Shopping During Lockdown

 During this lockdown we have started using Click And Collect from Morrisons. Unable to get home delivery slots anywhere and fed up with queuing in the rain outside local shops I decided to give it a try, You can order it the day before, choose your slot, then Tom drives to the car park to the pick up point to collect it. If you don't want to get out of the car they will even load it in for you but Tom says there is no way he could sit there watching a couple of young girls doing all the work! On the whole we have been very pleased with the shopping, Only a few substitutions and Morrison's food is nice quality. The only time I go shopping now is for my Dad once a week and that is to his local M&S Food so isn't really that crowded which is why going to B&Q yesterday almost felt like an adventure! 

We decided to go and look at the railings there to see if they would do for our garden plans. We were so pleased with them we bought some straight away. I have learned before in B&Q sometimes they just stop stocking something, usually the one thing I decided to go back and get a while later!  Tom used his new B&Q pensioners 15% discount card. He worked there years ago and now he has turned 60 gets a very small pension from them. As the young girl on the till, who must have been new, had never seen one before Tom explained what it was. "So there you are" I said "That's something to look forward to." She looked horrified! 

I managed to fit in a little bit more tidying in the garden yesterday, more to batten down the hatches before the bad weather really. One thing I am really pleased  about is this little tree that has appeared in a pot with a small oak tree in my Dad potted for me from his garden. I'm not sure what it is and if it has germinated from a seed from his garden or ours but I will put in it's own pot soon and add it to my tree collection. I will enjoy waiting to see if I can identify it as it grows. 

The promised snow has just started here, just a few a light flurries but it is freezing cold. It seems to be on it's way from Kent and I'm really hoping it's not too heavy as Tom and youngest son and daughter are all going out to work tomorrow.  I'm planning to be out early too, travelling over to my Dad's as he has a routine doctors appointment in the morning .I'll just have to wait and see what the rest of the day brings. Have a lovely day everyone and I hope you are keeping warm. xx

Big Ideas For The Spring

 It was a beautiful day here yesterday and I spent most of it out in the garden. It felt like spring out and about and the sun shone most of the day. I managed to clear lots of the winter rubbish away and do some cutting back that hadn't been finished last autumn. Bulbs are coming up everywhere, it was lovely. All the time when I was working a little robin followed me about singing away. All gardeners seem to have a friendly robin around and I think that is why we love them so much. I am selling a few bits on ebay that are just too valuable to send to a charity shop and am already spending the money in my head, on a new arch and some decorative railings around the flower bed the dogs always run across when they come out of the house. I can't seem to grow anything there and have had to move a few precious plants to further up the garden as since our neighbours have had an extension built it is really shady. That, coupled with the excited dog being let out problem, has turned it into a depressing mess. I have been looking through garden design books and my ideas are running away with me (as usual!). Beautiful ferns, water features. Victorian lanterns. Oh well I'll just have to see what it all sells for. 

It won't be long now until everything is coming into flower. and my lovely little statue Summer is surrounded by colour.

Apparently snow is on the way later today so I will be inside catching up with the pile of jobs there always seems to be. Hopefully it will mean I can finish off the caravan curtains and more sorting out with items for the charity saleroom. 

Finally I will leave you with a song from probably my favourite film ever The Sound of Music. One of the first films I ever saw as a child at the cinema. I doubt there was a year went by in her later life we didn't watch this film on the television with my Mum. We knew every song off by heart after a school concert when I was a child and I had the whole songbook.  I was one of the nuns in the chorus and Mum always laughed she sewed me so tightly into my costume I couldn't raise my arm to wave goodbye in the final scene! This is to remember Christopher Plummer who sadly died yesterday. Have a lovely day everyone and I hope you escape the worst of the weather. xx

Stitching Through The Generations

 With Scarlett's "help" yesterday I finished the repairing of the large crochet blanket. She loves to help, she has her own ball of wool (purple her favourite colour) and she sits busily working in and out of the ball of wool with a crochet hook looking very serious! "I find crocheting very easy" she says as she just winds the wool around the hook! When she is a little older than three I will definitely sit and teach her how to do it properly. It is really something to look forward to. 

The Crochet Blanket

Now the blanket is repaired I just love it. It's enormous, large enough for a big double bed and I have decided not to take it to the caravan. It's strange but repairing someone else's stitching I think you almost build up a bond with them. Whoever crocheted this blanket worked so hard on it it needs to be displayed all the time so I think I will put it on our bed and it will brighten up our bedroom which is very dark. I have another bedspread I will start work on soon for the caravan. 

While I have been repairing the blanket I have been using bits of the wool that I found in my Mum's knitting bag. Ten years ago, when I was really enjoying knitting all the time, she gave me her knitting bag. I remember the day really well. It was in the summer and my sister who worked in a school was off work and was there too. We went out for an Indian meal and had such a lovely time all chatting and laughing as we always did. When we got back to the house Mum told me she had found her knitting bag in her wardrobe and thought I might like it. I could only really remember her knitting when I was very young in the early 1960s so it hadn't been used for nearly 50 years. Apparently my Dad bought it as a present for her just after they got married in 1955. 

I remember we really laughed at the 1950s patterns. I have still kept the knitting my Mum started years ago. 

While we have been mending the blanket, using my Mum's wools it has made me realise that it is a very precious thing passing on crafts and skills down through the generations. Schools don't teach these skills anymore so if it is not taught in the family I think they will be lost. It's not just the skills though it's a love of recycling and reusing that I don't think happens without being taught it. 

The whole day was so enjoyable yesterday. We went out for a walk in the morning and looked in all the shop windows of the closed shops talking about why they were closed at the moment. It reminded me of the days when we used to go window shopping on Sundays when we were children. 

Working and going out walking. Pandemic or not there is still fun if you can enjoy the little things and yesterday was definitely a day of enjoying them. It's lovely and sunny this morning so I hope I can get a few bits tidied up in the garden before the cold weather comes this weekend. I hope everyone has a lovely day what ever they are doing. xx

The History Of A House

 I always think houses have good times and bad times in their history. When I am walking the dogs, the same roads for years and years, I can see a pretty little house I really admire, then sometimes sadly it will start to look a bit neglected and then more and more so. Often it is when an old person becomes too old to tend it. It is ever so sad to see the once loved garden getting overgrown. Sometimes a really lovely house never seems to get back that loved look and I always think maybe one day it will in the future. There is a house in our road that has been empty since we moved in 17 years ago. Neighbours have told us that it has been empty for 20 years before this. Nearly 40 years of neglect and lack of love, it is a sorry sight. Years ago occasionally we would see an old man going in at night. With a bare bulb lighting up the room we could see him through the filthy net curtains sitting looking through the piles of boxes and newspapers that reached up to the ceiling. We all have a very vivid imagination in our family and we would ponder on what the story of the house and the old man was. Then for many years no one ever entered. Behind the damaged gates at the side of the house is an old Morris Minor car, rusty and covered in dents. It added to the sadness I felt every time I walked by. 

Then one day last year, people started going in clearing out the house and we were told the old man had died. Skips and skips of rubbish and old 1960s furniture were taken away. We were all ever so pleased to see the house coming to life, it is a lovely thought that after all this time a family may be living there again. A house deserves so much more than all that neglect especially when there are so many people who would love it. Yesterday I looked at the estate agents details online and there was something about the photos that made feel even more sad. It has obviously once been so loved. A beautiful fireplace, wallpapered rooms but it was the children's bedroom that really caught my eye. Torn and hanging off the walls was wallpaper of little puppies. Someone had gone to so much trouble for a loved child, they must have been so happy in that pretty room looking out over the back garden. I really wonder what the story of it all is and doubt I will ever know but I hope the house becomes loved again as I think it definitely deserves some good fortune in it's history. 

We are looking after Scarlett today so I'm hoping we will be able to get out and about before the rain comes later. There seems to be quite a lot of good news on the vaccine front so I'm sure it won't be long until we will be able to go a bit further afield again. Have a lovely day everyone what ever you are doing. xx

What A Swansong

 Like everyone I was so sad to hear about the death of Captain Tom Moore yesterday. What a tragedy after all he did to finally succumb to coronavirus himself. A lovely man with a wonderful life and my goodness what a swansong. At the age of 100 he became the hero of the whole country. We all have to die and to live to 100 is all any of us could dream of but who could imagine the final year of their life would turn out like his. He did so much good, gave so many people hope and looked as if he was enjoying it all so much too. 100 or not, his family must be devastated to lose him, but as a country, at a time of great need, we were so lucky to have him.

There's something about being around a really inspiring person that inspires you to be better! I'm not sure I will live to 100 but I hope I still have many years left and it makes me realise that being 60 is nothing. I still have the opportunity for so many new challenges left. I think that facing new challenges is what keeps people young and I'm going to try never to think that I am too old to try anything. Have a lovely day what ever you are doing. xx

Collecting And Recycling Vintage Fabrics

There are other items in my clearing out I will not part with and that's my large pile of vintage fabrics. I  love old bright retro fabrics or just fabrics that are evocative of an era. I have saved bits I buy cheaply at jumble sales for projects I will get round to in the future. I have my old toy chest that my toys were stored in when I was a child. It has been in the loft for years after my children have grown up, but a while ago we got it out to keep it in our bedroom for extra storage. I am going to make a large cushion for the top covered in some 1960s fabric in keeping with the era of the chest.

I had been searching to find just the right piece of fabric and have found the perfect piece on ebay.  When I was very little, about three or four, I used to share a bedroom with my sister. We had curtains that I loved, of animals and insects dressed up in clothes. I would study every one of them as I looked out of my little bed by the window. I couldn't believe it when I found it, apparently it was made by Sanderson and called Hippity Hoppity. All these years later and it is still firmly implanted in my memory. I'm looking forward so much to making it. 

Sanderson Hippity Hoppity Fabric

The Ladybird

Another retro fabric item which seems to have disappeared but was such a good idea were calendar tea towels. We would buy my Mum one every Christmas and it would hang on the kitchen wall until next Christmas when it would be taken down and replaced then used as a tea towel. What perfect recycling. Why on earth did they disappear!

At a car boot sale a few years ago I found this one, the year I was born. Perfect, as coincidentally the days of the week fell exactly the same in 2016, the year I bought it, as in 1960. I kept it up all year and thought I would put it away for the next time the calendar repeated itself. I checked online to see when that will be and as it was a leap year it is not going to happen again until 2044 then after that 2072. Oh well I suppose it gives me something to aim for!

Tom and I watched the film "The Dig" on Netflix last night. It was quite good but rather sad and left me feeling down in the dumps when I was going to bed. Back to Minder tonight I think! I'm off to do my Dad's shopping today so it will be quite nice to be out and about. I hope everyone has a lovely day whether you are able to get out or not. xx

Basic Meals And The First Stirrings Of Spring

 Tom and I have been watching the old TV series  Minder on Britbox. We decided to watch it as a compromise. I wanted to watch Lark Rise To Candleford which I used to enjoy and Tom wanted to watch Minder. We agreed to watch an episode alternately to keep us both happy. I used to like Minder years ago but felt it would seem really dated now. Well it is, but I am surprised how much I have been enjoying it. The first series was filmed in 1979 and it could be the olden days! All around London, the places we know, with barely a car on the road. The accents have completely changed too, it happens so gradually you aren't aware of it while it's happening. We loved watching it when we were first going out together and it led us to a have really nostalgic conversation about things from those days we miss. One of the main things Tom decided was really simple little meals. Over the years meals have changed so much too.

When we were first married Tom's favourites were rissoles or bubble and squeak. I learned to make them in Home Economics lessons at school and they were so cheap and easy to make. We promised ourselves we would have these each week again starting yesterday with bubble and squeak for our lunch. I'd saved some mash and vegetables from the previous evening and it was an absolute treat. I used to eat meat back in the 1980s but haven't done for a long time so I'll have to adapt the rissole recipe when I make them but the bubble and squeak was a real trip down memory lane.

Bubble And Squeak For Lunch

In the afternoon I re-potted some poppy seedlings I have grown from seeds that I collected from my Dad's garden last autumn. I have grown lots of seeds I collected in the greenhouse but I was worried these were starting to look a bit sickly. So I brought them inside and put them in larger pots. Perennial poppies are quite expensive to buy so I'm hoping as many survive as possible. I thought  of ordering a UV light to give them a boost. When I told my eldest daughter she said "You'll get the police raiding your house, they'll think you're growing cannabis! " I don't know, a police suspicious mind! 

Perennial Poppy Seedlings

I also got my tax return submitted yesterday (why do I always leave it until the last minute!) so that's that out of the way for another year. Onward into a new month, one closer to everything finally getting back to some normality. Apparently the 1st February is the Gaelic feast of Imbloc. This day is mid way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and traditionally marks the first stirrings of spring and the worst being behind us. It is a time for purification and spring cleaning in anticipation of the year's new life. If ever we needed the first stirrings of spring and the feeling the worst is behind us. it was this year!  I hope everyone has a lovely day however you are spending it. xx