Lifestyle - Spring is on it's way!

I am so happy that Spring seems to be finally getting itself in gear and getting going. It's pretty much my favourite season. I love the fresh colours and the way the start of the warmer weather and proper sunshine seems to put you in a good mood.

For some reason the arrival of the Spring flowers - daffodils in particular - makes me think of my friend V. Funnily enough, she says the same about me! This year the Spring is feeling extra especially wonderful as my garden is sorted and I can enjoy it properly! 

I'm loving the gorgeous flowers popping up all over the place as well. My parents garden is a fabulous riot of fresh greens, purples, whites and yellows. I was trying to get a decent photo of their Rosemary yesterday, but it wasn't having it! I did get that wonderful one of their Grape Hyacinths though :) 

actually, now that's enlarged a bit it's not too bad!

I've also been going a bit manic on Pinterest and have made several new boards including one for Spring & Easter as well as some dedicated to various colours! I've had a re-jig of my profile and everything, so do check it out and you can marvel at my random collection of things!

I do love a collection. I have been a bit of a collectaholic since I was small. The first thing I remember collecting was frogs. I had a little display shelf for them and everything. I have also had a collection of ladybirds that was mainly due to my friend L. 

I  can't remember how it started, but she used to get me ladybird themed gifts for all occasions :) It was cool. 

My most precious collection was always the one that my Grandma triggered when she gave me her porcelain doll, Peggy. Technically,  it should have gone to my older cousin, but she wasn't really as interested in dolls as I was. I used to buy myself a new doll every summer holiday when I was younger with the money I had saved up for ages. 

They were mainly all girls, but I have a beautiful little boy doll from Venice dressed in a little blue velvet outfit. He is the only one on display now. He sits in my parents den and supervises our computer use! The rest are packed away and never get seen. 

I would love to have them out again. They remind me of such happy days. I have nowhere to display them and a madam who I worry would break them. But I was given Peggy when I was smaller than she is now, so maybe I should have more faith in her. 

Peggy herself is pushing 100 years old, so perhaps I will leave her safe in the padded box my grandma made for me to keep her in. She is an Armand Marseille Dream Baby doll, they seem to be quite popular on ebay. I know some people find dolls spooky, but I love them! Never liked the ones that talk though...

Have you got any collections?

Oh, before I go, I uploaded that photo of my mum and I and I thought I would share it with you...

I was cute, right? And how 80's is this photo!

I do love this photo...

Love, Pearl.

procrastination is reaching out!

I could make some joke about windmills in my mind, but nah...

I am a little overwhelmed. I recently checked my spam comments box (I have to say, I had forgotten to do it for ages) and found loads of stuff in there!  If you comment whilst anonymous it puts you in there automatically... There is some lovely feedback and some tips for how to progress. I am really thankful for this discovery as it helps me feel like I'm connecting with people on a much bigger scale than I had thought.

I am glad of this new impetus to keep moving forward. I am feeling a little like I have started an uphill climb at the moment. What with the job hunting that I am doing as well. 

Anyone who follows me on twitter will have noticed a distinct lack of me celebrating getting an interview for the cover supervisor job I applied for (which I wrote about here). This is cause I didn't get one. Even though I thought I had met all their criteria :(

I have emailed them in the hope of getting some feedback but have had no response so far. I have two or three jobs I'm applying for at the moment and will let you know if I hear back from anything. I am getting the distinct impression that being out of work for 5 years might be a big black mark against me. 

I haven't really had much chance to progress a lot further with my current craft project, but am still ahead of myself, so don't feel too worried about it all. I am also planning on how to write it all up so that you guys will be able to read all about it as soon as possible.

I have been doing nothing exciting with my time and am slightly disappointed that my planned trip to the cinema for Classic Movie Tuesday with the We Watch Films guys has been cancelled. This has become my monthly escape and I am now stuck in the house with madam this evening instead. But I am mainly just being moany and selfish, just ignore me... I am *quite* glad I don't have to sit at the Odeon for a few hours though, those seats are still as uncomfy as they ever were...

I think the last time I had been there before the WWF guys showed the Labyrinth was with friend L and we watched the Grease anniversary showing! (I may have completely mis-remembered this event!). I remember going to see the Blair Witch Project there as well...

But I do love going to the cinema and it used to be my bad habit when I lived with my parents. I went 3 or 4 times a week and would think nothing of going from a late shift and then to a midnight showing (obviously not if I was on the early the next day!).

I used to be so up to date with what was around and I still feel that loss of freedom quite keenly. I have to make so many arrangements just to go once a month now, it sucks :( 

Although, I have got a decent working DVD player again and can at least watch stuff in the evenings. I still get stuck with madam's choices after school though! I have vetoed certain films for a while now! We'll be finishing off the film version of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe this afternoon. We went through the whole of the BBC TV adaption the other day and she wanted to compare! 

I have to say watching one straight after the other really does throw up the "Hollywoodisation" of the film. But I do still quite enjoy it. I have to pretend I don't know the books, but I can just about not throw things at it (unlike friend V!). I do wish someone would make the Magician's Nephew into a film though, I have a real love for that book...

Madam and I went on another nature walk at the weekend and found yet more mushrooms for her to look at. The best was a lilac/grey one we found in the beech wood near my parents. No idea what it was. We never dare pick or eat any just in case they are poisonous. I'd love to go out with an expert and do some proper foraging. I know that we see a lot of parasol mushrooms and as far as I'm aware you can eat those, but I still have that fear just in case we are wrong!

Sadly, I didn't take my phone out with me so didn't manage to get a photo of the lovely purple 'shroom, or any of the windmills we passed on the way home. There are three locally that are no longer in use, but there is a working one locally too (the picture at the top). We need to go back there again. I really want some locally produced flour :)

  

annual mushroom hunt 2013

At about this time last year we went on a mushroom hunt with madam and my parents. We got some great photos and found an enormous amount of different ones. All just in a field near the chalk quarry which is up a public footpath which starts near my parents house. That image on the sidebar is of madam standing near one.

 

So today we thought we would go hunting again, speculating that we would find loads. But sadly we didn't find the same variety as last year, and none of the big fairy rings were in evidence... However, there were still loads in the field and madam really enjoyed it. Here are the photos we took :)

 

 

a viking adventure

I had a slight misunderstanding about what yesterdays school thing was about. There is now a scale model Viking boat in the upper school playing field at madam's school (I only ever really go in the foundation stage area atm, so hadn't *really* noticed it).

 

So, yeah, we got to school and there were a few stalls around making balloon swords and other Viking accoutrements. As I have *no* cash until Tuesday I had to march madam past everything. She has a wooden Viking sword at home and if I'd thought we could have brought that with us.

 

Madam instead went straight for climbing over the boat which is big enough for a whole heap of kids to play out any number of fantasies. She commandeered the prow and made the most of her position to order the surrounding populous around. They mostly just ignored her.

 

 

 

She then met up with a chum of hers from her class and they went careening off into the wooded area at the back of the field and spent the majority of the hour or so we were there collecting conkers and jumping all over the tree stump seats and things that are along the nature trail. She did manage to come back in time to have her photo taken for the local paper (not just her, it was a group shot). I mainly sat on one of the benches and supervised her coat!

 

After I managed to persuade her to leave, which she only agreed to when she realised that we were pretty much the only people there, we headed home for a bit of a chill before dinner. We had decided to make a fruit crumble (plum and strawberry) for dessert. But I had this rush of blood to the head and decided that even though crumble is becoming a bit of a signature dish for me we should have something different.

 

I had already pretty much made the crumble topping when I decided this so had to improvise what I was going to turn it into. I went with shoving a splash of milk in and turning it into a sort of scone dough. I (of course) put too much milk in and ended up desperately adding flour to try and dry my dough out a bit! I made it into little flattened balls and put them all around the top of my fruit. You know, bit like a cobbler.

 

I have no idea if I even vaguely made the right thing, but what we ended up with tasted really great and was a change from the same old, same old. I shall make it again, but perhaps in a small deeper pan. That way the topping might join together better and the fruit won't all stick to the underneath!

 

We did go to the Harvest Festival this morning after all. And it was nice to see the display of food that had been brought in. Madam was particularly taken with the wheat sheaf they had right in the centre of the altar display. All the food collected today is going to the churches newly formed food bank. This is the same for madam's school service on Wednesday.

 

the main table with all the food was off to the side!

 

 

After the service we wandered along to the food festival, but it was so busy and loud that madam wasn't keen. There was a barbecue/grill going that was smoking wildly as well. We didn't stay long and we didn't find any free samples... Boo ;) 

 

We ended up going to mum and dad's a bit earlier than normal and madam has mainly been riding her bike and getting under peoples feet since then! We have taken her for a ride out to the supermarket in the hope of finding her some more school t-shirts as she's ruined some of them already. They had none in, annoyingly, then we took her to the park on the way home. She is now (finally) sitting quietly. I'm hoping she might be tired enough to go to bed to time this evening.     

fun and flowers at Burnby Hall

Yesterday was lovely. It was madam's Fairy competition at Burnby Hall Gardens in Pocklington and we had a great day. The weather held out and we got a chance to look around the rather stunning gardens.

The gardens also hold the national waterlily collection (who knew the nation even had one?) and they were pretty much all in bloom. They were all different colours and looked just beautiful.

There were a few fairy activities for madam to take part in and we started by being given a little collection bag so that we could gather up any leaves, twigs, feathers, etc. that we might find so we could use them to make a name plaque. 

All around the gardens were signs telling us about the various types of flower fairies and when we might be able to see them. Our favourite part though was hunting for the fairies up in the Stumpery (which is in the woodland area). And it was so sweet. There were lots of little doors dotted around on the trees and all around the glade were things for us to spot, like a washing line, a swing and a fishing rod.

a tiny door!

And madam was convinced that if she knocked on all the doors eventually a fairy would answer her ;) 

We found a picnic table (of which there were many) and settled down for a picnic before heading back with our finds to do some crafting. There were pictures to colour and fairy houses to make. We just stuck to making madam a name plate. But, sadly, the glue wasn't really sticky enough to cope with madam's twigs so we agreed to take it all home and let her use the PVA glue to finish it off with. 

And then it was time for the fairy and pixie parade. The fairies outnumbered the pixies by quite a large amount, so fairies went first. There was only one other little girl in a homemade outfit. And she was much littler than madam with the most enormous frothy tutu confection on. So, so cute. She won the competition, which wasn't that much of a surprise. But I was really glad they recognised the effort someone had put into making it. Madam got a few comments on her costume too, and many were amazed it was homemade.

We had to leave after the parade as my mum and dad had to go round to my younger brother's place and help him with something. But I really want to visit again. It was just such a lovely place to while away a few hours. I'm hoping we'll go back for the pumpkin festival in October.

And mum saw an "Elf Training Camp" day in December too...

So yeah, if you're in the area ever and want a nice afternoon wander (the cafe looked rather good, too) it's worth checking out. Oh, and the Stewart Museum holds some things brought back from the round-the-world trips the owners made in the early 20th Century. Might be worth a look too...     

oh, what a show!

Yesterday, we went to Driffield show as we had planned. And it was hot! We arrived at lunchtime and sat in the car park (on the golf course) under some trees and ate our picnic before going into the show and finding an ice cream to try and cool down a bit before searching for some things to look at. There's loads, so it isn't hard to do!

 

Driffield show is the largest one day agricultural show in the county if not the country! There are displays for almost everything that you can think of, but it's hard to do too much when it's so hot. We've been the last three summers and we've never had it so warm! There was no breeze, it was just baking... The only relief came from going into the display tents and making the most of the shade they provided.

 

And the displays were great! We had lots of fun in the Fur and Feathers tent with madam, finding lots of chickens who had laid eggs whilst they were on display. She also was impressed with all the different coloured eggs on display on the judging table. And then there were all the guinea pigs and rabbits to "aww" over.

 

Madam's favourite bunny was a beautiful white one with chocolate brown markings on his ears, nose and paws. So pretty, but I didn't get a photo unfortunately. I did manage to get some photos in the Horticultural tent. The carnivorous plants and the cacti were my favourites and madam liked the fruit and vegetable displays. I also found a table of the most fantastic roses, for which I am a massive sucker.

 

 

 

But the best thing was still the dancing sheep show. They had been our new discovery when we had been last year and madam made a beeline for them as soon as we arrived. She managed to wiggle her way right down to the front of the crowd.

 

And when the chap got to the point in the show where he was going to give the shearing demonstration he asked for a volunteer (from the sheep) and madam stood straight up and put her hand as high in the air as she could manage! The guy let her down gently, but she was still upset. Though I think she was quite glad when he came to doing the actual shearing that it wasn't her up on the stage!

 

 

 

And then the sheep danced. Well, sort of, they do some leg kicks and head nodding in time to a disco track. But it's sweet and madam really enjoys it.

 

When we'd finished in all the display tents we wandered a bit more and got more water to drink and then by the time it got to about 3pm we just had to give up and head back home. We drove through about every field the local farmer had to get out of the car park again and then we cranked the A/C and made the short trip home.

 

Madam and I must have then drunk about our own volume in cool water, it was lush... But the heat had wiped us both out and we did nothing else with our afternoon and ended up just grazing out of the fridge for tea. Quite the same as we have been doing all week! Must get more fruit/veggies in madam at some point...    



things to do with madam's summer

I received the first of my ebay purchases yesterday :) It's the shrug I ordered to go with the wedding outfit for September. It's not as dark blue as I thought it would be, but that's not actually a bad thing. Madam took a photo for me, urm, slightly dodgy but you get the idea... (that's the dress I'll be wearing it with, too).

Have spent the last couple of days trying to plot out things for madam to do over the holidays. This is made harder by the fact that she is 4. There is no provision for pre-schoolers locally. This is a perpetual whine of all parents with children under 5. I am amused by the fact there are some children (like madam's best friend who isn't 4 for another fortnight) who will complete a full year at school before having their 5th birthday. So are those 4yr olds allowed to participate or must they wait until the age of 5 like madam?

 

Obviously, our plan is to sign madam up for the things we think she'd like and just ignore the fact that she's supposed to be 5. Being tall will definitely help her in this case. And because she's under 8 I have to stay with her anyway... So I don't get why they impose the age limit!

 

There was a small mammal hunt that she could have done this morning, but there were no spaces left :( I have signed her up for a minibeast safari, a butterfly safari and a teddy bears picnic. All at the local country park nature reserve. It cost me £1.50 each and they're all at least 2 hrs. I just need more things to do with her on the other 39 days of the hols...

I am planning on, hopefully, another trip to Bristol. I want to go and see L and her family and have a nosy around the new house she's moving into. But more importantly madam and I want to go on a Gromit hunt! For those of you who don't know, Gromit (you know, from Wallace and... ) has been hidden in various locations around Bristol. The Gromit Unleashed art exhibition is raising funds for the Bristol Children's Hospital charity and 80 sculptures have been  hidden around the city.

I am planning on downloading the app so we can play along when we get the chance! The exhibition finishes on the 8th September so I really hope that'll give us enough time...

But my other plans for the holidays mainly involve the seaside and/or various parks and local (free) museums etc. Madam is really keen on doing any form of colouring/painting/getting messy that I can think up too!

I just hope the weather stays mainly fine as I don't think a soggy summer will be an easy thing to navigate. Although I would get more chance to indulge in the sewing/crochet/knitting projects I have on the go. Oh, and to read some of my book mountain.   

in which madam does making

I am so tired today! I have now dropped off about five times whilst sitting here trying to write. I could really do with a proper nap, but having madam bouncing about is not conducive to that... Currently she is sticking a whole load of glow-in-the-dark stars on to a piece of dark paper.

 

Its something she's been wanting to do for ages and yet somehow we never have got round to doing it. So now she's finally getting to do it. But apparently it involves an awful lot more supervision than I had thought. I mean, it's just putting stickers on to a big bit of paper, but you'd think it was much more complex than that...

 

Oh, and I'm not allowed to help. I am supervising whilst typing. Except I'm mainly shouting at her in frustration. She keeps jumping from one side of the paper to the other. She's already slipped and hurt herself so next she's going to rip the paper and ruin the whole thing.

 

She also keeps wandering off and then complaining when I threaten to put all the stuff away! I am slightly liking the new technique though. She's peeling off the stickers and then dropping them onto the paper to make a more random pattern.

 

I'm not appreciating the rain today. We went out earlier and opened the door to a torrential downpour. Had to get madams pack-a-mac out of my bag and put her in it. It has rained on and off ever since. She still wanted to sit outside and eat her lunch though! I refused and made us come up to my parents so that we could avoid being soaked and utilise their tv/internet facilities.

 

I had half thought about going for a walk later but, as the rain is currently flying sideways past the window, I'm going to wimp out. We have at least been into town and had a bit of fresh air.

 

We  also went to try and sort the meter out after the slight fail I had on Monday. And the key still wouldn't work, but I had taken the new one and that worked with no problems whatsoever. Bit of a relief given that the emergency credit has nearly run out.

 

 

 

Yesterday on our way home to put madam to bed we passed the most beautiful pink hawthorn tree and it struck me how late some of the blossom is this year. We'd noticed the pink horse chestnut was out on the walk to nursery the other day. I am sure they've usually all finished before now.

 

But we did have a late spring, I guess. It'll be interesting to see whether autumn is late getting going as well. There are some beautiful flowers coming out in the gardens locally now, my dad has some rather lovely roses beginning to bloom.

 

Madam has finished her picture off, and it's looking really cool. She is refusing to do smiling in photos again at the moment! So don't think she's not been having fun. She has now moved on to throwing a paper aeroplane around the room.

 

 

 

I guess I could make one of my own and join in... :)  

on summer holidays and memories

 

 

Looking at yesterday's post I have realise I might have a jellyfish obsession. It could be worse I guess! Had a chat with friend L about what else I might go on to do to stop my brain shrivelling and she was suggesting I look at doing a MOOC qualification (click the link, it's quicker than me explaining).

 

I've been having a browse through the available courses this morning and it surprised me just how much free learning there is out there. The next question will be whether I trust myself to actually do something on my own.

 

Distance learning is not necessarily my friend...

 

In regards to what I spoke about yesterday, I did get a response... a vote for discussion of psychological theory... Perhaps not today though! However, I may well come back to that one day when I can't think of anything else to write about ;) Not that I actually really do much planning of what I'm going to write about.

 

You'd never guess, would you!

 

So, erm, what am I going to write about today?

 

I have started to dread the summer holidays already. Six weeks is such a long time to spend entertaining a small child. I remember it being so different when I was younger. I couldn't wait for those massive holidays. The days that seemed to never end and the constant sunshine (funny how you never remember the days when it rained non-stop).

 

I remember my mum taking us on picnics with friends and exploring new places. Digging on the beach and splashing in the sea. We baked biscuits. We made cakes and scones and played with salt dough.

 

My mum must have been tearing her hair out! I only remember how much I loved it. How my brothers and I would be allowed to go places as long as we were together. Mum's theory being one of us would be able to run back for help if needed (can you even imagine that attitude now!).

 

She must have loved those days when we played out. We would take our bikes/ball/imaginations and go off for a morning and come back at the allotted time for lunch. Then out again until tea, and sometimes afterwards as well. I don't think kids have those freedoms any more and I think it's so sad for them.

 

I remember being bored. Now that isn't a fun memory, but I remember my mum would make suggestions and we would make all sorts of things to do instead! Imagination and problem solving seem to be disappearing from our children.

 

Madam is quite good at it as she's always been left to her own devices. She tends to use her time doing destructive things and it drives me insane, but I guess a child developmentalist (that is *not* a word!) would see it differently. She, in her way, is being creative. Exploring her environment and changing it to suit herself. She is playing games that she controls. Using that impressive inner voice to tell her what to do.

 

She just seems to be incapable of remembering how cross some things might make mummy. But she's four. What happens when your pour some flour out? Hmm, does that happen if you pour more? Oh. There's none left. Now what? I know, lets see what happens if you get it wet!

 

Yes, she has done that. She also once wondered whether the toilet rim block tasted as nice as it smelled (it doesn't, and you get to go to hospital). The morning she wondered if pooh made a good painting medium also sticks rigidly in my memory!

 

Oh, and she's squeezed out toothpaste and discovered it won't go back in when you've done that (she did try). She also plays with sticks. Her sticks are wands and swords and lightsabers (hehehe). They are spades and brooms and giants.

 

She questions things and she has to know how they work. This is exactly the same as her uncle D! She asks pertinent questions that adults can't answer. Mummy, what are people for? being her finest example... Why does the moon shine was also a favourite, but I answered that.

 

And I do answer her. Not make up some rubbish to keep her quiet. On the bus yesterday she'd rolled up the ticket and told me she could use it as a piggy tale in her making. And I asked what else might it be, she couldn't really think of anything so I asked her about a book she'd had with a butterfly in. And she said, oh, it could be the proboscis (that's the proper name for a butterfly's tongue!).

 

I honestly thought she'd say tongue. I taught her the proper word in September. She has not used it since... I was just hoping she'd remember the stupid book in the first place...

 

Mind. Blown! 

 

 

forms and foreign countries

I didn't get chance to blog yesterday I just ended up being far to busy doing other things... Mostly I spent the large part of the day with the lovely E and we went into Hull, did shopping, had lunch and then took madam to soft play.

 

The original plan had involved the park, but the rain and/or hail put us off! So we mainly sat at MegaFun using the free wifi to chat to each other on twitter! Yeah, we are just soooo cool!

 

As MegaFun is also where madam has her nastics lessons E left us at about 3.45 and we went upstairs to get madam ready and to make sure I got a table! Madam was pretty good and joined in with most of it. I realised that we're going to now miss all the lessons after half term until my parents are back from their holidays as we'll have no car and won't be able to get there (and back) without one!

 

We will also not be going to any lessons until madam has settled in to her new school properly. So, probably not until after Christmas. I feel bad as she really enjoys it, but I know she won't behave if she's really tired...

 

The other thing I've been doing is working out what to write on this job application. I have been told about a teacher's assistant role at the school one of my friends works at. I would be able to get lifts and stuffs so I don't need to worry about the car issue. It's not quite full time plus I get all the kids holidays free which, obviously, is a major deciding factor for me.

 

I am quite sure I can do the work, and it'll be a great opportunity to get my foot in the door. I just hope I can get an interview and then dazzle them all with my mad skillz (or something).

 

I've just got to tackle this somewhat enormous form, but my friend is going to check it over for me which takes some of the pressure off me. I haven't filled in an application for ages, so I'm really not looking forward to it. Add to that my aforementioned fear of forms and I am a little terrified!

I also am having traumas about a potential interview, it's even longer since I had a proper one and I have always sucked at them. I'm just not very good at selling myself. I also give much too honest answers sometimes. It's never good to tell the interviewer that in 5years time I see myself living in a different country!

I've actually been thinking about moving abroad again recently. I say again as I was seriously considering it when I was younger. Then life got in the way (I find it has a bad habit of doing that) and I didn't go. But I've been thinking about new beginnings and where I would like my life to go and the thought of moving popped up again.

I've always been somewhat of a homebody, but I actually have an unsatisfied wanderlust going on too. I did somewhat indulge in it by going to Germany and France on my year out and then I lived in Greece for a while with K. I really enjoyed those experiences, but actually where I've always fancied going is Canada.

I'm not sure why Canada, but I have just always wanted to go. Possibly as I have some family over there and I've always wanted to go and visit, and possibly as I think the scenery is awesome... Bit like my desire to go and drool at scenery in New Zealand!

So, yes, I might move, but it isn't going to be any time soon. Madam would have to be involved in any decision regarding that kind of thing after all. And I guess K would have to have a say too...

I shall go back to thinking about my form and I'll let you know if I get anywhere with it...  

  



on country walks and puddings

I managed to go for my nice walk with madam in the sunshine yesterday. We went down to the Humber Bridge Country Park and walked part of the Pond Trail as we'd promised to go and see if the flooding had subsided.

 

It had indeed (finally) subsided back down to pretty much normal levels. The last couple of times we've been the ponds have been so flooded you couldn't get to parts of the path and the picnic tables have been completely submerged. So as it's been dry for a week or so we were hopeful.

 

The path was complete and madam could get down to the edge of the pond and join in with the other kids (and adults) who were skipping stones over the water. The main thing we noticed was the hide water line that was visible on all the trees around the edge of the water.

 

 

 

There was some suggestion that this white deposit could actually be limescale! The surrounding land is all pretty much chalk, so it wouldn't surprise me. Madam was having a great time throwing stones in to the water and we managed to find a spot near some deep water so she could make some really big splashes! Here she's trying to skip stones like the bigger kids...

 

 

 

 

She didn't exactly have the correct outfit for it on, but that didn't stop her! We all got to a far too hot point and decided to head for home and get an ice lolly :)

 

 

Madam and I then took her scooter out and had a quick trip to her new school so she could see how far away it is from our house. It isn't far at all, she was just worried it was. Hence the need for the walk. We then pottered (scootered) into town and got ourselves some yummy things to make pudding with from M&S. Along with some nice salad to go with our meatballs.

 

I made us some rather good dessert with our ingredients and some plums we've had in the fridge for a few days. They're called watermelon plums, but taste just the same as normal ones! Lovely deep red on the inside though :)

 

 

 

 

Slightly random display I've got going on there, but taking a photo into the bowl proved highly unsuccessful...