springtime

The past week has seen some glorious Spring weather in this little corner of the country.
How wonderful to feel a soft warm breeze instead of the cold biting north wind!

We took a walk, Tiny Girlie, her mama and me, through local woods to see the bluebells. It was a very slow walk. Every few steps, we would stop as our little toddler was entranced by a new sight or sound: a tiny stone, a leaf, a yellow flower, the sound of the wind in the trees, the tweeting of a bird, an abandoned blue balloon caught in some branches.

She is a lesson to us all to drop down a gear, slow up and enjoy the now. She is the embodiment mindfulness.

We won't spoil the moment by mentioning the fact that, near the river, the path turned into a quagmire and her mama and me were left picking our way through squelchy black mud, carrying Tiny Girlie, pushchair and bags!

Meanwhile, back at home on the windowsill, the bean seeds have taken off like rockets.
I'm beginning to think they are magic beans like the ones Jack had.
I realise I have made the same mistake as previous years and sown them too soon. It will be another 3 weeks at least before I can safely plant them outside, all risk of frost having gone and in the meantime I fear they will grow increasingly long and 'leggy'. 

Next year, please remind me wait another week or two.

For some reason, the lovely weather made me long for afternoon tea.
It's that English idyll of lush lawns, flower beds overflowing with roses, the chink of china cups and the lull of soft conversation.
In the end, I made do with tea and biscuits!

Tea in a proper cup though and home-made biscuits.

I adapted a recipe for Shrewsbury biscuits from Merry Berry's Ultimate Cake Book.
Should you wish to try them the recipe is:

100g  softened butter
75g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
 200g plain flour
grated rind of 1 lemon
1-2tblsp milk
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in the egg yolk and then stir in the sifted flour and lemon rind. Add enough milk to make a soft dough.
Roll out to thickness of 5mm and cut into rounds with a cutter.
Bake at 200c for 8 to 10 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
If wished, make a thin icing with icing sugar and lemon juice to drizzle over the top.

I had originally intended to use the recipe to make bunny biscuits for Easter, but I ran out of time.
Then I decided that bunnies aren't just for Easter ....

annjenny x

Update: Spring seems to have gone awol today.
 We have rain, cold wind and the weatherman talks of snow. Hey-ho!