The Distancing Diaries - Day 46 & 47

Doing my Wii Fit on Tuesday morning I noticed the lounge was looking a bit dusty so, after I'd finished my session, I filled a bowl with warm soapy water, washed my vintage glass, cleaned the inside of the windows & scrubbed the hearth, then dusted and swept the rest of the room. Normally it would take ages but, in lockdown world, as I'd only cleaned it a fortnight ago it took half an hour to get it up to scratch. Who knew that if you did it regularly that housework wasn't the time-consuming horror I once thought it was?

After our fruit & yoghurt breakfast (thank goodness for frozen fruit, we'd run out of fresh) I swept the stairs and the rugs in the dining room.

Then went upstairs and swept the bathroom floor, dusted the picture frames and polished the mirrors on the bathroom wall. The vintage velvet kaftan is my evening attire, I change into it after my shower every night and hang it back up in the bathroom every morning.

I was all geared up for a walk in search of grocery supplies but Jon received a text to say something he'd ordered online was on its way and, as we needed a few heavy items, he volunteered to go alone in the van while I waited in for the package so I watered the patio plants keeping an eye out for our lovely My Hermes delivery man who arrived shortly afterwards.

Didn't he do well? Stuff for us and the cats (including the ham, which Jon will share with Frank). Those baked beans with vegan sausages are so beautifully packaged I don't know whether to eat them or display them!

When I was getting dressed I noticed that the skirt I'd worn last week was missing a hook and eye, so I looked out the appropriate bits I needed and replaced it. I  can't resist buying old sewing boxes and tins crammed full of sewing bits & pieces at car boot sales and charity shops, it's very rarely I ever have to buy any new sewing supplies. Not only does it save money but the presentation is far lovelier, vintage wooden cotton reels in particular.

Lunch was a ham salad sandwich for Jon and egg mayonnaise for me, garnished with curled cress and mustard grown in our garden.

After lunch, Jon topped up the pond and nailed a couple of supports to the wall as our passionflower had had a bit of a growth spurt since I'd moved it last week. His toilet repair was a success but, as he continued prepping the walls in the utility room, he discovered to his horror that the sink had also sprung a leak. Old houses can be utter bastards! He abandoned his work and we went for a walk around the block instead.

Tuesday was sunny but cold - I started off the day watering the garden in bare feet and added to my outfit as the day progressed. By the time I went for our walk I was wearing socks, leggings, boots and my quilted riding coat over my recycled sari silk blouse and Anokhi dress.

The 1970s Anokhi pinafore was an eBay buy last year, the African breastplate and tribal earrings are pieces I inherited from my mum.

Tea was jacket potatoes with those beautifully packaged baked beans and grated cheese. Our evening's viewing was a couple more episodes of The Other Mother (Maman A Tort), a gripping French psychological thriller we'd discovered on Channel 4's Walter the previous evening.

Source

Day 47 (Wednesday) started with Wii Fit, as usual. After breakfast (a welcome return to fresh fruit) I got dressed and reached for a Banjara coin belt I hadn't worn in ages and noticed that there was something dangling from the tie fastener. To my absolute joy, I realised it was the earring I thought I'd lost at The End of The Road festival eight months ago. Thank goodness I'd saved the other one!

Whilst Jon cracked on with fixing the sink in the utility room I got the knife out and weeded the cracks in the pavers & gave the patio plants a thorough watering.  By the time Jon bought me out a posh coffee I was too hot in the long-sleeved kaftan I'd put on earlier and had to get changed into something else.

 I ventured outside Stonecroft's gates, weeding the patch of land on the left-hand side of the house (not the wild other side) and swept the drive. As it was warm I took out the kitchen windowsill seedlings and put them in the sunshine.

I was in the mood for some sewing but, the bedcover I'd planned to turn into a skirt wasn't quite wide enough so I repaired the top I wore yesterday instead - it'll be more repair than fabric soon!

I read The Kashmir Shawl in the sunshine until Jon called me in for noodles and to tell me that the sink was fixed - hooray!

After lunch, I watered the seedlings in the veg patch, greenhouse and the cloches then lay on the lawn reading - accompanied by the boys. In the meantime, Jon painted the skirting boards and the pipework in the utility room.

Breakfast radishes, turnips, French beans, Alicante tomatoes, lettuce......all looking good!

Once he'd downed tools for the day, Jon pottered around in the greenhouse before our afternoon stroll around the block.

Back at home, I felt the need to pose in front of the Laburnum which has burst into full bloom today, isn't it gorgeous?

My second outfit of the day! An indigo block print 1970s sun top by India Imports of Rhode Island (found in the 3 for a £1 basket in a charity shop a few years ago) and a vintage block printed maxi skirt, also by India Imports of Rhode Island, which I bought from eBay last year. My fair trade Mexican maize fedora was a present from our festival neighbours, Shilpa Silver, last year.

Tea was snack-sized vegetarian samosas & spring rolls from Jon's expedition to Farmfoods a couple of weeks ago, a couple of cubes of cheese and a salad of gherkins, olives, cucumber and tomato drizzled with balsamic vinegar and fresh herbs.

This photo (and my egg mayo sandwich earlier) is dedicated to Leigh who, like me, loves to see what people are eating.

Wednesday night in Walsall means one thing - beer! We've started already.

Hopefully, there's time to catch up with my blog reading and another episode of The Other Mother before The Great British Sewing Bee kicks off at 9pm.

Keep safe, stay positive and thanks for staying in touch, it's lovely to hear what you've been up to!