first day of spring

It's the first day of spring, and Google is celebrating with a logo designed by Eric Carle. I love some Eric Carle goodness; whenever I need to buy gifts for a baby you can guarantee that there'll be some of his books wrapped up. And what a wonderful thing to begin spring with! I don't know about you, but this image just makes me think of picnics. Picnic season is upon us!

I'm off home for the weekend, so I shall return on Monday with plenty of pictures to share. Or, none, since I will have spent the weekend in a Sky-induced torpor stuffing my face with crisps. We'll have to wait and see.

Heaton Park

Today was gloriously hot, so me and Katy trekked to Heaton for a bask in the park. I'd never been before, but it's utterly gorgeous and at this time of year packed with oodles of crocuses and daffodils. There was a nifty little building in front of the bowling green that I would quite like to live in; what a garden!

farewell to winter

It is time to say goodbye to something that made my winter so much more pleasant - the paper snowflakes on my window. My thirst for spring is making them seem gloomy, instead of whimsical and wintry, so it's time for them to go. I am tempted to keep them for next year, but next year I'll be somewhere completely different, and the cosy ritual of cutting out paper snowflakes for Christmas (and the rest of winter, it turns out) is not something I want to lose. However, I couldn't resist a final photograph.

Perhaps I can replace them with a bunch of daffodils, or a jar of twigs. Something to herald the arrival of spring.

eat a rainbow

Well, why not. Whenever a baker makes something pretty they blog about it, so I feel entitled to show off what I just had for dinner. We have reached the zero protein stage of the week and I used my egg wisely - don't you love hard-boiled eggs? I made the hummus, which was fun and surprisingly easy, but not as yummy as I'd hoped. Next time I'll taste at every step; I think I made it too sweet. I like my hummus chunky and savoury!

Nectarines are the most summery fruit. I pounced on these in Morrisons and they're perfect (unlike the ones I was still optimistically buying in November) and this one was perfectly ripe. Just the smell makes my mouth water and brings back the urge to throw all my tights in the bin and run around bare-legged.

spring cleaning

Waiting for Spring is painfully horrible. Every day leaving the flat in an optimistic cardigan, and scurrying home again huddled against the wind. Spending money I most certainly do not have on bright clothes to stare wistfully at and try on again and again in the warmth of my room. The urge to spring-clean has come upon me and I have organised my wardrobe and cleaned the sink (a big feat), and put unwanted, dark, wintry clothes on eBay (sneaky selling). This pre-spring misery has made me extremely unproductive; not writing or doing much at all. I don't even want to cook, which must be serious.

For now, occasional bunches of daffodils shoved in pint mugs to brighten the room, and the wonderful, sunshine taste of nectarines will have to do.