Another week of lockdown, and this week I decided to make a note of some of the little things that made me smile each day.

What made me smile on Saturday



Garden pottering with Andy

Finding bluebells growing in the hedgerow

The glorious sunshine

Hot cross buns

What made me smile on Sunday

Clearing brambles around the pond with Andy, followed by tea and hot cross bun mini-picnic in the sunshine


Chocolate Ferrero Rocher squirrels for Easter

Discovering Sarah Millican IGTV How to be Champion Storytime and catching up on all the episodes I'd missed. She mentions biscuits a lot and encourages viewers to partake, which prompted me to rummage in the pantry and find a long forgotten packet of Bourbon Creams.

What made me smile on Monday

Mended the zip on my green skirt

My amaranthus seeds sprouted

Seeing an advert for another series of The Great British Sewing Bee (starts Wednesday 22nd BBC1 9pm)

What made me smile on Tuesday


We discovered 17 ducklings on the pond!

The dishwasher salt I'd ordered ages ago finally arrived, normally this wouldn't make the list of things to make me smile, but not being able to get my hands on some was really frustrating - I know, first world problems.

My cucumber seeds sprouted

Hearing Andy learning to play something new on his guitar (I can't remember what, he did tell me). I love hearing people I know play instruments. It's something I simply can't do and hearing someone I know play anything fascinates and delights me.

I sat reading in the sunshine for a while late afternoon ...



... sitting with Socks. He was being very affectionate, leaning against me, purring and wanting attention.

Later, when I went for a walk, Socks came with me, just trotting along by my side.

I ran out of my favourite tea, so I had to plunder my neglected tea collection and tried two new teas, Whittards Chelsea Garden, and Mango & Bergamot green tea, both of which are delicious!

(This was a really good day)

What made me smile on Wednesday

Wore my green skirt for the first time in months

Saw an advert for a TV adaptation of the book Normal People by Sarah Rooney

Video chat with Mum

What made me smile on Thursday

An early morning chat with my Dad



Drawing Eugene the Owl with my nephew and nieces (#DrawwithRob)



Captain Tommy Moore smashing his £1,000 target, raising £15M for the NHS. A further £2,000 was raised in the time it took me to watch the news story. This morning the total is £17M and still rising.

What made me smile on Friday

The news that Michael Ball has recorded and released You'll Never Walk Alone with Tommy Moore. I'll smile even more if it gets to no.1 for Tommy's 100th birthday.

A good chunk of time spent in my greenhouse watering, tidying, thinning seedlings, planning, and complete immersion in it.

An invite to a Zoom based family quiz night, it's bring-a-bottle and wear something on your head.

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We're in lockdown for another three weeks. I was pleased to get confirmation of this yesterday. I know it might be extended again but having confirmation means I know what I'm dealing with for the next few weeks, and a little bit of certainty - about something, anything - is really helpful.

I hope you've had a nice week, what's made you smile?

Hope you're staying safe and sane.
xx

Saturday
I woke with the urge to clean again. The sun was shining and my mood was buoyed by the opportunity to get two or three loads of washing done (tragic, yes, I know).



I discovered Instagram filters and a wasted a much larger chunk of time messing about with those than a woman of my age really should.

By the afternoon I was lacking in energy, I'd hoped to make the most of the sunshine but I took myself off to bed for a quick nap, and woke up two hours later. I did feel better though. Have you noticed a change in energy levels since the pandemic started?

Sunday
I made a cherry cake with flour I bought before the pandemic panic buying started (thank goodness that seems to have stopped now).

In the afternoon Andy and I had some fun filming clips for The Toilet Roll Challenge. Andy's cousin suggested the whole family take part (see here if you don't know what I'm on about, just note that ours was a lot less acrobatic).

We then went for a walk, inspecting some crops on the way, returning through the wood. We saw 26 deer, and two pairs of boxing hares.

Had a very amusing WhatsApp chat with a group of friends.

Andy cooked supper. I finished reading my book.

Monday
I had work to do but little enthusiasm to do it. I persevered and got it finished but it wasn't much fun to work on, not because it wasn't interesting but because my heart wasn't in it.

I've found that I have the concentration of a four year old at the moment. I've turned into Hugh Grant in About A Boy and live my life in units of 20 minutes, except when I'm in my greenhouse. I can waste hours in there given the chance.

My lettuce leaves started to sprout. They were really old seeds and I thought perhaps they'd given up, but seeds want to grow, and growing these are.

I remembered to put the milk bottles out. We signed up to Milk & More just before the pandemic started, which was fortunate as a few weeks later they stopped anyone new signing up due to high demand.

Andy attended an online funeral.

Tuesday
After an early Zoom meeting I went out for the daily inspection of my cherry blossom. The race is on for the first bud to bloom!



I'm going out for a walk everyday to enjoy the sunshine, get some fresh air, and a change of scenery. It's a bit of exercise on top of my usual yoga. I found my skipping rope which provided some fun, along with some very short bursts of cardio.

I've started to question if I have enough on my shopping list to go to the supermarket yet? And wondered if having flowers delivered to my Sister-in-law on her birthday was OK? And I read with interest a thread on Twitter discussing if ordering take away was acceptable. This new normal is not normal at all.

Wednesday
My sweetpeas started to sprout, and my sunflowers too! I planted Honesty, Ammi, Rabbit's Foot, and Amaranthus.



Had a 'FaceTime coffee' (I drank tea) with a friend.

I saw another human being! I haven't left the farm since March 23rd and the only people I have seen are my husband, and my postman. My Father-in-law was working in the yard (as farmers they're essential workers) we had a conversation standing 2m apart, it was lovely to speak to someone else in the flesh.

Two of my wisdom teeth are on the move again and are causing me some discomfort. They often move about a bit and then settle down, sometimes coming up through the gum before disappearing again. My Mum's teeth are the same. My dentist thinks I'm lying, we have the same conversation at every appointment.

Thursday
Breakfast, yoga, bath, and a good chunk of work.



I was in a chatty mood so I FaceTimed my Dad, showing him around my greenhouse. Then I was distracted by my nieces and nephew who FaceTimed me, and introduced me to Draw With Rob. I drew Penguin Blue, which I really enjoyed, so later I drew Kevin too!

Next I had a walk, watered the greenhouse, pottered in the garden.

Later - a little wine, supper, and Smokey and the Bandit.

Friday
I had a date with my nieces and nephew for us all to #drawwithrob. This time we drew Nancy (dark green), and then we set ourselves a challenge to make up our own dinosaurs. It's been so nice to connect with my nieces and nephew in this way.



I finished some work and then spent a lot of time pottering in the garden.

Another week of lockdown over. How many more to come?

How has your week been?

Stay safe.
xx