JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day


Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Birthday flowers


















Today it's my birthday, and I've had a stream of visitors. The first was Amy, standing on the doorstep with a lemon drizzle cake and LIT candles. The rest of my visitors have been eating lemon drizzle cake all morning.

Eleanor sent me tulips, really lovely tulips because she knows they are my favourite. Yellow and orange in a white jug, and brightening the kitchen table.

The garden ... well, I can hardly believe the presents it's given me today: the first tiny snowdrops, primroses, a cowslip in amongst the celandines, helebores galore (five different types), and one tiny purply-black iris reticulata. Oh yes, and a forgotten pot of last year's hyacinths left in the greenhouse instead of being planted out - badly in need of splitting - but starting to bloom today, and now on my desk.























Blue sky, too, a perfect cold winter's day, not like all the rain we've been having and all the grey skies that are forecast. Magical.









































21 comments:

Clare said...

Happy Birthday Joanna! I'm glad the spring flowers have come out in celebration.

Nothing visible here in Ottawa. Just a blanket of snow and more falling.

Anonymous said...

Joanna,

A very happy birthday to you and may there be many more. Enjoy the day. Will there be special birthday food!?

Champsleeve said...

Happy birthday Joanna! Mine was on the 21st. How nice to open a post in January and see flowers. We are currently buried under snow and ice! Hope you have a great day!

Dana

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday! Mine was on the 1st. :-)

Katie Zeller said...

Happy Birthday! I have the first crocuses starting to bloom in my garden but no primroses yet. They are coming up tho...soon!

Celia Hart said...

Happy Birthday Joanna! What better present than a glorious early taste of spring! I've been photographing the flowers too - beautiful.

Enjoy the rest of your day
Celia

Jules said...

Happy Birthday!
xx

Anonymous said...

I'm new to your blog and don't know who Amy is, but ... a friend or family member standing on your doorstep with a lit lemon cake on your birthday--the idea just warms my heart.

Happy birthday!

Unknown said...

Happy birthday Joanna. Enjoy the rest of your day! Lovely birthday flowers!

Anke said...

happy birthday to you, joanna :-)

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Happy, happy birthday Joanna, Hope you've had a super day. It has been a beautiful day weather wise and you had lemon drizzle cake with candles, perfect! xx

Abitofafoodie said...

Happy Birthday, Joanna! Hope you have had a wonderful day. How lovely to see have so many flowers already. I similarly 'discovered' some forgotten hyacinths that are just starting to bloom. So nice to see some colour in the garden at this time of year!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Magical indeed! Happy Birthday Joanna! And many more magical days to come!!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to have missed your birthday though it seems that it was quite magical for you, you lucky girl. Was there a special birthday meal that we can hear about?

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Beautiful, beautiful... Hope you had a lovely birthday!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Joanna!

Sophie said...

Happy Birthday Joanna! You were obviously blessed yesterday having had the first dry and bright day in weeks :-)

Joanna said...

Thank you all for birthday greetings - I had a great day, then Lucius and I went out to dinner and the theatre (first night of Sleuth at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, silly but recommended). Dinner in a local Italian, lots of fish and salad, and then oranges in caramel syrup, carefully cut and arranged back into whole oranges, an old-fashioned Italian recipe my grandmother used to make at this time of year. Irresistible!

Kayte said...

Happy Birthday, a little late, but no less sincere! Sounds like it was a wonderful way to begin your next year!

Kayte

Ilva said...

I'm so late but still: Happy Birthday Joanna! I'm sorry I missed the actual day but I'm a bit backwards right now! A big hug!

Karen Baking Soda said...

Hope you had a lovely birthday Joanna, I'm late but nonetheless..
Many happy returns of the day!