Breakfast, animals x 3, showcase x3
1. The sweetness of the crisp bacon, the sourness of the muffin, the silkiness of the scrambled egg and the substantial chewiness of the sausage. A great breakfast. 2. Animals: a) The chickens cluck around me, interested in what I’m doing to their drinker, to their grit hopper and to their coop. When I’m working [...]
3BT – keeping separate, worth the work, evening walk
1. The clear oil cuts through the beetroot-stained vinegar on the plate. 2. I’m re-reading ‘I Capture The Castle’ by Dodie Smith yet again. The introduction to my edition tells me: “[Dodie] rewrote every line, under [husband] Alec’s critical supervision, hearing every line of dialogue in her head and unable to stop thinking about it [...]
3BT – once our own, the afternoon’s colours, nightmare-inducing
1. It’s still early for Armley and the woods are our own again. I tell Lily about the adventures the cats got up to when they lived here. It feels like a million years ago now. I thought I’d never been able to let it go but it’s been surprisingly easy. 2. The dusky pink [...]
3BT – wagging tails, colour level, garlic surprise
1. Lily and Katherine compete over who is more excited to see the other. 2. The rain tweaks the colour levels, allowing the pink blossom to peek through the curtain of greens. 3. We expect the usual lacklustre raita but find a cool smooth garlicky mayo instead.
3BT – first spring, slick, the answer
1. (I sort-of mentioned this on Clare’s blog the other week but I’ve not mentioned it here yet so…) Where we lived in Leeds, it was green — the lawns of the park, the trees of the woods leading down to the canal — but north facing houses & gardens meant no flowers, no colour, [...]
3BT – halo, trunk, indulgence
1. The branches practically invisible, the green buds form a lime halo around the trunk. 2. We sit down on a fallen trunk for a kiss. The sunlight dapples the world around us. 3. We nibble the rich dark biscuits in bed before turning to our books.
3BT – smells like a concept, final dress rehearsal, perfect pink
1. Mia declares that the wild garlic smells “difficult”. She picks leaves throughout our walk though and later, when I’m waiting at the bus stop, I find one she’d hidden in my pocket. 2. I must have a smirk on my face because all the boys leaving hair and make-up tell me to stop laughing [...]
3BT – reds, shower, Carbon’s achievement
1. Three reds in the pan – both the vermilion peppers and dark maroon kidney beans stand out against the rich tomato sauce. 2. Even though I’m scared of the semi-dark (thanks to a lifetime of why-won’t-the-light-switch-work nightmares), showers without the light on are strangely soothing. 3. Carbon meows excitedly after he returns from a [...]
