Picnic, colour, and camp.

1) It’s a lovely sunny day, so the kids and I share a picnic lunch out on the deck.

2) The garden is, if anything, more colourful than it was when I left on Tuesday πŸ™‚ .

3) Waving my big boy off, as he goes to his first every Scripture Union camp. Two nights away – he’s never been away so long before!

I miss him already.

Spring coat, impetus, and invitation.

1)Β  “I’m wearing my spring coat today!”, she told me this morning.

2) I’m usually pretty good about getting the ironing done, but today the mountain (from our weekend away) defeated me. For a good couple of hours, the basket sat there watching me from the other side of the room.Β  Then K, very kindly, brought the ironing table and the iron to me. It was the impetus I needed. The ironing is now done πŸ™‚ .

3) To receive a lovely invitation from a friend.

Explore, colour, and conversation.

1) I discovered two new paths on my walk this morning. I’m saving them up though, to explore with K and the kids.

2) Gardens are beginning to burst with colour – even the daffodils at the bottom of our garden, always the last of the daffodils to come through, are nearly unfurled. As I drove into town, there were great golden banks of daffodils everywhere I looked.

3) Sitting knitting quietly in a corner of the changing room while M was in her ballet class, I listened as the conversation ebbed and flowed around me. A little girl’s birthday party was being planned. A one-year old had just celebrated his first birthday. Photos were shared. Presents described. Discussion about the forthcoming dancing display. A game of I-spy, and Simon Says, played with a soon-to-be five year old.

Playing, light, and parcels.

1) We bumped into friends at the park, and all the kids disappeared off together into the woods to “build a shelter” – a favourite activity. In reality, I think the girls built a “grass palace” and the boys climbed trees. But much fun was had, and they didn’t want to leave to come home for tea.

2)Β  It was nearly 8pm and the sun was beginning to dip beneath the horizon. I feel my soul breathing a sigh of relief that the dark of winter is finally over, and the longer lighter evenings of summer are on their way.

3) Wrapping up parcels – always good fun πŸ™‚ .

Outside, spring, and… relax.

1) The kids were working happily away on their projects this morning when I pointed out that it was actually quite nice outside. I think it’s been so horrid for so long that they’d forgotten about going outside to play.Β  They didn’t need to be told twice – they tidied up, and were out (bike and scooter) within minutes.

2) M suddenly jumped up when she spotted friends passing by our house… we went out and had a chat. There’s finally a sense of Spring in the air.

3) To curl up in a warm bed, with the candles lit, and the music playing.

Spring will win, brave girl, and homey.

1) The spring-like sunshine of the morning was a welcome change from days of sleet and snow. The vase of golden daffodils gracing my hearth is a welcome reminder that spring will win… one day!

2) M trips and falls on her way home from school – badly enough that she puts a hole in her trousers. She barely complains however and, on reaching home, she takes herself upstairs to return a short time later proudly displaying he sticking plaster she’d neatly put on all by herself.

3) To remember that today is Thursday which means that tomorrow is Friday, which means that we don’t have to make tomorrow’s packed lunches tonight – Friday is “homey” day in this house πŸ™‚ .

Not so long, spring, and sunny drive.

1) If I had just been there to buy it for myself, I would have walked away. As it was, I took a deep breath and joined the queue which curled its way around the shop and out of the door, and prepared myself for a length wait. However, no more than a couple of minutes later, the queue suddenly shifted and I realised that there was an “express kiosk” selling precisely what I was there to buy, and only one person ahead of me πŸ™‚ .

2) Today the kids are celebrating that it is the “first day of spring” (when one defines Spring by a date, rather than the garden!).

DSCF0338Megan’s Daffodil

3) We’re off to Inverness in an hour or two, and the drive from here to there will be glorious on this beautiful sunny afternoon.

New growth, light, and perfect behaviour.

From yesterday:

1) On Monday I planted an amaryllis bulb…Β  A shoot has appeared already!

2) It’s 4pm, and I realise that it is still light.Β  We’re only a couple of weeks past the shortest day, but already the days can noticably longer. Spring is on the way πŸ™‚ .

3) We stopped by the supermarket after school to pick up a couple of things. For once, the kids didn’t argue over who pushed the trolley, or wind each other up. In fact they behaved beautifully the whole way round.

Armchair, lochside, and WIP Wednesday

1) Settling down on my friend’s arm chair, I felt myself sinking down and down into its softness – just the perfect sort of armchair which almost seems to envelope you in comfort πŸ™‚ .

2) It might be early May, and it might be Scotland, but there were crowds of young people down at the loch this morning – some kayaking, others learning about the wildlife, some speaking in English, others speaking French.Β  For the record, it was the French who were kayaking, the Scots were wrapped up warm and learning about the local wildlife! Everyone seemed very happy though πŸ™‚ .

Β 3) Finally, I’m so pleased to report that I’ve been making some progress on my lacy scarf πŸ™‚ – I think I’ll need to find a more creative way of photograhping it for next time though – it’s getting too long! And, I’ve also found the time to (finally) cast-on for my Summer Project #1 – a Debbie Bliss’s knitted peg bag.

Β  Lacy Scarf

Β 

Summer Project #1Β 

Β For more of today’s Works-in-Progress, check out Tami’s blog

Out at last, walk through the woods, and end of the day

1) After being wobbly for weeks, and causing considerable pain for several days, on the morning of the sixth day, A’s tooth finally came out.

2) As we walked through Ercall Woods, I spy tiny green shoots unfurling on branches every which way I look.

3) Settling down for a relaxing evening of knitting, chatting and catching up on the day.