egg-painting

I love the spring!

The weather’s not cosy warm yet, but it’s so good to have longer days.

I can see the buds on the trees outside my window, and the birds wake me up with their racket every morning.

I’ve put on a springy shirt, and a hopeful badge.

Little Strawberry brought me a spring posy.

My friend Georgina would love it. I wish I could send it to her in Australia.

I showed it to Um.

I think she liked it.

The brownies that I baked the other day were a success.

Ruffy kindly delivered them to my friends.

Lopsy and Teddy enjoyed theirs.

Monkey said that Bunce and Snowy still have no appetite, but he did manage to coax them to eat some tiny morsels of brownie.

He checks their temperature and oxygen saturation regularly, and says the figures are hopeful.

At least the brownies will be useful for Monkey. He needs plenty of energy for his farming and caring duties.

He doesn’t even pause for meals, just eats his packed lunch out in the fields.

Didcot said my brownie was the best thing he’d tasted since Pancake Day.

Oh bother, I forgot about Pancake Day. That must be weeks ago now.

What a shame. The Baby would have enjoyed tossing pancakes.

We could have poured treacle on them. What a sticky mess the Baby would have made of that.

I can imagine it might have wrapped itself up in a pancake. Or wrapped me up.

Never mind, there’s always next year.

After the brownies’ positive reception, I felt encouraged to try some more baking.

It’s Easter weekend. Um might enjoy a simnel cake.

I may as well introduce her to some of the good bits of our culture, since I don’t know what her culture is.

I’ll do the baking while the Baby is out running with Lopsy. That will be quicker than letting it help.

I seem to have run out of dried fruit, so it’s not quite the usual sort of simnel cake.

Um can’t disapprove of marchpane. It’s full of almond protein. I do hope she likes it.

It is easier not to have the Baby helping, but I wish I had waited and let it join in the fun. What’s a little bit of mess, after all.

I’m getting quite excited about Easter.

I’ve got some Easter eggs. I’m going to hide them for the Baby to find. I’ve put one under my bicycle helmet.

The Baby will definitely find that one. It’s always throwing my helmet around.

We’re having a Zoom egg-painting party later on.

The Baby will enjoy that. It has quite a talent for painting.

Um came to wait at the front door with me, to welcome the Baby when it got back from its run.

I thought that was nice. She seems to be feeling ready to take on a more active parenting role.

Perhaps she’ll even join in with the egg painting.

She hustled the Baby away as soon as it got home. I think she could see that I needed a rest.

I had a good nap, and woke just in time for the Zoom meeting.

I got out my paints and brushes, and went to call Um and the Baby.

My friends are very kind.

But oh dear oh dear I couldn’t face telling them the news.

When I went to look for Um and the Baby, I found a message from the Stork.

He’d put it by my triangle, so I’d be sure to see it.

It’s clear that Um and the Baby and the Stork are waving goodbye. They’ve all gone away.

Then at the bottom there’s the Stork again, and at first I thought that was the Baby with him.

But no, the Baby doesn’t have any legs. That’s a bear with a triangle. It’s meant to be me.

This message means that the Stork will be coming back, but he’ll be coming back on his own.

It means that Um and the Baby have left for good.

The last time the Stork wrote me a message, the Baby was here. It ripped the message into shreds. It was such an active little Baby, full of ideas and mischief.

I think I’ll go to bed now.