Week 67 - second jab and surfing

Our wildflower patch is starting to flower. Mark was delighted to see the poppy, which has been followed by many more this week. 

My geraniums are finally bursting into life also.

On Wednesday Ben was over at the Bean Tree for his regular music session. He bought a coffee for me and I walked out to meet him and have a chat for 15 minutes. It was lovely to get out into the fresh air.

I had some more plants delivered including begonias that filled up a few spaces including in this pot I bought the other weekend.

I was just so taken by the design of the glaze which was like crockery I remember growing up with. 

I also planted some infront of the new jasmin, so I hopeful that will all look marvelous...if only we would get some sustained period of sun...

The smell of the jasmin into the evening was incredible. 

The weather for the day had been warm and sunny, a rare treat amongst the downpours. The evening was still and heady with the fragrance of rose and jasmin. I didn't want to go inside. I sat out until it got dark. 

Thursday we had our 2nd jab booked. It was for the afternoon. I had been terrified given what had happened last time. Mark and I both went in again together. It was a retired doctor who was jabbing us. He was clearly very happy to be doing his thing and it was reassuring as he talked about how good my reaction previously had been and how unlikely a second strong reaction was. 

I still was very brave and Mark had brought a little treat for me 😍.

We went up to the hatch for a coffee and a peanut blondie to share. 

Ben came over for supper and a lesson.

On Monday we had been thinking about our new set for UkuleleLand and I wanted to practice some of the songs particularly the ones I would sing.

Friday I went into the office. One of the analyst team MKS was leaving. My line report Tim is MKS's line manager and was coming down to attend the leaving do and meet MKS for the first time, plus meet me!.

But half an hour after arriving at the office, we heard that someone who was there yesterday had tested positive, and on top of that MKS had been in the office. So MKS was staying home, and the office had to close! Tim and I went to get lunch and then had a couple of meetings in Castle Park.

So instead of an evening out, I went home in the early afternoon. The bus took surprisingly long and was frankly a boiling pot of humanity. Too crowded for my liking. I got off a few stops early. As I walked through Page Park I finally felt calm and felt at home.

On Saturday, we were up early and off to Rest Bay.

We wanted to try out the new paddle boards.

I remember someone saying once that you should take photos not just of your family all posed, but when they are not posed, when they are in the middle of those recognised activities even if they are miserable. 

Well here is something we all recognise... Bunnykins struggling with her boots. She seems to have jelly bones, but not in a way that just folds into clothes. Her bones get in the way when they shouldn't and then go to jelly when she needs to push into something. 

So anyway, Mark and Woo got stuck in to help. I had tried but felt it an impossible task. It's not the size of the shoes. Her feet are smaller than Woo's but they are in the same size boots. Anyway, they managed it.

Eventually we were ready to go.

We had a great time with the boards. Though I think I would prefer lakes and rivers still. I only stood briefly. Part of that was that my ear is playing up again and I didn't really want to go under.

We stayed in for an hour. 

Then it was back to the car to get warm and dry.

We all had new changing towels which worked really well, as Mark is happily demonstrating...

In the afternoon I did a bit of gardening. I wanted to do a little project I had seen on Gardener's World...a living coffee table.

Mark cut a tile to a shorter length, so that I could put in in amongst the succulents. So when Mark and I sit out there, we have a place to put our cups.

The morning had been damp, but it was sunny when we arrived home. Mark had washed and hung up the wetsuits, but as I was out gardening, it got very threatening. I went to get Mark, but as we started to take thing in, the heavens opened. 

Sometimes it is hard to capture the strength of rain on a photo.

It was lovely. I do like sitting out in the rain. 

The honeysuckle was flowering.

Sunday morning I went out to pick redcurrants between the rain showers. 

I was listening to Brene Brown's Unlocking us podcast on Spotify, there were 2 episodes of a series she is recording with her sisters. It was powerful stuff, it does get to the heart of me but in an important and necessary way. I would recommend this podcast series as I don't think it's just about my stuff. 

We washed and then froze the redcurrants. It was a quiet afternoon. I wanted to sit out and read, but there were jobs that need doing and Bunnykins wanted help with figuring out what she will wear for yr 6 leavers. While I was inside with that, the heavens opened again with such a downpour that all the cushions got wet so that was the end of sitting outside for the day.

It is sad to write this up and feel the weekend is over so soon again.