This Week ...

... we're promised sunny days and warmer temperatures so I'm hoping to be out and most days this week.

Entertainment & Socialising: 

If L is free we'll meet for lunch at a local farm café, and I hope to speak to J as well though I can't remember whether she's away this week or not. I have some books and gardening stuff to drop round to Joy so will be contacting her to arrange that, and I'd like to catch up my sister at some point ... now the Olympics have finished she will be back in the real world and I won't have to pretend to be interested in the results!

I've requested a seat at the local records office for Tuesday afternoon but that still has to be confirmed. They may offer a different date as they have to temporarily redact information in all the documents I have requested to view so may need more time to get the documents ready.

Online Classes & Talks: 

• Wednesday: Nutrition Club
• Thursday: Indian Cooking 
• Friday: Nutrition Focus

The Tai Chi classes aren't on as the instructor is on holiday so I will continue with my daily practice using the practice video

Health and Fitness:

Daily: a 30 minute walk, 30 minutes of Tai Chi, and 20 minutes of knee strengthening exercises. 

Home and Garden: 

Home: I'm decluttering one item a day for my August decluttering challenge and will update my list of items in tomorrow's post. This week I will be placing some more adverts on eBay and Gumtree but my priority has to be to make space in the music room as I need to be able to set up my laptop with a clear view of the piano keyboard ready for online lessons and I want to get that organised as soon as possible in case I need to get an external webcam. I also need to organise the piano music, although that shouldn't take too long.

Garden: It's up to me to look after the garden for the next next couple of weeks as M is on holiday. She'll be back on the 20th so I have to try not to kill anything before then!

  

Food: The supermarket delivery arrived on Saturday night so yesterday I did a bit of prep ready to do some bulk cooking today ... chilli, bolognese sauce, and chicken casserole to be portioned out and frozen. I'll also make some fishcakes, a couple to be cooked for lunch and the rest left uncooked for the freezer. 

End of Lockdown Adventures: 

• this week: a photo walk
• by the end of August: visit the Wilts Local History Centre (I've requested a date and time but am waiting for confirmation), and visit Caen Hill Locks
• within twelve months: complete a minimum of twelve items on my post lockdown wish list, aiming to complete at least one thing on the list in August. Possibilities for August include:
• a trip to the beach 
• visit The Hawk Conservancy
• visit Avebury or Stonehenge
• visit another National Trust property (but haven't decided which one yet!)

but as it is the school holidays, all of these places are likely to be busy so I may need to rethink.

and finally, Hobbies:

Reading: I'm reading a selection of drafts for a book; these are drafts of the same chapter written three different ways plus notes on character development, etc. This is for a friend who is planning to write his first book and he has asked four of us to read the drafts and discuss them with him via Zoom at a later date. So far, it's turning out to be a very interesting exercise.

Italian: 15 - 20 minutes daily practice

Piano: 30 minutes daily practice. The piano teacher phoned me on Saturday and we got on really well, chatting for 2.5 hours, and I will be starting lessons on September 7th. She is currently only offering online lessons which I'm happy with but as and when the Covid situation improves I will have the option to switch to face to face lessons or continue with online teaching, depending on what we both feel comfortable with. So that gives me a month to practice and prepare a selection of pieces for the first lesson - she's asked me to look at one or two pieces at each level from grade 1 onwards so she can assess my current level.