Brrrrrr.....

I'm wearing 3 holey cardigans; the heating is at max; the cats are asleep along the tops of radiators; Mr Frosty smiles at us through the window.
"Can I bring Mr Frosty in?", says the toddler, "He's cold!".

I've been trying to knit again. I tried knitting gloves last year using double pointed needles, and after a few reverses back over the stitches I'd just knitted, I gave up.
"What are you knitting?", said the woman in the wool shop,as I bought a huge amount of wool for a blanket."I can't knit! - it is much too stressful!", I shouted, and then as she took a step back from me with a "nutter!" look in her eyes, I calmly said "I crochet."

So after trying out circular needles this weekend to try to knit gloves again, all I can say is that enough is enough. I'll go nuts if I try to knit again - too much can go wrong all at once - whole rows falling off the needles. At least with crochet, you can only go one stitch wrong at a time. So never again. I crochet only from now on

Concrete Heart

The previous owners left a concrete heart shaped planter on the doorstep. It was planted with pink flowers which are not really me - but perfect for "Hens and Chickens" and stones collected from the beach in Aldeburgh late this summer.

A Little Whitewashed Shed in a Flower Garden

We had this little shed delivered this week, and in the unexpected heat of an Edinburgh Saturday, we put it together and painted it. It is perched rather haphazardly on the grass here, but has now been moved to the pathway at the back of the house, where it will look after lots of little scooters and bikes and keep them out of harm's way of the rain. It is a "budget" shed from one of the DIY superstores, but I think it looks rather nice painted this soft white. I can see a little row of them, all different colours, with numbers on them, like little beach huts.

Just above the shed you can see the first rhodedhendrons of the season. Ours seem to be very late flowering this year. Here's a long distance shot - with the shed moved away - just look at the mess the blossom has made, lol. My 2 year old squeals with delight when it "rains flowers".
Here are some rhodedhendrons in a local garden, of this beautiful old stone house (not my house). These pink ones are so brightly coloured, they almost look artificial.

I'll take some more pictures of mine later this month when they have flowered. This house we live in and adore is not ours, but a rented house. We are truly lucky to live here with this flowering garden.

More Spring Inspiration

Spikes of Monkey Puzzle tree beginning to cheer up again after being shrouded in snow.



A re-found object - shells and stones on a string, next to the monkey puzzle. No real purpose other than to look pretty and remind us of the beach.


And finally: beautifully white snowdrops.

A Little Bit of Sunshine

At last, a little bit of sunshine. We went up to Perthshire today, 70 or so miles north of our home in Edinburgh. In my parents' garden, a few spring flowers are starting to bloom and a little bit of green pokes up here and there.

Early Spring Cleaning

I'm sure you're nothing like me. I'm sure that you don't have to wade through half full bags of raisins, a packet of sushi rice you bought 2 years ago, and various bottles, jars and packets spilling contents, every time you try to find out whether you have a can of tomatoes in the provisions cupboard, only to finally find way at the back of the cupboard 6 tins of out of date tomatoes.

I'm sure you're nothing like me, and that your cupboard is perfectly organised, all food in-date, packets emptied into storage jars, and that you know where everything is.

That's why I'm going to try to be more like you, and I've just spent the last 2 hours cleaning out my kitchen cupboards.

I want to try to do a food menu and budget each week, and I just could not get my head around that when my cupboards were in such a mess.

Can't post a boring picture of tins of peas, so here's a picture of the rhododendrons just coming into flower in my garden.