Sunday 17th May

Week Eight

Who came up with this one?

I can go to the park and meet a friend but I cannot go into her garden.  Well my friend has a side gate and I for one and her are carrying on as we were. (I'm a bit of a rebel on the quiet!)  I also have friends in my garden but front only because you cannot access my back because you do have to go through the house or garage.

I had a phone call from NHSCoronavirus asking/checking up on me.... 

Had I had a letter? No!  

Is anyone doing my shopping? Yes! 

How is my mental health and before I had time to answer she said goodbye!  

Apparently I'm vulnerable...... it's a bit late now!  

Good job I've been self isolating!!!

Rant Over

I been gardening, my kind friend Val has given me loads of plants from her garden so I try and put them in straight away!

All the above I put in last summer

After last weeks sharp winds I found the yellow tulip had been sheared off.

The shorter tulips are now coming into bloom. 

Saw Gardeners World the other week, Monty Don re-planting tulips in the garden after they have gone over.

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I didn't write this, I found it on facebook last week

I think I’ve worked it out....  

* 4 year olds can go to school but university students who have paid for their tuition and the accommodation that they aren’t living in, can’t go back to university.

* I can go to school with many 4 year olds that I’m not related to but can’t see one 4 year old that I am related to.

* I can sit in a park, but not tomorrow or Tuesday but by Wednesday that’ll be fine.

* I can meet one person from another household for a chat or to sunbathe but not two people so if I know two people from another household I have to pick my favourite. Hopefully, I’m also their favourite person from my household or this could be awkward. But possibly I’m not. In fact, thinking about it, I definitely wouldn’t be. But as I can’t go closer than 2m to the one I choose anyway so you wouldn’t think having the other one sat next to them would matter - unless two people would restrict my eyeline too much and prevent me from being alert.

* I can work all day with my colleagues but I can’t sit in their garden for a chat after work.

* I can now do unlimited exercise when quite frankly just doing an hour a day felt like I was some kind of fitness guru. I can think of lots of things that I would like to be unlimited but exercise definitely isn’t one of them.

* I can drive to other destinations although which destinations is unclear. I was supposed to be in Brighton this weekend. Can I drive there? It’s hundreds of miles away but no one has said that’s wrong.

* The buses are still running past my house but I shouldn’t get on one. We should just let empty buses drive around so bus drivers aren’t doing nothing.

* It will soon be time to quarantine people coming into the country by air... but not yet. It’s too soon. And not ever if you’re coming from France because... well, I don’t know why, actually. Because the French version of coronavirus wouldn’t come to the UK maybe.

* Our youngest children go back to school first because... they are notoriously good at not touching things they shouldn’t, maintain personal space at all times and never randomly lick you.

* We are somewhere in between 3.5 and 4.5 on a five point scale where 5 is all of the virus and 1 is none of the virus but 2,3 and 4 can be anything you’d like it to be really. Some of the virus? A bit of the virus? Just enough virus to see off those over 70s who were told to self isolate but now we’ve realised that they’ve done that a bit too well?

* The slogan isn’t stay at home any more.So we don’t have to say at home. Except we do. Unless we can’t. In which case we should go out. But there will be fines if we break the rules. So don’t do that.

Don’t forget...

Stay alert... which Robert Jenrick has explained actually means Stay home as much as possible. Obviously.

Control the virus. Well, I can’t even control my dogs and I can actually see them. Plus I know a bit about dogs and very little about controlling viruses.

Save lives. Always preferable to not saving lives, I’d say, so I’ll try my best with that

one, although hopefully I don’t need telling to do that. I know I’m bragging now but not NOT saving lives is something I do every day.

So there you are. If you’re the weirdo wanting unlimited exercise then enjoy. But not until Wednesday. Obviously.

Sunday 10th May

Week Seven

Well how was your week?  

I have to be honest I lost the days, I thought yesterday was Sunday for a while.

I have done some gardening.  I put in a newly purchased rose from David Austin Roses in.  A bit of an extravagant purchase but there was a reason why.  I have two really lovely friends who help me by shopping or help me with my accounts.  I buy them flowers and bake cakes for them every so often and have made things like bags and quilts.  This time |I thought a rose might be nice.  Val had The Ancient Mariner.  Her and her husband Mark have a dinghy which they sail off Porlock but haven't been out in it since last year, it is also a  poem local to us as Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived on Exmoor.  Jane had Ballerina, I couldn't get belly dancer as that is her hobby!  I had Fairy because that's where faeries live don't they, at the bottom of the garden!

my pretty "posh" tulips still going strong

frog/toad in Val's pond

I went for a walk into town  with Jane last week.  

Note to self don't mow two lawns then walk into town the next day...........

Lat's just say I had a very restful day on Friday

I take photos of Weather Vanes.  

This one was seen on the walk to town.

Jane and I also spotted this Arum lily growing on the bank of the local stream

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All weekend this is the song everyone seems to be singing.  

Looking forward to seeing my family so much so I dedicate it to them also to the friends I had arranged to meet up with before the lockdown

We'll meet again

Don't know where

Don't know when

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

Keep smiling through

Just like you always do

'Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away

So will you please say hello

To the folks that I know

Tell them I won't be long

They'll be happy to know

That as you saw me go

I was singing this song

We'll meet again

Don't know where

Don't know when

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

We'll meet again

Don't know where

Don't know when

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

Keep smiling through

Just like you always do

'Til the blue skies

Drive the dark clouds far away

So will you please say hello

To the folks that I know

Tell them it won't be long

They'll be happy to know

That as you saw me go

I was singin' this song

We'll meet again

Don't know where

Don't know when

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

Sunday 3rd May

Week Six

A week when I didn't feel like doing anything. a week when I couldn't get motivated. 
It was the week my darling husband passed away last year from a brain tumour. 
A verse from this poem was read at his funeral.

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

 W. H. Auden

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Everybody who has a garden I'm sure has been gardening, planted flowers to watch grow.  
The lawns are being mowed regularly looking neat.
My garden is looking quite bare after two years of neglect. I've been pulling weeds, and these weeds were not flowers just in the wrong place!

The Three Cornered Leek was bullying and taking over the garden so I may enjoy the garden next year but I did buy some "posh" Tulips from the flower show at Taunton last year.

I am concentrating on the front garden as that is the part everyone see first.

I went for a walk in the fine rain Wednesday morning. 
Saw these pretty flowers in the hedgerow on my walk

Lady's Smock in the hedgerow

Lady's Smock in the hedgerow

English Country Garden

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow

In an English country garden?

We'll tell you now of some that we know

Those we miss you'll surely pardon

Daffodils, heart's ease and flox

Meadowsweet and lady smocks

Gentain, lupine and tall hollihocks

Roses, foxgloves, snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots

In an English country garden

How many insects come here and go

In an English country garden?

We'll tell you now of some that we know

Those we miss you'll surely pardon

Fireflies, moths, gnats and bees

Spiders climbing in the trees

Butterflies drift in the gentle breeze

There are snakes, ants that sting

And other creeping things

In an English country garden

How many songbirds fly to and fro

In an English country garden?

We'll tell you now of some that we know

Those we miss you'll surely pardon

Bobolink, cuckoo and quail

Tanager and cardinal

Bluebird, lark, thrush and nightingale

There is joy in the spring

When the birds begin to sing

In an English country garden

(Some of the birds and insects are not English but we will forgive that......won't we....?)

Sunday 25th April

Week Five

Another week of doing whatever.........

What have you been doing?

I had another walk into town to collect medication and pay my credit card.  

I've even had fish and chips home delivery which was lovely as I didn't have to prepare a meal for myself.

Home Delivery - very yummy!

Sorry going to have a moan...........

I went to take a photo of the black bin in my garden, put there by my neighbour.  He had a delivery of cement and wood and obviously just put it there temporarily - three days later it was still there, his wife walked past it twice!  I was a bit cross as he does take liberties.  I took the photo really to show my family. You see we previously had a really awful neighbour who used to swear out of the window at me and other people so I'm quite wary of what is happening.  (I had to involve the police with the previous neighbour).  As I did so a woman walked past and knew exactly what I was doing, taking photos.  The dog stopped and the woman extended her dog's lead and just kept walking.  Just see her head far left by dark car.  After she disappeared I went out to check to see what I was left, luckily the dog just watered the dandelion.  Mind you I have haven't seen her walk past since!

I finished this this week.  I do have to have to say I do feel proud of myself only because I actually finished it!

Patchwork of the Crosses

The Patchwork of the Crosses.  

Block of the month from Sew and Quilt.  This quilt got me through a lot over the last two years.

1st July 2018 I started the January box.    I cut out fabric and took the templates on the 7am bus every morning, an hour and half journey for about three months visiting my husband whilst he was in hospital.  The day he was discharged my dad went into hospital.  I finished the quilt top by Christmas 2018.

2019 a fun year..... NOT!  

My dad passed away in February followed ten weeks later by my darling husband but I kept calm and carried on..... I bought some wadding and and a king size sheet for the backing.  I carefully pinned the layers together on my friend's kitchen table November 2019 and then hand quilted around each cross.  I didn't want to rush the quilting and actually just finished it this week. 

My lovely friend Val offered to wash it for me and hung it on her line.  I was able the take a photo of the quilt in her beautiful garden.

The bright acid yellow Laburnum flowers made full appearance yesterday afternoon as it always does this time of year for two weeks.  

(Such a very pretty tree, but the whole tree is poisonous)

The Song of the Laburnum Fairy

by Cicely Mary Barker

All Laburnum's

Yellow flowers

Hanging think 

In happy showers.-

Look at them!

The reason plain

Why folks call them

"Golden Rain"!

"Golden Chains"!

They call them too.

Swinging there

Against the blue.

Sunday 19th April

Week Four

Well how are you all dear readers?
What have you all been doing?

Bluebells as seen on a walk

I have been doing things but really not anything to show yet.
Any body else like me?
If I "Show 'n Tell" I tend not to finish what I am making....

My birthday cake.
Made by my friend Val's husband Mark.
I shared it with them

It was my birthday on Wednesday 15th April.  I had lots of lovely messages cards and gifts which arrived on time and cards and gifts which arrived late.  I don't mind gifts arriving late it just means my birthday lasts longer!
I still have cards and gifts to come............
I will show more next week

bag of lovely goodies from Denise

choccie biscuits from Jane B

handmade pillowcases from Jane C

My pretty flowers

Left to Right - Pink  Alstroemeria from Val and Mark. Roses from Robert and Anneka (Bloom and Wild), Lilies from Sarah (her blog is here) and yellow Alstroemeria from Marianne and Brian (my late husband's cousin) (Bloom and Wild)

Strange phenomena my pictures have all disappeared from my last two posts and boy did I struggle to do today's post.........

I haven't been on the computer for a few days hope it hasn't taken offence!

Busy Doin' Nothin'

La-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

We're busy doin' nothin'

Workin' the whole day through

Tryin' to find lots of things not to do

We're busy goin' nowhere

Isn't it just a crime

We'd like to be unhappy, but

We never do have the time

I have to watch the river

To see that it doesn't stop

And stick around the rosebuds

So they'll know when to pop

And keep the crickets cheerful

They're really a solemn bunch

Hustle, bustle

And only an hour for lunch

La-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

We're busy doin' nothin'

Workin' the whole day through

Tryin' to find lots of things not to do

We're busy goin' nowhere

Isn't it just a crime

We'd like to be unhappy, but

We never do have the time

I have to wake the Sun up

He's liable to sleep all day

And then inspect the rainbows

So they'll be bright and gay

I must rehearse the songbirds

To see that they sing in key

Hustle, bustle

And never a moment free

We're busy doin' nothin'

Workin' the whole day through

Tryin' to find lots of things not to do

We're busy going nowhere

Isn't it just a crime

We'd like to be unhappy, but

We never do have the time

I have to meet a turtle

I'm teachin' him how to swim

Then I have to shine the dewdrops

You know they're looking rather dim

I told my friend, the robin

I'd buy him a brand new vest

Hustle, bustle

We never do have

We never do have

We never do, never do

Never do, never do, never do have the time

Never do have the time

From the film 
The Court Jester ~ circa 1956

Sunday 12th April

Week three

Easter day

Beginning to wonder....... 

will 2020 be referred to or remembered as the year the 

world forgot
but it won't be forgotten for all the wrong reasons

or
the year 

everything was cancelled!

??????

clip-art from google

Easter
Dictionary definition:  
noun:  

an annual Christian Festival in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, observed on the first Sunday after the full moon after vernal equinox, as calculated according to tables based in Western Churches on the Gregorian calendar and in the Orthodox Churches on the Julian calendar.
Also called Easter Sunday, the day on which this festivals is celebrated. 

********************

Because we are social distancing been looking a lot on social media, Instagram
mostly...
I saw this saying and seems very appropriate at the moment

"Bloom where you are planted"

What have you been doing this week...............?

I have a friend who went on the Extinction Rebellion march so I knitted her a

Greta Thonburg doll
the pattern is free from here

The Three cornered leek

Simone and Julie  look for the flower and feel the stalk it is triangular.

I don't have an Easter Egg but I do have a chocolate Santa so I will eat that!

The wall I passed the other day

A week later............  

how things change........

It's the same wall!

I am going to have a quiet day today, watching films and eating chocolate, knitting or sewing
I suppose I better go and watch this as my son was the SFX Producer.
My son also has a credit on the Fantastic Beasts - Crimes of Grindelwald

H A P P Y    E A S T E R

Funny Little Bunnies 
Silly Symphonys 1934

Sunday 5th April

Week Two

Moan first - sorry.........

They have stopped collecting the garden waste bin, and garden centres are closed so all that is left is to cut the grass and weed but the garden bins are not being collected.  Just going around in circles!  I did cut the grass..............  dread to think what the garden bin will smell like after a few really hot days and grass cuttings and the Three Cornered Leek I've been pulling up.  The Leek has taken over the front and back gardens.  They've been in the garden spreading for far too long!  I thought gardening was good for mental health........
I will cut the grass more regularly from now on and just leave the cuttings on the grass.  It s just the grass was very long and this was its second cut.

Sorry for rant!

Three Cornered Leek

Three Cornered leek is edible but there is so much of it in my garden.......

Something from nothing lunch.  

In the fridge there was a mushroom stir-fry and bacon.  Cupboard tin of pineapple.  Chips and peas from the freezer.

This cooked in the time it took to cook the chips.

Layer half of the pack of the mushroom stir-fry in a dish.

(I used the lid of a casserole dish)

Cover the stir-fry with the bacon as if it was a pastry top.

.......and very tasty it was too!

I made lemon muffins yesterday for myself and my friend Jane who has been shopping for me.  I feel guilty about her going shopping, but she says she is happy to go. 

I tried one straight from the oven!

Muffin Recipe

For those of you who like poetry, I put a poem on my blog yesterday  

As it made me think we do have time now........  

And there is a poem on Simone's blog too, worth a read

I passed this wall the other day when I went to the letter-box!