Winter's End

This is one of my favourite times of the year; we are on the cusp of spring but it's not quite fully here yet. It's been a mixture of frosty mornings and sunny days. Layer weather. Always a time for making plans and writing lists (for me, anyway). Easter is not far away (two week holiday, the best festive food and bluebell season, win-win-win!) and the days are getting lighter. It is glorious to leave work at 6 and there still be a glimmer of light in the sky.

February flew by in a whirl of work, a weekend in London, half term, a few days in Budapest, a lot more work (frantic, weekend and evening work) and my birthday. More on Budapest another time as it deserves it's own post. February's nature shelf was as quietly understated as the season: white and green; snowdrops, both real and paper; muted colours.

The fairy lights are still needed.

When we get closer to Easter I'll add more colour but for now I am loving the soft whites and browns. 

Our food shopping seems to always be full of citrus and flowers. The flowers at the time of year are my favourite I think. 

I am currently eating and baking with citrus a lot, especially blush and blood oranges. We go through loads. Marmalade cake, orange and almond cake, lemon drizzle....better than chocolate any day. I have recently discovered that sliced orange with porridge is delicious and am eating this a lot. 

There are often cookies too, mainly for the kids, and usually gone in a couple of days.

I am still baking sourdough semi-regularly. Maybe once of twice a month.

John is into a soup-making phase at the moment. Once a week he makes a massive vat of it then he portions it up into lunches for the week. I am loving this phase.

We've had Russian vegetable, red pepper and lentil, cauliflower cheese, leek and potato, and yesterday he made potato and courgette with cheddar which was very nice.

The garden is waking up and bursting into life. Every week there are big changes: buds on trees, daffodils and tete-a-tetes in the pots, tulips poking their green heads through the soil. 

It's the time of year when I start writing lists of things to do around the house, maintenance and DIY type jobs. Jet wash and stain the decking. Get the outdoor sofa cushions out of the shed. Jet wash the driveway. Decorate our bedroom. Etc.

We can't do anything major in our bedroom as we need to keep the existing curtains and large rug as there is nothing wrong with them, but the walls and floorboards desperately need repainting as they are both looking really scruffy.

Walks, always walks. Sadder and a lot less fun without a dog, but still it is always good to get out into the sunshine. (My wellies have split. I need to avoid puddles when walking now. Time for a new pair. I like the look of Merry People wellingtons but they are not cheap.)

I have read some cracking books this year so far. I finished Playing Games by Huma Qureshi and thought it was excellent. It's about two sisters and their loving yet strained relationship with each other, and their lives. So well written. Huma's collection of short stories, Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love, is also very, very good. I like novels that focus on character's interior worlds.  I like to know a lot about what they are thinking and feeling, but also what they are eating, what they are wearing, what their homes look like. Those details are so important and, when done well, say as much about a character as the dialogue.

Talking of interior worlds, I also adored Darling by India Knight. It is a modern-day re-telling of Nancy Mitford's Pursuit of Love. One review I read of it (the Guardian, I think) said it was like a opening a door and peeking into a dolls house which comes to life. I thought that was spot on. Such beautifully crafted interior worlds full of exquisite detail. It is funny and joyful and full of such warmth and truly excellent observations of people.

When I put it on the bookcase it really tickled me how much it seemed to be sandwiched between two of John's weighty tomes. 

I just finished Dune by Frank Herbert for book group. I did not love it. I often find science fiction a bit baffling. People fly around in space ships but still dress like it's the middle ages. I thought Dune was very well-plotted (Hamlet in space, as my friend Amy said) but not perhaps that well written. Not enough interior world for me. But the good, good thing about book group is that is challenges me to read books I otherwise would not, comfortable as I am in my own little corner of literature. 

And now I am reading Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. I have only read one other of her books, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which I really liked, and I am enjoying this one. She is such a creative writer. I am told her Jackson Brodie books are worth a read, and I do like a good detective story.

I will endeavour to return soon with tales of Budapest. I hope you are all well. Thank you for reading my sporadic posts and leaving your lovely comments.