come into the garden

 

Oh the happiness of a warm spring day! The boys are home from school and playing outside. I am also outdoors having a cup of tea and making the most of the warmth on my face. A little rabbit bunting is in order. I use an old wartime cookbook* and turn to the chapter on salads, a perfect fit for bunnies. I cut the old thin paper carefully and then thread it with jaunty string. All the while the crows are calling from the yet leafless trees. I do wonder about them. I can't tell if they're happy we're outdoors or not. They do a lot of chatting and I fancy they don't mind us invading their space for a while. Anyway I finish the bunting. It is an Easter gift for a dear friend. The boys trail inside ~ they smell of fresh air and have grassy muddy knees. Soon it will be time to eat and it will still be bright.

 * It is Constance Spry's Come into the Garden, Cook and to be honest I am so cross with myself for having used it for bunting making over the years. It's a lovely book and beautifully illustrated ~ oh, the guilt...

just crackers

Who doesn't love a Christmas Cracker? The two youngest boys made a cracker for their teachers, filling them with a packet of seeds, a small gift and a handwritten joke and drawing. We wrapped them in some festive paper and tied them with red ribbon and ho, ho, ho the perfect Christmas gift!

whisper this...Christmas is coming...

We are getting that jingly feeling, we are coming over all Christmassy with Santa lists and the gentlest, simplest of decorations made last evening from a recycled box, paper, moss, pages from a 1940s cookbook and seed heads painted gold...

'Adventus'

The Advent calendar is finished and strung along the stairs, wending its way up over prints and along the panelling of the dining room. Each pouch has a little treat tucked away inside and hopefully the boys will look forward to each day of Advent rather than just wishing it all away...

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy weekend, full of cheer!

Almost Advent

We are just at the end of one month and about to begin another. December is laden with the promise of winter festivities and celebration. But it very hard when you're young to get through all those other pesky days which are between you and the magical 25th of December...So this year we are making an Advent Calendar to count down to Christmas Day. Normally we buy a chocolate filled one but I have found them confusing for the boys-the numbers are scattered out of sequence across the calendar so there is no sense of time passing. You can't quickly glance at it and figure out how many days are left to go.

This one is much better. Made from festive paper, teeny pegs and twine it has little pockets all strung in a row, containing pieces of chocolate or jelly beans and sealed with a sticker. Still a work in progress but we're nearly done and just in time too.

If you want to have a go look here for all the details

Fairytale living

Once, in a faraway land, there was a wicked Queen who had three young, handsome princes. The young princes were prone to lots of loud and rough play which, on a good day, could take place in the palace garden far from the ears of the Queen. But this weekend it was raining so the princes were forced to stay indoors. The wicked Queen had to put up with lots of crying and moaning as the princes 'playing' turned to fighting. The wicked Queen got more and more fed up until finally she exploded and insisted that the three princes sat down-quietly-and made Christmas cards. "What?" they all cried, "but it's October Mum, er, your wicked Queeness." "Nonsense," said the wicked Queen and she set about chopping up all of last year's Christmas cards so that the princes could glue and stick to their hearts content...

 

The little princes spent approximately 15 minutes in peace and harmony making Christmas cards for their friends until the fighting broke out again and the wicked Queen had to open the Gin.

The End

busy

I got up a little earlier this morning because last night I had the rash notion that freshly made muffins might be good for breakfast and a yummy treat in the boys' lunch boxes. So before bed I made a large batch of muffin batter and left it in the fridge, then this morning I spooned about a third of it into a separate bowl, added some grated apple and a teaspoon of cinnamon, gave it a quick stir and then popped it into the oven spooned into brightly coloured muffin cases...The photo above is an 'after' shot showing all that was left after the boys... Tomorrow blueberry muffins are on the menu (hope they last a little longer!)

Apart from mixing and baking, today I have also been cutting as I am in the middle of making bunting for a special wedding happening this month. An old road map of Ireland will be winging its way to New Zealand in the guise of cheerful bunting to bring the bride a little reminder of home and all the roads she has travelled to get where she is now.

P.S. Hello February, how nice to see you! Icy winds are howling around at present but still the bulbs are pushing through and the hellebores are flowering - spring can't be too far away!