Spring growth

There's a whole lot of Spring growth going on around here. The flowers are blooming and the bees are buzzing and look at how big our Whippet pup "Rocket" is getting. If only he was as serene at midnight when he gallops onto our bed and takes up his new sleeping position on our heads.

The recently planted trees that looked like sad little sticks poking out of the ground are now either in blossom or covered in leaves. The Strawberries are looking sensational and have fruited and now just needing to ripen. A good number of them are a lovely new variety not widely available and I can't wait to get them into some recipes. I've been inspired in advance of the glut we'll have of Strawberries before the building is ready and have been baking up lots of Strawberry muffins - I popped a couple of choc chips on the top of this batch and they came out looking like faces which thrilled me no end. The fruit hanging off the branches in the photo are the Currants which are coming along nicely and will bush out over time to become an edible hedge along the front boundary.

The shipping containers are multiplying. Five have now been delivered here and will be used as part of the building, more on that later. In the meantime, it provided a nice backdrop for my latest shawl fresh off the needles and dry after overnight blocking. It's my second Follow Your Arrow Shawl by Ysolda Teague which I started 9 months ago as part of the Mystery Knit Along. It was made using the alternate clues I didn't use for the first shawl except for the final clue which was doing my head in and is the reason I set this one aside for 8 months. It feels good to have finished something around here I'm really happy with how it turned out and have realised I have a very strong preference for wearing asymmetrical shawls as this one can be thrown on and wrapped around like a scarf - no gaffing required.

Speaking of growth, all the Kids have had a massive growth spurt lately. They're all legs and arms and Eleanor is wearing size 6 shoes now! Flynn will be 2 next month and is eating as much as the boys, which is an obscene amount. He has joined the others rolling down the hill by the Bridge in Richmond, a tradition that has been going on for almost a decade.

And just to make me feel really old, we now have a kid with Braces. Just how did that happen? Eleanor has the teeth of a 12 year old instead of a 10 year old and so got them earlier than most which is just as well as back in my day the event was accompanied with a training bra, a new nickname - 'Braceface" anyone? -  and a warning to be careful kissing boys who also had braces on in case you got stuck together - a rather scary thought if you're the daughter of a Dentist. I don't think I'm quite ready for all that stuff just yet - jeepers!