Attic24

To The Cove

We decided yesterday to head out of town. At the beginning of the year J had booked the day off as  holiday, and even though it was bad luck that he was unwell he said he still felt like getting out. He declared a need for fresh air, gentle exercise and a good dose of Scenery. He had obviously been pondering on it as he knew exactly where he wanted to go, and who was I to argue? Anywhere in the Dales is fine by me. Take me where you will.

We drove out to a beautiful village called Malham. In summertime, this quiet little village gets pretty mobbed by visitors, and it can get quite busy along this sweet main street when the sun shines and the holiday season is in full swing. But in the depths of a wintry week, all was tranquil and peaceful yesterday. In fact, I think Winter is my favourite time of year to be here, I remember walking here before at this time of year.

We parked the car in the village and walked the half mile or so up the road to the start of this track which leads to The Cove. As you can see this is a very toddler/pushchair friendly stroll and although we took the pushchair with us, Little B managed to walk the whole way there and back.

The track starts out quite high above the beck, but soon descends down to water level.

The beck here is newly surfaced, by that I mean it literally springs out of the hillside not far from this point. The water is remarkably clear and pristine looking, makes you want to kind of stick your head in it and drink till you're full.

We're following the little beck towards Malham Cove, there it is look. Magnificent, isn't it? It's one huge, great, big, incredible, ancient Marvel of Nature.

The whole landscape around The Cove is slightly strange, sort of barren but lush at the same time.

The mossy covered rocks and walls looks incredibly vibrant in the dim light of February, especially contrasting with the cool grey of the limestone all around.

We've reached the end of the Toddler-friendly path, and beyond this gate it becomes very rocky and wet. You kind of start walking in river beyond the gate. So I left my boys at this point and ventured in alone. I wanted to get a little closer to The Cove itself (or "The Waaaallllllll" as Little B called it). A very big Wall, well yes, I suppose it is just that.

I've got walking boots on, so I'm kind of half paddling and half rock-hopping my way through the shallow beck.

WoW. It really is the most incredible, incredible place to stand and stare. You look up. You look down. You look all around. And all you see is ancient limestone. You are towered over by it, surrounded by it. Do you see the man in the above picture? See how weeny he looks?

Standing near The Cove makes me feel like a little Dot. But I also feel very energised, it really is breathtaking.

Wow. I turn around and head back to the gate, Little B looking all anxious, then a big beaming smile when he sees me. He's tells me in his sweet way that he's been worrying about me in case I slipped on the rocks. Bless.

We walk slowly back along the track, then back down the lane to the village.

We pass picturesque houses and a campsite and a cafe and a farm. Little B is enchanted by the sight of these cows, he makes lots of talk and chatter to them. He can't seem to say Mooo, so he says "Hi" instead.

Ahhh such mossy delight in Malham! Moss seems to be everywhere, creeping beautifully over the landscape, adding green to the grey.

I really like Malham, the village has a wonderful, sleepy, quiet, contented feel to it. You feel as if time is standing still a little here. It feels ancient. I always come away from Malham feeling like I must return again very, very soon. Springtime I think would be good.

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 Edit to add :: ooooooo yes, I had forgotten that the BBC is currently running a series called "The Great British Countryside" which featured Yorkshire in episode two.....at the moment there is an iPlayer clip where they show you Malham Cove, both from the bottom where I was, and at the top on the amazing limestone pavement where they filmed a Harry Potter scene.

The link to the BBC iPlayer clip is HERE, available until 15th March ( I hope the link works!)

 

 

 

 

A Flowery Weekend

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Blue skies have been seen above number 24, thank goodness! I took the above picture early on Saturday morning when I bobbed out into the back yard to carry out some Deep Breathing. I'm having a bit of a job coping with life on the home front this week, I feel like I've been expending a huge amount of energy just keeping a check on my emotions. But really, when I step back and look at things objectively, all is well. Of course it is. I'm just a little worn is all, and in truth I think I'm in need of a break. Time Out. I'm working on that one, an idea for a weekend away is brewing.

J continued to battle with illness over the weekend, he has really been up against it and I've felt very sorry for him, truly I have. Often I find I am shockingly short of sympathy for other people's ailments, but with J, well he is so very rarely ill that he does get my full sympathy when it happens.

I spent some time on Saturday trying to pull things together a little on the domestic front, cos what with one thing an another, my weekly Home Blessing sessions have not happened in recent weeks. And it was showing. I had to laugh when I came downstairs on Saturday morning and saw my poor overgrown flowers in sad decline on the mantel...I thought it just about summed up how I was feeling. Sort of wilty and all out of oomph!

So to cheer myself up, I cleared the outgrown pots away and replaced them with new. I really adore these little yellow pots of narcissi, and as they aren't always in the supermarket when I need them I've been snapping them up when they do appear. I find I can keep them downstairs in the cool, dark of the cellar to grow veeeeeeeeery slowly, and they can then be brought upstairs when needed.

The same with the hyacinths. These also came up from the cellar on Saturday to replace the faded Bridal Crowns and are just at the perfect Point Of Growth to bring out. There's not too much waiting to be done before the flowers open and the room takes on that gorgeous scent.

I find that having fresh flowers in the house is such an amazing tonic, the sight of them really does induce an instantaneous feeling of pure happiness. I feel that happiness jolt straight through from my eyes to my heart.

It's especially true when I place a small jar/jug/bottle of flowers in an unexpected place, like this little glass jar of daffies in my kitchen. They got left there on Friday when I bought them home from the market as I kept forgetting to move them (they were destined for my bedside). But then each time I walked into the kitchen during the weekend, wham! They hit me that happy-jolt straight to my heart. That lovely visual surprise made me smile so much that I've left them right there.

They really are the sweetest little daffies, their petals are sort of star-like, and their little frilly trumpets are the most glorious orange colour. I am quite in love with them.

Sometime during Saturday afternoon, I took a sudden spur of the moment decision to Go Out. I just all of a sudden HAD to get out of the house, out into the fresh air to walk and spend time by myself. One thing I really love about where I live is that it is very simple to take oneself out the door and walk to somewhere. Within ten minutes I can be at the park, or along the canal, or into woodland or straight into the heart of the town.

Or maybe for a change I can walk up past the Castle......

.....turn left along this beautifully green stone wall, and YES!!!!!!!

I've arrived!

Destination Snowdrop!

WoW. Do you remember me showing you this patch of floral delight last year?

Isn't this a truly breathtaking sight?

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

After the snowdrop experience, I wandered down into the town to mingle with the tourists and stroll around the market. As I had my camera in my pocket I was able to snap a picture of the plant stall for you, isn't it looking glorious? You can see the buckets of Spring flowers which stopped me in my tracks on Friday, oh those orangey tulips, mwah!!! Lovely.

I pootled in and out of shops on Saturday afternoon, just allowing the hustle and bustle of it all to wash over me. I flicked through magazines, smelt handmade soaps, fondled little cups and jugs, browsed through pages of books, stroked knitwear and scarves. I just walked and browsed, walked and browsed until I was suddenly very weary and ready to head home.

Saturday happened to be J's birthday. Poor guy. He felt so unwell on Saturday morning, with a body full of aches and shakes and chills and sweats, he hardly had the strength to open his cards and pressies. The Little People had made him combined Birthday and Get Well Soon cards, covered in ♥'s and xxx's. He said that he couldn't quite face a birthday cake, so instead I bought some little bite-sized rocky roads. I spent a happy while making weeny flags to stick into them by way of making them celebrationish. The Little People thought this idea quite funny and ridiculous. They kept asking where the candles were going to go. I really liked the effect though, it pleased me enormously when I placed this plate of flagged sweet-treats on the table after dinner.

When all the bite-sized edibles had vanished, I rescued the flaglets and stuck them into my pots. Just like that.

I'm liking my daft flags very much, the sight of them amongst the flowers is really making me happy.

One last bit of floral weekend activity for you...my first succesful mini crochet rose. I made the design up myself after failing to find anything online that was small enough or simple enough for my liking. I think it could maybe do with a few more outer petals so I'm going to tweak it a little more, but I'll gladly give you the pattern when I've got it right, if you'd like to join me in my forthcoming hooky-rose-fest. I'm thinking bunting and a wreath. A rosy wreath! Oooooooo!!

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ps today has been much better all round. J is finally on the mend and we even managed a short Outing today. I'll share Outing pictures tomorrow, prepare for a dose of picturesque Winter Secenery xx

 

 

 

Breathing Deeply

Such a trying week here in the Attic. Despite the odd few hours of happy Playtime that I've been telling you about, pretty much everything else has been an uphill struggle. The weather hasn't helped, bleugh, it's been gross. So wet. So grey. So blustery. So yuckety-yuck. My big pushchair has a puncture in the back tyre which I'm waiting for J to mend, so I've been struggling with the small fold-up buggy. Its small wheels are not cut out for the rough, bumpy terrain of our canal-side school run, or an old town composed of many bumpy, cobbled streets. It's been remarkably hard, physically speaking, simply getting to where I need to be. The rain cover on the small buggy is also very inadequate and keeps flapping off. Plus Little B hates being under it, he cries and tries to kick it off. He's also started this really annoying habit of kicking his own shoes off as I'm walking along, so I've been forever stopping (in the wind and the rain), giving him a telling off and putting his shoe on again. It's taken some doing to remain calm, well in fact yesterday I did not remain calm at all and flew into a verbal tiz, shocking many innocent passers-by. Not to mention the poor Little People who are not accustomed to their Mummy yelling in public. Breathe Deeply. Inhale. Exhale. Try to stay calm.

We're heading into some changes to our routine too, which hasn't helped the stress levels this week. The above artwork was made by Little B, it's a painting of the sunshine. It was his first ever painting made at the sweet local Playgroup where he's started 2-hour sessions on a Wednesday and Friday. It's a lovely setting in an old church hall, run by very warm, kind playgroup ladies. It's  almost identical to the sort of playgroup I remember vaguely from my own early childhood. There's something about church-hall playgroups, the smell of them, the sweet modesty of the activities, that remains so constant over the years. A reading corner with piles of cushions and a fold out library of books. Sand to dig in. Painting easels and play-doh tables. Role play activities (a café setting this week), and a weeny trampoline to bounce on. A break for snack time, then some physical activities (bike riding and ball games this week). Then story time and singing. I love it very much.

It turns out that Little B doesn't much like being separated from his Mummy though. He chooses to cry and shout NO no No nO No NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been hard. But I'm told that once I'm gone, he soon calms down and begins to ease into the fun of the morning. It'll take some time but I know he's going to eventually love going there. Eventually. For now I Breathe Deeply. Inhale. Exhale. Try to stay calm.

I left the church hall in a bit of a fluster this morning, I felt quite tattered actually. I felt physically tired and emotionally strung out. So I did the first thing that came into my head. I walked to the nearest food shop (Marks and Spencer), purchased a danish pastry, marched home, made myself a coffee and went outside with it. It wasn't too cold, so I fetched an old cushion and sat at my damp table, drinking coffee, nibbling my pastry and Breathing Deeply. Inhale. Exhale. It felt good.

I looked around my poor neglected little back yard, with it's sad pots full of soggy dead things. Inhale. Exhale.

And I looked up to the sky and noticed that the rain clouds were finally beginning to clear. I was really delighted to see some blue up there, it lifted my spirits enormously. Spring will be peeking in soon, not long now. I think I might splash out some cash and buy some spring flowers to plant into my pots. Yes, it's a plan.

Incidentally, when I went to collect Little B from playgroup this morning, it was great. He was sat waiting for me, full of happy smiles, and the playgroup ladies said he'd had a lovely time. I felt overjoyed to hear of his happy playtime in my absence, and overjoyed to gather him up in my arms for a big cuddle. We stopped off at the market on our way home to buy some flowers. Always fresh flowers on a Friday. The plant man's stall looked incredible today, I wish I'd had my camera with me. There were many, many buckets of abundant spring lovliness! I deliberated for a while over what to get, I was very taken with the glorious tulips (the most amazing orange ones sang out to me) and the bunches of tight blue hyacinths. Oh and of course the daffodils, oh the daffodils looked amazing.

I gave in to the daffodils (2 bunches for £1.50) but then on an indulgent impulse I also plucked out a bunch of the most stunning anemones (£3.50).

Oh, and eh-hem, yes, well, a little extra something also came home with me today. Isn't this little milk jug lovely? It made my heart flutter when I spotted it in a shop window on Monday, and today it made my heart flip clean over when it became mine.

Soooooooooooooooooooooo sweet.

Oh these flowers. Oh. Such beauty! I'm Breathing that beauty in, inhale-exhale. Delicious.

They really have cheered me and lifted my flagging spirit today.

J isn't well at the moment either, and it's added to the stress of the week for sure. He's never ill. He has a hugely strong constitution, a hardy Yorkshire immune system and it's been many, many years since I've seen him so poorly. He's spent the past two days in bed with a very nasty head cold and fever. Poor man, he really has been knocked off his feet. So I've been fussing over him, keeping him supplied with food, drinks and pills (I even made homemade soup and I NEVER do homemade soup remember, so he is very honoured), and trying desperately to keep the house reasonably peaceful so he can sleep. Trying to keep three Little People quiet is very very hard and very very draining, especially in the bustle of our getting-ready-for-school routine. It's been a complete nightmare actually.

Ahhhhhhhh. Breathe Deeply. It'll pass. It. Will. Pass.

Just look at Little B. He sleeps surprisingly well squished into the small buggy on the way home from town, all tucked up under his blanket. But when he woke up he declared he was cold. He took himself to the sofa, got himself all tucked up in the ripple and waited patiently for me to provide Postman Pat entertainment. So sweet. Growing so fast. Two years old and going to Playgroup, crikey. We are fully into Toddlerdom now, no more baby-days.

Well......8.30pm and I am heading to bed with a cup of tea and a magazine to read. There's no place I would rather be.

Wishing you a weekend full of Happy Things, I'm wishing the same for myself. Yes, Happy Things would be good. ♥

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Playtime part II

My sweet Little B, worn out from his morning session at Toddler group, fell asleep in his pushchair during the walk home. So after a quick lunch of poached eggs on toast, I went straight to my desk to carry on where I left off with yesterday's Playtime.

Oh stickers and scissors, how happy you make me! How therapeutic it is to spend some quiet, uncomplicated time folding, sticking and snipping.

This is what I ended up with, a cute little string of papery prettiness.

If you had been a fly on the wall here at number 24, you would have witnessed me rushing about the house with this bunting string, upstairs and downstairs, trying it out in a huge number of places. I really did fancy it along a shelf of some sorts (this image has firmly lodged in my mind), but we are surprisingly short of shelves around here. And nope, the Shelves of Doom are not worthy.

I really do need more shelvedge. Pretty, decorative, brightly painted shelves to display pretty, decorative, bright things. And of course I will need to make mini strings of bunting for my pretty shelves, goes without saying.

Anyhow...........

........this is where the mini sticker bunting ended up, just to the right of where I'm sitting now.

Dangling sweetly above the hooky pen pots.

I love that the light from the window nearby makes a bunting shadow on the wall. Love that.

Ahhhhhhh, what a satisfying afternoon.

I'm thinking I'll make a start with the embroidery-thread-rose-idea during tomorrow's Playtime. Something sweet, frivolous and floral to look forward to.

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Edit to add :: the abstract canvas, beleive it or not, is a very cheap printed plasticky material stretched over a frame, I think I paid about £2.50 for it in one of those "home bargain" type discount shops years ago. There's something about it that I love, although I can't quite put my finger on why. Hmm I wish our walls weren't painted peach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playtime

Returning back to routine today, J went back to work, the Little Peeps went back to school and the Kidlett and I went off to sing and bash drums at Musical Tots. It was good. I do enjoy routine, more than I like to admit.

This afternoon, I had a little time to myself :: Mummy Playtime. I had a good smooch with my new soft embroidery threads, purchased yesterday so that I may continue my obsession with making Mini Bunting.

Do you like the colours? I had J and the LP waiting for me in the car, so I picked these out in about 30 second flat. Yanked them off their hooks, pooled them together in my hands, rushed to the till, paid for them, made a little small talk with the shop lady whom I taught to crochet a few years ago, and ran out the door. J still managed to raise his eyebrows, honestly, I swear I must've only been about five minutes.

I chose quite a few pinky colours as I've an idea to crochet some mini roses. Think sweet mini  bunting flags interspersed with mini crochet roses. Ooooooooooooooooooh!!

Something else caught my eye this afternoon during Playtime too. This envelope that arrived a few weeks ago all the way from Malaysia, sitting patiently on my desk, waiting for my Full Attention.

Want to see the Malaysian contents?

Ok.....

It's a sticker set. Found and purchased on Etsy when I was having a little gush over all things Washi Tape.

Just a minute though...lets just nip over to the sofa and make sure Little B is still sweetly in the land of nod............

........ahh yes, sleeping soundly, snoring gently and making little grunty animal noises. Too cute for words.

Right then, it's safe to carry on with my Playtime, uninterrupted.

Lets open up the packet shall we?

Oooooooooooooooooo-la-la!!!!!  Sweet!!!

Twenty five little playing-card sized sticker sheets, don't you just love little things like this? Takes me right back to my childhood, makes me think I am eight years old again. Such joy to be had with stickers and cutesy stationary products!

Can you see that each sticker sheet is pre cut? There are circles at one end, then the rest is cut into two different width strips.

You know what I'm going to do with the strips don't you?

Uh-huh. Mini paper bunting strings, inspired by this and this. This is as far as I got before Little B woke up, but I am already looking forward to resuming during my Tuesday afternoon Playtime.

Thread. Stickers. Scissors.

Peal, fold, stick, snip, love.

Bliss.

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 Edit to add :: the Etsy seller that I bought the stickers from can be found here. You can also find many more similar items on Etsy though, have a look here if you're interested.

 

Late Winter Landscape

A Sunday mid-day walk to enjoy the late Winter landscape.

First picture taken at 12:00.

Last picture taken at 12:46.

Forty six minutes of crystal clear skies, icy cold air, sun dappled water, gentle exercise, beautiful vistas.

Forty six minutes of happy, chattery, laughter-filled family time.

Exactly six months since we were here enjoying Late Summer.

Little B walked this time, with just a short ride on Daddy's shoulders at the end.

My my, how quickly time flies.

♥

 

 

Happy hooky work

I'm just taking a little break from work. I've been happily at it for the past three? four? hours, sitting on the floor of Little B's bedroom, sipping coffee, hooking, writing notes, photographing.

It's the best kind of work I can think of. Happy Hooky work.

I didn't have nearly as much difficulty remembering how to create the Happy Flower as I thought I would. It turns out my memory isn't so bad after all, well not when it comes to hooky things.

The stem and leaves took a little more work than the flower, but I got there in the end. I hope I've managed to do a good enough job photographing the step-by-step instructions so that you won't find it too tricky.

So the Happy Flower has been hooked, photographed, pinned and glued. I'll have to wait until tomorrow until I can unpin it and string it all together as it needs a good 24 hours drying time for the glue to harden.

I'm just going to have a bite to eat in a minute, then I'll begin the process of uploading the photographs and writing the tutorial.

It's going to be lengthy as there are ninety pictures. Uh-huh. Ninety.

What I think I'll do is split it and write it up in three parts.

Part I will be the flower head.

Part II will be the stem and leaves.

Part III will be about making the actual decoration.

Watch this space............................................................................

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:: EDIT TO ADD ::

♥♥ IT's ALL DONE!!!!!!!!! GO HERE TO FIND IT ♥♥

10pm, I've finally finished the tute and I am absolutely pooped. Completely and utterly. I wish you a HAppY TiMe giving this pretty project a whirl.

Enjoy! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz asleep now xxx

 

 

 

 

Out!

Yesterday and today, we've actually been Out! Out the house! Doing Family Things in the outdoors!! Yes folks, we finally managed to get out and about in the fresh air, not once but twice, and it's been brilliant. Brilliant.

Yesterday afternoon, despite the rather gloomy grey, cold weather, we made a spur of the moment decision to walk down the hill, along the canal to the station, get on a train, ride along the line to the next stop and get off again. The train ride itself took less than ten minutes, but it added an enormous amount to the whole experience, especially for our sweet little two year old.

Our destination was a small, rural village not far from the Attic where there happens to be a really terrific playground just a minutes walk from the station. The Little People took their scooters, but there was plenty to keep them occupied here. It's a beautifully designed playground inspired by the Yorkshire landscape with large rocks, wooden sheep and tractors to climb on, stone walls to balance along and lots more besides.

Such a fabulous thing to watch children at play, I adore to see such boundless energy, such joy in using limbs and muscles to swing, climb, jump, run, slide, spin, crawl, leap, bounce, balance, dig, step. Two hours of fresh air and active good fun, it was great to shake off the indoorsyness that we've been experiencing of late.

This morning, after weeks of exceptionally cold, bleak winter weather, we finally saw blue skies and sunshine. After the happiness of yesterday's little outing we decided to head 9 miles out of town to a small National Trust property that we'd always meant to visit (seeing as we are NT members) but had never got around to. This is East Riddlesden Hall, an old, old 17th century manor house.

It was beautiful inside, quite informal, even cosy for a grand house. It had beautiful windows. It also had lots of old, old chairs and other valuable furniture and possessions that were scarily at toddler height and not roped off in any way. It was quite a stressful experience taking Little B through the beautifully laid out rooms. He rolled about on the floor quite a lot, and he touched many things that were labelled Do Not Touch. But the house was quite a modest size and we toured it relatively quickly. I physically exhaled with pure relief once we were out in the fresh air again and Little B could go running freely about.

I expected more of the gardens, but I suppose it is the middle of winter, and many of the information boards standing beside areas of bare earth told us how beautiful it would look in Spring and Summer. One area that made my heart soar was a small Wild Flower garden where the early spring bulbs were already carpeting the grass. Such joy to see the crocus with their petals flung wide open to the morning sunshine!

After such a lengthy spell of freezing grey air here in North Yorkshire, the blue of the sky today gave me an incredible surge of joy. I walked around much of the gardens with my face turned towards the sun, soaking it in, drinking in the rays as if I were parched. I've sooooo missed the sight and feel of the sun in recent weeks.

There was a small but lovely playground in the gardens, and for the second day running I enjoyed watching my Little Peeps do their thing. I never tire of taking them to these kind of places, it makes me feel really good just to stand back and observe them. I remember one of my earliest blog posts was about a visit to our local park, it's such an essential part of life with children isn't it?

And seemingly stripy tights are the outfit of choice for Park Visits, some things don't change much.

After all that outdoorsy stuff, it was rather nice to come inside and enjoy this cosy National Trust cafe for a spot of lunch. We are normally a family of picnickers, but today J declared he would treat us to an indoor lunch, and it was a really nice treat. Sandwiches for the Littlies, homemade soup and crusty bread for J and I. Frothy coffees, apple juice and a generous slab of cake to round off.

I'm enjoying this holiday from routine very much actually, despite the rather moochy start. Tomorrow...........well tomorrow is Hooky Day for me, yaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! I've (hopefully) secured time to work on the Happy Flower for you, well that's to say that I've arranged for Little B to be taken out with his wonderful grandparents so he'll at least be out of the equation for a good part of the day. I'll still have J and the Little Peeps at home, but they've been told in no uncertain terms that Mummy/Wifey will not be available for normal Mummy/Wifey duties. We shall see. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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Egg Poaching Knowhow

Oh boy, do you ever know how to cheer me up! Not that I really felt like I was in need of cheering, but you know, last night when I wrote my Nothing-in-particular post I was feeling kind of flat I guess. A weeny bit of the Winter Blahs had set in, no doubt about it. I love that I can use my blog as a little place to jot down my rambling thoughts, it's a very therapeutic thing to do you know. Yesterday it allowed me to pull together a certain number of slightly unsettling feelings to do with my parenting, my slightly below par energy levels, my pondering on whether this house is still right for us. Turns out that for now, yes, all is mighty fine. We are floating/hibernating/resting and that's absolutely ok. Our house is possibly a tad too small for us, but it's absolutely ok cos we love it so.

I was tickled, like reeeeeeally chuffed with your response to my egg poaching skills, thank you, thank you!!! I included the eggy image yesterday simply because it had been on my mind and also followed on so neatly from the gorgeous pics of the Bridal Crown narcissus. Sort of a colour-coded train of thought.

Seeing as many of you asked, I thought I would share J's method.

You need a pan with a lid :: J uses our deep sided frying pan as it's easier to crack the eggs directly into the water when you use a shallow pan. But I've successfully poached in an ordinary saucepan by cracking the egg into a small plastic bowl first, then gently sliding the egg from the bowl into the water.

Boil the kettle, then add the hot water to the pan, you only need about an inch of water, just enough to cover the egg. Then add 2tbs of white vinegar to the water (that's the important bit. The vinegar is Completely Essential). Allow the water to come up to the boil, it should just be starting to bubble, but not at a rolling boil. Now put your egg in, as explained above, you can either crack it directly into the water, or slide it in from a bowl.

The addition of the vinegar is nothing short of miraculous. If you've ever tried to poach an egg without vinegar (and I have) you will know what a disaster it is. I don't know the science behind it, but I do know that the vinegar magically makes the egg white behave itself and stops it from going all chaotic and naughty in the water. Instead of flailing about going all stringy, it sits in a sweet little plump package, all neat and perfect and marvelous looking. What a good egg! Clever vinegar!

Right...as soon as the egg's in the water and looking good, turn the heat off, clamp on the pan lid and time it for 5 minutes. Just five.

In that five minutes, you can pootle a little in the kitchen. Unload the dishwasher, admire your crockery, dance to music. Oh, and get your toasty egg-bed ready too. Cos a beautifully poached egg does need a suitable bed to sit on, and the bed needs to be ready and waiting so that the egg can come straight out the pan when it's done. Timing is everything here.

After five minutes your egg should be poached to perfection. Beautifully creamy cooked white, with a scrummy, softly runny yolk. Lift it immediately out of the water with a slotted spoon and drain it well so that it doesn't make the toast all soggy.

Place the egg ceremoniously on it's bed :: in the case of this morning's breakfast it was a toasted English muffin spread with butter and topped with slivers of smoked salmon. Absolutely delicious, devoured with gusto and appreciation. Simple eating, you can't beat it.

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Nothing in Particular

The days and weeks seem to be flowing gently by with not much happening and not much change here of late. Sort of a continuous stream of wintry day-after-day spent indoors keeping warm. I keep getting a vague wave of dissatisfaction wafting over me, feeling that somehow we should be doing more family stuff, more activity, more something, but the feeling comes and goes in a blink. There and then gone. The family (as far as I can tell) are more than happy to just float in this slow, wintry stream, it only seems to be me who thinks from time to time that we need to jump out! Explore! Go places! Have fun! But like I say, the feeling is there and then gone.

I think these sort of days/weeks are sometimes necessary, a sweet and gentle fallow period when everyone can rest and recharge their batteries. We each seem to be taking turns to do battle with the odd lurgy. Just coughs and colds and a little tummy ache here and there, but instinctively we have slowed down and are allowing this time to pass gently.

Each and every day I give gratitude for my sweet home life, for the fact that we have come to live in such a warm, cosy, solid, happy house. I love this house, number 24. It's quite modest as houses go, a mid terrace with a small footprint, and often we do feel like we could do with more space. We keep wondering whether we should move. We often spend time speculating over property, J and I. Houses with a garden and outside space for Connievan, a bigger kitchen (my dream) and a study (his dream), houses with open vistas and greenery, houses with more, more, more. But every time we think about moving we come back to this basic fact :: we are so happy here. There is an indefinable something which makes this house so special to live in. So we stay.

Of course, this house is just a house, and there is a tremendous difference between a house and a home. I fill this house with love and colour and creativity, with sweet smelling flowers, good food and all manner of pretty things. I make it into Home for me and my family. And if I say so myself, I think I'm rather good at Making Home.

This past week J taught me to poach eggs. Not with any fancy equipment, just with a pan of water and a little splash of vinegar. I've wanted to acquire this skill for so long, especially since I adore the sort of posh brunch you get in posh eateries that include muffins and smoked salmon and these beautifully posh, creamy poached eggs. Hooorraaahhh!! Now I can do it all-by-myself!! I am eating eggs for breakfast and lunch. No stopping me now I have The Poaching Knowhow.

Are you finding this post odd? It's a bit rambly and all over the place isn't it, full of not-a-lot. I am sorry. I've got a jug of bright daffodils sitting on my table this week. They started out as tightly closed green buds, but very quickly unfurled in the warmth of Home.

Such glorious colour and unpretentious beauty. I really love daffodils, most especially at this rather grey time of year.

Can I just say, before I retreat off to bed with my basket full of Ripple and a hot water bottle, that I love that you visit me. So much. Thank you, thank you for stopping by and reading my ramble, especially on a day like today when I am a little run down and am drivelling. When I am full of Nothing in Particular, but I feel like babbling all the same.

Thank you ♥

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