March Miscellany

Trying out (and loving) a new crochet pattern, in cotton yarn.

Pondering when and where I should plant these seeds, sent to me through the post by my friend Leanne.

Admiring this deliciously curvaceous ampersand. I've had the silver A and B since Angus and Bella were babies, fixed to their doors. I love the way the ampersand joins them together on the door to their shared bedroom.

Delighting in bunches of daffodils, still. I'm not tired of them yet. How can you be when they're so sunny and yellow?

Eating my greens. I made a kale smoothie with banana, yogurt and honey. It was ok, a bit...chewy. I think the banana, honey and yogurt added more enjoyment to this drink than the kale. (Also I'm wondering if a smoothie should count as breakfast on it's own, since I was hungry about an hour later?)

Deciding that I prefer my kale cooked, in colcannon, with a poached egg on top. 

Remembering why it's so rewarding to support independent makers and sellers. This print was beautifully packaged and came with a handwritten "Thank you Gillian" on a matching postcard. Such a nice touch.

Inhaling the heady scent of hyacinths.

And appreciating the dramatic shadows they create.

Eating up the last of the birthday cake. We made the happy discovery that when it's a bit stale, if you blast it in the microwave for twenty seconds the cake softens and the icing melts into the most divinely gooey chocolate sauce and it's really good with vanilla ice cream.

Hanging sheets of wrapping paper*. At £3 a sheet it's expensive gift wrap but a very thrifty piece of vaguely educational colourful wall art for the children's bedroom.

Discovering that if you throw enough key words at the internet you'll probably find what you are looking for. When I worked in retail, we used these plastic strips to weight the vertical banner posters when we were doing the window displays. So I googled "poster banner hanging plastic weight clip strip" and found these. John trimmed them to size with his hack saw (or something - I wasn't really listening) and...result! Much quicker and easier than framing.

And last of all feeling proud of my girl for bringing home the Dancer of the Week trophy from her ballet and tap class. It's gold. It's shiny. It's been shown to everyone who steps foot in the house and I think she'll be very sad to hand it back to Miss Annie, the teacher, this week.

Goodness, it's March already! After the looooongest January ever, February flew by and now, bam! it's March. Apparently, according to the Met Office, March the 1st is when Spring begins... I'm not so sure - it's still winter here - but it's nice to see bulbs coming up and smell that springy smell in the air and feel a little heat from the sun. Yes, hello March, I like you.

* We bought the wrapping paper in Waterstone's ages ago. It's made by a company called Cavallini and lots of online shops stock their products. Waterstone's probably still do.