The best of winter

Went a bit retro primary school on the weekend when tidying up the lounge room turned into fiddling with things, as it often does. Everything was taken off the mantelpiece and we introduced a bit of a nature-table feel to it. (The wooden cow was made by The Child in her technology and design class at school.)

It's lovely at night with the fire blazing below and the candles twinkling. It's a work in progress, as I can see it needs another element, which I'm working on with some wool and wire. If all goes well, I'll post a pic later. If all doesn't go well, I'll forget I ever mentioned it.

As we're heading into the third of the six coldest weeks of winter, it's fun to embrace the weather rather than fight it. We sat in front of the fire yesterday afternoon, cups of tea, warm milk, freshly baked cake, Cat snoring. Perfect afternoon.

The nature table approach (a rather fancy term for leaving sticks, stones and leaves lying about) is starting to encroach upon other parts of the house too. We visited the house some friends have just bought on the weekend and came home with a bunch of rosemary from an enormous bush that grows in their garden. I love rosemary used in a vase just for how it looks but don't often get my hands on big enough bunches.

The rosemary love doesn't stop there either as when it starts to dry out we'll either use it to cook with or throw it on the fire. Smells good, looks good, tastes good. Is good.