Sixteenth week of quarantine

The last week was about as hectic as all the previous ones. The main activity was harvesting the Morello cherries and making jam. Unfortunately, unlike in most previous years, we didn't quite prepare for this as well as we could have. The misfortune originated in our kind friends and neighbours stopping the supermarket shopping for us some weeks before it became obvious that we don't really have enough sugar and jamfix (pectin). Also, the jamfix was at least one year old, as we only had the amount that was left over the previous year.

He can carry a ladder now

As a result of this I was trying to minimise the quantities of sugar and pectin, not realising that the jamfix was 2:1 not 3:1. In the past we only boiled the fruit with the sugar and pectin for 3 minutes, and this preserved its colour, texture and all the vitamins in it. This year we had a disaster. None of our jam set. Not only it didn't set, but it was liquid, I have never seen anything like it. So, we had to reboil it, during which we ran out of pectin but eventually we ended up with 27 little bottles of jam, which we are still to taste.

Muggins on the ladder

Another loss in this was that the quantities went drastically down, as a big percentage of the jam evaporated. I think it would have been over 40 bottles and then at the end we managed to burn some of it. I, being thoroughly fed up, turned the gas up, hoping that it will boil faster and it started burning. Thankfully, only 3 bottles are like that and we will make sure we'll keep those for ourselves. Interestingly, all this boiling got the colour almost black and I suppose the taste and texture would have suffered as well with all this extra sugar. If it is too sweet or two dense, it will last for a long time. I suppose that's the only advantage, that a little will go a long way with all that sweetness.

Into the pot they go

The Wagner series have carried on last week, although one, The Mastersingers of Nuremburg, I ended up ditching as the reception was dreadful and I had a phonecall in the middle of it. The other two, The Flying Dutchman and Tannhauser were superb, a very lovely experience and I am now on the prowl for finding copies of all the other Wagner operas on YouTube or anywhere else where I don't have to pay.

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We are now well known to all the mobile shops, so when we don't hear it first, they hang around, play a bit more music and we usually end up rushing out. This last week, we spent a lot of time in the back garden, which is 150 metres long, so no wonder we did miss one or two, but we caught them up the next time. Now the system had settled down to Greengrocers (2) on Mondays and Fridays, Baker daily, mobile grocery store daily, butcher Thursdays and household goods Wednesdays. Good system and while I can cope without going to the supermarket 20 miles away, I will.

The first batch of jam jars

Unfortunately, the grass is growing like buggery, so very soon we will have to go and get some petrol for the tractor and the petrol mower.  Talking of which, Roy managed to mend it. He is an absolute wizard when it comes to tinkering with anything mechanical/electrical/or just made of metal. Unfortunately, while it pulls, it does not pull as hard as it used to. However, on the short, but very steep bits, Roy helped me, as he is so mobile now that he can even do a bit of mowing.

Roy movint the dustbins

Talking of Roy, he is a bit more tetchy now than before. He is impatient for getting really better. I think he has done extremely well. The accident was 7 weeks ago and he can now walk, climb stairs, mow the grass, cook, wash up etc. However, he is still in some discomfort in his abdomen, his right thigh is still tingling and he gets very tired quite quickly. Personally, I think this will all sort itself in a few months' time, because at his age such a big and nasty fall does take that long to recover from.

Port and palinka at the end of jam making

Needless to say, as soon as I can face the big city, I will take him for a thorough checkup at our favourite private clinic, but not yet. His ankles are swollen again, which worries me a bit, but he insists that it is OK. I don't want conflict, but once we can travel safely, I will convince him to go to the clinic with me.

Late, very ripe Morellos for eating

The really big good news is that it looks as if we are going to get our cruise deposit (£750) back. You may recall that the last bit of advice I had from Leigh was that after she put our deadline for paying the balance for the cruise off by 5 days, if nothing happens before she promised to ring. And then one day before the deadline I got the e-mail that Royal Caribbean had cancelled our cruise. I tried to apply for a repayment of the deposit, as we didn't want to rebook or put it off until next year, but the website did not cooperate. I had to ring Bolsover Cruise Club again, and finally they admitted that the RC website had a bug and they would do it for us. I hoped that they would say that, and in fact would have preferred that in the first place. It will take up to 60 days, so around the end of August hopefully, we'll have the money back. I am not celebrating yet, I'll believe it when I see it.

Two-tone rose on the shady side of the courtyard

We had two birthdays in quick succession: first Elian's on 24th June, and then Stephen's on 2nd July. In fact that hasn't happened yet, but I sent my present to him a few days ago and he confirmed that he has got it. I do hope that he finds a job soon, but in the meantime he sounds positive and really felt on a high after his 200 mile bikeride on the previous Saturday.

And finally, the builders have arrived, after several months of delay, to make us a brand new back gate. It'll cost about £550, but it will be very strong, made of solid iron and the posts will be concreted into the ground to almost 3ft depth. Gyula had turned up the other day and mended the broken waterpipe to the barn, so they can get their water there and Roy discovered that the electricity didn't work either, but he fixed that. After that Gyula dug the holes, but today, unfortunately, nobody turned up for starting the concreting, which is a shame as the weather forecast is for rain for the rest of the week. We'll see. Considering that this project has been on the books for more than 8 months, a day or two will not make much difference at all.

Fusilli, toms, feta, basil, oregano, olive oil and lemon juisce

On Sunday I found the organic healthfood shop's website and ordered lots of stuff again. Vitamins, my probiotic, nuts, dried fruits, radish seeds for growing seedlings etc. Unfortunately, they had something not in stock yet again. After my Vitamin D drops, which were out of stock last time, but thankfully, just before they will run out I could order  this time, they didn't have my favourite oat milk. Unfortunately that will make us go to Tesco or Lidl soon, because my stocks are definitely dwindling.

Cornflakes, oat milk, our own Morello cherries and cashewnuts

Apparently, the whole order is coming tomorrow, I just had the e-mail advising me.  Let us hope it arrives. Bloody shame that Tesco does not deliver this far, otherwise my life would be totally organised. Also my birthday is coming up in the middle of the month and Roy and I decided that provided the weather is suitable we will go out for a bit of a drive and to find a geocache somewhere, followed by a meal at a restaurant in the country. We'll see! (Said the blind man!)

The Mummy cactus

Fifteenth week of quarantine

This last week was pretty busy again, although we both had some aches and pains on and off for a few days. Both of us started violently sneezing one day. Then Roy started having joint pains. I had them too, but that is not newsworthy as I had them since I was 9 years old. Last night I felt pretty shitty with my digestion and Roy wasn't sleeping very well or long either. God knows what is wrong, but I suppose you can blame stress for everything. Let us hope it doesn't last long.

Physio exercises on Mike's bench

The good things that happened last week were the following:
1. Roy is getting stronger and more and more mobile.
2. I started watching Wagner free online and they were (and sill are) brilliant.
3. We carried on with the physio exercises and Roy is finding them easier and easier.
4. Finally got through to Leigh at the cruising agents and she will be ringing me back tomorrow.
5. Stephen did a 200 mile bikeride which I followed online all day and it was fascinating.
6. Roy managed to free the back wheels of the big petrol mower, so even though its drive no longer works, I can at least drag it backwards.
7. I read Alex's excellent article on the Great Depression.
8. Listened to Alan's next instalment on the English Revolution.
9. Did two lots of mowing, once with the petrol mower, once with the tractor.
10. Discovered an interesting series on Netflix and am watching it.
11. We harvested the Germersdorfer cherries and they were gorgeous.

My local lawnmower mechanic

The bad things that happened last week were the following:
1. The greengrocer failed to turn up with my dill that he promised.
2. There was a lot of rain, which curtailed our wanderings outside, ruined the roses and made the grass grow very fast.

A new rose

Snowhite

As you can see, the balance was very much on the positive side. The lack of dill didn't matter terribly, because finally the greengrocer turned up yesterday with the dill and I managed to save the marrow until today, plus if all else failed, I could have used my own dill, which is while not very tall yet, it's  usable by now. The rain, yes, that was a bit of a pain, but at least the ground started to have its water content replenished after months and month of drought. Eventually in small breaks in the rain I managed to cut most of the grass and after deadheading the roses, the courtyard looked quite nice and some new roses grew in other parts of the garden.

Stephen having a rest enroute to Cromer

Treck data

As I have written above, Roy is getting ever so good at his exercises and generally is much more mobile and agile. He uses his stick now only on stairs/steps or if he is very tired. Otherwise he is running around, doing cooking, washing up and walking unaided. That is brilliant, takes a lot of the pressure off me and makes me really happy too. Roy was also doing some DIY, which didn't result in a repair, but he freed the wheels and also had fun doing DIY for the first time since his accident.

The star event of the week was undoubtedly Stephen's gigantic bikeride, although one or two of the Wagner operas had given it a tight competition. Stephen cycled from Hassocks in West Sussex to within a few miles of Cromer in Norfolk. It took him from 5:15am to 9:45pm. He had a lovely support team in Flo, his lodger and Hannah, his girlfriend. Both the girls have joined him on their bikes for part of the ride and 200 miles or 323km was covered in those hours.

Irene Theorin as Brünnhilde in The Twilight of the Gods

The Wagner operas (all 7 of them) are put on by the Palace of the Arts in Budapest and they were Das Rheingold, The Valkyries, Siegfried and The Twilight of the Gods. There are three more this week, The Meistersingers tomorrow, The Flying Dutchman on Friday and Tannhauser on Saturday. They have brilliant casts and some especially fine singers. These 7 are my practice at acquiring the taste for Wagner, and I am pretty sure it is working. I am quite a devotee of Wagner by now.

The nurses in Netflix's Love in Time of War

The Netflix series that I am watching at the moment is called: Morocco, Love in Time of War. It is Spanish and there are 13 episodes. Currently I am in the middle of the 4th episode. Both the script and the acting is crap, but it is set in a place at a time that I know absolutely nothing about, so I am watching it for getting to know at least a bit about the Rif War between the Spanish state and the rebels in Morocco.

The final Germersdorfer cherry crop

Another star event was harvesting our first decent Germersdorfer cherry crop. As it wasn't much, we have eaten them all. And anyway, I do not like cherry jam, as I find it sickly. While eating them fresh, straight off the tree is a real treat. Talking of cherries, our Morello cherry trees are producing a reasonable crop this year, so hopefully by this coming weekend at the latest we will have a good few little jars of Morello cherry jam in the cupboard. Because Morellos are not at all sweet, even sour, the jam made from them is delicious and not at all sickly. I can't wait!!

Morellos waiting to be made into jam

The English Revolution is still rumbling on, although Alan has just got to the exciting bit, like the mob rampaging through the streets of London and several of the king's ministers having their heads chopped off. What I really love, is not only the marvellous account of the history of revolution in England, but the way he relates it to events today, showing that very little changes over the centuries, except hopefully, the 21st century mob would have learnt from the mistakes that those of the 17th century participants made and not make them again.

Muggins tractoring (again)

And finally, I managed to find time to print and read Alex's article on the Great Depression. It was superb. It flowed beatifully, easy language and style, very informative, but accessible all the same. I have learnt a lot,  as I have never been particularly knowledgeable about the 17th century in any country.

Cellar and Farmhouse (to the left), Bunkhouse (to the right)

Salmon roses

I have to go and do the washing up, and as a good little housewife that the lockdown made me into, I mustn't leave it to tomorrow morning.

Fourteenth week of quarantine

All our weeks are busy, but this was definitely hectic.On the day of my last post I suddenly had a phone call from Kati, my friend in the village. She had to dash to Hatvan for something and thougth she might as well shop for us at Tesco. That was brilliant, and it put off the day we might have to go shopping in Hatvan off by at least a week, if not more.

My two-tone beauty

The second half of last week was thankfully warm and dry, so I managed to do the bulk of the outstanding mowing. Did some at the lower half of the back garden, where the tractor can't get to. Then on another day I did the courtyard and in front of the house. I couldn't do Nelly's bit, as Andris's car was on it. I did that later in the week when I spotted her struggling with her pathetic little mower and did it in a few minutes. The last bit that was left, was the Kotege and round the fruit trees.

Cherries on my Germersdorfer cherry tree

Talking of fruit trees, this year's crop, if not outstanding, should be pretty good. Three trees (apricot, early cherry and the new pear) suffered from a late frost in April, and have nothing or very little, but the others are OK. Currently we are eating the Germersdorfer cherries, usually with breakfast and are trying to beat the birds to them. Tomorrow I will need the ladder as the lower ones left are still unripe, but there are plenty of ripe ones high up.

Green plums

The back gate has taken a holiday, as Gyula put his back out and we are awaiting his recovery, so he can do the welding, being the only welder on the team. I gave him a ring, which he was most touched at and he sounded like he was in pain.

Morello cherries getting ripe

On Saturday I watched Stephen's new gig, which was absolutely brilliant and sent £20 again, as it was worth it. And one has to show willing to support the struggling comedy club and stand-up industry. Another brilliant performance was from Alan Woods, in his 8th instalment of the History of the English Revolution. I love listening to that man, whatever he is talking about. Some thought that he has an academic style, but I think that he has a delivery that is just right: mixture of fascinating facts, excellent analysis and fair amount of humour too.

One of my apples growing nicely

Talking of Alan, I have come across some further entertainment, totally by accident, but enjoyed it tremendously. I have read on FB that the Palace of the Arts is repeating online a series of Wagner operas from 2015. Knowing that Alan is very fond of Wagner, I sent a Messenger message to Ana, his wife, with the link and she wrote back, thanking me and then inviting me to a Zoom meeting of the British section of the IMT, which is a celebration of them reaching 500 comrades in the UK. And, you have guessed it, one of the principal speakers was Alan, which gave me some more enjoyment.

Alan lecturing from his own study

Returning to the topic of mowing, I am very sad to report, that unless Roy manages to mend it, the larger of the two petrol mowers is kaput. The drive packed up and on a fairly steep hill that we have, it makes it unusable. It still mows, but it needs pushing and uphill in our garden that is way beyond my strength. Unfortunately, with all the rain we have had this last week, the grass is growing really fast again, so I will have to improvise and try to use the smaller one in the back garden too, but that will only wreck that as well, if I know my luck.

Roy repairing the Hoover

Have you noticed that in the lockdown, more than normal number of things break down, go wrong, break, get stuck etc.? Just a few examples from our household: dead car battery, Hoover, Petrol mower, the burners on the cooker hob and my bedside lamp. Most can be mended, but not all. And then in addition, while trying to fiddle with the mower on the Kotege patio, we noticed lots of broken and slipped tiles on the back of the Farmhouse.

Csaba on the roof

Thankfully, Csaba, a local was available on Sunday to come and replace them. We are lucky that we always overbuy things like tiles, so we still have a couple of packs of them, but sooner or later the complete replacement of the tiles on the Farmhouse is going to be necessary. They have been up for 21 years, I was hoping that they last a bit longer than that.

On the shopping front, other than Kati doing a bit of shopping for us in Hatvan Tesco and the mobile grocer calling right though the week, I have discovered a greengrocer, who comes on Mondays and Fridays. We have had bad experiences with mobile greengrocers, the last one sold Roy such a dud bag of potatoes, that more than half of it went in the bin. However, this guy is good, has high quality stuff, (albeit at rather high prices) and a good, wideranging choice. Currently we are having strawberries on our conflakes and, of course, our own cherries as well.

Today Germersdorfer cherry crop

On the food front, we are still loaded up with lots of food and Roy can have anything he wants, as I like to feed him well, so that he can recover well. One big boo boo I made during the last week, was to set the fridge in the Bunkhouse to 5 and some vegetables that have been stored there froze. Unfortunately the courgettes suffered and we had to throw away about three quarters of them. On the other hand, my three large red Californian peppers, while rock hard, after thowing out roasted to perfection for Sunday lunch. I think I discovered something that I might carry on with.

Roy's favourite tarja with pineapple and mushrooms

Roy is still very fond of his tarja with pineapple, which is pretty close to his favourite: gammon and pineapple. I am carrying on with making my tea from fresh mint and lemon balm, and am enjoying it very much.

The new, harder, exercises finally arrived and we started on them yesterday. Roy is finding them quite a lot harder, but is persevering, while I watch him not to overdo it. The last couple of days both of us had something wrong, we started sneezing and Roy complained of being tired. It's possible that he found the new exercises extra hard, because he was a bit out of sorts. Today, I am glad to say we have almost ceased sneezing and had a better night too.

My beloved Kristóf with friends that got cancelled

I have also put on a fight this week for getting our money back that we are entitled to, but both outfits are dragging their feet over. The first was the Music Academy, which posted on its website that the audience of all cancelled concerts will have the cost of their tickets automatically refunded. I was patient, but after about a couple of months I started chasing them. Apparently, they have notified the bank to make the refund, but there are so many, that the bank is overwhelmed.  Likely bloody story! Although knowing the banks in these parts (inefficient, discourteous and hellishly expensive with it), I am not surprised.

Rhapsody of the Seas that we won't be going on

The other outfit was Royal Caribbean, the cruise company, that have taken our deposits for our August cruise with Alex, Meaghan and Callum, and unlike the vast majority of the industry, refuses to cancel the trip that they know full well that they will have to. I have finally managed to get hold of our agent and she assures me that the option of losing the deposit is not on the table. We can have our booking shifted to the same cruise next year, or transferred to another cruise with the same company or another one I can't now remember, but if we wait it out and should the company cancel, then we can have the money back. Even if by then decide to have any of the earlier options, we can. She will ring again next week and we will see what happens.

Afternoon nap in the rearranged lounge

And then I left the main event of the last seven days to last. Roy had been very comfortable on the settee ever since his accident, but lately started complaining that it is too narrow. He wants to move his legs and can't for lack of space. So, muggin's ended up carrying his entire bedframe, complete with headboard, a large and heavy mattress and the slats all the way round the house, (through the patio door into the back garden, then down the andesite steps and in through the front door downstairs) into the lounge downstairs. We found a brilliant place for it and now we are really comfortably ensconced there for the duration.

The rearranged lounge

Upcoming excitments next week will include the Wagner series of operas free online, starting tomorrow with the Rheingold, and Elian's birthday next Wednesday. Poor poppet can't have a party and the present he really wants is not yet available. Both Elian and Xander are mad about Brighton and Hove Albion and we have already bought them a summer kit when we saw them in February. Now they want the new kit, but it might not be out for another week. Still, Elian is a sensible little chap and accepted the fact, that if he wants that kit, he'll have to wait. I have booked a Messenger slot on his birthday and am looking forward to it.

Das Rheingold at the Palace of the Arts

The other bit of news re: grandsons, is that Xander was observed by some big wig in football while playing and he was amazed at his skill level. As it happens, I wasn't surprised, because in the last set of little videos that Lucy sent, there was a long line of ball control from him, including getting round a defender and never losing control of the ball, that was masterly. I said to Roy then, that he must be years ahead with those tricks, and now a pofessional says the same. Genius kid, and in many aspects of his little life.  Ahhhhhh!!

Xander and Elian in the park

Roy is having his afternoon nap and I am off to read Bryson's Made in America. Taraaa!!

Thirteenth week of quarantine

Roy exercising

After our last shopping by Viola and István was put into quarantine, we had to think how to preserve that rather large amount of food. On Thursday, we sorted stuff and all the meat, except the smoked tarja, was frozen, and so were the surplus loaves of rye bread, some veg and all but one pack of my butter. As the freezer was still pretty full in the main house, all the meat got frozen in the Bunkhouse fridge^freezer. A lot of the cool stuff stayed there as well, only the most important and urgent stuff got as far as the Farmhouse fridge.

Jacket potatoes for lunch

There was no sign of the tripod stick for Roy and mysteriously, the £18.75, having initially appeared on the statement, disappeared, only to be found in the "pending" folder. Obviously they thought better of it and gone ahead checking up the Czech outfit we bought it from. Finally, it reappeared on the statement and it became a clickable item, which it wasn't before. On Friday, I got an e-mail saying it would probably come on Monday, which it did. Roy took to it straight away, although everybody thinks that he has it set to too low. He insists that that height is the correct one as it gives him the least pain.

Glorious pink rose in the courtyard

We carried on with the physio and it seems that for one reason or another, the pattern is now every other day. Later on in the week Roy started visibly enjoying it, so now I have to keep him under control, otherwise he would overdo it (again).The physiotherapist young woman, who is helping us online, has come up with another set of exercises and these are much more suitable for him. We are slowly increasing the load, but only very carefully and by stages.

My happy chappie

Friday was significant for another reason too. I heard nothing from the hospital, and as I would have liked an acknowledgement of my e-mail sent earlier in the week, I started checking up on it. Needless to say, that Yahoo had done the dirty on me again, and I found it in the draft folder. So I sent it again, hoping that I would hear. There was nothing over the weekend, but I rang again on Tuesday and had a verbal assurance that everything was OK. A few days later the confirmatory e-mail arrived as well, so let us hope that that was the last I heard of this.

Glorious yellows

We did some physio again, which Roy seems to be more and more enjoying. I listened to Alan's lecture on the English Revolution and this time we have now got up to the very beginning of the fighting, which will take me into territories I know something about. Still, Alan's analysis is putting such a brilliant light on all aspects of this revolution, that it seems to me that I have never known it at all.

Port for her, pálinka for him

Sunday was a good day in terms of cooking. Roy had a pork chop with garlic, wrapped in tin foil and roasted in the oven, with roast potatoes, beetroot, steamed carrots and cauliflower. I had the same, except I had roast Californian peppers instead of the pork. While cooking the roast, I made a couple of 1 litre bottles of lecsó for later to be had with some meat or egg.

Modelling the latest fashion in Bér

On Monday the roses have really started opening up and I did a fair amount of photographing in the courtyard. I also managed to get hold of somebody from the cruise club to find out what's happening with our deposits. She told me that there is still no news from Royal Caribbean, but if I rang back on the 17th or 18th, they should know by then. Well, that is leaving it rather close to our due date for the balance of the payment on the 19th. Let us hope something will happen in the meantime, although we are both prepared to lose the deposit. And even if they cancel, I am sure they will only give us a credit note and I can't see us ever using it.

The white beauty

The tripod arrived on Monday morning and Roy took possession of it with joy. It is really a marvellous gadget as the three little legs make it really safe and it provides security. As I mentioned above, several people said that it was too low, but I am sure that we can trust him to adjust it to where it is the most comfortable for him. Admittedly, I will have to keep a close eye on him, that he doesn't take up a weird, unbalanced gait, as that would be unadvisable in the long term. But he is so keen to be properly mobile again, that I'm sure, as soon as the pain subsides, he'll be back to his normal posture.

Muggins on the tractor (again)

On Tuesday I decided that the grass was growing too fast, as there have been showers almost every day and during the night. I got on the tractor, but seem to have forgotten everyting since the last time. Roy came out to the gazebo and gave me instructions when needed. Since then, unfortunately, the weather turned very wet, so the rest of the mowing has to wait. I looked at the Germersdorfer cherry tree and it will have a really good crop this year. Hopefully, they will get ripe and I can harvest them before all the birds descent on it.

Lemon balm and mint

Another marvellous thing from the garden is the mint and lemon balm patch. It is now very high and I drink a litre of mint and lemon balm tea made from these two armoatic herbs. It beats expensive herbal teabags and is totally organic. The other day I also had to do some shopping from the mobile grocer, as Roy's bread, crisps and milk had run out. As there was an outbreak of COVID-19 in a nearby village, I thought I'd better road test the snazzy looking facemask the village social services provided us with. Since then I had a lot of FB friends clicking like and writing that it looks cool.

Looking for parts and bolts

The errant Hoover and Roy

Today Roy showed another aspect of his recovery. He is really desperate to be normal and do his usual chores. The Hoover had got broken and while it is quite easy to mend it for someone as ingenous as Roy, he had his doubts if he could get to his workshop. I didn't push him, as we have another vacuum cleaner, although I prefer the Hoover.

Big green lizard

And then, he insisted that we do it together, based on Mike's bench, which is just next to the workshop door. And he mended it!! He is such a brilliant DIY person. Very rarely does any repair job beat him. I kept an eye on him and tidied up after him, but it was fun and now I have my beloved, albeit seriously ancient Hoover back.

The two jars of lecsó

While we were sitting outside on the bench, we saw a very large, very green and extremely pregnant looking lizard. Unfortunately, he was closer to the camera and the picture wasn't very good. I have never seen one that big, but I am fairly sure that it was a lot wider than normal. It is currently hiding in the high weeds between the roses, so I'm really pleased that I have not got to that rosebed yet and now I will not bother.

The queen of all the roses

We had the lecsó for lunch today. Roy had it with a few slices of tarja, which is smoked pork shoulder and it tastes a bit like bacon. I had it with a couple of hard boiled eggs and we both had boiled potatoes with it. The sun has now come out, but unfortunately it is now too late to start mowing. I do hope we get one warm and dry and preferably windy day this week, as then the grass might get dry enough for mowing it.

The proud tripod hussar