A long week.

I feel very cross with myself as I meant to get this post sorted last week and time just flew away with me meaning it didn't happen. Never mind, I shall do it now and apologise for the lateness to dear Tracy of 'Cupcakes at home' who sent me this lovely package. I won it in her giveaway and have already spruced the somewhat grimy rooms of our little house - how much nicer the task is when you have such cheery things to hand.








Aren't they lovely? Isabella is particularly taken with the bird pegs and obviously thinks mummy does nothing but get sent presents on a regular basis; must make a mental note to ensure I prepare her for the reality of bills, etc...or maybe not eh? Thank you Tracy for such a bundle of fun x

The week as a whole has been yet another stressful one where final assessments (Dave) and a sewing day at Lucy's school where mummies who can sew were asked to come in and help the children make hats (thus Guilt as was unable due to littlest one). I also started teaching for the first time in three years which set my stomach churning in that oh-so-familiar way. Lord how I hated that feeling! As is often the way with these most dreaded of events, all went well and I actually felt a huge sense of pride when I arrived at the house of the aunt of one of the pupils to hear a phone conversation where my pupil was squealing that she wasn't 'thick' after all. How sad it is that the accumulation of academic qualifications is still what decides to many whether or not we are intelligent? I truly believe intelligence is about so much more than grades on a piece of paper and know many, many people who have these supposed proofs, working in highly paid and professional jobs, who seem to me to display a very narrow view of intelligent thought processes - give me someone with the ability to see things from all perspectives and able to use common sense any day.
Phew, mini rant over!





What else happened this week? Well, we had most of the children here all weekend and I was on cooking duties while poor Dave worked the entire time. What was on the menu? Roast (of course) with all the trimmings and far too many yorkshire puddings as usual; they were so yellow as I used the eggs from the ducks which are just the most beautiful chrome yellow at this time of year. I also made a casserole with a potato dish called Pan Haggerty (layers of pots, onion and cheese with milk and cream poured over before baking), a plum and rhubarb crumble with homemade custard, again very yellow though it was the hens' eggs this time, and a gorgeous but thoroughly rich chocolate pudding which oozes velvety chocolate sauce when you cut into it. Mmmm! No photos as it was gone almost as soon as I cut into it!





Lucy and I spent Saturday morning sowing seeds - sweetcorn, courgettes, cucumbers, toms, sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, parsley and a few others. Luckily she loves gardening as much as I do and it was so lovely sharing this time together, her cheery little voice chattering away as she wrote out labels and struggled with the heavy watering can.




We looked around to see what was new in the garden and discovered the bluebells I planted when pregnant with Isabella have just started to flower as the picture above shows, and the pretty little Cornish Aromatic apple covered itself in gorgeous blossom to keep them company.





Golly, I have rambled on rather - sorry for such a long Monday blog! xx