The Month of April

A quiet day pottering around the house, wishing the weather was warmer so I could potter in the garden. I'm missing the garden.
Meeting dear dear old work colleagues for lunch at Cote.
Another lunch date with a dear friend this time at Cantina Vinopolis - a delicious mushroom gnocchi.
Another day out of the house whilst the windows are being done. Meeting a dear friend, oldest godson and siblings at Chelsea Physic Garden. Oh it was bleak, Cold wind, blizzard of snow, no blue skies, cold cold cold.
After the day before being so cold meeting a friend at Greenwich park for a picnic was rearranged for soup and cake in her home.
Meeting Twin for a day out together, my first visit to Kensington Palace. A lovely lunch in the cafe, we couldn't quite stretch to the Orangerie, and then a short walk in the park. The sun shone, the wind was blowing elsewhere, it was wonderful.
Hanging out the washing to dry - a simple pleasure, but oh so wonderful.
Warmth had a few days off work so we went to visit Granny Warmth in Worthing, finally pottered in the garden, bending down is getting harder. Arranging the nursery for TT - it all feels more real now the room is ready-ish. Lunch with Mama and Papa Warmth.
Meeting Rebecca and Gemma at Liberty's Tea Room for a lovely catch up.
The final day of the holidays and a trip to school for some work and then dodging the April showers to potter in the garden a little more.
At the weekend I went away with university friends to a hotel spa which was lovely. We were last all staying together twenty years ago. We had afternoon tea, lovely swims in the pool, a wet walk in the grounds, relaxed evening drinks, a scrumptious breakfast, another swim, lunch and then farewell. It was lovely to spend time together and truly catch up, not just fleeting lunches together.
Home to the start of our NCT classes on Sunday night and then following on from that a tour of the hospital labour wards which was really interesting. Suddenly it all seems more real and imminent. Especially returning to work after the two week break to quite a few 'you've grown' comments, and feeling a lot more tired than I did before the holidays.
Dear friends popping round for a mid week takeaway as they were in the area.
Friday night mooching in Liberty's and then meeting an old print making friend in Waterstones.
A wonderful spring Saturday of lemon curd on toast, pottering I'm the garden and hanging the washing out. Mama and Papa Warmth to supper, bringing with them two tops that Warmth and his brothers wore as babies.
A mid week pizza and salad with a dear friend.
A few days of glorious spring weather - just what we all needed.
Friday night pizza and ice cream, Saturday morning off to Pick Me Up to look at the prints. We bought two and were so tempted by many others, especially for TT.
Saturday evening off to great friends for supper and to stay over, brunch at their local cafe and then home and another long nap. A weekend of three day time naps can't be bad.

Books read French children don't throw food by Pamela Druckerman, Restoration by Rose Tremain.
 On the Kindle, read in the night, The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield.

heart and limbs and mind

The only book from my Mr B's Reading Spa which I bought that I already knew about and knew I wanted to read was A Compass Error, the follow up to A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book but it was lovely to be transported to sunnier climes in the midst of such a dull early spring.

'She loved the shapes of bottles and of course the romantic names and the pictures of the pretty manor houses on the labels, and she loved the link with rivers and hillsides and climates and hot years, and the range of learning and experiment afforded by wine's infinite variety; but what she loved more than these was the taste - of peach and earth and honeysuckle and raspberries and spice and cedarwood and pebbles and truffles and tobacco leaf; and happiness, the quiet ecstasy that spreads through heart and limbs and mind.' Sybille Bedford A Compass Error

bottles

What will you be drinking this weekend?

warm, eager, restless

Warmth very kindly bought me a Kindle, for my slightly sleepless nights, now and probably when the baby arrives. I'd thought that a Kindle with it's light would be a way for me to be able to find time to read. So far I'm downloading the free ones that I've already read, I'm sure I shall be tired so a re read maybe just right. Next one is Emma.

'That evening for the first time in his life, as he pressed through the swing door and descended the three broad steps to the pavement, old Mr. Neave felt he was too old for the spring. Spring - warm, eager, restless - was there, waiting for him in the golden light, ready in front of everybody to run up, to blow on his white beard, to drag sweetly on his arm. And he couldn't meet her, no; he couldn't square up once more and stride off, jaunty as a young man.' Katherine Mansfield An Ideal Family in The Garden Party.

spring

old-fashioned flowers

'He strayed down a walk edged with box, with apple-trees, pear-trees, and cherry-trees on one side, and a border on the other full of all sorts of old-fashioned flowers, stocks, sweet-williams, primroses, pansies mingled with southernwood, sweet-briar, and various fragrant herbs. They were fresh now as a succession of April showers and gleams, followed by a lovely spring morning, could make them: the sun was just entering the dappled east, and his light illuminated the wreathed and dewy orchard-trees and shone down the quiet walks under them.' Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre

oldfashioned

Another reason for loving Jane Eyre - the flower and spring quotes.

she had changed her skin

We started our NCT classes last night so this quote felt right.

'After Molly's birth, Lorna lay on her side and gazed at the baby, and Molly stared back with wide-open eyes and the strange unearthly look of the newborn, as though, Lorna thought, she had just arrived from some mysterious place. But when Lorna got out of bed and crept over to the chest to get a glass of water she glanced at herself in the mirror and saw that she too had that look, she was not the person that she had been yesterday, she had changed her skin.' Penelope Lively Consequences

baby

mild serene spring day

This post was planned for the end of March but it was sent to draft until early April. There at least have been a few days with the possible hint mild serene spring days.

'It had been a mild serene spring day - one of those days, which towards the end of March or the beginning of April, rise shining over the earth as heralds of summer. It was drawing to an end now; but the evening was even warm...' Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre

spring

And on such a day how lovely to sit outside and read...

It was a day

But this is more the reality.

'It was colder, as the woman said. The wind came in little gusts. It was a day to be inside somewhere, cosseted and loved; by a warm fireside, with the clatter of friendly cups and saucers, a sleepy cat licking its paws, a cyclamen in a pot on the windowsill putting forth new buds.' Daphne Du Maurier The Parasites

cupsandsaucers

almond blossom in the garden

Let's daydream a little...

'When the first days of April come, something steals into the air and touches you upon the cheek, and the touch travels downwards to your body, and your body comes alive. The windows are flung open. The sparrows in St. John's Wood chatter, but the little sooty tree on the pavement opposite has a blackbird on its naked branch. Further down the road there is a house that has almond blossom in the garden. The buds are fat and luscious ready to burst.' Daphne Du Maurier The Parasites

spring

The Month of March

Started with Twin and The Blessings coming to visit. Giant meatballs were eaten, new magimix and  pie tin and cookery book used for Hummingbird Chocolate Pudding Pie, a visit to a newly discovered local park, hot cross buns for tea, delivery of more baby bits, much laughter and love.
Mama and Papa Warmth to lunch the next day and a repeat menu.
Off to supper with some dear friends and meet their two new adorable cats, Oskar and Bluebell. I attempted pistachio macarons, and apart from a sizing issue, they weren't too bad. Worth perfecting.
Then other great friends to lunch the next day. Lovely to catch up with them. Since we've moved to the other side of London it's harder to meet up with them, especially as we did used to live almost just round the corner.
The weather then regressed, well it hadn't ever reached spring. But minus eight and snow flurries are not what I wanted. At least there were blue skies and sunshine, even if it was cold. This sentence can be repeated at various intervals throughout the month of March, and looking at April through April too.
A quiet Saturday, just Warmth and me. So a cold brisk walk across the South Bank to see Lichtenstein at Tate Modern. We bought a print for TT's bedroom.
Sunday a high tea celebrating Mama Warmth's birthday with everyone.
A shall we/shan't we be going to Cardiff weekend. The postponed from the snow in January 40th had been rearranged. Yet at 9am it was snowing and settling with us. We thought we'd wait and see and thankfully it stopped so we started off much later. A lovely evening catching up with friends and we ended up leaving with a car seat. Then the drive home the next day. A lot of driving for a short time, but worth it.
A delightful. just because, gift from Warmth of a Kindle. I hope this will be the way for me to continue reading with a baby. I'm making the assumption that I will be up a lot in the night and hopefully this way I can read as well. I like the idea of re reading favourite books and reading good passages out to TT.
Managing through to the end of term. For a short term it most definitely was exhausting.
A lovely Easter weekend together. Preparing the room for TT, shopping, Mother and Pops coming
up to visit.
Today, Easter Sunday, we're off to Mortlake for Warmth Family Easter. Eating chocolate, cheering on the Boat Race and having a lovely family day.
Books read this month. a golden age by Tahmima Anam, Night Waking by Sarah Moss, one of my AOW bookswap books.
Baking - continuing with the loaf cakes. Banana, lemon or fruit. The above pistachio macarons and Nigella's Lemon Meringue Cake for Easter Saturday.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter x

a triumphantly plump chocolate hen

'We make the delicate liqueur chocolates, the rose-petal clusters, the gold-wrapped coins, the violet creams, the chocolate cherries and almond rolls in batches of fifty at a time, laying them out on greased tins to cool. Hollow eggs and animal figures are carefully split open and filled with these. Nests of spun caramel with hard-shelled eggs each topped with a triumphantly plump chocolate hen; piebald rabbits heavy with gilded almonds stand in rows, ready to be wrapped and boxed; marzipan creatures march across the shelves. The smells of vanilla essence and cognac and caramelized apple and bitter chocolate fill the house.' Joanne Harris Chocolat

window

Wishing you a happy Easter weekend. What will you be eating?