Rushing towards the end of April . . .

. . . and I'm recently back from a trip.

Firstly I went to Felixstowe, where this magnificent beast rather tacky object was sitting outside the front entrance to my hotel, and was visible from my bedroon.

 

If you stood close to it for too long, its ears flapped and its trunk waved at you. 😛

The reason for my visit was to see my best friend who lives here. She picked me up in the morning and took me out for breakfast. The cafe was in full view of the container port. These ships are huge, it was exciting to watch the tiny little tug boat pull that huge thing away from the dock.

 As this was my first visit of the year to the coast, the essentail toe-dipping ceremony took place, can you tell by my face that the water wasn't that warm?

 A walk along the sea front was quite bracing, and on a monday, out of season, was not busy.

 

Tea and cake, in a craft shop, was essential. Did I manage to keep to my "buy no more yarn in 2026" promise to myself? What do you think?

 After a couple of days with my friend, I travelled on/back to Essex to spend a brief period with my sister. We made a quick visit to the cemetary to say hello to our mum, and then, on walking to the edge we were greeted with this vista. Does anyone recognise any of the buildings on the horizon?

 Like me, Jan likes a good jigsaw puzzle, and gifted me this. Not sure when (or if) I'll tackle it

 We had a day out at Hyde Hall, an RHS venue not far from Chelmsford, it was a lovely sunny day, but the breeze was a bit nippy.

 

A selfie with Jan and Banjo before I left

 

 And a quick stop in London as I passed through, so I could meet PJ for lunch.

 

 and before you know it, I'm back home, and recovering before my next adventure.

 

The second week of April . . .

. . . and not a lot has happened.

Except that I actually remembered to stop in the next village (Holt) and take a photo of the letterbox topping. I have no idea who is responsible for these, and they do change fairly regularly, so I'll try to make it a thing to stop each time a new one is up. 

 

Our lilac tree was planted soon after we came to 43, back in 2021, and this year it has flowered for the first time.

 I've been continuing with the weekly book cover crochet square, weeks 13-16 shown before and after being added into the join-as-you-go blanket

 

I have cosmos seedlings and Tumbling Tom tomato seedlings growing in the yarden room, it's almost time to start thinking about pricking them out.

 The fig tree is doing remarkably well. I saw a great tip on how to stop figs from being taken and eaten by whichever wildlife it is that likes them, I fully intend to have at least some of them for myself this year.

 Herb words continue

 I was invited to join a play-day with GDs 7 & 8 and their mum, it was quite a windy day but the girls didn't seem to feel the cold as much as the grownups. This was before GD7 went back to school after the Easter holiday

 How was your week?

 

Ten on the 10th at Bowood Woodland Gardens

 

13 for the price of 10. A bargain.

April, the first week, which included Easter

Out and about at the begining of the month, I passed the cricket ground, where this tree is beginning to look very green

 Not much further along is our new state of the art Intigrated Care Centre, soon to be open for business

 I don't seem to have many tulips this year, this is the first of about three

 

The weather was forecast to be very windy, so I thought I would bring it indoors so it wasn't lonely

We don't normally indulge in Easter Eggs, but the Fair One sent me some chocs,

 they were delicious

 Two of my GDs enjoyed a sleepover on Good Friday, apparently they talked "all night long". Fortunately I slept while they talked. GD7 loves Frozen, and she loves jigsaw puzzles.

 I spotted this cloud formation, can you see anything in that? I can see a horse with a long flowing mane, and beautiful feathered front legs, head down and galloping.

 This year is the very first time that I have been able to keep a poinsettia beyond March. I'm really hoping to keep this one for a whole year.

 I hope you enjoyed the Easter weekend.

 

 

Rounding off March, rather belatedly

 This is my monthly view of the tree, not much change yet.

 

Step count for this year so far is below target, but I'm not too upset about it, There's plenty of time to catch up

 Another month of Woodoku completed 

 And GD5 enjoyed her 9th birthday

 Seed planting in the yarden room is progressing

 And I know you like herbwords, so here are a couple more

 And thus we are one quarter through the year!