Signs of hope?

The weather has turned a bit cooler this week and there's talk of showers, but Jo's out there watering the pot plants - they badly need it. They say it's the sunniest April ever - and I could believe that.

With every day seeming the same and with little photographic evidence to prompt me, it's difficult to complete a diary of everything we've been up to since my last blog post 11 days ago. I know I've been working out back - principally clearing the slabs of - I don't know how long - maybe 15-20 years of grime that built up. Finally uncovered a drain on the lower level and I've been using that - and the pressure hose - to help clean up. Had to get some patio cleaner from Amazon as well - it turned out to be a pretty strong bleach. Jo came running out and insisted I wear some kind of mask when working with it - my cycling balaclava came to the rescue.

We've been for a few nice walks, trying to vary the route every day. There's loads of forest paths behind us - and across the river towards Scolty too. The Banchory Paths Association have done some tremendous - all volunteer - work upgrading the old forest trails. Good for cycling too. The last walk Jo and I went on a few days ago was in Scolty Woods. There's a bit of climbing there - not too bad, but it's not quite Jo's favourite pastime. Naturally, she complains whenever there's any sort of upward gradient in front of her, but she always gets there - she's sussed out how to strategise her way up:

Back home, Jo still has to climb - apart from all the flights of stairs in our house, the clothes line is now on the top tier of our back garden:

We've probably had lunch out back more often in the last few weeks than in the previous 10 years.

I'm still Zooming regularly - 3 yesterday, 1 today, 1 tomorrow, 2 on Thursday, 1 on Friday and 1 on Saturday, so I'm making good use of my subscription and will continue with it until the end of May anyway. Hopefully, by then, we'll be able to get out and about a bit more freely and be able to see people in the flesh again. The transcontinental family Zooms haven't quite worked out however - timing has been one of the issues - so it'll probably be back to one to one FaceTimes (for those with Apple products).

That's all for now. Stay safe: