Alone In My Home - Day 22 & 23

Saturday - and twenty-two days since Stonecroft went into lockdown - was another glorious Spring day. I was up before 6am and by the time I'd brought us mugs of tea back to bed I'd already given all the house plants a good watering in the bath, deep conditioned and washed my hair, cleaned the bathroom and repotted a plant.

We read until 8am and after I'd stripped the bed and loaded the washing machine I joined Jon for coffee and toast. Once we'd dressed I watered the patio plants and Jon checked on the seeds and excitedly reported the turnips had sprouted overnight (he's never liked turnips but if he manages to grow one he's determined to give them another go!)

 Last night, we'd turned the garden lights on that Jon had installed the previous day. They looked utterly magical.

The garden bench was looking decidedly shabby so I moved it to the lawn and gave it a lick of paint, using more of the Lovely Olive I'd used yesterday. In the balmy 26°C heat, it was dry within an hour.

We then moved a pile of terracotta plant pots I'd rescued from an outbuilding at the parental home when we'd emptied it. Most are marked Sankey, Bulwell, Nottingham. After running indoors for a quick look on the PC, I discovered that they were produced between 1885 and 1939.

There's a few hundred of them and it took the rest of the morning to shift them. They were already in situ when my parents bought The Cottage in 1970 and would have belonged to the original owner. There were a few cracked ones amongst the hoard so we put them in the wheelbarrow and smashed them into pieces with a mallet, ready to add to the bottom of pots for drainage.

I gave them (and the rest of the patio) a good hosing down.

After lunchtime noodles I divided the huge clump of thyme in our herb bed, moving some to another area of the garden and planting more in a vintage bread bin that was too rusty for its original purpose.

Wednesday and Friday night's rum drinking had yielded a couple more empty cola bottles which we cut up and fashioned into planters. I sowed coriander seeds in one and cress in the other.

Jobs done, we hung out with the lads in the glorious sunshine,

Later we took ourselves off for a walk around the block. Can you see the windmill? A relic from when Highgate (the area of Walsall where we live) was farmland.

Time for a quick outfit photo before showering and having tea (Halloumi with roasted vegetables).
We spent the evening watching a couple of episodes of the archaeology series, Digging for Britain and BBC4's latest Scandi-Noir, Twin. Needless to say, with it being Saturday, we consumed a couple of rum and colas.

WEARING: Vintage Jer-Sea of Sweden halterneck midi dress, a gift from Curtise back in 2012

Today (day 23) started in the usual manner with a bit of a lie-in, reading with mugs of tea in bed (made by me again as I was the first to wake up). We watched the Andrew Marr Show with a veggie sausage sandwich and then got dressed and to work.

 It's Easter Sunday although as an atheist and a non-chocolate eater, it's just another day.

 I watered the pot plants, planted a Euphorbia we'd rescued after spotting it growing in a crack in the pavement on yesterday's walk and repotted the olive trees Jon had bought from Lidl last year (HERE).

Check out the nails! I hadn't used this colour before, Barry M had a buy two get one free offer on a while ago and I thought I'd change the habit of a lifetime and buy a normal colour (as opposed to blue or green). This is called All The Things She Red. Bet that, like me, you won't be able to get this song out of your head now.

The basil I'd planted earlier this week had sprouted overnight so, buoyed with enthusiasm, I thought I'd have a bash at planting some Thai basil as well.

To crack on with his task for the day, Jon had to move Ebbie, he fired her up and she started immediately. Not bad for a 50-year-old car!

Today's mission was to move the wood store away from the house.

First off he moved the composting bins and the concrete slabs bordering them,

Then he rebuilt the wood store in the cleared area.

As you know, Jon suffers from back problems and despite my pleas to assist him and for him to wear his lumbar support belt, does he listen? Of course not! Thankfully he's not done himself an injury and has now called it a day until tomorrow.

He's also moved those Edwardian rope edging tiles that you can see next to the compost bins, from another part of the garden. He'll sleep well tonight!

Whilst Jon was toiling away I sat on the lawn sanding down the flagpole. My Grandparents had it made in 1977 so they could fly the Union flag for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. We'd flown a Skull & Crossbones flag from it for several years but it got torn down in a gale last year. I've applied some wood hardener to the base and Jon's just given it a going over with some yacht varnish - who needs DIY shops, I swear Jon's got almost everything stashed away!

I'm wearing a dress I made from a pair of curtains featuring a screenprint by Grace Sullivan called Treetops and sold at then uber-cool Heals in the 1970s. The 1970s Butterick pattern is by Kenzo.

We haven't eaten since breakfast so it'll be an early tea, there are jacket potatoes in the oven and in the absence of any baked beans we'll be having cheese and coleslaw instead. No walk today, Jon's legs no longer work so I'm spending the rest of the afternoon catching up with blogland and making a start on my next book.

Stay safe and keep positive!