Life lately

On New Year's Day this year I made pie.  Begin as you mean to go on, don't they say?

My first ever attempt at making the dough from scratch and while there is certainly room for improvement, I'm calling this one a success.  B for one was cutting the most obscene wedges when he thought I wasn't looking.  I used this recipe, if you're interested.

No I didn't manage a true lattice.  My dough was too short and breakable for any attempts at fanciness.

I used jam from the berry farm just down the road from us and it made for the most scrumptious (truly the most over-used word these days) tangy and sweet filling.

Due to excess pie and excess everything else, I have got to get back into my fasting routine again.  My clothes are telling me the unvarnished truth about all that indulgence.  Sigh.

Luckily we have veg coming out of our ears, including the most enormous broccoli you ever saw.

We don't use any chemicals on our edible garden, but I have to confess that I find the search and destroy grubs mission before each meal a bit tiresome.

While we're confessing to things, I also must admit that those fabric present bags I made won't get another run.  I love the concept and all but in the end it is so dull pulling a present out of a bag in comparison to the tearing of the wrapping paper.  Especially for the little girls.  So gift wrap will darken my doorstep once again and I'm ok with that.  At least it's not more bloody plastic which is basically impossible to eradicate from our lives.

Onto happier tales.  Look at Spotty Ram, who's living with us at the moment.  I love him.  He tolerates me because he knows I control the supply of pellets which he loves.  Soon I will have him eating out of my hand and hopefully giving him scratches on that beautiful forehead.

Look at his regal profile.

The dahlias are in full swing and it's been fun seeing the different varieties we have.  This deep red one is too challenging a colour for my camera.  Try as I did to play with the settings, and to edit the photo afterwards, I can't get it anywhere near the deep almost blue-red that it is in real life.

Kindy starts back next week which we're all looking forward to.  Poor little J has been asking pretty much since they broke up in December when it's time to go back.  Either that or she puts on her backpack and tells me she's going to kindy.

It's definitely a juggle having the two of them home every day and J is usually the one who misses out, or who has to be patient, or share, or help.

Now to wrap things up, and because this post has somehow come across a bit blue and pensive, here's some photos from golden hour the other night.