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.

1. Last Wednesday was hectic; this Wednesday is much quieter and featuring people I like much better. (Though both make me feel like an utter hack.)

1b. Dribbles of glaze – for once, it’s exactly what I want.

2. No longer do dog walks have to take place in the rushed hour before darkness falls. I take Lily around the woods, on one of her favourite loops, in the golden hour instead.

3. I struggle with the telescopes and my glasses, and think the four white dots in a line are an annoying lens flare: they’re not though, they’re four of Jupiter’s moons aligned beautifully for us to see.

3b. The clean heavy beams of the roof. It feels unnatural that there is so much weight above us.

0. We wake up in cosy spoons. It’s lovely but it’s even lovelier that I can slip back asleep again for another hour after John and the dog get up.

1. I call Tilda from the balcony and after a few moments, I see a black flurry on the path in the distance. The blur comes into focus as she approaches and as she rounds the elder tree, she pauses in her dash to say ‘hello! I’m here!’ with a flick up of her tail. She bounces onto the wood store then up the steps, then after a few hours apart (hence the call), sticks herself to me while I carry out my chores.

2. I look to my left and am startled to see cliffs below me: I’d come around the top of the tallest part of the quarry a few minutes earlier and forget that path takes me alongside another drop. The horseshoe of rockface looks beautiful in the low sun.

3. We go to Leeds to see the Tiger Lillies. The first half suffers a little from drops in momentum but we’re never bored: the range of instruments and the creative playing styles means there is always something to watch. The second half picks up and they finish on one of my favourite songs of theirs. A disco ball spins to jolly up their blasphemy even further.

3b. Lily’s tail bangs with delight when she sees it’s us at the door. Later it wags in double speed as she finds her Bonio.

4. While we’re at the theatre my twitter feed is packed with aurora borealis chatter – an exceptional solar storm is afoot so the northern lights will sparkle tonight. We dash home after the gig, bundle Lily into the car and drive north, up to the edge of the Dales. We park on a dark country lane and strain our necks towards the north but it’s too misty to see much, bar the slightest red colouring. We do though see hundreds of stars overhead.

1. Lily’s … poo is more solid than it has been and the number of vile sulphurous gas clouds released from her bum has vastly decreased. It’s odd to call it beautiful but in comparison to the last few days, it certainly is.

2. I take my first weaving project off the loom. I check whether its edges are straight and the evenness of its weft. I am happy.

3. The white blossom bright against the darkness.

1. I potter indecisively around the plot, weeding and tidying, but along the way seven berry bushes get planted, along with two bushes (buddleia and St John’s Wort) to attract bees and two spaces on my perennial herb row get filled with lavender and sage.

1b. Little stark red alien outcrops appear in the soil. Here be rhubarb!

2. Perfectly crunchy toast.

3. I suggest a bath and it is just the best thing.

1. I tie french knots while rewatching old episodes of Broad City and the Parks and Rec finale.

2. Curled up on the bed in a heap, all quietly reading or snoozing, as day turns to night.

3. The jokes are much more fun than the game itself.