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!

Hello Spring!

I took these photos while out walking in Carr Wood last week. I really enjoyed
seeing all the early signs of spring - the first small buds poking through the ground,
fresh new leaves on tree branches, bright yellow flowers and snowdrops in bloom.
Little, wonderful things growing, bringing light and fresh new colours into every
corner of the woods. At home, I've re-potted some ready-grown primroses and tulips
 from the supermarket and tidied up a bit in the garden. I am dreaming of dahlias
for the summer but I'd be happy with geraniums and petunias again. I'm just glad
 that spring is finally getting here. Sunshine, flowers, mild weather - yes, please!

I hope you've had a good weekend. We didn't do anything new or exciting here,
just the usual things. Yesterday, while we were at my in-laws, it was sunny and
warm enough to sit outside and we did, with our coffees and cakes while the girls
ran around in the garden. It was really nice, a simple pleasure I'm looking
forward to enjoying more in the coming days and weeks.

Have a lovely Monday, see you soon!

Making in March

Hello, how are you? I hope you're well and March has started off all right for you.
 For today's post, I'd like to share with you the progress I've made with my two
ongoing projects. First off, my tapestry crochet.

I was only a few rows in when I last showed you this but it has now grown
and I'm actually not far off from finishing. I'm really pleased with how it's going.
I still have a lot to learn about this technique but I now feel quite confident with
the basics, including crocheting in reverse, and I think I'm ready to try new
patterns and designs.

I had a peek at the latest issue of Simply Crochet magazine while I was at the
supermarket and interestingly, they're featuring various colourwork techniques
including tapestry crochet. I think it's a fun skill to learn and it's great that it's getting
some attention. Hopefully more people will try it, too.

My other project is my Spring-themed cross stitch sampler. I've had to unpick and

change my motif for the letter 'S' - the dustpan and brush were supposed to be for

'Spring clean' but I was told they looked more like a comb and an upside down mirror

and they were not at all colourful like the other motifs, so they had to be replaced

with a pretty snowdrop. My two critics are happier with this and I have to admit,

so am I. And now that's done there's just one tiny motif left to stitch and then,

fingers crossed, it will be at the framers at the end of the week.  

So those are my two projects and I'm looking forward to having them both finished soon.

I haven't been around here much lately, it's been a busy old week with one thing after
another. Hopefully the rest of the week - and month- will be a little bit calmer, with less
mishaps and dramas. I'll be catching up with your blogs in the next few days -
take care and see you soon!

Saturday Sunshine

charity shop books to add to my reading pile

making fairy potions

my little cactus is flowering again!

Hello. It's Sunday morning here, I hope you're having a nice weekend.
We had sunshine and blue skies here yesterday, so Spring-like. We spent
a couple of hours outside after lunch - a rare treat in early February. I did
a bit of hand sewing, finishing another motif in my sampler. It was so good
to work in strong, clear natural light. I get by on grey days by sitting next
to the window and under a lamp in the evenings, but nothing beats good
old Mr. Sunlight. I hope we'll have more of him in the coming days and
weeks.

The girls played while I sewed, their games peppered with squabbles as
per usual. Then they had the brilliant idea to make what they call 'fairy
potions'. Lulu had made it last Friday with her woodland club at school and
was keen to show her sister how this magical concoction is made.
So, basic ingredients: leaves, tiny sprigs of rosemary or whatever herbs
are available, an acorn if there's any, plus glitter. Empty snail shells are
 optional. Put them all in an empty jam jar, add water and a bit of mud
(muddy wellies are a good source), stir with a stick, put the lid on the jar and
ta-dah! the potion is made. It's like a muddy, weird slow globe when
you shake it. You can pour a bit of it in your garden and the fairies will
come visit your house at night. We haven't tried this yet but I've been
assured that it works.

I'll leave you with that for now. I hope we'll have sunshine again today.
We're planning to go for a walk somewhere nice this afternoon. Whatever you
have planned for today I hope you have a good day, too. Happy Sunday!

Hello Spring

We went for a walk in Ecclesall Woods and around Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet on Sunday morning. It was a perfect spring day, the sun shining
warm and the breeze quite cool, to borrow Dickens' words: it felt like 'summer in the light, and winter in the shade'. Who could resist being
outdoors on such a beautiful day? We squeezed in this walk between
church and the supermarket shop and in the afternoon, we played and
pottered about outside for as long and as much as we can. Monday
was very much like this and today, after a drizzly, murky start, looks
set to be another sunny, mild and lovely day. I am loving spring
very much; I'm glad it's finally here.

I have my embroidery threads, hoop and needle out this week for my
Lenten fabric and I am so enjoying all the hand stitching. I'm hoping
to finish it by the weekend - Sunday, I think, is the last day for bringing
them in. I hope to share it here with you before then.

We've had some spectacular sunsets lately, a whole spectrum of
colours in the sky, from coral to grey, purple to aquamarine. It's a brief,
ever-changing, captivating colour show and we see it all. Just brilliant.

I hope you're having a fine Wednesday whatever you're up to today.
Take care and enjoy the rest of this week!

Snow, Spring and Mothering Sunday

Hello. How are you? It's a beautiful Monday afternoon here, bright and
clear but very cold. Spring was very much in the air and on the ground
at the beginning of last week but it had felt so much more wintry
over the weekend. It even snowed on Friday. It came down thick and
fast and lasted for a few hours but thankfully, it didn't settle and was
gone by late afternoon. We only had mild frost this morning but the hills over in Derbyshire, the ones that we can see from our front windows,
 are still covered in snow. I'm still optimistic about Springtime though
- it is coming, it's on its way. It's just taking its sweet time getting here.

We had a busy weekend. We had our fourth pop up restaurant last Saturday, but at a different venue from our usual. My husband and
 his team of two had a smaller kitchen to work in, we had to set up the place ourselves and provide the cutlery, tableware, etc. We managed it
all somehow and the evening actually went really well. We're so delighted and we made a good profit too which is very important.  As always,
 we're exhausted afterwards. Mothering Sunday yesterday was a quiet,
 let's-not-do-much sort of day as a result but it was lovely and happy. Lulu made a beautiful necklace for me at nursery and I got a handmade
 card from Markie. In the afternoon we had a little Mother's Day party complete with cupcakes and balloons. It was all the girls' idea and
 they enjoyed it all as much as I did which, for me, made the day
 even more special and wonderful.

Today I have Lulu with me at home. She's a bit poorly and not really
up to going to nursery this morning so we've been taking it easy-
Cbeebies, lunch on the sofa, lots of cuddles. She seems to be better
this afternoon, so fingers crossed she's now on the mend.

I hope your Monday is going well. I have a lot of blog reading to do -
hope to catch up with you all soon. Take care and have a good week!

Cow Parsley

There's a great, great number of cow parsley growing in the woods
near Markie's school. The footpath edges and hedgerows are draped
with their tiny, lacy white flowers. It was very beautiful there this morning, almost magical.

Cow parsley flowers are so dainty and pretty and there were so many
 of them along the path that I was tempted to take some home with me.
 I don't normally pick wild flowers but today I did. I couldn't resist!
I'm sure no one would mind but even then I still felt a little guilty gathering a few sprigs.

When we got home I arranged my posy in one of my favourite jugs.
Here it is in our bedroom: I think it looks lovely. 

I've just found out that cow parsley is also known as Queen Anne's
Lace and have enjoyed learning more about the fascinating legend behind the name. I also came across a poem about cow parsley
 by Mary Leslie Newton titled 'Queen Anne's Lace' and I'd like to
share it here:

Queen Anne, Queen Anne
 has washed her lace
(She chose a summer's day)
And hung it on a grassy place
To whiten, if it may.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne
has left it there
And slept the dewy night;
And waked to find the sunshine fair,
And all the meadows white.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne
is dead and gone,
(She died a summer's day)
But left her lace to whiten on,
Each weed-tangled way!


Another thing I learned about this wild flower is that its
 blossoming signals the start of summer. Well, not around here
today, but in the coming days perhaps? I really hope so. We're
 due a summer now, don't you think? Anyway, you can probably tell
 I'm a bit smitten by these white, lace-like flowers. If I have to choose
a favourite wild flower I think this will be the one.

Thanks for stopping here. Enjoy your evening!

Morning Walks

On Monday morning Lulu and I went for a nice, slow walk in Graves Park. It was cold but dry and bright with beautiful blue skies. We started off at the park's south gate which is very near to Markie's school. We walked past the golf course, bowling greens and tennis courts then up the path to the duck pond. We took our time. We saw lots of dogs and their
walkers and people jogging and running. We stopped a few times,
sitting down for a few minutes each time to get some rest.

We eventually made it to one of the small lakes. We sat in the sunshine
 and watched the ducks, geese and water hens in the water. There were also squirrels and birds and they all kept us entertained for nearly half an  hour. It was just lovely and both of us enjoyed it. At the other end of the park there's a cafe, farm and playground which I knew she'd like too but
 I didn't really fancy the uphill walk so we just stayed where we were.
After awhile we decided to go home and had a slow wander down to the car.  Along the way we admired the blossom trees and played a little game of hide and seek.

 It was a wonderful hour spent in the morning sunshine. For the first
time in many days I felt I was finally beginning to feel better. It was
lovely to have the energy again to do something nice and fun outdoors
with Lulu. I have missed being able to do this. This morning after it
had stopped raining, the two of us went for a nice wander round our
local park. It was sunny and lovely again, and we had another wonderful
time outdoors. I am loving these, our morning walks. It is a beautiful
time of year and being able to enjoy it is something I don't take for granted. Here's hoping for more of these lovely walks and nice weather in the coming days and weeks. We'd love to visit other parks and
playgrounds and find new fun places to explore.