a few things that are making me smile today:

- all of your sweet comments about the cloud bolero pattern, I’m soooo excited to see what you do with it.

- the awesome package I received today from Janine, as an angel gift for sp8. Knowing that she wasn’t obliged in any way to give this makes it all the more special. Inside was this pretty scarf - which makes me want to knit all sorts of long skinny scarfs with 3d decorations.

a couple of skeins of rowanspun 4 ply, a yarn I adore, in a most pretty colour. I’m thinking either gloves for this, or trim on a jumper of some kind. We shall see.

ginger, that I’ve been munching away at. I’m planning on making some hazelnut and ginger cookies with this, but unless I close the box soon they’ll just be hazelnut cookies. (can you spot all the boxes in the background).

there was also a necklace, that I forgot to photograph and a cute card. Thankyou Janine :)

- this pear and blueberry cake I made yesterday, so good and moist. I’m excited about having a kitchen to myself soon and being able to bake without cleaning up after people. I bake a lot anyway, and it’s nice being at home with my family to appreciate it for a while. I was thinking while I was making this, about how I bake. I’ve been making cakes since I was a toddler, and had a basic sponge recipe memorised by the time I was 4 or 5. But I rarely use recipes. For this cake I threw some flour in a bowl, added the fruit and some sugar, mixed some oil, milk, eggs and honey in a jug and poured it in. I didn’t measure anything and that’s pretty much how I always bake. Of course things don’t always turn out the same, but they’re almost always good. I was thinking however, that if I did measure and note down then I’d not only be able to reproduce the best stuff but I’d be able to share it here too. And that’s a good thing, isn’t it?

(an appalingly bad photo - the white balance was messed up, and resulted in very greenish looking cake, oops)

- stripes in the round, that spiral instead of jogging. Sooo pleased with this.

- the fact that as I was writing this post, my mum called me for dinner. It’s certainly nice being cooked for - not to mention the delights of a fully stocked fridge and larder.

- that while uploading photos from my camera I found the pictures from Sunday’s end of festival fireworks display. I’d forgotten all about them.

- I’ll leave you with a view from what will be my bedroom window for about the next six weeks.