I wake up in the morning and I look at the calendar to see what day of the week it is. Mr P and I have not been out and about because of the cold weather and lately the on and off falls of snow and ice have made it difficult to take a drive or even a walk. We try to keep moving and warm indoors as it's important to continue with the exercises given to us by the hospital physiotherapist and to keep our minds active. The third national lockdown has come into force so, of course, we've been in contact with younger family members disbursed in different areas to see how they're going to cope with more changes, especially in the workplace. Some are able to work from home, another has been made redundant whilst others such as our two daughters are key workers at an infant school that remains open for vulnerable children and children of key workers and a paediatric department in a hospital. I constantly think of their safety as they travel in bad weather and have to take measures to protect themselves from the new strain of virus which apparently spreads more quickly and easily. We remain at home as we have the luxury of being able to do so. We continue to be thankful for life itself however restricting it is at the moment.
More gifts have arrived by post or delivery service. Our Berkshire daughter sent some fritillary bulbs as she knew that I couldn't get any and for her Papa she sent some vegetable seeds.
Our local daughter who does our shopping brought us some chocolate orange fudge that she and the two grandchildren had made....
... and our son arranged a delivery of goodies in a beautiful wooden box which can be used later on to store a couple of wine bottles of Mr P's home made wine.
Talking about gifts, today is the 6th January when in our family we remember the coming of the three kings who followed a star in order to see the new born Jesus, brought gifts and knelt to worship the King of Kings. In our home the day has always been one when we gave a small present in a stocking to our young children and later on, when they were little, to our grandchildren. Individual stockings were hung up filled with nuts, fruit and sweets. We continued this tradition for many years including cooking a special meal.
Archived photos were originally sent to us by our daughter.
and I edited them. The above inset is our own Nativity tableaux.
All the decorations will be taken down today except for the ornaments that depict the Nativity that have been placed around the living room.
From the living room windows I took photos of a visiting blackbird. On one occasion it or another like it was pecking at the grapes still on the vines that are growing up the supports on the drystone wall. We left the bunches of grapes for the birds rather than make any jam or other preserve. They've shrivelled up a little, but I'm sure the fruit is very welcome all the same.
After several falls of snow we had rain and then an hour or two of sunshine and the snow melted. I was captivated by the sunlight, shadows, the colour and texture of the dried hydrangeas that I had arranged with a few dried rose buds.
I wasn't able to give the Delft blue hyacinths to the daughter and daughter-in-law who live at a distance. These plants will be a delightful presence in the living room when they eventually produce flowers. In the covered yard and out in the garden I can see that a lot is going on as the snow melts to give moisture and the moments of sunshine encourages growth. We watch out for freezing weather overnight, although to date there has been only a few nights when a light frost has occurred. I was pleased to see buds on the two types of hellebore for the first time. One is still young and planted in a pot, the other was moved from an area where it wasn't flourishing and is now doing well. There are many different plants in the covered yard that have been grown from seed and there are peas and broad beans in the vegetable patch that will be covered up against the cold and nurtured on.
Despite all the difficulties because of the virus, writing this blog post, remembering some of the good things that have been happening in our personal circumstances I'm feeling more optimistic again.
I hope that you can find some positive moments in your situation also. Thank you once more for coming by and stopping to read my blog. Take care and hopefully we'll speak again soon.
