VE Day Tea

What a difference a day makes.  The weather changed dramatically over night.  We woke to drizzly rain and a drop in temperature.  Nice weather for a little stitching either quilting or crochet or maybe a little of both.

Yesterday, VE day was such fun.  We had a amazing time getting ready for afternoon tea with the family via zoom and then a family quiz.  This week Harry Potter and Disney princess's.  Their little faces as they interact with each other is a joy.  I am so proud of each and every one of them. 

The bunting came out...the children had made theirs using a union jack template and were waving a flag to greet us.

I made a Victoria sponge with fresh strawberries and cream alongside sausage rolls.

As the oven was on I also dried out some orange slices in readiness for topping soap or gifts.  I was originally going to make marmalade with it but didn't have enough sugar.

Ham sandwiches with a little home made pickle were our sandwich of choice.  It was fun talking to the children about some of the shortages of the war and how lucky we are today.

A little mint added to the strawberry, made it smell divine.  I must admit it was a little extravagant but tasted delicious.

We shared some of our experiences of Army life with them and showed our medals.  It was a great few hours spent together, I must admit I do feel blessed to be able to have done that.  The wonders of technology once again.  The crochet sheep I use with the teapot and is a wonderful addition to our afternoon tea table.  It was a gift from a blogger friend and such a great reminder of another aspect of technology, we have never met and yet have formed a wonderful friendship.

The poem that I have added to my journal is this:

Victory

A joyous word,
A word laden with loss.
A word for brave men coming home,
A word for brave men who don't.

Victory, is a mood, a promise,
Victory is mothers grieving lost children.
Victory is sacrifice we will never forget.

Celebrate victory, celebrate them.
Celebrate us, and the victories to come.

The Tesco delivery was a huge success and for that I am very thankful.  There were a couple of substitutes, mainly fish but all was good.  I would have preferred to have had the delivery a little earlier but in the grand scheme of things I am so very thankful that I had a delivery slot.  It arrived at 10pm.  I have already booked my next slot and put in another order and  I do feel blessed.  I do need to plan ahead of times a little more but in the grand scheme of things it is going well.

Hope all is well with you.  Did you join in any of your local VE day celebrations?

Take care and stay safe.

See you soon.

Lockdown Continues

Just popping in to catch up with you all.  Open Reach have spent the best part of the day here once more, you are so right.  No internet once again...It is intermittent at best!  I am hopeful it will be alright for tomorrow as we have a virtual VE tea party planned with the family.  Time will tell.

It has been another beautiful day weather wise, the sun has been shining and it has been nice to sit awhile in the garden.  Watching the birds and the the bees, literally.

A little crafting has been going on, my linen trousers have finally been altered after languishing in the to do basket for some time.  More masks have been made to replace the depleted stack previously made.

I have also been doing a little work on a quilt that I am making for a friends daughter who is expecting a baby in the Autumn.  I have tried to incorporate the colours of the Island and then I will enhance it with a little embroidery and applique.

All stitched by hand and filled with love for a much wanted baby.  What are you working on?

No real surprise announced to day as we continue to be in lockdown.  We are awaiting the Tesco delivery which is due today.  I am hoping I will get everything I ordered as we are running low on most things but I am thankful that we got a delivery so we shall see.

Take care and stay safe.

See you soon.

Weekend

Thankfully, we had a very large store cupboard but this is becoming increasingly depleted day by day.  We had done a very large shop prior to lockdown.  We are blessed with a village store that delivers so we have been able to do a top up shop on a weekly basis.  Realistically, it is not affordable for us to replenish the store cupboard  there but we needed to do something.  Our daughter had sat up each night trying to get us a delivery slot at Tesco's to no avail so finally we phoned the help number on our high risk letter.  What a wonderful service, we now have a delivery slot for Thursday and have already put the order in.  Time will tell if we get it all.  There were some restrictions only 3 of the same item and a limit of 80 items per shop.  I must admit it was a great relief to us both.  That was Friday...

Saturday was spent baking and getting a few more animals ready to share with the Sunday school children.  Another poem was added to the journal which I will share at a later date.

Sunday, a traditional roast and listening to the Church services.  Life is very slow paced but it continues and we are blessed.  We have only had 6 cases on the Island with none of them hospitalised and no deaths due to Covid 19.

We finally managed a walk over the croft now that it is all dry it is easier to walk.  We knew there was nobody about you can see for miles but such a joy to get some fresh air and exercise a little.  It was nice to spend a couple of hours looking through past photos.  This time last year a little trip and walk by the lighthouse at the Butt of Lewis.

Hope you enjoyed reminiscing along with me? 

How was your weekend?  We are certainly living in strange times.  Take care and stay safe.

See you soon.

Crafting

Mixed weather this week, which is such a shame after all the beautiful sunshine.  The temperatures have dropped making it feel rather cool, not conducive to wanting to get outside.  Whilst the plants have been watered and such no real work has been happening out there.

I have not idle hands I finally finished the knitted bag and stitched it up.  It is quite a nice make and so quick to knit up using such large needles.

I had some oddment Harry Potter fabric left over from other projects so I made a laundry or storage bag for our Grandson.  Once again a good use of scrap fabrics.

Just needs the tie threading through, to finish it.  I finally sorted out some oddments of fabric and made a stack of face masks.  I intend to make a few each day and give them to friends and neighbours, or whoever needs them.  It has been suggested here in Scotland that we wear a face covering for the times when we cannot meet social distance criteria, such as public transport.

I am so thankful that I found a stash of elastic in my sewing box bought prior to our move here on the Island.  A bit of a mixed assortment of widths, but they all seem to work.  I have left a gap to put in a filter if required.

The wonders of technology, we have a quiz each week with the grandchildren.   What fun that is and how they are growing up so quickly.  They take it in turns to devise the questions, so far we have had horrible histories, animals, Disney characters and little Hector this morning asked questions on Hook.  It is such a joy to see their little faces as they interact with each other.  I am so proud of them all.  

To finish a beautiful sunset.  How I love watching the sun as moves across the land casting its shadows across the buildings and imagining us all looking at that very same sun.

Take care dear friends and stay safe.

See you soon.

Weekend

How are you all doing?  Are you managing to keep yourself occupied?  I must admit that life is much the same for us here, we have been very lucky thus far and for that I am thankful.  I do worry about my daughters and their little families but so far they are doing well and again I am thankful.  There are a few shortages here and there as there is only one freight ferry coming over with essential lifeline goods but we are managing.  Our medication is delivered by volunteers so we are well looked after.  Another week of listening to our Church service online and setting the Sunday School children craft tasks to do.  Once again we have a lot to be thankful for, technology keeping us all together.  We have a lot to be thankful for and sometimes it is worth writing it down so that we can fully appreciate what we do have.  The past few days I have been feeling a little negative and this one paragraph has made me feel a whole lot better.

For those who didn't know what a rag wreath was I have taken a few photos of some of the ones I have around the cottage.

This is the one I am working on at the moment in readiness for the front porch.  I just need to add a vibrant red heart ribbon.

 Yesterday I had a baking session using up some oddments languishing in the fridge.  There was some cheese that was on its last legs, a couple of sausages left over from the day before and half an onion.  This was the ample eggs from our girls quickly became, sausage rolls, cheese straws and a 2 quiches for lunch today.

I also cooked the roast beef for dinner along with yorkshire puds. eight of which are now in the freezer for another time.

Cauliflower and broccoli cheese.

Cherry crumble topped with almonds.

Finally a strawberry trifle which will be a great sweet treat for a few days.  It was made using tinned strawberries but it still tasted good.

Its amazing how food lifts our spirits.

Did I tell you how grateful I am to all of you who visit this humble blog?  I am, I am also thankful for the new followers and for all your uplifting comments.  It is a strange time we are living in but technology is bringing us all closer together.  It is wonderful how our different backgrounds and countries don't matter we are all fighting this pandemic the best way that we can.  A united world, long may that last.

Take care and stay safe.

See you soon.

Keeping Busy

We are managing to keep ourselves busy and have family and friends who keep in touch with us so are a wonderful distraction.  For that I am thankful, I wonder about the isolation on so many who have no one and the effect this must have on their mental welfare.  We are blessed and are grateful.  We stood outside last night at 8 along with millions of other around the UK and clapped for our key workers.  It was such a feeling of unity, united in our appreciation.  Long may that appreciation last when this is all over.  Talks have started about strategies for coming out of this lockdown, I fear our expectations may be a little too high, but I am hopeful for some normality.

In the meantime our normal goes on...

With a walk along the front of the cottage to keep the plants watered.  I love the dappled sunlight and the shadows, watching me, watching you!

We have added some violas and pansies which should give some early colour, hopefully.

The potatoes have done well and are getting to the stage of poking through the soil, ready for some more earth very soon.

We have cleared all the weeds and rubbish from the herb tyres. They look really healthy and are coming back now with gusto.  I am so pleased.

Mint, I showed you this before.  It is prolific and has spread around the outside of the tyre.  Not to worry, another job to add to the list.

The chives and parsley are also outside in tyres and have come back and growing well.  The sunshine here this past week, have given them a spurt.  It is a real delight to see their great comeback.

We have transplanted 6 tomato plants into grow bags in the garden room, we are hopeful.  The tomato seedlings have been a little disappointing thus far but we haven't given up yet.  We have done well with the spring onions seeds, they are almost ready for potting on.

In the house all is clean but not always tidy.  The windows have been done this week both inside and out .  It was quite the challenge when the sun was on them.  Vinegar worked really well on those stubborn smears.  We have a machine, which really does save all the hard work.  The windows are done in seconds, worth every penny.

The front lobby has had a bit of a change around with a new valance curtain made and a couple of chairs added so that they can be lifted into the front garden to sit.  The original chair that was in there has been given a makeover.  A coat of paint and a new seat.

I am working on a new wreath for the door.

A rag wreath that is looking quite shabby at the moment, I am hoping that it will improve as I go along. 

I am getting quite inventive with food, replacing one ingredient for another.  I am concerned at times that we are over eating, particularly as I had done so well losing a little weight.  I am keeping away from the scales.  Time will tell on that one.  The store cupboard is going down....

The weather is due to change again on Sunday with a forecast of rain.  So it is my intention to catch up with my journal and card making.  I also have several sewing projects that need doing.  I have plenty to occupy my time and for that I am extremely grateful.  I still have ample supplies so all is well.

I hope that you are all managing to keep busy and that you are able to keep in touch with family and friends.  I thank you for your visit here and your uplifting comments.  Take care and stay safe in these uncertain times.

See you soon.