1. Warm ciabatta for lunch. Butter. Cheese. Olives. Yum.

2. It’s become a joke now, for all of us, how the black and white springer always drops a stick at John’s feet. Today’s offering is a good size – 20cm or so and a good weight to throw – not like last week’s soggy nubs and full branches.

3. Working textures into clay. I don’t have any plans for this class – just a desire to experiment and play.

1. More sewing and podcasts today. (My sewing pile got rather out of control in 2014.) The cotton for the hem disappears completely into the fabric. On the next pair of trousers, it’s a bit more visible but my line is straight enough that it doesn’t really matter.

2. The sweet potato looks a glorious warm gold until I add carrots to the plate, then it looks washed out. It still tastes delicious though.

3. Lily’s mouth ever so slowly falls open as John tickles her ear.

1. The cats follow me down to the chickens. Kaufman and Strange watch small holes for prey and Tilda leaves a paw print in the ice on the fence. The frozen glitter on leaves sparkles in the sun.

1b. A clutch of clean eggs in the nest box. The chickens are very, very slowly beginning to pick up their laying pace again. I sprinkle veg scraps, seeds and stale bread in the run for them.

2. I sit badly, curled around the dog. The pack missed each other yesterday.

2b. A squirrel creeps out along the thin branch and as we watch, a second follows then a third. They take turns grooming each other in the sunshine then disappear back inside the holly bush.

3. Perfectly flaky croissants. The familiar smell from so long ago.

1. It’s been a long time since we’ve had channa & puree (a light but spicy chickpea & potato curry, served with fried chapatti) for breakfast. The tea that follows tingles on our tongues from the residue spices.

2. We help D & E move into their new house. It involves going to the hell that is Ikea on a Saturday and many, many trips back and forth – if we’d drawn our route on a map with a felt tip, the pen would have easily soaked through and torn the paper – but it’s nice to see their new home coming more and more together with each van load.

2b. We’re tired and distracted, and D directs us onto the wrong side of the motorway. Unfortunately the next junction is a long one – the one right across the moors, past the farm in the middle of the lanes and into Lancashire – but we get to enjoy the mist on the hill tops, and coming back, a stock-photo soft sunset and the moon, heavy and full, directly in front of us above the road. It also prompts D to utter the phrase “the junction is just over the horizon”, which tickles me all day.

2c. A pizza power-snack just as we are beginning to wilt.

2d. I start to lose it on the second to last leg of our journey – even though we’re finally back on a very familiar stretch of road. My mind flows off on a memory of something from 20 years ago and when I return to the present, for just a few seconds, I have no idea where I am, which town I’m in or even when we exist. It doesn’t feel particularly scary though, more like a fun adventure.

3. We all want to go home but the sky is so clear that we can’t help but stare at the stars.

4. John laughs at the idea of having 25 dogs in our bed and laughs even harder when I reduce them to “one hundred hoofing paws”.

1. I take advantage of the clear (and extended) dining table to catch up on some machine sewing. It’s so much easier to pin things with room to stretch out.

1b. I heart my zipper foot. It’s exactly the tool I need for the job.

2. Above the other herbs and spices, the freshness of the lime juice keeps catching my attention.

3. Lily wriggles on her back, waving her legs in the air, inviting belly tickles and demanding attention.

1. John and I work together on the fry up. Everything comes together well.

1b. We make a pot of tea at the last minute and it results some of the best cups of tea we’ve all had in a long time.

2. Later, after our friends have left, John and I decompress. We disappear into our own corners of the internet, or other pursuits: alone, but still snuggled together.

3. Cold sausages slathered in soured cream & chive dip.

4. Tilda sits on the raised area near the kitchen, a silhouette of a lovely round cat shape.