Signs......

What a glorious day yesterday, blue sky....

....
we haven't seen much of that of late, shrubs beginning to burst into bud.....

.....and finally flowers are again blooming....violets...

.....crocus.......

....and spring flowering primulas......

......
the temperature was 15 degrees and the sun was shining, at last.
There's always housework to do, but after doing all the ironing I decided to do a few little outdoor jobs. I'm preparing to sew my newly bought seeds so I sat in the warm sunshine washing my seed trays and pots and thinking of what they'll look like when in full bloom.
Whilst I was busy doing this Mick was taking a break from his indoor jobs and treating himself to this outdoor task....

...although he doesn't see it as a chore, I'm sure!
What we really should have done is to go for a walk to the marina, which is just a short distance from us, but we decided otherwise.
DIY strikes a note in most peoples thoughts at this time of the year, and we're no exception. I have the colour charts ready to choose colours, and we have a few other things which we want to change indoor and out, but that is a work in progress and hopefully won't take all year!
One thing which we have noticed is that since those awful trees were felled adjacent to our back garden, we seem to be getting even more garden visitors. I'm hoping to get some pictures which I shall certainly be posting on here very soon. In the meantime, it's back to the jobs of the "indoor" variety, and a few crafting treats too!
Have a great weekend, whatever you do, whatever the weather.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Sounds like a "New Year" saying, but it isn't. I mean that at long last I am now using my new laptop (and trying to get used to it!) My poor old pc has finally gone. I can't complain, it was nine years old and I was used to it, and it did what I wanted it to do albeit slowly. But it was getting far to slow and seemed to groan every time I wanted it to accomplish more than one task, it didn't have much memory, and it struggled its way through everything.
Now I'm using my new slimline laptop, it feels quite strange. I'm not using a mouse, which is okay until I use my graphics programme. I shall persevere and see what happens.
I recently treated myself to Serif Craft Artist Platinum. It has so many features and wonderful gadgets. I have loads of photographs to put into scrapbooks, it should be quite a treat playing with it!
As the days are beginning to get longer (at last) my thoughts have been turning to the garden. Just last week our local council removed two large diseased sycamore trees which grew adjacent to our house. They were getting so big that our back garden was shaded for most of the day. Now it will be bathed in sunshine all day, (hopefully) and we've been planning some new plants and shrubs.
Whilst we were at B and Q I bought these..

....I thought these varieties will grow well with the roses, I can almost smell them now!
I also bought this home with me.....

....we have a couple of rooms which we want to decorate, so we're browsing the colour choices. Don't you just love the cover shot on this booklet, I do!
So I've plenty to be going on with, now all we need is some dry bright weather to get us all in the springtime mode. Here's hoping we don't have too long to wait!
Happy Weekend!

Bugs, beasties, a short break, then catching up!!

Well,what happened to my weekly blog post which I promised myself I would achieve this year? It was going great, that was until I caught the dreaded cold virus. It took almost three weeks before I begun to real energetic again. I suppose it serves me right, as I'm always saying " I never get colds" and I don't usually. I guess it was my turn for a change. That's the bugs bit over the beasties are the rabbits which have been digging and invading the garden of late. Whilst the weather was really cold, every day there was a new burrow hole from either next doors garden or into the fields adjacent to us. We think that they have been finding a cozy spot in our neighbours garden shed, or behind it, as that's where all the trails led. But once the temperature rose slightly they seem to have disappeared. You can't blame them I suppose. On Sundays you can often hear the "Sunday shoot" going on in the fields. Maybe they all decided to hide over here for a while! Last week hubby and I had a lovely weekend away, in York. The weather wasn't great, but it was a welcome change. We'd never done the Castle museum and on the Sunday we decided to visit. There's so much to see......
The Victorian parlour....


..... with it's velvets and brass, too dark for me.

The Victorian kitchen....

....this is very much like my late grandmothers kitchen in the 1960's. she wasn't one for "new fangled" ideas!
The 1940/50's front room.....

the kitchen....

and the "bathroom"....

.....the tin bath in front of the fire!!!!
What really caught our eyes, was this beauty, in the 1960's room....

..... that took us back a few years to our youth! Yes, Mick had a Lambretta, we did a few miles on it too!
Now it's back down to earth and begin catching up with everything. At least the longer evenings are slowly appearing, at last. Does that mean more time to get things done? I do hope so.