An Up and Down Week

The week started on a relatively high note as I celebrated my 53rd birthday on Monday.  It was another lovely sunny day and due to slight changes in the lockdown rules we were able to welcome three friends in the garden, all at 2m distance!  The day began well with a ...

... cooked breakfast courtesy of Ben, here I am opening cards and gifts.

  Dave had hid my gift in the hallway cupboard!  Weeks ago I offered a suggestion that if he was stuck for ideas please would he buy me book four from the 'Hawk and Dove' series written by friend and author Pen Wilcock.  He went one step further and bought the remaining six books directly from Pen, so each book had a message on the front page.  The only book Pen did not have in her possession was the one entitled 'Remember Me' so she very kindly bought it from her own amazon page! Pen has also been offering a daily reading of her last book in the series, 'A Day and A Life,' over on her blog Kindred of The Quiet Way and it is well worth a listen :-)

I managed to find a low carb San friendly no sugar coconut and lime cake and it was delicious, shame I didn't take a photo :-)  Our friends arrived at 3pm and left just after 4, we had cake and tea in the garden:

 It was so lovely to see them but very strange not being able to give a hug or sit around a table, what odd times we are living in.

Having made my own cake, Ben stepped in and made my favourite dish Lamb casserole with broccoli on the side.  Whilst the tea was cooking I plonked myself in the camping chair and stole a few moments of peace:

I sent this image to Pen via facebook messenger and we had a little chat via the interwebs!

My last treat of the day was my usual WhatsApp 'knit and natter' with my longstanding friend and knitting buddy Debs.  She sat in her bedroom and I sat in mine and we chatted and worked with wool attempting to put the world to rights for a good few hours.  Despite the screens it was just like the old days pre Covid.

I've had to be careful about spending time on social media as I'm aware that my mental well being starts to crash but I cannot ignore what has been happening over in America and to a lesser but equally distressing degree here in the UK.  It is quite awful to wake up to the fact that racism is endemic across all areas of society.  I have been reading and learning what I can and then praying for an end to the suffering and injustice of those in the BIPOC communities.  I understand why folk are protesting and marching but COVID-19 is still ever present.  Worryingly many of the front line workers are from those communities and their death toll is dis-proportionally large, so goodness know how they will  manage with an ever likely second wave :-(

In a bid to kick start the economy the Government continues to ease the rules regarding containment of the disease and all of a sudden decided that folk like us who had been shielding no longer needed to hide away.  Their daily tea time briefings seem to fly in the face of the scientific advice and even common sense, so we will be ignoring their advice and continue to largely stay at home.  Having said this I did have recourse to buy some essentials from our local Co-op on Tuesday so decided to whip up a face mask before venturing forth:

 If you have ever watched Home Alone, there was the wet bandits and the sticky bandits and now you have a flowery bandit!  In an attempt to provide extra security from any airborne particles I used heavy duty interfacing on the outer fabric.  The mask is definitely not PPE standard but as the Tesco slogan says, 'Every Little Helps!'  I did feel a bit of a wally going into the shop but I was spared any funny looks and upon reaching the tills noticed a sign supporting the use of face coverings in the shop.  I chatted with the lady behind the protective screen and told her I was Ben's mum so she knew who she was taking too :-)

The mask also came in very handy when I had to make a drop and go parcel stop at the Post Office.  I finally completed two further commissioned bunting sets for the lady in The Isle of Wight:

I am currently working on the first of the last two commissions.  As much as I love knitting, crochet is very therapeutic and I am grateful for the rhythm of working with a hook and yarn.

Dave has enjoyed spending time in the garden.  He finished painting the wall and the area looks light and fresh.  He spends most days planting and potting on and we have quite a good selection of vegetables growing in the back garden.

Sweetcorn and rhubarb in pots with French Lavender dotted around the bottom.

Our family WhatApp group still continues to be a positive life line and in many ways the family has been more connected since the lockdown!  Ben, Tom and Sara love sharing whacky memes, funny videos and GIFS.  I know that my parents and Dave's mum love to see what they have shared.  Our resident singer and dancer AKA Mary Grace usually provides some form of weekly entertainment.  Sometimes the menu of the day is shared and this was my offering today:

 Breakfast:  porridge with a dash of cream, raspberries and pecans.

Lunch: Courgette and butternut squash pancakes, sausages and tomatoes served with avocado and mixed salad.

Just before the weather changed Mum H shared photo evidence of her epic bike trip to the park:

Mum has become quite tech savvy and we all enjoy our daily lunch dates.

Well I guess that's me caught up!  How are you all doing?  I hope you are still managing to find some moments of joy in your day.  Since I have bagged this time on the computer I will venture forth and check up on you all :-)  I usually pop by daily but still haven't figured how to sync my phone to my Google account so I have to wait till I have access to the computer to leave a comment!  Sending love from me to you xx