It wasn't until 10am that I realised November 21st was Photo An Hour. Already that morning I'd fed the cats, had breakfast (in that order), emptied the dishwasher, got showered and dressed, finished a book I was reading, and had a grocery delivery.

10am. The postman had just been and delivered some crafty bits I'd ordered to make some tree decorations. All I wanted to do was make them but I had work to do... but Sophie pointed out that work could wait and realising that she was absolutely right, I turned on the heater in my office, made myself a cuppa, and gathered together my crafting supplies.

11am. Work was being stubbornly ignored. As was the housework (who needs dust free surfaces anyway?). I had tea, my favourite iTunes playlist playing (my Latitude list which consists of mostly Ward Thomas, Years & Years, George Ezra, Oh Wonder, Freya Ridings, and Chvrches) and I was ready to get crafting.

12pm. Three beaded stars made. They’re crackle glaze beads which look marvelously twinkly with fairy lights. I just needed to decide on what ribbon to use, but first, I needed more tea.

I saw an Instagram post last year that showed how to make them step-by-step and made a number of them to sell at a Cake and Craft sale, they all sold so I had none left for my own tree.

1pm. Lunch had been consumed, Andy had popped home and we had soup with a cheese sandwich. I’d made good progress on the decorations but was a little hindered by Tinker demanding some attention.

2pm. Stars, bells, beads, and pom poms under construction.

3pm. I interrupted my day of crafting for some time outside. I'd realised that if I didn’t do it soon I’d run out of daylight. Andy came home from work and set about mowing the lawn. After a bit of a wander, I set about tidying the greenhouse a little.

4pm. Socks accompanied me on another little walk around the garden. I love this, although he rarely stays in his lane so I have to be careful not to trip over him.

5pm. Wanting to continue with my crafting, I found a free knitting pattern on Pinterest for a small toadstool. It looked easy enough and I had more than enough wool in my stash to give it a go. I used up a tiny ball of leftover cream wool, which I always enjoy, it feels really good to use up woollen leftovers.

6pm. I had the required parts knitted, and just needed to add some french knots and sew it together. I had to Google 'how to do french knots' as it'd been a while, but it all came flooding back.

7pm. Andy cooked supper - smoked salmon fillets, cous cous and tenderstem broccoli - and this is what the rest of my evening looked like. Watching Strictly Come Dancing, and whatever came on after that (it was only a few days ago but I can't remember what we watched!).

9pm. Bed. Book. Boy cat. 

I'm glad I ignored the boring adult stuff and spent the day doing lovely things instead. It was much needed. 

March 21st, 2020. I was supposed to be meeting up with a friend but we postponed to adhere to social distancing, so I thought I'd have a day of doing nice things instead but I woke up with other ideas...



7am
Waiting for the kettle to boil for my first cuppa of the day, Tink had a drink too. My cats have a glass of water on the kitchen window sill because drinking from a glass (or a bowl) on the floor next to their food bowls is, apparently, abhorrent. 



8am
Cuppa no.2 and a little reading. How To Be Happy? Stay in bed and pretend everything is normal (just for a little while at least). I had an unusual and overwhelming urge to get up and clean. Strange times indeed!



9am
Felt the need for some colour, this bright yellow jumper did the trick. Colour often lifts my spirits, especially in uncertain times. The day before I'd worn a skirt I usually keep for dressy occasions to the supermarket, 'Vix would be proud' I thought as I stepped into it and teamed it with an emerald green jumper.



10am
Cleaning in progress. I washed floors, walls, woodwork. I vacuumed, did laundry, wiped surfaces and polished. I have no doubt that all this cleaning is a way to have some control in these uncertain times.



11am
I took the time make one of my ‘special’ teas - Sencha Cherry Rose. I took my time drinking it too, savoring the taste. Taking note of the little things has always proven to to be a good way of keeping things in perspective. Being in the moment seems all the more important now that the future seems so uncertain.



Noon
The first time I’ve hung anything out on the washing line this year. Look at that sky! I think the sunshine is helping me to remain (mostly) positive. Can you imagine dealing with all that Coronavirus entails, and having to put up with cold, grey, windy days as well? No thanks, more sunshine please.



1pm
I had my lunch looking out into the garden and noticed the birds needed a top up. It felt like a very ordinary thing to do, the world feels like it's tipped on it's axis but the bird feeder still needs to be filled. Strange times.

I missed my 2pm photo because I was vacuuming, the sort where you move the furniture out of the way to get underneath, y'know, the kind of vacuuming I really should do more often.



3pm
I left the housework chaos for a while. Do you ever start housework and end up just making more mess? That's exactly what I did, but I'd run out of housework steam, so I escaped to my neglected greenhouse. I wanted some fresh air. It needed a good tidy up after the wind had thrown it's contents around, and broken a number of it's windows. The sun felt pretty fabulous beneath the remaining glass panes.



4pm
Of course Andy left the wrapping of his Mother's Day gifts to the last minute, he came home to ask me to do it so he could give it to his Dad before he went home for the day. I had a little ‘help'.



5pm
My greenhouse planting was cut short when I only had enough compost left for one planter. The big bags I had stored in there turned out to be bark chippings. It's good to stagger the planting of spinach anyway, or at least that's what I told myself. I was annoyed that I hadn't checked, I could've picked some up during the week, or ordered some.



6pm
I’d got to that point in the day when I just wanted to sit down, but I had to make dinner. I pondered sitting down for a bit but my hunger was stronger than my weariness.



7pm
I made sausage and bean herby stew with broccoli and mash. I watched an episode of Escape to the Chateaux, and didn't move far from the sofa again until bedtime. Andy came home not long after I took this, we watched a few more episodes of The West Wing for about the 17th time.

Before bed I messaged my Mum and brother to reluctantly cancel our lunch the next day. I'd really hoped that we could still get together, but it was the sensible thing to do. My inner toddler was stamping her foot and yelling 'I don't want to', but adult me accepted that it was just what needed to happen.

I hope you had a lovely weekend, despite the social distancing. Thanks to Jane and Louisa for hosting #PhotoAnHour. 

April 28th was #PhotoAnHour

I had a slower start to the morning than usual. Feeling a bit tired I stayed in bed reading until 9 o'clock. Only got up because I needed another cuppa. And then another one at 10 o'clock. I was supposed to be going to watch my nephew play football but it was rained off, so I had to decide what to do instead. The outcome of that little internal debate was to clean the oven, with a house full of guests expected the next day it seemed like a good idea. It's a job I really dislike, but it did look shiny and new by the time I'd finished... sadly it only lasted until I started cooking a roast the next day.


By lunchtime I was in full procrastination mode. I needed to set about more housework but, meh. I set about finding three photos on my computer instead. After seeing Janet post her's on Instagram, I wanted to have a go too (anything to put off washing floors). The 2011 photo was taken at work, when I still had a real job, the 2015 photo was taken just after having my hair cut (I was never able to recreate this look myself), and the 2018 photo is the most recent one of Andy and me. My glasses have grown in size, I have a few more lines and grey hairs but I don't think I've changed all that much.


At 1 o'clock I was still trying to hide from the housework, I pottered in the greenhouse for a bit. It was raining but the plants in the greenhouse still needed watering. I noticed that one of my dahlia plants had sprouted, finally! Now I just need the rest to follow suit. I think this one is a cactus variety, but I failed to label any of them, so it'll be a surprise.

The cherry blossom continues to bloom, despite the rain and the high winds it still looks rather cheery.

With the floors finally cleaned I went upstairs to do a little work, but I slipped and fell and managed to put The Jane Austen Book Club DVD into the player. Having vacated my seat for a few minutes to let in the Tesco delivery man I returned to find my seat taken. And not one single damn did she give. Look at the face!


I prepared dessert for the next day in advance. Mint Areo Cheesecake. Delicious! And the best bit was that they didn't eat it all, and Andy said it was a little too minty for his liking, so I got to eat ALL THE LEFT-OVERS!

After dinner I kept telling myself that I should really do some ironing, including a huge table cloth for the next day. But there was an obstruction on the board. And he stayed there a while (I've trained him well).

Thanks to Jane and Louisa for hosting, I decided that this year I would take part every month even if my days weren't that exciting, and full of things like oven cleaning...

How was your weekend?