
Hellooooo!! I thought I'd come and chat to you at the end of what has been a beautiful, relaxing Easter weekend, and to share some of the things that have been making me feel really happy the past few days.

Firstly, these daffies on my table, oh-my-gosh they are incredibly beautiful. I picked them up from the supermarket on Friday when they were still in bud and had no idea they would be this way - the petals are kind of a mix between pale yellow and a very subtle blush colour, they are so lovely. They have a sweet scent too and I'm having the biggest crush on them (can you tell?)

The weather has been mostly bright and sunny but very chilly, so we are back to winter coats and woollies it seems. On Friday morning I met with five of my yarny friends for a walk through the park and a long over due catch up with a take out coffee. It was honestly so good for my soul to have female company for a few hours, I'm very thankful for my friends and have missed them terribly.

In the afternoon we went for a quick walk, mainly to get Little B out and about for some fresh air, daylight and exercise. He's become very teen-like of late, spending most of his time hunkered down in his bedroom with the curtains closed, playing games, chatting to his mates and watching insane videos on YouTube. I sometimes find myself missing the younger Little B, but this more mature version is certainly very low maintenance. Just a bit of a walk every now and again and he's good.

I'm delighting in this new season we're in, soaking up every little scrap of fresh green growth that I come across. Every day I see more signs of Spring emerging, and it honestly makes me so happy.

Saturday afternoon saw us walking out again, this time the four of us. I really love having Little Lady with us because she keeps me company when the boys are chatting boy-stuff. Without her I'm a bit of a lonesome straggler on our walks as Little B is very much a Daddy's boy at the moment and I don't really get much of a look in.

We walked over the fields on Saturday, it was a bit squishy under foot still, but nowhere near the mud fest that we've had during the winter months. This pussy willow looked incredibly pretty against the blue of the sky....

....and as you can see it was in full-fluff mode. I stroked it (of course I did), and I can report that it did indeed feel as soft and fluffy as it looks.

This circular walk takes us across fields and along quiet country lanes, and it felt good to have the sun on our faces and some wide open views to drink in. I love waking in the woods, but on a bright sunny day I definitely feel the pull to be more out in the open.

I wonder if you can guess from these photos that I really quite like walking?? Can you possibly tell??!
The above photo was taken Saturday evening just after 7pm. Little Lady was feeling restless and asked if I'd like to go and watch the sun go down. She is SO like me in so many ways and I recognise huge chunks of my personality traits within her. Plus, there is this part of Mummying-me that just swells with joy when she seeks out my company. She is almost seventeen and the fact that she likes to be with me is just the most heart warming thing, I feel very lucky indeed.
We walked up into the park just as the sun was lowering down to the horizon, all golden and dusky. We decided on a whim to walk up to the farm shop to see if they had any little flowering plants. Re-planting my doorstep pot has been an item on my to-do list for far too long now.

The Easter display in the entrance was really lovely - possibly the biggest Easter tree I've ever seen. They also had a decent selection of potted bulbs for sale, so I bought three small pots to bring home.

It's such a treat to have daylight in the evenings now, and although the temperature has been very wintry, the lengthening days more than make up for it.

It's about 8.15pm in the above photo and we are crossing the canal bridge on our way back from the park and farm shop. Ready to climb up the hill and back into the cosy warmth of home.

Sunday morning now, and despite the hideousness of it, I'm showing you my doorstep pot with deceased cyclamen still in residence. You can see what it looked like back in October when it was at it's peak - to be fair the flowers did last much longer than I thought they would and they were lovely right the way through the Autumn and early winter. However, the above sight has been making me feel miserable for the past few weeks so it was high time for a little Spring makeover....

........ta-dah! I spent about £7 at the farm shop on these bulbs and they've made me so happy. I must gather some moss and cover up the earth I think, heaven knows I've got the mossiest grass at the moment in my front garden. Not complaining though, you know how much I adore moss. In fact I would be quite enchanted if the whole of my grassy grass was in fact moss.

I'm looking forward to coming and going in and out of the front door in the weeks to come and watching these flowers bloom.

Sunday afternoon, and the very chilly weather meant that we decided to light the fire in the middle of the afternoon. Although I wasn't impressed with having near freezing temperatures for Easter, there is nothing nicer than lighting the fire at the weekend and settling down for some cosy fireside loafing.

I think I told you during Blarch that I spent some time having a bit of a tidy up, and that I had some magazine reading on my to-do list? I already managed to read and pass on the March issues to my friend, and on Sunday I had the perfect opportunity to spend some time swooning my way through the April issues.

Oh it was delightful, lots of Spring inspiration and Easterish feel-good, I drank it all in and felt very uplifted I have to say. Sometime these aspirational magazines make me feel a bit inadequate and needy/greedy (I want more!! More space, more garden, more beautiful things, more holidays, more freedom, more, more). But mostly I can flick through the pages and feel inspired by the gorgeous images and seasonal narrative.

Four pm, and I decided that a cheeky little glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc would go very nicely with my fireside daydreaming. I just recently bought these new glasses and am so in love with them. They were only cheap from the supermarket, I think they are called "stemless wine glasses". I love the weighty curviness of them, they're a pleasure to drink from and not nearly so tricky as a tall wine glass when you are lounging on the sofa with a magazine.

We were forecast s.n.o.w. today, can you believe that? In fact we woke up to smattering of the icy white stuff on the ground this morning but not really what I would call a snowfall as such. Still, it was blinkin' freezing (literally, -1 degrees) but the sky was oh-so-blue and I couldn't wait to get out in it. Eight o'clock and I was heading up the hill to the meadow, to walk around a bit, stretch out my muscles and breathe in the freezing cold spring air.

Interestingly I had company this morning as J came with me - I didn't really think it through when I invited him along to be honest. He kept saying "where are we going?" and I said well we're just going here, right here, this is the meadow and we're walking around it.....he definitely didn't seem to feel the magic like I do.

I'm trying to make better choices for myself with regards to what enters my mouth now, after a long weekend of wine, chocolate and buttery hot cross buns. The over indulgence is over, and I am hauling myself back in line. Yes, I really am. I'm feeling a bit plumper around my middle again and the heaviness doesn't feel so good. The saying "you are what you eat" is so simple yet so true, and I always do feel so much better in myself when I'm eating good things.

This morning's coffee was taken down by the sunny canal side, wrapped up in many layers against the chill of zero degrees. The coffee was superb, and honestly really cheered my day along. Such a pleasure as always.

Fuelled by sunshine and good coffee, I came home and spent many hours sat with my crochet hook today. During this past week I've been working on a new blanket design - lots and lots of sampling to work through colour palette decisions and then pattern ideas. I think I'm finally there with it, both the colours and the design and I am sooooooooooooo excited by it. It's something different for me, and I absolutely cannot wait to get going now that the nitty gritty design stage is complete. I'm working a long way in advance for this one as the launch date isn't until early September, but I'll be showing you some of my progress as I slowly work on it during the next few months.
Well I think that brings us to a gentle close for now, I'm suddenly hearing my flowery pillow calling to me and I think I'm ready to be right there in my comfy bed as it's almost ten o'clock. I hope you've enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend full of things that have made your heart sing...
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