Spring in our garden

I'm back, and so is spring. There's a little bit snow left at a few places, but now we can find spring flowers and the birds are singing. We play and work in our garden. I want to show you Nora's little sandbox which we made last year. It's rather small, but our garden is small too.



There was a storm here last night. A tree fell down behind our house (luckily outside our garden). Our garden was once again covered in autumn leaves that the strong wind carried back to us ;-) We're outside playing and working a lot now, preparing our garden for the growing season. I fight with it every year as the soil is too muddy, the garden in the shadow AND in north east, and my vegetables are invided by hungry snails of different kinds every year. But I don't give up ;-)

Nora is cooking. This is food for the birds. She was so happy to see they had eaten of it. I didn't tell her it was the storm ...

I want spring.

I'm so fed up with this. Not the weather, but that we've been ill for five weeks now. First the flu, then a cold. That's why I'm not blogging, I'm focusing my energy on family + home + work a bit. And coughing. I do that a lot.

Art: work in progress

You can find it on Etsy.

Yarn along and my socks

I finally found my sock knitting. It had fallen down behind a pile of magazines in my bookshelf. I couldn't find my printed instructions, but luckily I remembered where I found them on the internet three years ago, so I could go get them a second time. I'm pretty sure I'll not finish them now either, as I have some big plans with other knittings, but at least I was happy to find it :-)

More yarn along over at Ginny's.

Going out

The last few days have been a little bit warmer, just a few degrees below freezing point. Today we decided to spend more time outside, Nora and I, and I'm sure Zam agreed. It could have been a cozy, relaxing walk, but unfortunately it wasn't.



I soon realised Nora hadn't recovered 100% yet, she was still coughing a bit and more tired than usual. She wanted to go there so much, but once we were there she was too tired, and there was a lot of whining. Zam, on the other hand, was so happy, and very frustrated with Nora's slow slow walking. And I was somewhere in between, suggesting Nora should sit on the sledge, but she didn't want to. She wanted me to carry her, and when I said no (I was carrying a bag, holding Zam and the sledge) she prefered walking herself.



We had a little break, and it was nice. Nora and I had some biscuits and Zam was chewing on a stick he found. The birds were singing, you know that song you hear when it's still winter, but the days are longer and brighter. Then a small stick got stuck in Zam's throat. As you can imagine, he panicked. I must say I was quite afraid there for a while - we were out in the middle of nowhere and what would I do if he couldn't get rid of it himself? Finally he did manage to cough and throw it up (together with some food and blood). He was crazy for a while after that, shaking. Nora and I sat down to pat him, then we walked back to our car and went home. Zam didn't eat at all until late evening, perhaps it hurt a bit. His fine now (sleeping under our bed, which is his favourite spot during the night).

and we're back

I took a break and the break became longer and longer. We catched the flu. And a cold. Today I finally felt fine again, so I begun cleaning our house. It was much needed (and I still have places to tidy up and clean tomorrow, believe me). Nora is still coughing, but otherwise she's fine. I just wanted to explain my silence.

Tomorrow Nora and I will bake. Saturday is Magnus birthday and he wants a Schwarzwald cake. Outside it's still very, very cold and a lot of snow, but they say next week it'll be better. I hope it will. We've had snow every single day since mid November. I need Spring.

She whispers

It's actually one hour past midnight and I have been working like crazy since Nora fell asleep. I feel like I could work all night long - and I have so much to do! - but that wouldn't make me a good mama tomorrow ... ;-)



And I have painted. You can see it here, on Etsy.

Now I really need some sleep.

Yarn along again :-)

I'm quiet as it's my migraine week and I avoid comupter time as looking at the computer screen too much triggers my head ache. But I am knitting, on several things actually. And reading books for Nora.



My mittens. Growing slowly. And a book from 1973 about a boat trip.

More knit along over at Ginny's.

One small change: laundry

I've joined One Small Change in making an eco friendly change each month. Over the last years we've already made many changes, I'm reading and learning - and changing - so much, still there is so very much more to learn and to do.



This month, February, I will focus on laundry and mainly the tumbler-dryer. In summer we hang our laundry outside, but in February we hang it inside and sometimes we use the tumbler-dryer. We use it when there is a lot of small things (underwear, socks etc) + towels (because we are lazy!) and we use it for bed sheets, mainly to get rid of dog fur (as we don't want to use softener). So, for february: I will hang also all small things to dry even if it takes time ;-) and I will only tumble-dry our sheets for five-ten minutes (as I think that's enough to get rid of the fur) and then hang the sheets to dry. I've also made eight wool dryer balls (and scented two of them with peppermint oil for a fresh smell) to use in the dryer. That will be my change for February!

Mailbox

It was just after lunch. We had pasta + something I can't remember, and the pasta box was empty. "Let's make a mailbox" I said, and she was very enthusiastic.



We choose a wrapping paper and glued it to the box, then used tape (a strong one) to put it on the door to her room. While she looked at something else I put a postcard and an envelope (with a little note inside) in the box. Then we played posting and picking up post for a while ;-)