Keeping busy during the coronavirus lockdown weeks 3 and 4

It doesn't feel like two weeks since my last diary post, a sign of the days blurring into one and becoming very samey no doubt. My momentum has definitely slowed down, particularly this week with the colder, rainy weather. Thankfully though, the sunshine and warmth seems set to return next week. So here's what I've been up to:

1. Cooking
Not much from the ordinary admittedly, but for Good Friday I cooked a Tuscan butter salmon dish with new potatoes and green beans for dinner and made individual jam sponges for dessert. The weather was lovely so we were even able to sit outside and eat. It was a nice start to the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Tuscan butter salmon

2. Gardening
Over the last two weeks I've been sowing more seeds; runner beans and various flowers. Then I discovered it was far too soon for the runner beans and despite only sowing them one week ago, I have seedlings about 10cm tall. Oh dear. It is more than likely too soon for them to be planted out as we could still have frosts in the next month, but on the basis that I have spare seeds to plant, not enough room to keep them indoors and some homemade plastic cloches, I'm going to put them out anyway. My two earliest courgettes are probably a few weeks ahead of schedule too, but again I'll try my best to keep them happy for another couple of weeks and have more seeds if I need to resow.

3. TV
I'm really struggling to find anything to watch on tv at the moment. At a time like this, it would be nice if more cheerful films and programmes were scheduled. The only show I've really been watching is Belgravia which concludes tomorrow evening. Other than that I'm hoping Netflix comes up with some good new releases soon!

4. Reading
I started in my next book, "The Best Boomerville Hotel". I've only read a little but I'm struggling to really get into it. I'm not sure if this is because I'm finding it hard to concentrate and in fairness, I didn't get into the last book I read that quickly either, but ended up really enjoying it. So, perhaps I should give it another go, or move on to the next one and then return to it later on.

5. Easter
As I mentioned earlier, Good Friday was marked with a nice dinner and drinks outside in the sunshine. On Saturday I made a floral centrepiece for the Easter dining table with some ranches for the garden. It wasn't the best decoration, but it brought a little colour inside and brightened up the table.

 On Easter Sunday we had an impromptu egg hunt as a way to burn off a few calories before enjoying some Easter chocolate! I cut out eggs from card and hid them in the garden, so none of the resident wildlife would find the chocolate eggs first! I'd purchased my Easter eggs well before the lockdown when they were on offer, so I had one for everyone :)

That's been about everything. I'm going to try to be more productive next week than I was this week, perhaps some baking and more garden progress hopefully.

Egg hunt - hidden in bluebells!

Keeping busy during the coronavirus lockdown - week 2

This week felt longer (and harder) than the last, in part due to the weather turning cold and windy, meaning almost all day every day was spent in doors. Thankfully this weekend is looking brighter, so I've been tidying the garden up today and hope to get some more seeds planted tomorrow. This is what I've been up to anyway:

1. Reading
I've just finished reading 'dreaming of st Tropez' by T A Williams, which follows twenty-something architect Jess embark on a summer of dreams in the south of France after unexpectedly being let go from her job. It was a light, easy and uplifting read, which is just what I want at the moment. The idyllic descriptions of st Tropez and the surrounding areas have me pining for a holiday though! I have a stack of books to choose from next, but I'm tempted to purchase another book from the 'dreaming of' series as I enjoyed this one.

2. Cooking/baking
I made an indulgent brunch of eggy bread earlier this week, but apart from that I've not been trying anything too exciting. However I've bookmarked my favourite dessert recipe (jam sponge cake - the jam goes in the tin first so it runs out when you turn it out). If I can get some jam in my next supermarket visit I'll be making those. I've also got some cookie mix in the cupboard so I'd like to make cookies in the next few days.

3. Gardening
As I mentioned above, the weather has meant I haven't been able to do much in the garden this week, but I've been keeping an eye on my seedlings and today I've been able to do some tidying ready for a new raised bed and if the weather tomorrow is as nice as it is meant to be, I'll be planting more seeds. So far I have three courgette seedlings, 6 cucumber seedlings, about 12 spring onions shooting up, two trays of tomatoes and some peas. Flower-wise, I've thrown the flower bombs so hoping they take and my various flower seedlings seem to be doing ok. The most exciting garden news however is that a couple of great tits have started making a nest in the bird house we put up just a couple of hours earlier! I am so hoping they are happy in their new home!

4. Tidying the attic
This I did over two afternoons. It was much overdue but it almost looks like a different room now. There were far too many have empty boxes and just by packing them better, I was able to throw out about three or four large boxes which made a lot of space. There's still some more sorting to do, I don't think we need a lot of what is there, but now we have the space to sort through things and it looks much tidier,

Apart from this, I've done a YouTube yoga session, watched some tv, not a lot - mostly old Netflix shows to unwind when I go to bed, though I have been catching up with the new show Belgravia this week. I've been watching YouTube vlogs most days and started playing chess in the evenings. It's not my favourite game but it is satisfying if you win!

Now I'm off to clean my coat collar from make up (I'm glad to be getting round to this, it's been on my to do list for ages). I expect the coming week will be much the same as this one, but I'm also hoping to do some Easter decor to brighten the house up a little and with any luck, it'll be a little brighter and warmer.