Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Morning

A grey start today but the forecast is cold and fair to sunny. Its Bacup market this morning, then some cleaning, followed at 11.00 am with a zoom chat with our friends Wendy and Keith. No plans for this afternoon except to Whats app Briony at 4.30 . This evening is u3a zoom wine appreciation . We are having a quiz, and discussing the bottle of wine we have each chosen for the meeting. The slightly different format is an acknowledgement that it is exactly one year since we held our last live meeting.

Yesterday I cleaned my sewing room moving out furniture etc that rarely gets moved. Fabric fluff gets everywhere. I even took down the curtains and washed them. Zoom art went well. After lunch we fetched the wooden planters Ian made for us, they are rather nice. We just need to coat them with wood preservative. We did what we thought was a short walk from Rooley Moor down to and round one of the three reservoirs at Greenbooth. It turned out to be over 4 miles. It was arduous underfoot, old uneven stoney paths. It was also extremely cold, but exhilarating. We didn’t do much when we got back, a cuppa and the jigsaw! My whats app meeting with Eve was her making fudge. It looked so good.

Have a good day

[Stanley]

All sounds to be in order with you Sue. I envy the walk but not the spring clean of the sewing room.



I've moved a bit nearer to having functioning undercarriages. I'm going to go out and oil them so they are ready for some serious fitting tomorrow. A good morning so far but my knees hurt!

[Stanley]

I oiled them and this morning will be moving quietly forward in the shed!

[Sue]

Morning

Its a misty cold start, I gather nothing spectacular is forecast. Yesterday was a sunny afternoon so that after our household jobs and zoom chat we went out in the garden. I continued to relandscape the corner of the front garden where we had take out the nonflowering, flowering shrub. I made a small rockery to retain the new soil we had added and planted the plants I bought at Bacup market. I am pleased with the effect . We spent sometime chatting to our neighbours on the adjacent drive, not having really seen them all winter. They are self employed and work long hours 6 days a week at their clothes factory . It is them who will get most benefit from the newly constructed rockery as it borders their drive. Out in the back garden Bob put wood preservative on the new planters and the garden bench. He is planning on doing the shed today.

I have ironing to do , and we have a zoom chat planned at noon with our friends Jean and Bob. Having ironed, I will put the curtains back up in my sewing room. I shall then set up my embroidery machine for a posed photograph as Bob’s latest u3a photography project is ‘Hobbies’ . Otherwise a sitting day for me, jigsaw and assessment 8 of Celts.

Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

I don't iron curtains Sue. I hang them straight from the spin dryer and you can set the pleats in them. My mother taught me that one.
I have done two hours of honest endeavour in the shed and now I am going to have breakfast as I post on Shed Matters. Back in a while.....

[Sue]

I don't iron curtains Sue. I hang them straight from the spin dryer and you can set the pleats in them. My mother taught me that one.
I have done two hours of honest endeavour in the shed and now I am going to have breakfast as I post on Shed Matters. Back in a while.....

Not these Stanley, came straight out of the drier creased. They are not fancy curtains though so won’t take long . Normally I would agree with you. However I like ironing, its the order out of disorder I like. I love freshly ironed pikes of laundry. I also find it a relaxing task

[Stanley]

Horses for courses Sue.



Two hours honest endeavour on what would see as a boring job, marking holes and drilling them then threading some of them, a bit like Sue's ironing, we end up with order and are ready to leap forwards again! All the carriage members are drilled and threaded where necessary. Almost ready for building the carriages.

[Stanley]

Work on the carriages and cooking veggies are looming large at the moment. We'll have to see how it pans out.
(Avoiding Meghan and Harry!)

[Stanley]

Couldn't avoid Meghan and Harry, they are swamping the news. A godsend for the news programmes and presenters.
I was right about cooking taking over the morning. No matter, it needed to be done and I shall go for a short walk to make up for the missed exercise.
(What's the betting Sue is posting......)
(I got away with it!)

[Sue]

Morning

Busy day yesterday, but mainly out in the garden which was a nice change. After the morning sun it was a dull afternoon but not too cold. I did get my curtains ironed but did not get them back up as the sewing machine set up for Bobs photo could not easily be moved. I shall do it today. After ironing and our zoom chat with Jean and Bob I washed the voiles from the large window in the hall, dried them on the line, dusted the rail and had them back up by late afternoon. They don’t need ironing.

In the garden I filled the new planters with a mixture of soil and compost partly recycling from the broken pots I was emptying. I filled the two large planters with the strawberry plants and the ones left over I put round the rhubarb plants near the greenhouse. The old pots will make good drainage stones at the bottom of pots .I transplanted three potted flowering shrubs , and a small beech tree that was destined for France but we cannot now take it because of Brexit. I don’t really know what to do with the tree now. At the moment it is only a about 45 cm tall so can probably live in a pot for some time. Whilst I was busy Bob put wood preservative on the shed, a bit of the new fencing we put in last year and the garden bench.

Late in the afternoon I chatted to our french neighbours on messenger as I wanted to tell them where the rhubarb and asparagus beds are so they can help themselves. This time last year ( yes it just a year this week that we went out there) we started picking both and did so for all of the 8 weeks we were there. Laetitia sent us photos of our garden and orchard, the daffodils and the quince bush are all in flower. Everything looked so tidy and well looked after , both the lawns and the grass in the orchard beautifully mown. We are so grateful and are extremely moved by their kindness . It is also such a relief to see all is well there. It could easily be July before we can go and it all depends on wether France will allow us in. I am sure they will change their stance by June as the country depends on UK tourism . We rounded off the day with a good jigsaw session and a roast beef dinner made by Bob this weekend.

Today it is raining so I think outside activities will be zero . I have my one yoga session of the week, a relaxation one, at 11.15 am till noon, then its a case of seeing what I fancy doing, probably assessment 8 of Celts

Have a good , if wet, day everyone

[Sue]

Our posts did cross Stanley I had to repost because of yours

[Sue]

Its our little Erins birthday today, and her first day back at school. She is 7. She is looking forward to seeing her friends on her birthday

[Stanley]

I'm sorry Sue..... I want out for a WALK BUT WHEN i GOT OUTSIDE i REALISED IT WAS RAINING SO i THOUGHT SOD IT AND CAME BACK IN AND MADE BREAKFAST. (Bugger caps lock!)
Nowt wrong with a lazy morning.....

[Marilyn]

Out of lockdown today?

[Sue]

Schools are, and we can meet one other person for a picnic ! Bit chilly for that eves school is going back adding one year group a day . Being 11 she will go back on friday, wear a mask in the classroom and be tested twice a week

[Sue]

I'm sorry Sue..... I want out for a WALK BUT WHEN i GOT OUTSIDE i REALISED IT WAS RAINING SO i THOUGHT SOD IT AND CAME BACK IN AND MADE BREAKFAST. (Bugger caps lock!)
Nowt wrong with a lazy morning.....

It will be lazy here, all day I think from the look of things

[PanBiker]

Out of lockdown today?

Not really, just easing with the kids back to school. Too early in my view.

I cannot for the life in me see why they couldn't have all the kids do the year again rather than play a losing game with potentially extra lessons and longer school days trying to catch up.

We wait now for the next surge in cases with the super spreaders. Children will be tested twice a week but it is not mandatory so the ones that refuse for their little dears are the ones to watch. I cannot see any reason to refuse a test and if I was in charge they would not be allowed back in school if they didn't comply. Seems reasonable to me.

[Stanley]

I agree with Ian, I'm lucky being retired and my lock down will last a lot longer yet!
The rain lasted all day Sue. Funny thing is I had a walk in the afternoon, the incentive was to pop my prescription in the box at the surgery for a retread.
Today I am almost cooked up, I say that because I fancy fried tomatoes and black pudding for breakfast but that's only short order cooking..... So the carronades stand a chance.

[Sue]

Morning

Its a cold cloudy and sunny morning, with rain forecast in the afternoon. Yesterday it dried up here about 3.00 and by 3.30 it was lovely and sunny with blue skies, despite the forecast still saying rain. Little was done. Jigsaw before yoga. After yoga I felt so chilled I had a dose after lunch. When I woke I completed assessment 8 of Celts which took a good couple of hours or more as I still had to finish reading the chapter and I like to add some researched information to my answers. Only one more chapter to go. If we had realised the sun was going to stay we would have gone for a walk. We may do so this morning as there won’t be many opportunities over the next week or so with a lot of rain forecast.

I have some letters to write today, one of them to France which means a trip to the post office. I may do that straight after breakfast so our walk will be to the post office, being morning it will have to be Whitworth. This afternoon I may do some of my new art project, which sounds more manageable than the last one. Oh yes I still have the curtains to put back up in my sewing room !

Thats it, have a good day

[Wendyf]

I'm tempted to ask what you had a dose of after lunch Sue?
I met up with a friend and had a brisk 6 mile walk, it wasn't pleasant enough to sit on a bench and socialise though!

[Stanley]

I'm all in favour of a 'dose' during the day. They call them power naps, Susan calls them Nana Naps.....
I've just come out of an hour and a half in the shed. I have made my breakfast, black pudding, fried tomatoes and fried eggs. I have to admit it looks terrible but it tastes nice. I shall post on Shed Matters and return....

[Sue]

I'm tempted to ask what you had a dose of after lunch Sue?
I met up with a friend and had a brisk 6 mile walk, it wasn't pleasant enough to sit on a bench and socialise though!

Typo again ! A dose of coffee

[Stanley]

I thought the 'dose' was a doze!



I have got one gun married to its carriage. I shall be faster tomorrow but I'll admit I had forgotten how complicated and fiddly the process is. Nice work though.....

[Tripps]

It will be lazy here, all day I think from the look of things

I'm quite sure that would not be possible. I however could give a masterclass.

[Stanley]

I don't believe her either David.... She has a wheel up her bottom as my grandma used to say.