Flatbreads & Germinations
a March round-up
Hello Coddiwomplers!
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday weekend. It certainly looks more spring-like outside now with newborn lambs in the fields and colour starting to burst on to our landscape. We just need the weather to catch up and stop raining, I’m worried we’re all going to end up with Trench Foot! At least the clocks have changed and we can now welcome the longer days - YAYY!
March was a fairly quiet month for me really, but a highlight was that I was contacted by an old friend of my parents way back from when they were first married in 1962 and lived in Guildford, Surrey. Dad worked for a local printing company there and set up a motor club with fellow colleagues and car enthusiasts. My parents remained involved with it until they relocated to Kent in 1965 or 1966 (before I was born) Sadly they all lost touch over the years.
This particular chap had searched for Dad online, hoping to meet up for some reminiscing, and found his way to the Tunbridge Wells Motor Club website where he made contact with one of the Committee Members, who passed his number on to me. To be honest, I was unsure about contacting him at first, I didn’t know what to say.
In the end and we had a lovely conversation and it transpired that Dad had drawn a pen and ink picture of this man’s competition car and he still had it hanging, pride of place, on his study wall. He sent me a picture of it, he’s had it beautifully framed and I can see that it’s very treasured. I was so touched that Dad’s handiwork was still loved after all this time and that he and Mum hadn’t been forgotten.
The month wasn’t without its Silly Moments either, namely the following conversation between me and Tim:
First of all I’ll set the scene: Tim walks to the shop to get some ingredients to cook dinner that night. While he’s gone I start my morning exercise and Yoga routine…
I’m upstairs, upside down attempting a wobbly Downward Facing Dog, with my fleece rucked up around my ears (I know, not a pretty thought!) and I hear him come back and shout up from the kitchen:
“I got us some blackberries as well.”
“But we need Blueberries, not blackberries. We don’t eat blackberries, why did you buy blackberries?!” I shout through my fleece which is covering my mouth and some of my ears.
“What’s wrong with you? I’ve bought us some more blackberries!” comes a bewildered reply.
“But we don’t eat blackberries” (I’m still upside down at this point, and beginning to run out of patience)
Tim has moved a bit nearer the stairs now:
“What are you talking about? I didn’t say blackberries; I said Flatbreads!”
All of a sudden my already wobbly Downward Facing Dog slumps into a floor facing belly splat and a fit of the giggles. End of Yoga Practice.
Just a normal conversation in the Archer/Jennings household! Laughter is the best medicine and mood lifter, and I’m very glad to say that we laugh together a lot!
Moving on..
As I’d enjoyed Birbuary, I thought I’d have a go at drawing some of our wild animals during March. I used coloured pencils and graphite pencils, and again, as you can see, some worked while some didn’t. I also discovered that fur takes an awful lot longer than feathers! I didn’t manage one a day, but one every few days was doable.
I think this month’s project might be wild flowers as I really don’t know much about them and can just about identify the difference between a Primrose and a Buttercup! I aim to learn a new one every couple of days, so I’ll update you next month on how it went.
Later this month I will be in the midst of a Tulip Festival (yes really, you did read that right!) I’m very privileged to have a part-time job at Pashley Manor Gardens in East Sussex and their flagship event is a Tulip Festival. Around 45,000-50,000 bulbs were planted over the winter to provide a spectacular display mid-April for around two weeks. Visitors arrive from far and wide to see them, coach loads of them! My role during this time is to man the ‘phone in the office every day. I get some weird and wonderful questions as you can imagine, so I shall make a note of the best ones and share them with you next month!
I’m also chuffed to say that some of my “Shine Your Light” sunflower cards will be available to buy in the shop there during the season for £2.50 each. These ones are going to raise money for St Michael’s hospice in Hastings, which is a cause very close to the hearts of Pashley’s owners, Mr & Mrs Sellick. I love to raise funds for hospices (my book “From Cancer To Coddiwomple” raises funds for St Barnabas House in Worthing, West Sussex), so this fits in perfectly with me.
Tim & I are also going to squeeze in a minitrip to the Cotswolds before Tulip Fever starts, which we’re looking forward to.
Whoops, that was actually quite a long read for what I said was a quiet month! Therefore I shall leave you in peace now, thank you so much for sticking with this until the end! I really appreciate you being here and I hope that I have raised a few chuckles along the way.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy month and I look forward to seeing you again in May!
Happy coddiwompling!
Much love,
Wendy
PS I’m germinating! And as this is about as far as my maternal instincts go, I’m pretty impressed with my first batch of Sweet Peas!
