Monday 2 March 2020

Last of February, First of March

The end of a month and the start of a new one often feels a bit like a mini new year to me; I have written about this a few times before here on my blog.
Maybe this is even more so when February ends and March begins, because the 1st of March is considered the meteorological start of sping. It also happens to be the start of my birthday month, and it usually means more flowers and longer daylight in my area.

On Saturday morning, my sister picked me up early so that we'd get some more work done at my parents' allotment, preparing for handing it over to whoever will come to enjoy it next, now that my family can not keep it any longer.

There were only the two of us, so that heavy gardening work was out of the question. Instead, we focused on the hut, mainly sorting through the "upstairs" bit and generally making it more presentable. Now that the black bin bags that were filled with rubbish from the garden and the hut were gone, we put a pretty wax cloth on the table in front of the hut, instantly giving it a more friendly and cheerful look. If only it were closer to home; we'd have so loved to keep it.


We did what was feasible to do in about a couple of hours, and finished still well before lunch time. The weather was dry, and we decided we deserved a walk - maybe for the last time in the beautiful countryside there.

You have seen many pictures of the area around the allotment, of the woodland and hills, fields and the small village on the opposite side of the valley.


By the time we were back at the allotment, the sun was out, as you can see in the first picture of this post. We were hungry and took our sandwiches and thermos flask of tea to the bench by the pond. Amazingly, the goldfish have not only survived, but even produced young ones, although nobody has been feeding them for months and months. We do hope that the new owners will keep the pond and not ask us to remove it before they take over!

Most of what is inside and around the hut - furniture, crockery, tools etc. - is meant to go to the new owners, if they want it. But we took some personal items back to our parents after we locked up, and were rewareded with coffee and freshly baked cake. Speaking of baking, our Mum mentioned that she'd almost run out of flour, and we agreed to buy some for her, as we were headed towards the supermarket anyway.

And can you believe it - the flour shelf was completely empty!! People have been "hamstering" basic food items such as flour and pasta for the past few days here, all because of corona. I wonder what makes them think they will indeed use up all that flour - do they really believe they'll be baking their own bread or making their own pasta? Or is it all going to end up cluttering their storage cupboards at home until eventually it will all be thrown out after reaching its sell-by date?

Honestly, I do not think there will be a serious shortage of food in this country due to corona. I know there are already shortages of supplies or product parts from other countries, such as China, needed to make mobile phones, motors and other items, but not food.


Back to a nicer topic:
It was the fourth anniversary of O.K. and my first meeting, and he brought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers:


Originally, we had planned to go out for dinner, but the weather turned nasty in the evening, and so we decided to stay home, starting off our meal of salad and arancini with a glass of champagne, and sharing a bottle of red wine with the meal itself.


Sunday morning came round with plenty of sun and blustery winds. We walked about 14.5 km altogether, over to the town of Asperg and its castle on the hill, also featured several times on my blog.



On the way back, we stopped at a café that is also a popular spot on Sundays for buying cake to take home, which is what we did. After big pieces of cake late afternoon, neither of us was very hungry in the evening, and so it was just a light meal before O.K. had to pack and drive home. By that time, the weather had turned nasty again, with rain and high winds, making the drive rather tiring. But O.K. reached his cottage just after 10:00 pm; it is always a relief when he texts me and I know he's home safe and sound.

Let me finish this post with a picture of Thursday afternoon; this was the view from my client's office building after the blizzard. You can already see how wet the snow was from the shiny surface of the road; when I left work about an hour later, it had all turned into rain and no snow was left.


I wonder if that was it for this season, or whether there will be a bit more snow before March (and possibly April) is over.

25 comments:

  1. A lot of nostalgia involved in clearing out and selling a house or property with lots of memories attached...

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    1. We are all sad to let the allotment go, but thankfully, both my parents are still around, so it is not quite as hard as when we had to clear out my grandparents' house after my grandmother's death. For my Mum, that house was her childhood home, and for us, it held many happy childhood memories.

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  2. It's sad to have to give up an allotment but there comes a time one has to. I was on a waiting list for an allotment for years, but when I got to the top I decided it was too late.

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    1. It is the only sensible thing to do in our situation, as it probably was for you. I am sure someone else was very happy to move to the top of the waiting list when you decided to pull out.

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  3. Congratulations on the four years!! Lovely bouquet.

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    1. Thank you! Yes, it is beautiful, and makes my kitchen smell of spring.

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  4. It's sad to give up an allotment and a bitter-sweet experience sorting through possessions but your parents will have their happy memories.

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    1. That's true, and it is nice to think of how happy the new owners will hopefully be there.

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  5. Over all the years we've been blog friends your family allotment has played an important part. so it is sad to see it go even for us.

    I congratulate O.K. on choosing a very beautiful bouquet indeed.

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  6. It is sad to get the allotment ready to go after having it in your family for such a long time. We went through similar feelings with both my parents home and my husband's parents home. It can be hard to see things go that have been a part of your life. Your parents are fortunate to have you and your sister to help out with the house. As you said, the new owners will be happy to get such a nice home that has been well loved.

    Congratulations on your fourth anniversary! The flowers O.K. brought you are beautiful. I hope you have a wonderful week!

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  7. Four years! Where has it gone? I love the flowers!! O.K did OK!!
    People hoarding flour! That is sad, I know that I have heard the same thing happening here. Please say hello to your Mum and Dad for me!
    Hope your birthday month will be great!

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    1. Thank you, Kay - and will do! (say hello to my Mum and Dad for you)

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  8. A lot happening in your world! What beautiful flowers from O.K. I was not familiar with arancini and had to look it up. Italian restaurants around here do not have it, but the recipes sound intriguing. I think I would really like this with a good green salad. It is so good that you and your sister can help with getting the allotment ready to pass on. I don't really know how such things work. Will your parents be paid for all the have done for this? And I hope the new owners enjoy the goldfish! Yes! Crazy about the flour. I probably have enough food for us to last months, though less vegetarian things. but enough. My sil Mike had some sort of Corona virus drill at work today, though no one realized it was a drill until it was over. I will see Alice tomorrow and she can tell me about it. He didn't want to tell her on the phone. I don't spend that much time in public, though I see my grandchildren and children often enough and they encounter all that public grade schools have in the way of "germs". Too much craziness in the world! I wish you a happy week!

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    1. Thank you, Kristi, and a happy week for you, too.
      I am not entirely sure of the administrative side of things reg. the allotment, as my parents handle that with the Garden Club (one has to be a member there in order to have an allotment in that specific area).
      O.K. told me that one of his colleagues was sent home from work yesterday after he just returned from a four-month sabbatical that took him all over the word, including some Asian countries. Of course, before he was sent home (simply as a precaution), that colleague had exchanged handshakes and even hugs with many of his colleagues...

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  9. I love that you and your sister so lovingly cleaned up everything for the new owners, and got to spend the day at the allotment one last time. Four years already for you and O.K.?! Time does fly! I can't believe people are stocking up on things like flour....you know that the average person doesn't use that much flour these days! It's just not practical, unless, as you said, they normally bake a lot. We decided to stock up on food and supplies just in case supply chains are interrupted, but we chose sensible things that will be easy to use. I went to a good butcher shop and filled our freezer with meats; our pantry is stocked with pasta, sauces, rice, canned vegetables and fruit, crackers and peanut butter, etc etc. And we bought enough extra toilet paper and cleaning supplies for a month, too. Even if the Coronavirus doesn't make an impact, all those things will be easy to use up.

    Great pictures of your part of the world, as usual. And yay! for March; it's our birthday month!!!

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    1. Thank you, Jennifer!
      My sister has done loads more work at the allotment than I; most weekends, I am not even here to help. But I try to do my part when and how I can, which is not much.
      My freezer is only a small compartment within my fridge, and of course it would not work if there was a power cut (for instance if hackers got into our energy providers' systems). I would be able to survive a few days on the provisions I have at home, but never an entire month!
      And I have no intention to panic-buy anything, be it toilet paper or flour.

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  10. It is astonishing that you first met up with OK four years ago. How time flies! Sad to say goodbye to the allotment and the happy times your family shared there. Now excuse me while I stack some more sacks of flour in the dining room. I had to elbow some old people out of the way to get the last of the wholemeal. The bathroom is filled with cans of soup and the underhouse area is reserved for tinned meat and beer.

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    1. Somehow, it seems much longer than four years, almost as if I've "always" been with him, because being with him feels so familiar and I trust him so completely.
      My Dad is taking the loss of the allotment rather hard; it was very much his place, but we really have no choice.
      Have you thought of other essentials such as toilet paper and face masks?

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    2. Thanks for the supply tips. As soon as I heard about The Plague I bought up every face mask that Boots had in stock. Toilet paper is unnecessary. We have used leaves for years - then into the compost bin.

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  11. Those arancine look delicious. Here too supermarket shelves are empty. And we have been told to keep a distance of 1 meter from others. Difficult to measure, especially when there are several people.

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    1. That 1-m-distance advice has been given here, too. Impossible to keep when you travel to and from work on crowded trains!

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  12. What a pity that you and your sister cannot keep the allotment and your parents could then visit and spent time there, as they did for many years. They must miss gardening, even if they can’t do it anymore.

    I am always amazed at how far you can walk even after you’ve done a lot of other stuff during the day, but then you are young and fit and active. We used to walk for miles too, with dogs usually, but neither my husband nor I could manage more than a few miles in the end.

    The corona virus has caused a run on shops here too, aren’t people made. Of course there’ll be shortages now if everybody panic buys. I have the feeling that I will soon simply not get around so much, certainly not with people who are careless where they go and whom they meet.

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    1. Especially my Dad misses gardening and the garden as such. My Mum is still rather active, and reasonably fit, but she does not drive, and my Dad can not drive anymore. The allotment being at least half an hour's drive away makes it simply impossible to keep.

      Walking is absolutely essential for my wellbeing, both physically and mentally. I have a desk job and need to get out and about for what is often called a healthy work-life balance. Young? I am nearly 52 :-)

      People are mad! A friend who works at a hospital told me yesterday that face masks keep disappearing from the storage rooms - staff are nicking them left, right and center, selling them on ebay or stocking them at home.

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