Craft Fair

I wasn't sure if we'd get there, a local craft fair in town I'd had marked in my diary for the last few weeks. The weather the day before was dreary (which we could cope with), but also lots of sudden down pours, and in the afternoon Imogen was sent home from school early as she was feeling poorly.

It was fine though, Imogen was a trooper (aghast at the thought that she may not get 100% attendance) and went to school armed with tissues and throat sweets, and the rain seemed to hold off, so off we went...

It started to get a bit damp, but not cold and it was good to have a meander around the stalls. This one had beautiful hand made wooden items.

From the hype I'd read, I had expected there to be a lot more stalls so it was a bit disappointing, but what was there was lovely.

 We found a lovely stall full of hand made dog treats and bought lots of liver flavoured biscuits. They absolutely love them, far more than their usual treats, so I really must get some recipes and start making some myself.

Very hard to resist

Loving the 'Please feel free to feed the monkeys' on this stall.

Bought myself some gorgeous linen fresh oil for ironing... anything to make it a nicer chore (though it was good to use tackling my ironing pile as a way to warm up the other day).

Perfect for a good rummage, though a bit hard to navigate round!

Lots of hearty home made soup to warm up at home

Take care
xxx

Spring, soup and puppies

It's hard to think about much else rather than our sweet little puppies at the moment. I find myself passing through the dining room and pausing to give mum a stroke then before I know it, time has passed by while I've been sat just gazing at those small dark bundles, watching them crawl all over each other looking for a warm place to cuddle in, sleeping or crawling into their mother's furry tummy to sniff out her milk.

It looked like 4 black pups when they arrived, but now it appears to be 2 black and 2 brown and black ones.

Mollie is able to leave them for a little longer now as they sleep for longer between feeding. She's a very good mother though, never too far away and not letting poor dad get a look in.

They've grown so much already, it's amazing.

Look at that teeny mouth... OK... is this too many puppy photos! You can just see the paler markings above one of the puppy's eyes - just like his dad!

Meanwhile, more life is happening outside. Imogen planted lots of bulbs in the Autumn, and we are now seeing them strong and true, reaching up to the sun.

I can see these shoots from my kitchen window, and can't wait to see them all grown and in flower. Imogen planted so many, I can't remember what's there!

What else have I been up to? Soup... I love making my own soup. I've never tried French Onion soup, so thought I'd try making some.

It was the easiest soup I've made. Chopping lots of onion, and caramelising them with some butter, olive oil and a pinch of brown sugar.

I also added some garlic, well it is so good for you - yum! All that was left was to stir in my vegetable stock and a couple of table spoons of flour to thicken.

Best served with homemade bread, toasted with cheese.

Take care
xxx

New Addition

So excited, we have a new baby living with us! Introducing Bruce

He came to live with us a few days ago, an extremely cute little chihuahua, a wee brother for Honey, Mollie (Adam's dog, but with us for now) and Gary. Honey and Mollie love their new playmate, Gary just keeps giving him dirty looks - not impressed by the cute, adorable puppy eyes at all!

playing with Mollie

I'm totally besotted... Ok, here's another pic or 2!

Made some of my favourite soup this week too. I'm not a big soup person, but this is gorgeous - butternut squash, red pepper, onion, passata, stock and garlic - couldn't be any easier, and no fat either!

We had cheese and onion toasties with ours, but some nice crusty bread would be nice too.

Take care
xxx