Day 49. Thurs 30/4/2020. Valborgsmässoafton . 7 weeks!

Today is Day 49. 7 weeks since the schools closed. The children have missed 5 weeks of actual school, as the Easter holidays (2 weeks) were in the middle.
Life is progressing along in the home sphere. Husband works from home, the children and I do our school/university stuff daily. I do the shopping and the laundry. We get walks and cycles. The kids go running. We count ourselves very lucky that we are not affected by CoVid in a serious way.

Our Prime Minister will probably be announcing tomorrow what direction the restrictions will go in for the next few weeks. From the sound of it during the past week, there will be no major loosening of the restrictions next week. We still need to be careful, all of us.

Today, I spent quite a bit of time on the computer sorting out activities for my pupils on Seesaw. My sister who is also a teacher has been of great help.

Day 48: Wed, 29th April. Shopping and a submission

Could we ever have imagined a few months ago that shopping at the supermarket would be the highlight of our day?
I was at Lidl this morning around 10 and did the shopping slowly and carefully. Then home via another store for catfood. I bought a bag of potatoes at William the butcher. Home for lunch.
Then out onto the lawn with my son to do his Science habitat exploration homework with him.
Back in and on to the computer to check the submissions from my pupils on Seesaw.
Dinner.
Finally, I got Module 2 (2 of 4) of the work for the Foundation Certificate in Spinning written up and edited and sent off to my mentor.
So a glass of vino was in order.
No walk today, paperwork took over. And it was a damp wet day, raining on and off.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Day 47: Tues 28th April: a quiet day.

It was indeed a quiet day. The weather was nice. Laundry was hung out. I did some paperwork.
I got a walk.
I set up Seesaw for my pupils so they can send me photos and recordings of themselves reading, etc, now that we are all working and learning from home.
Now I am looking at raised beds on an online gardening website. A girl can dream!

Yippee! I ordered two simple raised beds online, just for my plants really, not veggies yet.

Day 46: Monday 27th April, sunshine and swallows

The weather improved again today. The sun came out and there was a bit of heat in the day. The swallows are back, swooping around the house and chirruping and chattering to each other.
I had a lot of paperwork to do on the computer.
I did manage to get a walk. I love to walk in the evenings, when the sun isn't blazing down on me. I heard the cuckoo call several times. The sunset was lovely once again.

Sunset, Monday 27th April

Day 45: Sunday 26th April, a cycle on a grey day, and Tussilago.

The lovely weather came to an end and today was cloudy, overcast and cool. Chilly even.
I went for a cycle around the block with my son. It was great to be out on the bike.
There were bluebells along the way, also pink bluebells and white bluebells, if you know what I mean. I must go back for a cycle that way and take photos of them.
I stopped where the Tussilago (Coltsfoot) grows and got photos of the seed heads. I missed their flowering period with the lockdown. I would usually drive past them at least twice a day when I drive to work.
I am just glad they are still there and clearly flowered this season too.

Tussilago. Coltsfoot.

Tussilago, what an evocative name....

Day 44: Flowers and a Zoom meeting, sat 25th april

Lovely morning again.
Sad to say I spent most of the day doing paperwork for school.
I bought 2 new Violas at the shop when I got the paper.
Happy to report that two of my children got out for a cycle on the bikes from yesterday.
Happy also to report that I got the paperwork done, the second half of the lawn mowed, a walk around sunset to get my quota of steps and a Zoom meeting with 3 very good friends.
Here are a few photos of flowers from my garden this morning.

A Pansy my mother gave me.

A Wallflower I bought last week

Fasciated Dandelion, it looks like one flower has 4 heads!

And finally, not in my garden, but along the road side where I walk, Primroses, 

Day 43: Friday 24th April 2020, 43 days, bicycle pumps!

Early rise to take my DD to work for 7am. I got to see the sunrise!

Shortly after Sunrise, Friday 24th April, 6.56am

It was a lovely day, to start with. I had breakfast sitting at the table on the deck.
Later I  brought out our bikes to see if there were any flat tyres. Of course there were! I had a box of bicycle pumps and attachments but as far as I could see there were 3 types of valve and some very dodgy bike pumps, with only 2 types of attachments and zero efficiency. Impossible to sort. I got help from a local bike repair man and finally got 3 of the 4 bikes sorted.
I also got half the lawn mowed. I could see the clouds thickening in the west. The forecast was for rain later. I am glad I got that much done.
The rain came, soft and fresh.
I am working on more paperwork for school and for a spinning course. I am nearly there. Phew.
Listening to the Simple Minds album New Gold Dream. Wonderful music.

42 days. Kanelbullar/Cinnamon buns

Now that I have fixed the breadmaker,  I am determined to use it as much as possible.

DD#1 asked for cinnamon buns yesterday but I had left the shop, so instead I baked cinnamon buns today. I found a vegan recipe so DD#2 could have some too.
It worked very well. I used the breadmaker to knead the dough and for the first rise. Then I took out the dough,  rolled it out and cut up the rolls.

Rolling out the dough. The filling is vegan sunflower oil spread, sugar and cinnamon. 

Kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) are a great favourite in Sweden. Luckily I had a box of Swedish Pearl Sugar, (Pärlsocker), which I used on top of the buns when they came out of the oven. I have to say my kanelbullar looked just like the buns on the front of the box of pärlsocker. What do you think?

Yummy kanelbullar, ready to eat! That's our one precious box of Swedish pearl sugar there.

41 days in. An antique sock knitting machine arrives.

Wednesday, 22nd April 2020. 41st day of school closure.
Yesterday the postman brought me a large parcel. I knew straight away what it was: an antique circular sock knitting machine  'Favorit' from Sweden, first purchased in 1922. I won it on a Tradera auction online 2 weeks ago. It may actually be the only one of its kind in Ireland!
Here is the photo from the auction:

Favorit circular sock-knitting machine

I didn't dare open it yesterday, afraid of what state it would be in. While the box was sealed, I still had a functioning sock machine, a bit like Schrödinger's sock knitting machine, right?
Well, I opened it today, strengthened by the fact that I had managed to fix the bread-machine last night by changing the belt on it and had also baked a lovely loaf of brown seedy bread in that machine this morning. Success breeds success!!
The machine appeared at first to be in fairly good condition, although it seemed to be missing needles, which was heart-breaking, as needles for it are very difficult to get. I had 11 small loose needles, when I need 72 or 120.

The parts of the machine, just out of the box. There are 11 very small needles on the white box.

The Guarantee Certificate, dated 16th May 1922.  She is 98 years old, this old Swedish lady. 

I posted on the Facebook page for the Favorit machines and luckily two lovely people replied to explain to me what was what, apparently I had most of the necessary parts and what's more,  the needles were likely all in place inside the needle disc. Well, yes indeed, there were the needles in the disc.
Relief!
I am a CSM owner! And it feels great, especially that it is a Swedish sock knitting machine.
Right so, off I go to read the 84 page manual, på svenska förstås!

Day 40, Tuesday, 21st April 2020, a sad day.

Today was a bright morning but it was a sad day. Today was the funeral of the husband of my good friend and colleague. Only close family went to the church. Instead, the community, including me,  stood on the footpaths of the village in silence as the cortege passed by on the way to the church. I waited in the village for the Funeral Mass to be over and then once again we stood on the paths as the cortege made its way past. It was heartbreaking. I am so sorry for my colleague and for her family.

I am glad that I live close enough that I could be there on the path. Several other colleagues lived too far away to come, with the Covid Regulations.
The afternoon at home was quiet after that. It turned cloudy and misty. For some reason everyone in my family had plenty to do in their own rooms so I had a quiet hour in front of the computer and got another chapter done in my online course.
I made a big pot of leek and potato soup for the crew. Later I went out for a walk in the mild overcast evening. I am pleased to say I got to 7600 steps, with no pain in the foot as of yet.
I am hoping to get up to 10000 steps again, but maybe not every day.
I tackled a small but difficult job: changing the belt on the bread-machine. It was finicky and difficult. I didn't think I would get it done this evening, but at 10pm, yes, I got it done! So tomorrow I will bake bread in it again.

Day 39, Monday 20th April, Dentist visit

Even though I am not back at work in the physical school, it definitely felt today like there was a difference, I could feel that the Easter holidays were over and now it was down to a new sort of brass tacks.
The morning was lovely and bright and sunny. Boding well for the new start so!
I had to take my daughter to an emergency dental appointment, as she has had ongoing pain in an emerging wisdom tooth. That went well thankfully, no need for surgery at present, just antibiotics and painkillers.
I got some food shopping done while she was at the dentist. Then home, via the pharmacy and my parents.
I went for a walk, after having had 3 days with no walks, to give my foot a chance to get better. I didn't do 10, 000 steps, just a bit over 3000 to start off with.
I heard the cuckoo on my walk. I heard it first on Wednesday last week, that would be the 15th April. I have heard it once or twice every day since.
Our house-martins and swallows are back.
It was a lovely calm evening. I am aware that I am extremely lucky that I have the luxury of enjoying sunsets and walks and birds and cows and all of nature these days without having the worry of ill health or financial problems in our family .

Day 38, Sunday 19th April, 2020. an anniversary.

Up I got and off to the village, where the vegetable farmer comes and sells his veg from his van on a Sunday morning and to get the newspapers at the shop too. I drove to my parents with their newspaper and vegetables and wished my mother Happy Anniversay!
Today is my parents' 55th wedding anniversary. 55 years together, 8 children , 21 grandchildren, isn't that amazing! I usually get them a voucher for a meal out, but I couldn't do that this year. I told Mam I will get it for her when thing open up again.
Home and I checked over the email for the work for the kids and sent it off, phew.
I am getting through lots of stuff now when I am not walking 10,000 steps per day.
I got out my  schoolbags and sorted through the notes and tried to be ruthless and to take out the stuff I do not need. Not fully possible yet, as we may go back to school at some point, even in some kind of socially distanced way, so I cannot say that the year is over and I need to keep the notes anyway.
Then I got out a piece of paperwork that has been on my ToDo list for a while now, so it was time to finally tackle that. It will go by the abbreviation GST.
I put in a few hours and I had my dinner in the middle and I had 2 long phone calls, and drank a glass of white wine and eventually, in the early hours of Monday morning, I pressed Submit. So pleased! The worst that can happen is that I have to go back and do more, send in some extra photos, etc, no worries. it is Submitted now and I wish it GodSpeed!
Monday again tomorrow. A new week. I am optimistic that I will get 2 packages from Sweden this week, more about those in  day or two.
In the meantime, I am in 'work' mode a bit tomorrow, there is some school literature I need to read up on. And after that, there is an assignment on Spinning to be dealt with, another Geography course to get up to speed on and a Textiles course to catch up on too.
and a dentist appointment with DD at 2pm. I'd better not forget that.

Day 37, Saturday 18th April 2020, submitted the essay

I stayed up late on Friday night and reread the Geography essay and shaved off lots of little words here and there and tidied it up and finally, I submitted the essay in the first 10 minutes of Saturday morning. Oh the joy!! It is Done. Phew.
On Saturday, mu husbeast went off to the shop (Lidl) early and got all our favourite stuff. It is strange to think that I used to be able to pop into Lidl 2 or 3 times a week. Not any more.
Later in the day, DD#1 said her emerging wisdom tooth was killing her and I have to say she didn't look good. So phone calls were made to the out-of-hours ShannonDoc service and also to our own dentist (no answer) and to an emergency dentist in Limerick city. We have a dentist appointment on Monday at 2pm.
I had to go in to the ShannonDoc offices in the afternoon to collect a prescription for antibiotics for DD.
After that I went to Aldi to get some food that my mother wanted. Home after that, to continue working on the email with work for my pupils for next week.
While I was on the computer, a phone call came to tell me the very sad news that the husband of a dearly loved colleague had just died suddenly, non-Covid related. I was so shocked and sad for my colleague and her family. Life has such tragic and terrible turns.
Later I had a planned Zoom meeting with my 4 best friends. We always have a good natter. We need it these days.
Another late bedtime. No worries. No work tomorrow. No alarm clock. Nuffin

Day 36 Friday 17th April 2020, lawnmower and soft rain

It was a nice morning, overcast but warm. Having neglected the kitchen yesterday, this morning involved tidying up, dishwasher-emptying, filling again of dishwasher, cleaning up the sink and surfaces.
Laundry was hung out, I got the potatoes and carrots on for dinner, and I got a small area of the lawn mowed. I could see that the clouds were getting darker and it felt like rain.
Luckily I got the outdoor jobs done and the dry laundry brought in before the rain came.
Dinner, followed by a trip to the parents, then home and on the laptop. I intend to read over the Geography assignment now and get it fine-tuned, then I will submit it.
There will then be new work to set for my pupils next week and there is one more large piece of computer work to do for a specific submission for work.
Maybe I will even have a zoom chat with the spinners this evening!
No walk, resting the foot again today.

Day 35, Thursday 16th April, 2020, Geography assignment

The day was bright and sunny again.
However, this Geography assignment that is hanging over me has to be done, so from 9.30am until 6pm, or later, I sat at the laptop and worked on getting my 2000 words written on Permafrost changes in the Torneträsk region of Sweden and the impact on vegetation.
Needless to say, my initial title was something else, and a lot of work had been done on it,and I was reluctant to let that go, but I realised quickly that it had to go, it was not satisfactory and I needed to take a different tack. Aaargh.
 I just cut out all the initial stuff, refocused my focus and started to thankfully find the bits I needed in the papers that I had already printed and read. It helps that DD#1 is a bright bunny and works in the Writing Centre in the Uni where she is doing her Ph.D. in Electrochemistry. She helps people to break down the task of writing a paper into manageable bits and she has no sacred cows. If the writing is not good enough, it has to go.
I got no walk. I am on a few days rest, my right ankle and side of my right foot is giving me some trouble, so I am prescribing myself a few days rest. No matter, I have plenty of computer work to do.
I suddenly realised at 6pm, that it was late and that I had to nip to the shop to get some things for my parents, so I got a quick visit to the shop and home.
I worked a bit more on the paper , with a glass of Sprite and white wine in hand. I never get a glass of wine in usual life! Always too much driving to do.
Then bed.

Day 34 Wednesday, ooops, April 15th 2020

oops, I forgot to write this post on Wednesday!
Eeek.
Oh well, not to worry we are all fine.
If I remember rightly, Wednesday was a sunshiny day.
I went for a walk in the early part of the day, and I see from the photos on my camera that I took a photo of  a small speckled brown butterfly, which I believe is either called a Speckled Brown or a Speckled Wood butterfly.
The sun was lovely, and I spoke to my mother on my phone as I walked. I recall I met the neighbouring family also out for a walk with the 2 grannies who live with them, and some of the children and the little white dog.
Later that evening, I had another walk, and a man and his daughter cycled by; turns out that I used to teach the girl a few years ago. She is now in her last year of primary school and it is totally possible that the schools will not reopen before the summer holidays, so to all intents and purposes, she is done with Primary school.
I went back out for another stroll with my own 2 kids, and as we walked I told them the names of the wild plants at the side of the road, (lesser celandines and greater stitchwort) and showed them the early wild violets and pointed out some of the trees around us. I realise that I need to take responsibility to pass on the stuff I know to my kids, because not all teachers will have the same knowledge or interests.
I showed them fasciated dandelions; these look like two-headed dandelions, where the stems of 2 or 3 flowers and the flowerheads seem to grow together so the stem is extra thick and the flower elongated. Did you knwo that there are 250 species of dandelion in Ireland and UK? I am not sure how many there are in just Ireland. I may need to look that up.
As we came back towards home, we stopped to look back at the sunset and up at the clear sky, where there was one bright planet and one twinkling star, plus a robin singing on a power line. I checked on my phone and found that the planet was probably Venus. A neighbour passed by, and she too asked about the planet. A bat flew around, and the neighbour told us about the bats they had found in her husband's parents' house after it had been idle for a while.
Nature is fascinating.
I will try to get photos into each post, but it is a bit complicated currently, the phone (where i take the photos) is not working well with the laptop. Plus Blogger tells me that photos cannot be uploaded. I need to try again later. Aaargh

Day 33, Tuesday 14th April 2020, sunshine

Woke to a lovely morning, sun shining and there was some warmth in it too.
I drove to a pharmacy to get some medicine (nothing serious) and went into the adjacent service station. They were well stocked and I got what I needed, except for brown rice and brown pasta. I mentioned to the girl on the checkout how well stocked they were and when I asked about brown rice and pasta, she said it to the manager and asked him to order some in. So maybe next week they will have some.
I came home and helped my daughter to pack up a present for her friend's birthday; it was a jumper that my daughter had knit for her friend, plus some small treats: chocolate, nail polish and mini candles. After lunch, I dropped the packet to the post office, where I met D, a good friend's husband. We had a short chat, at a distance, of course. All well with them, thankfully.
I got brown rice and a plant. a wallflower, at the petrol station across the road. I have always loved the smell of wallflowers and this one has a lovely deep red colour. It needed to be rescued too, the pot was very light and the plant was beginning to droop from lack of water. I gave it a big drink of water as soon as I got it home. Now it sits outside my front door beside a lovely cheerful yellow pansy that my mum gave me in a blue pot.
The afternoon went as most afternoons are now going: dinner, a rest, a walk, supper, chat with the folks here, bed.

Day 32, Easter Monday. 13th April 2020

What a beautiful morning! Sunshine and bright blue skies. The wind was a bit cool at first but the day warmed up a good bit.
DD#3 had work at 8am in the local petrol station-grocery shop so she drove herself to work. I woke at 7.51 am as she was heading out the door.
I got up then, and started to tidy the kitchen: emptied the dishwasher, filled the dishwasher, swept the floor, etc.
I had my breakfast and went for a walk.
When I came back it was time to think about what to prepare for dinner and time to wash the spuds and veg.
After a lovely dinner after 3pm with DD and DS, I drove over for a brief call to my parents' house with the newspaper for them. Mam was out gardening, planting seeds in a new veg bed she made on Saturday.
I got home, had some delicious banana bread that DD#1 had made and then headed out to mow a bit of the lawn, avoiding the dandelions along the way! My lawn is going to be very odd, mowed but with dandelions everywhere. The dandelions are good for bees and pollinators, dontcha know.
Apparently there are 250 species of dandelion in UK and probably something similar here.

I had a lovely walk, starting out just before sunset. I love that time of the day. I am so fortunate to have such a lovely quiet road to walk on with views to the west and east.
Good night all

Day 31, Easter Sunday, 12th April 2020, rainy day

We woke to a rainy day, very rainy actually.
I drove to the shop and got some vegetables for my parents and bread, milk, newspapers.
Dropped the groceries to Mam, and went home.
Got a walk in the drizzle and listened to a FB live video by the two women who run Historical Textiles, in Stockholm, Sweden.
Lunch, read the paper, had a nap, got another walk, got photos of a lovely sunset and home to supper.
The weather will be better tomorrow.

Day 30, Easter Saturday, 11th April , 2020

The day was overcast to start off with. However, my favourite weather site, the Norwegian site, www.yr.no had forecast sunshine later in the day, so I was hopeful that would be true.
We went for a walk in the morning, two daughters and I.
Then breakfast and hanging out laundry etc.
My husband drove to get the newspapers in his car; it is apparently a good idea to drive the cars every so often so the battery does not get depleted.
I asked my son to trim my hair even more. I got him the trimmer and he trimmed it with the 9mm blade, which is what I asked him to do. Now I have a hairstyle like Sinéad O'Connor, the singer. A bit drastic maybe, but it will grow back.
I took the newspaper over to my parents, and met one of my younger brothers there. We had a lovely chat, socially distanced of course, and not too long.
I had a nap in the afternoon, and then went for another walk with 3 of the kids to get my steps in.
At 9pm I had a Zoom meeting with 4 of my best friends. (Actually 2 Zoom meetings, from 9 - 9.40 and 9.40 to 10.20.)
Got the last of my 10000 steps walking around outside on the patio with the outside lights on and my DD#3 asking me quiz questions. I love quiz questions.
Good night!

day 29, Good Friday, 10th April 2020

I had a few things to get for my parents in the local shop and a parcel to collect at the post office, so I did that early-ish and was home again by noon.
I washed the floor of the garage and got out the lawnmower. I managed to overfill the lawnmower with petrol so I had to extract petrol with a small syringe. By the time that was done, the children were out on the lawn and didn't want the lawnmower going around them, so I went for a walk instead.
At 4pm, our Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was on the TV telling us once again that the restrictions and regulations regarding Only Essential Travel, etc, were being extended until Tuesday the 5th of May, for now. Schools are to remain closed until further notice. This was expected. I am glad of the extra 3 week extension. We will just keep on keeping on.
Later, I had my dinner on the table on the deck, outside the kitchen door, talking to my husband. It was a lovely evening. Then we heard a familiar twittering overhead; the house-martins had come back ! Two house-martins were swooping above us and checking out their nest from last year at the inner apex of the gable wall.
It is so exciting to have them back, it is a real sign of Spring, and a sign that Summer is on the way.
I will have to include a photo of them in the next email that I send to my pupils for the work they have to do.
Over 11, 000 steps!

Day 28, Thursday, 9th April, 2020, DS birthday

Thursday 9th April 2020 and it is 14 years since our beautiful son S was born!
So today, there were cards and cake and presents for the Boy himself.
It was a lovely morning, I was awake at 7.30am, early for me and for these days. I got up and went for a lovely walk along the road. I am so grateful for that country road, all its bends and ditches, gates and fields and views, celandines and dandelions and precious primroses, even wild violets, if you know where to look. There is birdsong and there are trees budding and getting ready to put out their first leaves.
I went to collect my father's pension at the post office in Caherconlish and also to the pharmacy to get eyedrops for Dad, and then the shop to get the newspapers for them, also some food and a birthday cake. I realised that I had forgotten to get Easter eggs, so I got 4 of them while I was there.
When I got home, I worked on the computer on some paperwork for a bit. The heat of the sun in the window soon had me nodding off into the screen, but just then our neighbour a farmer came with his tractor to remove some branches next to our gate and that woke me up again. I had to move our cars.

Then it was time to make dinner, go for a walk to get my 10,000 steps and then home for birthday cake and whipped cream (oo-er).
After a few hands of Rummy with the kids, I worked on the paperwork some more and got 2 pieces of work finished and emailed off. Well pleased with myself, I headed off to bed with a book to read. Bliss in these days.

Day 27, Wed 8th April 2020, Garda Checkpoints

A beautiful morning, and I headed off bright and early (for me) to Lidl for a big shop. I was a bit nervous about how it would go, as yesterday was Childrens' Allowance day, so possibly longer queues today. Also, the Guards (our police) are not out on the roads checking people and their planned destinations, as part of a clampdown on unnecessary travel for Easter weekend.
It turned out fine, there was a bit of a queue for Lidl, but not too bad, I got my shopping and home I came. No Garda checkpoints at that time. We are  allowed to go for food shopping anyway, just one person per household.

I had to go back into town later for a prescription which hadn't come through when I was going to Lidl, and by then there were checkpoints on the road, with Guards asking everyone where they were going. I was ok, as I had the medical prescription to collect.
Home, had food, hung out laundry, weather was lovely. I got stuck on a call to Customer Care for our landline company for 22mins, just asking them to remove the Call Divert from our now fixed landline. That was more than a little infuriating. How long does it take a Phone Company to undo an action that took seconds 5 days ago?
Well, the issue got resolved eventually and I went and mowed the lawn, being very careful to not cut any dandelions, because they are for the bees.
It was a lovely calm evening and I got my last 4000 steps out on the road for a walk.

Day 26, Tuesday April 7th 2020, school closure

Easter holidays from school, yesterday and today.
Funny how the days merge into one another.
Today was bright and sunny, if a bit cool in the wind.
I got clothes hung out, walked 5000 steps in the morning, called my mother while walking and then got home and baked scones and brown soda bread, to my mother's recipe.
Lunch, and a quick trip to the post office in the afternoon, then another 5000 steps, a lovely sunset, the 'pink' supermoon rising in the east, dinner at home with the crew and computer, then shortly, bed.

I need to find my list of things to do, as I feel like I have forgotten something, and I wish I knew what!

Day 25, Monday 6th April 2020, school closure, Ireland

Monday morning, and the weather at least was an improvement on yesterday. DS went out for a run at 8am. Husband went to work from home, in his little office.
I got up, had breakfast, then hung out the clothes. It started raining once I had the first load out, but it was just a light shower, so I left them out. It rained on and off during the day but I believed that the wind and sun would be stronger than the rain, and it turns out that I was right! The afternoon turned out to be very nice. The clothes got dry! Happy Dance!
I went for a walk and happily, I got my 10,000 steps again. The evening was lovely, there was a full moon rising and a peaceful sunset.
In very good news, I have managed to be successful on Tradera.se and found 2 sellers who are happy to deal with international sellers. Today I paid one seller for a small set of Gense Thebe cutlery which I will hopefully get next week. That wasn't too stressful as it was a Fixed Price Buy It Now, not an auction.
Later in the day, I took part in an online auction on Tradera for an antique Swedish circular sock knitting machine, and I won! I can tell you my nerves were at me, watching the minutes and seconds counting down. I just paid the seller for it and for the postage to Ireland 30 mins ago. I have my fingers and toes crossed that both transactions go well and that both items arrive here next week safe and sound.
I have wanted one of these circular sock machines for a long time and now it looks like I will have one! Eeep.

Day 24, Sunday 5th April 2020.

I had a good night's sleep and I was adamant that I was going to use the day well.
I did!
I cut my hair with a scissors and got my son (13 years) to tidy up the sides and back with the new Hair trimmer. So it is short, very short and so tidy!
I did lots of niggly little jobs around the  house, and I feel much better now that stuff has been moved and cleared away.
I called Vodafone to register a fault on our landline and that went very well too, the gentleman was very polite and efficient. We have to wait for a technician to come fix it, but that's ok, as the young man on the phone has set up call divert to my mobile phone from the landline number.
Yesterday Saturday, I ordered some clothes online for my son, who has a birthday coming up in a week or so.
I tried to order some on a different site today, but got an error message. I will follow that up tomorrow.
It was a wet windy blustery day, and I got no walk, but that's ok. I did the work instead, and I am glad of that.
I can walk tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be good all this coming week, reaching 16 and 17 degrees C on Thursday and Friday. Plenty time to walk, hang out laundry, maybe mow the lawn again, and spin, I hope, sitting on the deck.

Day 23, Saturday, 4th April 2020,

I was very tired today, I got up and did a bit on the computer but it just made me tired and so I went back to bed for a nap. After the nap, I was able to get up, have a shower and start again!
I dropped the paper over to my parents, I came home and hung out clothes, I brought in the black  Zwartbles wool I had drying out on the clothes horses, and I went for a walk.
I reduced my limit to 7000 steps, am I a wuss or what....
I walked to the far end of the road and saw some wild violets and primroses.
Later, at 9pm, I had a Zoom chat with 4 friends, all of whom have children in the same age brackets as us, so we have been going through the same steps of life over the last 24 years or so.
All well still here in this little house in the country.

Day 22, Friday 3rd April, 2020

I had a slow start this morning. It was drizzling and damp outside, so there wasn't much that I could rush out and do straight away.
I taught my eldest daughter to spin on both spindle and spinning wheel. Fair play to her, she took to it like a duck to water. She chose some lovely blues, greens and greys from my stash, divided it roughly in half, spun 2 bobbins on and off throughout the day and was plying it at 9pm. It is now all wound off into skeins and is soaking in a pan of lukewarm water. I am going to lift it up shortly after this and hang it over the bath.
I think she did very well!

I went to the shop to get a few things for my parents. Then home, went for a walk, had a Zoom chat with 2 other spinners while I was walking and when I got home. It was good to see their faces and hear their voices.
I helped my daughter to start plying, and then I sat for a cuppa tea.
I am technically speaking on my Easter holidays now as of today midday.
Re the school closure situation, I do think it will be extended. I expect we will have another announcement from the government tomorrow or Sunday. My brother in Belgium tells me that the schools are closed there until the beginning of May, for now. So, we will wait and see what happens here.

Day 21, Thursday 2nd April 2020, school closure Co Vid

Well, all the raking and lawn-mowing and stone moving took its toll and I woke with some aches in muscles, which weren't too bad really, just a bit achy as a reminder of the work I had done.
I decided to spend some time in the morning on the laptop, catching up with some paperwork. Needless to say it took longer than I had hoped and so it is not yet complete, but no matter.

A delivery man came with a package from Boots, the pharmacy chain. I had ordered a Hair Trimmer for my son. He was delighted! But who was going to do the deed? DD#3 went off, watched a few videos and then proceeded to give DS a haircut. He ended up with a very short haircut, but that's fine, it will grow back and it will be easy to keep and it just makes him look my brother T and T's son J.

I headed to the supermarket in the afternoon, got food for us and for my parents, dropped the groceries to my parents and got home, only for it to start raining.
I had a short walk and although I didn't get to 10000 steps, I was happy enough, given the work of the last few days.
At 8pm, I had a trial run of  a Zoom meeting with the good ladies of Kilfinane Crafters group, but it didn't work so well, so we reverted to a chat on Messenger. It was great to see what other people were working on and to chat to each other and pep each other up.
Now I am going to do a bit of plying to get the red/purple/blue wool spun into a 2 ply.
Then it is bed.

Day 20, Wednesday 1st of April, 2020

The First of April.
Who would have thought back in January and February, when we were beginning to see reports on the news about Wuhan and Hubei province,  that April would be like this?
I really didn't see the point of any April Fools' Day jokes today. The world is upside down enough as it is.
Another bright dry morning. I hung out laundry. I checked the wool that was soaking in the trugs and then lifted it up and hung it on two clothes horses to dry. I pegged it on well, the wind is still fresh, even if it is not as cold as it was at the weekend.


I raked up the little mounds of cut grass that were on the front lawn from when the lawnmower was spewing out grass at the side. Then I got the lawnmower and mowed the front lawn. It is really only its second cut so the grass is still clumpy and thick. I tried to mow with the blades lowered to 5, but that was too much for the mower. So back up to 6. I am happy enough mowing the lawn, I haven't done it at all since I got married over 25 years ago and I just wander along with the mower and take it nice and handy.

While I was mowing the lawn etc, the four children were doing an outdoor Circuit training session. All the assorted Keep Fit equipment we have bought over the years was at last put to good use.

I found some cuttings from when our hedge was trimmed in October, and some of them are budding. I am tempted to just stick them down into the ground in the gaps in the hedge, just to see if they will take root and grow. I gathered a bundle of the best looking ones; tomorrow I will go along with a strong metal knitting needle and make holes in the ground and just shove the cuttings down. I read about the particular bushes (griselinia and hazel) on the phone during the day and yes they do root from cuttings. I also have some willow that could be trimmed, so maybe I will trim off a few cuttings and plant them too.

I laid out some plastic out on a patch of unkempt ground; hopefully the plastic will stop the weeds from growing, and maybe I can turn the patch into either lawn or better still, a vegetable patch.

The good thing about the using the lawnmower is that I reach a good high step count. I only had to do a short walk later to get to the 10,000 steps.
I ordered a replacement belt for the breadmaker today. Fingers crossed it will come ok in the post at some point.
I have to order some bolts for DS bed and something for DS as a present for his birthday coming up in a week or so. I am going to have a look at websites tomorrow.