We may be in lockdown, but with the dry and sunny weather, our morning walks have been really nice.
This is a happy Rocco in Farnborough Fields, adjacent to High Elms Country Park:
Glorious Walking
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Monthly Archives: May 2020
What shall I do next?
So, I’ve finished my dress:
As it’s a winter dress, I now put it away until the autumn. By which time it’ll be a nice surprise…
I also moved Phil’s cucurbits to their new home – having first untangled them from the spider plant!
In fact, I spent most of Monday putting various things into new pots…
In between, I am still spending time at the computer learning all sorts of new technology, continuing with my reading challenge and finding new and exciting things to cook. For the first time in my life, having loads of different things to do seems like a blessing!
Another Lockdown ‘Pub’ meal
We were due to be on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales this week, so as partial compensation, we decided to have another Tesco “Meal Deal”.
The main course was Slow Cooked Gammon Shank In Pineapple with Chunky Chips:
And for pudding, Chocolate & Orange Profiteroles:
And a surprisingly nice bottle of Merlot. Not bad for a total cost of £10!
A Potty Project!
The trouble with sowing seeds is… seedlings!
Some herbs – coriander, basil and parsley. Destined for the herb bed, eventually.
Although I’m not sure all of this is parsley!
There are also some flowers:
And some very healthy looking ones from Rhey:
The upshot of all this is I needed to make some pots, using my useful little pot maker. This is a job you can do while chatting to a friend or daughter via videolink.
And here are some I made earlier.
Watch this space for pictures of the pots with plants in!
A Lockdown ‘Pub’ Meal
We have been missing the occasional meal in a pub, so took advantage of a Tesco “Meal Deal” and made our own. I’d earlier collected a few pints of “Wantsum Imperium Bitter 4.0%” from our local beer takeaway, and enjoyed a beer in the sunshine while the cook was hard at work!
First course was peppercorn steak with lemon and thyme roast potatoes, pan fried mushrooms and salad. All washed down with a reasonable wine:
Pudding was raspberry cheesecake and cream:
Total cost £10 (plus a few vegetables), including the wine. What a bargain!
Oxleas Wood
As we’re now ‘allowed’ to travel further for our exercise, we decided to walk around Oxleas Wood in the sunshine. This is actually a collection of woods and parks that interlink around the Shooters Hill area in South East London.
We started in Eltham Park South (the park is split in half by the main A2 Dover Road):
Rocco found a stick within seconds of getting out of the car:
We then crossed the A2 via a large overbridge and walked through Eltham Park North, which is mainly woodland. Rocco found a dirty pond of course:
We then walked through Oxleas Wood to Severndroog Castle:
Severndroog Castle was built in 1784 as a memorial to Sir William James, once the Director of the East India Company, by his wife Lady Anne James. It celebrates his most famous exploit, the capturing of the island fortress of Suvarnadurg. Severndroog Castle is 132 metres (432 feet) above sea level, gifting it with exceptional views of the London cityscape, the Thames River and the edges of London’s seven surrounding counties.
It was of course closed, so no “exceptional views” for us. Instead, we stopped for a break on the terrace, then headed back downhill a different way:
This had more meadows (you can see a small open cafe at the top of the hill):
And then back through Eltham Park:
A nice afternoon out!
Lock Down – Open Up
The banners I made last weekend are now in place on the church fence. We have invited anyone from the community to add their symbols or messages of Faith, Hope and Love.
If you look closely to the left of the “Hope” banner, you can see that someone has already put a mini wreath there.
And a message has been added by the “Love” banner.
Having tied them to the fence last Wednesday, I stopped while walking Rocco yesterday, to take the photos.
Rocco is hoping I will hurry up and take him home for supper!
Rocco Struggles
Rocco enjoys carrying the largest stick (or sticks) that he can get, but struggles with the concept of passing through narrow gaps when they are sticking out each side…
I’d taken this photo just after he’d unsuccessfully tried to get through the gap. But after rearranging them, he eventually managed.
Faith, Hope and Love
This weekend’s project was painting three small banners for the church fence. I prepared some artwork and lettering…
Then I traced them onto some ripstop fabric I had lying around – as you do!
Unfortunately discovered that I didn’t have any blue paint, which I was going to use for the cross. That could be changed, however I do rather need blue for the rainbow…
So here are the three banners, with the exception of the blue flower and the blue bit of the rainbow:
I’ll post another photo when they are finished and in place!
An exciting delivery
As bread flour has been notoriously absent from the supermarket shelves lately, I have resorted to buying some on-line. Unfortunately, this meant ordering a bag of 16 kilos. It arrived yesterday – I just about managed to drag it as far as the larder!
Then I had to decant it into some containers I had prepared for the purpose. I managed to spill only a few grams!
So, we are OK for bread and pizzas until mid-July…