The Distancing Diaries - Day 118 & 119

On Thursday (day 118) I was up at 6.15am, let the lads out, caught up with blog comments and did my daily Wii Fit workout before taking Jon his chota hazari (Hindi for bed tea). I mopped the kitchen floor - normally Jon's job but I was eager to try out the Ocean Saver floor cleaner I'd ordered from &keep, I liked it. No, I'm not sponsored, I paid for it with my own £1.50!

 After our fruit & yogurt I swept the downstairs rugs while Jon searched online for some wall brackets for the kitchen shelves and found the perfect things so placed an order. Liz called to check if we were around if she popped by for a coffee so we hurriedly got dressed. I'm wearing a maxi dress I had made from a length of vintage block printed cotton I'd found in a dusty old tailor's shop in Goa back in 2018. I'd popped back in January to buy up the rest of the fabric but they'd thrown it away after it went mouldy after a leak in the roof during the monsoon.

It was a dry day but the wind was cold so we sat with our jackets on in the garden laughing at Frank who was peeping at us from the music room roof crying at Jon. Liz is an artist and had an idea for a painting so we recreated the pose and she took a photo to work from.

After she'd left I emptied the contents of the laundry basket in the washing machine as we'd be promised 22°C heat for the afternoon. By the time I'd pegged the washing on the line it was time for our lunchtime noodles. 

Jon's job for the afternoon was to press on with the old wardrobe doors he'd reinforced last week and measured, measured and measured again before cutting them to size. I stayed in the house and did some baking. I don't really have a sweet tooth but fancied experimenting with coconut oil - I use it as a body moisturiser and a hair conditioner, but have never cooked with it.

Vegan Flapjacks

2 over-ripe bananas
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp coconut oil
6oz  mix of dried fruit, seeds & nuts
7oz porridge oats
Pinch sea salt

Line a 8 x 8in tin with baking parchment
Mash bananas, add golden syrup & coconut oil
Stir in dried fruit, seeds & nut mix, oats and salt and stir until oats are coated
Spoon into the tin, leveling with the back of a spoon
Bake at 180°C for approx. 30 minutes
Turn out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool. Cut into pieces and store in an airtight container.

The verdict? Delicious. A lot lighter and cleaner tasting than the traditional ones made from butter.

The morning's high winds had brought another load of helicopters down from the lime tree so I raked them up (as you can see, I'm still persevering with those Clarks' sandals) before cutting back some brambles and watering the patio plants while Jon tended to the veg patch and the greenhouse. As we were having salad for tea we harvested some of our Oriental leaves and rocket.

Although promised heat didn't materialise, I sat in a sheltered spot in the garden with a book for the rest of the afternoon. After we'd eaten our tea (salad, veg pakora, sagnaki and spelt bread) we watched another episode of Mrs America on the i-player.

On Friday I was up by 6am and straight on the PC so I could book a slot at a particularly popular  National Trust garden, I've tried for weeks and failed but this morning I was successful. After letting the lads out and completing my final Wii Fit session of the week I caught up with blogland before Jon joined me for our fruit & yogurt breakfast.

 Once we were dressed Jon got to work measuring up and cutting the salvaged skirting boards to size and, taking advantage of a sunny day, I loaded the washing machine with towels and pegged them out on the line when they were done.

 Jon painted the skirting boards and I moved the pot plants, weeded between the patio bricks and swept up. Hoping to change into a bikini later (we'd again been promised temperatures in the mid-20s) I wore my 1970s Indian block printed maxi skirt by Third Eye (eBay, 2018) and a crochet halterneck bought from the roadside in Goa the same year.

What's happening in the garden? The first clump of agapanthus is out in all its Mediterranean glory and the nasturtium continues to amaze me. I keep catching sight of the bright blue of the hydrangea and thinking that someone's left an Ikea bag in the garden.

There's three clumps of montbretia in full flower in the border below the house as well as two crocosmia, the ones beneath the lime tree and next to the pond are still just leaves as the areas rarely get any sun but they'll get there in the end. The Sea Holly was a new addition this year and I love it.

The reduced to clear geraniums I planted in the rain last week are in flower.

The postman arrived bearing parcels, including my latest eBay purchase. You're not seeing things, this is the black version of the vintage Ayesha Davar cheesecloth blouse I'd won three weeks ago, the lovely seller had messaged me to tell me that she was listing it (it was her Mum's in the 1970s and she'd been having a lockdown clear out) and, possibly because she'd neglected to mention the designer, I was the only bidder.

Just like the other blouse she'd washed it in that horrible washing powder so I soaked it in liquid hand wash before rinsing it with a couple of cupfuls of white vinegar and hanging it on the line to dry.

Liz messaged me with the preliminary sketch of yesterday's pose. She's good, isn't she? You can see more of her work HERE.

After our lunchtime noodles I downloaded a chart so we could join the Big Butterfly Count which runs until 9th August. Jon donned his safety googles, gloves and a hammer and proceeded to smash the tiles off the kitchen wall where he's hoping to fit the wardrobe doors.

Although it wasn't exactly tropical I spent the afternoon lounging on the lawn on a bedspread with my book although this fella did his utmost to distract me.

Stephen Squirrel 15 going on 5!

We'd just finished watering the greenhouse, veg patch and patio plants when the shelf brackets Jon had delivered arrived. Slowly but surely the kitchen is finally getting there.

SOURCE

Tonight we're having salad and something for tea, drinking rum and watching Gardener's World - we're so rock'n'roll!

Stay safe and see you very soon!