30 Days of Beauty : 13 : A morning at the farm

Our Easter weekend began with an Open Day at Garr House Farm in Great Wigborough. We joined a farm tour and even saw a piglet being born. The enormous sow just shuddered a little and out it came, her fifteenth baby. She was very laid back about the whole thing and she has my undying admiration for that!

Frank collected some eggs from these very inquisitive chickens. He got a bit overwhelmed at one point and cried over having to wash his wellies in the bowl. See that little tear on his beautiful cheek? My sad boy. Lots of cuddles and reassurance sorted him out in no time.
Daddy held him up high enough to see the sheep.He stroked a lamb.And this row of horseshoes wished us a lucky year with our little family and with our dealings with Type 1 Diabetes.

We need it.

30 Days of Beauty : 12 : Comfort

It is 8:45pm.

Frank is chatting away to himself upstairs.

Budd is out having dinner.

I am alone after a day spent dealing with a migraine. I don't get headaches as such but had flashing jagged lights before my eyes all morning today and have felt like my brain is too big for my skull. This must be a migraine as my brain is really quite small, I'm sure.

So, this is dinner and the comforting hour I have planned.

Porridge made with oats and oat milk. Stewed dried apricots and maple syrup. A cup pf Sleep Easy tea (oh, well, if I must!), Green Parent magazine and in case any of you thought I was in any way a purist Master Chef and then Have I Got News for You on TV. The knitting will be out once the oats have been applied to my face.

Bliss ...

I will be back tomorrow with tales of my week, which has been eventful and full of creative times. Frank and I made puppets, I made felted eggs, I decorated Frank's bedroom, I sewed and knitted and made bread too. We also had two hypos to deal with in two hours on one day. What a humdinger of a week. Not a dull moment and I'll share the tales and pictures this weekend.

30 Days of Beauty : 11

On Friday it was so warm and sunny that we were finally able to get out into the garden and even had our afternoon snack out there.

Nothing beats the beauty of being outside with a pot of green tea for the three of us and our little plate of snacks. Weeks and weeks of this ahead, we hope.

Hope Spring is peeking out where you are.

30 Days of Beauty : Ten : A Magical Mystery Tour

One of my birthday presents from Andrew and Frank was today.

A Magical Mystery Tour in the camper van.

We woke to bright Spring sunshine. About 45 minutes from home is the Deben estuary and Ramsholt.

We parked up, played about on the beach, running around, throwing stones into the water and making animals in the sand.

I defy anyone to say East Anglia isn't beautiful.

We have such gentle scenes and big skies.

Then it was a pub lunch before heading into Woodbridge for a coffee in the afternoon.

A blissful and uncomplicated day with my two boys.

And to top it all Frank was at or under 10 each time we tested his blood sugars.

Now that's what I call a birthday present!

30 Days of Beauty :: Nine

Our favourite family walk takes us from Dedham along the river Stour that serves as the Essex Suffolk border to a National Trust cafe in Flatford, famous for being in many of Constable's paintings (Flatford, that is, not the cafe!).

I love this landscape whatever the season.

I am sure it will appear in another of my 30 Days of Beauty as there is so much beauty in this mile and a half. It was bitterly cold but we still had fun running after Frank's Moomin frisbee and climbing into old gnarled trees. We stuck it out for as long as we could in the cold wind before heading back to the van.
Then we walked along to the weir and fed the ducks.

After that it was off to Stratford St. Mary farm shop and cafe for lattes, peppermint tea and cheese scones and a thoughtful boy waiting patiently for his scone and tea.

Mojo Muffins

These muffins were one of the first recipes I adapted for our big entry into the world of muffin making for the Woodbridge Christmas Fayre and I have been making them ever since, with endless variations.

They are based on Nigella Lawson's Jam Doughnut Muffins in How to be a Domestic Goddess (a fabulous book) but have been changed a lot by me. The changes have involved halving the sugar and making the ingredients wholemeal rather than white. I also omit the dipping in butter and then sugar at the end. I find cakes are good and I prefer them if I can taste the ingredients rather than just sugar.

The photo below shows some of the ingredients before I got started.

I love the way my kitchen looks nothing like the beautiful, clutter-free ones I see on the blogs I drool over so much.

In this picture you can see my dandelion coffee, a glue stick and Frank's picture of Spring duckings. For around 8 muffins you will need to beat 125ml milk, one egg, half a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 85ml oil (I used a very mild olive oil to minimise the flavour interference) in a bowl or jug.

Then add this to another, larger bowl of the dry ingredients which are 200g wholemeal self-raising flour and 50g brown muscovado sugar.
Mix quickly, not worrying about lumps. Mixing muffin batter too much will take away the lightness and make them heavy.

Fill each muffin case one third full with batter.

Top with a teaspoon of either jam (we use St Dalfour or Tiptree high fruit) or fruit puree or, as I did today, mincemeat (homemade by the wonderful Fiona!).

Top with the remaining batter and bake at 190C/Gas mark 5 for 2-25 minutes until golden and bouncy to the touch.

Apply to face.

Let me know how they work out for you.

30 Days of Beauty :: Eight

We spent a whole day in the garden earlier this week. The sky was bright blue and the washing even dried out on the line.

Below are Frank's cords and my favourite little table cloth from a flea market in Hyvinkaa, Finland.
The Green Man on the summerhouse wall was beaming in the Spring sunshine.

We are well this week, having left colds and sniffles behind, and have been busy in the garden, clearing out the garage, noticing cobwebs that I swear weren't there a day or two before and generally feeling the sap rising.

I will be back tomorrow with the first of a monthly series:
Muffin of the Month.

My baking mojo has returned and all shall share in the joy!!

30 Days of Beauty : Seven

Beauty and Bliss today in a cup of coffee in town with my love and the new Debbie Bliss magazine.

I love the way the bubbles catch the light.

I am nearing the end of my second little new born hat for my friend Beth, due to have twin boys any day now.
The days are lengthening here and I am longing for some time in the garden with Frank and Andrew.
February is a deceptively long month here in Northern Europe, despite its apparent shortness!

30 Days of Beauty :: Six

After his short day at pre-school Frank and I spent some time painting with the little watercolour set we really like.

We made invitations for Severine to ask her if she would like to come with us to Harwich for fish and chips tomorrow.

I love his choice of colours, he is always very specific and yet also random!

It has been cold and wet today, unlike the balmy sun of yesterday, and we felt a trip to celebrate a good week was in order.


Frank painted the pictures that I drew for him and I took the opportunity to knit a bit more of the wrap I am working on for Sue.

Then it was supper and Frank's new Brio bell train (thank you, Aleksi!) took centre stage, closely followed by a dinosaur, as he ate his fish cakes and beans.

It made me smile when I looked at this photo as I hadn't noticed the diabetes bag and Glucogel in the background!

More pictures tomorrow, whatever the weather, of Historic Harwich and general East of England beauty...

30 Days of Beauty and a walk

Beautiful Colchester...

On Monday I was granted a day alone to go for a walk.

Budd took Frank to the zoo and Sev lent me her i-pod.

I'd been feeling a bit blah.

Just aware that the day in day out, hour in hour out and minute in minute out care of a diabetic child has really taken its toll.

I recently saw photos of myself when Frank was just six months old and I look like a different woman.

This year has aged me. Hugely.

How could it not?

So, the lovely people I am lucky enough to share my life with gave me this day.

A stolen day.

I left the house at around ten and was only out for three hours.

In that time I listened to wonderful music, walked in a steady rhythm and looked around me at the sharp blue sky.

I had a green tea in a cafe and read a lovely book about T1D for teenagers by Fibi Ward, herself a teenager, called "No Added Sugar".

I bought Friendship Day gifts and had a salad in another cafe on the way home.

I breathed in.

I breathed out.

I returned home ready to be strong again.

********************************************

My blog is where I focus on the positive. It would be wrong, however, not to be honest too and say that I still cry, am still horrified and still feel a surge of relief EVERY MORNING when Frank pads into out room.

HE'S ALIVE!!!

The he jumps on my head and says "Mummy, you be the digger and I'll be the dumper truck" before proceeding to move all my bedside books from the floor to the bed and back again.

Noisily.

I struggle to maintain my equilibrium and to join in when I am so tired, or more specifically before the tea has been supped.

However, I never lose that feeling of recognising who the teacher really is of the two of us when he comes in with his mussed up hair and beautiful morning face forcing me to face a new day with no cynicism but just joy in the moment.

30 Days of Beauty

"without knowing it, man composes his life according to the rules of beauty, even in the moments of deepest hopelessness"
Milan Kundera

This quotation has been up in my kitchen for a decade, and before that it was up in my classroom where it helped me greatly in the teaching of large groups of 11-16 year olds! I have been looking at it a lot these past couple of days with the 30 Days of Beauty on my mind.

The sun hit a few things this morning and made breakfast a warm and glowing affair.

Whilst I was chopping the fruit for the whole family to munch on Frank busied himself making a "breakfast a-chine" (he doesn't put the "m" on "machine" yet and pronounces it rather like a small sneeze; too cute) using all his shells and stones from his nature table. By the time the tea and muesli and toast all arrived the table looked very splendid.

I struggled over the past couple of days to find beauty and yesterday was difficult as we had a hospital appointment for a simple blood test for Frank.

There are suspicions that his thyroid might be having problems.

It went rather traumatically and he cried a lot. He was so brave but clearly felt rather violated and I just don't know how to help him with that other than all the stuff I am already doing.

Lots of hugs and love and reassurance.

He said he didn't want people to see him crying and feeling so bad.

That just about broke my heart.

And yet he bounced back and was marauding around the house yesterday evening wearing his "I've been super brave" sticker from the "hopsital" with pride.

Lots of people tell me how resilient children are.

I can see it in motion in all its beauty in my gorgeous little boy.

Maybe they should do stickers for parents too?

But what would they say?

30 Days of Beauty

A short post this evening as I am fighting a heavy cold.

My weapons of choice are green tea, oatcakes and Manuka honey.
Oh, and knitting.

Sounds so wholesome but we had a huge lunch out at a friend's house today and I am still full of roast potatoes and crumble.

Oooh, and chilli chocolates.

Other news:

I have signed up for a great project.

30 Days of Beauty.

It is the brainchild of Erin at http://www.bluebirdbaby.typepad.com/.

The idea is to find beauty for thirty days and to photograph it.

What a great idea for February!

So, watch this space for some beautiful images of the world here in the East of England. If my camera helps me out.

The above photo is from last February in Dorset. Such great light came into the kitchen in the mornings.