It’s been wonderfully sunny all week, quite cheery, almost radically in contrast to the surrealness of our current pandemic ‘lockdown’ in the UK.
I drove my car today to drop a care package off at my parent’s porch in the hope it’s one less trip they have to make in the big, bad world outside to pick up necessaries. It was Dad’s birthday. He knew I’d be popping by but I wouldn’t be going to chat from a distance or anything (we have our orders in the UK not too!) It was a quick drop off and run but Dad, always being cheeky, had left a builders tape measure at the doorway, extended out to measure the distance I was to stay away from the house, he’d had added an extra metre for safety! Even in the darkest of moment’s, there is always laughter…
Returning home shortly after I then spent a couple of hours in the garden. I’d been laying wet cardboard down on an overgrown flower bed in the hopes of creating a no-dig bed but with the economic turndown and the fact that I’ve now been 3 months without a job, I can’t justify buying in topsoil and compost so instead, I’ve decided to start digging over the bed. I’ll do an hour or two in the garden every day now while we have the weather and hope the shady bed, once completed, will be good enough for lots of kale.
The only sunny area of my garden is the bottom corner along the wall and this afternoon I watched many butterflies playing and bathing in the sun. There seemed to be insect frolics too as I watched both bees and butterflies squabbling in the air.
I grabbed my camera and took a photo of one butterfly that stopped for a moment, long enough for me to take a snap. Can anyone tell me what it is? My thought was it’s a Comma?
C xxxx
PS: What I’ve been up to today in photos… What have you been doing?
That does look like a comma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_butterflies_of_Great_Britain
It’s funny you mentioned the bags of soil. I have been noting the items I have in the house that i’m glad I have in this time of seclusion, and the things I don’t have or have in low amounts that I wish I had. I’ve had a few surprises. Potting soil is one of the things I wish I had in stock! Fortunately I compost my scraps so I have good fertilizer, and I have some seed starting mix. But I’ve decided to try to start some fruit seeds from what I eat and for that I want better soil.
It’s not the end of the world. It’s good to know how to adapt and be more self-sufficient.
I loved the story about your dad. Yesterday I saw a friend visiting a next door neighbor. They had a low stone fence between them, they each stood on opposite sides by about 4-6 feet, but on top of the stones were beer bottles. My husband asked what was the name of their new pub!
hahahaha how lovely!!! I found two of my neighbours kind of doing the same… they were both behind their garages, a good several feet apart so distancing correctly but nevertheless having a quick chit chat. They looked furtive as I drove by (back alley) but i waved and smiled and they did so back. It’s lovely to hear your plans! xxxx
thank you for sharing all of your beautiful and informative photos……..
Oh golly, such lovely comments, thank you! Am hoping we get sunshine tomorrow and it’s warm enough for more butterflies! xxxx
🙂 I hope you have a beautiful day!
Thanks for the colorful pictures. They brightened my day. I am on lock down, also, in the United States and it is snowing today, so I’m reading 101 Things To Do In War Time 1940 (Lillie and Arthur Horth, London). For a book that is 80 years old, it sure has a lot of useful things to make and do, useful even in modern times. I think now would be a good time to re-read all your monthly posts from the beginning. I want to be overly prepared for 2021 and whatever it brings. Thank you for educating us to live well on less. It is really coming in handy right now.
I can’t wait to see how your garden turns out. Stay safe and healthy.
Thanks so much and I have to go and check that book title out… sounds very appropriate! My garden will be very small but nevertheless hope to get something in small scale. The kale will be the most important for me as I use a lot of it! I hope all is well with you and your are surviving the lockdown… I think using the time to keep busy and productive helps for sure xxxx
I checked our local libraries – not that I could have gotten to them! – and they don’t have the book. I did find one at Abebooks, but it is $13, plus $37 shipping from the UK. Dear Heavens! I’ll have to do without, I’m afraid. I do have some old women’s’ magazines in the attic, so I’ll have to dig them out and see what I can find.
I come from a long line of Thrifty Women (Hoarders, almost) so I can usually find almost anything around here if I look long enough.
Beautiful cheery pics – thanks for sharing! Been working on my veg plot today too – I’m glad our lock down in Britain came just as spring started so that there is a lot to be done outside to keep us busy. Stay safe and well x
It’s been a wonderful week for the weather so even though we can’t move as freely as before getting out in the garden, feeling the sunshine and doing some chores has been really, really nice! xxxxx
I agree – it’s been a glorious weekend where we are – it was so nice to be out in the garden and feel the sunshine on our faces x
Thank you so much for sharing your cheery pictures and sweet stories!
Being on lockdown too (in the US), it is so heartening to see someone getting along so well.
Also, I must say – you look wonderful and healthy! I hope that you are recovering as planned.
Awww thank you so much, hope all is well with you too! I was exhausted at the end of last year and then with moving early this year so kind of finally find my way with nutrition and exercise this past month or so and feeling so much better. The lock down has thrown it a bit for me as part of my wellness involves getting outside several times a day and long lengthy walks…I’ve been out twice in the past 5 days and am eating more than I should but keeping busy and going to be brave and do a walk early every morning from now on as we’ve been told we can go out once a day for a short walk…xxxx Am loving that now have time to bake and garden though!!! It’s wonderful!
Hi Carolyn,
I thought you might enjoy seeing this. I’ve been entertaining myself by looking up recipes that I might use and I stumbled upon this. It got my attention because one of the common baker’s ingredients is ammonia! I don’t know much about this bakers book. I did not find a publisher’s date but there is a stamp on it for 1895. It is American. It seems to have been written during that time in our history when food quality was low, toxic and non-food ingredients common. Ammonia seems to have been used prior to being replaced with bicarbonate of soda. Our USDA began in 1862 and the FDA in 1902. Anyway, enjoy!
https://archive.org/stream/bakershandbook00schu#page/6/mode/1up
On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 12:42 PM The 1940’s Experiment wrote:
> Carolyn posted: ” It’s been wonderfully sunny all week, quite cheery, > almost radically in contrast to the surrealness of our current pandemic > ‘lockdown’ in the UK. I drove my car today to drop a care package off at my > parent’s porch in the hope it’s one less trip th” >
Oh goodness me, there are lots of recipes in that book that call for ammonia, I see what you mean!!!! Nevertheless what an interesting book to look at and thank you so much for sharing it!!! C xxxxxx