Easter pottering

Good morning, friends (I hope I can call you all friends and I'm not being too familiar?). We're into the last few days of our Easter holidays now and it's been a rather mixed affair both weather and activity wise . L has had exams and E is revising madly and with an increasing sense of panic for her A2s. (Someone asked about the terminology. What used to be just A levels when we did them are now divided into 2 sets of exams: AS levels after the first year and A2s at the end of the second. It makes it easier to split them up but it does mean exams every year from GCSEs and it can all get a bit stressful.). I have had a few crafty moments, done LOTS of weeding and lost a good friend to cancer; the funeral is tomorrow. With that in mind, I've been trying to be a bit more mindful and enjoy the little things. Here are a few from the last week:

Another  new lampshade - actually, this one wasn't from scratch, I just recovered an old one which I actually found much harder to do.

 My log cabin cushion - I know that there are supposed to be warm colours in one corner and cool in the other but I didn't have enough scraps of red, so just had to intermingle them with the blues. The cushion inners I found lurking in the loft.

 Lots of ear rubbing. It's impossible to sit on the floor round here without a certain someone lolloping up and placing his chin on your lap for an ear rub.

 R and I visited the local antique fair.  I love a good potter and rummage. We bought a couple of metal containers for the garden. One, I've already planted with some herbs as it came with ready made drainage holes, but the other didn't so needs a bit of attention first. I'll take some photos when they're both done.

 Saturday saw me doing some much needed weeding, but I was hampered by the heavens opening every 10 minutes or so. There are only so many times you can shelter in the greenhouse, so eventually I gave up and came inside to do this. It's a new cushion from 'The Gentle Art of Knitting' and I'm basically just using up scraps from the yarn basket. I hope I have enough!

 The last of the Easter nests:

 Enjoying my breakfast smoothie and assessing the weather:

 Loving my 2 'new to me' utensil jars (the brown, pottery ones), courtesy of Oxfam:

 Not the best photo I'm afraid, it was taken through the patio doors when I was contemplating how many bird feeders could be considered too many. 7 is reasonable isn't it?!

 Enjoying the frilly tulips that I planted last year:

  Tesco's 'perfectly imperfect' Kent strawberries for my perfectly imperfect pavlova! The shapes were a little odd but they tasted just as good. After watching Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's programme about the amount of fruit and veg wasted just because it doesn't conform to expected appearance standards, I hope there will be more perfectly imperfect stuff on our shelves.

 E's current favourite recipe book - she loves all the veggie dishes from this one and has requested a copy to take to uni:

:

 Finally, I'll leave you with yesterday evening's rainbow. Is it just me that still gets that childlike joy whenever I spot one?

Well, that's all for this week. Next time we'll be back into the new term and anxiety levels will be rising. Perhaps I'd better stock up on wine along with my perfectly imperfect fruit and veg?!

Toodle Pip for now. x