Today is most definitely Saturday. John is getting organised with some beer and nuts and some old footie clippage from YouTube so that he can settle down this afternoon like he would do under normal circumstances. I swear some of the clips were so old that Stanley Matthews was just out of nappies!!!
Summer has finally come to the island. Today was absolutely glorious and our plan was to spend a considerable amount of time out in the garden. I think it is fair to say that I need a new brolly!!! This one has been repaired that many times that it is only the repairs that are clinging on!!! We have plans for the area that this is currently covering so we will make do for now and we haven't had the final coptic which is due at the end of the month. We generally put stuff out too early in the spring and take things in too late in the autumn so that the coptics take their toll.
My job today was to spruce up the steamers which reside in Wendy and Bill corner.
They have become bleached by the weather and we have some stain knocking about so now is as good a time as any - in fact I had to get John to set up my staining station in the shade (although I am in the sun in the picture). Wendy and Bill corner is looking really lovely at the moment as the spring flowers are coming into their own. I am in two minds as to whether to just let the passion flower take over the metal frame of the gazebo rather than put the covers back on.
We have resurrected the day bed too. It took a while to work out where we had stored all the cushions and the throws but we found them. That gazebo took a right hammering and I had planned to replace the curtains with some voiles from Jumbos but that is going to have to wait now!
Having worked really hard to get our pool clean it is now looking sparkling and I jokingly said I might go in today - the Duck tells us it is 18 degrees which isn't bad I suppose. John beat me too it and jumped in but then had a word with the Duck because he didn't think the water felt anything like 18 degrees - mind you it was hot out and we had been working hard and got all hot and sweaty.
I finished the steamers and they are looking really good - we found a couple of bits that needed repair so John did that and now they are sound - will just need to dig out the cushions so that they are more comfortable to lie on. The cats will be thrilled!!!
The picture of the buddha is for Hazel. She bought me him for my birthday and I managed to squeeze it in my case and got him home - he is in the little bit of garden outside the kitchen window which I am hoping to give a bit of an oriental feel to. The anemones help and there should be a good show of alium this year.
Our meal tonight was a triumph - even if I do say so myself. I made a smoky dopiaza chicken curry with steamed rice and some onion bhajis which I served with some of my homemade pickle.
It was spicy but not too spicy and really flavoursome and once again I have to thank Mark and Laura for introducing us to the curry mixes from Curry Frenzy online because they never fail.
So that was our big Saturday night in which was punctuated by video calls from friends and family. So good to speak to Hazel in Yeovil and to Simon and Debbie on their narrowboat somewhere near Bath and to Carole and Paul in East Sussex - it certainly makes the time go quicker when you can have a chat across the miles.
It is Easter Sunday tomorrow - it will not be celebrated by us in the way we would have liked as Mum will be down in Emba and we will be up here.
The Ration Book extract
The recruiting campaign for the Women's Land Army (WLA) trumpeted a 'happy, healthy life', and at its peak in 1943 some 80,000 women were digging, sowing and driving tractors. It was to be a rather tougher life than some of them had imagined!
Summer has finally come to the island. Today was absolutely glorious and our plan was to spend a considerable amount of time out in the garden. I think it is fair to say that I need a new brolly!!! This one has been repaired that many times that it is only the repairs that are clinging on!!! We have plans for the area that this is currently covering so we will make do for now and we haven't had the final coptic which is due at the end of the month. We generally put stuff out too early in the spring and take things in too late in the autumn so that the coptics take their toll.
My job today was to spruce up the steamers which reside in Wendy and Bill corner.They have become bleached by the weather and we have some stain knocking about so now is as good a time as any - in fact I had to get John to set up my staining station in the shade (although I am in the sun in the picture). Wendy and Bill corner is looking really lovely at the moment as the spring flowers are coming into their own. I am in two minds as to whether to just let the passion flower take over the metal frame of the gazebo rather than put the covers back on.
We have resurrected the day bed too. It took a while to work out where we had stored all the cushions and the throws but we found them. That gazebo took a right hammering and I had planned to replace the curtains with some voiles from Jumbos but that is going to have to wait now!
Having worked really hard to get our pool clean it is now looking sparkling and I jokingly said I might go in today - the Duck tells us it is 18 degrees which isn't bad I suppose. John beat me too it and jumped in but then had a word with the Duck because he didn't think the water felt anything like 18 degrees - mind you it was hot out and we had been working hard and got all hot and sweaty.
I finished the steamers and they are looking really good - we found a couple of bits that needed repair so John did that and now they are sound - will just need to dig out the cushions so that they are more comfortable to lie on. The cats will be thrilled!!!The picture of the buddha is for Hazel. She bought me him for my birthday and I managed to squeeze it in my case and got him home - he is in the little bit of garden outside the kitchen window which I am hoping to give a bit of an oriental feel to. The anemones help and there should be a good show of alium this year.
Our meal tonight was a triumph - even if I do say so myself. I made a smoky dopiaza chicken curry with steamed rice and some onion bhajis which I served with some of my homemade pickle.It was spicy but not too spicy and really flavoursome and once again I have to thank Mark and Laura for introducing us to the curry mixes from Curry Frenzy online because they never fail.
So that was our big Saturday night in which was punctuated by video calls from friends and family. So good to speak to Hazel in Yeovil and to Simon and Debbie on their narrowboat somewhere near Bath and to Carole and Paul in East Sussex - it certainly makes the time go quicker when you can have a chat across the miles.
It is Easter Sunday tomorrow - it will not be celebrated by us in the way we would have liked as Mum will be down in Emba and we will be up here.
The Ration Book extract
The recruiting campaign for the Women's Land Army (WLA) trumpeted a 'happy, healthy life', and at its peak in 1943 some 80,000 women were digging, sowing and driving tractors. It was to be a rather tougher life than some of them had imagined!
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