A lovely week

We’ve had a lovely week. It’s been very cold. In the morning the world has been white, with frost though sometimes an odd bit of snow. But what has made it so special has been the glorious blue skies, so cheery.

As a result of all the sunshine the spring flowers have opened up. Now in our garden, both back & front clumps of snowdrops bloom. In the front they are joined by a large clump of golden crocuses, a smaller ones of pale purple & gold mixed crocuses & a few purple striped & pure white with a golden heart crocuses. In the back garden, a colder area, more of a frost pocket, the crocuses haven’t actually opened but their buds are appearing, deep rich purple & gold. Some baby daffodils are also starting to open up & show their sunny faces.

The cold has brought the birds more to our bird table. Normally they are happy enough finding their own food in the garden – we’ve put in plenty of seed-/berry- bearing plants. They enjoy a good rootle in the lawns for worms etc. But with the ground being frozen solid part of the day they’ve had to resort to the food table with its unfrozen seed, food scraps etc. It’s been lovely to see the blackbirds, wood-pigeons, collared doves, starlings, robin etc. nearer the house, where they are easier to watch while staying warm inside.

All of our local friends seem to have been in good humour & improving health. Our only concern lies with our very good friend in Harrogate, who we visit occasionally & who seems to be going through a bad spell healthwise.

We got along to the travel agents this week & started the process of organising a September holiday in the French Alps. The hotel overlooks a lake & looks fabulous. Our only concern is that it is with the same company we went to Austria with last year. Getting booked seemed to take weeks as they were very dopey about sorting a wheelchair accessible room & airport assistance. However, when they finally managed to get themselves organised, all went well & it turned into a wonderful holiday so here’s hoping.