Project 52 2020 week 36 – garden sunset
Week 36 of Project 52 brings the first week back at school, and a new routine. After 6 months since lockdown, N is loving being back at school, The downsides are it’s not sociable at all for parents, and pick up is carnage due to long queues with children being walked out to parents in a short timescale. We’re stuck with it until social distancing is over or til I’m no longer working from home, but it’s definitely great to be able to pick N up each day, then I just head back to work again.
Here’s this week’s round up.
Sunday was the morning of N’s tennis club’s fun junior tournament. It was parent and child, but he and the other stronger player partnered up. Due to numbers they only got to play 2 games, but it was a nice event and he enjoyed it. I had to speak to a few of the parents about the new club tennis team.
On Monday I defrosted the chest freezer. I seem to have mislaid the cable for the electric cool box which is going to be a problem next time we go camping. It took til about 2 for the whole thing to be fully defrosted and the ice removed. I cleared out some old meat and cooked it up for the dogs, and realised we’ve got a lot of frozen fruit to get through! It’s looking nice and empty now though, plus I’ve turned it down a little as I’m sure the temperature was way too low hence it getting so frozen up. We had a whole sinkful of ice before we dumped it outside. I also did a bit of sewing although it was a bit of an ambitious shaped pouch for a beginner. More practice needed and a more detailed tutorial needed for the zip and base part.
Tuesday we didn’t do much. Sorted out N’s stuff for school. Luckily his old trousers still fit for the moment because I’ve not been able to get any age 9-10 from M&S – we want slim fit regular leg, although could live with regular fit. It’s just way too many skinny styles. It seems since N was born we’ve always struggled to buy clothes in his size. He was born in a baby boom 18 months, but the shops don’t seem to have realised this as his size and next size up are always limited. They need to order in more of those sizes. I don’t really be wanting to buy uniform in May in case he has a huge spurt.
We had a nice evening stroll in the paddock with the dog – was lovely to take some photos of her and N amongst the thistles.
It was also the day when I hit my best ever annual views on the blog, beating last year’s traffic. I can’t believe I’ve done it so far ahead of Christmas, as that’s usually the boost I need to get the increase year on year. Thanks to everyone who reads the blog.
Wednesday was back to school. My car was being picked up for service and MOT so N went to morning club, but needn’t have done as the pick up lady was an hour late. The car needed a part to fix a warning light error, so it didn’t arrive back till 6pm. Luckily we’ve enough vehicles on the farm so I had to drive the ancient Discovery for school pick up. That was interesting trying to reverse park that beast. I’ve not reverse parked since March in my own car as have just been doing street parking when going to shops, and parking at home is just pull up anywhere.
I did get confused as I sent N in with packed lunch, even though I’d ordered school lunches for him. When I ordered the lunches online, there was an ‘incorrect’ option in for the Tuesday, so I had got it in my head that the first day we’d been unable to order so he needed packed lunch. Oops. His lunch came back home the next day.
On Thursday not much happened. Just work and school again. It’s a bit strange just being on my own in the house all day working. I made Anzac biscuits because I wanted something sweet but we didn’t have anything in. I love those when an Aussie work colleague brings them in and they’re really easy to bake.
Friday was a short working day. It’s going to get a bit manic soon because I’m taking on some new additions to my role, but hopefully it’ll be manageable if I can move some of my usual work on to the more junior members of the team, as we’re now at full complement.
The evening was a catch up tennis lesson from a rain cancelled session. N was the only one there 15 minutes in, but they did all arrive. One talked through the whole session which frustrates N (the coach was finding it testing too). N really wants to learn in tennis, and over the years we’ve had kids who don’t want to do what they’re told, cause delays and just come to socialise, which makes it hard for the coaches and other children who are there to learn. It wastes so much time. Maybe the parents need to come and watch – either they’d not be impressed with the behaviour, or he’d behave better. I’d be fuming if N wasn’t doing as he was told at lessons I was paying for.
On Saturday we needed to head into town, properly into the town centre for the first time since March. I got my watch battery replaced, although not my fitbit which has a faded unreadable screen. I think they’ll end up again giving me a discount on a new replacement one. I love Fitbits, but they never last more than a couple of years which is frustrating. We did the bakery and I finally posted my best friend’s daughter’s birthday present.
The rest of the day I spent trying to finalise the tennis team for the first match. We have 4 players for every match so far. But now the club is moaning that the home match might clash with the adult mixed team fixtures which they haven’t got yet. So frantically trying to see if I can switch that too. It always seems really rushed, but hopefully will all come together ok. And with a team of mostly new to competition players, it’s going to be a challenge to keep everyone motivated – we’ve been put in a division section with 2 A teams when we usually play their B or C teams. So I need to make sure they know it’s fun and for the experience, so noone gets overwhelmed.
This week’s project 52 photo is of the sunset over the garden on Friday.
This week’s posts:
My boys love Anzac biscuits too! Our neighbour made some for a takeoff during lockdown and she came second place, she has shared her recipe with us so will have to give it a try. Gorgeous sunset picture! Your garden always impresses me.
I’m glad N is loving being back in school, must be such a relief, great you can do the school runs also. I’ve had a good clear out of the fridge and freezer on my return also. I really struggled with school trousers for my boys from the age of around 10 till they were 14
Stunning sunset!
I find that at karate too….some kids come and mess around and just come to socialise…. the instructors are pretty good though at reigning them in.
Frustrating isn’t it, when you’re paying. When I popped down this week it was a much bigger group again (from 3 up to 8). And there were girls there – didn’t hear a peep from the boy. So seems tat’s probably sorted it out – not good to have such a large group again though)
What a gorgeous sunset! Well done on your blog views record.
Wow that sunset is gorgeous. We have only made the transition back to school this week and wholeheartedly agree with the issues around picking up and dropping off! I really would like a chest freezer as I find ours is not big enough to store everything from the garden this year
Great that N’s enjoying school, however annoying it may be, and his tournament went well. I can relate to not finding the perfect size when I was 11 and we had to go shop after shop to find the few shoes that fit. Congrats on the peak in traffic! Good luck in managing the matches. Lovely pic of the sunset
Spectacular pinks of the sunset! Sounds like N is enjoying going back to school. Our pick-up and drop-off times are also confusing. You have to arrive precisely to the minute, and the crowds outside the school gates aren’t bothering with masks or social distancing.
I’m trying to think what Anzac biscuits taste like, I think I have tried them years ago, but wouldn’t know the recipe.
Anzac biscuits are oats and coconut based. Sooo delicious.
Wow, that’s a beautiful sunset. Glad the back-to-school routine went ok. It must be annoying if the kids come to chat rather than focus on their tennis skills !
It’s hard to know what to do, whether to ask the coaches to do something or the parents when we see them.
It sounds like the return to school went well.
What a beautiful sunset. x