Mother's Day

We continue to have mild, dry weather and there's plenty to do in the garden and covered yard area.  I'll write more about gardening activities in March on my next blog post.

Yesterday, on Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day we had calls and messages from the children and grandchildren.  Our Berkshire daughter D took flowers to put on the family graves before going out for lunch with her own family and friends.  At our home our son came to visit and we were able to sit out in the garden after our lunch (an oven roast and chocolate mousse cake).  He brought some cup cakes that a friend's children had made and gave me a beautiful scarf.  I do love my collection of scarves.  It's light in weight, soft and long and I shall enjoy wearing it. 

Well, this is all for now.  Thank you for coming by.  Speak again soon.

Our Week

I know it's been another difficult week worldwide and here in the UK, but in our own family circumstances I have to be thankful that our Italian relatives are holding their own despite contracting the virus infection in one sister-in-law's family group.  We hope the situation continues in a positive way for them, especially for the elderly sister-in-law now being made comfortable with an oxygen supply. We have been in contact quite often and again we're thankful that at least we can get information on a landline phone from another of Mr P's family.  Everyone is staying at home in their own family bubble.

Here in the UK Sunday was Mother's Day my photos are of the bunches of flowers received organised by our local daughter.  The two grandchildren came on separate occasions over the weekend and left the bouquets of flowers on behalf of themselves and our son and daughter who live far away.

There were cards sent and phone calls from family who live at a distance.  Two types of cake made - one was a vegan date and walnut cake made by local daughter and I made a chocolate sponge cake that local daughter could take home to share with the two grandchildren.

Today the sun has come out and at last the daffodils are in bloom in the covered yard and outside in the garden.  The miniature ones are really pretty.  The Rip Van Winkle variety were planted under the apple tree and the Tete-a-Tete are near the white hellebores in the flower bed by our sitting out area, not that we can sit out as there's been a cold wind and persistent rain showers.

Thank you for your visit.  Hopefully I'll speak again soon.

Weekend happenings

Yesterday was Mother's Day in the UK or Mothering Sunday (as my own late mother would remind us).  In normal times we might have gone to a church service where the congregation would have been given a bunch of flowers by the young people to remind us of the tradition that in the olden days people working away from home, usually in domestic service, would be given time off to go home for the day to see their family, especially their mothers and would possibly take a bunch of wild flowers or a Simnel Cake which was a fruit cake made to use up ingredients at the beginning of Lent - a bit of a treat. This is one of the explanations for this day in the church calendar which has now extended to the wider UK community as Mother's Day and has become an occasion for some family time for many.

Well, we're not in normal times and with churches closed as part of the public places restrictions these physical fellowship gatherings are now taking place on line in the virtual world.  As we have not been going to church services because of mobility issues. We've recently been watching or listening to Christian television and radio programmes and have received inspiration from them. We think of those whose mothers are no longer with us or others who do not have children. I was grateful that our daughter down in Berkshire went to the cemetery with a bunch of flowers and tidied the family graves which she does when she can. 

All day we had phone calls from different members of our family as well as video linkups. I'm thankful that grandson recently showed me how to add an app so that family members have a group chat with us now that we are social distancing and in voluntary isolation.  Our neighbours are going to set up a chat group with a mobile app so that those in our street don't feel alone and our parish church has been in touch by email. Our next-door-neighbour has again also offered to get some basic food for us if she can find anything, talking to me at a distance as described before.  

flowers from family.....

...... and gifts including a magazine, a new transfer printed embroidery kit and embroidery thread so that I can finish off my present embroidery on the small tablecloth.  That will keep me busy for a long time as I'm a slow embroiderer and do about an hour a day in an afternoon.

Mothering Sunday/ Mother's Day

photo taken last Sunday

The clocks went forward an hour so Mother's Day (Mothering Sunday in the church calendar) started with a quicker cup of tea, toast and marmalade breakfast than on some days!  We had phone calls from the family before we went to church.  It was an uplifting service with songs of worship that touched the heart.  

The children came in from each of their Sunday School groups and handed out bunches of daffodils to all the ladies.

(In the Christian liturgical calendar Mothering Sunday falls within the Lenten period which is a time of reflection before Easter.  The word 'lent' comes from the Anglo-Saxon for the lengthening of daylight hours around about the month of March after the dark days of Winter.  In some churches there's the custom of handing out bunches of Spring flowers at the Mothering Sunday service.  It originates from the days when domestic servants who lived-in were given the time off to return home and they usually took with them a small gift of flowers and maybe the traditional Simnel Cake).

I'm enjoying this bunch of daffodils as they open and, of course, the greetings cards from the children and grandchildren.

I'm also enjoying the flowers that our local daughter organised on behalf of herself and the other  children and their families that live too far away to visit.  (Mr P and I are looking forward to seeing them all during the Easter holiday).

In the afternoon our daughter took us and our grandson for a drive to Wentworth Village which we haven't been to for a while.  It made a change from our normal outings.

Wentworth Parish Church

Yesterday it was much cloudier and colder which is only to be expected as normal for this time of the year.

This and That

A gift of flowers for Mother's Day and a family meal was enjoyed this week.

Our chef grandson came 4th in the finals of this year's Young Chef of the Year competition organised by The International Association of Gastronomy (la Chaine des Rotisseurs). Yesterday he flew to Valencia, Spain to do some training at the Michelin restaurant RiFF owned by the chef Bernd Knoller.

We've had some more odd weather again with more snow and then sunshine.  All the seedlings except for the new garlic sets are kept indoors as the covered yard is not heated.  Even in the house the temperature drops during the night and the flower and vegetable seedlings are taken off the window sills. A lovely sight is to see the peach tree in the covered yard in blossom. Perhaps we'll get some peaches again this year?

This time last year we were in Italy, but we're looking forward to going next month and have just organised our travel arrangements.  We need to do a lot more work on house maintenance, especially on replacing some wooden support beams in the roof. My husband did a few of these last year, but it's heavy and dusty work.  Before he could start a hornets' nest had to be removed. I hope they haven't returned as these insects give a powerful sting and are dangerous for anyone allergic as is the case in my family. The nest seemed to be empty, but we did find the odd hornet flying around so even though I took photos I was very careful doing it.

Getting up into the roof space is complicated as the access is through a hatch located in the upper floor family bathroom.  It was difficult to carry the beam up the ladder and then some of the roof tiles had to be removed and some smaller wooden supports repaired before nailing in the new beam.  I held the ladder when my husband climbed up into the roof just in case it slipped on the marble floor.  He also had to climb out of the hole he had made and up onto the roof in order to replace the tiles that he'd stacked there. In March the weather is as unpredictable as our own in the UK so it was important to get the work done as it looked as if it was going to rain.

Today, 8th March, is International Women's Day when we express our solidarity with other girls and women around the world. In Italy we give one another bunches of mimosa which is the Italian flower associated with the day.  Mimosa is blooming in March and can be gathered without having to go to the expense of buying flowers.  Places are decorated with branches of mimosa and there are meetings highlighting the human rights and the plight of women and girls around the world who live in oppressive conditions. On Saturday our city university will be hosting  a day of workshops and talks.

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A good day out

I'm taking a break from writing about our recent time in Italy to share about the lovely day out we had yesterday with our local daughter.  It was Mothering Sunday, a day in the Christian calendar (traditionally the 4th Sunday of Lent) and now more commonly known and celebrated as Mother's Day here.

I had lots of lovely presents of flowers and chocolates, some pretty cards and several phone calls from the children and grandchildren and our local daughter cooked lunch before taking us out for a drive in the countryside.  We headed for Monsal Dale and Monsal Head, a popular beauty spot in Derbyshire stopping for a wander around the interesting village of Tideswell with a church which is known as 'The Cathedral of the Peaks'.

The day was cloudy with some mist over the hills so not good for photography, but the views from high up on Monsal Head looking down Monsal Dale and up the Wye Valley with the river and viaduct below were still spectacular.

The old route of the Midland Railway formerly crossed the river over the viaduct and then carried on by way of a tunnel through Monsal Head and is now part of the Monsal Trail.

                   
       Some of my presents - tulips, a shrub (skimmia japonica), pots of jam and chocolates.

                                             Tideswell Parish Church, Derbyshire

                             An angel and rose bush on one of the stalls in the chancel

I've wanted to visit Tideswell for quite a while.  St. John the Baptist Church, the parish church of Tideswell was very interesting with many beautiful wood carvings especially on the choir stalls and we shall go back and spend more time there when we have the opportunity.

We enjoyed a tea-time treat of tea or coffee with cake (slices of orange spice cake, chocolate cake and scones with strawberry jam and cream) in the tea rooms and craft shop with picture gallery on Monsal Head.....

....and then a last look at the view before heading back home.