Weekend Waffle

Hello everyone. Hope you’re all doing well and having a good weekend, under the circumstances.

As usual in life there is good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad:

1 The dishwasher is broken. We have tried to fix it ourselves by taking bits out and cleaning them. This has not worked. We now have to call someone out to fix it, or buy a new one. It is over 10 years old but we’ll probably still try to get it fixed. Our washing machine and both our fridges are also at least as old as this.

2 My new plant pots have not arrived yet from eBay. They were due by last Friday at the latest. That means I’m stuck on my vertical garden project. (You could say I’ve hit a brick wall 😂). I’ve sent some chasing messages and have decided if they don’t arrive by Thursday this week I will ask for a refund and go to the local garden centre which is now open to buy them there.

3 Our naughty neighbours have broken the social distancing rules. They have had another household over to their garden for a badminton party today. Multiple people from another household who arrived by car. That is definitely not allowed, unless maybe you are a member of the government and you were following your instincts, then that would be OK. Apparently.

4 There are no bananas! My mother is missing them a lot. This is to do with a fungus as well as the current virus situation I believe.

5 I still haven’t mastered the technique for tequila sunrise cocktails. It was tasty enough but it’s supposed to have multiple layers of reds and oranges which mine quite frankly does not, it just has a little line of red at the bottom.

Right, that’s enough of the bad news. Here’s the good:

1 My Covid test was negative. All this means is I (probably) didn’t have the virus on Monday morning. Not that I thought I had.

2 We successfully delivered food shopping to my parents and my mother-in-law today. Everyone has plenty to eat and drink and is looking fit and well and very grateful for our efforts. My father likes to do us a “clap for carers” at the window upstairs, which is quite funny, but it’s nice to be appreciated.

3 My next book club book has arrived quickly from Amazon. It cost £3.17 for a second hand hardback copy of Anne Tyler’s “Noah’s Compass”. I am looking forward to reading this as I seem to remember reading something before by her that I liked.

4 Roast pork is cooking in the oven in my new roasting tin. Soon to be joined by potatoes. Cauliflower will go on later. And there will be gravy. We might have red wine for a change. Yum! Looking forward to dinner.

5 My rhubarb cake is delicious. I will have no problem finishing this all off myself. I will definitely make this again. There is a lot less left now than this picture shows.

6 All my seedlings are doing very well. My sunflowers are going great guns. Even the sweet peas are going for it now. There is an abundance of growth and life and I love it! My colleague Helen donated me lots of colourful cut and come again lettuce which is going to look so pretty in pots on my vertical garden wall.

7 The new hanging baskets are also looking very healthy (although still waiting for two more baskets to be delivered).

8 My friend Sue is doing some great Zoom yoga classes for her friends. I really enjoyed her class yesterday morning. We now do this once a week. My Uni friends have also scheduled another Zoom chit chat, something to look forward to.

9 We had a good takeaway last night from our local pub restaurant “The Greene Oak”. It cost £39. which I thought was reasonable for the quality of the food, and although we had to collect it, it was an efficient service. The food was tasty.. beef shin croquettes with truffle mayonnaise to start for me, chicken wings for David, followed by quality cheeseburgers and chips for both and then apple crumble for me and sticky toffee pudding for David. We really enjoyed it and it feels good to support our local businesses.

10 We are past the peak of the virus in the UK, that is very good news. We know we have the NHS ready and waiting to treat us for free if we do get really poorly.

11 I still love blogging. The Waffle is a great outlet. I’m now giving my sister tips as she is thinking of starting a blog/online magazine about wildlife.

I could go on. On balance there really does seem to be much more good news than bad! Hope it’s the same for you. I took a few photos in Crowthorne today on our walk.

I’m getting really into taking these cloud photos with a shape in the blue sky in the middle. For me this is a big butterfly. Can you see it? Do you like it?! Take care. Back Tuesday Xx