8th April Lockdown

Before I do a round-up of our day yesterday I want to put things into perspective when we are tempted to moan about our enforced house confinement.  We should not forget those who have lost their lives as a result of Covid-19.  We learned overnight of the terribly sad deaths of four members of a family along with their family dog and the newspaper report seemed to intimate that it was the confinement which may have triggered whatever chain of events ended in this tragedy.  It was shocking and even more so when we realised they were related to people we knew.  We have food and water, we have heat and light, we have friends and family who are only at the end of a call, email or text.  We need for nothing and for us our home is our refuge.  Sadly this is not the case for everyone.  So people just look at these measures as a chance to recharge your batteries and feel grateful for everything which we have.

That news troubled me greatly, in fact I didn't sleep so well with a million questions racing around in my head - none of which will ever get answered.  It was, therefore, a welcome relief to concentrate on putting together the pictures for this week's art challenge.  There are some beautiful pieces coming in, and this week I am creating a gallery for those which are Art (watercolour, pencil, acrylic etc) those which are Photographs (stylised or otherwise) and those entered by Children (any medium they like).  People seem to be really enjoying taking some time out to be creative, seeing it as a welcome distraction.

Whilst it was dry John and I worked on the garden again.  John made a temporary storage area outside the kitchen.  This is simply to keep the boxes dry, which is just as well as we had a massive storm this evening with hail the size of golf balls.  Ultimately this will be the bin and recycling stowage and on the top will be an area for me to do some potting up.  John is going to wait to get in the supplies he needs to build it although the DIY shops are providing a delivery service - he wants to be able to look and choose what he needs.

It isn't really cold at night but when we dismantled the Anniversary Bench inside was a box which was full of wood which had been there ages and which John couldn't get to - it was only 'guff' as John calls it and so he is more than happy to use some of it up.  It turns out that 'guff' burns really well and the lounge is super warm and toasty with very little being used.  In fact when we were on a video call with Argy and Lakis and Kia this evening we had the fire lit but all the doors through to the bedroom open.

It was fridge surprise tonight as we plan our weekly outing to the shops tomorrow for us and for Isobel and David.  My zero waste policy is working well but it did mean a slightly eclectic mix in the pasta dish I made this evening.

I had the tail end of a bag of conchiglie pasta, three slices of ham, half an onion, some cream and some grated cheese and the remains of a pot of satay sauce from the Chinese we had previously, oh and two crusts from a Vienna loaf.   So I fried the onions and added the ham, boiled up the pasta, made a cheesy sauce with half the cheese and threw in the satay, used the remainder of the cheese and incorporated it with the bread when making breadcrumbs.  Baked in the oven until the top was crispy and brown and it was - in John's words - DIVS which means it got a double thumbs up and it made enough for us to have the rest tomorrow.