Welcome to the no corona zona

[YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet]

Have you aged ten years overnight on a supermarket website?
Are you sticking to the 'two sheets' rule?
Have you had it with singing celebrities?
Are you yearning for what we will now call The Before Times?

If you've answered yes to any of the above, here's where you come to post threads about Naice Things - like ham and cats. Where The Virus That Must Not Be Named (TVTMNBM) is off-limits.

We'll do our best to keep the corona-free zone moderated - you do your best to chill out and gather strength.

Keep using the normal boards for normal stuff, but here's where to come if you need a break. We're hoping everyone will see the value of having somewhere to get away from it all.

Thanks,
MNHQ

Banana Love your pics.
And I am bored senseless too.
Today I woke up in a funny mood, tomorrow will be better I'm sure.

Squashy what an amazing evening, and my DH would be seriously impressed with what you say as he's a bit of a stargazer too.

Angliski your babies are adorable.

Wasp your poor cat!

Ah cute baby @Angliski. I adore babies anyway, but yours has the cutest smile.

I have taken my cacti out of 'hibernation' and I think they look fine. 12 years ago i put their seeds down.

The second foto is on the wall of a house a couple of streets away,. I found it on my handy.

handy = mobile -sorry

You have grown cacti from seed?

My DD grew swiss cheese plants from seed, I was seriously impressed! Her flat looks like a greenhouse as she doesn't want to get rid of any that she has nurtured!

Thank goodness for this thread!
Woop woop from my house, my son started walking on Wednesday. Today we walked from the back door to the front door (which actually involves going down 3 different streets) and Mummy only had to carry him 1/3rd of the way

swiss cheese plant
Impressive to get them from seeds! - I only ever managed to grow them form cuts. When I read this word for the first time in a school text, I had a mental image of a pale yellow plant special to England (it was school so I didn't bother to look it up). Only found out that it is a Fensterblatt (window leaf) by accident.

My DD must have green fingers unlike me...

My NDNs and us often meet up the pub on a Friday night, to make up for the absence of that we had a whatsapp chat on cam... all with glasses of wine. I can cope with that, at least I didn't have to bother getting changed or putting make up on...

Everyone, did you know, you can sign up for an online salsa dancing course?? I have been trying to find my dance for decades. I’ve tried tap, ballet, contemporary jazz, street dance, Bollywood and all sorts. I’ve been spectacularly shit at all of them.

But I have a good feeling about this, I will come out of social distancing as a distinguished salsa dancer! I am almost sure of it.

Right having looked at the photos, I’m a bit late planning but a baby would definitely brighten the monotony.

Just seen this thread now. Praise the Lord!

I tidied my pantry out today, it looks rather neat. We had 10 packets of unopened pasta, 6 tins of tuna and the beginnings of a tiffin recipe methinks : carnation milk, shredded coconut, marshmallows... I'll have a Google.

The weather has been gorgeous so me and the kids walked to the station. Saw a train, spoke to the driver. Played out at the front all afternoon, bikes, skateboard etc kids are exhausted!

all

I wonder how everyone will find putting the clocks forward tonight? It's going to be very different than normal, because it just doesn't seem to matter what time it is, does it, because, for us, we just don't have to be anywhere at any time...
Quite refreshing in a funny sort of way.

@squashyhat oooh! I’m so jealous, I’ve been wanting to get a telescope for a while now. How do you know where to look and what you’re looking at? And do you live away from a town as I hear you can see better with less light pollution?

I re-potted my cacti that DH and DS gave me 2 years ago. They're already looking much perkier.

We're trying to grow tomatoes, peas and sweetcorn this year. We also have a "growing" roof on our shed, which I've chucked poppy and wallflower seeds onto.

Well done mini @MTGGamer. DS walked early then decided he wasn't really bothered.

@Bunnyflop we live in the south east quite near Gatwick but our immediate neighbourhood is dark, no streetlights which does help. Look at the Skywatcher range of telescopes - they are reasonably priced and do make a difference. Not Hubble quality obviously! There are various apps which identify the constellations when you point your phone at them. Once a month in the Times on Saturday they do a 'sky this month' feature with a map which is really useful.

Talking of The Times, I just put this link on the Nature Notes thread but I'm sure no one will mind if I plonk it here too

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-splash-of-colour-too-bright-for-our-eyes-295w5nmgt?shareToken=27ad6833c70e1b1baaea31c489f6b3e8

Love this, feels good to find out all of your wonderful ideas for passing the time. The pet and Llama pictures are great.
I have 3 elderly chickens (Esmeralda, Bluebell, Bella about 6/7 years old) who are laying again now it is spring, there are plenty of herbs in the garden, so looks like free herby omelette is on the menu 😋 I also made a good old fashioned rice pudding, handful of rice, tablespoon of sugar, tin of evaporated milk - topped up with water, dusting of nutmeg, about an hour in the oven, then eaten with a big dollop of jamMmmmm.
Started a jigsaw a couple of days ago, dug it out of a cupboard, left it on the table under a cloth, its a good excuse for a coffee & cake (made bread pudding with some stale bread) and try and find a few more pieces, passes the time surprisingly well.
Both my Honeybee Hives have survived the winter, they are thriving in this beautiful weather, the girls are crazy busy all coming home covered in a dusting of coloured pollen.
The bird feeder is a hive of activity, I liked the idea of putting out dog hair for their nest building, I haven't a dog or a cat, but found some old moss I had raked out of the lawn last year and put that out for them, not sure if they will like it.
I also made a Wormery last year, that has come through the winter ok, I put it in the shed. Its easy to make, I purchased my tiger worms online, only a few £'s. It gets rid of some of your kitchen waste, including teabags and coffee grouts, (some of the rest goes to the chickens) it makes lovely compost and worm tea drained from the bottom makes wonderful houseplant feed.

I love rice pudding. I might have a go at that with the little sugar we've got. I recently got a bird table and I love it. I picked a big chunk of fur off the cat flap yesterday which I was going to bin once I'd showed it to DD but I'll let the birds have it. Thanks for the ideas

We turned out our winter compost bin yesterday. I have a clever large gauge sieve with a handle to turn which takes a lot of the effort out and makes lovely potting compost. So we have a bin full of that ready for potting on tomatoes, chillies etc and using in containers for my over-wintered pelargoniums. Today's job is to wash the car - not quite so much fun!

@squashyhat ah I’m only an hour from you! Thanks for the info.

We also have a "growing" roof on our shed, which I've chucked poppy and wallflower seeds onto

How do you make a growing roof?

Do you just sling earth onto the roof on top of the felt, to do you need to do something special? I love the thought of a shed roof covered with bee and butterfly attracting flowers.

Loverl article Errol - thank you.

I particularly liked this:

"The Cornish word for butterfly is tykki duw, which means God’s creation."

There's a sermon in there, and I'm going to winkle it out!

Ours is a load of succulents grown on a special mat. It's been there for 2 years, so I'm hoping other things can root now.

Mmm. Rice pudding.

Has anyone here ever tried Sarah Raven seeds or seedlings? I’m loving the catalogue. Do they grow well?