Slow down to a saunter

There’s always somewhere to be, something to do, someone to run around after.

As we head into a Bank Holiday weekend there’s opportunity for most of us to slow down, to read a book, cook a meal, go for a stroll. Slowing down, taking time to rest requires planning in our house, to create time for taking care of yourself, or space for creativity and inspiration. We have made some plans, some other things have taken over and imposed themselves on our time but there is a bit of time left for relaxation and recuperation.

Friday will be #bellringing based with both virtual (twice) and real ringing. Saturday I should be at a Central Council meeting but an opportunity arose to spend some time with R, and that trumps everything; we’re going to the Food & Drink Festival at Hampton Court Palace. That should be so much fun. Sunday is a return to all things ringing with the real thing in the morning and meetings in the afternoon/evening, with a bit of housework in between.

Bank Holiday Monday is the only day we don’t have anything specific planned. #bellringing practice has been cancelled as people generally like to have the freedom to go out or see family. I have designated this “go slow day”, the day put aside for reading, cooking and generally only doing things I want to do rather than have to do.

One way Tonya Leigh, my current indulgence podcast, suggests to help us slow down is to consider the following:

Write down all your obligations, cooking, cleaning, work, laundry, activities, everything
Go through each item on the list and ask if it is necessary. Would the world end if it didn’t happen today?
Imagine not doing each item on the list and notice how your body responds. Do you relax? Do you feel lighter?

Sometimes, I might feel more stressed at the thought of things building up. They’ve got to be done at some point and is it better to get it done and out of the way, freeing up time afterwards, or to put it off now, enjoy the free time now knowing that you’ll have to do it later anyway. Is is a false sense of security?

What do you do to help you slow down?

If only every day could be this way

I had a most enjoyable day on Saturday.

The day started with a lazy wake up. No alarm set, we got up when we woke up. As has become the norm during lockdown and lack of reason to be out early on a Saturday morning C made the customary bacon rolls for breakfast.

Whilst C was in the shower I made the Leftover Buttercream Cookies I talked about a few days ago. I added a bit of sparkle to a few. They were delicious.

I then received a lovely message from my brother saying they read my blog regularly and sometimes find it helpful. That was nice to hear. If you do enjoy reading my blog tap a ‘Like’ or leave a comment so I know you’re out there.

I picked some freshia and calla lillies from the garden. There’s an abundance of greenery after a few days of rain and its lovely to have fresh flowers about, even more so when they come from your own garden.

We popped into town to the fruit and veg stall to stock up for the week. I’ve decided not to make my usual Biscoff Pancakes for breakfasts, opting for a 0% fat free Greek yoghurt and berries combo instead. We stocked up on grapefruit (not for C though), strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and some red grapes for snacking. I can no longer say I don’t like fruit.

I bought yet another baking book, still using up vouchers from Christmas and birthday (side note: no more book vouchers please and thank you). Having looked through the recipes I look forward to making my way through them all.

In the afternoon I spent a few hours dealing with some #bellringing work, took a call from one of the workgroup leads, finalised the latest photo competition round, messaged the winners, sent their prizes, wrote up the articles for publication next week. I then had a good clear out of my many inboxes. I have Central Council, local association and personal inboxes to get through. Its nice to get back to just having the essential messages to be dealt with left.

We had a lovely facetime chat with R. Her Internet has been down for a couple of days and still didn’t look like it was going to be fixed before the weekend was through. She’d been to a small venue gig which she said was oddly not odd to be in a room with that many people. We’re going down to visit next weekend for the Hampton Court Palace Food & Drink Festival. Really looking forward to seeing her in the flesh but does mean I won’t be at a CC meeting. Opportunities to see R trump all else so, passing the baton on to someone else from my workgroup to attend the meeting in my place. R had been double jabbed on Saturday morning, so that’s good news. Thanks Dolly.

I had previously asked C if he would make his “full fat” lasagne for dinner. We’ve had slimming world friendly ones of late, which are very nice and all, but he makes THE best lasagne. So much so that I won’t order lasagne in a restaurant because I know it won’t be as good. He obliged and it was accompanied by a bottle of red wine. Y U M!

We then passed a convivial evening watching TV and reading, taking some time to chill.

I had a thoroughly pleasant day. I hope you had a good one too. How was yours?

It’s like riding a bike, you never forget

R has been home with us for the last few days in order to attend my brothers wedding and do her duty as one of the Ushers. It has been lovely having her home. She has been well fed and watered and entertained. She has had to “endure” the Sunday morning ritual of #bellringing though.

I taught her to ring when she was about eleven years old and she carried on until she was about fifteen when school exams started to require more attention. She managed to get to a point of ringing plain courses of Plain Bob Minor, Triples and Major and was ringing simple touches of Grandsire Doubles and Triples at one point. She could also plain hunt to pretty much anything without too much trouble, including Double Norwich Court Bob Major. As she got older her heart wasn’t really in it and I don’t feel that anyone should be pushed to continue with something if they really aren’t enjoying it. We always hoped that she might return to it later in life and she had a good grounding.

She is fully aware that every time she comes home and we go ringing, that it is what we do, and more often than not she comes along too. In recent years, her only ringing has taken place if she’s been home for Christmas, or for the annual family quarter peal. Every time, she manages to ring very well without too much bother.

Obviously there hasn’t been much opportunity to ring over the past 18 months, and for two Christmases she hasn’t been home, and we didn’t get to ring the family quarter peal in 2020, so she probably hasn’t touched a bell rope for two years.

She did say that she wasn’t sure if she could remember how to do it and what to do. We started off with some call changes. She took hold of the third bell and rang very well with good striking and style. We then rang some plain hunt triples and plain bob triples with her on the treble. Again, she rang without error.

It’s a saying that experienced ringers say to those who haven’t rung for a while that it’s like riding a bike, you don’t forget. This was clearly evident as she rang with good style, rhythm and remembered what she needed to do. She didn’t need to be told at all which bells she was over or when to lead.

She may not ring again until Christmas, or even next year some time, but I’m sure next time she’s on the end of a rope, she’ll have no trouble at all.

It’s just like riding a bike!

Writing off the diet weekend starts here

We have a special event on Friday which will involve food, drink and cake. R is coming home on Thursday in readiness so we had decided to go out for dinner Thursday evening to our local Chinese restaurant.

R has declared residency until Monday so we’ve also decided to go out for lunch on Sunday before going to the local RHS garden (weather permitting). And we’re not sure what time we’ll get back home on Saturday after the event so have decided to nominate that as takeaway night.

It seems like we’ll be making up for lost ground with not having been able to eat out for so long by doing it all in the space of one weekend.

As I was at home Wednesday creating cake for the event breakfast mainly consisted of offcuts of cake and icing. I could feel my teeth whincing at the sugar.

I did take a break to go # bellringing for a wedding at the cathedral and on the way home C decided that we really needed to get an ice cream. Who was I to argue?

Fortunately this food fest is being slightly offset by lunch and dinner on Wednesday being Slimming World friendly, but come weigh in day on Friday morning I fear any good works done earlier in the week will have already begun to be lost.

Fingers crossed I’ll still be able to get into my outfit for the event. I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I might try and make good decisions but mostly I’ll be enjoying some time with C and R and eating out for a change. I know I’ll get back to the diet on Monday and start all over again.

Just for this weekend I shall kick back and enjoy.

Can’t go empty handed

On Friday we walked nearly 6 miles on a round trip to B&Q so C could get some metal straps for something that he was going to fiddle with. I think it had something to do with the front door but to be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention to him going into far too much detail about it.

I’m really looking forward to Sunday when we can finally go down to Surrey to see R. Haven’t seen her since the end of October apart from on family Skype or WhatsApp facetiming. We’ve missed Christmas, my birthday, C’s birthday, Easter and a whole bunch of other times. I need to see her in the flesh.

When we went into the first lockdown she came back home as all her flatmates at that time all went back to their families. It was great having her home. She has always enjoyed flowers and plants and took the opportunity to do a free online course in houseplant husbandry. Needless to say, for some years now, birthday and Christmas presents tended to include a houseplant of some description. It generally comes accompanied by a hand written set of information and instructions.

Anyway, as I knew we were going to see her and as we were at B&Q, I messaged her to see if there was anything she wanted. I sent her half a dozen photos of various plants. She questioned the prices of some. There was a snake plant she liked the look of until I told her it was £45!

She liked the look of a citrus plant but didn’t much care for the £18 price tag. But politely asked if we could get her a Chinese money plant for £8 “please and thank you, as my last one died”. Well, who are we to deny her. We have also bought her the citrus one, but drew the line at the snake plant!We still have a plant that we bought her for Christmas that we’ve managed not to kill off.

So, after Sunday service #bellringing we’ll head off with a trio of plants for our brilliant, funny, clever, intelligent, thoughtful, barmy nutcase. And I don’t care what the rules say. Mumma’s gonna hug.

Birthday boy

10 days ago I celebrated my 50th birthday and C pulled out all the stops for a lockdown special day. Today it was my turn to spoil him a bit.

A little bit more awkward as I had to go to work but we started with cards and presents. Lots of good things had arrived from family. Beer, a photobook, a sweet and cake selection, a mystery gift that he has to log into on the computer for, bumper box of Hotel Chocolat treats. I bought him a book about a bellringer who he used to ring with when he was at university and a set of e-bells. The e-bells are so we can ring handbells on the virtual #bellringing platforms. They haven’t arrived yet as there’s a bit of a backlog but I’m sure he’ll have fun when they arrive.

He’s had to amuse himself during the day but I did manage to get off work early.

He usually cooks dinner and we would ordinarily go out for a meal on birthdays but as we can’t do that I suggested I’d treat him to a take out. He opted for a curry and we both went for something different from the menu. He had one of his birthday beers to go with it.

I’d made a small cake, not very extravagant, but stuck a candle on it and took obligatory photo to send to all of his children.

He doesn’t do social media but many people have posted birthday wishes on my media, which I’ve shared with him and for which he’s grateful.

He’s not one for big displays or being the centre of attention but he’s worth it. Happy birthday Mr C. 💞

Freedom in sight

So today our Prime Minister has set out a road map to ending the UK lockdown completely by 21st June. To be honest I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Outdoor gatherings of up to 6 people could take place from 29 March. That means people will start mixing long before many have had both vaccine jabs. Therefore increasing the risk of spreading again.

Non essential shops like hairdressers etc and outdoor hospitality could be open again by 12 April. That’s good news for R and her flatmate who’ll be able to return to work. It also means that beer gardens will be open again so the idiots whose “first thing I’m gonna do is go down the pub” mentality will again be people gathering who haven’t had both jabs, increasing the risk.

From 17 May 2 households might be able to mix indoors. That means we’ll be able to go and see R for the first time since about November. It also means a possible return to ringing more than just 2 bells.

Then all restrictions could be lifted by 21 June. That is provided the 4 tests on vaccine take up, vaccine efficacy, infection rates and new variants get passed. There will still be great numbers of people that won’t have had the 2 vaccine jabs yet.

Whilst I want there to be people at work and people being able to see family members, its the idiots who go too far by flouting the rules and are purely selfish about it all that puts it all at risk again.

Please let’s not see a return to stupidity.

Family Quiz Time

We have a once a fortnight family Skype during which J usually has a list of questions for everyone so we get to hear everyone’s news and updates. Once a month we’ve taken to having a bit of a quiz.

Now, I’m not a fan of quizzes on account of the fact that I don’t know much stuff. I hate office quizzes and charity quizzes. I once went to one of C’s works quizzes and I only knew the answer to one question the whole night. It was awful. That and being with a whole bunch of people I didn’t know.

Our family quizzes started with big bruv doing a picture quiz based on biscuits. Then T did one based on Blankety Blank, J&A did one based on the Generation Game. I did one on zoomed in photos of everyday objects.

This week our daughter R raised the game with an epic 6 category, 31 questions with a total possible 43 points. It covered History, Science, TV & Film, music, current affairs and people and places. There was audio, video, pictures and powerpoint wizardry. It was a tough quiz though. I think the highest score was only 12. I scored a 9 which wasn’t the worst. Having said that 5 of those points were scored during the first 2 questions (which had multiple answers). Her and her flatmate had done some serious homework and there was a good mix of new and older stuff in each category.

These are a bit of fun, no prizes, just the kudos of seeing how clever we are (or are not). Its been rather good that we’ve all come up with different ideas and themes. I still hate “formal” quizzes though.

The gauntlet now returns to big bruv to devise the next one for some time in March.

A million thank yous

So I’m now 50. The Big five oh. So far so good.

Our original thoughts were to have been having a nice holiday, Italy, Venice were mentioned but of course we couldn’t do that. However my epically wonderful hublet and most favouritest other person daughter R made it really special, as did everyone else who contributed cards, messages and gifts.

I have enough flowers to open my own floristry shop. Fortunately the last lot to be delivered came in their own vase, we’d run out by then.

Then there were chocolates, wine, prosecco,. Even biscuits from my favourite little mate who calls me “biscuit”. Book tokens, West End theatre evoucher, chocolate tasting experience, gift voucher for a cake class with my favourite cake teacher.

Beautiful earrings, necklaces, candles, books on things to do now I’m 50, and a mahoosive lunch/ afternoon tea that was too much food for one sitting. One necklace rom R was of all our birthstones, aquamarine (February), amethyst (March) and Ruby (July).

Balloons that were sneakily made up in the garage, and a chocolate cake to die for delivered having been approved of by R.

Lots of messages, lots of cards and a video chat with my big bruv in the morning and a lovely video chat with R later on in the day.

I feel thoroughly spoilt and am extremely grateful for everyone’s participation.

We’ll go travelling next year when there’s even more to celebrate, our 25th wedding anniversary and R’s 25th birthday.

Might need to take about 3 months off work for that. 😄

Its beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

I finally got around to baking the BakedIn Winter Spice Cake. Its a test of biscuitery and cakery. Gingerbread houses, trees and stars and a cinnamon flavoured cake and icing.

It was, as you might expect, quite time consuming. Need to make the dough for the biscuits, then whilst that’s chilling in the fridge, make the cake batter. Then when the cakes are baking its time to roll out the dough and cut out the shapes. Then bake them whilst the cakes are cooling. Then make the icing while the biscuits cool. A little bit fiddly in parts but otherwise quite satisfying to put it all together.

The smell of the cinnamon and the gingerbread is just like its Christmas cooking all over again. Christmas food is just about the best.

Food smells, like any other smell, has the ability to transport us to the past, to experiences and periods of our lives.

There’s always been a smell, that I can’t really describe, that always reminds me of my grandads kitchen and the massive panty/cupboard where he kept all the crockery and some tins (peaches, pears and spam generally) and packets of food. I can’t really remember a particular smell from my nanna’s, but I do remember the food. She’d get enough in for tea that “whatever you don’t eat now you’ll have to take home with you”.

I wonder what olfactory memories our daughter will have of our house. There’s certainly been a lot of baking. I know she came in from her evening job when she was doing her A levels, and always said that whatever was cooking for dinner smelled lovely. Usually something like chilli or spaghetti bolognese.

What smell memories do you have?