Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. -Doug Larson

Things I love:
The April daffodils along the banks of the Ness and in the churchyard beside our flat, above • sunsets at 10pm • breezy sunny afternoons • the scent of freshly-mown grass • the first outdoor glass of wine of the year • anticipating all our summer visitors
We made the trek back to Shetland for the Folk Festival during the May bank holiday weekend. Amazing music from around the world, and the evenings ended at dawn with 'sessions' through the night. The pic above has musicians from four countries jamming on a stairwell at 3am - these Shetlanders are mad. Seriously. Check out Le Vent du Nord, one of the best live shows I've ever seen. The other highlight was watching two of the guys from Chinese band Hanggai in a 3am session with American band Brother Mule - mixing up American folk rock with Chinese two-string banjo and the lead singer's wailing whilst wearing a tool belt with two water bottles filled with beer. Shocking.

Talking of shocking, the newest American treat...
'Cause pancakes and sausage on a stick just wasn't enough. (image from the Jimmy Dean website, take a look if you dare)

Which leads me nicely to one of the biggest obsessions, food. Food we're loving this month (homemade by me or the mr): gorgonzola gnocchi • Italian spiced salmon • blueberry, mango, strawberry and orange smoothies • spinach salad with feta, oranges, avocado and dried cranberries • Yogi 'throat coat' tea • Matt's soon-to-be-famous bruschetta • a weird fish we got at Tesco that tasted pretty good baked in lemon juice and garlic • sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream

(which I don't eat as it's too sweet, but it fits with the newest feature on Kramblings: The Cultural Divide, which could be subtitled as 'ways I annoy Matthew on a semi-daily basis'.)
Matt wants his 'check' shirt. This is the one he means, pre-ironing:
Now I call this 'plaid' (as does the manufacturer) but the whole plaid-tartan-check thing is confused in Matthew's mind. Poor thing. The Cultural Divide extends to many things within the DIY and home-related lexicon (washing-up liquid v. dishwashing soap, hoover v. vacuum cleaner, cooker v. stove, etc etc), which I find amusing but annoys the daylights out of Matt. (Evil laugh.) It's a white shirt with a green plaid. Right?

I thought so. Sunset, tonight:
And, finally, our fab new Fermob furniture for our makeshift outdoor patio (really the pavement in front of the flat) also makes a gorgeous writing space for me as I finish yet another rewrite. Proper nesting happening now, folks.
Fab: Delicious:Days • anticipating upcoming travels • Kitsune Noir • lilies • fireplaces • Jon Stewart • studying Italian • our house plants • the library • reading one true sentence that I wrote