Friday

Note: the above grainy finish was intentional - the light's not that bad here. Well, not at the moment anyway. Although we do keep getting hail showers where the sky blackens, the thunder rolls and you peer out of the window feeling grateful you're not outdoors.

It's Friday. I'm pretty sure I say this every week but: it does seem to have been a long one. I'm definitely getting that 'crossing the finish line' feeling this afternoon.

So, this past week (other than playing with photo editing software) I've been out to playgroups where much tea has been imbibed whilst snuggling up to cranky old heating pipes. I've slithered down snowy lanes in the car. I've been out and about on little errands. I've cooked keep-the-cold-out hearty meals.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have found some colour here and there. But these past few sleety days have been spent hunkering down so no snowdrop-watch for me. Any bright green shoots are being watched from the window.

We've also been feeding the birds a lot and Joe loves to observe them hopping about - they're so much more visible against a backdrop of snow.

Our time indoors has been spent painting and playing with Duplo and diggers. We've been to the library and there are several books on the go (Joe's currently into this one - so much so I keep renewing it). He's also discovered the joys of the fried egg sandwich.

I'm working on a few knitting projects at the moment: a cream wool scarf and a quick-to-make ribbed hat in some pale grey chunky yarn. Other January pleasures: a scented white candle, bath salts, a bunch of paperwhites and episodes of Poirot viewed from under a blanket. I make no apologies for the Poirot. I love it. Oh, and woolly jumpers (hence the picture at the start of this post). Double-oh: the fact that it's still perfectly acceptable to drink Baileys even though Christmas has been and gone. Doesn't matter if you run out of milk; if you've got Baileys then there's really no need to drink your coffee black.

Not that I give Joe Baileys on his Weetabix, you understand. If things get that bad I go to the shop for milk. Baileys is obviously far too expensive completely unsuitable for a toddler.

Book-wise, I'm on Mrs Fytton's Country Life by Mavis Cheek. I've never read her before and it's just a paperback I found on my mum's bookshelf. It's quite well written (and funny) so I'm enjoying it despite the complaints on Goodreads of the plot being a bit formulaic...

Weekend looks to follow the usual pattern: Saturday very busy until mid-afternoon. That's when Joe naps so it kind of forces us to stay home and stop what we're doing. It's actually the perfect excuse to stay home and stop what we're doing. No complaints from me. Sunday we may venture out to look at the steam trains. There's some kind of gala so Joe can get his fill of locomotive action, I can take some pictures, the ducks can guzzle all our saved-up crusts and Jay can spend plenty of daddy time with his boy.

This all depends on the extremely changeable weather, of course.

Have a wonderful weekend.

P.S. You may notice a few changes going on around here regarding the look of the blog. That's because I'm working on a new design and it's a gradual process, me not being the most technically savvy of people. Rather than enlist the services of a professional I'm attempting it myself with rather a lot of help (which I appreciate hugely). So apologies if Mitenska looks a bit different each time you visit. It's what's known as A Process (and a steep learning curve)...