Pirmaas atraitnites 2015

I just couldn't resist any more -

and I discovered that my lavender plant from last year is still alive. How is it even possible? The last time I watered that pot was maybe back in October. Yet there they were, silvery green new leaves on the dried up (I thought) stems.

You can see parts of the lavender plant towards the back of the pot, the branches looking like thyme.

Planting those first spring flowers is one of my absolutely favorite things, ever.

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Tulpes uz balkona

I've gotten this far -

this is one of my three pots with tulip bulbs. I'm not holding my breath for tulip blooms yet as it can be super windy out on the balcony, but who knows.

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The Air Pockets Worked!

Remember my tulip-bulb insulation project back in December? Today, when I removed the top insulation packs to take a peek, I found tulip sprouts in two of the three pots! The air pockets worked! I am so happy. The only pot where there were no sprouts (yet?) was the clay one, which was exposed to the elements the most. Instead of taking pictures of the tulip sprouts, I went to the woods where I saw the first butterfly (yellow), a ladybug, and the first hepatica flowers of this year.

I didn't expect to find these little beauties for another month! And how happy am I that our friend the sweet-natured spaniel decided to join us on our trek (that's his paw in the picture). He was saying, "OK, what are we excited about here?"

I checked the weather prognosis, and it doesn't seem like we'll get minus degrees (C) for a couple of nights, so I left the flowerpots on the balcony uncovered. Imagine if I'm really going to get blooming tulips on my balcony?

Spring is here :).

Oh, I also ordered some seeds! Will share when the package gets here.

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Power snack: avocado and almonds

According to some study, people who ate half an avocado for lunch stayed sated longer, or something like that. In my quest to eat for endurance, energy, and grace,

I've embraced these findings, and am trying to eat more avocado. Does it work? I think so. With avocado, I can be hungry as opposed to extremely hungry by lunchtime. In these pictures, I am trying a cottage cheese/curd/yogurt type of dairy product (kvarg in Swedish) that is currently very trendy in Sweden. What works best for me is

avocado with my hard bread sandwiches, and then in the afternoon, almonds with raisins, sometimes with kvarg.

Have I peeled a (washed) avocado on the train? Yes, I have.

Have I brought real silverware with me on the train? Yes, of course.

If I make a huge pasta salad, and eat only some of it for lunch, I'm so happy to have some extra food (that I made, for me) to tie me over until dinner on my ride home. Besides the environmental issue of sparing the world one more plastic fork that had to be produced and that I am most likely going to throw away un-recycled, I like using my favorite (real) fork.

So. Try some avocado, and use some of your favorite things more often.

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