Good day to you, and you and you.

Sorry. That is not what's happening here. Oh dearie me no.

That was taken last year, almost exactly to the day.
Now?
Slightly different!

Yesterday.

There are tiny buds, but nothing else at all - I thought I was remembering it all wrong until I checked last year's photos - blossom. Heat, Sunshine. Freckles.
Pah.
More like frostbite this year.

Last year:

This year:

Poor tree!

Even the daffs daren't flower - the leetle tiny ones are open and look lovely, and a crocus - but the daffs and tulips refuse.

Lovely.

I risked planting some seeds yesterday, only a few types and only half a packet of each, just in case. I don't think we are due any vast improvement in the weather in the next week or two.

I found an excellent deal on Sarah Raven seeds, usually very good quality - these were all 99p per packet.
Sarah Raven

Sunflowers, sweet peas, something I cannot remember .... loads more to plant and I bought some more seed trays today.
I do love my teeny tiny greenhouse (it's one of those plastic things from Wilko, it does the jpb and takes up very little room).


What else?
Knitting is happening as and when hands allow, I will take some piccies when I remember. I have an almost finished hat, an almost finished jacket and - erm - lots of other almost finished things.

At the moment I am making 'A Thing'. Hand sewn, as I find that easier than bending over the machine (dreadful neck pain).

Linen.

Fur.

This particular part is about half finished - no rush.
More to come .....

Before I pootle off to check my tea (quinoa salad with crushed new potatoes) please say hello to my new friend.

Hello, Small Bob.

'Scuse me .....

What can I say.
Either the methotrexate or the roactemra or both are having - how can I say it - an 'adverse effect' on my innards.

Not quite at pantaloon stage yet ....

Thassall.

Pinterest.

I love it.
I joined then cleared all my boards a while ago when there was a hooha about the legal implications of pinning / copyright. But the lure of OOOOH PRETTY! was too much.

After a week of almost (ok, absolutely) obsessive pinning I have reached the following conclusions.

• everything in the entire world should apparently be painted with chalk paint
• every item of furniture should be covered with hessian (or burlap if you are American)
• ditto drop cloth
• ditto white / grey / cream paint
• did I mention chalk paint?
• ModPodge can be made from the innards of small mammals, caustic soda and orange juice
• if it hasn't already got a frill, add one
• if it has, add three more
• if it stands still long enough, slap some floral paper on it, then stamp it with French script and possibly some home made ModPodge
• then paint it white / grey / cream
• American homes are somewhat bigger than mine
• American bathrooms are somewhat bigger than my entire house
• American mudrooms / laundry rooms / nooks / book rooms / guest bathrooms / stoops / kitchen sinks are bigger than my entire house and half of the street put together
• if in doubt about your food, add butter, sugar, food colouring (ideally pink) and more butter
• and possibly home made ModPodge
• apple cider vinegar, epsom salts, washing soda crystals, ModPodge, grey paint and hessian combined will make an excellent natural face pack or hair rinse
• I am hopelessly hooked on Pinterest

Now this - this is a most excellent use of hessian!

Yo, Sexy Muvvas!

Happy Muvva's Day, all.

Although every day is a mumsie's day.

The dear daughter came for tea today which was lovely - we nipped out to see if Charlie would appear, but I wasn't hopeful as it was late afternoon and chuffin' freezing. But there he appeared in his tree.
Kez asked if he would fly away if she tried to take a photo, I said probably not.

And fly away he did -

right onto his food tub!

Great to have someone there to get a photo - he then walked round and sat inside the tub before flying back to the tree with a beak full of goodies.
I am absolutely chuffed to bits!

('Scuse the roots of my hair, I am in dire need of bleaching!). (I have bleach, have dye, have a dreadfully painful neck).

Robin Whisperer, that's me.
As Kez pointed out, he didn't budge until I spoke to him - he definitely seems to like the sound of a human voice. (I say he, no idea if he is a he at all!).

I am perfectly happy with the neighbours thinking I stand and talk to the tree every day.
;-)

It is absolutely BITTER out there tonight, so stay warm and safe. First time my washing has frozen solid on the line in a few years! Mum did point out that's probably because I am not usually daft enough to hang it out when it is minus figures ....

Film for me now (Limitless) and knitting (cobble) - which is trickyish but enjoyable. Slow, very slow as my hands are hating it but I think it will be worth it. And chocolate.


Keep warm!

Cheeky boy.

Sitting in the garden, wearing chunky boots and many layers. Welcome to a Yorkshire Spring!

Long time no see - everyone ok?
I have been zapped of all energy, full of pain, sick of hospital trips, but am determined to pick up. Blogging is a good visual diary for me, so I am going to make more of an effort to post, even if nobody reads it!

Sooooo.... we have had that strange, glowing sky thing here. A few simply glorious days - then bitterly cold, now grey and pouring down, and snow - yes SNOW forecast for next week. So a typical English Spring then.

I love it - I would have always said that Summer is my very favourite, but the last few years of enforced home and garden indolence has made me a massive Spring fan. Assorted 'stuff' peeping through all the pots, something new (literally) appearing every day - I LOVE IT!
Look!

Lots of the tulips are budding, there is a lone purple crocus about to open, and one primula survived the winter.
I got a bit carried away with sunstroke and planted seeds, but they will probably die next week.

PSidney loves being in the sun, he sings to himself then stretches riiiiiight out on my knee with his little back feet turned up, he's so lovely.

But the Cheeky boy in the title? Yes Sid is cheeky - but he has competition.
Meet Charlie:

Hello!
Pleased to meet you!
Do you have food?
Every single day, Charlie hop- hop- hops down the tree when I go out to feed the birds. He started by watching, so I started chatting to him. He does that side to side head cocking thing which is fab!
The more I chatted, the more he watched.
Then he came closer ....

and closer ......

..... still watching .....

..... until greed and curiosity won out and he sat on the food tub, ON MY KNEE!

How utterly magical is that!

On.
My.
Knee.

I am determined to get him feeding from my hand. Over the last few weeks he has followed me round the garden, sat on the other end of the bench, explored all the pots, hopped under the table - every day he appears. Closer and bolder he gets.

But no, it didn't stop there.

Hop hop hop.
What's this?
A really REALLY big tree?
Let me hop inside and explore.

Yes, he hopped inside the house!
I ended up following him in and asking 'What are you doing cheeky??!'

He has given me so many smiles and so much pleasure. Lovely.

I do have other things to report, but for now I will leave you with The Daily Robin, from yesterday:

Spring - has it sprung?

Is it winter again?

Yesterday I managed a bit of pottering in the garden - all the pots were looking very sorry for themselves, so I wrapped up and tidied and planted until my back decided enough was enough.

It makes me so happy to see all those green shoots peering through, asking if it's time to wake up or can they have a bit more sleep.

Lovely!
There's a real old mixture in each pot, obviously daffs and tulips, I think some crocus, lots of pansies that have survived the winter and goodness knows what else. Mum brought me several packs of bulbs months ago, and I am ashamed to admit they were planted yesterday. Bunged in, in my usual manner.

I have LOADS of bulbs still to plant, I intend to fill every single plant pot out there with pretties.
I also bought a tree.
Smallest garden in the world.
Tree.
Oh yes.
A Japanese Acer, which I hope will add a splash of colour - it's going in a black pot with bulbs around the edges.

But hopefully not this big.
Unless I get the house too ....

Ever such a slight difference today -

from this:

to this:

It's that thin sort of snow, not the big fat floofy flakes, but it's coming down quite heavily. Thankfully I nipped out yesterday so can sit and watch it rather than walk in it today. Or go to bed, which is my plan in a minute. I love my bed.

I finished seaming a jumper the other evening, this was fun and easy knitting, and grew quickly. I didn't expect it to be flattering (chunkyish wool, grey) but didn't QUITE expect it to be as lardylooking as it is, but it's warm. That will do!

It's from this. Nice book, but I am a little disappointed if I am honest, maybe I hoped the lardremoving fairy would magic away my dumpiness and make the jumper look better than it does.

It's supposed to be festooned with buttons, but I don't think there is any point as I only plan to wear this for slobbing in.

Ah yes, It's also meant to be a dress.

Maybe if I make it from a nicer wool, the correct length, it might be worth wearing in public, with buttons... in it's favour, the sleeves are a good fit, especially around the set in sleeves:

and I like the flared cuffs. I also like the neckline, although if I do reknit it one day I would do a few k2togethers in the middle front to stop it gaping.

At least it is something finished.

My hands are pretty dire at the moment, the new drug RoActemra doesn't seem to be doing much yet. Reassuringly, the lady who goes at the same time as me for the same treatment is also having very little improvement. Obviously I hope she DOES improve as I wouldn't wish this pain on anyone, but I think you know what I mean. If she had been running around the ward doing handstands I would be worrying about my lack of progress!

So far, I have seen the following:
angry red spots on my shoulders
lesser but equally annoying spots on my chin and side of face
exhaustion
weight gain
a tooth fell out (absolutely nothing wrong with it when I went for a ccheckup recently)

So at this rate I am going to be totally round, with a face full of spots and no teeth. Nice.

My RA nurses are fabulous, but blimey the consultant who was there last week was a plonker. He looked drunk / doped up / half asleep / all three, and very scruffy.
After spending 40 minutes wondering if I was having a bad reaction and should I be allowed the drug, wandering about, sitting down etc, (him not me) he finally gave it the go ahead and recommended I take anti-histamines each day. Gee, I hadn't thought of that ...

Handies, particularly my fingers, are too sore for much today - typing is ok, gripping anything is not, so not much knitty etc going on. I have chosen my colours for the throw we are knitting over on Ravelry:

Luuurvely.
Cascade220, the pale pink in particular is so pretty.

Thassit for now, Mr Postie has just brought me all sorts of delights (or bills).

Keep warm.

What the!

Most bizarre. My tinternet hasn't worked for a while now, thank you BT you total munters, and I just gave it a try -

lo and indeed behold, I seem to be able to get various blogs to load but nothing else!

What's all that about then??

edited:
I seem to be able to connect to google, and Google based blog and nothing else - they try to load but fail. I also - most frustratingly - cannot get into my email. This seems to be a common problem, the irony being I can Google 'can only access Google sites' -

BUT CANNOT READ THE FLIPPIN' ADVICE!

Ha.
Any help very gratefully received!

PS - the February square is knitted and awaiting typing up; will aim to get it on here during this coming week (Thursday is hospital / drip day, so ideally I will do it before then).