A few bits and pieces

Goood evening! Just some photos of the past few weeks. Nothing extremely exciting, but a few little walks etc.


A surprise mask sent in the post to me from a friend. She sent it anonymously, so I put my Miss Marple head on!

A summer wreath for our front door.

A walk with Bumble (and my daughter!) in a newly discovered field of very long grass at times! There was a mown walkway for walkers. I absolutely love the bouncy Bumble photo.

No, I haven’t been to Rome. But my son spent 4 days there last week. This would normally be packed!

We visited a friend (socially distanced of course). This beautiful hydrangea was in his front garden.

A couple of cards have been made for a neighbour’s little boy’s 1st birthday and my cousin’s daughter’s 11th.

I’ve been planning my meals two weeks at a time.

A dog walk with my friend and her dog, Bruce at Parke, a National Trust place in Bovey Tracey, Devon. A lovely place for dogs to explore and splash in the river. A very well organised, safe outdoor cafe to have a coffee and chocolate brownie too!

Hubby had a very long working day yesterday (morning, afternoon and evening) so to escape the house for a bit, we jumped in the car and a quick drive found us at Stover Country Park. We walked around the lake and sat at one of the many benches dotted around, to eat our packed lunch, perfect. A quick scoot back home and his working day resumed.

Today’s meal was Mackerel with Gremolata (Italian term for a dressing) I love the pattern of the Mackerel skin. I don’t cook fish very often, but was very happy with this!

No baking photos, as I‘ve only baked scones and tea loaves recently. Hopefully, I’ll do something more exciting this coming week. I’m going down to Plymouth to see my mum for the first time since lockdown next week, it’s her birthday and we’re going for a picnic (weather permitting!)

 Hope you have a lovely weekend, cheerio for now, Ann x

Struggling

I’m struggling, struggling to write here and  struggling with anxiety. Weirdly, when we were in proper lockdown, at the beginning of all this, I was ok. But gradually, as things have relaxed, I have been getting more anxious (I’ve had anxiety in the past, so know how to deal with it).

We are very lucky down here in Devon, that figures were low and the majority of people adhered to what we should do. But as things have relaxed, some people are not so careful and it being summertime, there’s far more people here too. Apart from one trip into town to go to a couple of independent clothing shops (just me and the owners in there), I still don’t go to any shops other than the farm shop, a fortnightly trip to Tesco for toiletries and cleaning stuff etc. and the occasional trip to the garden centre, where they are still being very strict.

On top of that my son and his girlfriend flew to Rome today. Now I know their figures are much better than ours and they’re much stricter, but that doesn’t stop me worrying. That’s the nature of anxiety.

I’m ok going for dog walks with either my daughter or my friend and generally being in the open air. There’s so much talk recently about how bad the second wave is going to be (if it happens). So I’m going to try and not watch so much news.

I haven’t been down to see my mum in Plymouth yet , now we’re allowed. But I’m still quite apprehensive about visiting her, even though she’s been out and about a bit.

So, I think for the time being, while I’m dealing with my anxiety and try to get my blood pressure down ( I’m not on meds, but will be if it doesn’t go down a bit! Another worry!), I’m going to just post photos with a word or two accompanying them. I’ll also get round to reading other people’s blogs too.

So, I’m counting down the days until my son comes home on Saturday. I’ll then be counting the 14 days after that, just in case. I’m taking time to try and relax, doing more crafting and going to bed at a decent time. I eat healthily anyway and also exercise regularly, which is good. It’s just a case of trying not to worry about things I can’t control and learning to chill again.

Sorry this is a bit of a dismal post, but thank you for sticking with it! I’ll have a look at my recent photos and post them soon. Cheerio for now, Ann x