Celebrating all Mums!

Day 69

I was up early this morning - I woke at 5.45am and decided to get up and have a coffee. My early start made me feel a bit sleepy for the rest of the day!

We started our Sunday with banana porridge again, and I was wished a happy Mother's Day! Sophie had treated me to the afternoon tea, plus Prosecco and the Tiramisu (this afternoon), while Mike bought me flowers and a bottle of Gin. Lovely!

Sophie and I went over to the care home at 11am and took a gift bag with a new jumper, necklace, chocolates and Prosecco for my Mum. We had a chat outside her window and I just wished I was able to see her properly. Next week we can go in and visit, after having a rapid test and we'll have to don PPE but it'll be worth it. Talking to my Mum outside was freezing, though, so it'll be great to be able to go in and see them properly. The weather today has been truly horrible, with rain and a nasty cold wind. We haven't seen the sun at all.

Back home we relaxed and enjoyed a charcoal facemask (I fell asleep on the bed) and watched A Place in the Sun as usual. By about 2pm we were sitting down to a delicious afternoon tea, prepared by Sophie, accompanied by Prosecco. The food was lovely, as it always is from Farndon Fields, and we had to wait a very good while before we indulged in the dessert that Sophie had made!

It was lovely to not cook in the evening, so we started watching Casino Royale early. When we got to the bit where James Bond orders a Vesper cocktail, we raised our own glasses! The drink was very good, so no wonder he enjoyed it!

Queues, queues, queues...

Day 68

Sophie and I enjoyed banana porridge for breakfast this morning, and after we'd eaten we both prepared the paste for tonight's dinner of Red Thai curry. We wanted to make the meal from scratch, and although it would have been very easy to buy a paste in the supermarket, we wanted to try our hand at making our own. I roasted some cumin and coriander seeds in a small frying pan, and then ground them down in our pestle and mortar. Sophie cut up chillies, garlic, shallots and ginger, and we pulverized all the ingredients in our little food processor with the juice and zest of two limes. I then cut up more ginger and garlic for the actual meal itself.

 At midday, we drove over to Farndon Fields to buy the ingredients for a savoury afternoon tea tomorrow, to celebrate Mother's Day. Today has been cloudy and breezy, and the temperatures have turned colder again, but the morning was sunny so I'd pegged some washing out before we left. At Farndon Fields, there was a queue to get in (when is there not?) and Sophie said she needed the loo! We decided to pop to Waitrose in Market Harborough, buy some Prosecco and take advantage of their facilities!

However, it was as if the government had put out a notice saying that all supermarkets were going to close on Sunday, so go now! The car parks and supermarkets were rammed with people, and in hindsight, I think it was probably due to Mother's Day tomorrow...

We gave up on the idea of going to Waitrose and scooted around a packed Aldi where we bought a bottle of reasonably priced Prosecco. There were no loos in there, so we went back to Waitrose, but the queue was even longer! We then had no option but to dash across the car park to Sainsbury's, where we joined yet another queue of people! By now, we were heartily fed up!

Back at Farndon Fields, we queued in the rain and wind to get into the farm shop. It was so miserable I called Keith to ask him to put the heating on and to get the washing in if he hadn't done so already. We even saw hail while we waited!

Once in, Sophie bought sausage rolls, a Scotch egg, a pork pie, and bread and ham to make sandwiches. They didn't have any macarons, which was a shame. I picked out some hummus and a dip to enjoy with our lentil crisps later in the day.

Back home, Sophie made the Tiramisu for tomorrow, and we enjoyed a glass of Marsala. It was delicious! At 5pm it was time for cocktails and Scrabble, and Sophie beat me, coming up with some very good words and combinations!

We just had time for a game of cards, and then we made a start on dinner. With all the preparations done, it was just a case of cooking everything, and we served Jasmine rice with the meal. We used two tins of coconut milk, adding them to the paste and chicken thighs in the casserole dish. It tasted gorgeous! The recipe was from the BBC Good Food website, and we'll definitely cook it again!

Keith and I watched the last Pierce Brosnan Bond film this evening. We now only have the Daniel Craig films to watch, and we've planned to see Casino Royale tomorrow night. Sophie wants to make Vesper cocktails to drink at the same time as the characters in the film do!

A somewhat trying shopping trip...

 Day 67

We've enjoyed a day of sunshine and showers - is it March or April?!

Keith and I went to the tip this morning, just after it opened, and took the old headboard and some other rubbish that we no longer needed. There was a short queue to get in but soon we had disposed of our things, the only disappointment being that the headboard went into general waste rather than the wood recycling skip, which I had hoped for.

From Brixworth we drove to Asda in Kingsthorpe to buy the ingredients for a tiramisu that Sophie is making for Mother's Day. We managed to buy most of what we needed in Asda but they didn't have any Marsala. We'd parked in the Waitrose car park so we decided to try there... until we saw the long queue of people waiting to go in... 

Abandoning that idea, we drove the short distance to Aldi, not to get the Marsala as I didn't think for one moment they would have it, but to get some more beer. Keith strode off ahead of me but I couldn't find my mask... I searched high and low, in my handbag, the shopping bag we'd used in Asda and the back of my car but it had gone, and I didn't have a spare.

Keith had disappeared inside Aldi so I had to try and get his attention to say I couldn't come in. I still had our shopping bag, and when he emerged a short time later he said he'd set off the door alarms as he still had one of their baskets! He had also lost a bottle of beer somewhere along the way!

He was very annoyed, and so was I that I'd lost my mask, the one that Sheila had made for me out of an old pillowcase and which wasn't replaceable. We decided to drive back to the car park, where Keith walked up and down the spaces looking for it. He couldn't see it but as we were driving away we saw something white in the road and we realised it was my mask, but severely flattened and filthy dirty - think Mrs Doubtfire's mask in the film when it falls out of a window and gets squashed by a truck!

The temptation to give up and go home was very strong, but I still needed a gift bag for my Mum's presents, so after a fruitless excursion into an M&S outlet at a fuel station, we drove to Waitrose at Wootton. I had to wind my scarf around my face to go in, but at least we were able to buy a bottle of Marsala in there! Hooray!

Keith went back to the car while I went into Dobbies (formerly Wyevale), and bought a gift bag. Inside, the garden centre had changed a lot - the Costa Coffee outlet had gone and there was a branch of Sainsbury's there selling food!

We returned home where I enjoyed the leftovers from last night's dinner for my lunch and managed to get some washing out on the line to dry. It's been lovely to see the sun shining today and the breeze was perfect for drying clothes outside for a change.

When Sophie arrived home this evening she was extremely tired so we had rather a muted Friday night. At least dinner was easy - baked potatoes!

I take a tumble...

Day 66

It has still been windy today but there was a lot less rain and we even saw some sunshine! Today had been left free to do lots of housework, which is exactly what I did... all day!

First thing, I prepared tonight's meal - chicken in a honey and mustard sauce (we bought the sauce) - and I chopped up all the veggies to go with it. That has all I've seemed to do during this lockdown! Prepare mountains of vegetables and do lots of cooking! Not that I'm complaining!

Keith helped me clean the bathroom, and I hoovered upstairs and changed our bedding. Yesterday I had put loads of towels in the laundry basket to wash so our kitchen floor resembled a launderette where the piles were waiting to be put in the washing machine! Unfortunately, during one trip into the kitchen, I slipped on Monty's food bowl mat and went crashing to the floor, hurting my left leg and ankle. The mat is a thin sheet of plastic that acted like ice on the smooth tiled floor, and falling over really shook me up, as it brought it home to me how easily accidents can happen in the home.

Keith picked me up and made me sit down for a while but I have a feeling that tomorrow I will ache! However, falling over didn't stop me from cleaning the rest of the house, but I left hoovering downstairs until Mike came home from work! He has a habit of trailing bits of the golf course all over the house when he returns!

I cooked dinner in the evening and added some dumplings to the casserole. Delicious but it defeated Keith so there are lots left over for lunch tomorrow!

A surprise delivery!

Day 65

The promised bad weather arrived today and it's been windy and rainy all day. As far as I know, this isn't a named storm, but the conditions have certainly been bad!

Keith and I went and did all of our food shopping today as I needed some coffee and I thought, in my ignorance, that it would be quieter on a Wednesday. I was wrong! I bought gifts for my Mum for the forthcoming Mother's Day on Sunday, and by 11am we were driving home. On the way, Keith and I discussed our front door and the possibility of adding a porch. We have a tiled roof over the door with two wooden struts supporting it, but the wood needs sorting out and painting as it has deteriorated over the twenty years we have lived here. I mentioned to Keith that some of the other houses had built internal doors to keep the draughts out so we drove around the estate to have a look. Our hallway is always cold if the wind is coming from the east, so a new porch would certainly make it warmer!

Imagine our surprise when we rounded the corner and saw the headboard we'd ordered some time back propped up against our front door in the wind and rain! It was supposed to be arriving tomorrow! We quickly brought it in and then unpacked all the shopping. Before we did anything else we had breakfast as both of us hadn't eaten yet and I desperately wanted a coffee! 

Once we'd had a very late breakfast we went upstairs and removed the old headboard. It was very hard work moving the bed as the castors had sunk into the new carpet we put down last year! However, after a lot of grunting and effort, we managed to get the old headboard off and brought the new one in. Luckily it was encased in heavy plastic so hadn't been affected by the elements! After more effort, it was attached to the bed and looked great!

We put the old headboard in the garage ready to be taken to the tip later in the week. As we did the shopping today I kept thinking that it was Thursday!

Pottering in the garden!

Day 64

Today has been the calm before the storm, a real spring-like day with sunshine and blue skies. It's amazing how much more energetic I feel when the weather is lovely!

Keith made me a delicious breakfast this morning, using up some egg whites left over from the clafoutis on Monday evening, and adding another to serve me eggs on toast. Yummy, and not something I have every day! We watched the news which was full of the interview last night between Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Piers Morgan, on Good Morning Britain, was almost apoplectic when interviewing several people, and stormed off the set in a huff at one point! The constant shouting made me turn over to the much more calm and dignified BBC news!

We needed to go out this morning to get something we'd forgotten for dinner tonight, so we drove to the Co-op in Moulton and Keith was able to buy the ingredients there. On the way home I put my filthy car through the carwash. I know it's going to rain tomorrow (and for several days afterwards), but with the weather being so good I planned to hoover it out when I got home, and at least have it clean for one day! Mike goes back to work tomorrow, and I have asked him to leave his extremely muddy boots in the shed at work, and wear his trainers home. He reluctantly agreed so that's a result!

We saw two odd things on our trip out: the first was when a wheelbarrow flew off a builder's truck as it went around a roundabout, narrowly missing the cars in front of us! The man driving the truck realised what had happened, but kept on driving! I dread to think what could have happened if a child was walking past or if the wheelbarrow had hit a car and smashed the window! The second was one of those little robot delivery carts waiting to cross the road at some traffic lights! I thought it was hilarious watching it start to go, and then stop, and it kept backing up as if it was scared of crossing! I have seen these little things around the Hunsbury residential estate trundling along the paths, but this one was the first I had seen in town, and waiting at traffic lights!

Back home I hoovered out my car and washed all the mud off the back seats. Keith came out to keep me company, and we tried in vain to sort out my rear windscreen washer which was refusing to work properly. I hate not being able to clean the rear windscreen, and we'd soaked the little jet nozzle in vinegar overnight (as per a YouTube video) but it still wasn't working. In desperation, we ordered a replacement part on Amazon, of all places! I was able to get same-day delivery!

It was lovely to be outside in the fresh air and I was determined to make the most of it while I could! After I'd sorted the car out, I potted up two trays of violas that I'd bought at Tesco yesterday, putting some of them in a pot by the front door. I managed to fill some more pots, and then we cut back the Jasmine that borders our garden path. It has grown outwards so much we have to continually brush past it, so that was a job that I'd been planning to do for a long time completed!

We didn't spend that long in the garden but it was great to start tidying up and getting ready for when the weather is really lovely. Hopefully, it won't be long!

After the gardening, I prepared the vegetables for dinner - Sophie was making us chicken enchiladas - and then had a soak in the bath as my fingernails were a bit dirty from planting my little violas. Sophie came home tired from work, as they are moving offices next week, and she had been packing up boxes and files. She is hoping that she will be working from home next week - something I hope too!

Even though she was tired she cooked dinner, and Keith and I helped her in between compiling our shopping list because we've decided to go tomorrow. We ordered a new headboard for our bed a few weeks ago and it's due to be delivered on Thursday, so we're heading out to the shops tomorrow instead, probably in high winds and driving rain!

A busy Monday!

Day 63

Keith and I went to Aldi and Tesco first thing this morning. I had some shopping to do for my parents, and once we'd bought everything we needed, we dropped the bag into the care home for them. I said I wouldn't visit during the week again, and this was reinforced this morning when we were held up by diggers and big trucks yet again. It's not the builders' fault as it's a working site, but it can be annoying! Amazingly, a woman was walking around the site with her small child! Surely there are better places to walk?!

Back home I tidied up and had a cup of coffee, before venturing into the garden. I am aware of March passing by quite rapidly, and we had planned on clearing away all the Virginia Creeper and making everything tidy. Although cloudy, it's remained dry all day so Keith and I tackled as much as we could, filling our brown bin right to the top. I raked up loads of dead leaves from the gravel and cut back some straggly dead fronds from a plant that displays beautiful orange flowers. A lot of the plants had been strangled by dead leaves so we cleared those away as well. At least we've made a start!

We also filled two bags with dead branches, and decided that we would wait until our brown bin is emptied this week before doing any more. Tomorrow is set to be dry again, but then the weather is going to change on Wednesday and Thursday with a warning out for high winds.

I spent the rest of the afternoon making a Mulligatawny soup for our evening meal, and soon the kitchen was filled with delicious smells! I chopped up an onion, carrot, swede and an apple and sweated them with a knob of butter before adding beef stock, tomato puree, mango chutney and curry powder. While the soup was simmering gently on the hob, I hoovered downstairs and tidied up.

Sophie helped me put the refinishing touches to the soup, and I also started on a fruit and almond clafoutis. I mixed eggs, flour, ground almonds, sugar and cream and kept the batter in the fridge before lining a buttered dish with frozen berries. Once we had eaten the soup I poured the batter over the fruit and popped it into the oven for half an hour. Both the soup and the dessert were lovely, but next time I'm going to use cherries instead, as the batter wasn't completely solid. It still tasted delicious though!

After we'd eaten we settled down to watch the Meghan Markle interview and opinions were definitely divided in our house!