Wet.

After a welcome night's sleep I woke to a grey world. Grey mist blotting out most of the view was a good enough reason not to leap out of bed. It was back to our leisurely routine of tea and then porridge before beginning the day's tasks. The mist turned to drizzle and then proper rain with a hint of blue in the sky.

The biscuit box was empty so I planned to do some baking. The chocolate & peanut butter cookies had to become just peanut butter because the only chocolate in the house is too good to use in baking. However they still tasted fine and there was even a choice of crunchy (baked on the top shelf) and chewy (baked on the middle shelf). I also tried a recipe for apple cinnamon muffins from cookingonabootstrap a blog/book of economical recipes by Jack Monroe that she first devised when she had very little money. I had to halve the amounts as I only had one egg left after baking the cookies which also need one egg. They were very tasty with both the apple and cinnamon flavours coming through well. That's a recipe I'll use again.

At the same time as baking I began a Spring clean of some of the kitchen cupboards namely the one that has oils and sauces. I kept my eye open for anything that was far too old to keep but as I must have had a good clear out when we moved I only found two items to chuck out. Not only did the labels say use within 4/6 weeks of opening they were several years out of date! Not that I would ever have used them myself. I wage a war on grease in the kitchen and I found that my strategy of standing the sauces and oils in plastic ice-cream tubs had kept the shelves fairly clean and only needing a quick wipe over.

Once my work in the kitchen was done I began tidying away all the materials etc that accumulated in the sitting room during the great sofa cover alterations. First I had a break watching my favourite show The great Pottery Throwdown. which has returned for this year's contest. It's a return to my childhood world of studios and clay and so interesting to see the pottery made in the show. This week's challenge was to throw miniature porcelain items less than 6 cms high. This was first demonstrated by the potter Geoffrey Swindell who made these tiny masterpieces.

 Absolutely gorgeous.