March …ing

I am a bit surprised by the end of March… it passed rather more quickly than I thought it might when it first started. It was, on the whole, a good month. There has been no drama shaking the foundations of my wellbeing in March. 

:: Watching the slow progress of draining the aqueduct section of the canal so that major aqueduct maintenance and repair can begin. I wonder what will emerge out of the murky waters are pumped into the section adjacent to the temporary barriers. Maybe best not to know. 

:: Trying (and failing) to keep up with floor cleaning. Frankie the menace shoots in and out through the cat flap with all sorts, mostly sticks, moss, dug up lawn and soggy toys. It is a daily battle that I am losing. 

:: Enjoying two weekends away. You can read all about these in my previous post.

:: Catching-up with Iris, whom I hadn’t seen since early February. Iris refuses to say where they live but I know it is in town nearby with good bus connections with a line that stops outside college. It was nice to see my wayward teen. I took Iris to Lidl for a grocery shop because it is always easier to have a chat when doing something rather than sitting at a table. Iris came back for another visit two days later because Richard had been at work during the first visit. I do really miss Iris but they seem well, which is what matters most of all. Baby steps.

:: Listening to the radio mostly, rather than books. Concentration is less crucial because conversations are shorter, sometimes lighthearted but always interrupted by news bulletins. Although I'd rather avoid hearing the latest rant from the orange megalomaniac who is singlehandedly leading the world into the abyss. I did listen to a couple of books, including "Honoured" by Naz Shah, a labour MP for Bradford West. What a life story she has to look back on! I really enjoyed this book, not my usual genre, for sure but definitely worth my time. I also discovered a new crime series set in Glasgow, by Pat Black. The first of currently two books is "To pay the ferryman". To be honest, it could be anywhere because unlike other crime fiction set in Glasgow, the places we are taken to are not named. I do like the local references so might not continue with the series. 

:: Watching series 8 of "This Farming Life" on the BBC iplayer. An annual highlight for sure. My favourite farming families this year were the crofters on the Isle of Lewis and the young family who relocated from a Hampshire farm to Scotland. I am also watching "The Chelsea Detective" on Channel 4 catch-up. A most enjoyable crime drama, not overly gruesome with good character development. I just finished season 1 (of three, plenty to look forward to). I did binge-watch season 5 of Astrid, a French crime drama set in Paris. I know there is a British adaptation of this series, called Patience but I don't want to watch it because why not watch the original??

:: Changing my nail colour from eucalyptus leave green to red. The shade is called "couture" and it is my favourite, by far. 

:: Sewing a blouse and a messenger bag. I have already written a post to show you the blouse and a pair of jeans, will share that soon. It was really enjoyable to sew the blouse. The bag on the other hand was less fun to make. Too many pieces to cut out to start with and too many pieces to puzzle together. I do rather like the finished bag though.

:: Continuing to work with Frankie on his manners, behaviours and tricks. He is now in the terrible twos phase, totally bonkers. 

:: Practicing my influencer skills. Not that I am planning on becoming an influencer, not to worry. My life is too busy already. I am just using some of the tools an influencer might use to record "street interviews" and sit down interviews during a conference that I am on the organising committee for. I have just a few days left to become competent, with my current skills level best described as abysmal. 

:: Loving my ballet classes. We organised an extra class recently, to practice pirouette skills. My downfall is the spotting, ie the lack of it. To avoid dizziness when pirouetting, a dancer fixes their gaze on a single spot. They keep their gaze fixed on this spot while the body is turning until it is no longer possible to not move the head, which is then whipped around quickly to catch the spot again, before the body even finishes the rotation. We were working on the Cupid dance from Don Quixote. Check this professional version out, then imagine a bunch of women of all ages dancing a more simple version of it (not on point and with no jumps). Arms flailing, grimaces of concentration on our faces, tumbling through the pirouette section. 

:: Also loving all the green shoots on shrubs and in the garden. I can't help rubbing gorse flowers on my daily walks because that releases their coconut scent. This is of course somewhat disturbing because we all know coconut are tropical things, used in South East Asian cooking and Pina Coladas. If you are interested, hear a nugget of useless information. Coconut are not nuts but fibrous one-seeded drupes (a type of fruit with a hard outer shell and a seed). Peaches are also drupes, as are cherries but these are of the fleshy variety. And just in case you are wonder, what we buy as coconut is really just the seed. I looked it up. Because I collect facts. You are Wellcome. Here a great video about the coconut.

:: Pretending to start a new strengthening exercise routine. I am watching some videos and I am considering changing into my exercise clothes. Several times a week. I guess we could call it virtual training.

:: Cooking simple meals. Today for example I popped all the ingredients for pesto in the blender while boiling water for pasta. I always add green vegetables to the pasta cooking water, timed so that the veg is not too crunchy and the pasta not squishy. Today's selection was green beans and sugar snap peas.  

:: Buying two new frying pans. Man, it is a marketing war out there on the frying pan market. Who knew? I spent far too much time trying to figure out the best and was nearly drawn into paying a ridiculous amount of money for one of those Hexclad frying pans that I see on the Instagram. I trusted Which? more than random internet reviews because at least I can be sure the products reviewed have actually been tested by Which? product testers. I am a subscriber because it gives me endless pleasure to read reviews on tumble driers and live insurance policies, and pension plans. 

And that's that. March, done and dusted. Thanks for visiting 😊