The Distancing Diaries - 21st & 22nd April, 2021

 For the first time in what felt like weeks, Wednesday was overcast, grey and drizzly although I thought like a gardener and knew it would do our newly transplanted ferns some good. After my Wii Fit workout, we had an early breakfast and Jon drove me to Morrisons' car park where I'd got my three-yearly NHS mammogram, offered free to all women between the ages of 50 and 71. I was the first patient of the day and was in and out in less than ten minutes.

As I needed to strip down to the waist I wore vintage Anokhi separates. I rarely bother with a bra so it was just a matter of unbuttoning my blouse and swapping my mask for a surgical one, handed out at reception. It's my third mammogram and despite all the warnings to the contrary, it's never hurt or felt particularly uncomfortable. When you get invited - go! 

Back at home, I spent the rest of the morning doing more ancestry research. After our noodles the sun was starting to break through the clouds, we filled the garden waste bin - which had been emptied whilst we were out then Jon went online and checked the live feed to the council tip. For the first time this year, there wasn't a queue so we filled the car with as much of the bamboo roots as we could cram in and drove over, came home, refilled the car and went back to the tip. 

The postwoman was doing her rounds and she handed over our mail between trips which we opened back at the house. It included this incredible dress. Late last year Amanda had left a comment on my blog, telling me about Dilli Grey, a British company selling contemporary artisan fashion ethically made in Rajasthan. I'd drooled over their dresses for months and was delighted when the one that had particularly taken my eye popped up on eBay. The seller was kind enough to accept an offer and having handled it I can understand why they aren't cheap. It's handmade from organic cotton, block prints with French seams and pockets. What more can a girl ask for?

I spent the rest of the afternoon pottering around the garden, moving plants and watering everything as, despite the earlier drizzle, the ground was still bone dry. Three little boys in school uniform stopped and said hello. Their mum said that they'd been wanting to write me a letter thanking me for making the litter signs which they love to read on their way to school but as they'd finally seen me in person thought they could say thank you face to face. 

Tea was a salad with masala chips and a vegan sausage roll accompanied by a glass of wine. I mopped the kitchen floor and then moved to the lounge for rum and cola and an evening of Waking the Dead and The Great British Sewing Bee.

On Thursday the glorious sunshine had returned. I'd put a load of washing in the machine before I'd gone to bed which I pegged on the line at just after 6.30am. I opened up the cold frames and cloches to get some sun on the seedlings and topped up the birdbath. After my Wii Fit workout and breakfast, Jon made sandwiches, we then climbed into Gilbert and made our way to Shugborough Hall, this week's National Trust adventure.

We've visited Shugborough in the Summer (HERE) and the Winter (HERE), this was the first time we'd seen it in the Spring, and it didn't disappoint.

Although chilly out of the sunshine, it was a gorgeous day.

We stood transfixed watching this moorhen feeding her colourful young.

We spent ages strolling around and had a leisurely lunch in Gilbert with his doors wide open and the sunshine flooding in. Although Shugborough Hall is only half an hour up the road it was mid-afternoon by the time we got home. 

I spent the rest of the day on the lawn, finishing The Silence of the Girls and sewing a craftivism banner for my new friends. Jon and I shared gardening watering duties and had tea.

I'm so looking forward to having a haircut tomorrow, it's driving me daft.

See you soon!