Making: Edamame Wild Rice Salad from Nadiya Hussain’s Time to Eat book. This is delicious with salmon and salad, it’s full of flavour

Cooking: tonight’s Meatless Monday dinner is going to be Jamie’s Feta and Courgette Fritters, we have a bunch of homegrown gifted courgettes to use. Recipe here

Drinking: Schweppes 1783 tonic in weekend G&Ts

Reading: Just started Platform Seven by Louise Doughty

Wanting: life to go back to normal

Playing: The Confession audio book by Jessie Burton

Deciding: what groceries to order for Wednesday’s delivery

Wishing: for an effective vaccine for all

Enjoying: the lovely weather

Waiting: to eat homegrown tomatoes

Liking: Pip’s Peachy Playlist on Spotify. Here

Wondering: if it’s way too late to buy and plant peas?

Loving: seeing all these photos from yesterday’s visit to Hidcote Manor Garden

Considering: whether to pick and ripen tomatoes inside or wait and wait and wait

Buying: Moshulu sandals in their sale

Watching: Killing Eve. We’re up to series 2 now. Behind on watching trends, as usual, isn’t it GOOD?!

Hoping: for a sunny birthday for a friend tomorrow

Marvelling: at some people’s interpretation of how to wear a mask

Cringing: at you know who and you know what – the chaos and mixed messages we hear on a weekly (daily?) basis

Needing: to meet up with groups of others, I miss being with groups of nice people

Questioning: when will this end?

Smelling: a curry plant somewhere in Hidcote garden yesterday, wow it was pungent!

Wearing: shorts

Following: Jamie Oliver, nice summer recipes

Knowing: I need to call the garage today about a small repair

Thinking: I need to buy a new handbag after the strap came unstitched suddenly in the garden yesterday

Admiring: people’s generosity in sewing face masks for their local community

Sorting: The (new) Little Room – soon. It’s on my list!

Getting: orange sticker bargains on a Sunday afternoon. It’s prime time I tell you! Sausages and turkey thigh mince which went straight on the BBQ and in the freezer yesterday

Bookmarking: recipes. Always. I make only a fraction of them!

Coveting: a long-handled baker’s razor

Disliking: smoke coming into the house on summer evenings

Opening: windows wide – it’s a lovely morning

Giggling: at Young Offenders. They are quite sweet really and I really like Mairead

Feeling: chilled

Snacking: not really snacking at the mo

Helping: when I can

Hearing: news on the radio right now

Mixing: socks! I looked down on Saturday when out for a walk and had odd socks on

Worrying: trying not to. It’s pointless

Slicing: onions and mushrooms for an impromptu Blacksticks Blue cheese sauce to go with steak last night

Celebrating: all the good things

Forgetting: not so much – iPhone reminders help

Winning: £3 on the Euro Millions lottery on Friday. Then stupidly paid £2.20 for one can of Diet Coke (daylight robbery and it’s actually horrible isn’t it?!)

Pretending: I’ll hoover today. I might not, but definitely this week

Sneaking: nothing, sorry

Embracing: only one person – Covid y’know. I miss hugging and kissing family and friends

All photos (apart from my salad pic!) are from a visit yesterday to Hidcote Manor Garden, a National Trust property.

—-

It’s a combination of well thought out and a kind of fingers-crossed-it’s-ok decision to go anywhere much at the moment, isn’t it?

We wondered what it would be like at Hidcote: following a one-way system around the garden, how many would be allowed in for each half an hour booking, would it feel fraught, rather than relaxed? Or should we be sticking to walking local footpaths where we aren’t generally meeting anyone?

I’m very glad we visited. It was good. Very nice to see the garden, to chat at a distance to other friendly visitors, to be able to use the cafe in takeaway style, look around the NT shop (10 people in at a time) and then picnic at one of the many benches under shady trees. I adore seeing proper tablecloths on picnic benches. These are large round tables too, which seat eight, so it’s somehow even more impressive that people do it and it looks so fancy.

If you’d like to see more photos from Hidcote I have written posts about visits there before: June 2014 and August 2015