The first three months

Most days passed by much like each other - it was difficult to keep track of what day of the week it was at times.  I found it very calming and enjoyable - especially as the weather was so wonderful for the whole of April and May.  Long hot sunny days - perfect for sitting in the garden and cross stitching or reading.  It was like being on permanent holiday. The weather turned colder and wetter in June, but then I turned to more computer stuff, including updating this blog.  

Our lock down coping strategies are covered in detail in the specific pages - cycling, walking, cross stitching, ringing, jigsaws etc but during the first three months we did some jobs around the house and garden, and finally got round to scattering Mary's ashes.

One day as I was passing, I phoned the undertakers from outside their offices in the High Street, and they said I could come in and pick Mary's ashes up straight away.  A few days later, on a beautiful evening, we went up on to the moor to a place I had picked out to scatter them.  The ground was nice and hard after all the warm weather and Mike was able to get up with only a little extra push in one place.  

I had found a parish boundary stone, next to a large granite stone, just off the main track from the small car park to Black Hill.  There were a couple of stones large enough to sit on too.  It had a wonderful view over Yarner Wood and down to Bovey and Teignmouth.  The track is used by dog walkers and walkers, but not much by grockels, and it was near enough for her to have company without actually being trodden on.  It was also near enough to the car park for me to pop up on a regular basis to say hello.  We spread some of the ashes around the granite stone, and then I made a cross on the ground from some of them, and finally Mike spread the rest by casting them to the wind.  We also took some miniature daffodil bulbs up and "planted" them - the ground was too hard to dig but we pushed them under the grass by the rocks.  

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Once we were allowed to meet in the garden, Jayne's niece Jenna came to visit with husband Phil and boys Zachary and Alex.  It was the first day of rain in two months - so we decided the sun lounge could count as the garden as we had all been isolating up until then.  We had a picnic-provided by Jenna- and then went for a walk in Stover.

I cleared out and tidied up the shed, making an inventory of what was in there, and labelling the boxes on the shelves with pink labels!  I even hoovered it out.  It was a bit girly, but it made a good space for Mike to use when he was using tools etc and it was so much easier to find things.

In addition to making a ramp for the back door, and painting the shed, Mike refurbished the clothes horse, and the ceiling airer, and at the same time refurbished the back porch around the bottom of the windows.  We got Bill, our handyman, in to put the pulleys up for the airer, - first fixing a beam of wood to the ceiling joists, which then needed painting (I did that).   Mike sprayed the airer ends with pink paint, and sanded and glossed the wooden poles. It all looked lovely and fresh afterwards - although my "zumba studio" was full of paint and brushes and pieces of wood for several days.

work in progress-clothes horse finished

The finished airer

On Easter Sunday we participated in Sing Resurrection - a call to people to sing a couple of prescribed hymns at 10 am in the garden or the street or wherever.  I stood on the steps and sang at the top of my voice while Mike played the organ.  I must admit I couldn't hear anyone else singing, but when I had finished I called out Christ is Risen Alleluia and a lady in a garden very nearby shouted back He is Risen Indeed Alleluia which was rather nice.

I purchased a fig tree last Autumn and had been nurturing it inside over the winter.  I planted it in a pot on 11 April - and on 17 June spotted our first fig growing!  Very exciting.

I cut Mike's hair for him!  This was nerve-wracking - but it turned out ok.