Today I shall be Mainly...

[Wendyf]

Not all humans...some of us stick to age appropriate rates of engagement!

[Sue]

I shall change our bedding today, then carry on with edging the lawns. At least here when I change the bedding i can shake the duvet into the duvet cover, over the bannisters in the mezzanine.

I have a sore throat and a blocked nose, typical of the time of year. The fields around are full of flowering rape and all the catkin producing plants are bursting forth. I was a bit panicky yesterday so did a bit of research. There are no cases locally, nothing within about 40 km from what we can find out and I would have to have caught it shopping last Friday. The timing was just right of course. Bob was reassuring, and of course it is hay fever. Bob has just told me he has a sore throat too. No cough or fever though.

Our English friends who live about 25 minutes away phoned for a chat last night. She joked and said she was doing her good deed and phoning the over 70s and vulnerable. I told she would be vulnerable next time I see her . Nice of her to phone we had a long chat. Later in the evening I got an email from a friend at home asking the same thing.

We did a big shop yesterday and gotbeverything we need for a week. Bob shopped I stayed in the car. Then at the chemist he stayed in the car and i went in. I was observing the coming and going of shoppers. So many men doing the family shop, quite rare inFrance. There were only two in front of me. The pharmacists wore masks and gowns and used hand sanitiser between customers

Keep safe everyone and remember to think positive, keep cheerful and stay busy.

[Big Kev]

...working. It was a long commute down to the dining room this morning. Blood donation at tea time.

[plaques]

Working on the lawn removing moss dressed in full gardening hamza outfit. Dangerous business this gardening especially from the coronary fumes given off by the soil by digging or other exhausting work. One whiff of these fumes and you can suffer a heart attack within minutes.

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[Wendyf]

You haven't got your trousers tucked in to your socks!!

[Sue]

Working on the lawn removing moss dressed in full gardening hamza outfit. Dangerous business this gardening especially from the coronary fumes given off by the soil by digging or other exhausting work. One whiff of these fumes and you can suffer a heart attack within minutes.

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Must do ours, had a go the other day but got side tracked with a beer

[plaques]

You haven't got your trousers tucked in to your socks!!

You women are all the same, that's all I ever hear from Mrs P. For Gods sake I'm working isn't that enough?

[Wendyf]

[Sue]

Nice to have a bit of light hearted banter rather than doom and gloom.

My yoga class was cancelled tonight , technical hitch, so we decided to join my sisters online wine tasting but couldn’t connect. We had to drink our wine by ourselves without professional help

[Marilyn]

That is the best way to enjoy wine...with no professional help.

Plaques, I would be taking a blow torch to that lot and scorching it off...

A bit more Ancestry filing for me, then a walk in this glorious sunshine. Not going anywhere near public places.
Shopping tomorrow during dedicated older person/disabled persons hour. If I find grandparents bringing school aged children along to the supermarket during that dedicated hour, I shall complain to management.

[Stanley]

"Plaques, I would be taking a blow torch to that lot and scorching it off..."
Why am I not surprised.
P. Clever stuff using those old bicycle clips.
Butcher's as usual, must keep up with the fat and protein from red meat!



I am not bored, I have more work than you could poke a stick at!
[By the way China. Don't worry, I'll be trimming the studs on the valve chest after final fitting of the piston.....]

[Wendyf]

My neighbour is picking up some double cream from a friends dairy today and is bringing me a 2 litre bottle. We get through a lot of cream but not quite that much! I fancy having a go at making butter, watch this space.....

[Marilyn]

Just put a pinch of salt in and shake, shake, shake, Wendy.

[Sue]

That is the best way to enjoy wine...with no professional help.

Plaques, I would be taking a blow torch to that lot and scorching it off...

A bit more Ancestry filing for me, then a walk in this glorious sunshine. Not going anywhere near public places.
Shopping tomorrow during dedicated older person/disabled persons hour. If I find grandparents bringing school aged children along to the supermarket during that dedicated hour, I shall complain to management.

You don’t know my sister and her double act with her daughter she sent us a link to the video later. It was quite funny. This week was Prosecco, next week Rioja. She gives a bit of the history and asks what you can taste. Its a live event so she communicates directly to her audience.

Well I wonder what we shall do today. Yesterday I planted seeds making seed trays out of old potato boxes. I lined them with cut up grow bags, filled them with soil and then sunk fibre pots in the soil. We had managed to get the pots from the supermarket. I filled each pot with some strange potting compost we had in the old stables, that we use when we plant trees. I gave it all a good soaking before I planted the seeds. I put the boxes in a sunny part of the patio. The intention was to put them undercover every night put I think the boxes are too fragile to move so I made a makeshift ‘cold frame’ ie a folded groundsheet covering the boxes and secured on the ground with stones. Easy to lift during the day, after the seeds have germinated, and to replace at night. I have potatoes and garlic to plant in the main veggie bed, but I want to finish edging the flower beds first. Bob has cut the hedge at the side of the road, laid a piece of railway, and is ready to cut the grass in the orchard with his tractor, having already cut round the trees with a hand mower. It looks a bit like crop circles in there.

My craft doggy bag arrived yesterday from my niece. There were two patterns, two pieces of fabric, a cross stitch, and a set of drawing pencils and paper. A good selection for a rainy day. Rain not due for 10 days,

Bob and I have decided our sore throat is definitely caused by the paint on the door I painted. The smell is really strong despite having the doors and windows open all day yesterday.

Think positive, stay cheerful, keep busy and stay safe

Have as good a day as you can everyone

[Sue]

My neighbour is picking up some double cream from a friends dairy today and is bringing me a 2 litre bottle. We get through a lot of cream but not quite that much! I fancy having a go at making butter, watch this space.....

Claire, Erin and I made butter last summer it was fun. It did take a lot of shaking. I suppose you could try whisking it.

[Sue]

I found out yesterday that only one person can go in the car to the supermarket, as I don’t drive Bobs car, especially his new one, then it will have to be him. As we don’t have a dog to take a walk, nor dependant relatives to look after, do not run or ride a bike and hope not to visit the Dr I have no other valid or accepted reason to leave my house and garden so it looks like its where I shall now have to stay for the duration . A drive out to the shop once a week was my only outing

[Marilyn]

A drive to the supermarket once a week has pretty much been my outing for the past six years!
Though on a really good week, we may call into the hardware store...and... AND... once a fortnight we do have country market!
( where I buy secondhand books and jigsaws)
The rest of the time, we avoid crowds.
A day out is a walk along local cliffs ( with a water bottle, packed sandwich, banana), or a beach walk ( with water bottle).
We are quite anti-social but love our life.
Our choice to live as we do. We get loads of visitors, but that is easy to manage.

[Stanley]

At least you have space Sue! You're getting your exercise in the garden, better safe than sorry.
Not sure what's happening today, no shed, I think I need to write articles. I have decided to make no mention at all of Covid! Covid-free zones could be popular!
Maz, "We are quite anti-social but love our life." I find that I fit quite nicely to the present regime because that is how I live. It suits me. Perhaps that's the reason why I have not had a cold for years!

[Wendyf]

Aren't you allowed out just for a walk Sue?
There is lots of online advice on making butter in a mixer or with an electric whisk but we don't have anything sophisticated enough to run at a slow speed towards the end.....could get the kitchen decorated in buttermilk!
We should be able to make our yoghurt from it too, at the moment Col buys a rich Jersey milk to make his while I tuck into Lidl's full fat Greek every morning.
On the subject of fat, have you seen reports coming out of China (published in the Lancet) that a significant amount of people dying from Covid 19 had low total cholesterol, uncertain whether this is cause or effect but either way you seem to need cholesterol to fight the virus.

[Marilyn]

Put the cream in a glass jar...add salt...put the lid on and SHAKE for about 20 mins. Result...butter. ( pass the jar between you as you watch TV in the evening. It soon gets done.)

[Wendyf]

Yes Miss!

[Marilyn]

There will be some fluid around the solid butter.
How do I know this? I have done it with kids.
The butter is lovely.

[Sue]

Aren't you allowed out just for a walk Sue?
There is lots of online advice on making butter in a mixer or with an electric whisk but we don't have anything sophisticated enough to run at a slow speed towards the end.....could get the kitchen decorated in buttermilk!
We should be able to make our yoghurt from it too, at the moment Col buys a rich Jersey milk to make his while I tuck into Lidl's full fat Greek every morning.
On the subject of fat, have you seen reports coming out of China (published in the Lancet) that a significant amount of people dying from Covid 19 had low total cholesterol, uncertain whether this is cause or effect but either way you seem to need cholesterol to fight the virus.

We can go 1 km from the house and must maintain the social distancing. So we can walk half way to the next field and back. We have to carry our permit and put the time of departure on it. We can be put for no more than an hour so technically we could do a circuit 1 km radius from the house but in practice you can’t because of the way the lanes and the farms are. I know I get my exercise elsewhere which is why I didn’t mention the walk , its hardly a walk in my book. There are so e beautiful isolated places around but we cannot get there by foot and not allowed by car.

[Sue]

Stanley and Maz it may be the life you are used to but I am not. I will keep busy, keep safe but a change of view once a week would have been nice.

[Wendyf]

Sue, you need to start driving Bob's car!