Floriferous Lists - April 2025

A few things lately that have been filling up my cup.

Flowers & cats

1. The sunshine.
   Here in England, we’ve been graced with nearly three weeks of glorious sunshine. It has been DIVINE. Crisp, frosty mornings give way to skies the colour of cornflowers — bright, endless blue with barely a cloud in sight. Feeling the sun warm my skin after months of grey has been nothing short of life giving.

2. The sunsets.
   Those rich, fiery skies melting into deep blues… the kind that make you stop mid-task just to stare. The moon rising bright, the first stars blinking into view, and the bats flitting around in the dusk — it all feels a bit magical!

3. Cats, sunbathing.
   There’s something so wholesome about our cats stretched out in the sunshine, bellies up, solar charging like little furry batteries. Pure contentment.

4. New shoots.
   It never gets old — that joy when the first seedlings push through the soil.

5. Spring posies.
   Little hand-tied bunches of daffodils, hyacinths, tulips… It’s impossible not to smile when there are flowers in the house.

6. Mini eggs.
   No explanation needed, really. A seasonal joy.

7. Piglets at work.
   We have two new arrivals — tiny piglets with big personalities. When work gets a bit much, I wander over to their paddock to watch them snuffle around making adorable snorting and oinking noises. It’s the best kind of perspective reset.

   

   Little piggies arrived last week. Look at their little schnozzles!!

8. This ice cream.
   Haagen-Dazs Mango & Passionfruit Ice Cream Sticks — a tiny tropical holiday on a stick. Just yes.

9. A novel I’m enjoying.

   

   The Vipers by Katy Hays — a dark thriller set in Capri, I am only a few chapters in so far but it’s been good to get lost in fiction again.

10. The wildlife pond.
    It’s become a small (okay, slightly obsessive) project. We’ve added snails to help clean the water and tucked in more edging plants to make space for wildlife to hide and thrive. Every morning I pop out to see what’s changed — it’s like my own little wilderness!

11. The washing line.
    My bed linen, hanging there, sun-warmed and gently swaying. You cannot beat that fresh, clean smell with that faint sweetness only sunshine can leave behind. Bliss.

12. Renovating our bedroom/ensuite.
    After almost four years in this house, we’ve finally started renovating upstairs. We’re creating an ensuite with a walk-in shower and (this part makes my heart skip) a roll-top bath- my dream bath. It’s slow progress, but it’s started…

    

    Little inspiration board for our bedroom/ensuite renovation inspiration.

13. Thinking about the future.
    Lately I’ve found myself dreaming — literally — about doing something completely different. In another version of my life, I’m working in ecology or horticulture. Sometimes I wonder if that path is still possible. It’s scary to think about change, especially a big career shift. But I keep reminding myself: life isn’t linear. The door to something new doesn’t close just because you’ve walked a certain way for a while. It’s never too late.

    

    Last years allotment blooms..the final bouquet of the year just before the frost!

14. The dusk chorus.
    Everyone talks about the dawn chorus — and yes, it’s beautiful — but for me, it’s the blackbirds at twilight that steal the show. There’s something about their song in the softening light, that gentle, fluting melody floating through the open window as the sun dips low. I love lying in bed with a book, the day slowly winding down, and letting that quiet soundtrack of birdsong wrap around me. It feels like the world is exhaling.

15. This playlist.
    I find it hard to concentrate when there are lyrics playing — they tend to tug my focus away. But when I’m reading, painting, or just trying to stay in a quiet headspace, this playlist has become a favourite: Peaceful Piano on Spotify. It’s gentle, unobtrusive, and has this way of softening the edges of the day. Perfect background for when I want to be present, but still somewhere else.

    ---

And finally for a little balance…
I still find myself feeling like I’m falling behind in life from time to time, lately, more than usual. Maybe it’s just part of being a woman in her mid-thirties. Time suddenly feels more present, more noticeable. Almost vicarious, like I’m watching it slip by, grain by grain, through an hourglass. There’s a quiet pressure that comes with that awareness I suppose, a sense that I should be further along, or doing more. But in those moments I’m trying to remind myself that presence matters more than perfection, and that falling behind is sometimes just a feeling and not a fact.

It’s easy to get caught in this loop of imagined limitations, narrowing down what’s possible before anything has even had a chance to begin. I’m learning to catch myself in those moments and to pause when I spiral into overthinking, to come back to the present instead of living in the purgatory world of what ifs.

It’s not always easy, but I’m trying to stay open, to trust that not everything has to be figured out right now.

If anyone else has been feeling this way too, I’d genuinely love to talk more about this. It’s something I find hard to make sense of in my own head, and I think there’s real value in untangling it with others who get it.

I would love to hear your thoughts…

• What is bringing you joy this April?

• What thoughts are holding you back?

• What are your tips for staying in the present?