The Coronavirus Diaries, 15th April 2020

A quiet day, which is not saying a good day or a bad day. Blue skies again, but chilly by this evening. I was busy all morning, but I don’t seem to have a lot to show for my efforts. My Fitbit which had stopped working seems to have come back to life. I hope so. I have had an exchange of emails with Fitbit support who offered me 25% off a new device if I replace mine within thirty days. I had been asking about repairing it. It seems they don’t do repairs, and that at around two years old mine, if it dies is obsolete. That left me wondering how much of a Fitbit can be recycled. Support seems to be answering the questions it thinks I am asking rather than the ones I am asking. This might go on for some time.

One of my neighbours seems to venting her stress at this time by getting active with the secateurs. Two rose bushes in our communal garden have been pruned to within an inch of their lives, despite this being absolutely not the time to prune roses. The sage came in for a severe cutting too. I rescued a bunch of the discarded stalks, washed them, sorted and froze most, and kept several to start new plants. They are now potted with good compost. I hope they survive. In lieu of bulbs to put in the hanging baskets, the sage plants may well be put to use there instead.

No walks in bluebell woods this spring, so their urban cousins in ou=r gardens are particularly welcome.

Bluebells

My tulips still look lovely.

Red and yellow tulip

Candy stripe tulip

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The Coronavirus Diaries, 11th April 2020

Like most people I think, I find some days under lockdown are harder than others. Today was a hard one. I read the news, read about people who have died, brief bios of people who most of us haven’t heard of, but who have lost their lives. A shockingly long list but just a fraction of the current total. Human faces showing the cost of this virus across the country. The Sun newspaper had a headline yesterday about Boris Johnson being out of ICU which ran something like Now That’s a Good Friday!. Yesterday the highest number of deaths from coronavirus in a single day across the UK. I am pleased Johnson is recovering, I want everyone to recover, but the focus over the last few days has been all about him. It’s wrong. we need to be informed, to be told the truth. The press briefings have been shamefully lacking in detail about what is happening, Matt Hancock not having facts and figures ready when questioned, journalists not pushing for answers. Johnson recovering is not going to solve the issue, and not spelling out how bad things are. There are still, heaven help us, people not taking the risk seriously. Don’t sell them some nonsense about herculean efforts by the government, Johnson recovering so all will be well.

I went for a walk in a local park this afternoon. It was after four, and I was hoping most people would have headed out earlier to enjoy the sunshine and gone home. They hadn’t. The park was heaving. Police were patrolling in cars. I saw them approach a family group sitting on the grass. I looked for space and fortunately found some, and beautiful trees in blossom. We need beauty at at all times, and especially at times like these.

Green leaves and blossom

Simply blossom

Beautiful Gorgeous Boys

Enough oF Messrs Osborne and Cameron.

Not for the first time, animals put the smile back on my face, and unknot the nerves in my neck.

This spaniel would not make a good guard dog. His joy and seeing us when we walked by was palpable. He had never met us before, but in seconds we were admitted to his friends, invited to stroke his muzzle, feel the velvet softness of his throat.

Brown Beauty

More about Kath

My cousin Helen sent me this fabulous photo of Aunt Kath as a teenager enjoying herself in the sea.

Kath was always beautiful from childhood onwards. I don’t think she lacked male attention, but once widowed while still young she had no desire, at least to my knowledge, to remarry. I have the barest memory of her husband. He was on the periphery of my vision, while she was centre stage.

The Other Half of the Feline Photo Shoot, and a Bit of Philosophy

Play has to be balanced with rest.

MasterB This Way Up

MasterB’s Pink Ears

MasterB Lies Down

MasterB in Profile

Red Bicycle and Geraniums

Sometimes, walking along a street, I see something that just makes me smile.

This red bike, and the red geraniums behind it, had that effect. The sun helped.

Red Bike and Red Geraniums

Tulips – Live!

A conversation with my friend Sue is the author of this post pre-bedtime. She alerted me to the number of death references in my blog recently. I do like living things.
The tulips in the vase in my sitting room are wonderfully vibrant, and oh so beautiful.

Calendar Possibilities

Last week was pretty stressful, and I hoped that was the worst of it, but today has been up there on the Richter scale as well, at least in parts. So looking at pix of the ginger ninja is a balm to my soul which is feeling a bit battered and bruised, and helps bring a needed smile to my face.
These three are contenders for the calendar. I know which one I like the best, but how about the rest of you?

Comfy

What a Little Stunner

I have a beautiful cat.

Heading for Hollywood

Oh, Beautiful…

The tulips, again in the bathroom, were clearly on their last legs, but somehow, even more beautiful than when they were new.

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Aunt Kath had a friend who was an artist and painted stunningly gorgeous paintings of flowers. These remind me of her work. Helen, if you read this, could you supply her name please?