Photo diary, week 7 (365)

February 8: the day before Eddie and I went to Oxford to meet the Honey Monster. We got a goodie bag with a soft cuddly Honey Monster, and Eddie's been playing with him.

February 9: the life of food bloggers - you test a meal for a special occasion in advance. I baked a Nutella cake on Monday to try the recipe for Valentine's day menu post. It was a decent chocolate cake, with a dash of whisky and orange zest.

February 10: the hazel in the tree is covered with catkins, Did you know that there are male and female catkins. The male ones are yellow long ones, the female are small, red and concealed in buds. That's a bit of a botany erotica for you.

February 11: My husband was a bit under the weather, and when he suggested having a hot drink together in the morning after taking Eddie to school, we popped into the local cafe and ordered a pot of Russian caravan tea. It was lovely, dense, malty and smokey.

February 12: I have been postponing doing the puzzle blog review, but finally had a chance to start working on it. This is a detail of The Red Box 1000-puzzle from Ravensburger.

February 13: Our garden starts to look prettier and prettier, with the snowdrops coming up in hordes.

February 14: I have posted a picture that Eddie drew for Mother's day competition at Waterstone's a while ago. Last week I had an email that his picture was one of 50 winners through the UK, and that it would be on display in the local book shop. He also won a £20 gift card, which he spent today on Lego toys. We went today to pick up the gift card, and the shop manager asked if they could take a picture of Eddie for their poster. I also snapped a photo of him beaming, holding the certificate and his winning picture. Way to go, my boy.