Happy Flowery Birthday

My husband's not the spontaneous flower giving type. In fact, I could probably count the number of times he's surprised me with flowers on the fingers of one hand. So I was all the more delighted when he gave me these flowers for my birthday.

As I was "arranging" them (in my own unique way!) it brought back memories of our student days when he presented me with a large bunch of flowers on the morning I set off for my industrial placement in France. I crossed the channel and then drove down to Amiens with a large bouquet in the passenger seat of my elderly Renault 5. It was foggy as only the North East of France can be in January, and to top it all one of my windscreen wipers snapped off.  Those were the days! A heady mix of a lack of responsibility and reckless behaviour.

He also gave me these and a large box of chocolates. I am a lucky woman.

Outside things are perking up.

Camellia in bloom.

Spring bulbs in the grass.

Snowdrops, aren't they lovely?

What they don't tell you in the magazines is that if you are daft enough to try and naturalise bulbs in the dog's favourite spot for chewing sticks then suitable defences will be required to stop them being squashed flat.  Spot the barricades around the snowdrops.

 Someone's looking guilty.

Our prize from the Oh So Vintage Ramsign Giveaway

Before Christmas we took part in a giveaway organised by Ruth at http://sosovintage.blogspot.com.

This is the beautiful house number that we won from Danish company Ramsign. http://ramsign.com/

It's a bit hard to tell from the photo but it's white lettering on a navy background. Our house wall is painted off-white, so I think it will look lovely.

Many thanks to "Oh So Vintage" for organising the giveaway!


When we moved into our home, some years ago, we had a house name but no number.  This was very quaint, but understandably caused some confusion for deliveries, etc. A while ago we were all allocated numbers - to try and fix the problem!

We looked for a number sign that we liked enough to adorn our home with, but without much success. When I saw these traditional style porcelain enamel signs I knew I had found what we were looking for. It was my husband's lucky tweet that was pulled out in the draw.

I should point out that the delay in recieving the sign was entirely our fault. Jonathan was away on business when we got the good news, and as we wanted to peruse and choose together (or at least be in similar time zones) the selection process took a while.

Ramsign were very helpful and efficient to deal with - something we need to aspire to!

I was hoping to have a photo of it in situ - but the snow put a stop to outside DIY this weekend.

No snowy walks for me - thought better of it with my dodgy knee - so I had to enjoy the snow from the comfort of my living room.

What else to do but some comfort baking?