Spring Weekend

These days I rarely get two days off together, something I have written about in the past is how sometimes this gets to me as my husband and I can't really go and do anything or go anywhere in just a day without rushing and having to be back before too late. This week though I was lucky enough to swap with someone, it was mutually beneficial, so we got two days off and headed home for a little visit and for David to have a driving assessment as he starts lessons again in a few weeks when we return during our holiday.

We didn't arrive until quite late on Monday evening and had a very nice beef casserole cooked by my dad for tea. The journey down wasn't very good, visibility was poor at the best of times, all that concentration followed by a little glass of cider was enough for me to get to sleep fairly early.

Tuesday morning we woke to beautiful sunshine outside. David had his assessment in the afternoon so in the morning we headed to the allotments to see how progress is coming along. The last time I went it was a freezing cold February afternoon not long after they had taken over so it was nice to see how it's all starting to grow, especially now they have the greenhouse up. Recently I've only been using my kit lens with my Nikon so decided for this weekend to just use my 35mm f1.8G lens to be a little bit different and also to justify buying it last year as I've hardly used it and the results are always pretty good. I'm not really into the practical hands on dirty side of gardening and growing but I like to take photos so I have given myself the title of official allotment photographer. Luckily there were lots of interesting things to take pictures of and the weather being good was an added bonus. 

The afternoon was spent taking my picture of Henry to be framed, more on this when it comes back in May and visit my brother's new house up in Cwmbran. Mum and I popped in to see Becks with cake and flowers, I really like their new residence, tucked up off the main road surrounded by trees with lovely mountain views. I'm also a little envious of the Jacuzzi bath, would love one of those. After we got home I pottered about in the garden for a couple of hours, taking photos of the dogs and anything else that caught my eye. 

David did well in his assessment, roll on May! In the evening we headed back up to Cwmbran to see James bearing gifts of the new Hummingbird Baking book and a few baking basics to get started as well as a few tins of his favourite beer. We chatted for a couple of hours before we went home to a delicious roast pork dinner, I also tried a new cider, Kopparberg Naked Apple. I'm not a fan of their pear cider but I really enjoyed this one, lovely refreshing flavour, the perfect end to the day.

Today the weather closed in again and we didn't end up going anywhere but it's not long until we will be back, hopefully with some better weather so I can get shooting some film too. We stopped off in Waitrose in Abergavenny on the way back for some lunch, I love their selection of products, especially the cupcakes and some of the home decorations. If only all weekends were as nice...