Spring is here

The spring is truly finally here. On Sunday we went on a long walk and saw many flowers, bees, bumble bees and even a butterfly. And for the last two days I was able to get out of the bed early, before anyone else was up. It is such a pleasure to wake up to the warm house and the skies getting lighter, instead of greyness and chill air. I love having some quiet time to myself in the morning, even if it is only short 20 minutes that I use to make porridge or have a shower. Yet in winter I was unable to drag myself out of the bed. It's likely that there are still few cold gray days to come; but I'm glad to know that another winter is over, the days are getting longer and we can enjoy more time outside. Welcome spring.

From cold to cold

Our exploration of the new area was slowed down by both Cat and I catching a cold and spending a whole week mostly at home with occasional short trips to the shops. And just as we got better the weather turned really cold (for London), the snow came down (London has seen the heaviest snowfall in 18 years, weather experts said.) and we are staying indoors again. We did brave outside for few minutes to play with the snow and build a tiny snowman.

Poor Clive didn't have the same option and just spent TWO and A HALF hours getting to work, since most London public transport is suspended or experiencing sever delays.

Welcome, Autumn.

The signs of autumn were around for a long time, but now the summer is officially over and I can accept the trueness of these signs. Autumn and spring are my favourite seasons, but it is hard not to feel slightly sad while putting away summer clothes that didn’t get much wear this year. However, I can now enjoy the crisp freshness of the morning autumn air, the sound of rain at night and the sight of fog in the mornings. Welcome, Autumn.

Is summer already over?

BBQ on Sunday under heavy rain - doesn't this look stereotypically English?

Insane weather

On Friday we walked outside in long-sleeved t-shirts, today we woke up to this

Happy Easter, Everyone

As you can see we are enjoying the chocolate and the hot cross(less) buns. I made them using a recipe from the Complete Bread Machine book. And everything about them is so much better than the store bought ones – the smell, the texture, the taste. One day I want to try out Delia's recipe, but I’m struggling to find normal yeast.

The little chick was crocheted out of Rowan Cotton Glace using this free pattern in under 2 hours. I added few more rows to make the bird bigger and fatter and choose to make simpler wings. The rest of the family approved the new addition to the growing toy collection, though Cat’s favourite toy at the moment is a shoelace!

And to make this Easter even more special it snowed! I think it is the first snow of this winter in London.

is Spring really here?

“But Mother Bear,” said Alfie, “when will it be Spring?”
And Mother Bear, already half asleep, grunted, “When the sun is bright and the air is warm, then it will be Spring.”
“When will it be Spring” by Catherine Walters
--

We had two wonderfully warm days here in London and I’m wondering if Spring is truly here or if this is just a short preview before the usual February cold snap. Nevertheless yesterday we went for a long walk in the park and enjoyed feeling warm, seeing all the new flowers and listening to bird songs.

One day of sunshine

Yesterday the sun was out for a change and Cat & I went to Regent’s Park. Such charming place - tranquil, yet full of life and stories: romantic couples, group of young people relaxing with some guitar playing, kids practicing yoga, old men reading the newspapers, dog walkers with all sorts of dogs and the artist in residence selling his work.

Today MetOffice issued weather warnings for heavy rain with some torrential, thundery downpours. Therefore we’ll be sticking close to home, but will enjoy the weather show from our balcony.

But what’s up with the weather this summer? Hope you are having better weather wherever you are.

Is summer back?

While it was raining outside, we enjoyed watching Wimbledon on TV.


Now that the tennis is over the weather seems to be improving, so hopefully we'll be able to enjoy some sunshine.

How did this post become about sleep?

The weather this weekend was totally unlike previous one.

When I came to England many people asked me if I was missing Australian weather. And the answer always was no. Melbourne weather is very similar to London - warm and sunny one day, cold and rainy the next. Except in Melbourne it doesn’t change from day to day, it changes from hour to hour. One of Melbournians’ favourite sayings is “Melbourne is the city of 4 seasons in one day”. I’m actually one of those rare people who like London weather (most of the time) as I don’t handle hot weather very well.

My father-in-law is visiting for two weeks so we took him to Geffrye museum on Sunday. It is a lovely museum of English domestic interior and furniture. Friendly staff, stair-free access, highchairs in the cafe and its small size (1-2 hours are enough to see all of it) make this museum a perfect place for visiting with a baby. Their front lawn is wonderful for relaxing on a warm day. Oh, and the entrance to the museum is free.

Today we went to the National Art Gallery. Luckily Noel was happy to see only part of the collection as Cat wasn’t impressed by Art and only lasted about an hour before needing a change of scenery. So after observing the tourists and pigeons at the Trafalgar Square we went back home for a nice long afternoon nap. After all the complaining I did about Cat’s sleeping habits, I have to admit that I got to the stage where I sleep better in the afternoon next to her than at night. Sleeping through the night is becoming a very distant unreal memory as I certainly had to wake up few times at night during the last stages of my pregnancy to go to the bathroom. I’m struggling to remember how it feels to sleep for a long stretch of time since I never really paid very much attention to sleeping – I just slept. So my dear childless friends please savour the tiny miracle of uninterrupted sleep!

Woodstock & Blenheim Palace

Since previous weekend was a long three day one we hired a car and went to see Woodstock and Blenheim Palace. It looks like we are under footy curse as we encounter football crowds everywhere we go. This time we came across them while trying to have a quick break at the roadstop just before Oxford. At first I attributed the huge car park queue to the tourist popularity of Oxford. But once Clive got out of the car he discovered that the place was full of footy supporters. The road to Oxford was also packed so we decided to try an alternative route. And on B4027 the sign advertising scones and tea enticed us to stop at the farm.

We had some nice tea with scones, jam and brilliant clotted cream (it was almost like butter) and Cat go to see goats, pigs, rabbits, peacocks and a sheep for the first time in her life.


After checking into the hotel we went for a walk to admire cute buildings and salivate over marvellous items in the antique shops. In return all shopkeepers and many older women on the street admired Cat and tried to get a smile out of her (no luck, she regards strangers with very serious looks and the only sign of how much she likes or dislikes them is how fast her legs are swinging). Eventually Babe got tired so we went back to the hotel for the nap. In the evening she got to try a wooden high chair in the restaurants bistro.


And after she fall asleep I had a good soak in the bath getting high on the wonderful L’Occitane smells. I totally forgot how much I love their products.

The next day started with the lovely breakfast – they serve such wonderful dishes as buttermilk pancakes and green eggs & ham (bread, prosciutto, egg and pesto source). After Cat’s morning nap we headed to Blenheim Palace - the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.


The interiors were stunning and the gardens looked beautiful on the photos, but the weather was horrid (both cold and wet) and so we missed out on exploring the outside. Inside I learned few things about the great English prime minister, but one fact struck me the most – did you know that Hallmark used some of his paintings for their greeting cards? I didn’t even know he liked painting – I remember seeing photos of him with the easel, but my mind never registered the significance of it. I think I’ll get a book on him out of the local library as he sounds like very interesting human being (and politician).

Later in the day we went for a drive and stopped to see the Rollright Stones.


Awful weather drove us back indoors and the rest of the time was spent relaxing in the hotel.

Flowers

Since Cat usually wakes me up very early (she starts "talking" anytime from 4am, but I usually don't get up till 6am) I decided to use the time productively and made some corn & ham muffins for breakfast.

Today was a lovely spring day - sunny and warm. I wanted to bring a bit of spring into the house and bought some flowers.

And in the evening Clive came back home with flowers for me :-)

Signs of spring

Sushi & snow

I spent most of my pregnancy craving sushi. It is incredible how often people eat and mention sushi in the casual conversations. Sadly, once I could have sushi again, our local Japanese restaurant closed down for the renovations until February (It starting to look like they are very close to re-opening). But on Tuesday Debbie came over with sushi from her favourite place and we had good time eating it and chatting (Clive took Anya to the theatre so it was just us girls).

I had to go to doctors yesterday, so left Anya with Catherine for about one hour. Both of them survived successfully and I hope even enjoyed the experience.

It snowed again last night and was still snowing through most of the morning. I debated if I really want to go for a morning walk, but trying to keep Cat happy while being stuck inside sounded like a bigger challenge. So we went for our usual morning walk. It is really hard to push the pram through the snow! There were plenty of people outside taking photos, having snowball fights and making snowmen.

The Garden

The advantage of living on the ground floor with a garden is that on the lovely day like today I can spend most of my time outside looking at the birds and greenery. Quick inspection revealed that most plants survived the cold weather and the snow and hopefully soon we’ll have lots of flowers.





The disadvantage of the ground floor is that we have mice. I feel horrified, disgusted, traumatised. Clive got mice traps, so hopefully we’ll get rid of them. I saw mice on this street when I lived here 2 years ago, but never thought I’ll get to see them inside the house. Yuck!!! I can’t figure out how they manage to get in. Naree, who came over today to tell me about her Australian trip, was very supportive, reassuring and matter-of-fact about it. But I’m too tired to want to deal with the mice problem so am being over-emotional about it. We aren’t the only ones in London experiencing mice problems – they were also seen in Newham General Hospital in east London http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6319559.stm

Finally! The first snow

It snowed at night and in the morning our garden looked beautifully white. Sadly it was so warm for last few weeks that a lot of trees sprouted new shoots, leaves & flowers, which may get damaged by the frost.