Wordsworth in the Back Garden

I didn't notice the earthquake that apparently shook most of England (and some of Wales) in the wee small hours of the morning. But I did notice this morning that several of the daffodils in our back garden had fallen over. I don't think the two incidents are related. I brought the fallen soldiers inside, where they lend a springlike air to the mantel.

I never thought about it (and I'm not particularly "in tune" with the natural world) but I strongly associate flowers with particular places. These flowers seem so English to me; I can't look at them without thinking of Wordsworth wandering lonely as a cloud. I had a similar thing with the lilacs around my neighbourhood in Lawrence when I lived there. These flowers are so different from the ones I associate with spring and summer in Texas, the bluebonnets, wisteria, Queen Anne's lace, mimosa blossoms, azaleas, etc.

P.S. Ack! I've just made myself massively homesick by visiting the Texas Highways website in search of images of wildflowers. I am definitely going to have to have barbecue this weekend...

More Style Views

I have now had extensive conversations with Matthew re Tilda Swinton, whom we have decided we like very much. She's so willowy. Also, as Matthew points out, she sort of looks like David Bowie (a can't-miss move in his book). We give her weird Oscars dress two thumbs up!

(These images are from the BBC's article on Oscar dresses. Nice overview, but I wish people would stop trying to make me look at Cameron Diaz. Enough already!)

My New Style Crush

I didn't see the Oscars. For some reason, we have stayed up to watch the Super Bowl the past two years, but neither of us even considered staying up for the Oscars. However, thanks to the wonder of the internet, I know who won what and, more importantly, have seen lots of pretty dresses (and some not so pretty ones).

I am totally entranced by Diablo Cody's dress! For one thing, the press here hasn't had very large pictures of her, so I had to do some actual research to see the whole thing and even then, I haven't quite got my head around it. I found lots of other pictures of her throughout the award season and, I gotta say, I love this woman's wardrobe! It seems to consist of black, cardigans, funky jewelry, touches of red and leopard print and, almost exclusively, flats! She wore flats to the Oscars! I can so get behind that! I am not completely sold on the tattoo, but I like that she shows it off. Maybe everyone in the States is in love with her and she's been named the official new Style Icon of the nation and is getting her own TV show, but in the UK press all I've read is how she's very clever and talented. Which is good, but these clothes demand some attention too.

I've read that she has lots more films in development, so with any luck, we'll all have many opportunities to enjoy her red carpet style. In future, when people complain about the entertainment industry, I will point to this...

Cross One Item off the List - Forever

Well, I finished the "test dress" from my to-do list. Because I'm not the best seamstress, I have implemented a policy of using cheap fabric to try out a new pattern to see if I can figure out the directions and/or if it looks okay on. Turns out, I can make this one. However, after seeing how it looks on, I no longer want to. Puffy sleeves - yuck!

I've got the sewing bug now, so I'm going to try to make a pattern from a dress I do like and which seems very easy. The operative word there is "seems" - I'm sure this could easily break my head. Fingers crossed, though, that it will really easy and super-cute and I'll create an entire new spring/summer wardrobe in a matter of hours. Uh, yeah.

And, no, there will never be a picture of the test dress.

Could it please be springtime now?

I know a fair number of my posts contain some sort of complaint about the weather, but I gotta say it is seriously getting me down! We have had a lot of fair, sunny days lately, so it could definitely be worse. There are beautiful daffodils in the back garden, which I can see from the kitchen window and thus enjoy without having to go outside. And we've cranked the heat up so that our flat is generally warm as an oven. But I still pretty much feel like hibernating for about 6 weeks. Short of actually sleeping until spring, I've coped by drinking lots of tea (I switch to decaf in the evening or my kidneys would fall out), curling up on the sofa under my beloved brown blanket (with Matthew whenever possible), eating something hot and/or spicy and watching TV. Lots of TV.

(An aside: We're having an ongoing debate at the moment about DVDs that Matthew got for his birthday, The Office: An American Workplace, and The Flight of the Conchords. They are both really funny sitcoms and we whizzed through the first DVD of each very quickly. Neither of us wants them to be over, but he is putting off watching any more as long as possible, while I think we could watch maybe 2 episodes a night and still draw out the fun. So far, he counters my suggestion whenever it comes up by distracting me with other shows, usually Skins (trashy teenage soap to which I am strangely, guiltily and utterly age-inappropriately attracted) or Scrubs.)

Anyway, I can't seem to get much done these days, apart from the aforementioned tea-drinking and sofa-sitting, but if I did have any energy or get-up-and-go, I wish I were doing things like this:

- cute dolls, stuffed things and embroidery like Wee Wonderfuls.

- pretty much everything Angry Chicken does. I hope I'm as cool as her when I grow up.

- making a really cool, intensely detailed dollhouse. Possibly not for children, just for me.

- doing vintage pattern embroidery on everything I own. I've never done much embroidery but I love love love the way it looks. Instead, I usually try to coerce my sister (who has given me beautiful cross-stitched presents in the past) into making something for me. See how I just tried to flatter her into doing more right there? I don't know why I think she will have time (with a full time job and a baby) when I don't (with no job and two very self-sufficient cats), but maybe she'll make the time.

- all the other projects of my own that I've been putting off (re-doing the chair, painting the shelves that Matthew is (slowly) hanging in the bedroom, finishing a "test" dress I started with a new pattern, making the summer dress I planned for last summer, reading all the books I got for Christmas, etc, etc)!

I am SO looking forward to spring - I imagine I will have boundless energy and will do EVERYTHING on my list and more.

It could happen.

Mid-February Food Fest

Darn that groundhog! Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter and apparently that applies to England too, 'cause although the sun is shining, it is COLD around here these days. This is seriously discouraging me from leaving the house and seriously encouraging me to cook and bake like crazy. In fact, the only time I really want to leave the house is to get ingredients for my next food item. Fortunately, there is a grocery store across the street from our flat that seems that have everything I could possibly want. I have honestly never not been able to find something there, except a full-size canister of Cheese and Onion Pringles. For some reason, they only have the fun size. And they don't have fresh meat - but they do carry free-range eggs and three different types of olive by weight. Anyway, I'm cooking because a) it cheers me up to make nice things for Matthew (and me) to eat, and b) the oven makes the kitchen all toasty and warm!

Lately I've made:
banana bread
spinach lasagna
brownies
burritos in a bowl (a name I made up for rice, black beans, taco-spiced chicken, guacamole, salsa and cheese - essentially nachos over rice instead of tortilla chips)
a couple of full English breakfasts (sausages, scrambled eggs, toast, grilled tomatoes)
jambalaya
more brownies

We've had jambalaya several times in the last couple of weeks because I still have celery left over from the first batch and we don't eat it in or with anything else. I tried to get Matthew to eat it with hummus or peanut butter, but he wouldn't go for it. Even though we still have plenty left, I think we're reaching the end of the current jambalaya cycle. Matthew has requested more Mexican food, so that will probably be the next thing we get into. For some reason, nachos seem like warm weather food to me, so we'll probably have quesadillas and more of my "burritos in a bowl". Then I'm sure it will be back to curry and possibly soups or stews. I'm also debating whether to make a chocolate pound cake or another "birthday" style cake this week. I've decided we're just going to have to keep chocolate in the house constantly until it warms up. I just hope spring gets here before I weigh 300 pounds...

Valentine's Day

Love is all around, etc. and we’re celebrating in our own way. We aren’t having a traditional date night with dinner and dressing up, as Matthew is working tonight. Last night we exchanged cards, had a lovely dinner of lasagna, champagne and chocolate truffles while watching not one, but two episodes of Torchwood, the Dr Who spin-off series. This afternoon we went to a matinee of Cloverfield, which is not a traditionally romantic movie, but we did clutch at each other several times in terror. Matthew gave me a sweet little bouquet of roses. Tonight I am sending him to work with a dinner of leftover lasagna and heart-shaped brownies, while I’ll stay home and watch TV.

Here are pictures of the cards we exchanged. Obviously, we went in different directions for expressing our feelings:

I made the brownies from another Hershey's recipe. Super easy and quick, and I think they turned out to be quite cute. I ate the off-cuts, so I already know they're very tasty.