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.

Simple Pleasures

lovely flowers

a beautiful sunset

new wool, new project

sunshine outside...

.....and inside

Saturday lunch out 

singing, giggles and laughter from these two

This has been a long, sometimes difficult and often very tiring week
for me. This latest infection (it's the chest this time) is proving hard
to shake off and although I'm beginning to feel better I still feel so
tired all the time. I've been forced to really slow down this week and
rest as much as I can. Not easy at times as I do like to keep busy.
I have missed my usual potter in and around the house badly.
But rest I must do. I'm grateful to have managed to do the school run
 and look after the girls. And I'm even more appreciative of these
simple, everyday joys that have brightened my days all week.
Apologies for not having been around much to visit your blogs.
Hopefully soon normal service will resume around here.

I hope you're all having a nice and restful weekend.
Have a good week ahead!

Homemade Lemon Ice Cream

Hello! I hope this week has been a good one for you. We got back
from our seaside break yesterday. We spent five days in Robin Hood's Bay, our favourite holiday place, and we had the most wonderful time.
I'll write more about it soon. For now, though, I have here a lemon ice
cream recipe to share with you.

My husband made this for us recently. He makes this and other
fruit sorbets every spring and summer and they're perfect frozen treats on lovely, sunny days. I know you usually need to have an ice cream maker to make your own ice cream at home. Without one it's very labour
 intensive. Well, this ice cream is super easy and quick to make and no
ice cream maker needed!

It's from River Cafe Pocket Books Puddings, Cakes & Ice Creams 
by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers.

You'll need:

juice and finely grated zest of 3 lemons
200g caster sugar
450ml double cream
1/2tsp salt

Combine the lemon juice and zest with the sugar.
Slowly add the cream and salt, mixing carefully. It will
immediately thicken. Freeze in a shallow container.

It is best to leave it overnight in the freezer and my husband
also recommends using good quality double cream.

You'll have a delicious ice cream that's very creamy with a lovely
sweet lemony taste. It is great on its own or paired with shortbread biscuit, cake or a fruit sorbet. We all love this here in our house.
I do hope you'll try it.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
Enjoy!

Feeling Better

Waiting to see a doctor on Easter Monday

Hello. My apologies for not having been around much here this
past week. I wish I can say I've been too busy enjoying the glorious
weather and it's all been picnics, trips to the park and outdoor fun
 around here. Sadly, no. I've spent the last six days at home, most of it
 in bed, trying to recover from a nasty ear infection and its equally
nasty add-on, vertigo. The girls have also been unwell with fever
and coughs.

It's been very frustrating and so disappointing. And I feel sorry for
 Markie that the first half of her school break had been really rubbish.
At least she's well again, back to her usual bubbly, fun self, and that
makes me glad. I'm also much better now. Yesterday was my first
really good day. I looked after the girls by myself, something I have
not been able to do in days. I even managed to do a little crochet
in the afternoon sunshine. That felt really good.

 Lulu is not fully on the mend yet but she's happy and playing so we're
 keeping our fingers crossed for her. Hopefully by Monday we'll all be back to perfect health again and we can enjoy the week ahead.
 We'll be spending a few days by the seaside so fingers, toes and legs
crossed, we'll have the fun, illness-free week we've all been longing for.

I hope the rest of you have fared better this week and have enjoyed
the warm, beautiful sunshine. May this wonderful weather continue
for us all this weekend and next week too. See you soon!

Easter

Happy Easter to you all! I hope you're all enjoying this Easter weekend.

My husband and the girls have been to church this morning and now
they're off to spend the day at Nanny and GrandDad's. I'm staying at
home with an ear infection and it's annoying me that I'm missing out
on all the Easter fun - and food - today. Poor me. I think I'm going to have a cup of tea soon and help myself to the girls' mini-eggs. I bet
 that will make me feel a bit better.

The rest of our week has been better, thankfully. The girls and I have
decorated an Easter tree, our first ever. I haven't done much Easter
decorating before. When the girls were younger I just didn't have
the time or the energy. Now that they're a bit older and they like
to get involved, I decided I should make time for it.

We used whatever Easter-y things we could find around the house.
The cute wooden bunnies and flower pegs were from last year's sales.
Good thing I remembered them and where I've stashed them away. Markie helped make the little flags. She loves washi tapes too.
We were going to make pom-pom chicks but I decided our pom-pom makers were too big so we just made simple pom-poms instead.
 Lulu helped me with these. She said they look like sea monsters.
Do they? My husband agrees with her.

Markie decorated a hard-boiled egg (with a little help from me) for the school's Easter egg decorating contest. They chose a winner for every
class. Markie's egg didn't win. She wasn't too bothered by it though
which is good. I think she did a great job with drawing the face and
decorating the dress.  She's still very much into drawing flowers and
butterflies right now. It used to be rainbows and princesses.

I walked down to church on Good Friday.  My square of fabric and
everyone else's had been sewn into a long patchwork panel to make up
the Garment of Suffering and at one point during the service it was brought to the altar. Anyone who has been bereaved over the past
year was invited to help bring it to the front. It was very moving.
I felt grateful to be there. Later on I felt so tired from walking home
but it was Good Friday and a little suffering  wasn't something to
complain about. I also realized I'm quite unfit. I haven't done quite
enough walking up and down the hills of Sheffield lately. I used to
do this a lot, while pushing a buggy too. I blame driving, though
I don't blame Lulu for not wanting to be in a pushchair anymore.

Sorry, I think I've gone on enough now. I hope you're all having
a great Easter day. I think I'll go and have that tea now.
See you soon!