There’s not much to say and so, unusually for me, I haven’t said it. Recap of the last week –

I’m attempting to learn to play the guitar. Yes, I’m that desperate. One of Tim’s guitars is here, but it’s rather big for me and I’m struggling to manage the chords. I can buy a smaller guitar, but that’s a drastic step, considering I might not take to it and it just be shoved in a cupboard, never to surface again. Maybe, when eldest grandson grows out of his guitar, he might let me use it…

The daffodils have been out on the drive for a while, which is always cheering. A good year for spring flowers generally, I think. A covering of snow for a week or so always seems to do them good.

As usual, I cooked a lot. I tried a recipe out of the Sunday paper – it’s black garlic and mushroom/spinach and ricotta lasagne. I did half the (serves 6-8) recipe for the three of us and there’s nearly half left, which is in the freezer. We liked it and it was good to have a use for some of the black garlic I over-enthusiastically bought some time ago, but if I make it again, which I might well, I think I’d up the proportion of garlic and mushroom. It was straightforward, but took a long time because of the various components, all prepared separately. I also cooked several vegetable curries – tomato with hard boiled eggs, potato and cauliflower and … hmm … another one, i can’t remember at the minute and took naan bread out of the freezer.

I haven’t been doing any drawing at all. The next chapter is a very long one about perspective and she wants me to make use of a long passageway with at least one door off it. I don’t have such a thing. I don’t have that sort of house. There is one passageway but the door to the side is set back and the end of the passageway is door height, with the ceiling beyond much higher. Not being able to do the thing she wants and all the writing that is, I’m sorry, a bit boring, is off-putting. I recognise that this is lockdown ennui, but I just want to sit in a comfy chair and draw, not perch awkwardly at the end of the ‘wrong sort of passageway.’ My rooms are big and mostly squarish, I just don’t have the distance for perspective as she wants me to do it. I’m not managing to jolly myself into the mood at present.

It’s not that I’m uncheerful, just feeling dull. I could be sowing seeds in the greenhouse, but I’m not sure I can be bothered. I might just buy in some plants. I won’t grow many vegetables this year, the chickens are just so destructive. I’ll grow a few things that they don’t like, such as courgettes.

I have a governor training meeting this afternoon, on Microsoft Teams, which is a horrid platform that doesn’t work very well on my Mac, but the schools use – I think the encryption is good, which is why it’s suitable. At least there is something in my diary for the week. Next thing is the dentist on the 11th, which is a genuine reason to leave the house and drive for half an hour. Whoopee!