Odds and Sods - April 2015

April's been a pretty crazy month - as well as trying to keep on top of the house and garden, I've had some annual leave so have been gallivanting around Norfolk and the Home Counties; I've walked some of the Thames Path; I've had a trip to the New Forest to visit Ed, Ruth, Katherine and Jessica in their new house; I've been to the seaside at Wells and Hunstanton; I've had day trips to Swaffham and Wisbech; I've collected my beech leaves from Ed and Christine's garden up in Aylsham and have started the beech leaf noyau (a herby gin and brandy based cocktail); I've had the gang over for Easter lunch; I've been socialising with friends and family; I've spent unreasonable amounts of time in B&Q and garden centres!  I'm really tired!   I will be writing posts for some of the above, but these are the photos that don't really deserve their own post, but which I need to remember.  (It's my age!)

Amanda gave me these beautiful daffodils just before Easter - so gorgeous and such a welcome pop of colour.

I had a surprise parcel from Nepal this month - Shiriin sent me these bowls made out of leaves as it's coming up to "barbecue and picnic season" - not quite yet!  (As I type this, it's chucking it down with rain outside, but that's good news actually - April has been so dry and my spuds are in dire need of a good water!)
Apparently they are single use only as you can't wash them, but I think I might be deconstructing one of them to work out how they're made and whether I can have a go at making some myself.  They're fab!  (Since the parcel arrived, Nepal has suffered an almighty earthquake - the death toll is in the thousands - awful.  I did spend quite a panicky day last Sunday trying to get hold of Shiriin's parents, and speaking to Maria, to find out if Shiriin was safe - she is.  And refusing to come home!)

I've sort of given up on dressmaking and knitting for a little while and am really enjoying slow projects - this is some of the cross stitch I'm currently working on.  The picture is huge but it's to fill a large frame I have on my wall, which currently houses an Ordnance Survey map which I never look at and relates to a walking experience of six years ago, which I have no intention of repeating any time soon!

Of course I can only do the cross stitch when Finn is not sitting on my lap - this was my view one evening for an hour or so because Finn decided to sit on my lap to watch TV!

And here he is again, curtailing all sewing activities.

And here, he's kicked me off the sofa altogether!

And for purposes of balance, Sid kicked me off Amanda's sofa too!

Handsome boy!