Cosy up to spring

Spring may have sprung but it's still been chilly enough for a fire some evenings.

Nothing like a cuppa by the wood-heater as you catch up with back issues of the New Yorker while toasting your toes.

While I occasionally purchase split logs from the local supplier, I'm fortunate to have some friends with wood piles which could block out the sun, so in return for homemade biscuits or chocolate cakes, they will often pop buy with a few bits of wood.

I'm also an inveterate frugal scrounger, so will stop by the side of the road to collect windfalls of pine cones, branches and twigs to use as kindling. Also any bits of timber on the street or in a skip bin - be careful you are not burning scraps with harmful chemicals which could be released as toxins as they burn - is fair game. It's amazing how much wood which could be used to keep you warm is tossed out as rubbish. And those reliable old pinecones look great piled in a basket by the fireplace.

A good teapot is also essential. The aqua teapot in the photo was purchased locally after a fruitless search through various op-shops. The old bunnykins mug I've had since I was a kid. It has seen my through my various phases of tea - from those heady Earl Grey 80s through Russian Caravan, green, lemon and ginger, Oolong and Gunpowder Green.

Tea by the fire warms the heart as well as the toes.