How do you say farewell ...

How do you say farewell, good luck and you can do it, to a very dear friend who is taking an extremely brave step towards recovery from her addiction by entering a detox programme?

Such a relief when she announced her decision, but guilt from us, her close friends, for not persuading her to do this months ago.

We just want our friend to start enjoying life and her family again, to see her laughing and to be able to moan about her boundless energy like we used to do!

Words seemed trivial at the weekend as emotions ran high, so the best way I could think of sending her away with a smile, was this little posy of early Spring flowers from the garden.

What has happened to tomatoes?

The past few weeks have proved disastrous for buying tomatoes.  Is it just my choice of shop and variety or is it a bad time of year to find anything with a bit of flavour, a decent texture and that will last a couple of days.

My last purchase from Tesco, five bold red tomatoes on the vine, have all ended up in the bin..  The first was rejected for the cotton wool like taste, then all the rest grew whiskers and began to 'weep'.

My annoyance on seeing the white furry mold growing on the final one in the cupboard, soon changed when I saw the comical side to my last tomato in the basket!

I just couldn't resist ripping up a little piece of avocado skin and giving him a character - any ideas for a name?!!

Is there any better feeling?

Is there any better feeling than cooking up a feast to welcome home your little Darlings.  

Major Darling flies in early tomorrow morning after a magical holiday and the only way I can curb my excitement of seeing her again and hearing all the news, is to cook up something tasty to serve up on their arrival.

The wind is howling, sleet is doing its best to chill this dark February afternoon, but the radio is blasting out some great old sing-along tunes, the cats sense anticipation and I have the English breakfast quiche, big bowl of fruit and yummy chocolate cake to greet the weary travellers after a long flight through the night!