Shapes and colours

We have been bubbled in a surreal world of coughs, sneezes, hoarse lost voices and high temperatures this weekend and boy am I glad that we've been through the worst. All three of us have been down and out and poor Alice has had it rough with all her noctural coughing and distress. I'd say it all peaked at about 2am this morning and thank God we are spiraling upwards, out of the doldrums of bed bound misery.

These bright and beautiful daffodils were a MUST over the weekend. Their cheery petals opened more and more as the Spring afternoon sunshine came through the window. It was so comforting knowing that they were there to cheer us up every time we went into the kitchen. For £1 I cannot complain at such beauty. The epitome of Spring in England, I think, sunshine heads bobbing about.

By yesterday afternoon I needed to feel semi-normal and as per Alice's request baked some of her favourite, simple butter biscuits. Nothing like a little homemade treat to dip into afternoon cups of tea or milk to make you feel a little better.

Little miss was sitting on our bed playing with paper and beads whilst listening to Roald Dhal book CD's (a little comforting tradition she seems to have got into whenever she has been unwell is to pull out her book CD's and listen for hours on end).

I had been saving these strawberry milkshake straws for a treat and thought she's appreciate a fun thing to drink her milk with. It's all about comfort and feeling safe when you are little and mum tucking you in. Sometimes I just want to go home back to my mum and have her tuck me in and give me treats when I feel unwell. I don't think we ever forget these childhood memories.

Boredom always runs high on these sickly days and gentle play seems to be the only soothing thing to do. So we have played just about every game under the sun and of course made beady bangles and necklaces in-between dosing off.


Today, after a crazy night we had the day off work and school to completely recover and convalesce and what better than to do that at the sea side?

A bit of urban madness going on outside our house, oh and the bluest of blue sunshiny skies to lure us to the sea side.

The sea was like a mill pond, all calm and sparkly and the pebbles all warm and cosy to lie down on. It was bliss having the sunshine down on our pale faces and soak up some much needed warmth and inhale the freshest of air.

Without moving we challenged ourselves to find as many different shells and bits and bobs of sea weed, drift wood and fisherman's netting around us. Surprising, we came up with a rather decent selection of things. 

All the beautiful shapes and colours for free right on our doorstep. How fortunate we are to be able to live so close to this immense force of nature.

I've got a thing about sea shells, I collected them when I was growing up and Alice has followed in my footsteps with her own little collection which she continues to add to.

I love the shape of these ones, always reminds me of Botticelli's Birth of Venus in an oyster shell.

Pebble playing and then home again via the park.

I was surprised not to see many flowers in our local park, I was hoping to see the promise of tulips coming to bloom but I think it's a little too early for them.

I wasn't however, disappointed with these pink blossoms and their tight buds. So happy, I felt a spring in my step.

We came home with some more nature finds, some more shapes and colours. This tiny pine cone reminds me of an idea I saw here where nature meets crochet.

We also had to come home with our first Spring posy, a teeny tiny one but so happy and cheerful to put on our kitchen window sill.

It was also a perfect opportunity to wear my Tappan Zee cardy I knitted last year. Oh how good it is to feel better again. We are not very good patients in this household! Nature has charmed us again into feeling human once more xox 

Hope you are all bug free and keeping well and healthy. I'm off to finish knitting the back of my waist coat, I'm almost there! See you all soon xox