Corona Chronicles – Fraggle's Otherverse

Corona Chronicles ~ 11

October 14, 2020Posted in Corona Chronicles, UncategorizedTagged Corona Chronicles, Fraggle32 Comments

Oh what a mess the country is in. Now we have 3 tiers of restrictions that depend on the level of virus cases in your area you could be in. Our cluster could not be more fucked.

Everyone is anti any more restrictions anyway as everyone is so fed up of not knowing what’s going on one day to the next. Test and trace is working intermittently but no where near what’s needed. Some people in Birmingham were given self-test kits that had already been used, no I’m not making that up! 🙄 Yet another member of parliament, some complete knobhead Scottish bint, took a 3 hr train journey knowing she was Covid positive, met loads of other M.P’s in parliament, and then did the return journey. She can’t be fired, and she won’t resign. It feels like we are in a never ending washing machine cycle of crass stupidity and doom, with not much hope of anyone opening the door and letting us out. Most people are trying hard with the mask wearing in shops etc, but I went to put petrol in the car today and the lady behind the counter told me she is really fed up with younger blokes not wearing face coverings. She told me she’s not supposed to say anything, but she tells them off anyway as she can’t help it, bless her. I’ve noticed that myself in our local corner shop, white-van men and the like being much too macho to wear a mask, fuckwits. Sorry, this is turning into a bit of a sweary post.

Unemployment is sky~ rocketing, and the government says people have to retrain to get other jobs, but how can there be ‘other jobs’ when the businesses are beginning to fail and close down? Food banks are already overwhelmed, and it’s a stain on our nation that they were ever needed in the first place. So much hardship for people and it’s just going to get worse when Brexit hits. Next year is not looking any better than 2020 for a lot of people.

Phil and I are still working of course, and Phil’s hospital is rapidly filling up with Covid cases, he doesn’t think it will be long before all normal surgery and admissions will be put aside yet again and people with other health problems put on the backburner, yet again.

Also, just to make things even more miserable the weather refuses to stop fekkin’ raining.

So as you might just be able to tell, I’m having a moment of fedupness.

Sophie and I managed a meet up by the seafront in Sunderland on Sunday. Masks on and social distancing, we walked along the promenade taking photo’s, had a picnic lunch by the sea, and had a wander around Roker park. It was lovely to be out with my pal again for a couple of hours, even if it was freezing cold, but so different to how we used to do it, and it really brought home how I so miss our proper outings. I just made myself cry writing that, which isn’t like me, I’ve been so stoic and cheery, trying to make the best of it, as if there could be a best of this crappy world.

But, I’m well, I’m alive, I have my lovely Phil, a nice home, a job, and am in a better situation than a lot of people, so I now feel guilty for being a grumpy old lady. 🙄

I found this poem the other day, I’m not really into poetry, but I like this so much.

Come stand over here,
just a step or two beyond the place you have occupied for so long,
where you have worn the earth smooth with your pacing,
where you have spent so many hours fighting the problem you cannot seem to solve.
Take a break.
Catch your breath.
Come stand here, where you can catch a freshening breeze and
see far into the valley below.
Let the distant clouds carry your worry for a while,
see how the sun empties the world of shadow.
The answer you seek may be just a step beyond,
a higher place where the view is clear of all obstructions.
—Steven Charleston

Corona Chronicles ~ 9

July 28, 2020July 28, 2020Posted in B&W, Cat, Corona Chronicles, Iphoneography, PhotographyTagged cats, Corona Chronicles, Fraggle, iPhone11, Photography20 Comments

It’s been a few weeks since I did an update, so here’s number 9. I’m now in my 8th week back at work and it’s not letting up. I’m getting through 48 patients a week, and have got a routine down pat now. Masks are compulsory of course and I’ve got used to wearing one for most of the day, though when I have a plastic apron and my headlamp on I get uncomfortable and hot, but I’d rather that than be unprotected. So far no virus detected so although I’m certainly not blasé I’m also not too worried.

Phil is more worried as it’s so difficult in the full bifta, with face shields, masks, gowns and xray lead gowns to cope with, he is dreading a 2nd wave.

We have had an entertaining 4 weeks at home however. At the beginning of June Sophie got on a plane and went to Spain to visit her chap Mentat. They hadn’t seen each other for 3 months due to the lockdowns first there and then here. She was only going for 2 weeks and asked me to have her 2 cats whilst she was away and of course I said yes. Then the flight she was on got cancelled but they gave her an earlier one so that made it 3 weeks, and then her home flight was re-arranged for later and we’ve ended up with them for a month! Today when I get home Phil and I will return them.

They are a funny pair, Vinnie is HUGE and just wants to eat and sleep

and Winnie is small, doesn’t eat a huge amount and is mad as a box of frogs, chasing balls, up a height, here, there and everywhere!

They’ve been no trouble, well maybe there was an incident when Winnie climbed the curtains

and a few times we couldn’t find her

they like sleeping a lot, especially in the sunshine

and Winnie loves being in a box

or in a plastic bag

but her favourite spot is our Herky’s old place of preference

Vinnie really liked Phil

and he can do the cute thing too

and he made us laugh as he is too big for the cat toilet Sophie provided and has to stick his head out the door!

It took Vinnie 2 days to come out from under our bed when he first arrived, but Winnie just got straight into everything. We’ve had to keep doors and windows shut as she is an escape artiste extraordinaire, which hasn’t been easy, so am looking forward to opening up the conservatory again when it’s warm. But we will miss them when they’ve gone home, it’s been so nice to have pets for a while.

But no, we won’t be getting our own, we still haven’t forgotten the trauma of Skye & Storm, and are not ready to be open to that again, and maybe one day we’ll be able to go on holiday again too!

Talking of which, it’s my birthday next month and it’s traditional to go away for that. We’re going to stay in Jedburgh for a couple of nights, a place not too far away but somewhere I’ve wanted to take my camera for a long time, so will look forward to that.

The garden wildlife is still ongoing, not as many hedgehogs as there were in spring when it was hot, but June and July have been pretty dismal regarding rain so the Hedgeies probably have enough natural food, the bugs and stuff. We have had an unexpected visitor though,

He was a bit of a surprise!

And that’s all my news!

Corona Chronicles ~ 8

June 24, 2020Posted in Corona Chronicles, FujiX-T2, Personal History, WildlifeTagged bluetit, Corona Chronicles, Fraggle, FujiX-T2, iPhone1126 Comments

I’ve been back at work 3 weeks now, the first two weeks I did full time hours to clear the backlog of people wanting wax removal. When I returned for my first day my clinic room had been completely revamped!

New flooring, new furniture, everything very minimal and easy to clean. Over the past 3 weeks I’ve de-waxed 146 people. We provide them masks and hand sanitiser before they come in to see me and I am gloved aproned and masked!

The goggles are magnifying loupes with a head light, but I am getting a fancy-pants new one on a headband soon as this one is past it’s sell-by date! So far it all seems to be working well, but I am booked solid every day now so knackered by the end of the shift. I was quite worried when I first went back and didn’t sleep too well wondering if I was going to be infected with the damned plague, but I seem to be OK (so far) and I’m all ‘que sera sera’ now. Have done my best to minimise risk for me and the patient, and that’s all I can do.

In total, 1,415 people who had tested positive for coronavirus have died across the North East’s hospital trusts according to data released by NHS England today. According to the latest figures released by Public Health England yesterday there are 10,535 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the North East – a rise of 7 from Monday, June 22. Still sneaking up.

Our bonkers Prime Minister has loosened the lockdown yet again so people can go to pubs and the hairdressers, which is good for all the people in danger of losing their jobs, but not so good for those that will catch the plague from enjoying this new freedom.The North East where I live is very pub-centric, yes you get a few wine bars in Newcastle but the towns and villages have proper pubs, and Mackem men in particular are known for spending Sunday afternoons down the pub while wifey cooks a Sunday roast so I imagine it won’t be long until the 2nd wave kicks off up here. I can’t see them wearing masks whilst having a beer with their buddies!

Anyway I’m taking no notice of BoJo, will keep at 2 meters or more from everyone and I didn’t go to pubs anyway so they are not on my radar. Not done much photography of late though I keep up with my weekly challenge shots , HERE.

Our wildlife are still entertaining us, Halfmags is still hopping around our front and back gardens, but getting a picture of him now is difficult as he runs like the wind if he gets a sniff of the camera. Hedgehogs are still coming most nights and we’ve 2 trail cameras on the go now for the front and back gardens. They tailed off after the rains started, so presume they were finding bugs and the like more easily with the ground being so wet, but we still get a visitor or two most nights. Sparrows, Blackbirds and Bluetits have all had chicks, and I caught this one having a rest in our empty bird food jar.

He stayed there quite a while having a little snooze 🙂

Phil’s hospital has resumed doing routine operations on non-covid people so there’s a let up for Phil, he doesn’t have to wear the full astronaut gear when he’s doing those, so saying he sent me a text at work today he was doing a covid patient not only dressed up in full gear but also having to wear a heavy lead apron throughout as X-rays were done all through the operation. I can vouch that even wearing aprons, gloves and a mask makes you hot & sweaty so he must have been melting under all that.

The weather is hot here today, and likely to be again for tomorrow, but only for two days with more rain predicted for the weekend, saves me watering the plants I suppose! So that’s all from Fraggle Towers.

Corona Chronicles ~7

May 29, 2020Posted in Corona Chronicles, Lomo' instant wide, Photography, UncategorizedTagged Corona Chronicles, Fraggle18 Comments

Well my Corona Vacation is over after the weekend, and I have been called back to work next week. Not only that but I’ll be working full time for a couple of weeks as there is a list of 70 people waiting for me to do their earwax removal. Sigh. My boss has put/is putting new flooring in my little cinic- vinyl instead of the carpet that was there, and new furniture so things can be shut away. We will have PPE and a protocol in place whereby the client must come alone, do the handrub thing, wear a mask, and I will have a special mask and gloves and apron. I think it will be stressful to start with and then I’ll get used to it, just must make sure the patient is comfortable and feels safe (which I don’t, but they have to). I am dreading more hot weather, it’s already uncomfortable in my little room when it’s sunny, even without wearing all the extra gear. Roll on autumn!

It’s been nice here in my little cocoon of safety, haven’t done much really, lately haven’t even done much photography, just a few insta’s and iphone shots of Phil doing stuff. 🙂 He’s been on holiday for 2 weeks and also goes back next week. He’s been very productive whilst off, putting up a new shelf in my shed for me

and painting our conservatory

and also repairing the worn concretey stuff that seals the conservatory roof to the house

and now we’re just going to enjoy our last weekend together before re-entering the new scary world.

I’ve been compiling a book of my travels through France last year, which we should have been doing again last week, and done a blog post for Sunday which took 3 afternoons to sort out.

Our hedgehog visitations are many and with a few different ones, the video channel gets updated once a week now, but I’m going to share this one here as it’s just too funny.

The news here in the UK is quite silly. Dominic Cummings the Prime Minister’s special advisor broke lockdown rules and lied his head off about it. Big uproar in the press and social media- off with his head kinda stuff, which, to be honest should have happened way before corona came along, but he’s superglued to Boris and it’ll hurt Boris too much to separate them. To try and shut the press up about Dominic’s transgressions, Boris has decided we can all meet up in groups of 6 in our gardens, still keeping 2 meters apart, but no-one is allowed in your house. I’m sure grandparents all over the land will make an outside toilet for the little ones to use.

The party people on our estate have been having BBQ’s all along anyway with all the great weather we’ve been having, so far they’ve stayed alive. Some but not all kids are supposed to go back to school next week, but our grandkids will not be, and a lot of others won’t be too. Parents not yet ready to believe in the govt advice and schools not sure how to cope. It’s a mess. Seoul in S.Korea sent their kids back a couple of weeks ago and are now in lockdown again because of the subsequent surge in cases. And I’m reading about 2nd waves in Japan & China, Germany etc etc. I think this is going to see-saw for ages, this thing isn’t giving up or going away anytime soon.

All we can do, is look after ourselves as best as we can as no bugger else will.

Stay well people, ♥️

The Corona Chronicles ~ 6

May 16, 2020Posted in Corona Chronicles, hedgehogs, Lomo' instant wide, Personal History, Photography, Uncategorized, WildlifeTagged Corona Chronicles, food, Fraggle, magpies19 Comments

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last update, really nothing much changes here at Fraggle Towers. The rest of the country has changed though as now people can drive to where they want to go to do their exercise. Social distancing is supposed to be still ongoing, but that’s failing everywhere with public transport packed to the rafters as people who can’t work from home are now supposed to go back to work. My eye rolling is continuous when reading the newspaper, it’s all just bonkers. There will be a huge second wave I’m sure.

I am still mostly staying at home, and Phil is still working in theatres. He went in today and told me the traffic is back to normal, and he saw quite a few groups of people on his way home not doing the distancing. I’m thinking there’s a lot of people who either a) misunderstood what the advice was (easy when the government are such a shambles) or b) just don’t care anymore and are throwing caution to the wind. I keep my eye on the audiology group on facebook where there’s been tons of discussions/arguments about returning to work, the PPE we need for earwax removal and publishing of our governing bodies advice, which boils down to ‘go back to work and do your job but at 2 meters apart, unless you have to do face to face procedures when you have to have PPE’. Quite a few companies are opening up now and going back to doing wax removal, so I’ve done an online course in preparation which is all about PPE, donning, doffing, disposal of and the types you need for all situations. (Passed the assessment 100% 🙂 ) So far my boss hasn’t called me back in, so I will wait and see how she plans to handle it all before I jump.

Before lockdown I was forever on a diet, lots of salads and healthy eating, and a fair amount of walking, but that’s all gone out of the window, and I’m cooking comfort food. Annoyingly I haven’t put any weight on, which is a good thing really, but begs the question, what was all the depravation for??

This year was supposed to be my year of film shooting, but that’s off now, yes I could do some rolls, but the lab I get them developed at isn’t up and running at the moment, so I haven’t the heart for it, but I’ve got a few instax films to get through as consolation.

I’ve also made a first attempt at making pastry and pasties, corn beef with veg, and chicken, bacon & mushroom, they turned out quite well and the one we had for dinner was so yummy! I am turning into a proper Geordie.

Also made a lamb byriani from scratch, (see chef’s corner above!) which was yummy too.

I will no doubt be appearing on Masterchef or British Bake Off if I keep this up. Not! 🙂

We have had another wildlife addition to the garden. It started a few days ago with a commotion in our conservatory, and when we looked there was a magpie in there who had got confused tripping about in our blinds. He’s had some sort of altercation either with other birds or a cat, and didn’t have any tale feathers left, with a raw bum where they should have been.

I took a quick snap before placing a towel over him and then Phil lifted him out and put him in the garden. He seems to be OK and runs around really fast, which he has to do because he seems to be on the run from two flying magpies who swoop and attack him when they catch site of him. He is hiding in the Leilandi at the back of the garden, and they couldn’t find him yesterday, but today I saw them swoop into the hedge.

I haven’t seen him yet today, so they either killed him off, or he’s keeping schtum. The pair of blackbirds who live in there and I think are breeding, are not too happy about it all, and Mr. Blackbird spends a lot of time patrolling under the hedge. We have nightly visits from hedgehogs, 3 different ones last night and I’m keeping the hedgehog Youtube channel up to date when anything exciting happens, mostly they just visit the feeding station, snuffle about and then disappear, but I did get some of the daft mating ritual which went on for 2 nights! There’s a lot going on in our little urban garden!

Hopefully, when the novelty of driving to places for exercise wears off for people, Sophie and I will have a meet up. Unfortunately she doesn’t drive, so it will have to be somewhere in Sunderland, I’ll be all right if I wear a crucifix and a garlic necklace. (Just kidding!! if any Mackems are reading 🙂 )

Well that”s the end of this update, so far so good, and Phil and I are doing OK. We are keeping well, and have our hobbies that keep us busy and out from under each others feet, and we get on really well when we spend time together, but I know that isn’t the same for everyone, so feel quite lucky in that!

Stay alert people! 🤣🤣🤣.

Stay tooned for Monday Movies next week.

The Corona Chronicles ~ 5

April 28, 2020April 28, 2020Posted in abstract, Corona Chronicles, hedgehogs, macro, Mucking about, Photography, Uncategorized, WildlifeTagged abstract, Corona Chronicles, Fraggle, FujiX-T2, hedgehogs, Photography19 Comments

Here we are again, it’s kinda like that movie Groundhog Day, only more people are dying every day so perhaps not. Sorry, just watched last nights Panorama on the lack of PPE for frontline workers in the hospitals, and seen the exposure of the incompetence, and stupidity of the government, and the lies they have told. It is criminal. There is still not anywhere near enough protective kit for the length of time this virus is going to be with us. The programme made me so angry, and I cried over it. Probably not the best thing to have watched straight after Phil has gone to work his first night shift this week.

He worked some shifts last week, and it isn’t easy to do 13 hours in full astonaut kit sometimes for 3 or 4 hours at a time during an operation. In ICU the nurses do it in 2 hour swaps, so they get a break, but there’s not enough staff to do that in theatres as they’re either off sick or seconded to ICU 🙄.

I heard on the news we’ve become 2nd only to Italy in the European Death Race, go us.

OK sorry, sorry, Fek me I don’t mean to be a doom and gloom merchant, but it’s just so astronomically sad, and it didn’t have to be like this.

I needed to get that off me chest!

Onwards ever onwards, what is going on with the weather?? It’s been almost summer-like here for about 3 weeks. I guess really this is what Spring used to be like before clouds took over. I have been musing that perhaps because there is so much less shit being put into the atmosphere from planes and boats and trains and cars, that there’s nothing to make many clouds from any more. 🙂 It has been so cool to see video’s of animals ‘taking back the world’ too, this makes me smile. 😊

I have returned to playing with ~~Potatoshop~~ Photoshop to make twirly things out of normal photos.

I made this from the photo of the sunset I posted in my last Chronicle.

and this from a collage of iphone selfies I took on our travels abroad, that I then made into a Wedding Anniversary card for Phil (8 years last Monday!) I’ll spare you the original 🤣

I’ve also been esconced in my shed with bits of wire, water,dandelions, and little people.

A fair amount of mess was made in the process. I need to perfect these somewhat, they’re not bad for first attempts but hopefully I will regale you with better ones next time.

Ther has been an affaire du coeur in our garden last week. We had two hedgehogs snuffling together in a mating ritual that was a) funny as fek, b) interminable and c) noisy. The chap Hedgehog (they’re called Hogs, and lady hedgehogs are called Sows, but they seem too cute for that), snuffles around the Lady Hedgehog, going around her in circles and snorting at her nether regions. It goes on for ages. We kept popping out from watching our movie to see if they were still going, and he was snuffling for about 3 hours all told. Dammit though they went off to the dark part of the garden where the cameras can’t pick them up, still I got videos of the 2 of them in the garden and it’s up on the Youtube Hedgey channel. (Link in the menu) If they did The Deed, (and I so hope they did!) the hoglettes will be out and about at the beginning of July. Fingers crossed they turn up on camera.

So that’s it folks, hope you are all well, keeping your chins up and staying frosty.

The Corona Chronicles ~ 4

April 16, 2020Posted in Corona Chronicles, FujiX-T2, Mucking about, Photography, Thursday Thoughts, UncategorizedTagged Corona Chronicles, Fraggle, fuji, Photography, UK37 Comments

Into week four of lockdown, and though it feels like it’s been forever, I still haven’t really ‘settled’ into it. No routine has popped up, the yoga went out the window when I pulled a muscle in my back 🙄 but at least the house is spotless and the washing done! They’ve just announced the lockdown is to continue until at least the beginning of May which is 2 or 3 weeks away, but I’ll be surprised if it’s lifted even then. The incompetancy of the government has never been so obvious/staggering/unbelievable – delete as applicable (I still can’t stop myself reading the news daily) the latest is our Health secretary launching a green enamel badge with CARE written on it, for carers in the community to buy themselves to make them feel appreciated. You couldn’t make this up. The care badge is the idea of a consortium of business people in the care business who run care homes, the chairman of it owns several of the homes. His instagram feed looks like something out of Hello magazine. They run Care England, a registered charity, apparently the leading representative body for independent care services in England. Charity my arse.

Phil was refitted for a FFP3 mask on Sunday so is now able to do his job and also to work in ICU if required. His shifts change constantly as people go sick so he’s been off all this week as he’s now covering the weekend instead of his normal shifts this week. As it’s been sunny for a few days (mostly) even if quite chilly, he’s got the garden up to scratch.

He also had to go to ASDA to pick up his eye drops prescription and did a full shopping thing whilst he was there, Took me a good 1/2 hour to wash it all down in the garden and pass it through the window for Phil to put away! We must look like mad people to our neighbours, but after reading about people licking their hands and wiping them over products on the shelves in shops, I don’t really care. My hands have cracked open in a couple of places from all the handwashing so am going to have to use gloves more often indoors.

I’m still doing a bit of photography. I have to post a ‘fast shutter speed’ photo in the 52 frames group on Sunday so my ‘diving Homers’ last week were a good practice and I spent 4 hours yesterday dropping things in various receptacles. It’s not easy as I only have wrong size vases, I really need a fish tank, and no flash, but the sun was so bright I did it outside with a reflector instead. Out of nearly 500 shots I only got 6 useable ones, have narrowed it down to 2 but can’t decide which I like best and I can only post one, let me know if you have a preference!

Hedgehogs are still visiting the garden and I’m keeping their Youtube channel up to date, you can find the link on the home page of this blog, don’t think it shows up in the reader though. We’ve seen some in the flesh so to speak on the past couple of evenings and it’s cool to hear them crunching on their biscuits and see them running along on their little legs, they don’t half shift when they want to. Hope we get hoglettes this year!

I’m keeping in touch with Sophie, we are really missing our outings and I feel bad for her as her chap Mentat lives in Spain and is in lockdown there. Although they use Skype to talk it’s not the same, and with no end in sight of getting together in the near future it’s hard for them both.

My great friend Kathy who moved to Florida for good with her hubby on Saturday facetimed me today and that was just brilliant. When all this is over we are planning get togethers both here and over there. Something to look forward to.

Have just stood outside and heard the estate clapping, honking car horns, setting off fireworks, all to support the key workers, it’s quite amazing to hear it, we don’t of course, Phil is far too cool to clap and he just wants everyone to stop clapping and stop voting Tory, that would be thanks enough for him. Anyway that’s it for this week, it’s Phil’s Thursday night movie tonight, he hasn’t told me yet what it is, he does like to make it a surprise 🙂

Hope y’all are staying frosty,

and here’s a pretty to finish with

The Corona Chronicles ~ 3

April 8, 2020Posted in abstract, Corona Chronicles, FujiX-T2, hedgehogs, Mucking about, Personal History, Photography, WildlifeTagged abstract, April2020, Corona Chronicles, Fraggle, FujiX-T2, moon, Photography23 Comments

Week 3 and things are deteriorating at Phil’s work as the Corvid cases increase in the North East. On Sunday (while social media was posting pictures of people gathering in parks and not social distancing), Phil was seconded to the Intensive Care Unit for the first time, where they have a couple of CV19 cases. First he had to be sent to have a mask fitted, there are 2 types of fitted mask, and once it has been fitted to your face they then test it’s efficacy. Neither mask worked for Phil, and leaked when tested on him, so he had to do without. Back in ICU they had him being a ‘runner’, which means he stands in the corridor outside a cubicle in which there’s a patient being nursed by a nurse in full astronaut gear. She holds up the patients readings and he copies it onto a sheet outside the door, and passes through anything the nurse asks for. The corridor is narrow, no social distancing possible and lots of people in it. By the time he did his next shift, yesterday, it was decided he couldn’t go to ICU without a fitted mask, nor could he do his normal job, as intubating patients in theatre carries a risk of airborne infection and all patients, in the absence of testing, are deemed CV19 positive until otherwise informed. So he is now a runner outside the anaesthetic room, passing through equipment etc to the anaesthetist and Operating Dept Assistants inside. We are, selfishly, quite glad it worked out that way, as he won’t deal directly with patients, but he’s not holding out much hope of the virus bypassing him, 3 of his colleagues are off sick or self isolating, and one of his colleagues’ Mum was diagnosed with it on Wednesday and was dead by Sunday. He came home last night after a 13hr shift completely drained, and is thankful he went part-time a year ago, though he may be required to do more if the staff are depleted too much.

I am cooking nice things to cheer him up! I have been amusing myself with my camera, and yesterday afternoon spent 2 hours doing splash photograpahy. I don’t have the right lighting for it but had a go anyway in a sunny patch in the kitchen, 284 photo’s taken and all got deleted! 🤣 but it was fun trying and making a mess. I tried again today in the garden hoping sunlight would do the trick, and had better results, but still pretty rubbish.

Because I’d not been happy with the afternoon’s results yesterday I thought I’d have a bash at shooting the moon, but first I tried a shot of Venus, which is really bigger and brighter than other stars and planets at the moment. I don’t have a superduper lens to get any detail of it, but if you click on the picture to embiggen it you can also see the constellation Pleiades (known as the seven sisters) just below it.

the moon was easier 🙂

Also to amuse meself I’ve been creating arty farty abstracts from old flower shots,

that one is my favourite so far.

I haven’t been out much, walked up to the shops and back but it’s a pain dodging dog walkers and kids on bikes along the way. I started a Yin Yoga course to keep me fit which I’m actually liking doing so might stick with it!

The hedgehogs are back and we are getting 2 or 3 visiting in the wee hours, here’s last nights visitors, click on through to the big version on Youtube, you can see the hedgies better, there are a few more there from this week too.

I’m keeping up with my 52 frames weekly challenge over on the universe blog, thanks to those of you who’ve visited and commented, I really appreciate it. This is the link https://fragglerocking.org/project-type/52-frames/

also I’ve done another section for the Photographic anthology here https://fragglerocking.org/project-type/anthology/

(Kim the links might work for you now 🙂 )

and so a little smile to end this one with….

The Corona Chronicles ~ 2

March 31, 2020Posted in Corona Chronicles, flowers, Flowers, FujiX-T2, nature, Personal History, Scale Models, UncategorizedTagged Corona Chronicles, Fraggle, FujiX-T2, Photography, thoughts27 Comments

Well that’s my first week of isolation done, and no symptoms so my clients at work were presumably all clear, at least when they saw me. Phil of course is still going into work. Although there have been 3 C19 deaths at his hospital so far they haven’t had to use the Operating theatre staff, but they are wearing protective eyeware, plastic aprons and gloves to deal with the emergency operations they have to do. When he gets home he heads straight to the shower, puts all his clothes in a bag and they go straight in the washing machine. I open all the doors so he doesn’t have to touch the handles. Any shopping is disinfected and decanted into clean pots where necessary, and the kitchen surfaces disinfected afterwards. Bags all discarded, hands scrubbed with soap. I haven’t been out except once to the local shop and though we shoppers stood 2 meters apart, the corridors are thin and the lad filling the shelves brushed by everyone on his way, sigh.

Last week the nation stood outside their houses or leaned out of their windows and clapped and wooted and banged saucepans to applaud our NHS staff. When we heard it was going to happen Phil said he didn’t need people to clap for him, he needed the NHS to be better funded, have personal protection kit, and for people to stop voting for the Tory Bastards as he calls them. But when it kicked off and we could hear the amount of people on our estate who participated he was quite surprised, and a little chuffed I think. It IS nice to be appreciated.

Luckily we have had some sunny days, even though it was too cold to bask in it, and I turned my camera on now and then and took some photo’s. My blossom tree is shedding petals now in the wind and looks a bit bare, but it was lush when it reached full bloom and I sat and waited for the blutits to come so I could get a picture of one amongst the blossom.

I turned the Helios loose on the tree too,

Last year I bought a Japanese maple which doesn’t like wind and as we had a surfeit of that last year it promptly died, or so I thought, but it appears to be working again so I thought I’d best catch it quick.

Mum’s plant is firing up, I can never remember the name of it, though someone tells me anytime I post a picture of it, it will always be just Mum’s plant in my head.

Just before the red leaves appear, it produces tiny bell shape flowers which the bees seem to love.

There’s a lot of huge bees around this week, mostly getting trapped in our conservatory and having to be rescued and released. Maybe Queens looking for places to nest. I found one in our water barrel on it’s back, flapping it’s wings and buzzing for all the world like it was having an angry swimming session, I rescued that one too. 🙂

The conservatory plant, another resurrection, is up and running with new leaves

and my Mothers Day flowers from Shelley and the kids are still going strong after 3 weeks.

Phil finished his labour-of-love tank last week, most of you have seen the work in process shots I’ve taken along the way last year. He photographs it against a white card backdrop which he tapes to the conservatory table and pegs up on the clothes drier. On Thursday he went to take his shots of the finished tank, and when he’d finished, cleared away the drier having forgotten the tank was still on the table. ‘Oops’ was not the word I and the rest of Gateshead heard as it shimmied off the paper and crashed to the floor.

He’s had to put it all back to rights of course, but was not a happy person for a few days while doing so. All done now though, and the little men in, I’ll get a shot of it when it’s sorted and on the base, (before he drops it hopefully 😀 :D)

At the weekend we had a video call with Phil’s son and daughter which lasted an hour. It’s a good way to keep in touch and just have a chat and a laugh.

I’ve decided to work on a couple of books of photos I’m planning on doing, and that will take some time to sort, so I’m definitely making the most of the lockdown, just got to decide what I’m going to do, I’m thinking of a book on the castles I’ve photographed for one, arty farty flowers for another, and maybe Newcastle, but I’m not sure which to choose first, if at all. I don’t suppose it matters, they’re only for me.

I am restricting my input of news, reading the paper each morning and hear the odd snippet on the radio, is bad enough and I may have to stop reading the paper and go straight to the crossword, as mostly it’s bad stuff and there’s nothing much I can do about it. Instead of the 6 o’clock news we watch Narcos on Netflix, before that it was Narcos Mexico so I’ve learned a lot about how not to run a drug cartel 🙂 and am not adding Mexico or Columbia to my list of places to visit before I die. Though at this rate I won’t be visiting anywhere except the back garden and my shed.

I started doing excercises last week. Most of the country and lots of people in other countries have been doing the Joe Wicks live stream excercises on Youtube at 9am here. He started doing it for kids, but because he looks like a cross between Jon Snow, & Heathcliffe all the Mummy’s hearts went a-flutter and now everyone’s joining in and he’s getting famous. Yes he gets revenue from adverts on his channel but he’s donating 100% to the NHS so he’s nearly a saint now. I did his workout last Tuesday afternoon, and couldn’t walk without ouching for 3 days, sitting down and standing up was like a knife sticking in my bum, and I’ve just about recovered enough to sit on the sofa and watch him! 😀 😀

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joe+wicks

So week 1 over, and as Phil is not at work today we are planning a walk into the greenery around where we live this afternoon, if the rain holds off, and I’ll take a camera with me. Hope all my pals who visit here are keeping well and sane,

stay frosty my friends!

The Corona Chronicles. 1

March 24, 2020Posted in Corona Chronicles, Personal HistoryTagged Corona Chronicles, life, UK20 Comments

Our country is now on lockdown, everything is shut apart from hospitals, food shops and essential services. People have been told to stay at home, and only go out once a day for excercise. We have to stay 2 meters away from anyone we come across, and no more group gatherings, you can gather in two’s so long as you live together anyway! Police will have powers to disperse any groups and fine people who are out and about for no reason. We are allowed to go out for food and medicines if needed, but that’s about it. These new rules were announced last night and about time too, as this country is full of knobs who at the weekend ignored all the advice to stay away from people, went out to public parks, beaches etc in their droves thereby increasing the risk of spreading the infection. So now it’s not advice anymore, it’s do it or else.

There’s been a lot of bad things going on, corner shops inflating prices of necessities to a ridiculous level, teenagers coughing deliberatly into old peoples faces, and social media is full of all the bad, but there are some good things happening, and some light relief so that’s where I’ll be looking and will share anything fun.

In my work I do earwax removal, which means I deal with patients not at a distance of 2 meters, but about 0 inches, so after a lot of flip flopping our governing body, the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists finally told everyone to cease doing face to face appontments as of Sunday night, but we carried on as my boss was on holiday until today and she wanted me to honour the appointments already booked in. Wasn’t ecstatic about that, but I did it, and did everything I could to minimise the risks to the patients, (my clinic has never been so cleaned!) and to home, with me getting through the door, stripping off clothes into a black bag and hot footing it straight into the shower. The last of my patients was at midday today and that’s that, I’m now self isolating, not because I’ve got symptoms, but in case I do within the next 10 days, plus I’m following instructions!

Phil of course is a front line worker, and is going to be having ITU training this week at work, as are all the theatre (O.R) staff in his hospital, as the theatres (O.R’s) will be used for patients on ventilators if the ITU can’t cope. That isn’t happening yet, the worst of Corvid is in London and the South, but it is spreading Northwards and I don’t suppose it will be long until we are in the same boat up here. In the mean time he’s going in this week to do trauma and emergency operating lists.

So what am I going to do with myself under house arrest? I obviously can’t go out on photography outings with Sophie, but I have a few left to post on Sundays over on the Universe blog, and I have books to read, movies to watch, mosaics I can faff on with and photography can be done anywhere. I’m going to concentrate on a photography course I’ve been doing haphazardly, and will continue to blog. We are going to be face timing with our kids and grandkids, and connecting with friends through social media and blogging, (always assuming the people who maintain the WWW don’t go under) and Phil will finish his tank (at last) and has some other projects on the go. We will be just fine with our hobbies. I’ll be attacking the garden too when it warms up a bit more.

I have 2 projects going on over on the universe blog too, one is called 52 Frames, and it’s a web run weekly photo prompt, I’m posting my weekly shots not as a blog post but in the ‘project’ area of wordpress, and you can see that HERE. My other project is an anthology to do with photography and it’s history, covering the different specialties such as abstract, street, landscape etc, and including trivia, whimsy, great photographers past and present to check out and much else to do with photography, and you can check it out HERE.

Now and then I’ll post on here about the goings on in the Wardley universe and the North East and hope you’ll all still be visiting and saying hi. 🙂

Worst thing to happen this week:- My hairdressesr/manicurist Kendall has had to give up work for the interim. I will go grey and have short nails by the end of my confinement, 🙀 and it won’t matter as no-one will see me, but I do love my pal Kendall and will miss her.

Best thing to happen this week:- having a positive mental attitude and looking forward to enforced creativity!