Genevieve's Blog begun March 21st 2020...

To be continued...

Monday April 27 continued

Our oak tree is starting to show signs of life as the leaves are starting to appear!

I watched some more 'Vicar of Dibley' in the afternoon, it always makes me laugh.   In the evening I helped dad make a curry with the leftover chicken, red pepper and courgette. It was yummy!

Tuesday April 28

Good news! We’ve got Grape Nuts again, thanks to our neighbour Louise who did a Tesco shop for us!  Its raining hard outside, so no gardening today. I’ve started watching ‘The Durrells’ on Netflix, it’s like a posh version of East Enders, everyone is always arguing! I got fed up with it after a while and watched ‘Vicar of Dibley’ instead. In the afternoon dad and I made some soup. Dad had a recipe for ‘chicken carcass soup’ so we used the remains of Sunday’s roast chicken with carrots, leeks, celery, potatoes and onion, and made a stock. We simmered this for a couple of hours, then added chopped chicken, herbs and more vegetables. We’ll have this for lunch tomorrow. I then helped dad to cook a chilli and pasta (there’s no rice in the shops at the moment) for tea. We watched ‘Antiques road trip’ while we were cooking, but mum hates it, so we watched ‘Yorkshire Vet’ after that. It was a bit gory!

Wednesday April 29

The weather was a bit grotty again this morning, so I watched ‘Black Adder’ which made me laugh. Then the sun came out so dad and I did a bit of gardening. New brambles are coming up in the long border dad and I have cleared, so dad sprayed them with brush-cutter to poison them, hopefully that will work. Mum and I went to the Co-op and bought French bread and butter, and we had the chicken soup which was very tasty! In the afternoon I watched some more ‘Black Adder’. Dad has bought clippers and cut his hair very short like Gary Lineker, but mum thinks he looks like a convict… I think he looks ok!

 A night-off for the cook as we are having Chicken Kiev. We watched ‘The Repair Shop’ on BBC2 which dad likes and mum doesn’t! I then had a bath and went to bed.

Thursday April 30th

It’s green-bin day today, but dad is well prepared! He got up at 8 o’clock and did all the bins and bags - no running down the road in his dressing-gown this week! It’s a bit cold outside so I watched ‘Jonathon Creek’ on Netflix.
After lunch dad and I did a stock-take on the hanging baskets as dad has discovered that Westerham Heights nursery are selling basket plants to the car window. We will hang 5 low-level baskets from the new fence beside the long border. We search around the garden hidey-holes and dad comes up with 5 hanging baskets we can use. There are 9 others dotted around the garden, so we need enough plants for 14 baskets! 

Friday May 1st

In the morning dad makes a list of things we need for the hanging baskets. After lunch we drive to Westerham Heights garden centre. They are letting cars in three at a time, and there’s a bit of a queue. When we are in, one of the staff comes to our window wearing a mask. He talks through dad’s list then goes to collect what we need. He loads up the car boot with all the stuff and tells us what it will cost. Back at home we put all the plants on the garden table and I help dad hang the brackets on the fence for the baskets. 

Saturday May 2nd

I start the day with a bath and hairwash. I’m excited because we will Skype Sam & Lucy this morning! I really miss them, and hope it won’t be too many more weeks before families can get together again in small groups. 10.30 arrives and we Skype them. It’s great to catch up. Lucy tells us that she will be streamed on Leigh Folk Festival in their ‘Rooms’ gig today at 12.30. We tell them about the hanging baskets and stuff we bought at the garden centre. They can't wait to see the finished result!

Sunday May 3rd

It’s a cold gloomy day outside, so we won’t do the baskets today. It’s going to be sunny tomorrow, so we’ll do them then. This morning I watched Doctor Who on Netflix until lunchtime, then after lunch dad and I made a carrot loaf with self raising flour we bought from Richard the butcher. It took nearly two hours to bake, but the end result looks good!

...we had some after our Sunday roast and it tasted scrummy!

Monday May 4th

A sunny day today, so dad and I will get out and about. We have to go to the bottle bank and the garden centre where dad will buy a clematis for the trellis we put up. After breakfast I watched another episode of ‘Merlin’ as dad has some work to do first thing. Dad is producing a poster for the town website and social media about ‘V.E. 75’ for Bank Holiday Friday. He is meeting his friend Christina on the Green, she is bringing the Legion flag from the church. I go with him for the photo-shoot. Christina and dad drape the flag over Churchill’s statue and dad takes photographs. Dad’s friend Stuart has joined us and we use ‘social distancing’ to stay safe.

Tuesday May 5th

It’s sunny but chilly outside and I’m helping dad in the garden today. Our first job is planting the Clematis we bought at the garden centre yesterday. That done and watered in, we carried the hanging basket plants down to the summer house as we won’t put them out for another two weeks as the ‘Countryfile’ weather forecast said there would be ground frost next week! We’ve potted up our 10 year old ‘bee friendly’ seedlings and a nice pot of geraniums which will flower all summer - dad’s favourite!

Wednesday May 6th

After breakfast I watched Red Dwarf on Netflix while dad did some work. I asked dad when we would Skype the guys at Longfield. Dad rang the house and asked Clarissa if Edem was there. She said he wasn’t there today and no-one else knows how to use Skype. I got upset because I miss them all. Dad looked on his diary and realised Edem is in on Friday this week and that’s when we should Skype the house. When I understood, I cheered up and was happy about it. Dad suggested we go to the garden centre and buy some more plants. We bought a good-sized Hydrangea which will flower pink, and a Rosemary tree which is unusual, but looks nice and is in flower.

Thursday May 7th

Grape Nuts for breakfast, then I watched ‘Fawlty Towers’ - the Rat sketch, which was very funny. After that, dad called me to do some work in the garden. I did some clipping while dad replaced broken gravel boards on the back fence next to the summer house. Another long overdue job done!

After lunch dad and I went for a walk round the back. It was sunny and hot and we had to walk through a field of cows. There are lots of signs of things coming into bloom and it really feels like spring.

After lunch, more gardening and weeding in the long border. I help dad plant the hydrangea and we pot up the little rosemary tree for the top patio close to the kitchen. Chicken Kiev for tea with lots of garlic, my favourite!

At 8 o’clock we go out and join everyone else to clap for the NHS. We talk to some of our neighbours and decide to have a ‘social distance’ street party tomorrow.

Friday May 8th - V.E. Day.

At 10.30 we Skype the guys at Longfield. There are lots of staff there including Edem, Jean, Clarissa, Mel and Velma. They are all wearing masks. I had a good chat with them all, and told them about our street party. Mel said to send them photos, and Edem said they would be in the blog! While mum and I go and buy cake and prosecco, dad rigs music and puts up bunting. We took a garden table and chairs out onto the pavement and we all had a great afternoon until about six o’clock - keeping our social distance of course!

Saturday May 9th

At 10.30 we Skype Sam and Lucy. It’s great to catch up with all the news. We talk about the street party and that we may be able to meet in small family gatherings soon. Dad has bought a new HiFi amp off ebay for them as Sam says their other one has finally died.
One of our local restaurants, ‘The Rendezvous’, has started take-away dinners, so mum has ordered roast lamb, pomme boulangere and cauliflower cheese for Sunday lunch. We’ll collect it tomorrow at one o’clock.
Dad and I sat on the newly tidied bottom patio to finish Friday’s blog and add the pictures of our street party.

Sunday May 10th

I slept in this morning as I was quite tired. I washed my hair then had Grape Nuts for breakfast. After that I watched another episode of Vicar of Dibley then did my washing for the week.
At 1 o’clock dad and I walked up to The Rendezvous to collect our takeaway from Maria who was very friendly. Back at the house mum unpacked it all and served up. It was delicious, and I really liked the cauliflower cheese!
In the afternoon, mum and I watched a film called ‘Benji’ which was both funny and sad. We had cheese on toast for tea and watched ‘Countryfile’ and ‘Antiques Roadshow’ - mums favourite - Not!

Monday May 11th

It’s bright but cold today. Dad has bought watercolour paints, brushes and sketching paper on-line, which I paid for. The paintbox and pad have arrived, but the brushes haven’t - bummer! Dad has checked and they won’t arrive until June 21st! He had a brainwave and phoned Sam, who did ‘fine-art’ for his first degree. Sam said “theres a bag of paintbrushes in the bottom of the wardrobe in my old room”. We can get started! Dad has a cunning plan and photographs flowers in the garden which he then takes away the colour. He gives me a colour version to copy and I get cracking with the new watercolours. You can see my efforts below. After lunch I watched ‘Only Fools and Horses’ which was very funny. For tea dad cooked a chicken and asparagus potato bake which was very nice.

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