried my hand at dyeing with avocados. The mini-skein on the left is the original bare colour and the pinky-brown is the dyed yarn. I think if I want a brighter pink I would need to make the water more alkaline.

 A trip to Welford Park (famous for being home to The Great British Bake Off) to see the snowdrops:

 

 

 

Those blue skies are from yesterday afternoon - difficult to believe as Ciara has now added thunder and lightning to the high winds!

Anyway, that's all for this week. Wishing you all a cosy afternoon, safe and warm indoors.

Toodle pip for now. x