A little cloudy this morning and still a nip in the air. There were even some spots of rain which I hope stays away. Yesterday evening I decided to upload the battery to my wheelchair as I plan for a small excursion this afternoon to the local castle and chicken run. After staying at home for almost two weeks I think it is time to go places and see things. The battery needs a complete night to upload fully and it is now ready. I was actually thinking about getting myself a normal wheelchair for manual propulsion. I have one left from Mr. Swiss who never uses it, but it is one of the simpler versions and not really designed for longer travels. However, I would need my hands more for moving one and they are no longer as good as they were. I can still type, but writing is becoming a problem and now and again my hand gets a little fixed. Not very often, but it will not get better with the years. I think I will have a talk with the guy at my wheelchair suppliers. He is very good and visits me now and again if I have a problem. I have discovered over the years that talking it over with doctors and specialists is OK, but not really the solution. They tend to stick to their text books and not so much with personal experiences. I am the one that uses these gadgets and know what I need.

In the meannwhile I am getting all sorts of flight demonstrations from my birds. The only food I have for them is hanging and that needs more calculated approach demonstrations.

There also seems a waiting line for access to the goodies.

Although a chirpy discussion sometimes solves the problems. These two seem to be sharing the food, perhaps it is a pair.

Otherwise a normal Saturday.

I did bake yet another bread as it suited the chilli con carne I made for the evening meal. It was still a little warm when I served it and of course very fresh. Needless to say there was little remaining afterwards, but I did manage to rescue some for my breakfast.

Otherwise it was a TV evening. The funeral of Prince Philip of Great Britain was again shown in the evening on one of the BBC channels. Now I could watch it in peace as I was cooking in between when the live broadcast was showing in the afternoon. Mr. Swiss had already retired for the night and my No. 1 son happened to be in the living room when it started. He is an autist, but has his own taste in TV programmes and the British Royal family always interested him, so he took a seat with me in the living room and we both watched it. On the way I could explain to him who was who in the royal family. I remember when he was still a kid and we were in London seeing Buckingham Palace, the Queen’s London residence. He was most disappointed that he did not see the Queen and we had quite an autistic tantrum outside the palace, although I do not think the Queen noticed it. I must say the funeral also interested me with the music which reminded me of my school days. It was fascinating to see how the eight men in their uniforms carried the coffin up the steps to the church and did everything so perfectly. It was a masterpiece of organisation.

And now time for me to do something more useful than write on the computer with my masterpiece of organisation. I have a dinner to cook, a veal ragout, but once on its way I can leave it for a while and attend to other tasks. Have a good Sunday everyone, take it easy and may it be a restful one.

And just to add, the sun has appeared and no more rain. I must have done something right to deserve it.

This is how it looks on my side of the world at the moment, sunny a few wafting clouds, but quite cold. Today is a little more settled. Yesterday I was completely thrown out of balance. When I got my confirmation yesterday morning of my week-end shopping on-line list there was an important item missing, meat. I contacted them but can only do that by computer and have to wait for an answer which I did not get. Eventually they called me by telephone (quite an honour) apologising and offering me a very good alternative. This all took time and threw me a little off balance. I am just too old for changes in my daily routine, especially as I am getting less mobile than I was.

This week I did not go anywhere, actually the last two weeks. I was so comfortable at home, but now I have decided to break out tomorrow on Sunday and will probably make a small tour locally of the surroundings including the castle. Taking photos of my feathered friends is OK, but sometimes my camera needs something different. I also intend to go into town on Monday. I have to collect cash to pay my cleaning lady, she does not operate with money transfers and Mr. Swiss needs his cigarettes.

I had quite some entertainment from my blue tit neignbours yesterday, even with a flight demonstration. This one seemed to be floating on air flying from one side to the other and not even using his wings. I think if it were not for the birds life would be quite dull.

Otherwise they were busy eating the food remains that I still have outside. I thought I would have to tidy the garden after the birds were finished, but they are doing it all theirselves. I bought my filled coconut shell during Winter, but they mostly ignored it. Now it is the No. 1 on their hit parade and fights often happen to be the first served.

Yesterday there was nothing really special happening. I do not even see my neighbours very often unless they happen to be tidying their garden outside. Even the TV does not interest me so much at the moment, and I only like to watch films if their subject appeals to me. I am a fan of magical mystery like Harry Potter and the Transformers, the machines that have quite human features. At the moment I have my nose more stuck into books, and am now on the third and currently last book of the Vivian Shaw series of Dr. Greta Helsing novels who is a doctor for supernatural beings such as vampires, mummies and ghouls – yes even they have their medical problems. Imagine being a mummy and losing a finger bone. Of course Greta Helsing is the daughter of the Dr. Van Helsing who was involved in the Dracula story. I know I have a strange taste, but I see enough reality in the present world and like to escape now and again.

And now it is time to move on. I do not have such a cookery session this morning as I have boiled beef and vegetables which simmers nicely on its own for a few hours, filling the kitchen with enticing aromas. I also intend to bake a bread in between. A woman’s work is never done. So I hope I have kept you entertained for a while and now I will entertain myself keeping myself busy. Take care everyone, play safe, keep your distance and the newest discovery of the Brits is to open the windows – let the hairy pins out to die and disperse. Perhaps we will one day be rid of this scourge.

It is a sunny day today it seems. I was almost blinded by the light when I opend the blinds after hugging the bed. I left my comfortable bed this morning just a little earlier as it is again time to change the bed linen. How I dislike that job. the first work is to strip the covers from the duvet and cushion, but just my bed. Mr. Swiss is still relaxing and I can do his later. He no longer has the strength to manage it all. I have now moved onto the kitchen for breakfast and will do the rest later. I needed a cup of tea and my breakfast before proceding any further with physical work. I no longer feed the birds in the morning. There are stil a few things hanging around and they must now fend for themselves, although they seem to be doing quite well. It is time to bring up the kids anyhow I wonder if the crows and magpies are busy cracking open the walnuts and peanuts for their babies.

I had been meaning to show this photo for some time, but lost it somewhere in my photo storage. Yesterday I found it. It was taken on 1st April and so I almost thought it was an April joke when this blue tit arrived at my kitchen window. I heard the noise and there he was: so close I never get to my birds, although I used a little zoom on this to get the feathery details. I was pleasantly surprised to see him hanging on the window frame.

There was quite a flutter outside yesterday when two of the sparrows decided to do a ballet act outside.

There was quite a lot of action outside yesterday and the sparrows were fighting for a good place on the wall having quite loud conversations.

Otherwise I was baking bread again. I was going to defrost a bread, but realised I did not really have a lot for the daily need so decided to bake a loaf. I have plenty of various flour types so decided on a brown bread. I also have enough yeast which I really want to use. I was a bit late on baking yesterday, so it was a stiil slightly warm bread when we had it at the evening cold cut meal. What could be better. Today it will be a bread from the freezer. On Friday I never really bake a bread, and on Saturday we will be having a chilli con carne for the evening meal. We like to eat bread with it, especially if it is freshly baked which it will be.

I heard this morning that Denmark has completely stopped the rollout of the British Astrazeneca Vaccine for Covid. I have been observing the situation and it seems to me that the Brits are really having a problem with their vaccinations. At the beginning it was bright enthusiasm for their vaccine and the idea was, after a few blunders, to get the complete british population vaccinated. They then discovered that they did not have anough at their disposal for the two vaccinations on a four week basis, and so it was altered to twelve weeks. Now it has been discovered that blood clots can be caused by this vaccine, although a rare (but dangerous) occurrence. The new British idea is now to mix the Astrazeneca vaccine with the others as they do not seem to have enough. I am not sure if this is a good idea and it seems the Brits are also not so convinced and are now making tests to see how it would work. Sorry Mr. Johnson and your team, but this all seems to me to be a little handcraft under the motto “let’s see if it will work”.

All countries are a little overcome with managing the problems of the pandemic. I have been very lucky that I have my vaccinations behind me. In Switzerland it is handled on a Kantonal basis and some Kantons are jabbing quicker than others. Our Kanton has made progress with us golden oldies. My son’s Kanton even more so, and he is now on the list for his jab at the end of the month. Our younger generations are still waiting. Reflecting on it all I am glad that I did not have the Astrazeneca vaccine.

And now to continue to the current day. I still have the bed assembly to complete and a lunch to cook, but I am not planning on going anywhere today. I have now rediscovered my reading again and no longer watch so much TV, although they had a Harry Potter season of all the films since Easter and I watched them all (twice actually). I am now determined to read the books again, although the last two I had never read. I am now reading the last of the Genevieve Cogman Books concerning the Invisible Library, another one of those fantasy subjects, but I like to read them and have read all of them up to now. It is a mystery world where the library ensures that they get the books they want, although mainly through devious means. It is a mixture of Human, Dragon and so-called Fae influences.

And now I will move on with the daily chores Have a good day everyone.