Lockdown is coming

 So it looks like we’re in for another period of lockdown if the BBC news this morning has got it right.  It’s going to be harder this time with winter weather and also just the two of us at home. In April and May much time was spent gardening but now there’s not so many things I can do outside especially in the unrelentingly wet weather we’ve had recently.  I picked the last sunflowers which looked unlikely to open and persuaded then to flower inside for a last splash of sunshine. There are tulips to be planted - Monty on Gardener’s World says wait until November - and possibly a bare-rooted rose but that’ll be it until it’s time to chit the seed potatoes again next January/February. I’m turning my attention to expanding my houseplant collection.  This can get expensive but I’ve discovered you can buy small versions in shops like Lidl, Morrison’s and my favourite venue for garden purchases, Home and Bargain. I bought a dahlia from there which has flowered all summer.  I also grew the coleus below from a cutting and then took a cutting from it for my sister which has also flourished. I love these plants with their pink leaves - my dad used to grow them and they lined the kitchen windowsill back home.

 

And of course as you can see above spider plants have babies.  I’ve already potted up two from this plant and there’s another ready to go here.  Thanks toGanching for inspiring this post with the tale of her spider plant.

To keep me busy in November I have signed up for NaNoWriMo, a challenge where you attempt to write a novel of 50000 words in a month.  The name makes me cringe and it’s all very American but I’m hoping that this little bit of accountability and a deadline will help me establish a writing habit.  I’ve got plenty of time now though I am back Zoom teaching a few hours a week. And I have plenty of ideas.  I envisage a kind of family saga loosely based on my own family a bit like The Cazelet Chronicles, my favourite books. Lofty ambition for someone who can’t even establish a weekly blogging habit. We’ll see! 

Looking back to 1999

 

This photograph of my parents taken outside our family home In Ballyronan during August 1999 was posted on Facebook this week by Ardboe Galleries.  A lovely surprise as neither my sisters nor I had ever seen it before.  I rarely bother with Facebook but this time I enjoyed reading all the comments and seeing the list of familiar names who ‘liked’ the photograph.  I’m pleased to see they have not been forgotten.  My mother was the village postmistress for over 35 years and when this was taken she had just retired. The photograph was taken by Pat Grimes who was in the village that day taking pictures for a magazine called Loughshore News. I contacted him and he has kindly sent me copies of the photographs and given me permission to use them here. His website features many other old photographs including some from the local newspaper. I found one of myself pictured with my Girl Guide group when I was about 12. 

Later that same year in October my daughter Kate was born so next week she’ll turn 21.  We’ve had to bring forward the celebrations as she’s at university in Sheffield which is in Tier 3 measures from today.  So on Thursday night we met her and her boyfriend in a pub/restaurant in Hathersage, a short drive from Sheffield in the Derbyshire Dales.  We had to sit at separate tables to keep within the rules but nevertheless had a lovely evening.  Here she is with her cake.  I think her grandparents would be very proud of her if they were here today.