End of May

So long since i was on here - can't believe it. The blossom came and went. We went to a lovely wedding last weekend - glorious sunshine and loads of kids running in and out of the place. The bride was 2nd generation Polish and the bridesmaids wore traditional Polish outfits. We spent an hour under the big apple tree gathering fallen petals in the morning and used them as confetti. Apple blossom smells almost like roses. I think they are related...

By the following week, the blossom was over.

I have put in some very leggy cauliflower seedlings that my dad rescued for me. Not sure how they'll do. Have some broccoli seedlings and some little red cabbage plants (also a rescue job) to put in. BT planted some seeds from the store cupboard, so I have a pumpkin plant and 2 sunflowers to put our, and Rainbow brought a huge bean plant home from school. In fact, even if we clear the last square metre of plot, I think we may need an extension.

There will be strawberries soon, and the quince has blossomed. Very pretty, pale pink blossom. Will have to take the fruit off this year, but next year...

My birthday

It was my birthday on Friday. BT made me breakfast in bed, with great solemnity and fixedness of purpose. There were no hot liquids involved, but I did get a glass of smoothie, a ginger biscuit and some muesli. And there were no spillages, so a great success all round.

Had a very family day. Rainbow gave me a really pretty necklace ( she went shopping with Granny) and Yer Man produced a fine selection of books and a night away in a hotel (!!!) in 2 weeks time. Mum and dad are having the kids, so a double gift from them.

The other big news is that my dating CT scan came back clear. My friend Julie went down to Exeter with me to get the results, bless her. Not the best job in the world, potentially, and it meant setting aside a whole afternoon, but if it had been my mum, and if it had been the wrong result, it would have been hard for me not to feel I had to take care of her. So Julie was a great choice. And as it turned out it was all fine.

I thought I would be really elated, but I feel kind of flat. Is that wrong? It was so exhausting waiting for the results. I feel I should have headed home and drunk champagne, but I just want to be very very quiet.

The quince tree has definitely survived. There is lots of blossom around - not on the quince yet, but the apple blossom is opening, and so is the cherry blossom. The plum blossom is pretty well over.  I don't see too many bees, which is a worry. I have wondered if we should get a hive, not so much for honey, more to ensure pollination. Beans are sprouting on the windowsill, peas are shooting up in the garden and I see my first potato plants poking through. And the leafy stuff is sprouting. The garlic looks fantastic. The onions are so-so. Should get my courgette plants soon (thanks, dad) and the pumpkin plants are showing 2 leaves.

The little stranger/friend?

Isn't that terrible. I put it on my list of books, can't remember the title and can't find the dam' thing to check. Wasn't that impressed. Not v scary, despite the reviews I'd read. I am not terribly scared of the supernatural.  Reality is much much much scarier.

Spring continues

Serious sunshine for ages now. We have hired a gardener - for the flower garden. I have been known to call it the walled garden in moments of grandiosity, but it's not a walled garden, even though it is surrounded by a wall. He has basically given us 2 new beds so far just by clearing out all the undergrowth that had grown up, so we celebrated by buying a load of plants and trying to start a herbaceous border. Well, bed. The world's shortest herbaceous border. I like nice packed flower beds where you can't see the earth. That means that I even forgive ground elder (nice leaves) - though not couch grass.

I have also planted peas, beans, lettuce, kale, chard AND cleaned out the water butt. So ner ner ner.

I also let the children stay in their pyjamas all day today. I am a BAD MOTHER.

Easter

What a fantastic Easter! The weather was so great. We went over to friends in Rutland and the kids formed a pack and went feral. Then we went on alone to Holland - on the ferry! Overnight! In CABIN!!! and took the kids to Efteling, which is the most wonderful place. We did loads of rides, the sun shone, the kids were fantastic. The hotel had a swimming pool and we had sprinkles for breakfast.

I love Holland. The coffee is just the best, there are bikes everywhere and the sky is so big. We went from Hoek van Holland to Breda past acres of greenhouses with little corners with a couple of sheep or ponies in them.

It always feels like a country that assumes that you are a grown up.

Kids loved it too, loved being abroad, loved being in a hotel, excited about all sorts of little things. And everyone was lovely to them.

Did NOT want to go back to work. Would quite like to quit now and go and do something less stressful. If I didn't love living here so much I would be thinking about changing jobs, I think, but Yer Man has just managed to establish himself, the kids are settled, the house is great, the vegetable patch is good (got my potatoes in...), I'm acquiring friendships. I don't really want to move, I just want work to be a bit more sorted and a bit less frenetic and scary.

buds on trees

I think the quince is going to make it. I have inspected it a couple of times over the last few days and there are definite buds. I am now officially excited.

We opened a new pot of quince jam this weekend. It remains the best of all my preserves. The flavour is just staggeringly gorgeous.

There are teeny tiny leaves on the crab apple, and little buddings on everything else. I found 2 rhubarb crowns in the back that I had forgotten to plant and shoved them in a corner of the veg patch on Saturday. I really need to start some planting, but we don't seem to have had any time...how rubbish is that?

Interviewing at work tomorrow and 2 out of 3 candidates have dropped out. I suppose that doesn't matter if the one remaining is good, but it is disappointing. The staffing issues are just so stressful at the moment.

The kids are so excited about going to Holland. So am I. My brother is going to be working in a sprinkles factory in Rotterdam soon. Apparently sprinkles are BIG in Holland. I was really pleased to hear this because one of my childhood memories is doing a project on Holland at school and having a Dutch breakfast that included bread and butter and sprinkles. Have given it to the kids a couple of times as a treat(!). Felt somehow vindicated when brother got the job. So now am wondering whether sprinkles will feature in the breakfast buffet.

Sausage casserole

I cooked Nigel Slaters sausages and lentils the other day. I used to cook it a lot, but now tend to do Rachel Allen's sausage and bean casserole - partly because it is the easiest thing to cook ever and will last a couple of nights (always a bonus). They are basically the same idea - a bit of sausage and a lot of pulse. I used to cook a lot of Nigel's stuff, and still dip into his kitchen diaries from time to time, but seem to have moved on to Rachel. I think it's because his dishes are usually quick-but-last-minute, and when you have kids you want something (or I want something) you can knock up in advance and then leave sitting in the oven for ages. And then reheat/rehash the next night.

I have also found the best indian chicken recipe ever. And a basic curry base that you can shove in the freezer, whip out and cook meat or vegetables or whatever in. The children are begging for chicken curry every night! And it's so easy! How great is that?

And Mr Hockings is back. Could my gastronomic prospects be any brighter???