The Simple Things Issue 128 February

AWAKE – Shoreline wanders & cookbook travels. How red lippie helps. Book nooks. Veg patch planning. Sewing from scraps. Brazilian cheese bread & rainbow tart. Colour joy. Good coffee. Sisters of the soil. Making good stuff happen. Knitwear TLC. Glimpse-of-spring flowers. Why we love a sloth (and other animals).

Some of us wake up alert and ready for what the day brings but, at this time of year particularly, the morning requires an easing in for many. Good coffee can help, of course, but if we also take a moment to check in with our bodies and minds just maybe we can hear stirrings of an desire to re-join the world. Outdoors there are bulb tips, catkins and soft pussy willow – signs of winter’s end. February brings an urge to grow, to make, to go and see. It’s another month before weather and daylight catch up with our more ambitious plans but this is a good time to appreciate what’s on your own doorstep or down the road; a day trip to the sea, a walk and talk with a good friend or a potter round your patch, notebook in hand. No more waiting, spring is coming.