Social Distancing, travel restrictions and the closure of most services have encouraged us to renew our attack on the to-do list, and to add some additional items. And the consequential cancellation of my birthday visit to Portugal and Paris resulted in an excellent celebration here with the last bottle of a Cote de Castillion that we bought en primeur in 2005, and a cake with the number of candles equal to the square root of my age.

We spent a good part of the month designing and constructing a new rose bed and second patio area. I built the block wall for the roses and Coop and I placed and flattened the fill for the patio and then built the forms and placed the rebar. I also formed a ramp for the motorcycle/garden shed in case we had extra concrete, which we did.

May has been unusually cool and wet so we are expecting a much sunnier and warmer June. We will be shifting from work to leisure – motorbiking, kayaking and golfing – although we still plan to make some progress on outside landscaping – trees, shrubs, irrigation and possibly a retaining wall – and on the ever-elusive posts and railings for the stairs. We intend on continuing our caution and staying safe and hope and expect you will as well.