Tuesday 30th June - what heatwave? When was that?

A week has passed - weeklyblogging seems to be happening at the moment.

I have to read through the previous blog post to avoid saying all the same things over again - a sign of my age? Or, more likely a sign of these times.

Anyway, Wednesday last week might have been hot, but Thursday was in a different league of hotness. My plan to walk every day last week foundered; on Thursday I stubbed my little toe and didn't feel like walking, not even in the evening when it did cool down, and then Friday it was raining when I might have gone out. That's my excuse; and I reckon Thursday's temperatures had drained every drop of energy (not forgetting that I taught eleven zoom lessons on Thursday and Friday).

Then came the weekend - and Satruday and Sunday are recuperation days, so I recuperated. Some of the time. It was my father's 91st birthday on Sunday - we celebrated with a family zoom including relations in Florida on the Saturday afternoon, and then on Sunday morning we packed the car with three chairs, a table, cake, light-up happy birthday cake decoration, plates, forks, coffee in flasks, paper napkins, and had a little coffee morning on a grassy area outside the flats where he lives.

No more family birthdays now until September - who knows what the situation will be then?

******

I have discovered hair gel. How can I have lived all these years without it? It seems to stick my fringe back away from my face somehow, without making my hair feel as though it is coated in glue or covered in grease. Magic. It has made life so much easier. Who knew such a thing existed - oh, you've already heard about it!

It reminds me of a comment by a visiting bishop, begging the candidates for confirmation to refrain from using it to look smart at the comfirmation service, when he has to place his hand on the candidates head to confirm them into the church. The bishop's face as he described the feeling of landing his hand on a head covered in gel... again and again... it did set me off wondering about head lice, too...

******

I've started messing about with water colours again. I've been trying to sort out my 'palette', if I may dignify the random box of colours by that name. I had added another 6 colours to the ones suppled in the box, based on recommendations by watercolourists on the web or in how-to books, and decided to reassess and reduce back down to 12.

Here's what I have at the moment, not exactly what Liz Steel recommends but fairly close. It gives me an opportunity to order more colours - how exciting!

The top row is Raw Siena, Burnt Siena, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Rose and Cadmium yellow.

The bottom row is Burnt Umber, Quinacrodine Gold (I bought it because of the name - it is a lovely colour), Sap Green, Turquoise, Crimson Alizarin and Lemon Yellow

This is the colour wheel I attempted from Ultramarine Blue, Permamnet Rose and Cadmium Yellow

This colour wheel is made from Cerulean Blue, Crimson Alizarin and Lemon Yellow.

Well, that's a start. Or rather an ending. The other thing I did was go through the pile of unfinished sketchbooks I have somehow acquired. This has some stuff at the beginning that I did a couple of years ago; I have just turned the book upside down to start at the end of the book, rather than waste the rest of the pages.

Tuesday 23rd June - Temporary Heatwave

I am feeling a bit sorry for the workmen outside, digging up our concrete road in this blistering heat. They are wearing hi-viz, and construction helmets, and ear defenders, and must be melting.

The bungalow opposite is being renovated, with the same zeal and energy as last time, back in about 1990. It provides a kind of live-stream entertainment; we can even turn the volume down by closing the double glazed windows and retreating to the back of the house.

I'm having a slight battle of wills with Leo the cat again. I had a whim to reclaim my chair

so I created a new place for her.

This was going fairly well to begin with; she would curl up on/in the blue cat cushion (specially chosen to be easy to hoover), Although preferring 'my chair' in the afternoon as the sun came round.

Then I swapped the cushion on 'my chair' for another 'easy-to-hoover' one, and hid the knitted cushion on the dining chair under the table where I sit and do my work. This one;

I am running out of options here.


Meanwhile, my new packets of stickers have arrived;

These are for posting out to piano students who have done something spectacular, like pracised their pieces. I've ordered another 100 second class stamps - now all I need to do is order envelopes.

I'm trying to be slightly health-conscious this week; walking circuits round and round the garden. I managed a personal best of 14 yesterday - that roughly works out as a kilometre. It is too hot to try and do the same thing right now - sitting and blogging is a better idea.

This is yesterday's healthy desert at lunchtime; going anticlockwise, it starts off quite well with a satsuma and two strawberries from the garden.I braved a Huge Black Beetle to get those strawberries; it landed on my hand and I have to admit that I rushed around squeaking 'Beetle! Beetle! Big Black Beetle!' until it flopped off my hand and onto the draining board. I have found it a new home in the garden recycling bin, along with all the weeds and slugs and snails. I have a horrid suspicion that it is a Vine Weevil, which has Awful Consequences for the strawberry tub.
 
Next is a glass of not-very-delicious multivitamin drink, and finally, (only for taking away the taste) some small pieces of home-made seed cake. Yum yum.

The heatwave is supposed to be over by Friday. I think that's a good way to organise the weather. Enough sun to surprise us for a couple of days, and then back to ordinary weather.

Wednesday 17th June 2020 - This week will be different

That is, this week will be different to (or should that be from?) last week.

How so?

I'm just determined to be less bleah, less grey, and more upbeat through the day!

My to-do lists are lloking more cheerful as I'm adding little pictures;

Monday

 Tuesday

Wednesday

which cheers me up when I look at the list, and I am trying to do a bit more exercise, eat more fruit, leave the cake tin alone at least one time in three approaches - nothing radical or extreme, but just buck my ideas up a bit.

Three days in and I'm sort of still there - I'm blogging now instead of walkinng round and round the garden because the heavens have opened and dumped a cloudburst of thunderous rain. So the 'walk' and 'exercise' boxes haven't been ticked yet.

I am amusing myself by doing a 15 minute beginner level workout using resistance bands. The phrase 'going through the motions' takes on added meaning when you learn that I do not possess resistance bands; I did a quick browse through amazon and discovered that there was too much choice, so bought none. I still get puffed doing the exercises; maybe I should wait a while until I have worked up to that level? I like the sound of that.

The walk; well, it takes 120 steps to walk down to the bottom of the garden,

along the back fence, up the path past the patio tubs which should be full of flowers but actually contain runner beans and courgette plants

Up the driveway towards the road, round the car, back through the gates and past the pot of nemesia (who planted those there? Self seeded from some plants bought back in 2015!)

and head back to the table and chairs where I started from (from where I began? I think I am channeling Morecambe and Wise; 'the play what I wrote')

I drop a clothespeg into a flowerpot on the table (to keep a tally of the number of circuits) as I pass, and round I go again.

120 steps is about 75 metres.

Many famous people like Darwin thought their best thinks as they walked around a circuit. I'll let you know if I have any inspirational thoughts, but don't be holding you breath now. 

My main thought at the moment is 'How I want to go and see the sea!' but that is going to have to wait a bit longer.

Tuesday 16th June - Last Week

Last week - what happened? Where did it go?

It was a bit of a grey week, to be honest. We both felt a bit 'monochrome' - and for why?

Maybe it was just the greyer weather, after these apparently unending weeks of sunshine.

For my part, I can put some of it down to a really vicious insect bite on my ankle, which I got when I was planting beans in one of the patio pots at the beginning of June. I took a photo - would you like to see? I thought not.

I reckon it was a horsefly, and it took two bites, which became so ferociously itchy and swollen that for the first week I had to apply ice packs and slather the area in Germolene to stop myself from doing myself a damage. Although it was over two weeks ago, the bites still suddenly flare up into a murderous itchiness, and, weirdly, I now have 'restless leg syndrome', where my feet won't stay still, but want to be constantly on the move. Was this the bite? It started around that time - I've only just (after a sleepless night a few days ago) worked out what was going on and why I couldn't get to sleep.

Google 'restless legs' if you dare; it can be caused by all kinds of things ranging from seriously problematical or just needing to boost your iron intake. I've chosen the latter, so am eating even more broccoli and spinach. Best Beloved needs only the slightest encouragement to buy steak so thinkgs should be looking up soon. Or, in the case of my feet, slowing down!

It hasn't been all monochromatic, though; the patchwork blanket, which McCavity thinks is entirely for her benefit, has been growing

Trying to finish off a patch while she is sitting on it is tricky, and I think she was resenting the activity. The crochet rug under the magazine is the one I am making as a wedding present. It is still on target; I'm adding one 200g ball per month, so It should reach the required size by August.

And zoom is proving a bit of a bonus; we have met with relatives in Florida and Canada, and I'm also having regular meetings with a group of friends who used to live reasonably close to each other but over the years have spread round the UK, such that we could only get together every couple of years.

Now that we have discovered this method of meeting, I think we shall be continuing.

It reminds me of the coffee and cake (and Bible study when we were in the mood!) group that I used to go to at our church, called 'Ten-25'. The name did cause a fair bit of confusion, as we actually met at 10am, not 10:25; we took the name from Hebrews, Chapter 10, verse 25;

25Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another,  

Saturday 6th June - Never fear, all has been made clear...

See comment to previous blog!

Meanwhile I have managed to sneak the blanket away from McCavity forlong enough to add another square!

Saturday 6th June - Possibly my last post ever...

Now here's a thing - they have updated blogger, and on the new version I cannot find how to create a new post.

Luckily I have found a place to click on 'revert to the old format' so I can post for now - but it is 'all change' in mid-June...

What was I going to post - well, nothing much.

It is the weekend - Saturday, the one day of the week with no scheduled activity.

I've finished the Pat of 'Silver Bush' series by L M Montgomery (author of 'Anne of Green Gables' and 'Emily Moon' other series). I discovered I could download EVERYTHING she published for 99p - now that's an offer I couldn't refuse. I say 'finished' - 'finshed with' might be closer. I skim-read the second book to see if she really did marry Jingle at the end because I was getting tired of all the twists and turns.

I've started 'The Family Upstairs' by Linda Jewel which is our book club read - a murder mystery which is switching back and forward through time. I think I'm going to have to stay with this one as I'm three chapters in and already confused. I was so grateful for the little symbols at the beginning of each chapter of Joanne Harris' 'The Lollipop Shoes' so I could keep track of who was narrating each chapter - something like this would be useful in 'The Family Upstairs'. No-one has been murdered yet, or rather, the deaths (suicide or murder?) occurred before the book starts, but the atmosphere is definitely pregnant with plot.

I've listened to a TED talk on 'Reading Slowly' - interesting, but didn't make me feel bad for skipping chunks and chunks of Pat and her obsessive love of Silver Bush Farm - never actually described as obsessive in the book, but I would be worried for her if it hadn't turned out all right in the end.

I do want to add a square to the scrap blanket - it is easy mindless knitting, but McCavity has adopted it. I have to wait for my chance.

 
I'm using up a whole load of scraps of yarn left over from my godmother's house, and from projects that I remember doing in the past, and scraps that I have no idea where they came from.  You just add on a square when you feel like it (which is NOW, as it happens). I'm using very short needles which are a joy to knit with. (But that hairy electric blue square was a mistake - oh well, McCavity doesn't care and I don't either).

It is very quiet when I pause in rattling the keys, just the ticking clock (a bit brisk for Pat of Silver Bush, I wouldn't mind betting).

Leo-the-cat has just come in. By the sound of the miaow, her plate is empty...

Saturday 6th June - Peering into a crystal ball

I've just finished another week of zoom piano lessons.

Using the technology has become smoother, I've been improving the positioning of the screen, rethinking how I present new ideas. As the weeks have gone by everything has become more routine.

I spent this morning considering the future; realistically I won't be teaching face-to-face until either a vaccine has been developed, or the incidence of infection has become so low that the likelihood of catching Covid19 has become near zero. It looks as though zoom lessons are here to stay.

Fortunately I had already made the decision to retire from nearly all my school work at the beginning of the year. If all my private pupils stay with me that will mean finding enough zoom time for about 24 students. At the moment I allow roughly a whole hour per student, although the actual lesson only lasts roughly half an hour. The other time is taken up by admin - writing up the lesson, and sending put the notes, scheduling the next lesson and checking that the money has come through. (Yes, I know there are apps which will do all that for me... one step at a time for now!)

I think it can be done; I'd do some on Saturday, say about 6, another 3 or 4 adults and college students in the daytime, and the rest of the school-age students between 4 and 8pm over four evenings. This still fewer hours than I was working before, and gives me masses of free time to... to... yes. To do things in. Lots of things. A whole list of things.

Monday 1st June 2020 - Tidy-up time

That's what all the children chanted at the end of the playgroup session, when I used to help out a couple of mornings a week, thirty years ago. We adults wuld be trying to clear up the water play area, the sand table, the paints, the dressing-up clothes, the cars... you name it..., and the children would all run around the hall, faster and faster as more floor area was cleared of jigsaws and playdough.

There was a special rhythm to the chant... Ti-deeeYup! Time......

After this they were supposed to all sit quietly on the carpet and listen to a story before taking their sticky gluey painty models home. Then we would have a cup of tea, muck out the toilets and stagger off home.

Today I tidied the table. Long past Ti-deeeYup! Time...... for the table. It was one of those expanding tasks which gradually grew to encompass the various knitting bags, music bags, projects-in-progress tray, piano, bookshelves beside the piano and the zoom setup for teaching.

At one point I was heading towards despair, so I went outside and planted the beans that a church friend was giving away. That's when I discovered that the wooden half-barrels we bought were all collapsing with the dry weather. I had seen the consequences in someone else's garden last week - a pile of rusting hoops with never a stave in sight. We were heading towards the same situation, especially with the barrel that I had emptied in readiness last week.

So, refilling the tub with fresh earth and planting the beans became a priority. All the wooden barrels have been thoroughly watered today, twice, and I have even watered the Outsides, in order to encourage the wood to swell up again.

Meanwhile, the table...

I asked Himself to fetch down this box to put by tablet on for zooming.

There is a depressing amount of truth in the labelling. I cleared some of the stuff out, and then fetched down the other one;

Yup. Two of them. The second one contains a random selection of unsorted photographs - a didn't sort through, just added a load more I found in my 'art' bag. 

Still, it is nine pm and I have managed to end up with a decent zoom arrangment, organised bags of knitting, harpsichord music, piano teaching materials, art bag, and here's my tidied project tray,

 and the dining room table

I do have a number of heaps of music and papers to go through - hey, tomorrow is another day!