How are you all?  How are you coping with the ongoing lockdown situation, do you feel anxious about it all?  I am surprisingly okay, I am getting bored and I am keen to start going out now, I'd love to sit in a pub garden or go for a walk along the South Bank in London. I am also missing time to myself and a quiet house.  Too many bodies passing through at the moment, and a lack of routine!  But I need to remember to be kind to myself and remind myself I am doing a good job and it is okay to take some time out for me.

Remember back in February, before we knew what was about to hit us, there was a lot of talk about how important it is to Be Kind following the sad death of Caroline Flack?  Well, Mental Health Awareness Week (18 to 24 May 2020) is hosted by the Mental Health Foundation and their chosen focus this year is Kindness.

Hello, how are you?  Is this very gradual easing of lockdown going well for you?  I feel quite safe in my little area of leafy Buckinghamshire so I am not too stressed about it, I am however quite pleased we can start venturing out a bit more.  I've not made any major changes, but I have organised to meet with a couple of girlfriends next week, two separate walks, socially distanced, but an opportunity for a catch-up.  And I have ordered face masks!

I'm a bit behind with my blog schedule and kinda felt there was no pressure to post, But I thought today I'd pop up with a bit of a summary what home beauty treatments I am using during lockdown.  With no definite date for the re-opening of salons, the challenge with our roots continues!

Who else is missing their hairdresser, their nail technician, their beautician?!  I had my nails done just before lockdown but the gel on my hands was off 3 weeks later although my feet made it to about 7 weeks!  And my hair!  It so needs a colour now and it is getting bigger and more and more in need of a good trim.  Don't zoom in too close on my photos please!

Hello and how are you all?  The early heatwave was amazing wasn't it, we have had some rain now but I am still managing garden time.  And I haven't regretted (yet) putting my winter clothes away.  How are you coping?  What is it - 5 or 6 weeks of lockdown?  My days do feel very 'samey' I get up every morning to the usual routine of tidying up, thinking about what to cook for dinner, writing my to do list and making the most of some quiet time before the family rise.  

With every day that goes by I am missing my beauty treatments more and more, I really would love to get my roots done properly, my hair trimmed, my legs waxed and my nails, oh my nails ... I cannot keep regular polish on, I miss my gel so much!  I also feel I would benefit from a facial!  I am keeping very busy, I am relieved my mental health is back to some sort of normal after a very difficult time at Christmas. I appreciate these are very minor problems and I assure you I do have bigger worries (that I can't share) - so love and hugs to everyone, but for now on my blog, I keep it light hearted.

My husband has been spending a lot of time in the garden, he had to pull a tree down that suffered during the storms so he has been busy clearing up and making the area tidy again, he has done a lot of weeding and clearing of some overgrown areas.  He has power washed the patio and driveway and he has been painting the exterior woodwork.  

That tree by the way was the one we used to hang the children's swing on, first of all their plastic baby seat, then later on a wooden seat.  It was also the home of our much loved tree house.  My husband built it from an old shed when our son was about 3 or 4, the tree house, a small play house, a home-made see saw and the swing were the sum of our children's outdoor toys - no yellow and red plastic in our woodland garden, so they were both very sad to see the demise of the tree house and are nagging for a replacement for the grandchildren (still a long way off).

I turned 20 in December 1986.  So when I looked for photos I looked from about 1985 and into 1987.  In that time, I got engaged .... (and got married in May 1988, then separated in August 1989, yep just a little shocker there I don't usually talk about).  But for me being 20 was all about planning a wedding.  I started with short hair, grew my hair for the wedding, then cut it all off again after the divorce.  I was also pretty surprised at the dreadful quality of the photos back then!  Or how awful I looked!  And there weren't that many of me so I guess I was often behind the camera.

Obviously my photos on this post are photos of photos, so even worse quality!