Early Spring Days

After the cold weather the ground is slowly warming up and everywhere around are signs of spring. Green and yellow tones fill the woods and our garden, our home and our kitchen and I've felt a renewed energy for cooking, gardening and crafting which can only come with the longer days and hopeful glimpses of warmer weather. 

£1 bunches of daffodils fill jugs on the kitchen table for as long as they are in the shops. I love the way they look like paintbrushes before they unfurl their vivid yellow petals.

I am delighted with my new string of hearts plant.  The muted green leaves tangle together in such a beautiful way and it looks really good in my copper hanging planter.

Bored with bread for lunch every day, I made a large batch of salad at the weekend and have been taking it to work instead of my usual sandwich. 

I've been eating lots more fruit, vegetables and eggs, not deliberately, but isn't it funny how our bodies and appetites want different sort of foods as the seasons change. I want cake year round though, and these lemon bars from Making Winter were delicious, with a sweet biscuit base filled with a lemon curd style topping.

Something about lemon - I don't know if it's the colour or the scent - makes me think of Easter. 

I recently bought a copy of Mollie Makes (issue 90), my first purchase of that magazine in about three years. This was the first one I'd seen in ages that actually grabbed me and filled me with enthusiasm, largely because of this little project, an embroidery hoop project designed by Ovo Bloom. I love houseplants and I love embroidery, so it stands to reason that I'd love this design too.

Thanks to a bargain job-lot of vintage Observer books from eBay, and a couple that my parents found for me in a charity shop recently, my little collection is growing. Angus likes to sit in the chair next to this bookcase and read them. I recently found him engrossed in the Dogs volume.

Outside in the garden, things are starting to wake up. It's still a muddy, squelchy wasteland, of course, but there is hope. The large wooden planter is filled with as many daffodil bulbs as I could fit into it, and they are just starting to open up. 

The tulips are a little further behind, but soon I will move these pots to the front door step.

We had a couple of really nice walks in the woods over the weekend. I love being around the trees at all times of year but especially in the spring and autumn, and I'm already thinking of my favourite places to go locally for bluebells later in the spring. 

There weren't that many buds or leaves on the trees yet, but the forest floor was full of growth and green shoots. 

Of course, now that I am in spring mode, now that I am full of plans for the garden and itching to get to work out there, the weather is predicted to take a sharp and wintry turn this weekend, with snow even forecast in some places.

I don't think we'll get any but the icy winds will be a shock after the 15°C temperatures and sunny days we've enjoyed lately. I'm not complaining though, it's an excuse to light the fire and do some embroidery.