Easter weekend

Easter is late this year - the children go back to school on Tuesday, straight after the holiday weekend - so there are lots of signs, both in the garden and out and about, of new life, which seems appropriate.

We have returned from our time away to find everything bursting into leaf.   Trees seem fully clothed, bare branches disappearing.  Our bluetits, we are fairly sure, are sitting on eggs - the male is constantly darting in and out of the box with tasty morsels to keep his mate well fed whilst she is on egg-duty.  In the garden, we have florets on the purple-sprouting broccoli (yay!) and the garlic is filling out well.

Gloriously purple!!

When we went away, this astilbe was a mass of last year's dead leaves and stalks.  Now it's covered in fresh new growth.

The huge elephant garlic (centre front) is beginning to take on montrous proportions!

We took a walk to our local plant nursery on Saturday, only to find it was shut, in fact it looked completely closed down.  If that's permenant then it's a real shame as we used to get most of our veggie seedlings there.  Maybe the closure is only temporary.  In the meantime we ventured slightly further afield to another little nursery we hadn't visited before.  It is run as a 'not-for-profit' community venture and although it's only small, we were impressed by the plants that were available.  We bought three tomato plants to get us started this season (it's still quite early; there's still a possibility of frosts):

Potted up on the greenhouse

I managed to finish off a sewing project just in time to for our holiday and was able to take a 'new' jacket away with me.  It had started life as a long-sleeved top of N's, very similar to this one:

There were some marks on it which refused to come out in the wash, and N decided to part company with it.  I had originally thought of cutting it up for polishing cloths but after some consideration, and a little inspiration from 'The Great British Sewing Bee', I decided to see if I could make something new (for myself) from something old.  I didn't really have a finished design in mind, it just sort of developed along the way into this:

Having worn it several times on holiday - it proved a winner as an extra layer in the evening - and also since returning home, I have to say I'm really pleased with it.  It's different, smart and casual at the same time, made to measure and goes with jeans, shorts and skirts.  And the only cost was the buttons.  

It has taken us a few days to find our usual routine but I think we're there now, and ready to pick up the reins again.  May and June could well be quite busy and exciting months for us but we are having to be patient once again before we can properly start with our hoped-for plans.  In the meantime there's plenty to do.  Lists are being made again, and having learned the lesson that it's better to keep those lists achievable and worthwhile, rather than overly optimistic (!), I can get to work with tasks and projects over the next few weeks.  I have just had my sewing-machine serviced (I think that will probably be it's last overhaul; next time it might just have to be a new machine) and it now runs smoothly so no excuses not to put it to good use.  There are projects lined up already.