Comfort and Joy

Wallflower - by Emma Bridgewater

Things Which Have Made Me Happy This Week

Finding some stunning flower shaped soaps for a friend's birthday

Finally finishing the 1000 piece jigsaw we started at Christmas !

Watching big fat snowflakes fall outside of the window at work on Thursday

Starting to learn actual swimming at my swimming classes 

Seeing all the lovely new Spring pieces at Emma Bridgewater - I'm totally in love with the Wallflower pattern :)

Having pie and mash for tea 2 nights this week

Going to the Elvis Tribute Night at the Village Hall last night - it was a brilliant night out and much fun was had by all

Drinking Pukka's "Love" tea at work - a blend of chamomile, lavender and rose - so calming

Walking the girls in the sunshine this afternoon and seeing their joy at swimming in the beck

Watching our garden bird visitors tucking into their fat balls

Home-made banoffee pie for dessert tonight :)

Heathcote & Ivory beautiful flower soaps

Our Christmas jigsaw - a scene from Whitby - finally finished !

Our village in January sunshine !

Our girls with their mummy dog, Emma

This little guy comes to our garden every day

From left: Whiskers, Emma and Lucy - we're looking after Emma this week

Brightening January ...

The Nutcracker Ballet

Well, we have all survived the first week of January. I think we've done well. I hope you've all had a good week. For me it was back to work and back to Tai Chi, swimming and personal trainer classes. I was very glad when Friday evening rolled around !

Here are a few things which have made me happy this week:-

• Before Christmas I decided to start collecting vintage baubles and Christmas decorations ready for next Christmas. OK, so I got a bit carried away and bought four 'lots' on Ebay ! They arrived this week and are stunning - like little jewels. Their bright colours really cheered my heart.

• Listening to The Nutcracker ballet music in my car to and from work.

• Seeing our girls' happiness at getting their Friday evening treat of pigs ears.

• Putting the twinkle lights back up over our fireplace. It was much too dark and miserable without them !

• Wearing socks handmade by my sweet friend Khira in Finland :) 

• Going out today to The Queen Catherine in Osmotherley for lunch - fish, chips and mushy peas followed by banoffee pie. Oh, it really doesn't get any better (and here's to not being on a diet in January).

• Baking a winter spice tea loaf cake in my 'new' kitchen, with the twinkly lights on and the girls for company.

• Visiting my friend Nancy on Monday at her care home and seeing another friend tomorrow morning for tea and cake.

• Finally writing a long letter to my Bristol-based friend, Sarah. I hope the letter arrived today ... 

• Cadbury's creme eggs. Yes, we are those awful people who buy Easter eggs at times of the year other than Easter. It's Lovely Hubby's fault - he now has me hooked again !

Baking a spiced winter tea loaf cake

Spiced winter tea loaf cake, fresh from the oven

What has made you happy this week ?

Fiona x

New Year, "New" Kitchen

Happy New Year ! from Horatio

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends ! I wish you all health and happiness for 2016 - may it be your best year yet :)

The reason I only managed one blog post in December is because we were doing major renovations to our kitchen...

A little into December we decided to rip out the under-stairs pantry (what my friend Nancy would term a "glory hole") in an attempt to create a kitchen-diner and free up space in our small lounge. Whilst it was fun engaging in demolition and ripping out the old plasterboard walls and shelves etc, the result was some large holes in various walls and a LOT of dust and mess. 

Lovely hubby worked tirelessly from morning until often late at night to get all the structural work done before my Christmas break so that all we had to do was paint everything and do finishing touches. He concreted, plaster-boarded, plastered, created a new opening between the kitchen and stairs complete with spindles, fitted a new light, removed an old radiator and sorted out the flooring (see below). I have painted ... and painted ... and painted ... not only the walls but all the kitchen cabinets too.

We have now finally finished the work and here are the results!

I'm so happy I now have somewhere to display all my lovely china !

"Polka Turkey" - my latest acquisition from Emma Bridgewater

Some vintage pieces in amongst the Emma Bridgewater

The kitchen cabinets are painted in Farrow & Ball's "India Yellow" - glorious !

The amazing floor tiles we unearthed beneath other tiles and layers of paint !

We can now enjoy the results of our hard work for the forthcoming year.

Do you have any big DIY projects planned for 2016 ?

Fiona x