Photo diary: weeks 15 and 16, project 366

Last weekend I spent glued to the radio, listening to Classic FM's Hall of Fame. It was four days of bliss. If I wasn't cooped up in the kitchen, I was carrying my iPhone around, with the app on, so that I wouldn't miss the countdown.
It is always a highlight of the Easter weekend for me, and this year it also gave me some semblance of normality, as if nothing dreadful is happening around.
None of my three votes made it into the top 100: Khachaturian's Masquerade Suite was at no.159 (up 65 places), The Gadfly by Shostakovich was at no.122 (up 7 places) and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet was at no.102 (up 14 places).
I was amused to hear my tweet read on the radio. If I knew they'd do it, I'd have said something a little bit more sophisticated.

I was disappointed with the overall winner, as it's not a piece I like. In fact every time it comes up on the radio, I switch it off.

Why am I droning on about Classic FM? It was the main reason why I skipped doing my weekly photo diary.

And here are some of the photos I've taken in the last couple of weeks.
I was walking around the block and saw this cloud circle around the sun, and thought I have to take a photo for Eddie, as it reminded me of the Avengers and the Agents of Shield.

This is one of the tulips in our garden, the colour is so intense.

Marmite peanut butter was one of the products in the Degustabox food box. My guys refused even to try it. Categorically. You know me, I cannot resist trying something new, but oh boy, I didn't like it at all. It's way too salty. I used some of it to make biscuits.
Have you tried it?

We had such good weather for over a week, warm and sunny, and spent as much time as we could in the garden. We still continued doing homework with Eddie, even if technically it was an Easter break.

And these are the biscuits, made with Marmite peanut butter. I was having a short break in the garden with a mug of coffee and a book, which is a pure escapism into a different era.

Another walk around the block, this time with Eddie, we ventured out in the evening. We looked wistfully at the closed playground and church, made a circle around the bridge and the flood fields.
I liked the spot of red in this rather monochrome little alley.

On the same walk we looked up to see those white doves who live at the "ghost house", which is covered with vines and holds dozens of nests. We've never seen anyone coming in or out of the house, but apparently someone the house is not uninhabited and the owner uses the back door to enter it.

I didn't cook a big feast for Easter, but we had an Italian cake Colomba and lots of chocolate eggs and Lindt bunnies.
It also made me think of our Easter lunches in Italy, when we celebrated with my in-laws, and when we stayed at home and had friends over. It feels like a lifetime ago.

Cressida Cowell was running a competition to draw a dragon of your own, with a description of its powers and skills. Eddie enjoyed drawing his dragon.
We don't know yet who has won the competition, there were hundreds of entries, with some very good drawings. The prize is a drawing by Cressida Cowell.

We miss visiting our local Waterstones. Thanks goodness, the online shops still work. Eddie and I recently read Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens, and enjoyed it so much, that Eddie asked me to buy book no.2 in the series. And of course, I couldn't resist getting something for myself as well - a thriller by Wendy Dranfield. I follow her on Twitter, but haven't read any of her books.

I know many people are sceptical about clapping for the NHS (just read Mumsnet), but Eddie and I joined in last Thursday. I missed it last week, as I was reading to Sasha.
We were a bit early, and the street was empty. It's so strange to see no cars or people around.

More tulip pictures from the garden. My Mum planted the bulbs of the white tulips last year. I wish she could see all the beautiful flowers here.

And a screenshot of me chatting to Eddie on WhatsApp, while waiting in a queue to Waitrose. My face mask is rather fetching, isn't it?! It was a rainy day, but we needed the rain after so many warm dry days.

How did your Easter holidays go?

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