The Changing Seasons – March 2019

 

It´s time again for the wonderful challenge The Changing Seasons hosted by my dear friend Su from Zimmerbitch!

But before we begin, let me just share a pic of my mum with the perm I made for her back in January and that I forgot to post in my February Changing Seasons post for those of you who were curious how it looked without the curlers. 😉

 

My mum enjoying a visit to the zoo (January 2019)

 

And now to the stuff I did this month! 🙂

 

AMIGURUMI

You might remember that rather lonesome looking amigurumi koala from my last monthly catch up?

 

Very pensive amigurumi koala (February 2019)

 

Well, I made good on my promise and crocheted a little koala baby to keep it company! 😀

 

Amigurumi koala mum and baby (March 2019)

 

Koala pair from behind (March 2019)

 

…and from the side (March 2019)

 

And because there was still something missing…

… I crocheted a little tree for them to cling on!! 😀

 

Koala mum, baby and tree (March 2019)

 

LIP CARE

 

Thanks to horrendously itchy shins that tormented me last winter – and graciously did me the honor of torturing me again this winter – , I became somewhat of an expert in making my own body butter to prevent me from scratching them literally bloody (click here if you want to learn more about how to make your own body butter).

Since the body butter works really well for me, I thought I also might give it a try to make my own lip balm.

And what can I say? I never had smoother lips in my life!! 😉

 

All you need for this very easy to make lip balm are:

2 tablespoons organic cocoa butter

2 tablespoons organic coconut oil

and

2 tablespoons organic bees wax.

Put all the ingredients in a glas bowl and let them melt on low heat in a bain-marie. Stir gently until all the fats are molten – this can take a while, especially cocoa butter and bees wax need quite a lot of time.

As soon as the mixture has become liquid, quickly(!) pour it into a container of your choice – I took these tiny Chinese porcelain bowls for it but you could also use an empty lipstick container – because it will very fast become solid again.

If you like tinted lip balm, just add a morsel of your favorite lipstick to the melting mix.

 

Handmade lip balm with only three ingredients, still in its liquefied form (March 2019)

 

The lip balm will keep at least a year if you store it in a cool and dry place.

 

Handmade lip balm and bees wax drops (March 2019)

 

There’s something fishy in the state of Denmark…

 

(I know, I know, it’s actually: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (Hamlet by Shakespeare), but you’ll soon see, why I chose the somewhat incorrect title. 😉 )

Ever since my mum had to change her diet last summer because of her health, I took quite an interest in healthy foods myself, even though I thankfully rather like eating what’s good for you. But as it is with many things – there’s always room for improvement.

Living in a city NOT by the sea, and being raised by parents who both loathed the stuff, my diet always showed one noticeable gap – there was never any fish to be had.

Now you might say, that with overfishing our oceans these days, it’s actually a good thing if we don’t eat any fish. Just as well, because you don’t want to ingest any heavy metals like mercury or micro plastics.

And I normally would agree wholeheartedly with that opinion.

But having done quite a bit of research in that matter, and having learned that eating fish has a lot of benefits – like omega 3 fatty acids which help prevent heart disease, or vitamin D which helps with depressions during winter –  I also came across the fact, that there are still fish you actually can eat without having (too much) of a bad conscience. And these are sardines.

Now you also might curl your lips in disgust and say that sardines aren’t really worth calling fish, what with them being so small – but that’s just where it gets interesting.

With them being so small, they’re rather low in the food chain and thus are pretty good to eat – no high amounts of either the heavy metals or the micro plastics found in inside them.

 

Rocket salad with sardines (March 2019)

 

And another good thing is, there’s still plenty of them.

So instead of eating tuna – whose population is severely threatened by overfishing – you could instead buy a can of sardines next time you feel like eating fish.

It tastes just as good – maybe even better – and I’ve become used to regularly add a few filets on top of my salad.

 

Rocket salad with sardine filets and balsamic vinegar (March 2019)

 

Having just pointed out the health benefits of eating fish, I feel kind of compelled to add a few pictures of the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies that I made last weekend, just to keep things even. 😉

 

Cookie dough – ready to be baked (March 2019)

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies – ready to be eaten 😉 (March 2019)

 

GLAZING EXPERIMENTS

 

Remember that yarn bowl I also made in January?

It took me quite some time to get the glaze right, I think I glazed and fired this piece about 4 times!

But finally I’m happy with the result, and it’s such a joy to use it whilst knitting socks or crocheting those little amigurumi animals. 🙂

 

Glazed yarn bowl (March 2019)

 

Yarn bowl detail (March 2019)

It’s always tricky to take pictures of glazed ceramics, what with the light having a tendency to bump off it at odd angles, but I hope you get a glimpse of the lovely sea green color inside the bowl.

Inside of the yarn bowl (March 2019)

 

Strawberry red rim on top of the yarn bowl (March 2019)

 

BOOK OF THE MONTH

 

Of all the books I’ve read this month – Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs, Das Haupt der Welt (Head of the World) by Rebecca Gablé, Threshold by Sara Douglass and A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan – the last one stood out for me.

It’s a gripping murder mystery set in a haunted house with the winter solstice of 1917 approaching.

It is beautifully written and wonderfully creepy when there’s a storm outside – which was a pure coincidence but added very nicely to the overall eeriness.

 

My book of the month, a lovely cup of tea and lemon blueberry cake. (March 2019)

 

 

 

And this was it!

 

If you’re interested in participating, here are the guidelines for The Changing Seasons Challenge:

The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic):

• Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
• Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
• Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):

• Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
• Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
• Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them.

If you do a ping-back to Su´s original monthly post, she can update it with links to yours.