Great Day

On this beautiful June Sunday, I’m just back from my walk. It’s warm enough for the shade to be welcome.

There  are far fewer walkers and cyclists about, and I met no dog walkers at all. In all I passed 6 people on my 2 mile circuit.

The butterflies are elusive at the moment.

I only spotted one small tortoiseshell and 4 speckled woods, plus two blues that might have been common or holly, I couldn’t tell as they were too far away. But I did see a beautiful demoiselle dragonfly.

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Both my daughters and my granddaughter visited for a meal last week for the first time in over a year. We so enjoyed getting together and catching up. I made a Quorn lasagne and a delicious strawberry cobbler.

Restrictions are due to ease next week, but it’s looking unlikely that it will happen.

Personally, I have two frustrations with this, otherwise I could happily continue under the current regime.

Top of the list is that we all want to return to Rock Choir, ‘in the room’, as do thousands of members of other amateur choirs. It just isn’t the same singing alone against zoom, amazing as our choir leaders are and have been. We are desperate to hear those harmonies in the songs we’ve been learning. There will be tears! I’ve missed seeing my choir friends, some of whom have dropped out completely.

My other frustration is Quaker Meeting for worship, which is now happening in the Meeting House, with social distancing and masks being worn. It’s still being transmitted on zoom which I prefer until we don’t have to keep our masks on. Being at home is so much more comfortable, and we can still chat afterwards in breakout rooms.

It’s good to get out in the garden too. Gradually the flower borders are filling with my carefully nurtured plants, and we are enjoying showing our grandson what’s blooming.

(I don’t seem to be able to add a title to this post without it duplicating, so sorry about that! At least I’ve now worked out how to add categories and tags. And it seems I’m not allowed to publish a sweet photo of myself and my grandson in the garden either.)

Great Day

It’s Getting Better

❤️‍🩹 

Cautiously, optimistically I use the title It’s Getting Better , and in doing so I discover the above emoji. 

We are easing slowly back into meeting, and it feels strange.

The laptop isn’t in constant use for zoom calls, and plans are being made for days out; just locally, we’re not going further just yet.

Pilates classes have resumed at the leisure centre and I’ve met my teacher in person, which was weird, nice weird though. Good to talk to people face to face and without masks.

Baby grandson has spent 3 mornings here by himself. He desperately misses his Mum and Dad, who he’s been with constantly all his 11 months of life. It has been hard to witness his distress but we’re getting through it, and on his most recent visit he relaxed and became the responsive chatty boy I know him to be. He loves books and particularly enjoyed the Ahlberg’s Peepo this week, playing with the circle cut out and pointing out the ducks. Sad to say that Eric Carle, the author of The Hungry Caterpillar and other favourites, died recently.

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Also the weather may be improving. We are promised warmer, drier weather but it won’t be difficult for that to be true. I’m still wearing trousers and jumpers and I’m very keen to get gardening. I have nicotiana and courgette plants burgeoning out of their pots, desperately needing to be planted out.

Here’s hoping. 

Like my grandson’s panda, we’re waiting to be let out again.

…it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter…

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And though I am yet to ‘cast a clout’ or exchange trousers for skirts, the flowers and butterflies are out and doing their thing.

We have two weeks to go before the next stage of release from lockdown, and things are feeling a little optimistic. We have both had our two Astra Zeneca jabs and the 40’s and over are now being invited.

I had my long – awaited hair appointment in the city centre last week so visited for the first time since December. The pillars are decorated with entreaties to get vaccinated and to persuade your friends and families. No persuasion needed here. As a needle phobe I’m relieved to say that both my inoculations were painless.

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The library is still being used as a Covid testing centre so isn’t open as a library, though most of the branches are now.

In two weeks time, on the day that my grandson is 11 months old, my daughter will have a morning at work to ease her return. I will look after him on that day; he’s never been apart from his Mum, so I’ll let you know how that goes!

What Goes On.

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, and all that.

The numbers of Covid 19 cases are falling here, as is the death rate. All good news.

There’s still a mobile testing centre in a car park near us for two days a week though, and there were several cars in attendance yesterday.

My elder grandchildren have had 2 1/2 weeks back at school though they have now broken up for Easter. They are getting used to administering nasal swab tests on themselves twice a week.

Hairdressers, libraries and non essential shops are due to reopen in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait to have several inches cut off my long grey witchy locks; I have an appointment at the end of April.

Since last Monday, up to six people from two households are allowed to meet outside. This happily coincided with two beautifully warm days, just right for sitting in the garden. On Tuesday my younger daughter, her husband and baby visited. It was so good to relax and chat to them and for the baby to stretch his legs ; yes, he is walking – as long as he has a hand to hold. 

I had a good excuse to bake a cake – a Mary Berry chocolate sponge tray bake topped with chocolate icing. It was very yummy, and was well received by the elder grandchildren the following day when it was their turn to visit with their Mum.

It turns out that losing weight could be a priority once life returns to whatever normal will be though, so no more cake for a while.

My elder grandson has no need to slim though. He ate two pieces then burnt it off by running up and down the garden!

From a Window

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Though it’s cold today, the sun is bright. Soon we will emerge literally and figuratively blinking into the light as our third lockdown gradually eases.

There is a certain reluctance to return to the old world. My eldest grandchildren will have Covid tests at school next week then return to classes the following day as long as they test negative. Both of them have been shut away doing their schoolwork online all term, and both are reluctant to leave their safe warm home. 

My daughter will find it strange to be able to concentrate fully on her own work at home; thankfully she has been inoculated already. Her surgery had vaccine left at the end of a day and as she is a registered carer she got the call. Like us she had side effects, basically feeling tired and rubbish the following day. It’s so worth it though.

As a family we are really missing face to face contact. The disappointment of that rapidly cancelled , or rather, rearranged Christmas still lingers. We won’t be able to meet for Easter either. I’m trying not to be too excited that the proposed date for complete lifting of restrictions in June is the day before my birthday. My new grandson will have just turned one in that week, and my daughter is arranging her return to work then. 

So things are changing. I’ve got so used to communicating via Facebook, Zoom and messaging that to leave the house and not just look on from a window will take a little courage.

When Winter Comes

Remember back in the spring when we were so happy that the weather was so sunny and warm? We remarked to each other that it made the lockdown so much easier to bear. We could sit outside and really engage in sorting out the garden and soaking up those vitamin D filled rays.

At that point I thought life would get back to ‘normal’ in the autumn. I don’t really enjoy Christmas , but this year I would revel in the family time. Well that was cancelled, and at very short notice too. 

I’m grateful though that both my girls live locally even though I can’t visit them now we’re back in lockdown. I’m in a support bubble with my younger daughter and her 6 month old son but they’re back shielding which is very sensible, but was hard for me to hear.

Anyway, we had a fun family zoom this weekend, and my sister joined us for the first time, which was lovely.

I’m trying to walk regularly, but I find it hard to leave the house when it’s cold/foggy/wet. I treated myself to a padded jacket in the Boden sale which keeps me warm, so I must make the effort to get outside more.

One of my favourite retailers, Kettlewell Colours, have a lively Facebook group. They give us challenges; in December there was a 12 days of Christmas challenge, and this coming week we are being challenged to wear just 10 items of clothing for 10 days.  It’s also challenging to take a good selfie and post it in the correct place. Several members have posted their photos on their timeline which caused confusion among their friends.

I’m going to give this challenge a go, but due to the cold weather I think a lot of layering will be going on.

Rock Choir is back this week, with Abba’s Take a Chance on Me. It will be good to get back. I’ve ordered the new lockdown t-shirt and the mask, both black unfortunately as it doesn’t suit me, but that’s the uniform colour. They’ll be arriving later this month.

Gareth appeared on Christmas Eve to give the GBHC a lovely festive sing. I’d had a difficult day helping my elder daughter whose brand new car had broken down while out on a present delivery mission, so it was just what I needed. (Her car was collected by a tow truck the following Monday and has been massively re-programmed so fingers crossed.)

One thing I’ve been neglecting has been family history research. Having followed all the lines back I started to look into individuals and dig deeper rather than wider. I’ve just renewed my subscription to Find My Past and I’m pleased that we can now message people who share our ancestors. I’m working my way through my trees tidying up and correcting errors.  Suffolk Family History Society are going to publish my article about James Tydeman, who was transported to Tasmania for stealing beans. So that’s given me a lift and I can see me whiling away the odd freezing afternoon with my head in the past.

Hi,hi,hi.

Sadly, not a triple greeting, but a reflection of our local COVID infection rates. They’ve never been higher, but maybe that’s partially down to the fact that it’s easier to be tested now. Behind our local library the car park is partly reserved for a testing centre.

The inoculation is now available for over 80s, at the local hospital. Apparently the organisation and the procedure is very smooth and efficient.

I have an injection phobia but I’m coming round to the view that I must put up and shut up and have the jab when it comes to my turn as the situation is so grave.

The weather has been cold and gloomy. So much fog and rain, but there has been the odd sunny day.

Here’s the proof; photos taken on a walk last week.

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I’m not a fan of Christmas. It’s the hectic commercialisation that irritates me, and it seems that 1st to 26th December is the Christmas season now, rather than from 25th to 6th January. This year is different, and I’m hoping to keep it low key and calm. Our daughters are visiting on the day, with their families which I’m so looking forward to, but they have to come separately . 

It looks like some people are going all out to make the most of the five days when 3 households can meet, and I understand that need. But I think we will pay the price in January.

On a cheerier note, haha, Rock Choir have a single out; our version of Keeping the Dream Alive, which is spine-tinglingly good. Currently we’re at number one in the both the iTunes and the Amazon charts, so I hope we will raise lots for the Mental Health Foundation.

I’m proud to have recorded for this song. My photo is shown there somewhere – I appeared on the top row of the shot used for promotion , and all our names are listed at the end of the video.

This sort of effort is showing what can be done as a force for good, and to keep morale up even in such difficult times.

https://slinky.to/KeepingTheDreamAlive?fbclid=IwAR1cwDuNng1hlz9WX4lkxjwKvdg7rIGVUkHdKlpt9q5UTBrkwtkDas0cT_I

Here’s a link so you can watch the video, and stream or download the song. Sorry the link itself is clunky but I’m struggling with this new version of WordPress.

Coming up.

I had been hoping not to use this title in the current series of blogs, but there it is. Cases of Covid 19 are rising, though who knows whether that’s down to more testing?

Local cases have risen though we have far lower rates of infection than other local areas. There’ve been no related deaths here for over two months.

However, the rule of six comes into force tomorrow , so no more than six can meet socially either indoors or out. 

I feel sorry for my husband who had been envisioning a party for family and friends to celebrate his forthcoming 70th birthday. We had at least expected to have our girls and their families here for a small celebration, but that makes nine people. We’ll celebrate somehow. My Christmas loving daughter is now anxious about not being able to meet up even by then.

But my older grandchildren are now back to school and all seems to be going quite well. Oh, apart from my grandson being put in a group that studies French when he particularly requested German as he wants to study motor engineering. Tricky.

I’ve had another haircut at my city centre based salon. I had to wear my mask throughout as did my stylist, along with her visor. Afterwards I did a little shopping. Masks are mandatory and compliance was almost 100% on my visit. Most were sticking to the one way system. The car park remained eerily much quieter than usual. No problem finding a space.

The central library is still not open but I’ve been regularly visiting my local branch, collecting a steady stream of juicy reservations (free at the moment!)

Garden news: the sweetcorn plants have now been pulled up, having produced some delicious sweet corncobs. I’ll certainly grow them again. The courgette plants are still producing, but much more slowly.

I’m deadheading the tobacco plants (nicotiana) regularly so they will keep on going. We’re expecting some hot weather this week so I plan to be outside appreciating them.

I’ll leave you with a photo of this glorious dragonfly which we think is a Southern Hawker, one of two I spotted last weekend.

Just Another Day

Life has been quite quiet hence no recent blogging.

We’ve had some blisteringly hot days but, just as my ankles started to swell the heat disappeared to be replaced by thunder and rain, and more recently, strong winds that have brought the horse chestnuts down, still in their casings.

Cases of Covid 19 have risen locally then dipped again. I haven’t posted any facts and figures before now, but I have several followers who are particularly interested in the ‘science bits’ so here you are.

 The leader of our council Pete Marland issued warnings a week or so ago, and I quote from the MK Citizen 17.8.20 

  “Most recent cases have been in young adults, particularly people in their 20s and 30s. And they’ve been spread across several areas of Milton Keynes, not just on one place. I must therefore say this: If people continue not to follow the guidance and if cases continue to rise, it’s highly likely that restrictions will be reimposed…

I know some people are asking why we still need to do this if our numbers are so low, and thankfully we have not had any Covid-related deaths for some time.

The last thing we want to do is put local restrictions in place or have them imposed on us for a more serious outbreak. However we will not hesitate to do so if we think it will save lives and if these early warnings do not help control the spread. ”

The report continued, “On Friday there had been 915 cases confirmed in MK since the beginning of the pandemic. This figure rose to 918 on Saturday and 922 yesterday.”

There are local spikes countrywide where cities have been put back into restricted measures. Northampton is at risk of this I believe , but if reports are correct the cases are mainly from one food processing plant.

As for us, apart from seeing local family and supermarket shopping we’re still staying home. We did have a walk in the Ouse Valley Park at Stony Stratford which right now is all I need.

Green veined white butterfly

I can understand those flocking to beaches or travelling abroad in order to resume normality and have a break, but it all is so potentially stressful that we’re not even holidaying in the UK. It’s important to keep our family safe. And talking of family, my new grandson is now over 9 weeks old and is heading for 9lbs in weight, all good news. His parents had an appointment last week to register him at last so hopefully he’s now official!

My older grandson turned 11 this week and enjoyed his birthday outing with his family. He starts secondary school very soon. He has his new uniform and has been out stationery shopping. I’m grateful that our family haven’t been directly involved with the A level and GCSE results debacle. It’s usually a stressful time for those students, but this year it’s been infinitely more so.

I’m greatly appreciating the online sessions from the Edinburgh International Book Festival. So far I’ve watched interviews with Hilary Mantel and Marian Keyes with several more bookmarked this week. It’s giving me a taste for attending in person another year.

The GBHC is continuing with various activities and workshops led by talented and resourceful members. Local groups are being set up; some have met in person and my local group met on Zoom for the first time last week. A chatty screenful of ladies in glasses, such fun! Hopefully we can meet in person before too long.

Our EP You Are My Sunshine was released a couple of weeks ago and reached the dizzy heights of number 57 in the official chart before plunging out again. I hope we managed to raise a good sum for the NHS charities nevertheless.

Appreciate

I was so pleased to receive an email letting me know that our local library has reopened, if only with restricted hours and services. We can just return and issue books. I went down there on one of the hot afternoons we experienced this week. My name and phone number was taken and I used my own hand sanitiser on entering and leaving. I wore my mask with a metal strip at the top which made a difference to the fogging but was stiflingly hot on a blazing afternoon. It was a relief to return the pile of books that I had borrowed in March and to collect my reservation which was the new Anne Tyler. Returns all go in the bins rather than on trollies so they can be quarantined.  I was the only customer among four staff members, but I don’t think the word had got around. Only two libraries in our authority were back last week, but more are planned to open this week, with  central yet to join them.

Our Great British Home Chorus secret is out. The choir friends’ Facebook group led by a team of very hard working admins and musicians have produced a version of Abba’s ‘Thank You For the Music’ rewritten with our own lyrics as a thank you for Gareth for all his hard work on our behalf. The video came out on Thursday. I’m very proud of it, and Gareth has expressed his surprise and delight with it.  It was fun to learn and record but in the end I had to read the lyrics as I wasn’t confident I’d remember them. The official GBHC CD came out on Friday, along with the video for ‘You Are My Sunshine” I don’t appear which is just as well as I looked back at my recording and it’s pretty poor compared to later videos when I’d learnt what to do! It’s so good to hear the harmonies as of course we only heard our own part, apart from when we sang along with Gareth singing another part. ‘Ordinary World’ is my favourite track. It’s the Duran Duran song and the words are particularly apt for these times.

This year the annual Quaker Swarthmore Lecture  was streamed online. It was given by Tom Shakespeare who I didn’t previously know and his subject was hope in troubled times. I found it so inspiring that I kept pausing and noting down what he was saying. His message of how to hope realistically, with stoicism and acceptance, really struck home with me. His lecture is hosted by Woodbrooke, the Quaker centre in Birmingham and is just over an hour long, but worth a watch if you have the inclination.

‘This is Just Another Storm’, the last song of The Choir series is my ear worm of the day, it’s such a relevant song for the lecture; “This is just another storm, we will rebuild together”.

Blackberries

Sloes

Rowan tree

Horse chestnut tree

Oak tree

 I’ve noticed that nature is about a month ahead of itself. The conkers are fully grown and spiky and the rowan trees sport their bright red berries. The acorns have formed in their cups on the oak trees, blackberries and sloes are ripening, and in some cases are fully ripe. I put it down to that blazing April we enjoyed.