Month: June 2020

9th June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: More focussed
  • Listening to: The Magnetic Fields
  • Watching: Giri/Haji

Woke early (around 6am). Dozed for a bit and eventually got up and made tea for me and D and sat in bed and drank my tea while D went out for a run. F woke early-ish as well and came and quizzed me on the animal kingdom before we both got up.

I started work early (around 8) and felt I had a really productive day (although I also got a bit caught up in a couple of challenges and carried on working into the evening (and I’ve just finished doing a bit more work now).

F seemed to have a very cheerful day. She got to have the bath she was so cruelly denied last night and got on with school work and her 11+ tutoring in the evening.

B has just had his head down getting on with things. I think he’s so self-reliant and not really given to complaining I don’t always pay attention to how the lockdown and isolation has been tough for him – D was pointing this out to me earlier – although he gets on with all his school work, he does find being tied to the laptop at the kitchen table for the majority of the day quite tough.

We’ve not had an update from Fs school yet, but it seems more and more likely that neither B nor F will be physically back in school before the summer.

After success with pizza last week B decided he wanted to cook pizza for tea again – and we aren’t going to say “no” to that – so tonight I helped B get some sourdough starter going and tomorrow we’ll get some dough made up (the recipe from Rosehill Sourdough recommends letting the dough rest in the fridge for 3 days to get the best results!)

Excitingly we had the first strawberry of the year from the garden today – which B and F shared.

I did some planning for my decking project as well – now I just need to find the courage to bite the bullet and order the timber and other materials so I can actually make a start. I’m a bit intimidated, but the idea that we could eat out on a deck over the rest of the summer is a definite motivator.

Stay safe, stay strong.

8th June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: Jittery
  • Listening to: Nothing today
  • Watching: Stumptown

Despite the relaxing weekend, spent today feeling jittery and slightly stressed, although not quite sure why – think just work stuff playing on my mind.

I spent most of the day on work calls, and everyone else in the house was getting on with work as well. F & B did school work in the morning and in the afternoon made bugs from pebbles in their online art class, and both had online maths/english sessions. D was working hard as well.

F got a certificate for “excellent home learning” from school which was really nice and she was having a really nice day until bedtime when we said it was too late for a bath and she’d have to wait until tomorrow which led to a huge meltdown.

I’m thinking about building a small deck at the back of the house (this was an idea that I had a few years ago and never followed up) – so started to look at measurements and what I’d need – it all looks do-able, but I need to do a bit more planning and see if I can get all the materials I’d need.

Stay safe, stay strong.

7th June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: Relaxed
  • Listening to: Apple Music “Chill Mix”
  • Watching: Hawaii 5-0

After a lazy afternoon yesterday we had an even lazier day today. D and I both slept in and F eventually woke us at 10:20! After a late breakfast D and the kids watched the new Maleficent film (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) while I listened to some music and generally did very little.

In the afternoon I edited together a video for something the chair of our Choir is planning, and managed to fit one of the water butts I had delivered a couple of weeks ago.

For tea I made Yorkshire puddings and onion gravy to go with sausages – bit success all round (F loves onion gravy, and we all love yorkshire puddings).

This evening was the Bare Necessities music showcase to raise money for a Coventry-based charity (you can donate at Feeding Coventry) – which I’d recorded a couple of songs for. The whole showcase is available on Facebook if you are interested.

All in all a very relaxing day.

Stay safe, stay strong x

6th June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: Tired but happy
  • Listening to: Hamilton
  • Watching: The Unicorn Store

Nice day today. I got up about 8am to get some bread in the oven and do a bit of tidying around the side entrance to the garden – because C and N came over for a socially distanced visit in the garden this morning. The weather could have been nicer but it was so good to see them and just sit and chat for a bit. We ate pastries and drank tea & coffee while the kids played in the garden.

In the afternoon we played a game that D had ordered which is an escape room card game called Unlock which was mainly fun despite a few frustrations when we couldn’t solve some of the puzzles – but we got there eventually (although just over time and with a few hints).

We chilled out for the rest of the afternoon, I dozed on the sofa, B worked on a quiz for tomorrow, D worked on a jigsaw and F made a board game of her own which was some kind of energy/food chain based game where you worked up from sunshine through algae, plankton & fish up to human. I didn’t completely understand the rules but we played an enjoyable game where we both seemed to win!

We carried on the lazy theme (and bread based diet) by ordering in pizza for tea and then did C’s weekly quiz which was fun as always (fancy dress was historical figures and so B came as Einstein and F as Alexander Hamilton)

Time for bed now, but a nice day and so nice to spend time with C and N. Stay safe, stay strong x

5th June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: Bit restless
  • Listening to: Perfect (Ed Sheeran)
  • Watching: Gemini Man

In a bit of an odd mood today, especially this evening – just feeling a bit restless with my thoughts flitting around and not able to settle. It probably not that surprising given the state of the world right now, but after a high yesterday I feel a bit down today.

We had an order in for flour, sugar, oats and various goodies from Haddie and Trilby so the first job of the day was to pick those up.

D had decided to take the day off, so she was able to spend time with the kids today. B had some school work to do, but once F had done a session with Mrs C she was free for the rest of the day.

I was stumbled from one work call to another today, but overall it wasn’t a bad day for work, and in between calls I’ve been working on some focaccia which I hope will be ready for baking first thing tomorrow morning.

We played Maponimoes (thank you C) before tea (slightly mixed success – I won and managed to upset both the kids in the process!) – but the game itself is a really nice mixture of simple rules and strategic play and definitely recommended. Once the kids were in bed this evening D and I watched Gemini Man – a disappointing Ang Lee / Will Smith film – but mindless enough to take my mind off things which was the point.

Tomorrow morning N and C are going to come round for a socially-distanced visit – really looking forward to it (although bit worried about it raining as we don’t really have any shelter in the garden).

4th June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: Happy
  • Listening to: Desert Island Discs
  • Watching: Stumptown

Went to see my Mum today for the first time since the start of March, when we buried my Dad’s ashes. It was so good to see her. We spent time sitting and talking (at a responsible distance) in her garden (which is lovely) and then went for a walk in the hills above Cheltenham and went to visit where my Dad is buried.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBByYCvFafT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

It was just a lovely day. I also got to see the locket we got Mum for her birthday.

Stay safe, stay strong.

3rd June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: OK
  • Listening to: nothing today
  • Watching: Great British Sewing Bee

Got up early (6:45) this morning to do some work – always amazed how much I can get done when I actually manage to get up before 8!

D went for a run again – v impressed she is keeping that going.

Fs teacher rang to check how things were going, and later in the morning after some experimentation with different coloured sheets we re-filmed Fs news report with a new background so we could more easily “green screen” (in this case “maroon screen”) to insert the appropriate backgrounds for each part of the report.

The news anchor look!

B had to take a “still life” photograph for his art by arranging objects of his choice in a pattern on a plain background – so out came the sheet again, and some books and marbles to be arranged and photographed

Having the marbles out inspired F to invent a marble game which she made me and D play – and although she claimed to know the rules, it sometimes felt she was just making them up as she went along 🙂

I had lots of work stuff again today including planning for another course that I’d usually teach face-to-face but instead will be doing online. But after the work day was done I had a lovely virtual choir in the evening (especially lovely to see our pianists new baby boy – just made me smile!), and tomorrow I’m taking the day off to go and visit my Mum – I’m so looking forward to seeing her!

Stay safe, stay strong.

2nd June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: OK
  • Listening to: nothing today
  • Watching: Bake off: The professionals

Struggled to wake up today – I’m blaming the heat (and it already seemed to be too hot by the time I got out of bed). F also struggled with today (again I think the heat means she isn’t sleeping well) and shed didn’t want to do her school work, or anything at all really. Eventually we managed to persuade her to do her “news report” homework as a TV news report and filmed it with the hope we can edit it together with some newsroom and location backgrounds. Meanwhile B and D just got on with their work without any fuss!

In the afternoon D took the kids for a walk in their new musical themed t-shirts (Hamilton for F, Wicked for B) – presents from their Grandma. Sadly I had to stay at home for a Zoom call 🙁

I have to admit I’m hoping that the forecast cooler weather will arrive tomorrow and I can get a better night’s sleep!

Stay safe, stay strong.

1st June 2020

Standard
  • Feeling: OK
  • Listening to: nothing today
  • Watching: Grayson Perry’s Art Club

I’d originally planned to get up to work early this morning – but all my various alarms came and went as I repeatedly hit snooze and I finally got up at 8am (when D got back from her run).

It was back to school for the kids today, and they seemed OK with that. B got to mark a maths exam he did before the holiday and got an impressive 98% (and I really need to work on my tendency to make “and what did you get wrong?” my first question in these situations!). F did some of her school work and some creative writing (a new, slightly disturbing, poem about fire).

In the afternoon they had a virtual art class scheduled, but F opted out and played in the garden before her online tutoring session from Explore Learning. B was a bit stressed because he didn’t finish all the schoolwork he was set today – but on the otherhand he has done some amazing work adding special effects to a short video clip of his cousin using some software called Blender – it’s pretty impressive what he can do on an old computer with some free software!

D and I have been talking about how we feel about the possible return to school for F later this month. We’re both pretty apprehensive about it and I’m struggling between a feeling that schools should be delaying opening until the track and trace and testing processes being put in place actually work, and the knowledge that some degree of risk is inevitable and we have to adjust our mindset to that.

Work was pretty full on for me today (although a deadline I thought was the end of this week, is actually the end of next week – so that’s a relief!)

D made me a grilled cheese sandwich (gruyere + pickles) for tea – it was very nice.

View this post on Instagram

Grilled cheese sandwiches for tea

A post shared by Owen Stephens (@ostephens72) on

Stay safe, stay strong, have a grilled cheese x