We say Good bye to the first month of summer. It whooshed by so fast. I'm still plodding along, rather in limbo, doing things by rota, routinely, crestfallen and sluggish. I am so depressed about the war. The chances are I might never see my Mum again, and that breaks my heart. Her health is not good, and I guess she is not telling me the whole truth, always trying to diminsh any worry. She knows how anxious I am, and tries to spare me. As Mums do.
I make an effort to keep myself busy, with organsing the house, looking after my boys, reading, baking and painting, but at the back of my mind the anxiety never goes away. You think you might have it under control, but it's always there, and can be easily triggered, in a flick of the switch.
This month I continued sketching with inks, using #Penandinkchallenge prompts.
In this sketch I used a stamp of little Sasha running on the beach. Years ago I took part in the competition ran by one of the papercrafting magazines to design a summer-themed stamp. And they later produced the stamp based on my design (if you fancy seeing the actual stamp, have a look at my Insta post).
We keep watching The Walking Dead, now on season five and counting. We'll probably keep watching it for the rest of the summer. I never thought I would be so engrossed into anything zombie-related, but this series is not about zombies really. It is about the human psychology and behaviour when in extreme situations of the apocalypse, moral dilemmas and life and death choices. It is very gruesome and eerie, and the producers are quite ruthless, disposing of characters you grow to love. The acting is exceptionally good. A fantastic cast.
Earlier this month I reviewed The Only Exception by Claire Huston. It is an entertaining, light-hearted and uplifting modern romance. As the brownie features prominently in the book, I baked a brownie to celebrate the book publication.
The main character of the book serves her brownie with warm custard. I confess that it's a total No-No from me. I generally find warm custard quite revolting. The warm brownie surely has to be served with a cold cream, custard or even better, ice cream. It's the combination of warm and cold that makes it the winning one for me.
Are you Camp Warm custard on brownie or Camp Ice cream?
Songs by the fire was one of the prompts of #penandinkchallenge, and I have chosen a song called Hold On by Tom Waits, as performed by Beth Greene from The Walking Dead. It resonates with me, as I keep telling myself to Hold on. If you watched it, you might remember Beth singing it, while they are together in prison.
I cannot say the likeness is amazing, but hope you can still recognise Beth. She is one of my favourite characters (and she dies in season five, sob).
A couple of months ago I saw an online offer for Lee Kum Kee Mystery Box subscription (pay for 2, get the 3rd box free). I often buy LKK Teriyaki sauce (the best one for the Teriyaki tofu and rice), soya sauce and sesame oil, and fancied trying more products from their vast range.
So far my top favourite from the first box was LKK Mushrooms Vegetarian stir fry sauce. It's a vegetarian alternative to the oyster sauce. I just add it to any vegetables, and Pad Thai noodles.
These are the contents of the second box, which I am slowly going through.
Our garden is both a source of joy and despair for me. Joy, for obvious reasons, and despair, as it's a never-ending work. The weeds, the battle with the birds to save some of the berries.
I managed to get some of the red currants, but the blackcurrants were totally demolished by the birds.
And then the blasted neighbours' cats who keep killing the birds. One morning I found four dead fledglings on the path under the hazelnut tree. It's just a game for them, they are not killing for food but for fun.
My tomato plants are doing very well, and roses and wild roses are a pleasure to look at.
I spotted this little beastie on the wild rose, and named them The Beauty and the Beast.
Another TV series we've been watching this month is Stranger Things. The final two episodes of the last season should be on late tonight (virtual watch party), and Eddie can't wait. He is a big fan, so I had to get him a Stranger Things' hoodie (found on Amazon).
His birthday is coming soon, and I have ordered a couple of ST birthday cards on Moonpig, and just seen a Steve Harrington Funko Pop toy that he would love.
Whenever I spot a new Ritter Sport flavour on Ocado, I am tempted to try it. Ritter Sport Konnichiwa is a combination of cherry and almond, inspired by the Japanese cherry blossom. It's not too bad, but not my favourite Ritter Sport.
Have you tried it?
Eddie and I went to the cinema to see Jurassic World Dominion. Rotten Tomatoes rated it 2/5, and I agree with that rating. It's probably the worst Jurassic film. Time to stop.
There were a couple of exciting episodes, but overall it's lacking in fun, and is rather forgettable. Even my son wasn't impressed.
We have some beautiful old-fashioned roses in the garden. I don't know the name of this variety, but it smells divine.
Stargazing sketch: I drew my older son when he was little and we visited London Aquarium. The original photo was of him standing against the aquarium with fish, which I turned into the star-lit sky.
Beautiful cascading roses over the wall of one of the houses by the river Windrush.
Iceland is one of the countries I've always dreamed of visiting. This is a quick sketch of one of the churches, which I found online. And that's the only kind of travelling I am doing. Online.
My darling niece got married. It was an emotional day. I wish I were there to give her the biggest hug in person, and wish the newly weds my best wishes. She is only twenty years old, a baby really.
This is one of the snaps my brother took during the ceremony.
I saw a million photos later, and cried.
Visiting our local library. With all the budget cuts, the book stock is getting less varied. But at least it is still open.
Monday the 20th was another emotional day for me. Our old friends, with whom we lost touch, were visiting Oxford from the States. We haven't seen each other for twenty years.
The last time we met, we lived in the States, in Williamstown. Sasha was not even one year old. And now my boy is a grown-up man. Saying Time flies is such a cliché, but it is spot on. Where did our youth go?
We met when both they and we were newly married, and we shared a college house with them, and a couple of boys.
We had lunch in Nuffield college.
These are the water lilies in the courtyard.
When Sash was a pre-teen and early teen, he used to take lots of photos, including selfies in some psyhedelic colour settings. One of his old selfies was an inspiration for my inky sketch.
For the Waves prompt I painted a small landscape of the Cornish beach, with a solitary figure of my son in the distance. I can't wait to see my beloved Cornwall.
And the last one of my inky sketches. Promise you, no more drawings in this post. I did a painting of Eddie jumping on the beach, holding his hat in his hand.
Our current sofa is getting old, and is really uncomfortable if you open it up as a bed. Eddie and I went to the bed shop to look for a new sofa which could be used as a bed and tested a few sofas.
The Sinner by Caroline England is a gripping domestic noir. It's a sinister tale of broken trust, tragic secrets and skeletons in the closet. The main protagonist is married to the vicar, hence the cross.
On the run through the town...
A very boring snap of the kitchen wire baskets, which I bought this week, taken on my Mum's request, as she said she wants to see them.
I had a bunch of bananas going mushy. Rather than bake a banana bread, I made a banana chutney, with sultanas, ginger, garlic, onion, chilli, rum and other ingredients. I haven't made it recently and forgot just how tasty it is, even if it doesn't look pretty.
And a few mismatched jars of strawberry jam, of a runny variety, so I could pour it over ice cream or pancakes.
Hope your June was stress-free and filled with positivity.
