1. The mystery squash turns out to be a spaghetti squash. I temporarily shoo away the chickens so I can save some seed.

2. The colours in the pan and on the plate.

3. A tweak to the design makes the square considerably neater.

1. Tilda enjoys a hug then heads to the window sill to watch birds. At one point, she ducks down as if she is frightened but when I look out of the window, I see a bird on the gutter just a foot or so away – it was not fear but excitement.

1b. We hug each other with Kaufman in between.

2. I’ve been procrastinating – worried about I’ve picked the wrong colour combination or that the textures will clash, and that it’ll be a waste of a nice hard-to-replace yarn on what I expect to be a “throwaway” practise project. But it warps up well and when I start weaving the contrasting colour, I see they work well together – the warp making the weft more sophisticated, the weft adding shine and variation to the warp. And I come up with a project for the final strip of cloth too.

3. Again, the moon is slight and Venus is bright: this time they’re hanging in a beautifully rich blue sky over Bradford.

3b. The outside is crunchy, the inside perfectly smooth. The smokiness of the chorizo works well with both.

1. One of my long wooden planters – which I made from scrap wood four years ago now but which are still going strong – gets topped with fresh compost. I lay black plastic on top of the neat soil and imagine what beans (or maybe cucumbers?) I’ll grow in there this summer.

1b. A few weeds pulled from a few pots and suddenly things look much tidier.

2. Not done with gardening, I go to the allotment for an hour in the afternoon. I fill a carrier bag with dandelions and bittercress to bring home for the chickens.

3. The thin curve of the moon. Bright Venus nestles close by.

1. John says he thinks it might be a day for pancakes. I concur.

2. As intended while we walk across the top of the old quarry cliffs, Lily’s attention is entirely focused on the treat in John’s hand. She tries to jump for it mid step which makes her look like she’s skipping.

3. A little water before blending transforms the texture of the ginger. The broth is speckled with red and green. Crisply sliced limes.

1. We’re watching the eclipse feed from Kielder but just for a moment, at the peak, the clouds clear enough to see it for real.

2. I dither. An unexpected day in the studio (and I’ve forgotten the stencil for the project that I meant to start) so I flit from one thing to another. I achieve lots of little things and it feels like a year ago when I was working on a dozen things at once.

2b. The broken section isn’t symmetrical but that’s what makes it look interesting.

2c. A short session in the woodwork room and some time sanding at home, and my sticks start to look like proper shuttles. I can’t help stroking them.

3. We swap doggy stories as the hounds wag their tails. His story is sadder but you wouldn’t know it from his dog’s smile. I hear a familiar tone in his voice: a fellow woolly back.

1. It’s too sunny to stay inside. Outside, it’s too warm to work in anything more than a t-shirt.

1b. I give the greenhouse glass a proper wash, not like the slap dash effort I did last year. It looks unbelievably clear afterwards and even with the untidy pots inside, it makes the whole garden that bit nicer.

1c. Repotted plants: cleaned pots, surrounded by fresh soil. Three in a row, eight in a grouping, and two on top of the staging. All ready to grow.

2. Strange takes a wide circle around the dust bathing chickens to reach her own sun worshipping spot on the old metal trunk.

2b. The ginger cat sneaks into the garden to investigate the chickens. It matches the hens colouring perfectly.

2c. I spilled some dry linguini on the floor yesterday so break it into pieces and soak it for the hens. They pick the pieces from the water and hold them aloft like trophies.

2d. From sitting on my chest for morning hugs to a full babyboy cuddle as I’m finishing up in the garden, Kaufman is an amazingly soft chap today.

2e. Tilda mews from under the blanket to let me know she’s made a little fort.

3. A well balanced grown up dinner followed up by a sugartastic childish dessert. Both are yum.