Another angel finds its wings...

Today I am overwhelmed with sadness. Last night I learnt that one of Tom's schoolfriends passed away. Jake was 11, the same age as No.2.

When you have a child with such profound disability, you have friends who live the same life as yourself through their children. I am lucky to have made lots of friends in the mums of Tom's classmates. Jake and Tom used to do a music therapy group together that included their Mum's, so my heart is aching for Jake's Mum today...

I only hope that I will find the right words to comfort her and her family at this time and welcome them into this exclusive club where living with a broken heart is the only way forward. Please think of them today...

Lesson of the day...

I now know one thing for sure:

I don't ever want to get my fingers in front of this little baby...

Goodness me, its sharp! But what a tool. Just what I needed with this in front of me...

I now have a perfectly cut stack of pieces for my first attempt at quilting...

Feeling blue...

When boys make marshmallows, surely they have to be blue?

The KitchenAid came up trumps and we have a box of delightfully squidgy marshmallows.

A promise of colour...

I had a quick wander round the garden earlier. The mild weather of the last few days has got my bulbs itching to show their faces. My morning routine usually consists of a dash down to open the chicken house, but this morning it wasn't drizzling and I have time on my hands.

I planted all my aliums into pots in the autumn on Alan Titchmarsh's advice. In a couple of months I'll be able to plant them in situ, knowing where all my other bulbs are by their green tips searching for warmth.

I remember that I've got orange parrot tulips in this pot, but it looks like I may have planted something else in there too. These are the kind of surprises I love about gardening and the up-side of having a terrible memory.

Hiding behind a tree, I was delighted to find these snowdrops daring to flower...the snowdrops were behind the tree, not me! They must be in the only place not to get trampled on by 2 crazy dogs...

I refuse to buy spring flowers in the shops until after Christmas, but as soon as January comes I can't resist any longer. These pink tulips look so good with the basil on my kitchen windowsill.

Thank you all so much for your congratulations on my university success, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Wish me luck again for tonight...No 2 wants to make marshmallows. He can't keep his nose out of The Gentle Art... and loves marshmallows. So as I've still got my friend's copy of Hugh's book on my kitchen table, we'll give it a go. I'm slightly nervous after reading Ali's post... I hope my Kitchenaid can take it...

Seville Orange Marmalade...

When I spotted Seville oranges in Waitrose last week, I knew I had get marmalade making. I used Sarah Raven's recipe from her Garden Cookbook. I made 1 and a 1/2 times the recipe, which made 15 jars of scrummy marmalade.

So, I scrubbed 2.1kg of Seville oranges and put them in a HUGE pan with 3.6l of water and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt and let them simmer away for an hour while I did some ironing...

Saving all the liquid, I then halved the fruit and scooped out all the pith and pips and boiled it with 450ml of water for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I coarsely sliced the orange peel and added it to the reserved liquid in the HUGE pan. Then, strain the pith/pip mixture, adding all the liquid to the HUGE pan along with the juice of 3 lemons and 4kg of sugar.

Bring slowly to the boil, stirring to ensure all the sugar dissolves and then boil rapidly until setting point is reached... This took nearly an HOUR!!!

Allow it to rest for 20 minutes...

Then pour into warm sterilized jars.

Enjoy the following morning with warm croissants and orange juice...

I also finished the Diamond Cushion for my bedroom.

I took the colour inspiration from the pile of cushions gracing my bed.

So, it's all highly co-ordinated in my bedroom now!

I did it, I did it...

Woohoo! I did it! I got onto my course. I had an email offering me an unconditional place. I have to admit, my knees went slightly wobbly on reading it.

So, 28th September 2008 marks the beginning of something new.

My blue hyacinths came out in celebration and are filling the whole of my downstairs with their heady scent. I keep taking deep breaths...

I've been on a little shopping excursion today. I went to Liberty to buy some fabric for my first venture into quilting. The selection there is amazing, it was hard to know when to stop. Buttons for the back of my diamond cushion were next on the list. I'll sew them on later and hopefully get a good photo of the finished cushion tomorrow. We had a pot of tea and macaroons in Tea. Delicious...

Next stop was John Lewis in Oxford Street to buy some wool for some other projects. Liberty had a great selection of Rowan yarns, but don't stock Debbie Bliss yarns, so I decided to buy it all in JL. Have you seen these cute knitted Easter Eggs over at Little Cotton Rabbits? Needless to say, they are now on my list and there's even a free pattern.

Then we had a stroll up Marylebone High Street and finished off with a late lunch in Eat and Two Veg - a great vegetarian diner. Not that I'm vegetarian, but the food is also delicious...

It was good to get back on the bus for a sit down, my feet were killing me.

Now the big question is what to start first?

My First Award...

Anna has very kindly nominated me with my first award! Thank you, Anna, I'm very flattered.





So, the thinking cap was donned to try and think of 7 weird facts about myself. Of course, No 2 says I'm weird on a daily basis, but then he's 11... So, here goes...

• Much to No 2's disdain, I have the same thing for breakfast day in, day out; rain or shine; summer or winter: porridge. Made with skimmed milk, old-fashioned oats and topped with either banana and honey or stewed apple and blackberries depending on the contents of my freezer.


• I happen to know that if you fast forward 45 minutes on the second video of BBC's Pride and Prejudice you will get the scene where Mr Darcy emerges dripping wet...


• I have swum (swam?) with wild dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast at Panama City Beach on the Florida Panhandle many times, having holidayed there for 6 consecutive years with Splodge.


• I LOVE Harley Davidson's. A Floridian friend of mine has a Road King and riding on the back is just amazing. I would love one...or a boyfriend with one! As a trade-off, I have a genuine pair of Harley boots which I wear when I've not got my Crocs/Birkies on! They go with pretty much my entire wardrobe, skirts and trousers. Did you know there is a Harley hotel just outside Daytona Beach? It's a bit of a monster, but I'd love to have a look round.


• I have never seen The Sound of Music or eaten a kebab.


• I have only ever burped out loud once in my life. (My Mum may disagree, but I'm not counting baby burps!) The thing is, not really knowing what it feels like to have a loud burp on the way, I was unaware whilst sitting on the tube coming home from work, heavily pregnant, and let one rip! Yes, EVERYONE did look at me as though I'd just crawled out of the gutter. Yes, my blush warmed up the whole Piccadilly line carriage! I just folded my arms over my HUGE belly as if to say, 'well what do you expect?'


• I can't bear to have my nails unvarnished. It's always got to be a dark plummy colour, not too red, not too purple, not too brown. My friend's sister comes and does 'gels' for me which are brilliant because they don't ever chip but don't look like those hideous false acrylic nails.

I'm supposed to nominate some more bloggers for this award, but as The List Writer says, most of my favourites have already been nominated...

James Blunt

Last night I went to see James Blunt at the Hammersmith Apollo.

One word: FANTASTIC

Rock buns...

No 2 has been pestering me for some time to do some cooking. Although I do a fair amount of cooking, his interest to date has been...non-existant!

So, rock buns it was to be. Courtesy of this book. Surprisingly, a good while was spent browsing through it's beautifully photographed pages by him. He was highly impressed by all the photos of sweeties! Of course, the marshmallows are on his to-do list and strangely, a friend left her copy of this book on my kitchen table yesterday, complete with necessary recipe!

I got through a stack of ironing and left him to it. One egg dropped on the floor later and these little lovelies were produced. Of course, we had to have a hot one...de-licious.

They were just what were needed to take in a bag with a flask of coffee to the allotment this morning to have dig. Maybe I need to have another to relieve my sore and aching back ...

A Severe Case of Nerves...

Today I had to attend an interview at the University of Hertfordshire for a place on their BEd (Hons) degree course.





You may remember me struggling over my personal statement way back in October. Well, it was good enough to get me through to the interview stage and now it's just a waiting game...

I think the interview went ok. My biggest fear was being in a group of 17-18 year olds who had yet to take their A-levels...and guess what? I was in exactly that group. In fact I was the only mature student on the whole day! But, as was kindly pointed out by one of the girls in my group, "at least I stood out"! I'm not sure quite how to take that.


Firstly, we had to write a letter to Andrew Adonis, Secretary of State for Education, about why we wanted to become a teacher and then give our views on the education system. That bit I found quite easy. I was a bit embarrassed by the fact that I only had a purple pen to write with... but hey, at least it will stand out!


After lunch, during which we were to bond with the rest of the group(!) we were given a poem to discuss, present and then offer suggestions to develop it further in the classroom. We were told not to dominate or remain quiet, but find middle ground. I think that bit went ok too...


So now all I can do is sit back and keep checking my email to see what they decide...

Always something there to remind me...

I had a terrible nights sleep last night and spent too many hours with a restless mind. One of the things that was spinning round was a photographic memory board of the things around my home that serve as a constant reminder of My Beautiful Boy.

Ok, ok, enough of this silly business...his name is Tom. There, it's out for the world to know. I'm not sure why I felt so precious in not revealing his name, but hey...

I live in a house that is really far too big for just me and No.2...his name is Charlie!! But I quite like No.2, it leaves the suggestion that there is a No.1.

Anyway, this morning off I set to capture some of the things that are cherished reminders...

The funkiest shower head imaginable.

An enviable collection of Beanie Babies.

Great deliberation was taken each evening over which one would grace the pillow.

A pain-staking cross-stitch, done whilst pregnant...oblivious of the tragedy that would unfold.

The most amazing wind chime found in a gift shop in San Destin on the Florida Panhandle.

All things tactile...HUGE sheepskin and beaded cushion on his water-bed. Bliss...

Boxes of things to sink soft fingers into...

One finger-painting to cherish forever...

...note to self: must get framed.

On the needles...

I was lucky enough to have been bought these gorgeous knitting needles for Christmas. Aren't they just?I couldn't wait to get started with them so this is what's on the needles at the moment.

It's the Diamond Cushion from Debbie Bliss Home, although my version is totally inspired by Yarnstorm's Jelly Bean Cushions. It will coordinate beautifully on a chair in my bedroom. It's the first time I've attempted intarsia properly. The diamonds get better as I become more accomplished with my twisting of yarn...

I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK and Rowan Kidsilk Aura. I can barely describe the softness of the mohair...

Poached eggs...

I've never been any good at poaching eggs.

Now with the promise of eggs each day, something had to be done. There was only one thing for it...Delia. Yes, I know she's patronising and bossy, but sometimes that's fine by me. And best of all, she is always right.

Perfect and delicious...

Bread for the Journey...

Christmas and New Year are so bittersweet for me now...

Consequently, I was unable to post as the right words were hiding away somewhere. I didn't feel up to the jollity of it all, in spite of all that preparation. My friend, who is a minister at my parish church, and who I've got to know since Splodge grew his wings, gave me a book called Bread for the Journey - Reflections for Every Day of the Year. I intend reading each day's passage and try to get through 2008.

By today, I have already gained something as a result. This is today's entry:

Our Spiritual Parents

Joy and sorrow are never separated. When our hearts rejoice at a spectacular view, we may miss our friends who cannot see it, and when we are overwhelmed with grief, we may discover what true friendship is all about. Joy is hidden in sorrow and sorrow in joy. If we try to avoid sorrow at all costs, we may never taste joy, and if we are suspicious of ecstasy, agony can never reach us either. Joy and sorrow are the parents of our spiritual growth.

This is somehow the way I got through 2007 - my first whole year without my beautiful boy filling it. Strangely, I didn't want it to end...but end it did and here we are at the start of a brand new year. I wonder what it will bring?