CORONA VIRUS END OF WEEK 11 - LOCKDOWN RESTRICTIONS START TO LIFT

Things are beginning to ease: garden centres are to open, some outdoor activities can resume, e.g. golf, sailing, tennis, fishing.  You can socialise in small groups of friends and family but keep social distance and bring your own food and utensils.  No going into the house to use the bathroom.

So it was an evening meal on the deck for John's birthday today (Sunday). 

Iain, Mairi and John, Ishbel (13.5 yrs), Alastair (12 yrs), Harriet (she will be 7 next week) and Ellie (5 yrs).  Everyone is in good health despite (or maybe because of?) these 2 1/2 months of 'hibernation'.

HOW TO MAKE A MITRED CORNER ON AN FLAT CLOTH SHOPPING BAG

This fabric shopping bag (which was Iseabail's) does not stand up easily in the self-packing area of the supermarket check-out area. To fix that I made square corners on the bottom (and also sorted the problem of a hole there)!

The photos are self-explanatory. The last photo shows that it nicely fits, say, cartons of juice, as they are, roughly, about the width of the 'floor' of the bag.

CORONA VIRUS START OF LOCKDOWN WEEK 11

Another week...we all continue to be free of any virus or other illnesses. Lockdown is to continue because, while the infection and death rates have gone down the virus has not gone away. To raise the lockdown would risk a spike in the disease. It has been decided that schools will remain closed and, in Scotland, re-open August 11th. The only easing has been for outdoor activities to resume e.g. golf, tennis, people can move away from home farther for exercise. The recycling centres continue to be closed; fly-tipping is quite bad as a result. Other bin collection is continuing but in a reduced, and somewhat irregular, manner.

Don and Carol have contacted us to say that Mary, my mother's youngest sister and the last of that generation, died this week, aged 92.  She had not been keeping well and died in the Andover Terrace Seniors Residence in Salmon Arm where she had been living in the last years of her life. 

Mary Harrington (nee Sansum; previous married name of Phipps m. Bob Phipps) April 11, 1928 - May 20, 2020

Her daughter, Pat, who lives in Kelowna and is the owner of The Book Bin, emailed to say that there is to be no formal funeral, of course, because of the pandemic in B.C.

* * * * * MARY'S (and my mother's) FAMILY * * * * * 

Their family surname is Sansum. Here is a photo taken in 1936 of the 5 children. They are the children of Victor H Sansum and his (deceased) wife Patricia (nee Chadbourn).  In the photo is their step-mother, Alice (nee Grayson). Their mother, Patricia died when the youngest child, Vic, was about 2 years old.

Left to right:  front is Vic; centre is Mary; above Vic is John; behind him is Margaret; Alice is in the centre and Joan on the right.

Left to right: Vic, John, Joan, Margaret, Mary

The photo is dated 1958 in Vancouver.  Their father and Alice (Rev and Mrs VH Sansum) lived in Point Grey near Macdonald Avenue (?3600 block?).

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

In her message to me she reminded me about the time my mother was buried in the Mt Ida cemetery in August 2003.  We were all gathered around the edge of the family plot preparing for the lowering of the casket when we became aware of movement in the trees opposite the gravesite.  There, a short distance away, was a young black bear loping along in the woods, presumably doing what bears do, not paying any particular attention to us, but none-the-less gave us a bit of a start!  Even with her death, like in life, there was plenty of drama!

Actually, that was the last of a string of events that occurred on that visit when I flew from Glasgow to Calgary and then travelled on to Salmon Arm.  John Scott put me on the Greyhound bus for the trip over the Rockies; it's about a 6 hour ride.  The smoke from the forest fires started to get really thick coming into Lake Louise.  However the bus driver decided to chance it and we carried on. (I recall he was a tall, handsome native Indian with long braids and a fine high cheek-boned countenance.)

After an overnight stay in Salmon Arm we drove to Kelowna to the Kelowna General Hospital to be with my mother who was in intensive care (having had a stroke).  Smoke and ash from local forest fires from Armstrong all the way to Kelowna was everywhere.  We stayed in the intensive care unit all afternoon. In the early evening she passed away.  By the time we left the hospital to head back to Salmon Arm (2 hours' drive) it was dark.  Forest fire ash covered the cars in the hospital car park.  Driving north we could see the flames leaping from tree to tree on the hill tops to our right.

CORONAVIRUS START OF WEEK 10 - OVERLOCKER/SERGER ALERT

Another week gone by... not much change.  Weather has been lovely so lots of time outside in the garden. We are both well. Iain is busy trying to establish a blog site with the help of Our Man in Los Angeles; I have been sewing a lot.

Iain played for the neighbours as we all clapped for the NHS on Thursday night.

Mairi took this photo of Harriet, coming up for 7 years old, this week.  Another 'keeper' for Grandma's Brag Book.

Harriet and Ellie in the garden.  Schools are still not open nor show any sign of doing so.  The R factor is still too high.

John or Mairi's photo of one owlet still in the nest with parent, Kilmardinny Loch.


Very wet all day Sunday so Iain and I put the fire on in the afternoon and sat and watched 'Paint Your Wagon' on the TV.

We enjoyed every minute of it!  If there is a song that we both share a fondness for it has to be 'I Was Born Under a Wand'ring Star' and sung by Lee Marvin in his gravelly voice.

Yes ... the best view is looking back!

Heading out on holiday from Bowling Basin all those years ago...

* * * * * * NHS SCRUBS * * * * * * * 

My scrub sewing project is moving along albeit rather slowly.  Two reasons: I keep tweaking the pattern and ... see below...

I bought myself an overlocker (serger in N America). It is a Janome 9300DX and I absolutely love it. It came all threaded so I was able to have a go on the above set of scrubs (a downie cover which I cut down). 

I am aware that they are known to be a bit 'challenging' and it is in relation to having to replace a cone of thread. I used up one of the manufacturer's original spools of thread so I had to take myself in hand and learn to thread it from scratch... not easy!

I could write a book on how I eventually succeeded. I will do this in a separate blog with the title along the lines of 'What They Don't Tell You About Threading an Overlocker/Serger'.  Or how about 'Overlocking in Lockdown'? (It's hellish having no one to talk to, i.e. store open where I can go and get help!)

I am putting this image in here so that I can have it as a back-up for when I forget the run scheme. I am leaving it here with 2 very, very, very important points:

[1] An excellent video on YouTube:  Simple Sewing 101 Threading Fundamentals   

https://youtu.be/wfiHuDLCcKY

[2] The above image is the key to the one big hurdle that seems to cause the most grief! [More in a future video but the long and short of it is: look at the bottom looper (green arrow) and top looper (red arrow). When positioned in a cross like above (well, it is a squinty 'cross', not a Saltire!) the bottom looper thread goes OVER the upper looper behind it... with the 2 tails simply gently pulled and laid out towards the back like you would do on an ordinary sewing machine having threaded the needle(s).]

CORONAVIRUS START OF WEEK 9

Another week has gone by and we are still in Lockdown.  This is Damian Hurst's painting of the rainbow which children, well... we all... put in our windows. It lifts our spirits.

We both continue to be well as are pretty well everyone I know in our social circle. I observe the most people in our locality continue to be very good at queueing in the supermarket (that's about all that is allowed open at the moment... along with pet food, butchers and fish shop, newsagents, health food shop, petrol stations locally).  Queuing in Britain is something people do without fuss; it comes form the wartime years.

And here is some Banksy or Banksy Wannabe Art...

This week May 8th marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe (World War 2) called 'VE [Victory in Europe] Day' although hostilities were still going on in the Far East until August. Big gathering that were planned were, of course, all cancelled.

 [Bitish Press Image]

[American Press Image]

Today there are still a number of people alive (in their 90s and 100s) who have stories to tell. In this country all generations relate to WW1 or WW2 because of the direct, or indirect involvement, of their families, colleagues or neighbours, etc. The evidence of war is seen at many levels culturally, e.g. in the public spaces which were modified or rebuilt  after being bombed, cenotaphs in every community and songs that are still popular, e.g. 'We'll Meet Again'.  

On the BBC TV, after the Queen gave her address, everyone enjoyed Vera Lynn, still alive and sparkling, talking about her singing to the troops in Burma as well as in London during the bombing.  Her song 'There'll Be Blue Skies Over the White Cliffs of Dover' is quite poignant (along with the one above) at this time when the country has been in Lockdown for 8 weeks now.

So here is our own Iain, heading out to play at 8 pm Thursday to lead the Clap for the NHS and Workers' applause all up and down the street.  As everyone agrees, it fairly lifts the spirits; no other instrument can match it in that way, I would say!

The previous day ... a bit of drama when the street filled with every vehicle the fire department seemed to possess. (The Fire Station is 2 blocks from us.)  It turns out a neighbour dropped a glass thermometer and mercury was spilled on the floor. She contacted the Pharmacy to ask if she should do something about it. They said call the Doctor. The doctor said "Dial 999" for the fire department.  So she did!

Like calling out the RNLI ... they do not know what it is they are going to find when they get there (and we understand that)...

John and all 4 children called by when on their hourly exercise bicycle ride.  Keeping their social distance they collected some flapjacks I had made and carried on their circuit.  It was lovely to see their smiling faces and apple red rosy cheeks!

John erected his dad's Black's tent in the garden for the 2 little ones. They are still off school, as are Ish and Alastair. 

I am getting used to joining quizzes on-line and this week took the plunge and joined a whisky tasting run by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.  They sent out the little bottles and I sat at my computer at the appointed hour while the man chaired the session with 215 people signed in for the tasting. Great fun!

I am still sewing scrubs for the NHS but things are a little slow as I tweak how I go about it.  Here are a few NHS scrub bags this week.  It is a way to use up fabric donated to me but which I feel is not robust (or new, really) enough to use for tops and pants.  John gets my test runs until I perfect the system.

Finally, it is my birthday today so when I was at Waitrose (short, but orderly queues) I gave in to temptation waiting in the forecourt beside the plant trollies... and bought this pink geranium and some wee pots of sweet peas.  It is not possible to buy seeds at the moment but hopefully next week the garden centres will be givien the green light to open... marking the beginning of the easing of restrictions.

This blog marks another year... I started this blog in 2007 so this is me going into its 13th year.

CORONAVIRUS START OF WEEK 8

Another week has gone by.  We are all fine. I actually do not know anyone who has coronavirus but Iain has a one person he knows.

Mairi and John' gang are all well.  Here are photos taken today by John.

I have now finished my first pair of scrubs.  The pattern was sent to me from Kelvin College of Fashion.  I see that it is produced by Pdf Patterns.  It worked well, i.e. I like it and all pieces fitted together correctly. 

This pair (the pants are on a hanger on the inside.) was from a sheet given to me by my neighbour. The sewing machine is Mairi's. My mother's Bernina has given up the ghost.  It's  a long story.

* * * * * * * * Getting into the 21st century with banking * * * * * * ** 

I have been persuaded by the bank that I must access the on-line account, not by the old method of a wee key pad widget, but using my mobile phone.

This   is going to be another candidate for my 'Book of Bad Design'.  It is cluttered and full of messages about Avoid Fraud!!! etc as I try to figure out how 

to use it.

When I finally get the run scheme to work it either times out or 'isnay working'...

* * * * * * * * * LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE NHS * * * * * * *

The news is that we probably peaked about April 8th so we are now in the flattening of the curve zone. My experience is that everyone is observing the social distancing and understands that we are now looking at the beginning of the end.  Next week (May 7) is to be a review when we expect some restrictions to be lifted. Today, Sunday, apparently the coup/garbage dump has opened. Also some DIY and garden centres are opening with queues spaced out.  News item says that MacDonalds and one other fast food place are preparing staff for opening soon.

Iain played again for the Thursday 8 pm Clap for the NHS and workers.  All very much appreciated once again.  But we are now joining the Club Cruising Club for a Quiz Night on a Thursday after the Clap event so it was straight back into the house, fire up ZOOM and join the club members to test our knowledge of anchors, anchorages, weather, boat maintenance, flags etc.  It gives shape to the day; we really look forward to it!

 * * * * * * Milngavie in Lockdown this week * * * * * * * *

I was out for our 'open hour walk near home' home with Liz.  These photos give a feel for how quiet things are.

A new kind of litter. That is a mask. While I am on that subject: Just for the record - this week it has been recommended (by Scottish Gov't only) that people wear fabric masks in  places of unavoidable close proximity with other (trains, supermarkets).  Having spent time working with people in the cleanroom industry I recall studies done on particle dispersion using masks which showed that fabric masks are only good for dust and pollen.

It is now finally apparent that events with crowds, e.g. concerts, church services, football games, pop concerts, meetings or gatherings of groups of people are going to be on hold probably until a vaccine is made.  To that end, musicians, people who hire halls, those who organise events are living with a great deal of uncertainty. This week I have seen decisions made to cancel events of pretty well everything, now, this summer and into the autumn season. Schools are still out. Hairdressers, clothing stores, charity shops are still closed. It looks like restaurants, pubs, bars, and the like will be the last to allowed to open.

Travel, especially on airplanes looks worrying.  As one commentator stated it will be when we, the passengers, feel safe enough to be in the airplane (in terms of the spread of the virus) that will ultimately determine how the industry picks up again.

* * * * * * SOME LIGHT RELIEF * * * * * * *