Marching On

March is over...

...but Spring has just begun.

"For now, you're lucky-

across the world, someone loves you hard enough
to sieve a single star from this dark sky."

- 'Oslo', Carol Ann Duffy

(delicious words a friend reminded me of this time last year)

Up, Up

Spring is here to stay now, daylight saving time is bringing me more sunshine and I am finished for the Easter holidays. Finally, I can relax and finally enjoy the Spring fever that was bringing me no end of heart aches last week.


I would like to buy endless copies of this lovely card and hand them out through the city like flowers. I had a lot of work this week and didn't sleep for 43 hours straight and I have never felt my soul soar more than when I was finally free.
My mama once told me I was the girl with kaleidoscope eyes; I know a girl with a kaleidoscope heart. She tells me things I've never heard but always known, and plants my feet in the ground whilst our words go flying. Without her this week, I would have been washed away.


If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.
~Terri Guillemets


Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Learning To Fly

Take and Leave

Maybe it's an adverse reaction to Spring fever and the resulting exhaustion of this busy end to term, but just like almost exactly a year ago, I'd really like to go home.

Humble Fumble

Yarn Owl - Bicycle

I sent one of my sweethearts a recipe recently, and then realised that I've been so busy that my finest culinary achievement of late has been a turkey sandwich. Not counting the apple and blueberry pie with Sarah a week or so ago.


I've missed kicking up a fuss in the kitchen. So I dug out my adorable little copy of "Women's Institute Tea Time Treats" and let my leftovers guide me to a suitable recipe. Namely, coconut biscuits, more sweetly referred to in my mind as coconut sugar cookies.
It's simply equal parts plain flour, sugar, dessicated coconut and margarine, with just enough milk to make a stiff dough. I made them the size of a walnut, squashed flat on the baking tray and popped them in the oven at gas mark 2 (150oC) for about ten minutes, until "pale fawn in colour" as the W.I. ladies so eloquently put it.
They'd be perfect as a treat with coffee, smothered with chocolate spread, with strawberries and cream at a picnic, atop an ice cream sundae or just by the handful. Be warned, they are addictive - I won't be making these again for a while, lest I eat every single last one...

'Parting' by Michael Steven

The late
Sun slowly rising

our ceremony
weakens.

A cigarette becomes
a kiss – a wordless goodbye

you follow

the smoke into your
clothes – you follow the clothes

into your body.

Karakuş

It means 'blackbird' in Turkish. These are the types of things I like to know best - little nuggets of knowledge that tumble out unexpectedly and illuminate your day for a moment.


I've found I have a dimple. Just the one, but I discovered it with what I believe to be a similar excitement to those foreigners from Spain first setting foot on the Americas.
Currently, I am reading six books simultaneously. In the past, I could only ever commit to one, but now I dip in and out of different words like an indecisive paddler at the seaside.
I've been listening to The Drums a lot, not the primal kind that keep you up at night, but the happy-go-lucky New York foursome I'll be seeing alongside Florence + The Machine in May.
February seems forever ago, and I'm not very sorry to see it go. The painfully perfect parts, I'll carry into Spring with me. The rest has been leaped over.

"I personally like the adventure of difference. And what's beauty anyway?"
- Dawn French, Dear Fatty

I've Never Been To Nepal

...but I stole these from someone I know who has.

Codswallop

The Rosie Taylor Project - Lovers or Something Like It




I'm beginning to realise my most interesting, challenging and ultimately fulfilling relationship in life will be with myself.

Sunday Still Life

After the giddy excitement of two birthdays, the happy chaos of an all night party, the delirious exhilaration of a hike to see sunrise...there was nothing better to do than wander the Royal Botanical Gardens and think of growing things, green expanses and the beautiful world around us.

Now You See Me

Take heart! Someone still loves you, whether your name is Boris Yeltsin or not.

Nieman; Keim

I found this article and accompanying photographs by the author when researching for a tutorial about cultural representation through photography, and the ethnographic real. I am also reading "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery. My camera is broken.

Daffodils, My Darling

I went for a St David's Day picnic on Monday, and desperately looked for daffodils. My mum reminded me of the wise words of a friend, who said that flowers make you happy. Daffodils are one of the most cheerful blooms in the world. They smile and nod and remind me of sunshine.



I wore this very skirt today; it makes me think of spring, of light and life coming out of the darkness. It truly is one of my most bargainous and beloved items of clothing.


Spring has not sprung just yet, but I can feel it coming. It lies in wait patiently, coiled under the cold earth and ready to break free. There are crocuses peeping on the edge of the meadows, and the sun is shaking off its cloudy winter clothes.