April goes she will

Apologies for the feeble play on Paul Simon's well-loved lyrics, but it seems only yesterday I was singing the song at the beginning of the month, and now it's almost gone. So what have I been doing since my last post? Well, not as much as I would have liked, but that's because two weeks were taken up with the course I mentioned in my previous blog. It was very intensive and time-consuming so I didn't have all that much time for anything else while I was busy with it.

Added to that, my daughter went on holiday almost two weeks ago so I've been looking after her cat, which has involved three visits a day....I know, I needn't go so often but I've been feeling sorry for the little chap. He's not used to being alone so I've been delivering extra ear and tail scratches in the hopes he'll be a bit less lonely, and he's been very appreciative in a furry, purry sort of way.

That said, we've had some lovely walks in glorious, sunny weather, as well as a visit to the beach where we met up with my other daughter, Mo, her man, and her spaniel, Mack.

One nature reserve walk near us

And another

The lilac has now taken over the baton from
the forsythia

And this delightful group sits outside one of
the village houses. 

Then there was another walk along a farm track nearby

Plus the visit to the beach at Breskens

The beach is lovely and very popular in the summer

And then, there's this: Zoe doing what she does best
And looking adorable.

We've also managed some time on the boats and distributed the duties. I did some work on Vereeniging's panels, while Koos sorted out a problem with the cooling on the Henie H. Oh and I nearly forgot. Last week, I attended my first meeting as the Secretary for our Historic Harbour Committee, which was quite a challenge for me. I had to write the minutes in Dutch after the meeting, so I was glad I recorded it. As yet, I have to learn whether my duties as scribe are good enough, but fingers crossed!

One other job I've nearly finished is to make a new cover for our rear inspection hatch on the Hennie H. It's also where we access the grease pot. I made this one from a plank I had left over from renovating the sunroom last year. The grooves aren't ideal, but I shall paint it thoroughly. It always feels good to avoid buying material and to be able to use odd pieces we have in store. I must say I'm very pleased with the result and it fits perfectly, so hopefully we won't get any more rainwater in the bottom of the boat once the old, leaky one's been replaced. When I've finished painting this new one, I'll take a photo of it in situ. This white is just primer; it will be grey in the end.

Of course, there've been the other usual chores like cutting the grass, trimming the hedges and sweeping up the shower of leaf 'pods' the lime tree has been shedding since it sprang into life. Our local Lidl was doing a special price on hedge trimmers with batteries last Saturday, so we were there as they opened to make sure we could nab one. I've never done that before (arrived so early, that is), but I was glad we made the effort as by the afternoon, they'd all gone. I must say it's a brilliant machine and I'm really happy with it. What a difference it makes to have sharp cutters too. 

So that's the last two weeks summed up. Not terribly exciting, I know, but next week we're off to France again for a visit to the Crumbly Cottage, mark 2, so hopefully there'll be more to report from there where I can put my French correspondent's hat on.

Enjoy the rest of the week, allemaal. I hope life's being kind to you wherever you are.