A Long Birthday

 I firmly believe that if something's worth celebrating the festivities shouldn't be rushed or confined to a single day. Think about Christmas - that goes on for months! So, as this year was another landmark birthday (the clue's on the cake), and so many in the last few years have been disrupted by Covid, I thought it best to not confine the celebrations to one day.

To be honest a lot of folks might consider my idea of 'celebrations' to be on the quiet side - there are no all night parties or big city trips - just a quiet outing or two to local gardens and a family get-together, but I enjoyed them.

With the weather suddenly turning sunny, I started a day or two early with a trip to Chatsworth, and another to Calke the next day while the sun was still out. 

Tired out from adventures I settled for a quiet night at home, and a Nandos takeaway (with caramel cheesecake substituting for a birthday cake) for my birthday dinner. 

The following weekend was Easter which gave my younger daughter and her boyfriend time to come down from Manchester, and my older daughter and her family joined us for a joint birthday/Easter celebration on Sunday. I started the day with croissants, cream and fresh fruit, we had an Easter egg hunt in the garden for my grandson, birthday presents, and meals organised/cooked by younger daughter, with a delicious cake which seemed too good to be vegan.

Then after the Easter weekend, I decided to pull in a short trip to Kedleston, to see how my fitness was improving (a little but not a lot).

Last, but not least, I went away for a couple of days of quiet relaxation in the depths of the Cambridgeshire countryside - a joint birthday/Christmas present for my husband and myself which my younger daughter has been saving up for for several years. It was a wonderful break and a great way to wind off one year and start the next. 

Jottings - 4th April -All Change

 Since last weekend things seem to have altered a lot.

The clocks changed, the lockdown rules changed, and even the weather obligingly changed (if only for a few days).

The clocks leaping forward isn't a particularly good thing, as we lose an hour's sleep, but the others were definitely changes for the better. 

From Monday we were allowed to go out beyond our suburban estate, and visit somewhere else! I'd said a trip to Shipley would be my first outing, but I wasn't sure about school holiday dates and thought it might be busy, so we headed to Kedleston, where the National Trust are offering timed entry slots to keep the number of visitors down.

It was very strange travelling out of the set 'supermarket and back' route, to somewhere I haven't visited since autumn. Everywhere was familiar and strange at the same time - closer to returning to a much-visited holiday destination than just driving twenty minutes down the road. It makes me wonder how we'll all feel when we can travel further afield to places which have been out-of-bounds for this last year. The weather was in holiday mood too - the sun shining as brightly as summer but not too hot for walking. 

The relaxation of rules came just in time for my birthday. I feel really sorry for people with birthdays falling between March 23rd (when last year's lockdown started) and 29th (when this year's ended, as they've missed two celebrations. Mine falls at the beginning of April, so last year's was a dull affair, but this time could have family round for a garden birthday party. 

Although not as hot as earlier in the week, the sun came out again, and we had a picnic lunch with TWO birthday cakes. 

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this is the beginning of the end of coronavirus, that with to dropping infections and increasing vaccinations we'll be able to follow the 'roadmap' taking us back to normal. For now, being able to meet family outside is a huge step forward, and I'm starting to cautiously look forward to a more-or-less normal summer. 

Lockdown - week 2

Week 2 started cold, dull and lethargic. Partly the weather's fault, partly the clock going forward last weekend. I've no need to be anywhere at 9 or 10 in the morning so instead of adapting to the new setting I just amble along on the old one, getting up an hour late, going to sleep an hour later.


With the weather returning to 'normal' there was less temptation to be outside pottering round the greenhouse and garden. With cold overnight temperatures forecast, the conveyor belt system whereby seedlings start inside, go to the greenhouse, and eventually to the garden or allotment was stalled waiting for more warmth. Over the last weekend the sun returned, and since then I've been busy outside doing something or other every day - I've planted out some mizuna and cabbages, and the tulips have started to flower. Everything looks better when the sun shines.

After my walk to the wood last week, I've decided to stcik to the garden and not go out. It feels too risky. When the weather's nice I have plenty to occupy and exercise me here, or I can just sit in the sun. I'd rather do that than dodge the rest of the neighbourhood out for a walk.




I have managed to go out virtually though - a couple more Isolate Live shows, S T Manville and Frank Turner one evening, and Thom Worth and Tankus the Henge (the latter direct from beside a canal boat, which must be a quite fun place to be stuck for lockdown) - and for my birthday John Allen (left) livestreaming music from his home in Germany, followed by an evening trip to the (virtual) theatre.






I've noticed I'm becoming more lenient with myself over things I'd resolved to do, or not. Now does not seem to be the time to worry about eating too much - and when a neighbour brought chocolates for my birthday I ate them all in hardly any time at all. My birthday cake got eaten in one evening. Another (on another day) got eaten straight away too. It might, if you were being kind, be possible to blame sunshine and all the garden-digging for making me hungry, but I seem to have no willpower when it comes to eating 'treats'. I need to kick this habit before it becomes ingrained, and I put on a ton of weight during lockdown.
I've also broken my 'no new clothes' resolution. I saw some colourful trousers in a sale, and, yep, I bought them (arguing that they were a birthday present). They're bright and flowery, and were very cheap, but ... but ... but ... I feel like I'm acting too much on impulse, and not considering things enough. Is this some weird side-effect of lockdown and isolation?

Happy Lockdown Birthday

It was my birthday over the weekend, and, despite the lockdown and family not being able to visit, I was determined to make the best of it.




I actually started a couple of days early. A neighbour brought round some flowers and chocolates - leaving them on the doorstep and retreating to the end of the drive while they were picked up. Treating the chocolate box cautiously, I pulled off the plastic film-wrap, and then sat down and just ate them all (I don't normally eat much chocolate but seem to be craving it all the time at the moment)

For my birthday itself, I'd made plans ... but first I watched a video of grandson singing Happy Birthday (almost), chatted with my daughters, opened parcels (brought by delivery men) and a card, made by my eldest daughter and grandson, transferred electronically and printed down by my husband.




I'd already decided breakfast would be something other than the usual cereals - so, croissants (from the freezer) with jam, and coconut cream












I then took a long relaxing bath with some of the soap rose petals I'd received - aren't they beautiful? Almost too lovely to use.








But thought this present should wait till later in the day :)








It was already getting quite late for lunch even by our standards. Again, I decided it should be something a little different - a proper lunch-out sort-of meal with a mass of side salad - and accompanied by live music from German artist John Allen (via his Facebook page watched on the tv)

My evening plans included dinner (cooked by my husband, though he hadn't realised before) and a night at the theatre. Okay, more live streaming, but my youngest daughter suggested I put makeup and jewellery on make a proper night out of it. So, here I am looking a little greyer than usual because it hasn't seemed worth dying my hair when I'm seeing no one.

I made the effort to have a properly set table, and wine to accompany the food, a pasta dish similar to amatriciana, with bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms in a spicy sauce (it was only after serving it that OH realised he'd forgotten the mushrooms!)

Then we were off to the living room/theatre. The National Theatre regularly stream plays to cinemas, now they're streaming to our living rooms via their YouTube channel. Each play will be available for a week, and this first one is One Man, Two Guvnors, starring James Corden. It's an almost-slapstick, farcical kind of comedy, and not really my kind of theatre, but pretending I'd gone out was fun.

Part of my daughter's cunning plan was to have a (very) small amount of ice cream in the interval, as you might at the theatre,  but I settled for a quick, queue-free, dash to the bar to sample my present from her - Isle of Skye gin :)


Doing something different made the day feel special and memorable, and all in all it was much more enjoyable than I'd expected.

Three Birthday Lunches

Birthdays have to be celebrated in style, don't they? Or, failing style, substance. I went for the 'substance' route, with three birthday lunches - not all on the same day though, that would be greedy!

On the actual date I didn't feel in the mood to celebrate. There's been so much grief these past few months that I couldn't work up enthusiasm for anything fun, so I just let the day drift past.



As weekend arrived though my family seemed determined to cheer me up - and I'm pleased, though surprised, that it worked.

My first lunch was a small affair, a mere 'warm-up' for the weekend, of sandwiches and cream scones from the local shop. I had presents to open though, including a bodacious Bill and Ted 'Wyld Stallyns' t-shirt, my grandson demonstrated his first few steps, and we went out to the garden centre in the afternoon. Yes, that does sound rather quiet for me, so that evening we went to a Skinny Lister gig (more about this here)

Lunch #2 on Saturday was an all-family jaunt to Annie's Burger Shack in Derby. It's a newish place, opened last year in a converted chapel, and serves huge burgers - all available as meaty, veggie or vegan. Mine was a chicken Caribbean, washed down with Fentiman's Rose Lemonade, and followed by apple pie and ice cream. The apple pie is SO good that I wonder if I just order that next time ...




















It was the sort of meal out that leaves me thinking I might not need to eat for days but lunch #3 was waiting ...





Despite no longer living here in Derby my younger daughter always seems to know far more interesting places to eat than I do, so I asked her to pick where to go for our mother/daughter lunch, and she introduced me to this rather fantastic place - Cosy Club, Derby.
With William Morris wallpaper, framed prints hung on every available space, deep sofas and comfy armchairs it feels like a 'gentleman's club'.

I could have just sat and soaked up the atmosphere but it was lunchtime and we HAD come out to eat. Sandwiches again, but a triple-decker of chicken and smoked bacon, served with fries.






No alcohol as I was driving, but with a drink as pretty as this pomegranate-lemonade mix, who needs alcohol?







It turned out to be a wonderful weekend.

Now, somewhat sadly, it's time to test another of my birthday presents - a book of diet recipes.

Birthday week

We all like birthdays, don't we? Cake and presents, and cake, and possibly more cake. But I never quite think a single day of celebration is enough, especially when it's a huge round-number birthday as mine is this year. So I've managed (yet again) again to drag things out over a week or so.



To start, we packed the car with adults and baby grandson, and headed north to youngest daughter's flat for the first of my birthday lunches.  There's an odd mix of beverages on offer when everyone's gathered together but the cake looked more traditional - and tasted delicious.

On my actual birthday the rain came down, so elder daughter came round (with baby) and prepared 'high tea' for lunch - three sorts of delicate, crust-free finger sandwiches (including smoked salmon), with scones and cake to follow.  The only thing we lacked was a fancy cake stand to serve things on, and maybe some pretty china tea-cups would have looked better than mugs, but neither would have improved the taste :0














Next day, to prove its total disregard for the calendar, the sun came out. Although we had 'chores' to do, I managed to sneak a few hours outside at Allestree park on the edge of Derby. It's mainly laid to golf course but the walk around the lake is attractive, especially with blue sky reflecting in the water.

Still not finished with this birthday ... Friday evening saw us at Nottingham's JT Soar listening to George Gadd, Helen Chamber, She Makes War, and Ben Marwood.

Then at the weekend, my youngest daughter came home, and we had another day out - this time to Chatsworth.
















It's been a lovely week, and I think I've done quite well with my celebrating, but maybe now it's time to get back to normal ...