Easter break part one (the sea)

Hey there lovelies!

Hope you’ve had a nice and relaxing Easter break, for those celebrating Easter, or just a beautiful plain weekend for the rest of you.

I’ve talked to you before about my paradise, in my very first ever post in the creative blogosphere, but also again here, describing it in its autumnal glory and here, at the very end of winter. So this is going to be the moment, when my paradise first appears in its best outfit, the spring green one!

As almost every year, the Frog’s family spends quite some days off work during the Easter period, taking full advantage of the two weeks school break and making a splendid bridge between Christmas and summer holidays. The break is split into two, first part being…my paradise.

A small house built in the early ’30s amidst a big orange (and lemon and grapefruit) tree croft, a house where my dad and his two sisters were born and grew up, a house where I spent some of my childhood summers together with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents, a house that hosted the big party celebrating my graduation from the university. All in all, a house that I love to the end of the rainbow and back <3

We arrived on Thursday morning to meet a glorious sunny weather; T-shirt mode on, jeans, sneakers, follow up gardening to fill in some winter gaps of the pots and flower beds, cushions and tablecloths for the outdoor furniture were laid happily once again, the sky was blue…

and I was taking stupid pictures of every corner of our yard!

The photo below is the corner where my grandma used to sit, when she was old, for hours long every day. Back then, next to this chair was a bush of luscious green basil, spreading its aroma all over the place. It was in front of her sitting on this chair that I danced for three hours in a row back in 1984  “Big in Japan” (remember the song?), during an early afternoon when everyone else was taking a nap and I just wanted to steam out my ten year old crush with this song 🙂

The days have passed quickly and merrily, with friends and family coming and going, quick lunches prepared on spot and glasses full of cold coffees joining the spring parade, with afternoon naps in my bedroom (I didn’t even bother to straighten the bed cover before taking the photo…)

and sun, oh so much sun!

But of course there was also crochet. There is always crochet. The last stitches of the “Green green grass of home” shawl were worked sitting outside with no sun cream on (and my mum shouting about photo aging!). The Scheepjes whirl yarn was so nice to work with and the “lavender cake shawl” pattern of Annelies Baes a pure summery lacy delight.

I had of course not forgotten to pack my yarny stuff with me when leaving the big city, along came the blocking mats and pins. So on Good Friday morning, I woke up early, Mr. BeardMan had already left for a brief mountain trekking, the Little Misses of the pond were still asleep, I soaked the shawl into cold water with some mild detergent and carefully pinned it to dry. A towel was called to fill in the minus one blocking mat gap!

It was a matter of a few hours and the blocked shawl was ready.

I asked Little Miss no 1 to model it and to my greatest surprise she said yes… Teens, always unpredictable!

Next day’s highlight was the walk to the sea. I may have a crush on green colour lately, but blue is an eternal love.

The beach was filled with loads of tiny purple flowers, which I’ve never spotted before- tried to capture their beauty, but no photo could do them justice.

And we sat at our favourite beach cafe, just opened for the summer season, and another cold coffee was in the menu, sunglasses on, the new shawl on my shoulders (proud and happy!).

Saturday gave its place to Easter Sunday and the traditional celebration with the outdoor family lunch, red eggs, grilled meat and lots of ice cream and chocolate!

As Sunday went by and the lunch was over, over was also the afternoon laziness of the day, the sun decided to give its place to some gloomy sky along with the most magical light falling through the leaves of the trees. And as all house errands were already done, I knew well that the time has come for…

a brand new project 🙂

It’s still a work in progress, this time destined to land to the hands of a dear friend, who has asked for a blue, light, summer shawl.

Now that the first part of our Easter break is over and the sea days have given their place to some mountain ones, I’m still working on it, thinking what kind of border I’m going to choose. I’m almost sure I’ve already made up my mind and I’ll show it to you finished, when the ‘Easter break-part two (the mountains)’ comes to its end.

Froggy kisses from the pond

xxx