This Week

Back home in Yorkshire the mixed hyacinths we planted in a wooden barrel have grown and opened and are still giving us pleasure.  

We're also back in our usual routine - shopping, seeing our local family who come visiting and generally catching up with admin paperwork and your news via blogger.

This morning I went to the park to take a book back to the library and collect the ones I had reserved.

Two of the books are large print so they'll be easier to read.  

The Agatha Christie book jacket blurb - "An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France, but he arrives too late to save his client and who now lies in a shallow grave on a golf course. Why is the dead man wearing an overcoat that's too big for him?  Who was the impassioned love-letter in his pocket for?  Before Poirot can answer these questions the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse".

The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn - "Nature holds the answers for Raynor and her husband Moth.  After walking 630 homeless miles along "The Salt Path" (The first of the non fiction books I read recently) the couple continue living on the windswept and wild English coastline.  The cliffs, the sky and the chalky earth now feel like their home.  Moth has a terminal diagnosis, but he seems revitalized in nature.  Together on the wild coastal path they discover that anything is possible.  Now life beyond the Salt Path awaits and they come back to four walls. The sense of home is illusive and returning to normality is proving difficult until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything.  There's a chance to breathe life back into a beautiful farmhouse nestled deep in the Cornish hills:  rewilding the land and returning nature to its hedgerows becomes their saving grace and their new path to follow".  

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner - "1950.  Bloomsbury Books on Lamb's Conduit Street has resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the manager's unbreakable rules.  But after the turmoil of war in Europe the world is changing and the women in the shop have plans.  As the women cross paths with literary figures such as Daphne du Maurier, Samuel Beckett and Peggy Guggenheim, these Bloomsbury girls are working together to plot out a richer and more rewarding future".

Patches of crocuses that have been planted by the park staff come up every year.

Cold, cloudy, but dry best describes the weather at the moment.  We're expecting snow next week and we're not looking forward to it if it happens.

  

As usual I went into the walled garden and it was good to see some colour because of the flowering shrubs and early Spring flowers.

Above, back in our own garden the daffodils remain in bud waiting for some sunshine.  We wait for warmer days although with the threat of snow that's unlikely to happen.  We have to make the most of  dry weather and get out and about when we can.

Thanks for visiting.  Have a good weekend wherever you live.

In Search of Snowdrops

My intension to get out for more walks this new year has been thwarted by a bitterly cold wind and snow showers, but yesterday I decided to go for a walk in our local park which has been part of my regular routine for many years.  The walled garden always draws me during the hours when it's open to visitors and I thought it would be possible to see new growth in such a sheltered environment.

It was a day when the volunteer gardeners were at work in their respective areas.  I asked one of them if there were snowdrops to be seen.  She directed me to the woodland just beyond the walled garden,

but before I walked that way I stood to admire the corkscrew hazel tree.  The catkins had formed since last time I'd visited and soon they'll be full of yellow pollen.

In the Stumpery and Woodland I did indeed find a few clumps of snowdrops.  The local children's artwork had survived and had not been taken down.  

There were winter-flowering bushes which added a little colour and the daffodils will start to flower in a week or two.   

It's good to see blue skies, squirrels up to their antics as they scamper about and berries still on bushes that the birds will welcome.

There were books to collect from the library that had been reserved before the holiday period.  I've been waiting a long time for one or two of them although I'm finding it difficult to read now and have to rest my eyes frequently.  I'm sure I shall enjoy them and I don't have to return them for several weeks.

Back home the plants are coming on nicely tucked up in the covered yard. Mr P's seedlings are on window sills in the kitchen and the living room.  There'll be hyacinths to enjoy later on too and buds are appearing on the cactus in the hanging basket.

 

Frosty mornings, snow flurries and icy conditions on the roads are to be expected.  I think of everyone having to get to work in such weather conditions.  

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Take care everyone.

The Park, Walled Garden, Mr P in Italy

I went for a walk in the park the other day.  Photos were taken with my mobile phone and the light wasn't good so the photos don't show the true beauty and colour of the flowers and blossom I saw that day.

This white hydrangea by the wall is rather lovely.

I went into the Walled Garden.

I enjoyed seeing the miniature plants in the established rockery....

..... and the ones in the new rockery that was constructed by the high wall some weeks ago and planted up with miniatures and succulents.

Over in Italy Mr P has been settling in with our daughter M and her friend. She sent me photos.  The man with the tractor and cutting facility has cut the grass.  The weather is warm and dry.  With woods and countryside all around there have already been opportunities to take a walk and enjoy nature at its best or just take in the views from the house.  Daughter D even heard the thrilling sound of a nightingale.  No doubt I shall hear more about the trip in the coming days.  The fact that Mr P is able to see his family again after such a long time must be a joy for him and for everyone.

I have my visiting relatives with me here in the UK so I shall keep this blog post short.  Some good activities are planned for the weekend.  Meanwhile I hope you too have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing.