Hello sunshine...

I watched the film Snow Cake recently and discovered the song 'Hello Sunshine'. I can't often make sense of new songs but the lead vocals on this one are deep which suits the frequencies I can hear. I loved the film, Alan Rickman was absolutely heart breaking. In fact I watched it twice, I liked it that much.

M reports that the ticket collector on his daily commute to London this week has been especially cheerful, announcing that he would be along shortly for tickets, passes, bribes... I'm sure it's the appearance of sunshine that brings out the best in everyone.

I've been taking it all in from a chair by the patio doors, looking at a magnificent cherry blossom that will soon shower the garden with pink confetti. It's not ours, it's absolutely huge and in just one windy day we will get the majority of the pink stuff, not that I mind.

The cat seems to like the whole sitting down regime that I'm under. As long as the dogs are sunbathing on the deck she sidles up to my chair, does the whole 'shall I or shan't I?' routine, eventually jumps up, takes half an hour to get comfortable and then stays for a very short amount of time. I kind of prefer the daft dog thing where they instantly notice that you've sat down, bound over with a hopeful look on their face, leap up, give a contented sigh and snore on your lap for as long as it takes for your legs to go to sleep.

A dodgy knee hasn't got in the way of cookie making this week. I hopped and hobbled gathering all the ingredients, mixer and bowls, then managed to do the whole thing, cut the baking parchment and get them in the oven all without leaving my stool. Just took a little planning!

This week's square for the Last Dance on the Beach/in the Rain CAL is crochet cables! Argh! I knew cables would take some concentration and patience. I did a small section, realised I was one stitch out, which made my bobbles noticeably off centre, ripped the whole lot out and started again. After that I was much more careful, only ripping back a row 8 because I misplaced a stitch after the Fpdtr's. If you're day dreaming about summer being almost here then it's easy to misplace the sdc's after the Fpdtr's. I told M that and he totally agreed! On the second square I decided to put a non locking stitch marker in the stitch before I completed any Fpdtr's, ie. Miss two stitches, place marker, then complete the Fpdtr's and then carry on with sdc's. It's surprisingly time saving not having to check behind the front post stitches to double check where you should be doing the next stitch, not to mention the time saved in ripping back a row after you've got to the end and discovered you are one stitch out.

This is definitely my favourite square so far even if it does need to be made without any distractions, e.g. TV, family members, dogs chasing cats, cats chasing birds, cats murdering mice. Ugh. I've completed the four squares and it's hugely tempting at this stage to do a few extras here and there to put by for an extra, perhaps smaller, blanket. On the other hand, four seems to be quite a well thought out number which stops short of the boredom of repetition settling in.