RIP Maurice Sendak

Morning! Firstly, thanks so much for all your kind words, advice and opinions about the tea towel yesterday. I do love it that you comment, it means a great deal to me, and I also love the forum of crafty likemindedness that exists in the blogging community. It's such a good way to bounce ideas around and discover new ways of doing things.

I heard on the radio yesterday that the author Maurice Sendak died. He wrote, among other things, Where The Wild Things Areare, a superb children's picture book. I remember it from my childhood fondly, and it was one of the first books I bought Bella. In fact, she had this print framed in her nursery as a baby. It is currently in the attic - I need to get it down.

Bella has gone off the story since it does not feature a. Hello Kitty or b. Rapunzel, but I know she will come back to it. Angus loves it, and one of my favourite memories of reading to him at bedtime is how he giggles when we do the voices "Roar their terrible ROARS, and KNASH the terrible TEETH (mime teeth knashing)". Angus loves an over the top bedtime story with shouting and sound effects. Before he moved into his bed, we would sit on the chair in his room for bedtime stories, with him on my lap, all warm and cuddly in his pyjamas after his bath, drinking milk from his sippy cup.

It is a true classic of a children's book, written in a time before books were marketed at boys or girls, before merchandise deals and advertising and TV tie-ins, but full of a joyful spirit of adventure and imagination that lives on.

Home Sweet Home Tea Towel

Morning everyone! Just a quick post today. I wanted to show you a tea towel my friend Gemma asked me to make for her, and how I made it. It took a while to stitch the letters but I had fun messing about with the flowers on the house.

Now I look at it here, it looks a little too stark, what do you think? I wonder if some ric rac trim wouldn't have perked it up a bit. I like the coloured threads against the clean white linen but I think this one, with it's very homely message and little cottage, wouldn't have benefited from some prettifying? Hmm. I'm off to bake another sourdough loaf, rye this time, I'm a bit nervous...  Have a very happy Tuesday!

Two Sides to Every Garden

Highlights from a happy weekend in the garden...

Blue sky and bright, bright sunlight. 

Bella helping my mum plant verbena, lobelia and a hot pink hydranea next to the rhubarb and strawberries.

The last of the tulips.

Wallflowers and bluebells providing welcome colour.
Lavender - the only plant that thrives in the tiny south facing flowerbed under the front steps. Smells heavenly, attracts bees, and reminds me of France.
Sweet peas planted around their little makeshift frame against the dry stone wall. 
Apple blossom.
Beautiful saxifrage in the pots on the front steps


What I didn't photograph...


All the washing on the washing line (lots of small pants and trousers - Angus is "sort of" potty training).
The bag full (I kid you not) of cat poo we had to clean out of the flowerbeds - I'm not finding next door's cats quite to cute now.
The gloomy flowerbed of doom in which nothing really thrives.
The crappy green plastic garden furniture.
The lavender plant I repeatedly run over with the front tyre while parking the car in our tricky little driveway.


Now, I'm all for a little aspirational, escapist blogging, but my home isn't perfect, and while I may not always want to photograph the boring/ugly bits, I think it's only fair I admit they exist. It is the May bank holiday here in the UK today. We waved goodbye to my parents and plan on spending the rest of the day baking, sewing and crafting while poor John is at work. Happy Bank Holiday everyone! 

Weekend Breakfast 9 - "Clean and Lean" Pancakes

Ok, bear with me today. I know my weekend breakfasts so far have had a slightly calorific and indulgent leaning (surely that is the point of a weekend breakfast?) but today I am being healthy.

My parents are staying this weekend and my lovely Mum is currently very interested in the Clean & Lean Diet and suggested these pancakes for breakfast. I feel I should just say that I am not particularly into the Clean & Lean philosophy, or any diet that bans certain foods or says that they are "wrong", and that my attitude is everything is moderation. I eat reasonably healthily, enjoy cake, wine, coffee etc, try to exercise some portion control, I run two or three times a week and I walk to school and back twice a day - that works really well for me.

Anyway, these pancakes are very low in fat but contain the kind of things that keep you full for a long time, so if anyone is trying to cut out fat or eat healthily then I recommend these and you can find the full recipe here. This makes around 8 pancakes, enough for two to four people, depending on your appetite. Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blitz to combine. 

Using a quarter cup measure, or a large spoon, dollop the mixture in a hot frying pan (we used a little butter to stop them sticking) and cook for a couple of minutes on each side.

The colour from the cinnamon makes them look wheaty and heavy, but they are very light and delicious with maple syrup and berries. We took the kids swimming first thing this morning, an exhausting activity at the best of times. My parents came too and so I was able to leave the kids with them in the baby pool and do some Actual Swimming! I managed twenty lengths with only a cup of tea inside me, so by the time we got back and ate a very late breakfast I was extremely hungry (shaky leg hungry) for these. 

Happy Sunday everyone! What did you have for breakfast?

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Via SouleMama.

May...

It seems wrong to be thinking about a month of Springtime activity when the weather has been so unkind to us. I always seem to be talking about the weather but small children do make you very weather-focused. Like dogs, they need a daily "run" and lots of fresh air. What shoes/wellies/coats do we need for the school run? Rain cover on the pushchair or take the car? Is the park an option? The garden? No? Well it's another morning of jigsaws and books and cbeebies. 


Yesterday the sun ran away and the rain came back. The heating was switched back on. It was John's day off and a day of cooking ensued.  I made tea loaf and my first sourdough loaf (the flavour! I am converted.) John made a tomato and rosemary risotto with meatballs for tea, followed by white chocolate vanilla custards. I felt like we were wintering, hiding away in the warm kitchen, pottering quite happily.


But I have hope that Spring will come back and so, to give me some focus, this month I plan to...

• Bake a lot more sourdough bread, including a rye loaf.
• Plant sweetpeas.
• Paint the bathroom yellow.
• Celebrate lots of birthdays - Angus, my Dad, my Grandma and two friends.
• Make some birthday presents (better get cracking!).
• Read The Restaurant of Love Regained by Ito Ogowa for book group
• Practice my crochet.

Here's hoping we get some sunshine soon! Have a great day everyone.

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

Blog giveaways - I didn't know these wonderful things existed until a few months ago. But what a discovery they are! Creative people make things and like-minded people admire both their efforts and their blogs, random number generators are involved, and someone is the lucky winner. Last week I won a giveaway from Maggie's blog, mags creative meanderings, a lovely little blog by someone who describes herself as a "crafting beginner" but I beg to differ.

Such wonderful treasures came tumbling out. A beautiful, incredibly neat and carefully sewn pin cushion, some fabric, lots of sweet Beatrix Potter postcards, a little book about quilting, chocolate...

and these adorable buttons. Bella is captivated by them and keeps asking me to get them out so she can look at them.

Thank you Maggie for offering such a generous and delightful giveaway!

More goodies (it was a week of being spoilt!) to show you. I entered into a sort of crafty swap with some good friends who enjoy a bit of crafting. The idea is you give the recipient anything you have made yourself (food included) within a limited time frame. I offered embroidered tea towels and jam. It does not have to be perfect or expensive or time consuming, just something you made yourself. My friend Debora made me a beautiful crochet hook holder.

Isn't it gorgeous? I love the fabric she used. It is so handy for hooks, pens, scissors and other bits and bobs.

And it rolls up into this perfect little tube, so I will no longer be scrabbling around at the bottom of my sewing bag for things.

Thank you Debora!

Today is the first of May and, after one day of warm sunshine, the cold wet weather has returned. I don't really have a to do list for this month, I think I should focus on finishing all the things I had planned to do in April instead. I did make good headway with some crafty projects but the weather put a lot of gardening and outside jobs on hold. I would like to order one month of sunshine please. It can rain (despite a month of rain, we still need more here in the UK) but only at night. Thank you.