Saturday morning tidbits

This working week really flew by. I took a day off work on Friday. I knew I had to catch up with teaching stuff for a couple of hours but I didn't mind that. I can compensate for this another time. My work is beautifully flexible.

I really enjoyed pottering around the house yesterday. I washed bedding, then watched it move gently in the still warm air outside. I listened to the kids doing school work under Annie's watchful eye. I helped Alistair with his P7 project (a piece of independent research) and I loved eating the crumpets that the kids made for "home economics". I had no idea how crumpets are made. They were very tasty if slightly undercooked. Perfect with butter and marmite.

I also spent some time sewing. The jacket that I am making is dark blue and I can only really work on it in daylight. I am a bit anxious about putting the poppers in the pockets. I don't like piercing holes in fabric... so I made the hood first and I started assembling the sleeves. I am making flat felled seams, a bit of a faff to be honest but hopefully worth it.

Jack had his daily outing to the river. He loves swimming in the Kelvin just now and the kids were excited to tell me that he swam to the other side, climbed up the bank and waited for them to follow. They didn't. Eventually Jack swam back to his people. He is only little but such a strong swimmer.

I went for a run late in the afternoon. It is only my second run since my ear started improving and it was not enjoyable but I am glad I made the effort. I am on my third treatment course for my ear infection (after being overly optimistic in my last post). I remain optimistic. Of course my gut microbiome is a mess now and I need to make sure to feed it good stuff to help it recover. Plenty of fruit and vegetables and fibre and some living yogurt on my menu. Although of course the bag or ready salted crisps is much more tempting than some apples that have seen better days (back in October probably).

Our garden is very dry. It hasn't rained since lockdown started, which I think is five weeks ago. We are watering plants, very unusual for this time of year. My back garden tulips are starting to flower. I was very surprised to see the pastel colours, I was quite sure I planted vibrant varieties. My memory is not what it used to be.

Our dishwasher broke. Richard spent some time taking it apart and found a disconnected tube and plenty of water, which miraculously remained contained. I am cautiously optimistic that he fixed it. How the tube got disconnected remains a mystery. Sam broke our beloved Kenwood Chef glass mixing bowl. I was not happy. Richard fixed that, too but it may not be a permanent solution. These things cost a fortune. Now, Richard is flushing the central heating system to make sure it remains in good working order.

My favourite orchid is back in bloom. It is a bumper year, four flower spikes are competing for attention and three have just emerged from the base of the plant. It is very fragrant and fills the living room with a heavy sweet scent. Unfortunately, I lost the label and I can't remember what variety it is. I bought it many years ago at a local orchid fair. This would be the orchid fair weekend actually, such a shame to miss it. If you know the variety, please tell me.

I bumped into my friend Johnny the other day, while walking along the river. Obviously, I didn't bump into him literally. We had a good old chat, which was nice. It is both our birthdays shortly and maybe we'll arrange a family Zoom or something, instead of a BBQ. I miss a good chat with my friends. I like to stop and chat to people on our road, too. Everyone is outside on their front steps because it is a so sunny and warm and everyone feels a bit in need of a chat. Houses are built on the hill here and most have two sets of stairs to get to the front door. No risk of breaching the physical distancing guidelines, which is nice.

Right, I better get myself off the sofa and into the kitchen for a bit of cleaning. Thanks for stopping by and saying hello.