How Do You Know Spring Is Nearly Here?

1. You start leaning towards the light like a house plant.

2. On the first day that it is sunny and warm enough to open a window or two, you find that there are about fifteen cats in every window. This is in spite of the fact that there are only two cats living with you.

3. You make your weekly batch of soup for lunches the next week, and the recipe does not involve pearl barley.

4. The seeds you ordered arrive...

5. ...you plant them (albeit indoors and under lights), and they sprout! This is always miraculous.

6. Your daffodils start getting themselves organised.

7. You read that the best time to plant peas is when the lilac buds are as big as a mouse's ear. You check the lilacs at your office, and the buds are as big as a mouse's ear! You make plans for Sunday, and a mental note to buy a lilac bush.

8. Your crocuses bloom! This is a very definite sign that spring is almost here.

9. You decide "Bugger housework, I'm going outside to get dirty!". Oh, wait, that actually isn't a seasonal thing for me, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

10. You seriously consider trading in the telly for a clothesline.

11. Life is good.

Food! (And a Little Bit of Christmas)

As you are all probably aware, Daniel and I got to spend Christmas at home this year. What this meant was that we had ready access to a stove and a fridge, both of which we put to very good use.

To start with, there were fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast...

Then, after a suitable and somewhat lengthy pause (we ate more of those than we probably should have), came Christmas Dinner. There were artichoke and green olive pies...

Ham, mashed potatoes and caramelised onions and beans...

And then Daniel surpassed himself with a bread and butter pudding full of sultanas and vanilla, with an apricot jam glaze. I take credit for the glaze! It was apricot jam that I made earlier this year.

Believe it or not, there was a bit more to Christmas than food. For instance, we did have a Christmas tree.

And we received some lovely gifts (thank you!), including some possums who can keep our kangaroo and koala decorations company.

We had a lovely, lazy day. And from what I've heard, you all had a lovely Christmas, too, although considerably more noisy!

The cats had varied approaches to the day. Maggie was very curious and playful...

Whereas Dobie followed our lead, and had a very laid back day. This is not unusual for Dobie - he is generally laid back for about 22 hours out of every 24.

And there you have it. Christmas at our house, 2009. Cheers!

Crochet and a Kitty

I thought you might like to see my most recent crochet project. We have an association at work that holds an auction about this time each year to raise funds for itself and a local charity. Each year I crochet something for the auction. The last couple of years I've made baby blankets, but I'm a bit bored with those patterns (too many people having babies!), so I thought I'd make one for grownups this time around. Of course, Maggie had to investigate it to see if it was worth pulling to pieces - she loves wool. As you can see, she's in as good a shape as Dobie. She's much more active, even though she's a year older than him. Methinks Dobie was just born lazy!

Here are some of the details. Not quite sure why the bottom photo turned out sideways, and I can't figure out how to turn it around, but I'm sure you get the idea of how the edging looks. It was a pretty easy pattern, and I think it turned out well. Hopefully it will raise lots of money!