And another thing.............

I read recently a comparison of this winter as being like someone storming out of the room and slamming the door only to return yelling " ..and another thing!".

That's exactly what it has been like the last month or so. We have had some glimpses of sunshine fooling us into thinking Spring was on it's way then the cold returns with a vengeance.




The garden has really suffered - the bamboo, which had come through the winter green was hit last weekend and turned brown overnight. The same cold night finished off my early seedlings under fleece in the greenhouse.

The daffodils too have been disappointing having been battered in the wind and rain so much that almost all the stems are broken and they are lying in forlorn patches.










Last year we lost all our fruit to a late frost so I am glad that the fruit trees have no blossom yet - for now the flowering cherries are enough to cheer the spirits especially against a blue sky ( even if the wind is biting cold!)

One sight that did not disappoint though was the wild daffodil display in the woods at Verfeil, just lovely

keeping in touch

How things have changed.

During my teenage years I kept daily diaries, recording almost exclusively mundane daily events and lacking any interesting insights apart from the odd "that boy is fab". I recently browsed through one - searching for  confirmation of a date and one thing did really strike me - letters! My diaries are full of "had a letter from....." "wrote a letter to ......", several almost every week. When away from home I wrote to my parents and to my brother and sisters, each of them separately, and when we moved house I wrote to friends. We had no telephone in the house and of course email and social media were not even dreamt of but it seems I made up for it.

As the years passed I stopped writing my diaries and eventually the letters except for some at Christmas time. These days  I am really glad to have social media  - its so easy to keep in touch with family and friends, especially important when like us you live a long way off. An exchange of photos, a shared giggle, a supportive message - all help keep friendship alive and keep family ties. I also enjoy the "diary" created with facebook - often as mundane as my teenage scribbles but also full of good memories.

So a thank you to all of my on-line friends and family for keeping in touch.