Making it up.

Good morning on Easter Monday. So what will you be doing today. I have a new Crafty Club to attend, it's in my living room and I am the only member. This is what I am working on. I have cords, plenty of them, mostly from the Scrapstore and some I have collected. I am making spirals and stitching them onto a denim background. I have no plan, just making it up as I go along. See where the journey takes me. It's a bit dull outside so I will carry on with this for a while longer and see if it brightens up later. 

The view from my window. Look at the roof of my car, it's filthy. I ought to give it a wash. Maybe I will today, or tomorrow, or the next day. Having a new car and not being able to drive it, has sort of taken the shine off it, literally.

A couple of pictures from a walk last week. The memorial bench surrounded by fields which I have mentioned before. Nice to see someone is looking after it. New fresh flowers in the vases, and a dog bowl has appeared tied to the leg of the bench. Can't think that someone would pinch it but you never know. The grass in front of it, to the field edge, has been mown. Someone must have brought a hand mower up here on a trolley, it's half a mile from the road. 

Hidden behind the bench are bottles of water to fill up the bowl. How kind.

All this mooching about the house is making me lazy, it's not good to have no structure to the day. I have to make myself busy because if I don't, and do nothing, I think what a waste of a day that was. Time is ticking on, the years are flying by, and whatever time I have got left, won't be enough.

I find myself looking forward to the daily exercise walk, thinking about when in the available 18 hours a day I will be taking it. I sleep for six hours, sometimes stretch it to seven, I can't lounge in bed any longer than that, it gives me a headache. Three meals a day takes up three hours. Two hours on the computer in the morning, and another two at night. That makes seven hours, plus one or two hours for a walk, eight or nine hours. That's another nine hours to fill.

There's housework and gardening and being a slave to the cats, and arty crafty stuff to make. Best get up off this chair and do something then.
Toodle pip.  ilona

Wot I did today

So I put a chair outside the back door in the sunshine, sit down for ten minutes while I drink my coffee, then get up and immediately Mayze decided that she would rather like to lie there. 

I suppose that's one way of making yourself comfortable.

It's been a lovely day again. I started a new textile picture sat at the outdoor work table, nice working with the sun on my back. Doing something with coloured cord on a denim background. The big black frame is too big and bulky to work on outdoors. I need to have all the bits and bobs handy for that so it's best that I work on that indoors.

I wasn't going to go shopping till next week, but then thought it might be a good idea to go to the small Tesco convenience store in the next village, so I got in my car and went there at 3pm. Park outside the door and straight in. It wasn't busy, a one way system marked out on the floor, and everyone keeping their distance. I used my own bag to carry the shopping round, and emptied it at the checkout.

It went quite well, I might go there again. The only downside is that as it's a small shop there is less choice, and some things are more expensive. But I can put up with that for the time being if it means I don't have to queue, and I don't come into contact with lots of people. It's a small supermarket in a village so only locals go.

I did a walk around the village this afternoon, shouted hello across the road to a few people. Two little girls on bikes had found the stuffed hearts I planted last night, they had one each. I'm not sure if there are any left.

Amar Latif has posted another short video on Twitter. He is home now, and has shaved his big bushy beard off. I thought it suited him. He describes his stay in hospital, and how dedicated the nursing staff are. At the end of the video his final message is please stay at home. I am so relieved to see him looking a lot better. His voice is still croaky but you can tell he still has the fighting spirit in him. I won't put a link to the second video because I don't think the last one worked for people who aren't on Twitter.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring, it's Easter Sunday, As long as it's sunny and we can go outside that's ok. I never go out anywhere on a bank Holiday anyway.
Keep your pecker up.  ilona

This will be good. A concert for the whole world.

One not to miss.
Music For Hope LIVE - April 12th 10am LA | 1pm NYC | 6pm UK | 7pm CET

On Easter Sunday (April 12, 2020), by invitation of the City and of the Duomo cathedral of Milan, Italian global music icon Andrea Bocelli will give a solo performance representing a message of love, healing and hope to Italy and the world. Watch live at 10am LA, 1pm NYC, 6pm UK, 7pm CET at https://AndreaBocelli.lnk.to/LiveFrom...

“On the day in which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I’m honored and happy to answer ‘Sì’ to the invitation of the City and the Duomo of Milan. I believe in the strength of praying together; I believe in the Christian Easter, a universal symbol of rebirth that everyone – whether they are believers or not – truly needs right now. Thanks to music, streamed live, bringing together millions of clasped hands everywhere in the world, we will hug this wounded Earth’s pulsing heart, this wonderful international forge that is reason for Italian pride. The generous, courageous, proactive Milan and the whole of Italy will be again, and very soon, a winning model, engine of a renaissance that we all hope for. It will be a joy to witness it, in the Duomo, during the Easter celebration which evokes the mystery of birth and rebirth” Andrea Bocelli Catch ya later. ilona

Take my heart

I thought I might go to Aldi today, but have put it off till next week. I have enough food in the freezer. I need to go to the bank, it's closed today, I forgot all about it being Good Friday, until my nephew reminded me last night on the phone. So that will wait till next week as well. 

It's been a lovely sunny day, my lunch on a tray eaten outside. I steamed extra potatoes yesterday so they went in a pan with a drop of oil and seasoning for a few minutes, with an egg chucked in as well. Iceberg lettuce and beetroot made a nice meal, and I opened a can of berry fruit cider. Perfect dining outside. 

I had an idea to hang a few hearts on the trees on the village green, they might make people smile.  When I go out later tonight I'm going to hang them in the dark under the street lights, and hope nobody sees me.

It's been deathly quiet all around me. I feel sad for the children who cannot play with their friends in their gardens. Must be difficult to keep little ones entertained all the time. When I spoke to my nephew last night he said he is enjoying home schooling his three little girls. They all sit round the dining room table and do the work allocated to them from the school. They are learning how to look after their clothes, the housework, keeping their rooms tidy, and he's getting them involved with meal preparation. They had a walk to granny's as their daily exercise but had to stay in the garden while granny spoke to them through the window. He seems pretty clued up about how to keep them occupied. My nephew is a very caring person.

I'm just going to go outside and do half an hour of weeding before it gets dark.
Toodle pip.  ilona

When it's someone you know.

I am in shock. I turned the computer back on tonight as I sat down to eat my dinner, and checked  some of my favourite sites. As I was scrolling through Twitter a familiar face came up on the screen. Amar Latif who I have mentioned several times in the past posted a tweet from his hospital bed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. This is a man who is totally blind, who is a big strapping fella, who has risen to every challenge that has come his way, and he almost died from the Coronavirus.

I don't know how to post his video here. Copied and pasted the link, don't know if it will work.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1248266407156035584

Copy and paste it into your computer, it may not work if you are not on Twitter.
I have just tested the link, it works for me. 

He had the symptoms for a week at home, then was taken to Leeds Infirmary where he has been for six days. He is struggling to talk, and is still coughing. He thought his life was going to end in the hospital. The message he gives is don't be bored at home, you are still alive. He is hoping to go home today or tomorrow.

Thank goodness he appears to be getting over it, I hope he makes a full recovery. Amar is on the TV at the moment, in a series filmed in October, about a pilgrimage trek he did with some other people. On tonight I believe.

This is one of the blog posts I wrote about him, posted last year.

Please be careful where you go if you need to go out. Keep a good distance away from people. Never mind the two metre thing, it's not enough. Stay safe.
ilona

Filling time

It's happened again. Every time I get started on another project I get distracted and start playing around with something else. I am gathering bits and bobs for the next assemblage. Looking in all my boxes of stuff for suitable things to stick onto that big black box I painted yesterday. I found some small plastic bottles which have fabric dye in them, just the job, they will fit in just fine. But what to do with the dye. 

I might as well splash it about and see what happens. So I got some cotton curtain linings and half a bed sheet and laid them out on the work table outside. Sprayed some water on so the colours would run into each other. No planning, this is the result. 

I quite like the way the colours have merged. Perhaps use them for the backgrounds of my future art projects. Maybe add embroidery. It's good to experiment.

Now I have washed the little bottles and can get on with the assemblage. That's if I don't get distracted by something else. Looks a good day for a walk I am thinking, Oh here I go again, what to do next. Maybe I could fit in a walk, and do something arty as well, if I have time. How are you filling your day? I have plenty of things to do to fill mine.
Toodle pip.  ilona

Breakfast with Jonathan.

Anyone remember Jonathan and Charlotte on Britain's Got Talent, they were one of the best auditions I have ever seen, along with Susan Boyle. I love it when people get up on that stage and give a belting performance despite shaking with nerves. I never watch the whole programme but cherry pick the bits I want to watch on yooootoooob.



Seventeen years old when he was first discovered, look at him now.



What a change from the frightened young man who was only there because his friend Charlotte was by his side. So full of confidence.

The words of the song are so poignant right now.

There's a grief that can't be spoken
There's a pain goes on and on
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone

Here they talked of revolution
Here it was they lit the flame
Here they sang about tomorrow
And tomorrow never came.

From the table in the corner
They could see a world reborn
And they rose with voices ringing
And I can hear them now!
The very words that they had sung
Became their last communion
On the lowly barricade..
At dawn.

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me.

That I live and you are gone
There's a grief that can't be spoken
There's a pain goes on and on

Phantom faces at the window
Phantom shadows on the floor
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will meet no more.

Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me
What your sacrifice was for
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will sing no more

Remembering those workers who have died through helping others.
Look after yourselves.  ilona xxx

I've been framed.

It's been a smashing day for working outside. I had a bit of woodwork to see to. This is a large picture frame which already had a back on it, but I wanted to turn it the other way round and put the back, on the front, but the piece of hardboard wasn't big enough. Luckily I collect useful pieces of wood and boards, and found a piece which needed trimming. So now this back to front frame becomes a shallow box which will be just right for an assemblage. Not sure what I am going to put into it, but something will appear eventually. 

This frame was a canvas, I ripped it off and will now put a hardboard back on it.

And the small shallow box I made last week out of two canvases now has a white undercoat on it.

Lunch was eaten outside in the sunshine. A perfect day for hanging out in the garden. The neighbours on both sides of me are singlies like me and are very quiet, I could hear some families further up the road enjoying their back gardens.

Now I'm going to do my two mile exercise walk around the village. Toodle pip.  ilona

All alone am I.

You have seen where I walk in the daytime, now have a look at where I walk at night. This was my Saturday night walk, I went out just after 9pm to do two miles. The weather was warmish, and it was very quiet. I saw one other person, also walking.



The weather is nice again today so I did my usual five mile walk. Stopped at the halfway point, sat on a bench and ate a custard tart washed down with orange juice.

Saw one couple coming towards me, I know them and they walk this route regularly. I cut the corner of the field to keep out of their way. We waved and said hello.

On the road past the windfarm there was an elderly couple ahead of me, toddling along with their walking sticks. I didn't want to catch them up so I slowed up a bit. Towards us came a family, mum dad, two kids and dog. Elderly couple stopped to say hello to them, but they decided to chat for a few minutes. This stopped me dead because they were in my way. I stood waiting and they realised they were blocking my path so they stepped to one side, still chatting. I passed by giving them a wide berth. There was a car heading towards us, it had stopped, then carried on. It was the lady who comes to see to her horses. We both waved like mad as she slowly drove by.

When I got back to the village, a bit of side stepping and crossing the road to avoid people. All done with good humour. You know how it is when someone comes towards you and you don't know whether to go to the left or the right. Two ladies walking and I did a dance to the left, we all laughed. The logistics of going for a walk has never been so complicated. Stop, slow down, wait, left or right, which way are they going to go. Like a game of chess, trying to work out what the other one is going to do.

This way of walking is becoming routine now, it's beginning to feel normal. I am sure I will be taking the same precautions when we are allowed to go further afield. A lot of it is common sense, keep away from people, for my own safety.
Toodle pip.  ilona

The Meanqueen Sewing Bee.

The sewing machine has been busy these last couple of days. One bed quilt finished. It was partially made up, I had to trim the edges and sew the binding on, and a bit of quilting to hold it all together. It's not perfect but it's now usable. I made a quilt for myself once, and said that was the first and last time I would do that. It's not something I enjoy doing. There is another topper like this, all pink and flowers, waiting to be made into a quilt. I will make a start on it when I am in the mood. 

Another job I've had hanging around for a while is cutting up a duvet and making pet beds. This is now done, all recycled materials. I have twelve to sell on our cat rescue stall. These can also be used as seat cushions. Hoping that our Village Fair goes ahead at the end of June. Who knows, we shall see.

I've been out in the summer house today, fell asleep in the chair. Also done a bit of gardening, hedge trimming and weeding. Keep busy everyone. Toodle pip.  ilona 

Warning - if swearing offends you, don't watch

A friend sent me this, pissing myself laughing.



C'mon folks, the sun is out, it's the weekend. I am partying in my own back garden. Stay safe.
Toodle pip.  Ilona xxx

When will it end?

Something on my mind. People around me are talking about having a big party when it all ends, a street party, or even bigger, on the playing field. I know it's nice to think about such things, to plan what to do when the veil is lifted and we can all go back to doing what we want to do. But my gut feeling is that we can't go back, this is a life changing situation that we are in. It's a wake up call telling us that we all have to take more responsibility for our own lives, and in many cases responsibility for other people's lives.

The question I ask is how will we know when the lockdown is ended? Are people waiting for the announcement from government saying that's it all clear, back to how we were. Well it ain't going to happen. The Coronavirus won't suddenly disappear one day, we won't wake up one morning and heave a sigh of relief thinking thank goodness for that, now we can start living again.

My logical mind tells me it will be a gradual process which could take place over a whole year. After this wake up call I for one will want to distance myself from other humans as much as I can. I will select the friends that I wish to stay in touch with. I will want to know something about their backgrounds, and I will be cautious about allowing new friends into my life. If this sounds a bit anti social so be it, it is my way of taking personal responsibility for myself. I am a friendly sort, I like chatting, but I will be more careful in future.

I don't think a party is appropriate for celebrating the end, whenever that will be. I will remember all the deaths, all the lives that the virus has claimed, all the families that will be grieving, and all those who have lost their jobs and have to make a new start. I just hope that people can pull through. I for one will be grateful that I am still alive, if I am still alive.
Look after yourselves.  ilona xxx

If you fancy a fruity treat.........

Now look what you've done flis, got me back on banana sandwiches again. I had forgotten all about them until you mentioned them yesterday. I bought bananas and bread, so this was my breakfast. The little pot of scrumptious cider apple jelly was in a box of mixed preserves I had for Christmas. I must say it was a delicious accompaniment to the banana. I might look for a bigger jar of this when I next go shopping. 

My walk today. I made a video but the wind was so loud it was drowning out my voice, so I deleted  it. Oil seed rape is coming along. It was sunny and quite warm, but windy.

I've been playing with this. I made the box with two canvases I got out of a skip. I stripped the naff  pictures off them, nailed them together, and put a back on it to make a shallow box. I have an idea, but there is a problem, it is quite heavy, will need a strong hook to hang it on the wall. Will have to re think it. 

I've been machine sewing today. My nephew gave me an unfinished bed quilt that his wife was making but it got put in the loft. I am finishing it off, they can have it back when it's done.

Thanks for popping in, thanks to the walkers for updating your mileage, thanks to the NHS. I forgot to clap again. Toodle pip.  ilona

First shopping trip to buy food.

Hoooray, I have done my first shopping in 13 days. The fridge was bare, so now it's restocked. I had run out of Mayze's cat food , now we can carry on for another 13 days. 

The town was ghostly quiet, it felt very strange. I went this afternoon because I thought it would be less busy in Aldi. The bank was closed, they have cut their hours and finish at 2pm daily. Not a problem, nothing urgent, just a cheque to deposit for the refund from my road tax of the old car. It can wait. 

I got all the cat food I needed from Home Bargains, thankfully they had the varieties I wanted. Small Sheba pouches for Heidi, and Whiskas pouches for Oscar. Mayze only eats cooked meats from the chiller cabinet so I got that from Aldi. They all eat dry Whiskas as well. 

Aldi was quiet, only a few cars in the car park. I kept well away from people as much as I could, and didn't dawdle. Not a good idea to browse. 

Some of the things I bought. 

Bananas, grapes, frozen raspberries, yogurt Greek style, Eggs, Lentils, cheesy crackers, beetroot, iceberg lettuce, seeded bread, multigrain hoops, carrots, brocolli, potatoes, sliced ham, extra virgin olive oil, milk, cheese and onion quiche, cheese and onion rolls, pasta and sauce, egg custards, mayo, sugar, houmous, scones, and cheap white wine.  That will keep me going for a while. 

The car is very lovely to drive, don't know when I will be able to go out again. Maybe another shopping trip in two weeks time. 

That's me done for now. Don't forget, if you haven't checked in with your walking miles you can do it at any time.
Toodle pip.  ilona

Check in for the Walking Group.

Good morning, it's April the 1st, and we all know what that means. Yes it's April Fools Day, it's the tradition to play a prank on someone, make them look silly by inventing some kind of story or situation. There has been a few clever ideas over the years which make the national press. I can act the clown when the mood takes me, not good to be serious all the time, but I couldn't set out to deliberately upset someone by spinning a yarn and poking fun at them.

Anyway, this is no joke, today is when the members of the International Walking Group get together and send a comment on how they are getting on with their own personal walking challenge. As you know my annual target is 1000 miles and after three months I should be on about 250 miles. Well it's good news, I am on 269, so  good start for the next three months.

I am lucky that I live in a rural community, I can walk out of the door and be in the countryside in a few minutes. Plenty of space to keep my distance, sometimes I don't see anyone. You might not be so lucky where you live, all you can do is your best. Maybe try walking at night if there are street lights, or get up early and go for a walk first thing. Everyone's circumstances are different, remember to keep yourself safe.

I have to walk, for my sanity, and physical health. The great outdoors is a tonic, it feeds my mind and my soul, I would wither and die without it. It doesn't have to be pretty, and picturesque is a bonus, but all I need is space around me, and the feeling of being close to nature.

So let's hear it from you. Have you found a way to get your miles in without putting yourself at risk. Tell us about your routine, what have you found that works the best for you. I walk at any time of the day or night, the times which suit me best to fit in with whatever else I am doing. Maybe you aren't so flexible and prefer to stick to regular times. Let us know.

A pic from the files. Bamford in Derbyshire.

Thanks for popping in.  Toodle pip.  ilona

PS. Just popping back to say thank you very much for the lovely comments coming in. I appreciate your kindness. xxx