Three Beautiful Things

1. On the far side of the garden over the road, a hazel tree is shaking its catkins. 2. A man across the street carries a tiny puppy. He puts it in his bag as he is goes through a door with a 'no dogs' sticker on it. 3. While I am pushing her on the swing, Madeline leans backwards to ask if I have any children. I tell her no. So she asks if I am pregnant.

To everyone who reads through feed reader: I've been messing around with the feed for this site. This is the best version from now on, please.

1. I go to rescue my hat, which I left in the classroom last night. I like lost property conversations like: 'Has a hat been handed in?' 'Is it from FatFace?' 'Yes'. 2. I listen to the Litopia podcast and they are rude about misery memoirs. They invent their own titles, including Mummy Took My Fingers and Daddy is Mummy's Mummy and I Was an Accident. Mine would be: A Child Called Clare-Robert-Rose-Little-Whatsyername. 3. In search of my art things, I clear three crates of junk into one crate of stuff I want and need.

1. Waking up to a frosty, foggy morning after several mild days. As the morning goes on, the mist burns off and a line of drops appears on the wire outside my window. I like sharp days because it feels like a proper winter with harsh suffering, instead of all this 'Isn't it mild' nonsense. 2. Taking a nap on the sofa after lunch. 3. The soft crunk that a good quality car door makes when I close it.

1. I doze off in the sunshine and when I wake up, Nick has mended my computer and dug out some quotes riddiculing early flight. 2. Watching TV while filling my hands with a mindless task (organising my sewing basket by winding left-over embroidery cottons on to bobbins and sorting them by colour so I can see exactly what I've got). 3. Looking forward all day to going to the cinema. We went up to Trinity to see Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle . It's a film in Gaelic about a boy whose grandfather hijacks his life with stories.

1. Ellie and Nick peeking at each other between the rungs of a chair. And reading my favourite book ever to Ellie -- Each Peach Pear Plum. 2. Daniel is a lovely, portable size. He loves being picked up and sits cheerfully on my lap taking in the world. 3. Shaking a pan of parboiled potatoes so they make fluffy roasties.

1. Discovering £10 I didn't know I had. 2. Snowdrops peering sleepily out of the ground. 3. Katie and I have a rare evening in together. We spend the time choosing pictures for our calendar -- I know it's almost February, but we're busy people.