Quarantine Week II, III & IV
Who’s counting at this point..?! Writing this as we’re nearing the end of our 4th week in quarantine. That’s a whole month tucked away in our little flat, all 4 of us.. I mean 5 including Nemo!
Time does fly..! I meant to give you weekly updates, but truly, it’s been groundhog day over here, and the weeks have been blending into one another. We’ve got our little routine, which hasn’t changed much since my last post. Mornings are sunny and quiet - I can’t tell you how much the sun has made such a difference - we wake as the sun rises and floods our flat with warmth. Often I wake up to find Michael baking sourdough bread for the 4th time that week - he seriously cannot stop and I’m not complaining! (we’re on our 10th loaf or so, and he’s really nailed the technique and we can’t get enough of it!) on the weekend Nemo sneaks into our bed for a morning cuddle while we read in bed.
Talking about reading, I’ve just finished An American Marriage and I cannot recommend it enough. Such a powerful, beautiful story. I’ve now started reading the Harry Potter books again..! Lizzie & I have decided to buy the books in a nice edition (this one) in hardback (so we can keep them for our children one day) and read them again.. this time in english! I read them all when I was younger but in French, and I must say it’s been so much fun reading everything the way J.K Rowling wrote it, the names are correct this time (they changed a lot of the names in the French version..!) We’re on book 1 and we’re devouring them already!
What are you reading at the moment?
The rest of our day revolves around food breaks.. Breakfast is the usual green smoothie, tea, and later sourdough toast with PB & jam or lately, vegan cream cheese, cherry tomatoes and cucumber - because why not!
Then around 1PM everyone lingers around the kitchen, and we take it in teams to make a quick but nutritious lunch - on rotation we have the chickpea ‘eggy crepes’, sandwiches with the sourdough, roasted tofu, slaw or celeriac remoulade and salad (today I made my ‘chickpea tuna’ for sandwiches! Need to share the written recipe with you guys) or leftover from dinner the night before (but with two hungry men in the house, there are very rarely any leftovers)
At around 4pm, everyone gets a little antsy for some tea and a snack.. and I must be honest Lizzie has been baking us treats MOST days… which may or may not be the best thing ever. More on that later.. we’ve been baking this wonderful chameleon cake which I’m going to share soon!! we all gather on the terrace for the last bit of the afternoon sun, before getting back in our corners to finish some work.
One thing that we’ve introduced in the past week or so, is Lizzie’s Chore Schedule… haha she’s keeping us on track! and actually it has been super useful so the same person doesn’t always do the same thing. So we alternate between who’s doing the dog walk, with who’s making lunch and then dinner, who’s cleaning what, who’s taking the bins out.. you know the usual!
I truly feel like the theme of this quarantine for us has been ROUTINE. It’s keeping us all sane, and somehow a month in, I feel like I’ve reached the point where I am thriving on the routine, and feeling less anxious and annoyed by the circumstances. We just make do, we look after ourselves, and after each other, and we keep going.
I hope you’re all well, staying safe and healthy. Don’t forget to take a break once in a while, don’t forget to breathe, take time for yourself between work, chores and looking after others, turn off the news, delete instagram for a bit if you’re feeling overwhelmed (this is what I did this week and it’s been a breath of fresh air!) crack open a new book, and hug each other tight.
Sending you all masses of love,
T xx
