It has been a perfect day - weatherwise.
Maybe this lockdown isn't so bad. I've adjusted to working from home and can see it as part of my working week in future. It has been lovely being around my family although it gets a little tetchy at times being on top of each other. This fabulous weather has been a life-saver. It gives everyone breathing room, the house is less confined and we can all escape once or more times a day. Had all this kicked off in December, as it did in Wuhan, with its miserable dark days and nights closing in early, I'd be hiding the sharp implements in the house.
I'm a revisionist vegan and happily cooking every day. When you work in an office, it's stressful facing into cooking a dinner as soon as you get home. You're swapping one form of pressure for another. Working from home however, you get back time you otherwise spend commuting and can spend that time cooking quality dinners from scratch. This morning found me minutely chopping ginger, spring onions and cloves of garlic and it was a pleasure.
I've signed up for the Happy Pear cooking course. I've been wanting to do it for months but didn't want to spend the money nor commit the time but they have an offer at the moment at 44% off so I signed up. Week 1 give you four easy dinners and five easy breakfasts. Son (22) is the breakfast fiend; he is taking up the challenge of preparing a different recipe each day while I am doing the four easy dinners. Today is 10 minute Indonesian Satay. The recipe calls for Pak Choy and courgettes, neither of which I have so I'm using broccoli and cauliflower instead. The sauce asks for nine tablespoons of almond butter - again I don't have it - so I used peanut butter. The sauce is incredibly thick and needs constant stirring to keep it from congealing at the bottom of the saucepan. It seemed liked a lot of peanut butter. I wonder are my spoon sizes different from theirs.
Son (22) is painting the garden walls magnolia white and loving it. He planned to include the fences too but after lunch and mature reflection we decided against it. With so much white and all this sunshine, we'll be dazzled. Son (20) is painting the upstairs bathroom in brilliant white. It has to be painted every year as there seems to be an air circulation / condensation problem which breeds mould. We've tried keeping the windows open as much as possible but in winter that's not always easy.
Sunday evenings is Zoom night. We first started Zoom calls to support and commiserate with my mother when her brother John died in England on the 31st March. It was so successful, we made it a weekly event. Zoom is free which is great but after 40 minutes it expires. We incorporate my brothers Tommy, who lives in England and Stephen in Waterfall, my sisters Catherine in Dublin and Louise in Mahon, nephew Sean in Blackrock and me and Mum in Douglas. Tommy is a teacher and it shows; he tries to instill order by telling us to raise our hand when we want to speak.
Last night's call was pure chaos. Mum spent the first ten minutes asking, "Am I in?", "can you see me?" and "I can't see anything." We can all hear her. Sean cracked open a can of Guinness. I joined him with a can of Bulmers and two straws. Tommy wagged a finger at me, "Now Geraldine, you know what you're like when you drink." I flipped a finger back at him. Louise pleaded, "Remember, it's the Lord's Day, we should be celebrating." I said, "Good thinking, Louise, does anyone have any God jokes?" Stephen had one. "Two men were out golfing. They teed off. One man's ball went straight and landed within ten feet of the hole. The second man lashed off his ball but it landed in the woods. The two men went into the woods to look for the ball but they couldn't find it. The first man said, "Look, I'll go up and putt my ball and you join me when you find yours." So the first man headed off and just as he was about to putt his ball, another ball came soaring out of the woods and landed within two feet of the hole. The first golfer said to the caddie, "He's some cheating bastard." The caddie said, "How do you know?" "Because," said the first golfer producing a golf ball from his pocket, "this is his ball."
"What's that got to do with God?" I said.
"What about God?" He said.
"I asked for a joke about God."
"Oh sorry, I thought you said 'golf'.
Catherine piped up and said, "Actually I thought you said 'golf' too."
Sour silence.
Sean smiles and says, "I have a Jesus joke." Louise and Tommy attempted to warn him off but the rest of us egged him on.
Sean, "Jesus said to his apostle, John, "Come forth and I will give you eternal life. But John came fifth and got a toaster." I roared laughing.
After 40 minutes were up, Louise, the instigator, asked did we want to go another round. There were no takers. She did it anyway and we all re-appeared. I do it through the phone as my laptop is knackered and the sound quality dodgy. The phone is better but you only see four faces at any one time. It's like Sesame Street and the song, 'One of these faces is not like the other.' I look at these people, especially after a couple of ciders, and wonder how we're related.
Hubbie went for a cycle this morning before lunch. He was gone two hours and returned with a different bike. Son (22) spotted it immediately. Hubbie explained he was cycling the mean streets of Mahon when he met Louise (my sister) also out cycling. Hubbie has an engine on his bike and Louise asked if he would swap bikes for the day and he agreed. "What's it like?" asked Son (22). "It's a piece of shit," said my sweating husband. Then declaring 'he was starving' he horsed into a plate of 10-minute Indonesian Satay infused with a squeeze of lime and garnished with toasted nuts. Son (22) and I agreed there is something about the juice of a lime that just kicks a dinner into a whole new level.
In the afternoon, I lay out on the grass face down to get my vitamin D and after 20 minutes, with the heat of the sun on my back, I did yoga poses - proud pigeon, downward dog and sun salutation. It was divine. With blue skies and steady sunshine set to last until Thursday, it doesn't get better than this.
Maybe this lockdown isn't so bad. I've adjusted to working from home and can see it as part of my working week in future. It has been lovely being around my family although it gets a little tetchy at times being on top of each other. This fabulous weather has been a life-saver. It gives everyone breathing room, the house is less confined and we can all escape once or more times a day. Had all this kicked off in December, as it did in Wuhan, with its miserable dark days and nights closing in early, I'd be hiding the sharp implements in the house.
I'm a revisionist vegan and happily cooking every day. When you work in an office, it's stressful facing into cooking a dinner as soon as you get home. You're swapping one form of pressure for another. Working from home however, you get back time you otherwise spend commuting and can spend that time cooking quality dinners from scratch. This morning found me minutely chopping ginger, spring onions and cloves of garlic and it was a pleasure.
I've signed up for the Happy Pear cooking course. I've been wanting to do it for months but didn't want to spend the money nor commit the time but they have an offer at the moment at 44% off so I signed up. Week 1 give you four easy dinners and five easy breakfasts. Son (22) is the breakfast fiend; he is taking up the challenge of preparing a different recipe each day while I am doing the four easy dinners. Today is 10 minute Indonesian Satay. The recipe calls for Pak Choy and courgettes, neither of which I have so I'm using broccoli and cauliflower instead. The sauce asks for nine tablespoons of almond butter - again I don't have it - so I used peanut butter. The sauce is incredibly thick and needs constant stirring to keep it from congealing at the bottom of the saucepan. It seemed liked a lot of peanut butter. I wonder are my spoon sizes different from theirs.
Son (22) is painting the garden walls magnolia white and loving it. He planned to include the fences too but after lunch and mature reflection we decided against it. With so much white and all this sunshine, we'll be dazzled. Son (20) is painting the upstairs bathroom in brilliant white. It has to be painted every year as there seems to be an air circulation / condensation problem which breeds mould. We've tried keeping the windows open as much as possible but in winter that's not always easy.
Sunday evenings is Zoom night. We first started Zoom calls to support and commiserate with my mother when her brother John died in England on the 31st March. It was so successful, we made it a weekly event. Zoom is free which is great but after 40 minutes it expires. We incorporate my brothers Tommy, who lives in England and Stephen in Waterfall, my sisters Catherine in Dublin and Louise in Mahon, nephew Sean in Blackrock and me and Mum in Douglas. Tommy is a teacher and it shows; he tries to instill order by telling us to raise our hand when we want to speak.
Last night's call was pure chaos. Mum spent the first ten minutes asking, "Am I in?", "can you see me?" and "I can't see anything." We can all hear her. Sean cracked open a can of Guinness. I joined him with a can of Bulmers and two straws. Tommy wagged a finger at me, "Now Geraldine, you know what you're like when you drink." I flipped a finger back at him. Louise pleaded, "Remember, it's the Lord's Day, we should be celebrating." I said, "Good thinking, Louise, does anyone have any God jokes?" Stephen had one. "Two men were out golfing. They teed off. One man's ball went straight and landed within ten feet of the hole. The second man lashed off his ball but it landed in the woods. The two men went into the woods to look for the ball but they couldn't find it. The first man said, "Look, I'll go up and putt my ball and you join me when you find yours." So the first man headed off and just as he was about to putt his ball, another ball came soaring out of the woods and landed within two feet of the hole. The first golfer said to the caddie, "He's some cheating bastard." The caddie said, "How do you know?" "Because," said the first golfer producing a golf ball from his pocket, "this is his ball."
"What's that got to do with God?" I said.
"What about God?" He said.
"I asked for a joke about God."
"Oh sorry, I thought you said 'golf'.
Catherine piped up and said, "Actually I thought you said 'golf' too."
Sour silence.
Sean smiles and says, "I have a Jesus joke." Louise and Tommy attempted to warn him off but the rest of us egged him on.
Sean, "Jesus said to his apostle, John, "Come forth and I will give you eternal life. But John came fifth and got a toaster." I roared laughing.
After 40 minutes were up, Louise, the instigator, asked did we want to go another round. There were no takers. She did it anyway and we all re-appeared. I do it through the phone as my laptop is knackered and the sound quality dodgy. The phone is better but you only see four faces at any one time. It's like Sesame Street and the song, 'One of these faces is not like the other.' I look at these people, especially after a couple of ciders, and wonder how we're related.
Hubbie went for a cycle this morning before lunch. He was gone two hours and returned with a different bike. Son (22) spotted it immediately. Hubbie explained he was cycling the mean streets of Mahon when he met Louise (my sister) also out cycling. Hubbie has an engine on his bike and Louise asked if he would swap bikes for the day and he agreed. "What's it like?" asked Son (22). "It's a piece of shit," said my sweating husband. Then declaring 'he was starving' he horsed into a plate of 10-minute Indonesian Satay infused with a squeeze of lime and garnished with toasted nuts. Son (22) and I agreed there is something about the juice of a lime that just kicks a dinner into a whole new level.
In the afternoon, I lay out on the grass face down to get my vitamin D and after 20 minutes, with the heat of the sun on my back, I did yoga poses - proud pigeon, downward dog and sun salutation. It was divine. With blue skies and steady sunshine set to last until Thursday, it doesn't get better than this.
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