Raindrops on Roses - March

It's nearly the end of March, time to join in with Jo and list a few
of my favourite things this month:

My flowering cactus. It's only tiny but it has flowered four times over
the past year. There are always several buds emerging at the same time and it
takes over three or four weeks for them all to bloom, so I get to enjoy its dark
pink flowers for quite a long time. It's pretty low-maintenance too and this really
suits me because I'm not green-fingered at all. A sunny spot and a drop of water
occasionally (once a month over winter) and it's happy. So am I.

Sunshine. I like that the days are getting longer and we are getting more sunshine.
Last weekend was glorious and most of last week was sunny as well. I really enjoy
sitting outside when it's warm enough and the girls can spend most of the afternoons
after school playing in the garden. It's such a lovely change from being cooped up
indoors over most of the winter months. Today it's grey and a bit nippy again but
hopefully we'll have less and less of this sort of weather as the weeks progress.
I'm so ready for spring's mild, sunshiny days.

Flowers everywhere! I'm loving all the spring blooms - crocuses, daffodils, all of them.
It's the earth waking up from its winter sleep and smiling again. Just brilliant!

A visit to the Emma Bridgewater factory in Stoke-on-Trent. It was only a very short
stop, about an hour or so, but it was enough to wander around the courtyard, browse
at the gift shop and factory shop, and enjoy some Staffordshire oatcakes for lunch
at the café.

I like Emma's colourful and playful designs and it was great to see them showcased
 as well as the limited edition ones she had created for various special events and
occasions over the years.

I have to say though that my absolute favourite was the display along one wall of
the café of framed tea towels designed by her mother-in-law, Pat Albeck. If they
were selling replicas of these at the shops, I'd be first in the queue.

Sadly, we didn't have enough time to join the factory tour but I'm hoping that
we can go back at another time and visit there again, as well as the other pottery
factories around the area. It would be interesting to learn more about British pottery,
its history, and see how it's all made.


Another favourite this March is a radio play - Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte,
dramatized on Radio Four. The only book I've read of the Bronte sisters is Jane Eyre
but I enjoyed this so much, I've looked and found a copy of the novel and it's the next
 one I'll read after I've finished my current book The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
by Joanna Cannon. I've also found out today that there's a two-part series of one of
 Alexander McCall Smith's The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency stories, also on
Radio Four. It will be a great companion while I do the ironing this afternoon.


Those are some of my favourites this month, I'll see what April has to offer.
I hope you've had a good weekend and wishing you sunshine and good things
for the week ahead. See you soon!

Snowdrops, the seaside and sewing

Half-term here has come and gone. The girls had ten whole days off school
and I think they've enjoyed themselves and have rested and recuperated. They
kept me busy most days. I had felt tired and frazzled at times and had craved
for some quiet time on my own during the day, but that was all off set by lie-ins
in the morning. the alarm clock not going off at 6:30am (hurray!), and doing fun
things with them like going to the cinema and meeting up with friends. It was nice,
actually, the whole half-term, and now that they're back at school, the house
has felt unusually quiet this morning. I miss them.

The weather was mostly rubbish throughout the school break. We were
looking forward to the sunny and mild days that were forecasted but what
we got was rain, grey skies, cold weather and on Thursday, the storm Doris.

When the sun did make an appearance, we tried to make the most of it. The girls

played outside and we went for walks down in the woods. We were on the look out

for any spring flowers on the ground and were disappointed to find only one clump

of snowdrops in bloom. Maybe in a few weeks there will be more of them flowering

and other flowers will appear, too. What we saw, and we keep seeing, are brightly

coloured crocuses in front gardens and we're a bit jealous. If I get myself organized

this year and have some bulbs planted in the autumn, we'll also have some colourful

blooms in our front yard next spring. Hopefully.

Tuesday last week was one of those rare dry and sunny days and we decided
to go on a day trip to Whitby. We love a day at the seaside, even if it's just
a short one. We played crazy golf, had fish and chips on the pier, mooched around
the Shambles and bought some kippers which we had for breakfast the next day.

Mostly, we stayed at home and pottered. I showed the girls how to sew one
rainy afternoon. They were very keen and were quite stoic with needle pricks
which surprised and impressed me.

It was Markie who first wanted to learn to sew and she specifically wanted to make

these felt birds. I was happy to oblige. I learned to sew when I was about her age, from

watching my mother, and then we were taught in school when I was about 8 or 9. It

pleases me that they're interested and they're both actually really good. Lulu, who's

four, now knows running stitch and straight stitch and 'gets' how buttons are sewn.

Markie pretty much did most of it by herself, including the buttons.

They're planning to bring their finished birds to school this week to show their teachers

and classmates. I'm all for it. I think they did a great job and should be proud. I'm

looking forward to making them pancakes for tea later. We'll have sweet and savoury

toppings, although I have a feeling Nutella, their latest favourite, will be most

in demand.

I hope you enjoy your pancakes too, if you haven't already. Thanks for reading

and for the lovely comments on my attempts at tapestry crochet. I have made progress

with the second pattern and I'm looking forward to showing you next time.

Have a great day!

Weekend Things

These are some of my favourite moments from last weekend. We didn't do anything
exciting or unusual, just the usual weekend things - chores, errands, homework. A walk
on Saturday afternoon and church on Sunday morning. I got a lot of things done but
I also had time to read my book, enjoy a cup of tea, listen to the radio. It was really nice.

There's a dramatization of the second of the Neopolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
on Radio 4 and I listened to the first episode on Sunday. I've recently discovered
radio plays and I now find myself tuning in more and more often to Radio 4 instead of
Radio 2 especially now there's also the new Little Women serial on weekday mornings.
Sorry, Ken Bruce.

I'm cross stitching on linen for the first time. It is slow going; I'm still getting
used to working every stitch over two threads. Sometimes I miss the clear blocks
of aida fabric but I like how the stitches look so far and it is starting to get easier.
I'll keep going and show you more of it next time.

I hope you've all had a good start to the week.  Thank you for all your comments
on my crocheted buggy blanket. I'm glad you like it. I wasn't too sure about the
colours when I first started the project. I did a lot of toing and froing over stripes
and colour combinations but in the end just picked out the ones I liked from the
whole range. They seem to work together - phew! And thank you Christina
for the pom pom idea. I'll try it next time!

New Year

Hello again and a very happy New Year to you! We started off the new year yesterday
with a calm, quiet day at home. We had plans to go for a walk in Derbyshire but the rain
put paid to all that so apart from church and a quick stop at a local grocery store, it was
a home day for us. It was a good day to stay in. My husband made a delicious tomato
and bread soup for lunch. I sewed in all the ends of the little blanket I've been working
on over Christmas. We talked about possible holidays, looked things up online, prices,
dates, etc. Hopes, plans and dreams for the year ahead, exciting things to look
forward to.

Today was bright and crisp and we headed out to Derbyshire for the walk we
didn't have yesterday. As ever, it was beautiful. I think this was the most challenging
walk/hike we've ever had with the girls. It was icy underfoot with boggy patches here
and there and some tricky paths but we managed to cover a good distance and enjoyed
some wonderful views. We were all tired this afternoon but it was a great morning
to be outdoors and we really enjoyed it.

So that's how we've ended the holidays and started the new year - with a day at home
and then a bracing walk in the winter sunshine. I will not let the awful events of 2016
stifle my hopes and my outlook for the future. There's a bright year ahead and I am
ready to get going.

Happy Holidays

Hello! I hope your Christmas was a very happy one. We spent ours at my in-laws
and it was lovely, jolly and cosy. We ate lots, exchanged presents and enjoyed some
festive telly on the day. The girls played with their cousins and were excited with all
 the gifts Father Christmas had brought them. There was a moment of panic on
Christmas Eve when I realized I forgot to bring Lulu's main present. We were staying
over for a couple of nights and with the millions of things we had to take along with us,
it was inevitable some items would be left behind. Luckily, Granddad came up with
a clever plan. In the morning there was a letter from Father Christmas. Apparently,
he was already miles away when he saw that Lulu's present was still in his sack but,
as he was heading for Sheffield, he decided to drop it off at our house instead.
Lulu, bless her, believed it all and the gift disaster was averted. Phew! Of course,
she couldn't wait for us to get home after that. When we finally did on Boxing Day,
she couldn't get through our front door fast enough. She was about to burst with
excitement! Anyway, after we'd all settled down, we all went for a walk. It was
wonderful to be outdoors. After all the feasting and celebrating the day before,
it was much needed. As always, we're grateful for our family and feel blessed
 to be able to spend this most special time of the year with them.

The rest of this week has been equally full of excitement. We took the girls to London
and we've had three fantastic days there, showing them round and meeting up with
friends. Today, we've had friends over and we all went for a walk after lunch. That was
lovely. We're now looking forward to a quieter, gentler weekend at home. We don't
have much planned. Hopefully the weather will stay crisp, clear and bright and
we can welcome in the New Year with another beautiful walk in Derbyshire.

Have a great New Year's Eve, whatever your plans are. Let's hope 2017 will be
a better, healthier, kinder, more peaceful year for all of us.

Days Before Christmas

I love these last few days before Christmas. School has finished for the holidays,
we're just finishing up our Christmas preparations and we're doing fun things like
going to the cinema, roller skating with friends, or baking and making Christmassy
things at home. In between all the activities, there's time for pottering about, reading,
crochet, even a game of pick-up sticks with the girls. We're feeling more rested and
relaxed and really enjoying spending time together. It's what holidays are about
and it's great.

I love a bit of festive faffing, getting little corners around our house to look a bit more
Christmassy. I also couldn't resist some Christmas crafting with the girls. We all had
a go at cutting out paper snowflakes, even my husband joined in. Fifteen minutes with
paper and scissors and we had these. I think they're festive and just perfect for filling
up the space between the two envelopes left on our Advent calendar branch.

We also made these personalized clay gift tags using leftover clay from tree decorations
 we made last year. It was fun and easy to make and they can be used as decorations,
too.We hope everyone will like them and will put them up on the tree after they've
unwrapped their presents on Christmas Day.

Last Sunday we made chocolate oat treats. These always go down well in our house
and now that the girls are a little older, making them is more fun, quicker and
so much easier.

We also made mixed spice biscuits. This recipe is new to us. Actually a copy was sent

to us by one of my husband's aunts, along with a robin-shaped biscuit cutter. She
knows we like to bake together and, of course, we just had to try both cutter
and biscuits.

The biscuit cutter is lovely to use and the biscuits themselves are nice. We haven't
had time to decorate them but I don't think they really need them. They're a little
crunchy, with that same warmth and hint of spiciness you get in gingerbread biscuits.
I'm also pleased because we've had an unopened little bottle of mixed spice in our
kitchen cupboard for years and it's finally been used! We'll be making these again.

This was our walk in Derbyshire yesterday morning. It was all blue skies,
open spaces, fresh air. Just glorious. And so lovely to get away from all the festive
hustle and bustle, even for just a couple of hours. We went home feeling refreshed and
energised. I think we're all ready for Christmas now. I'm spending this afternoon
wrapping up meaty little parcels for the dumpling soup and the filling for spring rolls
for tomorrow's Noche Buena. We're celebrating it with my husband's parents this year
and we'll be at theirs till Boxing Day.

Thanks to everyone who stop by here - I always appreciate your visits and your
comments. I hope you're all having a wonderful time and wish you a beautiful,
healthy and peaceful Christmas. See you in the New Year!!