Month: August 2020

Well, weren’t we lucky with the weather today? The forecast predicted thunderstorms, including heavy rainfall, but we were spared all of that until this evening. We were especially pleased that the weather was clement because we had agreed to drive to George and Sue’s, just outside Northampton, to meet up with them and Dave and Chris. An experimental first since lock down: a barbecue in their garden, socially distanced? Oh, yes please.

I had intended to get up about eight o’clock this morning to prepare some salads as accompaniment to the barbecued meat, but what I hadn’t bargained on was a rude awakening. Just after 7.30, I could hear a yowling sound dripping into my consciousness. Over and over again. It sounded very familiar but, for a moment, I wasn’t able to place it. Then bingo! It’s a cat yowling. I leaped out of bed and looked out of the window. Yep, sure enough, there was Rio sitting at the bottom of the garden, looking very affronted, with the intruder sat before him, swishing his tail. I knew what that meant. Two seconds later, fur was flying and high-pitched yelling from both cats pierced my eardrums.

I hot-footed it downstairs, unlocked the house and belted out into the garden. That was enough to see the black cat intruder off the premises. Rio was sat, crouching under a wheelbarrow, unhurt, but with much of his fur adorning the path. He was OK but didn’t resist when I offered to pick him up and take him for his breakfast, which he wolfed down, so clearly there was no lasting damage.

Honestly, it’s been a ‘cat-o-three-tales’ in the last few days! I’m hoping the tales don’t soon add up to nine…. can’t take any more!

Anyway, drama over, I got on with sorting out the salads, chilling a bottle of Prosecco and preparing some fruit to take with us on our adventure to the far-distant lands of East Northants. Not long before take-off, however, coming in from watering the garden, I heard the landline ringing. One ring too short, I’d missed the call. A few seconds later, my mobile rang. It was George. “Did you get my message?” he asked. “Erm, no…..I’ve been in the garden,” I said, apologetically. “Ah, well. Dave and Chris can’t make it. They’re feeling iffy, so don’t want to risk coming. Do you still want to go ahead?” What a daft question. Of course, we still want to go ahead. Obviously, we’ll miss seeing Dave and Chris and are sorry they are feeling poorly, but we certainly didn’t want to miss out on seeing George and Sue, too. So off we went.

But boy, it was HOT. We didn’t check the actual temperature, but even at 8.30 tonight as we drove home in the ‘cool’ of the evening, it was still 30 degrees! We sheltered under the shade of the gazebo and followed its shadow round as the sun tracked its course in the sky. The Prosecco tasted good in the heat, but one glass was soon followed by several glasses of thirst-quenching, re-hydrating water. No-one was keen on too much alcohol today.

After we’d eaten delicious chicken, marinaded Chinese-style, and succulent sausages, and we’d exhausted the available shade under the gazebo, we moved up towards the house and sat in the shadow of the next-door neighbour’s hedge, jealously listening to them splashing in their garden pool. Feeling exceedingly hot, I borrowed one of Sue’s cotton T-shirts, replacing the nylon top I’d foolishly put on this morning. I settled into my chair. Ooh, it reclines. I’ll do a bit of that then. Everyone was chatting; John had lots to say today; George encouraged him and soon, I was soothed by the sonorous sound of John’s voice and my eyelids drooped. I fell asleep. For hours.

How very embarrassing. Yet, George and Sue were so kind and said it didn’t matter, and that they were pleased I felt relaxed enough at their home to be able to take a nap. John teased me of course, said I’d snored a lot and that he’d made an outrageous suggestion to which I’d agreed – and how come I didn’t remember? I did remember waking up once, though, when Sue offered me a Magnum – two in two days(!!) – which I ate, and then promptly fell asleep again after I’d eaten it.

Reluctantly, we said our farewells to our dear friends and set off home. The sky was exciting, with the sunset spilling through the wispy clouds, and then we spied one very large cloud, rising like a mushroom plume. Oooh, does that look like it might turn into a thundercloud? We didn’t know it then, but it certainly did. The nearer we got to home, the larger and darker the cloud became until at last, the thunderstorm broke spectacularly at about ten o’clock.

On the way home, Paul FaceTimed us but we were driving so we waited until we got home for a long chat. It was so lovely to see him, sitting outside with a beer just chillin’ on his holidays. They’d all been to ‘Go Ape!’ today and had had fun so I was delighted to see him looking so relaxed. Nice.

Not so nice are the figures being reported on the virus – 102 deaths as of 5 p.m. yesterday in all settings and 1,148 lab-confirmed cases. Hotting up? We’ll see.

In the meantime, I am hoping that this hot, sticky weather doesn’t make life too difficult for you and that your days are peaceful and contented. God bless.

The weather was so wonderful today that, despite a long list of other things to do, we spent the day out in the garden. I started off with breakfast on the patio surveying our ‘estate’ and marvelling at our amazing good fortune to be able to live here. My raised beds are looking fine and I have hazelnuts on my tree. Few apples and plums, mind you, having had a glut last year, but still.

John had a good, long lie-in this morning to get over his exertions of the last few days but, once he was up, he really got to it. There’s no stopping him when he’s got the bit between his teeth.

I had started on weeding, dead-heading and generally tidying up the flowerbeds before moving on to heaving a very heavy bag of wood chips onto the lawn, so that I could dress a little area in front of the rockery. I wondered if I should carry on round to the rose bed? Yes, John confirmed, but, before you do, let’s just get the edging finished first. Well, rather him than me. It was too hot for that caper in my book. John grabbed the sledgehammer, garden spade and fork, a kneeling mat and the edging and away he went.

He wondered why he was out of breath and exhausted. He was convinced that this time last year he was better. Erm….. no? This time last year he was struggling to find any energy to do anything and wondering why he was even alive. Fast forward to now and he’s got the gumph to lift a sledgehammer and actually finish the edging job. Applause all round, I say!! He was clearly having a good day.

So, I weeded out the rose bed and filled it up with wood chips while John finished the edging. It looks rather smart and we’re both pleased with our efforts today. Afterwards, I toddled off for a shower as John put the tools away – and then the thunder started. We didn’t make a special effort to look out for the lightening and didn’t really see any from indoors as I prepped the evening meal, but it was a marvellous rumbling, like African drums, that went on and on. Then huge raindrops fell and stirred up Petrichor (thanks to Susie Dent of Countdown fame for this wonderful word) – that evocative, earthy smell of when rain falls onto dry soil. Heady, heady scent – I loved it.

Mid-afternoon, we had stopped, of course, for refreshments under the gazebo – it was too hot to keep going. It was Magnum time. Such decadence and what a pleasure. We sat together enjoying the twenty-minute respite in the shade before we set to again. I might have said this before…. but we are so delighted with our new gazebo. It really is just the ticket.

We are never satisfied, though, are we? We’re sitting, enjoying the rest, appreciative of the refreshments on offer, delighting in the shade offered by the gazebo – and what do we concentrate on? The lawn. It’s not looking good we say to ourselves. We must get some weed ‘n treat stuff for it. We must water it, get rid of the moss, trim the edges etc etc….. I laughed. I reminded John that, when we first got married we had a book entitled, ‘How to Cheat at Gardening’ and the suggestion was to make the lawn just green and not to worry whether it was a grass or some other plant that made it so. In those days, we had scoffed at people who cared about having the perfect lawn. Oh, how the mighty are fallen….. now we’re fretting about it! Who’d a thought it, eh?

We decided we deserved an evening in front of the TV after our toiling in the heat today, so we carried on watching ‘Line of Duty’. John had watched some of the series before, and I had caught one or two programmes but, because we can, we thought we’d watch the whole lot – not all at one go though, you understand – and see if we can follow it. Ha! Ha! Ha! I don’t know how many times I have turned to John to ask, “Do you know what’s going on?” or “I don’t get it, why is he/she…..?”I am sure all will be revealed. Or will it? No matter, we’re enjoying it anyway.

We did catch a bit of the news today and I am struck by the reaction of people to the refugees arriving on our coast. The reports seem to suggest that we have lost all compassion for our fellow human beings and are just out for punitive action. I mean, the idea that we would just turn any arriving dinghy round, and point it back in the direction from whence it came, is madness to me. Perhaps it is because we are still experiencing deaths and infections from COVID-19 that makes people retract a hand of kindness.

With regard to the virus, there have been 21 deaths in all settings today and 2 in a hospital setting yesterday. However, the infection rate is still high, with 816 people confirmed as infected today. So it’s still around and catching us unawares.

God bless, and peace be with you in all you do and say.

Not sure what we did yesterday to wear the children out, but they slept on until 8 o’clock this morning, much to everyone’s relief. I must confess, John and I stayed in bed and had a bit of a lie-in, rather than getting up at that time. However, William was keen to get us up and out, and lured us with the offer of Daddy making pancakes. It’s a long time since we’ve had breakfast made for us, so that was rather delightful.

I really don’t quite remember, exactly, the sequence of events today as it seems to have been one wonderful blur of William, Baby, Food, Drink….and repeat: William, Baby, Food, Drink. I’ve had a great time chattering with William – or rather, having been chattered at, as he has such a lot to say; playing with Duplo and jigsaws, imagining mountains as he climbed up and down the slide, and finding monsters in the bath. I’ve dandled or rocked the baby in the pram and prepped food. In between times, of course, there’s been chatting to Michael, Danielle and John and, sharing the task of making cups of tea among us. Just ‘an every day story of village folk‘ – cue music.

There have been some great highlights to the day, with one in particular being a lovely FaceTime conversation with Paul and Harriet, whose sixth wedding anniversary it is today. Being a Pooh Bear of very little brain, I knew the anniversary was coming up but did nothing about it. And this morning, I was just thinking about posting a greeting on FaceBook or the family WhatsApp group but, before I did, William was inviting me for breakfast and I never did it. Shame on me. However, it was brilliant to talk to them in their holiday home in Devon. It looked lush and they looked relaxed and happy.

Yesterday, William had found a very old ‘Direct Line’ miniature phone which one of the boys had been given years ago, as part of a promotional activity at school. It was in pieces as it wasn’t working and, some months ago, I’d dismantled it to see which sort of batteries were needed. Anyway, no sooner had William expressed an interest in it than Grandpa was ordering the new batteries, which arrived today. The pair of them got their heads together to fix it up and, sure enough – 🎶 ta-ta-ta-da 🎶 – the music sang out, much to everyone’s delight. There’s only one piece of the phone missing……. quite good going, don’t you think?

It being Sunday and there being six of us, we thought we’d have roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding today – even though it was a hot day. I started well in advance of when we needed to eat but, as always, life took over and we ended up sitting down to the table pretty much our standard time of nearly six o’clock.

And we nearly didn’t have Yorkshire Pudding. All of a sudden, we were out of eggs. The pancakes had taken them all. Danielle, bless her, ever practical, said she’d run to the shops. I shilly-shallied and said nervously that I wasn’t sure she should. She grabbed her mask and sanitising gel and strode off up the road, determined. She promised she’d do all the handwashing and cleaning up when she got back to be safe. Oh…. OK then. The Yorkshire Puddings were lovely.

We chose to sit outside at the patio table, bringing the food out to set under the shade of the parasol. We all sat down, ready to start. Someone suggested letting Chester out as he was looking rather forlorn at the lounge door. No-one thought anything of it. But……. Yikes! It was Cat Chase Number Two. This time, it was Shadow. Thundering down the length of the garden, Chester set off like a streak of lightening after him and we all sat, as the French say, ‘bouche-bée’, with our food half-way to our mouths as we looked on, helpless in the ‘stop-ability’ stakes.

Barking all the way, Chester helter-skeltered past the raised beds, charged into the wooded area at the bottom of the garden, clambered up the rockery behind the large conifer, and clattered to a halt. There was a great big scuffling of branches and leaves and we feared the worst. Most of us dropped our knives and forks and pounded down the garden to view the damage. There was a mewing nearby. “Chester! Here!” Michael commanded, and Chester stood down, albeit very reluctantly, and was subsequently banished to the lounge again. The mewing continued. I looked and looked but couldn’t see where it was coming from. “Look up!” John called. I looked up. High in the conifer tree, there crouched Shadow, on what appeared to be an inaccessible branch.

“Don’t worry,” Michael soothed, “I’ll get him down. I’ll get a ladder.” Despite the ladder and a pair of stepladders, the coaxing from me, Michael and Danielle was to no avail. John suggested we gave up, ate our meal and tried again later, if the cat hadn’t come down all by himself. Danielle and I thought our hungry bellies were more important just then and complied. Michael didn’t. He persevered and, ten minutes later, he had Shadow in his arms, dropping him gently to the floor, before the cat scarpered at breakneck speed, fearful of another chasing.

The excitement was too much for William. He wasn’t eating his meal and he wasn’t telling us he needed a wee, either. Michael gestured for us all to stay where we were and he’d sort out the clean clothes and the high chair. We’d all finished our food by the time Michael sat down to eat, bless him. I think his roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding was cold, but he hoovered it up anyway as, by then, the poor man was starving.

Thomas, meanwhile, slept through the lot. He had had a very tiring day, feeding and playing on his play mat, so it wasn’t surprising really. He and I had had a good little chat down at the bottom of the garden this afternoon whilst William had his afternoon nap and Danielle took a rest. Maybe that was what tired him out? I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him there under the trees before I popped him into his pram and he slept, enabling me to do a spot of gardening. Such bliss to be able to just be with members of the family.

Michael spent the day studying again and came through to report that he’d spent hours trawling through all the words he’d previously written and managed to create one new paragraph in the re-write. Crikey – it’s going to be a long haul to get this assignment completed.

In our ‘Bubble’ we have relished each other’s company. I am grateful for small mercies, but seeing the family is one big mercy for which I offer thanks every day – whenever I see them. No Andrew today, who we thought might visit, as he is still working hard in his new job. Hopefully we’ll catch up with him soon before another lock down is inflicted upon us all.

Although there were only 8 reported COVID-19 related deaths today in all settings and one in a hospital setting, there were 1,062 confirmed cases of infection. That’s a bit of an increase, isn’t it? I am watching the figures carefully now – and monitoring the areas where my kids live very closely. I’m still rather keen to keep ‘bubbling’ and garden-partying. How about you?

God bless, peace be with you all – and keep on keeping your distance!!

After our excitement at ordering another take away yesterday, which we thoroughly enjoyed at the time, we both found ourselves sitting up in bed last night, trying to settle tummies that reminded us we weren’t used to this sort of food any longer!! And, after forty-five minutes of restlessness and being disturbed by each other sighing or sitting up or something along those lines, I decided to decamp to our former bedroom to give us both a chance for a decent night’s sleep. Which, for me, did the trick and I was up with the lark this morning.

It was fabulous to be up early and at ‘em! And it gave me an opportunity to have a bit of a tidy-up before welcoming the Sutton Sleaths who were staying overnight…. I was just a bit excited.

Malcolm rang the doorbell not long after nine o’clock with the shopping and was stunned to find that I was actually up. That’s a first for a long time. Normally, I’m doing a puzzle or playing an e-game in bed when he arrives and I have to hastily throw clothes on and leg it downstairs.

Anyway, the family duly arrived – unexpectedly, as it turned out, as I wasn’t sure what time they’d be arriving and had just texted to ask what the plans were when they turned up. Caught me unawares as I was just washing and drying the sheets for their bed…….

Caught the cats unawares, too, and they scarpered as soon as they saw Chester, who couldn’t wait to give chase. Which he did, a bit later on when, having scouted the garden to check the cats were safe, I let him out. He found Rio straightaway, snoozing in the undergrowth. The chase was just like a cartoon caricature. Wish I could draw – I’d have posted the picture. Made me laugh anyway.

William was thrilled to be at our house and settled himself in straightaway. And that was it then for the day. We were up and running, full speed ahead.

Of course, the toys were still out from the ‘Freddie-visit’ yesterday, so William had to tackle the same jigsaw and play with the same ‘complicated-to-put-together’ marble run, as well. In the end, it took three of us to put the marble run together. I couldn’t sort it out today; John couldn’t see to sort it out; so Michael had to do the business. Good job.

And what a great day it’s been again. Each and every time I see any one of the family, singly or in a group, how blessed I feel – despite the limitations we currently have. We were companionable, easing our way through the day, helping each other and appreciating each other. Fabulous.

Young Thomas behaved himself impeccably all day, sleeping like a good ‘un and making smiley faces at us at the most amusing moments. As if he knows what’s going on already. William was a busy bee all day playing first with this, then that and then helping prepare food. We had fun.

Michael, on the other hand, was shut in the dining room working all day, only emerging for food or drink and then diving back into his studies again. Danielle kept pace with whatever the children were up to and John kept pace with the rest of us. Although he’s still got ‘Puffing Billy’ as company. Eeeh, dear…. he’s a bit fed up of it.

Mind you, John does acknowledge that he’s perhaps overdone it a bit in the last couple of weeks. That’s always the trouble – learning to pace himself. Ah, well, we’ll be working on another patch up job, I expect.

I am hoping our bellies are going behave this evening, though. We had such a delicious barbecue and sat out in the sunshine to enjoy it, that it would be a shame if the enjoyment were spoiled for a second night running.

Our day was also interspersed with a pictorial running commentary of the Kenilworth Sleaths’ trip Devon for their holiday. Pics of their holiday homes for the next two weeks made us feel very envious, and then pics of Freddie, who always plays the joker, in various situations – clearly enjoying chocolate cake from the ‘welcome basket’ and playing the fool with a peg on his nose a bit later on. Daft boy. But I love him.

I was privileged this evening to bath William and put him to bed. It was so very hot that he was struggling to get to sleep, so I lay down alongside him. Hah! Hah! You thought I’d dropped off as well, didn’t you? Well, I didn’t, but could have done. But by the time I’d come down afterwards and faffed about a bit, there wasn’t much evening left. But… I had seen what happened in the cricket, so I was a very happy bunny.

I haven’t watched the news particularly, but am aware that there have been 55 deaths related to COVID-19 today, and 758 people confirmed as infected. The NHS is reporting that there were no deaths yesterday, however. It’s the first time we’ve seen a zero – although that may change by the time the figures are updated tomorrow. Fingers crossed it stays at nought.

And fingers crossed that the weather continues fine too. It brightens everyone’s spirits when the sun shines – although maybe 31 degrees is a bit too much for some people I know, so maybe a little cooler please? God bless everyone and peace be with you.

In the interests of sanity, I agreed to look after Freddie this afternoon while Harriet went to the hairdressers. It is such a long time since we have properly seen him, that we decided we would take the risk. ‘Come and play in the garden’ was the plan but, I don’t know about you, it was so hot we couldn’t stay in the garden all afternoon. On a couple of occasions, we abandoned the outside activities and let Freddie sit on one sofa to watch TV while I sat on the other. The doors were wide open, so we hope for the best.

We did ‘us best’ to keep a reasonable distance. It wasn’t always easy, yet anxiety was actually far from my mind as I played with Freddie all afternoon. We had the mats out under the gazebo for a picnic, then further down the garden under the trees where it was cooler, to play with the cars and the marble run, Downfall, and a jigsaw. We sat either end of the bench while he ate a Freeze Pop and stood either end of the pond as we gazed in to see the state of play with the fish. In between times, I hope we were distanced well enough, as we ran about the garden and sat in the lounge but time, of course, will tell.

Freddie was conscious of keeping his distance however, and said to me, very earnestly on more than one occasion, just to reassure me, “We haven’t got Corona-virus.” He’s only four! It broke my heart to hear him so aware of what is happening in the community – but I suppose it’s a good thing really.

It was a great afternoon, and it was my delight. I was astonished to see how grown up Freddie had become in the last few weeks and how physically able he was, leaping from the height of the slide, flinging himself onto the swing and racing round and round the garden, either with his own two legs or on his scooter.

I had wondered how he’d get on spending time with us again because, at such a young age, a five-month gap is a helluva long time. But after an initial reticence, he soon got the hang of it again and was as relaxed as he’d always been at our house.

In the meantime, John got on with jobs, especially clearing up the debris from the hedge-cutting the other day. He did ‘phew’ at the heat a bit but when it got too much he, too, retreated to the lounge and fiddled on the computer or sat on the sofa to cool down.

Freddie stayed a bit longer than anticipated as Harriet had to pop and do a spot of shopping for her Dad after she’d been and had her hair cut. When she arrived, it was lovely to sit and chat for a while and I fully expected her to leap up at any moment and say, “Right, we’re off!” but she didn’t; and then it was a double surprise and pleasure when Paul came round the corner and joined us after work. He wasn’t in a hurry to go either, so we had the unexpected enjoyment of their company for a good hour before they had to go. Freddie didn’t want to leave, but the enticement of, “We’re going on holiday tomorrow, Freddie,” soon had him packing up his belongings and making a move.

After a bit of a tidy-up, John watered the plants and then we sat down in the lounge. I thought it was too hot to cook, so was all for a ‘liquid’ supper. However, we had enjoyed our Indian Take-Away so much the other night we thought we’d have another go. That’s nice, isn’t it? A Friday night take-away, watching Line of Duty. Cracking.

Another day when I didn’t watch the news or the cricket or listen to what was happening with the virus. However, on the cricket front, after England didn’t make enough in their first innings, I gather Pakistan haven’t made many in their second innings either, so it’s poised for an exciting finish. On the virus front, there seem to be too many deaths in all settings, with 98 today, and one in a hospital setting yesterday. 871 people have been confirmed as infected today too.

Looks like it’ll be warm again over the weekend, so I hope everyone enjoys a relaxing time, with all the usual caveats! May you know peace in whatever you’re doing.

After a ‘night on the tiles’ last night, we weren’t inclined to get out of bed very early today, so we snoozed on. Michael laughed at us and said they couldn’t decide, 100%, whether we were going to get over to Sutton today, ‘after last night’s shenanigans’, but we made it in the end.

It took me a while, mind you, to bring myself round from my slumber, and I think John had the same problem too. But we both woke up happy to have had such a great evening among friends, which has made us feel a bit more hopeful that we might get some balance to our lives even whilst the dratted virus is swirling around us.

We had a good journey across to the Sutton Sleaths, where Michael was already deep into Zoom meetings and thesis writing. Danielle was amazingly perky today, too, which I was very pleased to see. She had already done quite a bit before we arrived – well, she would, of course, as we didn’t arrive until nearly mid-day!

I was able to help out though – not all of the work had been done – and there was the delight of cradling Thomas at various intervals and playing with William for a good bit of the afternoon, when he wasn’t having his afternoon nap. Washing up and tidying a little bit in the kitchen (which I didn’t get finished), hanging out the washing, helping to prep the lunch and cooking the evening meal, all gave Danielle a little bit of respite.

William went for his afternoon nap, but was a little fussy, so Danielle let him lie alongside her in the double bed. William slept, but was restless so Danielle didn’t get a wink of sleep – which was a shame as she could have done with it.

Meanwhile, John had made a beeline for the ‘man-shed’ and, having climbed up onto the roof, was busy hammering the roof tiles into place. He may not have the energy and breathing capacity to walk very far, but he had sufficient for sitting, like a fiddler on the roof, and putting the roof tiles into place. I could hardly drag him away at the end of the day, he was having that much fun.

William also made a beeline for the shed with Grandpa, as he is now ‘one of the workers’ down there, but naturally, he wasn’t allowed on the roof without Daddy being there to hold him. No matter, he thought, I’ll play in the shed instead. “Come on, Grandma,” he called, “come and play with me.” So I toddled down to the bottom of the garden for a bit of imaginative fun in the shed. We didn’t last long though. Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of hammering was deafening. “If we’re going to play in the shed, William, we need the ear defenders. Come on, let’s hunt for them.” I said. Well, we had a bit of fun seeking out the ear defenders, which we did find eventually. By which time, of course, William had lost interest in playing in the shed and was on to something else. Ah well, we were very companionable regardless and enjoyed each other’s company no end.

John and I left the family eating their evening meal and came home for a bite to eat, opting for that traditional English fare – egg ‘n chips. Delicious. I was in the middle of getting it ready, when my phoned pinged with the reminder that it was a Zoom chat with the College Girls at eight o’clock. Darn it, I was going to be late. It didn’t matter. I just joined in when I could and slipped naturally into the conversation with everyone. It was lovely to see everyone again. Alleluia for dear, dear friends.

Such a busy day that I didn’t watch any of the cricket or the news today, so I am not sure what has been going on, and sometimes, being ignorant of the horrors of the world is just what you need. I do know, however, that there’s a spike of the virus in Victoria, in Australia, which makes me think of Graham and Gail and all their friends who live anywhere near the outbreak. I know that it impacts on Jane, Sue’s daughter too. And with the spike in the north-west of England, I think of Janet and her family. The virus is lurking too near people I know and love.

In the UK, there have been 49 COVID-19 related deaths today in all settings and one yesterday in a hospital setting, and 950 people confirmed as infected. Despite the momentary euphoria of having been ‘out’ last night, it is a sobering reminder that absolute care is needed if we are not to spread the virus or catch it ourselves.

Be careful everyone, the blooming virus is dastardly when it hits – so let it not hit. God bless.

It’s been a champagne kind-a evening. A belated birthday celebration among friends, with an Indian meal, Cobra beer, Prosecco, red wine — aaaand, champagne! Whoopee-doop! It was Hazel’s birthday a couple of weeks ago, so we celebrated in style this evening – in person!! How exciting was that on a scale of one to ten??

Postponed from our plan two weeks ago because Malcolm had come down with shingles, we finally made our get-together outdoors, in a marquee, socially distanced, to celebrate dear Hazel’s milestone birthday. And what a good time we had. Such was our enjoyment that we chatted, drank, ate our meal, quizzed, drank and chatted some more – until one o’clock in the morning.

Such an enjoyable evening and the first time out socialising since before the lock down in March. Naturally, we were anxious about going out, but our friends assured us that all precautions were in place, so not to worry. And so it was. The marquee, festooned with yellow ribbon to represent the Welsh Daffodil and adorned with yellow and white roses, was set up with plenty of ventilation; the table was laid with the seating well-distanced; and every surface had been cleaned down to within an inch of its life, so that we were all safe.

Nigel strode round to Tamarind’s for the take-away while we all imbibed Prosecco or beer. The take-away was all delicious, carefully packaged up in separate bags for individual couples. The Birthday Cake came out, resplendent with birthday candle, and ‘Happy Birthday’ sung. And then it was Quiz Time. Malcolm was Quiz Master and we took it all very seriously until we’d perhaps had one too many, at which point, of course, we didn’t, and giggled our way through the last few rounds.

Despite our giggles (and possible half-drunken states), we did alright on the quiz and were pleased with our results, and then we drank some more and chatted some more too. Oh, it was so brilliant! Malcolm and Caroline were great hosts, having set everything out beautifully, making sure we had absolutely everything we needed. In fact, it was all so good that it was a bit of a shock to realise the time. Ooops, better get going home!

We were walking, rather than driving, which was delightful. The moon was peeking through the dispersing clouds, creating a silver glow, and the air was so balmy that we hardly noticed the air alongside us. Utterly, utterly, marvellous.

The ol’ man took his time walking there and back and found a few leaning posts on the way, but I was delighted that we managed the walk. He brought ‘Puffing Billy’ with him today, so I’m not sure what that’s all about, so we’ll see in a day or two whether anything needs looking at.

Mind you, he had been working hard today, down at his own ‘man shed’ trying to adjust the doors on it, so I suppose I am not surprised he didn’t feel very ‘breathe-easy’.

I, on the other hand, had had great plans to sort out Andrew’s old room, but in the end fell fast asleep on the sofa all afternoon. So, I felt fresh as a daisy for this evening’s jaunt, as you can imagine!

Despite my general euphoria of having been out and enjoyed myself this evening, I spare a thought for anyone who is unwell this today and, in particular, those who have caught the COVID-19 virus – whether in this country or in the world elsewhere. For the record, however, in the UK 65 people have died from the virus in all settings today, with two reported as having died in a hospital setting yesterday, and six being confirmed for the day before. 892 people are reported as being infected.

Delighted to have tasted a little bit of freedom this evening, I remain cautious and wish everyone a safe passage as we work through the COVID-19 pandemic. God bless you all.

Well, still shielding….. and ‘bubbling’, that is! Our ‘bubble’ family, the Sutton Sleaths, came to us today, rather than us going to them. That gave us the opportunity to stay abed until at least 8.30, and then swan about getting ready until the family arrived.

We haven’t done anything spectacular at all today. Yet, it’s been a delightful day, just playing, eating, drinking, and mooching about. Once the Sutton Sleaths arrived, it was straight down to play. Out came the Duplo and our imaginations, and off we went. We built a house, a station, an airport, a rubbish tip and streets to take ourselves on imaginary journeys. We took ourselves from here to there, with ‘there’ being Jersey, and a visit to Granny and Grandad. We took all the family, with Grandma and Grandpa waving goodbye from Balsall Common. The imaginary game took us out of ourselves for hours. So much so, that it was soon lunchtime and a bite to eat. Meanwhile, we are pleased to report, young Thomas did quite a lot of snoozing which allowed for quite a lot of uninterrupted playtime.

Michael ensconced himself in the dining room with his work; Danielle ensconced herself on the sofa; Thomas stayed snug in his pram; and Grandpa made the mistake of joining me and William upstairs in the bedroom, listening to music, which involved a lot of dancing. Danielle grinned as we came back downstairs. She knew what we’d been doing and what she’d escaped!

After lunch, it was naptime. William was tucked into Michael’s old bed; the baby was tucked into his pram; Danielle was tucked into our old bed; and John… not tucked in, but very comfortable on the sofa. Everyone a-snooze. Michael was working, and I was keeping my ear out for any child that might be awake.

I am not sure that William was actually awake, but all of a sudden, I heard a THUD. I crept upstairs to check. William was in the bedroom, saying, “Sooo……” and looking around. “Soo…. I fell out of bed,” he said, as he saw me at the doorway. Aw… bless him. I popped him back into bed for comfort, but he was wide awake, wondering what the heck had happened to him. He had a little try at snuggling down, but no, it had been a rude awakening, and that was it. Time to get up. No tears, no drama, just time to get up.

We went downstairs where William giggled and giggled. His hands in front of his face, trying to contain his laughter, he told Grandpa all about it. Grandpa willed himself awake. “You fell out of bed?” he wondered, and William giggled some more and said, gleefully, “Yeeees.” The THUD had clearly woken Danielle up too, so she wandered downstairs and, all of a sudden, the whole household was awake. No worries, it must be time to go outside for a breath of fresh air after all.

Great playtime in the garden – filling up William’s watering can and plucking up the weeds. Again, our imaginations ran riot as we slew dragons, defeated bugs and dug for treasure. There really is no such thing as a dull moment when your grandchildren are around, is there?

All our enemies and bugs defeated, we headed back indoors. Gosh! It was nearly tea-time already. William watched TV while I prepped the tea, Grandpa finished uprooting a ginormous grass, Danielle fed the baby and Michael studied and worked hard.

Once again, all too soon, it was time to tidy the toys and say goodbye. Until the next time……..that’ll be something to look forward to!

Tired out, but absolutely thrilled with our day, we flopped in front of the TV this evening, with the remains of the bottle of wine we’d opened with our meal. What a wonderful day. Nothing to write home about in terms of excitement or unexpected happenings, but just a comfortable, marvellous day. Thank the Lord, eh?

We didn’t think about the victims of COVID-19, or any other tragedy today, but I do now, as I write. 89 deaths in all settings from the virus, and two in a hospital setting yesterday. 670 people confirmed as having tested positive.

Thank you for still reading my blog those of you who still do. God bless you all – and all those who are battling the virus.

We had a day at home today, hoping that the Prodigal Son might come, but he didn’t. He was at work, despite it being a Monday. Busy boy. So, instead of a garden get-together, we just worked our way through various tasks we’d set ourselves.

This morning, it was doing a spot of washing for me, and a sort out of some of Mum’s papers, while John had a catch-up on some TV programmes, like the Grand Prix, that he’d only got half-way through yesterday.

After lunch, John pottered out into the garden to gather up the hedge trimmings that were still lingering, and I gathered up some foodstuffs to take over to Mum’s. Historically, Mum had a helper to do her shopping, who thought she might continue, but when I phoned her the other day, she’d changed her mind and decided she didn’t want to risk her health any more than she need to. So, it was a quick whizz round our cupboards to see what I could take to replenish Mum’s and then hop onto the Ocado site to order what she’d like. Cake, of course!!

Masked and gloved up, I made the visit across to Mum’s, who was delighted to see me, but objected to the mask. “I really don’t like to see you wearing that silly mask,” she said, as she turned her nose up at me. No? Well, rather that than risk being dead, I said. Oh, yes, now that I’d reminded her, she remembered why we are wearing these silly masks…..

But she couldn’t find her milk. Oh, dear. This is the second time, there’s been a kerfuffle with her milk – what now? I opened the fridge, and there it was in all its glory – two 2-litre cartons. “Oh….there it is! I was looking in there,” she exclaimed, indicating the cupboard next to the fridge. “Ah, best not keep it in the cupboard, Mum, it’ll go off in there.” I found labels and stuck ‘Fridge’ on the fridge, and ‘Freezer’ on the freezer. Then a little note inside the cupboard: ‘The milk is in the fridge’. But will it do the trick?? We’ll find out no doubt!!

Otherwise, Mum was very well and very contented. Thoroughly enjoying her ‘new’ chair, demo-ing it, and asking me again what I thought of it. But she was with it enough to sort out her washing which I brought home with me, and compos mentis enough to confirm which pieces of paper she wanted to keep, and which could be thrown away.

When I got home, I could see that John had done an excellent job in the garden and I was delighted with his efforts. He’d even gone so far as potting up the peony that he’d had to dig up along with a horrible, nasty clump of decorative grass that threatens to take over the whole garden. Fingers crossed it survives. The peony, that is, not the grass – horrid thing!

Another thing that seems to want to take over – not my house, mind you – are moths! Harriet called for advice on how to deal with an infestation of the darned things whose caterpillars were busy eating their way through a carpet at the back of a wardrobe. My philosophy has always been prevention, harking back to the ‘olden days’ when they were a real problem in everyone’s houses, and I use sandalwood and cedar wood in my cupboards. I couldn’t quite remember what to do in the event of an infestation, so wasn’t an awful lot of help really. But t’internet is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? All the answers are there.

We have had a leisurely evening watching the box tonight after John had made some paleo ‘sandwich rolls’, which smelt delicious as they were cooking, and I have done my blog early in an attempt to get to bed before midnight for once!!

So, looking at the figures for COVID-19 infections today, it’s a rather massive figure of 938 confirmed cases. Nine deaths in all settings and two in a hospital setting. I am not sure if the number of people reported as infected is due to more testing, or whether the figure is a direct reflection of the situation in the areas of the country that are currently experiencing a surge. However, we do know that the trend is upward again, so probably the latter.

It’s going to be a yo-yo year, isn’t it? You can come out to play now, oh, no, hang on, get back indoors!!! The pesky virus hasn’t gone away. In, out, in, out……. Ah, well, I am sure we’ll get used to it!

Enjoy your day tomorrow wherever you are – and stay safe.

I always knew I was weird and today just proved it. As I dived deep into a pile of washing, I found myself saying to Danielle, “I can’t wait to pair up all the socks.” Whaaaat? Has my life come to this? Indeed, it has. Excited to pair up William’s socks. It’s new game, obviously. Instead of a jigsaw or solitaire, I’m looking forward to sock-pairing. Yay!!

Not only have I had the excitement of ‘hunt the socks’ today, but the whole Sutton family has had the excitement of seeing the roof and the doors go onto Michael’s ‘man-shed’.

We weren’t sure if we were coming or going, as it were, today – i.e. whether we were going to be stopping at home or going over to Sutton Coldfield again. We had thought that maybe Andrew would come home to drop off stuff, but it wasn’t confirmed. Michael texted to say we were welcome to join them for a roast, and he was going to do more on the ‘man-shed’. In the end, Andrew said he was going for a meal with his friends, so wouldn’t be coming back today. So, a roast dinner and the man shed? Well, of course, we said we’d go over.

We didn’t actually get there until mid-day, as we’d been wavering as to what to do, in case the Prodigal Son did decide to return. But on arrival, John was straight down to the bottom of the garden and getting stuck into his ‘Shed Supervisor’ role – finding a chair to sit in and directing the operations. I also got stuck in to child’s play until it was William’s nap time, and then I got stuck into all those things you never, ever have time to do when there’s a new baby on the scene. For a good while, I was able to really motor – William was in his cot, fast asleep; Danielle was in her bed, also fast asleep; and Thomas was in his pram, copying the example set.

It was Thomas who cracked first, his belly announcing that food was needed, which meant that Danielle also had to rise from her slumber to feed him. William snoozed on. So, I cracked on. I relieved Danielle of Thomas once his belly announced that it was full, and she had another sleep session. Thomas took a while, but also went off to sleep again, and then I was able to tackle more jobs as the household slept.

A flow of cups of tea made it down to the men at the ‘man shed’ and they were thrilled with the progress being made. Admittedly, the roof tiles are yet to be installed, but the roof itself and the waterproof membrane are in place; and the doors don’t have handles or locks, but they are hung. William, as soon as he woke up, scampered down to Daddy to see what was going on. Daddy was on the roof, so William had to be there, too, and up the ladder he went. “Good job, Daddy,” he said, as he surveyed the handiwork. Made us laugh. And gave us a photo opportunity to capture the ‘men at work’ – and, of course, a very happy family.

The Roast Dinner beckoned, and we all sat down to one of our favourites – ‘winner, winner, chicken dinner’, which was absolutely delicious. We completed the pleasure with a Magnum ice cream each as afters. Yum! Poor Chester, though. His nose was twitching as we scraped the bones from our plates into the rubbish bin, his eyes were hopeful, and he followed me about, anticipating the scraps. Regrettably, no scraps for him – we’re not keen on the nasty ‘doggy-dos’ which always result if he has anything but his regular food. Too much information, folks?? Tee-hee.

As the evening drew to a close, Michael and John did a bit more tinkering about, before we all went down to admire the final ‘as-far-as-we’ve-got’ shed. William adores it and, once inside, he and I were disco-dancing and playing diggers/tractors/excavators for ages, while the grown-ups had serious conversations outside about ‘what-to-do-next’. And then it was the bath and bedtime routine for the kids before John and I headed back home.

We sighed happy sighs of satisfaction as we drove home. It had been another good day. Although, a little point to note, John was wheezing well. Just saying…… mind you, he had exerted himself helping to lug great big pieces of wood flooring from front to back of the house on the sack truck.

I haven’t watched any news today at all, so I am not sure of the commentary that goes with the announced data on the virus. What I do know is that there was a headline early on about the possibility of the over-50’s having to stay at home to reduce the risk of spread. Hearsay just now, but oh, dear, if this actually becomes the rule, do excuse me if I laugh uproariously and perhaps a tad hysterically.

Anyway, the data tells us that there have been just 8 deaths in all settings today and 2 in a hospital setting yesterday. But there are 744 people who are confirmed as infected. Yikes – no real reduction in that number yet and the ONS (Office for National Statistics) tells us that ‘Exploratory modelling shows that the number of people in England testing positive for COVID-19 has increased slightly in recent weeks’.

Let’s keep keeping our distance and wearing our masks. Absolutely no doubt that such actions will keep us safer than it would be otherwise. And may God bless us all.