September and our last weeks of Lockdown?

 Life is getting very busy now that things are slowly opening up. On top of all the Lockdown activities on Zoom and in the kitchen, garden and quilting studio we are now allowed to go on picnics.

My first picnic was with Jen and the girls to Bexley Park (in the overlap of our 5km from home) where we sat under a shady tree and played stick fiddlesticks, collected interesting things, climbed the tree and then did a bit of scooter riding. Our next picnic was a teddy bear's picnic to Rockdale Park which we all enjoyed much better; very shady and lots of trees to climb, run around and hide behind.

My third picnic in the week was with Elaine in our overlap area at Bald Face Reserve. We sat by the George's River on a squidgy bit of path but had a great chat and a bit of a bush walk to get there.

In the kitchen my latest venture has been making hung yoghurt cheese (just like cream cheese) and I have taken it on each picnic I've been on with veggie sticks to dip in. It is so easy...

Just tip yoghurt into a cloth to drain the liquid out (I used one of Surrey's old hankies). Nothing to add, just natural Greek style yoghurt. It takes quite a short time but I do it in the fridge overnight. It is great just as it is, as a dip base, or to spread on crackers or bread. Yum! And I am able to make it in small amounts.

Today's experiment is my normal Minestrone with all my leftover veggies and some mince in the slow cooker. But this time I am just sitting two Bok Choy in the top and letting them slowly steam. I'll eat them for dinner tonight with my Fillet Steak and some other veggies. I think this might be very tasty.

When Geoff and Jen returned from Tassie, when they collected the dog, they dropped off the TV they had bought while they were down there . I've rigged up a tiny stand for it but the stand needs finishing off with Geoff's electrical tools and I also need someone to help move the cupboard with all the electronic hard drives and wifi and other gadgets so the cables from the new TV can reach them. I can't have that until after lockdown so I'll just continue to use my old, smaller TV.

My blue and white quilt continues and I will probably finish putting the blocks together today ready for the binding.

My October train holiday has been postponed but I be travelling another day.

I've now found a few great home delivery suppliers - Good and Fugly for fruit and veggies, and Black Lily for prepared meals. I continue to get groceries online from IGA who now have a reasonable website. I've also ordered sewing supplies from Logan's to support a Sydney-based shop rather than the Spotlight megalith.

Lockdown has been a great opportunity for me to busy myself at home and create all sorts of new ventures. I've been relatively happy and stayed in contact with friends and family via various electronic means and kept up the "social snacking" by shopping at my local butcher and chatting through the fence and over the road with neighbours. I've even had my Bubble Buddy Stephanie and have had visits with her each week at least. The Zoom Room Crooners (see link to blog on the right) has been an exciting bonus! I'll certainly miss that when Lockdown ends but I will be able to sing with others in real life which will be wonderful.

I'm finding life is getting crazy full with lockdown activities and real activities overlapping so will have to learn again how to balance things again and say "No, sorry" occasionally.