yesterday

The rapeseed's grown a bit...

this morning

early morning

It's just after 6 in the morning and I'm sitting on the sofa wrapped up in an afghan and with a cup of hot coffee. The only noise I can hear are birds. I can pick out the blackbird (his name is Alfred), and the great tits, and the collared doves, the rest I'm not always sure. I think it's the wren chittering away.  Lockdown has done what no amount of alarm clocks or good intentions ever managed and turned me into a morning person. On running days I head out the door and I have the streets nearly to myself.

Tomorrow is a bank holiday and it looks like we will have beautiful weather again for it - so much so that I looked at the weather forecast and decided to take today off as well. It's been sunny, but with a north-easterly wind that is shockingly cold. Today the wind turns and we get some heat with that sun. It's grocery day (the excitement!) and one of our favourite pubs, the Shipwright Arms, are doing a beer take out service today, tomorrow and Saturday to see if it helps keep them floating through this all, so I'll bike up this afternoon for some take away pints of Shipwrecked Ale. I miss pubs so much.

This is the 8th week of being at home, and it's fine. We think a lot about food and spend a lot of time cooking and eating which is lovely. We have the time to spend an hour hand rolling pasta dough into tiny farfalle butterflies, or making sushi. We sit outside and watch the birds - there are fledglings everywhere and they are surprisingly entertaining. Yesterday two fat robin fledglings sat on the fence with the two adults flying back and forth feeding them with meal worms from the feeder. As soon as one worm disappeared the little beak was open again and I swear the adult robin sighed and rolled its eyes :) This week we also saw a kestral right up close on one of our walks - you could see the coral brown of its breast feathers and hear the whoosh as it swept across the field in front of us - amazing.

Work is busy enough - we are working on what our buildings will look like once we start opening up again - euphemistically called "the  new normal" - a phrase which makes my stomach ache slightly. It looks like it will involve a lot of perspex screens and queuing. None of it seems very normal, new or otherwise.

It's almost time to eat some breakfast and saddle up my trusty steed. On grocery day I cycle up to Macknades, our farm shop, but I leave an hour before it opens and go for a quiet bike ride through the countryside first. I barely ever see cars on the lanes, although last week I nearly ran over a chicken that had escaped out of its enclosure so there are still dangers! The hedgerows are full of birds and blossom,  and everything is vibrant and green and noisily alive. The trees meet overhead to make tree tunnels and every now and then you crest a hill and see the morning mist rising on the fields and orchards. I cut back through the field behind the farm shop and by the time I lock up my bike and grab my grocery bags I am tired and happy.

I'll take my phone on my errands today and take some pictures for you x

Still crazy

I thought I was doing OK. Really, I did. A bit frayed around the edges maybe, not entirely sure of which day it is (or, let's face it - month. I'm pretty sure it's still 2020) but more-or-less keeping it together.

However based on my behaviour this morning I think my attempts at sanity may be an illusion. For today I placed an online order for more sewing supplies. Under what delusions am I under? How crazy am I exactly? I even considered buying one of the NHS scrubs kit. Imagine the poor nurse who ended up with scrubs sewn by me. Just when you think your life can't get any harder...!

Don't worry - I did not get the scrubs kit. I may be delusional but I'm not completely mad (yet!)

Where are my peanuts?????

We may have created a monster...

My Trusty Steed

Supply runs have become much easier this week after Neal attached a milk crate to the back of my bike. Between this and a back pack I am managing astonishing loads. Just in time, too - because the new season asparagus is out.

This is week 6, and though it must be admitted that Neal is much better at this than I am, we are both fine. I have swapped the sewing for hand-stitching - there's a textile art group on Facebook doing weekly challenges and so far it's been fun. So far as in I am 4 weeks behind and I have only just started yesterday - but whatever. I kept up with the sewing until I ran out of materials, and it did get marginally better.

In squirrel news, all the squirrels have now worked out the feeder, but the little one chews on the lid anyways because he is a complete and utter bastard. We read that peanuts weren't actually that good for squirrels, and that they liked vegetables, so we tried some broccoli florets and courgette in the hopes of encouraging a better (cheaper!) diet. The squirrels looked surprised, and investigated right away. One took a nibble of broccoli and then hurled it to the ground in what I can only assume was disgust. They all ignored the rest completely, and took turns sitting on the fence, staring meaningfully into the window. We have reverted back to peanuts and peace is restored. We've just hung a new goldfinch feeder up this morning so we'll see what the squirrels make of that! 

Today, on Squirrel News

All squirrels! All day! Which, let's face it, is considerably more upbeat than regular human news at the moment.

Hot and heavy action at the Squirrelmatic 3000. Out of three squirrels, two have assessed the new situation, and through some trial and error, are now accessing peanuts on demand. Or, you know when we put a few out in the morning. We're not Santa. 

The third squirrel, well. This squirrel has spent literally ages trying to lift up the lid he is standing on. We have seen him jump down on the platform and actually lift the lid, but then jump up and resume fighting physics. This squirrel is obsessed with the feeder and will chase the other squirrels away - so he's stupid AND aggressive. He has now resorted to trying to chew his way through. He is an idiot. He could almost be human.

that's entertainment...

Greetings from the garden. Yes, the weather has been beautiful, and under normal circumstances we would be spending quite a lot of time in the Elephant's beer garden. Luckily, we have another (very) local, and the beer is good. Neal has been brewing most weeks now and I can tell you, that man's beer is as good as his bread.

I have been wreaking havoc with tester pots of paint - see the table below. I am now eyeing up the trellis behind the table as there are two pots of frighteningly dubious shades of green left. Why not?

See the box on the fence? This is the Squirrelmatic 3000, built by James and installed earlier this week. It has a hinged lid that the squirrels need to lift in order to get the peanuts. It took them a day or two to figure it out - all except one who is clearly not too bright. It was hilarious watching them work it out. 

We've been barbecuing most days when the weather is nice, but you can see that standards are slipping (or should I say slipper-ing? ha ha - ba dum - I'm here all week! and next week and the week after.....)

We're still permitted a walk or run a day, and it has been glorious. It's strange seeing the sky with no air-planes. It's quiet, and clean, and full of birdsong. On my runs I have the lanes to myself and I pound down the middle of the road with no fears of an errant white van man taking me out as he rounds a turn too quickly.

This is starting to feel almost normal now - we adapt so quickly. I try not to think too much about what happens next - no one knows and I guess we'll just deal with it when it comes. I am however, pining for the pub :( And rehearsals. I miss making music with my friends. But, all-in-all, there are many things to relish in these odd days, and we might as well enjoy what we can. 

Now I'm off to knit more fence doilies (See? Perfectly sane over here! For sure!) 

Happy Easter everyone x

Fence Art

Today I have mostly been crucifying doilies. Well it is almost Easter, after all...