The other day it was my birthday, one of those big ones with a zero at the end. I had some lovely cards, a lot of chocolate, and my daughter's boyfriend cooked a beautiful supper followed by a birthday cake with candles and singing and then heaps of presents.

Source The Hairy Bikers Christmas version of Nut Roast with spinach and chard.Back then, probably about 1980, I was starting again for the second or maybe even the third time. I'd done a lot of reading and had decided to become vegetarian.

Each year, at Christmas or New Year, or mostly those quiet days in between the two festivals, I have a custom of giving a small plant and a card to the neighbours that share a drive with me.It started because I am never organised enough to arrange Christmas cards (although I buy them every year from the charity I like to support at this time of year) or neighbourly gatherings for mince pies and drinks. Somehow it was easier when my foster daughter was here, but since then, everything has drifted.

This is a cross post of @gadrian/the-correlation-between-development-and-marketing-spending-and-hives-price-gne by @shanibeer.I thought we might have some helpful discussion on this topic.

I've finally made one of those big decisions: a definite date when I'm going to finish at my job. I moved from being an employee to a consultancy role (same work, different conditions) two years ago, planning to leave this March.

This post talks about the February pattern blocks for a year long mystery knit along blanket. You can read more about it in the January postIt's All Gone Wrong. Again.The February blocks were deceptively simple: cast on 216 stitches, join in the round, knit a three row stocking stitch pattern decreasing to eight stitches, then gather together and bind off, with two colour changes along the way.