Valentine's Day

Nellybert doesn’t do Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Easter, or Anniversaries. Sure we barely do Christmas. But that didn’t stop me from teasing Bert about my absent flowers and chocolates when I returned from the town. I even claimed that the pineapple I’d bought was his Valentine's gift. It’s a good choice for it’s sweet and lasts longer than flowers.

If it hadn’t been for Bert’s recent diabetes diagnosis I would have used the occasion to buy wine and chocolates (for us both) but he’s cutting down hard on confectionery and alcohol and so am I. The shop was packed, with lots of solitary males buying flowers, chocolate and even one with an air fryer in his arms. My kind of fellow.

Then they all decided to leave at once. The queues for getting out of the car park were horrendous. If it hadn’t been for three separate drivers, two male, and one female, waving me through at bottlenecks I’d be sitting there still. Today, I observed that the drivers least likely to give way to another motorist were young women. Still, lucky there was an interesting programme on Radio 4 on Snowdrops which helped pass the time for me.

So folks, another time to avoid Tesco – the afternoon of St Valentine’s Day. Trust me on this.

Bog standard snowdrops, of no interest to a galanthophile.

In Case You Were Wondering

 

Bert's Aunt is holding her own. The news comes third hand as no-one is allowed to visit. What happens next is out of our hands. 

I panicked and ordered Covid testing kits for Bert and me. We both tested negative.

Booking for the vaccination opened today for people in my age group. I secured an appointment for Sunday. The second jab is to be in April. After which I might be able to visit my darlings in Norfolk. Maybe. Fingers crossed.

The snowdrops are out and I am hopeful for longer days and milder weather.

Lizzie and me at Craig's Moss. I'm probably half the age I am today and Lizzie would be in her early sixties. We're all ready for a day of bagging turf. 

Emily Anne

Most people when compiling a family tree work backward as far as possible. I've only been able to get back as far as great-great-grandparents so I made up for that by going sideways and starting exploring the vast number of cousins, first, second and third. At the beginning of this week, there were 1158 of us. Now there are 1159. Our fourth grandchild came into the world yesterday and she is Emily Anne. There are several Marthas in the family and quite a few named James, three Evies but, so far, only one Emily.

Snowdrops will be Emily's flower.

Emily will be a lucky girl, blessed with a big brother and two loving parents who waited a long while to meet their children.

I am so looking forward to holding this beautiful dark-haired child.

Rice Krispie Buns

The girls had a sleepover last night and it was great fun. apart from the bit were they woke up at 6:30am. By this time they were both in my bed so, excuse any typos for I am exhausted. Martha came in about 2am, complaining that she "didn't like dogs walking on her hair". Judy and Jess both have a tendency to patrol the bedrooms during sleeping hours. Evie followed at around 4am.

I managed to persuade them to stay in bed another hour and after breakfast and baths we made Rice Krispie buns. It kind of defeated the purpose of baths, face-wise anyway. While the chocolate treats were hardening in the fridge they headed out for fresh air. Soon afterwards I heard Evie crying. I went to investigate.

What happened? Did you fall?
No. Marfa hit me.
Did you Martha? Come inside now. We need to talk about this.

We go inside. I notice that Evie looks a little red about the face. I ask,

Martha. Did you slap Evie's face?
No. I didn't. Because if I'd slapped her face my hands would be all chocolate and they're not.

And she held up her innocent, chocolate-free hands to prove her point. I had to admire her forensic reasoning.

So what did you do?
I hit her in the stomach.
Why?
She was trampling on the snowdrops.

So we had a talk about how snowdrops are really tough flowers and it didn't matter if Evie walked on them. And how it wasn't kind to hit her and then she said sorry to Evie and everything was OK.

So apart from that, and the getting up early and Evie getting 'touched' by the pigs we all had a wonderful time. Can't wait for the next sleepover.