More Peas!!

I love my Saturday morning trips to the markets, and finding huge piles of fresh peas never fails to bring about happy moments of nostalgia.  As well as lavender scented hugs, a fond memory I have of my beloved Grandmother, Florence, is sitting chatting with her while she shelled peas at the funky red laminex table in her kitchen.  Sheets of The Telegraph Newspaper were spread over the table and she would toss the emptied shells onto it before wrapping the whole lot up and putting it out in the back yard incinerator bin. The yield was huge and the peas were fat....unfortunately Nan would boil the buggery out of them in a pot of water with bi carb soda added to it. Why Nan, why??

How times have changed! The bi carb boiling is forgotten and the kilo or so of peas I brought home from the markets looked very promising from the outside but as I opened them things were starting to look alot like the characters from some of those reality shows that my Miss H insists on watching.....lots of skin but not much going on inside.....

Despite the disappointment of finding some of the shells sans peas, my meagre yield of about a handful proved edible and flavoursome after a gentle steaming and as I tried to wash the green stains out of my fingernails I almost considered that frozen peas could be a better option. Or perhaps my Garden of Neglect would like a new friend.....now there's an idea....

xxMs.K

The Little Things

Bonjour mes amis, this week I have taken time to look for small blessings in the everyday ordinariness.....is that a word? If it's not, it should be.....I have compiled a list of little things that have brought a "smile to my dial" this week.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

1. Losing a kilo of winter blubber....yay!

2. Hearing birds chirping as I leave for the gym at 5.30am.....a sure sign that the days are getting longer!

3. My new kantha quilt....more of a large splurge than a small blessing....

4. Sharing in the wedding preps for two beautiful people....

5. Bubbles and Indian takeaway on a Friday night.....say no more!

6. Waking up to my three favourites every morning......no not Mr.D, Miss H and Miss M, although they do run a close second....

7. Finding a killer Pinot Grigio with a rockin' bottle! Shocker of a pic but killer of a drop....

8.  Freshly Spring cleaned floors that haven't been Spring cleaned since the last Spring clean!

9.  Listening to Hall and Oates on the MTV Classic Retro channel and not being ashamed to say it......You're Outta Touch I'm Outta Time....you know how it goes....

and 10.  My new yellow wedges teamed with fake tan..... I prefer the wedges to the fake tan!

So that's it....what little things have made you smile this week??

xxMs.K

Garden of Neglect Update

With the glorious warm days already upon us I decided it was high time to get out of my winter hibernation (read: RUT) , paint my toenails and face the world again.  I'm not a huge fan of winter and by the time August rears its head I'm a cranky dreadful mess but knowing that September is just around the corner provides enough fuel to keep me going.

So today I thought I would check out my Garden of Neglect and she did not fail to impress.  There were pleasantries in abundance! Here they are, in no particular order.......

I grew lemons!!

I grew lettuce where I didn't even plant lettuce!.....among the weeds and a twisted wreck of  coriander.

...and then there were 3. My beautiful gerbera had babies....all by itself!

The next one didn't come from my Garden of Neglect, it came from my Saturday market visit but it is so happy I decided to include it.  A colourful bunch of Spring flowers with Spring inspired vintage cross-stitch doily....delicious!!

Enjoy the sunny Springness and the excitement of Christmas being just around the corner!

xxMs.K