Not so lockdown week 22 - the one with two cucumbers 🌱

Days 150-157 (20th-27th August)

Howdy gang, here we are again. Much like last week I am sat looking out at the rain, I don't mind except it did mean we had to call off a sibling bike ride today. C'est la vie.

Here is me in my cosy home doing some cosy crochet:

This week I harvested two cucumbers:

And Ed and I made an excellent sourdough loaf:

I also made some flapjack to use up some muesli we had in the cupboard, I wouldn't allow myself to buy any yummy granola until I had made a dent in the muesli mountain. This was a good solution. 

On Friday night I finally picked up a pencil after a very long time and tried to warm up by drawing some pictures I'd gathered on pinterest. This dreamy scene emerged:

Here are a couple of pretty cats I've spotted this week:

Remember this? A little embroidery piece where I've been counting the days of lockdown. I put it down a few weeks ago and so had to spend some time catching up on it this week. I'll pass it down to my grandchildren and they can keep it as a precious relic from the corona days.

An update on our one and only, spectacular, sunflower extraordinaire:

It is tall and splendid, and almost every time we look there are bees busy at work. Next year I want to have a whole bunch of the brilliant yellow beacons bedazzling the garden.

Remember the moth chrysalis I found whilst digging in the soil? Well here is the furry, brown fellow that emerged from it after a week or two:

Speaking of digging in the soil, we had a chance to make some progress on our garden makeover this week. We (mostly Ed) finished digging the border and adding some manure, and we've started planning which plants will go where. That's the fun bit! But due to the rain it might be a while until it gets going properly.

However, I did finally get round to planting something in my old, retired Dr Martens. They served me well but are now destined to live out the rest of their days as decorative planters in the garden, currently housing some nasturtiums (which I'm happy to say are recovering miraculously after the caterpillar infestation).

Here is a friend we made, he tried to come in from the garden with us:

And that brings us to the magnificent feast we created yesterday, a Nandos-esque meal for our last house group before two of my siblings move away for uni and work. It was very fun and we now have lots of leftovers in the fridge, win win. 

Finally, as has become tradition, we shall finish with a picture of the the legend, the sweetest boy, Mr Tom the cat. He may look grumpy, but don't be fooled, he's just camera shy.

Lockdown week 12 - french knots and lots of photos 📸

Days 79-85 (10th-16th June)

Today is one month until my birthday which is weird because my birthday is in the middle of the year and that means we're almost at the middle of the year. We have spent more than half the year so far in lockdown, that's really weird.

Since last writing I have now been into town twice (after not going for 3 months!), it was like seeing an old friend after a long time. It wasn't very different, apart from being quieter and there being queues in unusual places. I miss the charity shops though, I only saw one which was open and it's just not the same browsing in a one way system and feeling like you're being watched. I am looking forward to a future where we can rummage care free again. My first venture into town was on market day (unplanned) and to my surprise my favourite market stall was there! It's like a jumble sale, tables piled high with books and trinkets, and all the toys were 20p so I couldn't resist these two (don't worry I disinfected them).

Some passion flowers in town.

Ed and I made a great sourdough loaf, possibly the best yet (each new one is the best), and one day we ate it with mackerel freshly caught by my dad (very posh breakfast). I made yaki soba this week and also tried gnocchi for the first time. It was quite stodgy but not unpleasant. Also I made more bacon and cheese bread! Speaking of food I have started watching Bob's Burgers because I got a free trial of Amazon Prime. I used to watch it with my siblings so it has good mems. It's very silly.

I'm a food blogger now.

On Saturday it was supposed to be the March For Life but it was obviously cancelled due to lockdown, so instead they had a day livestreaming different talks and activities from their website. I tuned in to what I could and heard some amazing testimonies and felt very inspired. Whilst watching I started this piece of embroidery based on their theme for the year (still a work in progress).

I love doing french knots.

This week has felt a bit more social, with family garden visits and a zoom hang out with uni friends. Boris made the announcement about people being able to form a "bubble" with someone who lives on their own so now my grandma is bubbling with us and we had a sleepover!

Ed and I went to a garden centre on Sunday, it was nice to be out and about somewhere colourful and fragrant. Except I got a splinter when I was admiring the cacti and I had a struggle to get it out. The next day I went for a run to the lake and saw some sweet ducklings.

My snails laid MORE eggs and then literally a few days later I saw them mating for the first time (go and research snail mating, it's equal parts fascinating and gross) which I didn't want to look at but also could not stop looking at because it's so weird. I realised that I think the reason why I've had so many clutches of eggs is because when they mate they can both carry eggs and then lay them at different times? Not sure but seems legit.

Eggs buried deep but visible from outside the glass!

I've got a story of a traumatic thing that happened to me this week...I was just sitting, reading and minding my own business when I felt a tiny pinprick feeling on my upper arm. I reached and felt what was there and then instinctively squished it (sorry) and there was an audible popping sound and liquid oozed out (just typing this is causing me to have disturbed flashbacks). I ran outside and shook out my top and eventually found this squashed bundle of spider on the floor. It was horrific, truly horrific. I kept reliving the popping sensation for a good while afterwards. What made it worse is that a week or two ago I found a tick on myself and so now I'm just wondering why do all the bugs want to eat me?! Is there a bug on me now? Who knows! 

Sorry for that. Look at these pictures of Tom and forget all about it. He still loves sleeping on my crochet and I don't have the heart to stop him even though it's getting a bit hairy. It warms my heart, this must be how it feels to make something for your child and then see them using and appreciating it. Tom is our child, even though he is 64 in human years.

Did anything else interesting happen this week hmm...we started studying the book of Job in our house group which is exciting! There's nothing quite like tackling the big question of why is there suffering in the world. Also Ed and I watched The Salisbury Poisonings drama/documentary that was on in three parts, very gripping. I kind of forgot that happened, life really do be crazy recently.

I've got more photos to share this time round because I've given up instagram for a while so haven't been posting there. It's been a nice break. I go through phases of wanting to delete it completely but the main thing that stops me is thinking about if I ever wanted to build a career as an artist then I need a "platform". Anyway, that's a whole other conversation. As you can see I have been enjoying the huji app to pretend I have a disposable camera.

My hydrangea baby! So proud, and very happy it's pink!

We explored the forest and found a scary tunnel where Ed was worried we might find a dead body.

Fancy porridge.

My mum's garden looking luscious.

My cactus flowered again.

The conservatory plants had some fresh air whilst my dad cleaned the carpet in there.

My sister's dungarees perfectly matched her bike!

Tom being a long boi.

Still sewing my way through lockdown.

Welcome to my jungle.

This is my work station (the floor).

I received a card this week. Happy days.

I will leave you with this adorable local cat which we recently discovered has only three legs! But we saw it jump and climb over a fence which was really impressive and reminded us that you mustn't let having three legs stop you from achieving your dreams. Be encouraged.