Nettles!

I've felt rather bereft about the fact I haven't been able to go to Northumberland and search for and pick Wild Garlic to make pesto (and to just eat!)
Lakota (who used to blog and wrote the most hilarious blog posts) posted that she had made Nettle soup and served her family nettles with their dinner.
This made me really excited as I know there are lots of nettles near where I live and I could get them on my walk.  I only hoped they hadn't all gone to flower (as apparently they taste horrible when they are at that stage

I woke up on Monday morning super-excited to get out early and go for a walk.  I prepared by taking a large carrier bag, scissors and gloves, making sure I was wearing long sleeves and trousers and boots.

After a brief trip into Londis to grab a few things (there were 3 women inside and we were all very sensible about maintaining our distance, warning each other when we were wanting to go backwards, waiting politely), I headed towards the church surrounded by fields.  By the graveyard is a small quiet section that people could presumably usually sit in. It was full of nettles that looked fairly young.

I gathered as many as I could. I had a lovely chat to a nice man called Ron (aged 79) from 6metres away, who walked on the path the other side of the ditch and was curious about what I was doing.

After walking through further fields and naughtily picking a handful of Stitchwort flowers (they were abundant), CBC called me and asked if could get some sultanas for making Hot cross buns so I headed back via Londis. This time there were all men in there (at various times, not all at once)- they seemed to have no clue about maintaining distance, waiting politely or warning you when they wanted to go somewhere. I had to beat a hasty retreat into a shelf a couple of times and I ended up stuck less than a metre away from two men as I finished at the till and a man was standing at the entrance whilst his child got something from the toy dispenser and the man behind me pushed his way to the till.  Finally dispenser man and child moved and 2 more men barged their way into the shop meaning I still couldn't get away from man at the till! Stupid men!

At home, I thought I should test whether the nettles tasted ok.  I washed a few in a colander (using tongs to move them) and then put some in a frying pan with some oil, pepper and salt and fried them.  They went just like Spinach and tasted very nice.  CBC swears something stung him but heat removes the sting and I ate most of them and they were fine.

I watched this Youtube video the night before about foraging nettles and making soup and it was very helpful. Also, it was the simplest soup recipe- only needing stock, butter, potatoes, onions and of course nettles!

CBC was MOST skeptical but even he admitted that the soup was delicious.  Next time, I'd put more nettles in as mine wasn't as dark green as his one.

There was enough for 4 portions in total and today, I cooked the last lot of nettles that I hadn't used already and fried them till they were crispy and served them on top. When crispy, they tasted very similar to Nori which is a seaweed.

I'm very excited to make this soup again whilst there are some younger nettles around.

Apparently, Nettles are full of Vitamin A, K and C as well as some B vitamins.  They also have Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, phosphorus and Sodium and some fats and they even have protein in them which is great for a vegetarian diet!

And they are free!

 Vitamins: Vitamins A, C and K, as well as several B vitamins. Minerals: Calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium. Fats: Linoleic acid, linolenic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid

Here's a whole load of articles and recipes I read and then I found some other great foraging videos about what is around!

Very exciting!

https://www.thespruceeats.com/sauteed-stinging-nettles-2217561

https://www.countryfile.com/how-to/food-recipes/nettle-guide-where-to-find-how-to-pick-nettles-safely-and-recipe-ideas/
https://honest-food.net/nettle-pesto/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/risottoofnettlesandw_13724

So...over to you.  Have you ever tried Nettles? What have you foraged for?

xx

Some future TARDIS Tuesdays

Hi there,

I wasn't really in the mood for dressing for TARDIS Tuesday today (and I didn't wear anything Doctor Who-ish this week) so I thought this week, that I'd share some future ideas I'd like to try out.

Young Amy Pond 1

https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Amy_Pond

I've always thought I could do a twist on this as I have a white and red patterned blouse and a red cardigan.

Young Amelia Pond 2

www.busy.org

This is a variation on the above- I could definitely do a VERSION of this even if the colours were wrong.

I really enjoyed dressing as Osgood twice this year.  I definitely can do a version of this with things I already own!

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/could-osgood-still-be-alive-68908.htm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/36thVJTfwCl3jNX62cJHVdH/death-in-heaven-fact-file

Into the Dalek:
I've done variations on this before but this one is hopefully in the pipeline....

https://claraoswaldcosplay.dreamconnect.de/?m=20180602

Yaz Skyfall

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/01/01/doctor-who-series-12-episode-1-cast-spyfall-cast-bbc/

I really like Yaz's look from the first episode of the recent Doctor Who series 12.  I found a jacket that was similar so....this might be coming soon!

Vicki Pallister

https://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2019/04/08/not-a-secondary-susan-why-we-love-vicki/

I've loved this look for years and have been scouring charity shops for years to find a similar base dress. I bought something recently that is adaptable- but now need to attach ribbon to the neck. How do you think I should attach it. Just at the angles or all along the ribbon?  Will it work with hand sewing?  Is it yellow or gold?

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/498914464968377746/?lp=true

Zoe from the Mind Robbers

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2009-08-06/the-mind-robber/

I've done a version of this before but not properly- need to really have my hair cut though!

Clara's Medieval dress from Robots of Sherwood

http://whona.forumotion.com/t10012-s8e3-robot-of-sherwood-spoilers

I adore this dress and it would work for World Book Day Maid Marion costume but I think I would need to get this handmade! I've searched for similar dress and seen a few adaptable things but not in the right colour!

Soo.... keep watching out for these.

Any you like here?

Family friendly Isolation quizzes

Stuck at home and bored? Why not do my Logo quiz with your family. It's got lots that children would recognise and is easy! Fancy something a bit harder? Try my tube quizzes. Why not try a Zoom quiz with your family? Each person will need to prepare a quiz round for each of the others which have the same number of questions.  Then everyone presents their quiz for the others. You share the answers and then add up your final scores.
Today, CBC and I took part in a quiz with his family- CBC prepared a Geography round, his sister a History, his mum -trivia, his brother- TV shows, and me- Morse code isolation edition!

If that seems too much effort,  here are some to get you started:

The Logo Quiz

The number quiz round

Think historically, think mathematically, think cultural references- decipher what the letters mean in order for the phrase to make sense!


e.g. 4 C B in the T D of C = 4 calling birds in the twelve days of Christmas.


Or 100 C in a M = 100 centimetres in a metre

Clue:


1.  10 G B H on the W


2.  21: K to the D


3.  24 B B in a P


4.  12 D of C


5.  100 D C= B P of W


6.  1066 B of H


7.  12 L of H


8.  7 D S


9.  7 W of the A W


10.  52 C in a D of C


11.  6 D of S


12.  5 G R in the T D of C


13.  1001 A N


14. 366 D in a L Y


15. 11 P in a F T


16.   1760 Y in a M


17.   14 P in a S


18.   10 Y in a D


19.  5 S on a P


20.  13 in a B D


London Underground quiz:..  

This quiz is the DOWN THE TUBE quiz based on London's Underground.  If you would like to have a go at doing this quiz, you can download the London Underground Tube map from here.

You could also do your own version based on your own train system.

 Disclaimer: SOME of these are made up by me (the bad ones like the Channel island one!) some were ones I obtained in a quiz night some time ago so thank you to whoeever thought these up and I am sorry I can't acknowledge you directly.

 I'll post the answers in a separate post.

All the answers to the following riddles are the names of London Underground Tube stations.

CLUE:
1.  An angry monarch
2.  Make ‘em sick
3. Monks with dirty hands
4. Ecological vicars
5. Richard Whittington’s Des.Res
6. Charred quercus robur.
7. Dorian Green’s domain?
8. Cockney rabbit ‘ole
9. Woof woof
10. Created a valley
11. A mound of dyslexic mosquitos
12. She was not amused.
13 A place to Live and Let Die!
14. Would you find a branch of Lloyds Bank here?
15. Babar and Balmoral
16. Could this be where the chief executioner lives?
17. Catches a rabbit by a stream
18. Alpine Dwelling
19. A university with a big top Elliptical
20. Flockwatcher’s flora
21. Chelsea’s home by a stream
22. A lucky number of nuns
23. Where you cultivate calcium carbonate
24. An ancient thoroughfare
25. A description of the enormity of this station
26. Gabriel?
27. Doctor Foster practices here
28. Is this station falling down?
29. Oriental pig
30. 1980's TV school
31 Patella’s lair
32. A Scottish thoroughfare
34. Chopped this man a smaller channel island?
35. Bigger than?
36. A just cutting?
37. Trumpeting New York thoroughfare
38. A big house for a tea party?
39. Famous ursine visitor?
40. The home of capitalism’s swine?

Let me know if you use any of these?

My DIY Easter Wreath

As you saw from last week, I've been trying to reuse some of the cardboard boxes I bought home from school to recycle (but never actually got around to) after making my Phoenix wings.

On Friday, I decided I would like to make an Easter wreath.  Not eggs, not bunnies, not lambs but flowers.

I didn't really have any plan of what to do. I went to the garage to the craft shelves and searched for all the flower punches, also grabbing a butterfly punch too.  

I knew I had some paints somewhere and found a small bottle of green-pearlescent acrylic paint and a paint brush.  Also, I found my stash of coloured envelopes which I always keep from cards I've been given and a paper pad.

The first job was to make the wreath base. I drew around a dinner plate and then placed some smaller circular object in the centre and cut them out.

Next, I painted the wreath green with the Acrylic paint. 

Next, I punched 2 large daisy shapes out of all the different colours of envelopes until I had 10 different colours.

To give them a 3D feel, what you need to do is get an old biro that doesn't work and a piece of craft foam.  Then, to make the petals curl, you just need to make circular movements with the biro on the petals (or straight lines) and then go around the centre and the petals lift.

I laid them in a pattern.  

Next, I used a small circle punch to cut one circle from all the colours and moved them 2 places backwards rather like musical chairs and stuck them into the centre.

After that, I stuck down the flowers. I misjudged the spacing so ended up with a half-space so I punched a lilac butterfly from my wedding punch (made turquoise confetti for the tables and ones to go on the table names from old music)

Next, I added some white gel dots to the edge of the flower centre.

At this point, I punched holes in the top and added string.

To fill in the gaps, I used 2 sizes of tiny flower punches and experimented with making paper Stitchwort, Celandines and Forget me nots, adding details in gel-pens.  There was something missing so I used a dark green envelope and a mini leaf punch to cut some leaves and arranged everything.

And voila, here is my wreath!

Got to admit, am very pleased with it!

Pretty much all recycled material apart from the mustard-coloured card and the pink, which were offcuts from previous projects. I honestly think that my flower punches are my favourite craft tools!

What do you think?

xx

Easter Joy!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!!

New life!!!

The heavens are telling the glory of God....as are the flowers!  Here are a couple of photos from my garden of some of the flowers and blossom!  We stand amazed as bare branches from a few weeks ago are now bearing blossom and vibrant green foliage. Just like the stink of the grave became the hope of eternal life! Spring is a miracle as is the resurrection!

Here are a couple of photos from our garden this week.

 A mist of Forget-me-Nots. CBC is always inclined to pull them up.  Then he saw Monty Don's Instagram with a haze of them.

Blueberry blossom.

 Apple Blossom

Alkanets (weeds but welcome ones!) 

Wishing you a blessed Easter!

Raised Bed

I've wanted a raised bed for over a year.  But CBC wasn't sure about it and I wasn't sure whether it was too late or where it would go. So it didn't happen last year.

This year, with the current situation, I said to CBC, I wished we'd gone for the raised bed last year as it would be good to be self-sufficient. To my surprise, he suddenly was keen and wished we'd done it.

We went to the garden centre near closing time, the weekend before lockdown to go and get compost and plants and seeds.  We ended up going to a local farm to go and buy railway sleepers and got compost delivered.

CBC was super motivated and he got to work cutting up the 3rd sleeper into two equal pieces and then digging the ditches and turf for the raised bed.

And here you can see it. In front of the bamboo.  

Subsequently, I have planted pea plants (bought from the garden centre) in it.

A row of chard seeds, radish seeds and rocket seeds have been planted out.

Inside, I've got tomato seeds, climbing bean plants, pepper seeds germinating (I hope!) - one tomato has popped its first leaves above the parapet (2 of the Roma seeds Sophie!) but nothing else so far. 

I've also got some Welsh onion babies my Mum gave me when we last saw her 3-4 weeks ago which I really need to get planting as they are still sitting in the kitchen.  I've got some salad leaves to plant and I'm seeing how that goes!  I feel like I've got children at the moment. I woke up dismayed this morning because I'd accidentally left the runner bean seed pots outside last night and there was a frost. I ran outside and watered my babies. I keep looking to see what else is going on and to water things. I don't think I've ever been home this much to be able to tend plants before.

I've taken a leaf out of Vix's book and decided to garden in an Indian vintage skirt. 

I wasn't sure where my stash of plant labels was so I've improved to demarcate the rows- a snapped drum stick from school with a Drywipe pen marks the peas, 

Some old wooden plaques and garden ornaments from our predecessors have been written on with a ballpoint pen to mark the other items. Finally, I've used a few old pieces of twiggage from my prunings to mark the rows.

Very pleased with the bed.  Spent some pleasant times in the garden.

Whilst CBC was working hard digging the raised bed, I worked on cleaning out and pruning and cutting back all the pots.  The herbs are all growing again (which is a wonderful miracle when you see how dead they look in the Winter!) and I've been using them lots!

I also cut back dead wood from lots of other shrubs and planted the 4 native Bluebell plants we picked up at the Garden centre that last time.

Tomorrow, I hope at some point to get to work on the Ivy which has gone made behind the compost container and plant out those Welsh onions.  Pot or raised bed? Don't want to run out of room!

How have you been getting on with gardening this year so far?

Been getting on with a variety of jobs and things the last couple of days- sorted out the epic pile of clothes of doom in my bedroom (you know the pile you blogged about, Sophie?), resorted the utility room, put clothes away, tidied things in the spare room, created Music Vocabulary Bingo game resources for all year groups based on what the children have learnt so far this year.  Almost finished those and will post them on my music blog soon.

I took CBC for a pleasant walk yesterday through the fields- we met no one on the way. Today, I went a different way through the church yard and had a very pleasant walk through the fields.  I sleep much better when I've had a walk.

Hope you are well.

xx

Kezzie AG Post isolation fantasy choices challenge

Join me in a creative writing or choosing challenge!

I'm going to post some categories which you need to write about for what you will/would do post isolation, post when the horrid Covid is finally vanquished and returns to Mordor.

Write about your choices for the following categories- feel free to be brief or get your descriptive skills out in their full glory!  Do it in one post or in many! Your choice. Some of them may not apply to you or be appropriate but I thought I'd post them anyway!
I'll also do the same. (Please someone do this so I don't look a complete saddo! :-) )
Leave me a comment with your URL and I'll definitely come and read and perhaps I could post my favourites from everyone for the different categories (maybe? Is this a good or bad idea?) If you could link to this post too, in order to give other people a chance to join in, that'd be lovely.

But it would be lovely for us to all give this a go!  I remember telling my friend Thomas in Bali what I would eat or do or wear when I got back from living in Bali! He always loved this game!

Enjoy!

1. Restaurant you would go out to.

2. Friend you would meet up with first.

3. Place you would go.

4.  Shop you would go to.

5.  Food item you would buy/eat

6.  Cake you would eat.

7.  Show you would/will go to see

8.  Concert you will go to watch.

9.  Relative you will hug first

10. Holiday you would go on.

11.  Other activity you would take part in.

12.  Thing you would do at work.

13.  Item you would buy.

TARDIS Tuesday- Amy Pond from Vincent and the Doctor

Hi there,

Today's TARDIS Tuesday was one I attempted on March the 9th 2015- so I think 5 years is a suitable amount of time to leave it before reattempting it again!

Photo borrowed from this Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/45599014960729471/

Here's the inspiration. In what is frankly one of the most beautiful Doctor Who stories, the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond meet Vincent Van Gogh after seeing something sinister in the window of one of his paintings. If you want to watch it, if you are UK-based you can watch it here.

here

Amy wears a beautiful teal coat by Jasper Conran. Underneath it, she wears a dark red v-neck top together with a loose-weave red scarf.  On her bottom half, she wears a frankly obscenely short denim shirt and brown knee-high boots.

Hard to see, but she wears a small gold A initial necklace and a tan bronze-buckled belt which I can't see in any pictures.

Image borrowed from
http://amypondoutfits.blogspot.com/2010/06/outfit-from-vincent-and-doctor.html

Image borrowed from:
https://impossipondrobe.livejournal.com/2445.html

And here's my version:

I have to say that when I came downstairs in this, CBC asked me, "Why are you dressed like a tart?"

Firstly, I never use language like that to describe anyone, so I demurred but I take his point that it is all a bit SHORT! If I wasn't at home in lockdown, I would have added black leggings to this to make it a bit more appropriate for going out in public.

Most of this outfit was given to me or borrowed.

Let's go through it.

The coat, for the eagle-eyed and those with good memories, is CBC's Newt Scamander coat which I wore for World Book Day 2019. Not the charity-shopped velvet jacket I wore last time which I redonated.

The jumper and skirt were both given to me back in 2014 by my Canadian work colleague when she returned home and needed to get rid of things. I do not own a denim skirt- so you get black. The jumper is the wrong shade of red. I do have a top in the right shade but the neckline is wrong. Oh well- maybe I'll wear it the next time I wear this outfit, for variety.

The scarf was one I bought for £1 in one of those cheapy clothes shops- I have it in bright green too- they were bought back in 2010 or so, so a long time ago!

The belt is one of my Mum's that I found in a drawer in my old house.

The penultimate item (except for my suitcase which once housed Sarah Nelson Grasmere Gingerbread) are my brown Italian leathers boots, bought from eYe Boutique in Romford in about 2008. The area by the zips at the side is very flaky and old now but the rest of the boots are perfect still, which is super annoying.

The final detail is the necklace. I don't have an initial necklace, but I have this gold necklace which sort of emulates an A shape so I wore that.

What do you think?

xx

Down the rabbit hole- a blog which you could spend hours on!

The other day, I ended up looking at Bloglovin and I rediscovered the most genius blog!!!
It's  http://charityshopchic.net/

The wonderful lady, Sally, who wrote that blog used to take items of clothing from charity shops and completely reform them into something else that worked for her.
She gave herself red carpet challenges, made her own patterns and saw a garment for its potential beyond what it is.
I've selected a few posts here but I dare you not to spend hours clicking on her archive to find more of what she did!
I wonder if we all commented, if she'd start blogging again?

Please go and have a look- she is a sewing and dress-making genius!

https://charityshopchic.net/2012/03/14/grace-kelly/
Copied a Grace Kelly dress from an old navy skirt

https://charityshopchic.net/2016/08/31/polka-dot-panache/  She took a size 20 brown polka dot dress and turned it into her version of the Pretty Woman dress

https://charityshopchic.net/2016/08/13/embellishment-embroidery-on-embroidery/ - She took a massive sheer embroidered shirt and turned it into a beautiful camisole.

https://charityshopchic.net/2012/04/13/carrie-bradshaw-month-part-2/
Cut a long t-shirt down into a dupe of a brilliant Carrie Bradshaw top!

https://charityshopchic.net/2012/04/20/carrie-bradshaw-month-part-3/
- turned a massive pleated floral skirt into a chic fitted dress

https://charityshopchic.net/2012/04/25/carrie-bradshaw-month-part-4-grand-finale/- turned an awful pink bed sheet into a chic Peplum dress

https://charityshopchic.net/2012/10/05/carrie-bradshaw-month-2-carries-back/
Recreated a white Carrie Bradshaw dress from a t-shirt!

https://charityshopchic.net/2014/11/05/epic-yale/
Took a large shapeless navy blazer and made it into a chic fun preppy style!

https://charityshopchic.net/2014/02/10/betty-draper-does-kenya/
Stripe sheet becomes Betty Draper!

https://charityshopchic.net/2015/10/04/red-carpet-copycat-marion-cotillard-in-dior/
A blazer and some lace becomes a red carpet dress!

https://charityshopchic.net/2015/10/31/super-scarf/
A scarf becomes a chic scarf

https://charityshopchic.net/2014/01/29/outfit-african-print/
Over-sized African dress becomes chic skirt and top

https://charityshopchic.net/2011/09/21/stella-mccartney-tribute/
 3 massive t-shirts into a Stella McCartney dupe!

A-Z of Prayer for this time.

This morning, I have been blessed to share in church services from all my previous churches.  The message I am receiving in abundance is to keep praying.  
One prayer which I heard today was: "Renew our hope, God our Father, by the Holy Spirit's power.  Strengthen us to pray readily, to serve joyfully and to grow abundantly, rejoicing in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
The church building may be closed but the church should be out of work.  Palm Sunday was the day Jesus journeyed into Jerusalem, met by the crowds.  We may not be able to physically go on a journey, or meet in crowds but we can meet spiritually in crowds and journey together towards Easter.
I started writing this post during the week, inspired by Sutton Vineyard's creative approaches to prayer for this week.  One suggestion was to pray for each letter of the alphabet.
So I have done.
God bless you and keep you safe this week.

A- Anxiety- Please God, bless all those who are anxious.  Help calm their fears.
B -Boris Johnson- Please God, I didn't like him or vote for him but he is in charge so we better pray he is the best he can be and this is a chance for him to change for the better. Please give him wisdom, discernment and help make him better. I pray you bless ALL leaders such as him to make wise and dilligent choices.
C- Cure- Thank you for those who have studied hard at Science. Lord, I pray you will help our scientists to find a cure for the Virus, curiously quickly- let it be developed quicker.  Please bless the scientists so they can develop a vaccine that will cure the disease.
D- Delivery workers- Thank you for their hard work God. Please God keep all those who are delivering food and goods in anyway- Milkmen, Postmen, Supermarket workers, van drivers,
Ignorance - Lord, for those who are ignorant and stubborn, please make them realise the importance of doing the right thing.
E- Energy: Lord, please give energy to those who are going out to work and energy to face the challenges daily.
F- Faith: Thank you for keeping us safe so far. Please help people to have faith in you God and choose faith as opposed to fear.
G- Governments:  help governments to cooperate and make the right choices.
H - Hospitals- Lord, I pray you will help hospitals to be sanctuaries, clean and with all the equipment needed to help those in
I- Immunity- I pray that those who come into contact with the virus will be immune, that they will have no harmful effects because of disease.  Thank you for those who are immune and have had no ill effects.
J- Joy- Thank you for all moments of joy we still experience despite all the unknowns. I pray that everyone will find joy each and every day. Even the small joys of managing to buy flour, the joy of seeing a rainbow in a window, the joy of being with their family, the joy of a phonecall, help us ALL Lord, to seek and to see clearly, the joys every day.
K- Kindness- Lord, help everyone to show kindness to each other.  Give us opportunities to KNOW where we can help, give us the KNOWLEDGE of how to help others and KINDLE a yearning in us to help others. Thank you for all those opportunities people have taken to be kind to one another.
L - Loneliness- God bless all those who are lonely- because they are alone, because they are isolated for whatever reason. I pray that they will put their trust in you. I pray that those who love them and know them will call them and take away from their loneliness.
M- Miracle- we need miracles in times like now. Lord, I pray you will make a miracle happen. I pray the cure will be found. I pray there will be no deaths on Easter Sunday, I pray that the virus will be cured and not be seen again like the previous SARS.
N- NHS- we pray for the NHS.  God bless and keep our Doctors, nurses, health care assistants, administrators, cleaners and all those who are working to fight the disease. Thank you so much for their hardwork and sacrifice.
O- Opportunity- Lord, the Earth is getting some chance to rest with less vehicles moving around. Thank you for that. I pray that this will teach us that it is possible to make choices to save our Earth from destruction. I pray that our Earth will take this opportunity to recover- air quality, melted icebergs, oceans and rubbish.  I also pray this opportunity makes us notice all those people who do Overlooked but important jobs.  Help us to value them and notice them.
P- Police- Lord, give good health and wisdom to the police as they make sure people are doing the right thing. I pray they have all the equipment and protection they need and that they stay safe from germs, danger and reaction from those they have to reprimand. Thank you for their hardwork.
Q- Questioning- For all those with questions- be they children at home learning and not understanding, for those who are seeking the answers to issues, for those who are questioning their faith, for those questioning how they will get home, for those questioning when life will return to normal, for those who are questioning how they will live their lives after this, I pray you will answer those questions, positively Lord.
R- Rest- help everyone to get the rest they need for recovery, for recuperation time, for rest and good sleep for those who are able to go out of work, for rest for those who are at home to make their immune systems strong. To Revive a spirit of faith in all of us to give us rest in You Lord, that we may find out Refuge, Recovery and comfort in you.
S-Selfishness- Lord, I pray you take away the spirit of selfishness that is making people have secret gatherings, taking too much from the shops, that is causing them to take risks, those who are refusing to accept what is really happening (like Donald Trump)
T- Transformation- Our lives have changed so much over the past few weeks. Transform our lives in a good way as a result of this difficult time, not in a bad way. I pray this will help us all, the rich, the poor, the powerful, the weak, the clever, the ignorant to realise the deep need for change in our lives and to make these changes happen in a good way.
U- Unemployment- for those who are worried about the consequences, for those who have lost their jobs already, for those who are worried how they will survive, Lord, please help those people
V- Vegetables and Vitamins- I pray that everyone will have access to fresh vegetables and healthy foods to give their bodies the best possible chance with all the vitamins they need. I also pray that those growing their own vegetables will be successful. I thank you for all the vegetables we have had access to.
Wealthy- Lord, I pray those who have utter riches such as the super billionaires and moghuls will take the opportunity to share and donate their riches to help the world to recover.
X- Xenophobia- Lord, we've seen a lot of Xenophobia from people as this crisis has grown from fear of foreigners to abuse of Chinese and refugess being refused rights. I pray that there will be no xenophobia and that all, regardless of faith, will be helped.
Y -Youth- we've all heard reports of selfishness and thoughtlessness from youths from those spitting on people to those gathering in the parks. Lord, take away the self-centredness, the arrogance from those who think they can do anything without consequences.  For those youths who are frightened, please reassure them and keep them motivated to work at home/
Z - Zoom- Thank you so much Lord for this program which is helping many, many people work and stay connected. I pray that it will continue to work effectively and not to cause any issues.

Amen.

This was inspired by Sutton Vineyard's challenge to pray the alphabet.

Rainbow bear and Rainbow Smile!

We've all probably seen the rainbows in windows.  These are something we are being encouraged to draw and display in our windows to give children something nice to look out for and count on their daily exercise walks.  It's nice for adults too!

The other thing I've heard about is displaying a teddy bear in the window also so children can go on a Bear Hunt. It's also been a way to show support for much-loved children's author of We're going on a bear hunt, Michael Rosen.

On Wednesday, I decided I wanted to do something for my window.

I wanted to make something out of recycled materials and because I am a bit lazy, I've not managed to put the remaining cardboard from my Phoenix wings into the recycling.

I decided to make a bear holding a rainbow!

I used a Sharpie and colouring pencils to make my rainbow bear.

Yesterday, I wondered what I could have done with my remaining cardboard and decided I would make some rainbow letter bunting.

I tried it out in various windows but decided it didn't sit very well because of the size of my window frames. So I decided to tie it to my front door.

We put the bear in our car window because we couldn't see it very well in the house windows

Here's hoping it makes our Milkman and our Postman smile!

A rainbow has been a sign of peace and hope ever since the times of Noah!

Have you made a rainbow?

xx

Vintage daisies

It's time for an outfit again!

I decided that it was time to dress funky!

I received this dress as a birthday present from my Mother-in-Law.  It's a vintage handmade dress which came from the Vintage Emporium in Hexham.  I always like to support the independent shops in Hexham and the Vintage Emporium is now a wonderful floor full of beautiful vintage clothes!

I'd bought one dress in there but really liked this one also and when CBC and his Mum were talking about my imminent birthday, I mentioned that there was a rather lovely daisy dress I'd liked.  His mum immediately said we should go there as she'd like to buy me something I wanted! I was happy to oblige!

On Tuesday, when I wore this, I decided to team it with a coral Esprit cardigan I bought an the airport in Croatia a few years ago and added my Irregular Choice star slingbacks bought from Char.

Finally, I added my Lorelai LQ peach earrings as the final touch plus a lovely necklace from Melanie Folly Bird!

Things that made me happy today:

1.  Lots of love for something I made yesterday and posted on IG. I'll post it here tomorrow.

2.  Rob Mills, who plays Finn Kelly in Neighbours, liked my comment on Instagram!

3. I finally planted my tomato seeds - in loo roll tubes

4.  Planted the Bluebell plants we bought two weeks ago.  It felt really good to get out in the garden in the early evening and do some planting and removing of weeds. It feels so good to get into the garden!

5.  Chatted to my wonderful friend Lara on the phone.

6. Planted some of the pea plants into a pot.

7. We ordered takeaway from our favourite Madeiran restaurant in town. Nice to support them in their difficult time of only being able to do Takeaway. It was really nice not to cook for the first time in 2 weeks and they gave us a carton of free juice

8.  I made delicious Jumbo chive omelettes for lunch- yum!

9. Watching Sunset Beach on Youtube.  I absolutely loved this programme in the late 90's! I love the person who has painstakingly uploaded all of Season Two in 4 parts per episode!

10.  A couple of really sweet comments on my school music blog today.

11.  Lovely email from Ang this morning! Must reply asap!

What's made you happy today?

xx

Some music resources for Isolation

Here are some free resources for kids perhaps.  All of them might be fun for adults too!


The New York Philharmonic Kids site has some great fun interactive programs.  You do need Flash player for them though. I can't seem to get them to work.

Find out about Harry Partch and his unusual instruments

Out of the Ark music have shared some lovely free new songs that you can learn to sing! You can see the whole lot of free here.

What about learning morse code??


Here is a video showing you the letters, the patterns and their sounds.  Can you copy them?

DASH means LONG

DOT means SHORT

You can spell out secret messages using your voice, an instrument or a light.   

An activity for you to do:
1.  Get a piece of paper.
2.  Write your name down with spaces between each letter.
3.  Now copy the pattern of dots and dashes under each letter of your name.
4. Now using your voice or a whistle or an instrument like a recorder that can make long and short sounds, try to sing or play the patterns of sounds for your name.

Watch Peter and Wolf the ballet!!

Learn Online piano:

Click on 

https://www.apronus.com/music/flashpiano.htm

to get a free keyboard online you can play tunes on.

your top line of keys on your computer keyboard plays the notes:

TAB KEY = C Q= D, W=E, R=F, T=G, Y=A, U=B, I=C*, O=D* P=E*

Learn free drumming from my friend Mike.

Every day, there is a free drumming workshop from Inspireworks on Youtube.  I met Mike, the director of Inspireworks back in 2002 when we were both studying music in Indonesia!  He's a great teacher!

Learn some drumming techniques and rhythms at 2pm Monday to Friday

Here is the current live one.

Learn some swing dance from Swing Dance UK:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_jSENAN70LG4kH020bTxuw

Hope they are helpful!

xx