LATELY

The last few weeks knocked me out. Eating a little too much, drinking a little too much, a sore throat and then a cold. It made me a little quieter and a little more tired. It also made me spend 3 days curled up on the sofa with a book, this book, and now this book. There have been lots of vegetables, mainly root vegetables, it is still February after all. Sigh. There has been soup, chicken poached with lentils, mince cooked with grated roots, vegetarian haggis (sorry Scotland) with mashed swede, celeriac and potato. There have been salads of squash, beetroot, wild rice and quinoa. On Saturday there was leftover squash with tiny pieces of fried chorizo. This all feels right for now. Hearty but healthy.

But it feels like there is some light on the horizon. At 5pm, when I leave work, it is no longer pitch black. It may still have snowed this week and last week we had a day that included rainbows, sun, hail, thunder, rain, sleet and snow but that tiny bit of light is a sign that I can start to think about Spring and Summer.

And, in that vein, I've signed up to do the Moonwalk. For the third time. Last time I felt okay afterwards so fingers crossed that this year we'll have a dry night and another beautiful 3am sunrise. Now I just need to decide how to decorate the bra, I feel like I may have peaked too soon with 2009's lovely felt watermelons with shiny black beads for seeds.

Then, a week after the Moonwalk, when my leg muscles have recovered, we will be boarding a plane (actually three planes) to go to Seattle, Portland and New York. I'm excited. Very excited. I'll probably be boring people with just how excited I am for the next four months. Sorry. I'll try to keep it to a minimum round here but feel free to start bombarding me with suggestions.

No recipe today, again, although I do recommend frying a little spicy chorizo and stirring it through some roasted squash. Instead here are just a few things for now, for these days of looking forward to Spring.

Great House by Nicole Krauss. I loved The History of Love.

Cakes

Moccasins

Zebra by Beach House. It gets stuck in my head every time I hear it.

Tree blossom, a first glimpse of early pink flowers on an otherwise grey day.