In the kitchen garden . . .

. . . so far this year, the strawberries are looking promising . . .

. . . and the shallots . . .

. . . one of the blueberry bushes (the other two not doing so well) . .

. . . a nice little row of peas . . .

The focus is generally on stuff that is expensive or hard to come by in the shops. So though DH is always keen to grow the perfect carrot, and keeps trying, the main effort goes into things like peas, runner beans, soft fruit, spring cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli / brocolli / broccolli (spelling???) Our front garden conversion into growing beds instead of unused lawn is working well for us.

Study in Blues . . .

. . . cooling down after the excitement of the pinks and reds, green and orange. Clockwise from top left - a member of the forgetmenot family whose name i can't remember(!), ceanothus, fading bluebells, meconopsis (my special plant, eaten by slugs last year, but making a show this year!), lilac, rosemary, thyme, aquilegia, proper forgetmenots.

Colour . . .

. . inspiration in the kitchen. Leftovers the other day . . .

. . . and yesterday's pudding, gooseberry and blueberry crumble (last season's soft fruit harvest from the garden). Green and red again, with a more harmonious effect in the blue bowl and a stronger element of contrast in the green one.

Carrot and potato mash with green bits in (fresh chives and oregano), orange, cream and green again.

Colour collections . . .

. . . always interest me, so here are a couple from the garden, the ever intriguing red and green first - clockwise from top left: a 4 or 5 year old oak tree; a ragged tulip; peony buds; red onions and celery in the frying pan (oops, sorry, from the co-op, not our garden, but the colours interested me); strawberries, ok, from last year, but I needed a 9th pic to make the collage grid; a pelargonium; roses (last year too0; chives; frilly lettuce (that IS this year's!)

And pretty pink - apple blossom 1 and 2; a perennial plant, the grandaughters call it bleeding hearts, but I'm not sure it's right; another pelargonium; clematis; an azalea; a peachy pelargonium; a rhododendron; an anonymous flower.

What to do with cards . . .

 . . . like greetings or thank you cards that you don't want to throw away -----

stitch a signature in them and do something decorative with the ends of the threads. You may have to trim the cards down a little to fit the paper, or cut paper to fit.  I was able to use half A4 by cutting the cards a bit.

Buttonhole stitch along the spine stitches.  Blue and red threads to match the design.

The leftover threads were made into twisted cords and knotted, and the ends frayed into spiky tassels.

. . . and a few more . . .

. . .of the photos from our Upton Heath walk - pussy willow . . .

.. . nice and furry . . .

Why do dandelions count as weeds?  In colour, shape and construction they are just as spectacular as many recognised cultivated flowers.

Celandines need to be in big clumps really but this is the best I could do for now.

And on the way home I snapped this.  We have no idea what was going on here, there's been nothing in the news, but I liked the row of police  cars with the repetition of the patterns and colours!