23rd April

Big hugs to someone we hold very dear on what will have been a very difficult day

The weather has been very strange today - cool with threatening rain and rolling mists such a difference from the previous day but it does mean it isn't too hot to get some jobs done but this is getting increasingly difficult as we are running out of the materials we need.

My niece has been in touch with Mum and sent her some photographs of Mum's great grandson Jack during lockdown.

It is hard for children to understand why they are separated from their friends and not going to school so I know that Elena and Andy have been doing all sorts to keep him occupied.

Today Jack was very pleased to show off his new football kit which he informs us is the same as Messi wears.  Jack is also getting into gardening!!!  Bless him he is a super cutie and I know that Mum will have enjoyed seeing the photographs.

I thought I would show you some pictures of knitted teddies my friend Tsui has been making - these are Frontline Key Worker Corona-Virus Bears in their medical scrubs complete with mask and stethoscope.

Aren't they absolutely fabulous?   I have kept meaning to pick up my knitting again but don't seem to have enough hours in the day and today was no exception as I started on the project to make a new cover for the outside brolly with the old sheet and duvet cover we found when we were tidying the shed the other day.  This has been somewhat trying with a lot of buggers involved as the underneath bobbin kept running out of thread.  I got so far and then packed it away to be finished tomorrow.

Tonight is a complete fridge surprise night and I am not holding out much hope that it will be a memorable occasion.  There is a load of cold meat which was destined for a sandwich which is now past its prime and this will be made into a pasta dish with some ancient cheese and the remains of a bottle of milk.  We were given some Flaounes by Marina and I had one left over (Flaouna is a cheese-filled pastry from the island of Cyprus, which may include raisins or be garnished with sesame seeds) so I blitzed that up with cheese to make a crunchy topping and was lovely.  I also had four of my hot cross buns in the bread bin which were getting harder and harder so they were going to be turned into a bread and butter pudding.  The recipe required lemon curd (although after eating it we would have preferred it left out) and I had to make that this morning too.

The Ration Book...
During the war you had to be very creative with your recipes and not surprisingly mothers sometimes wouldn't tell their children what they were eating until the meal was over.    Amongst some of the stranger ingredients the British found on their plate was a Sheep's head.  You didn't eat the head itself but a flavoursome dinner could be made by putting one in a pot with vegetables so that you had, as one wartime child later remembered it, the teeth staring out from the stew mixed with all the potatoes and carrots and dumplings!!!  Lovely!!!