icy grip

It's been an icy cold week here. Slate grey skies have brought hailstones and rain and, consequently, cake. And flapjacks. It's also meant roaring fires and books. But now, on the last day of April, we are ready for warmer weather, the chance to breakfast outdoors, to plant the vegetable patch without the worry of frost, to shed the woolly jumpers and feel sun on our skin. Beautiful May we're waiting for you!

a tiny moment in the day of the fox

Kevin called me from the kitchen this morning. I'd just filled the basin with water to wash the breakfast dishes but I went to the dining room window where he was standing. He was watching a fox in the field opposite. That field is hilly and the fox was slinking along over and back in a sort of hollow or dip in the grass. It looked small. After a bit it slipped into the hedge blending instantly with the brown thicket and we went back to our chores. Later I walked the dogs up the dusty track that runs up alongside that field. Bumblebees were foraging in the sun and there was the sweet scent of gorse. I thought of the fox, was she a vixen out scouting for food for cubs, or was it a youngster, its own master, delighting as we were in the warmth of a Spring day.

peace

That moment of peace. The house is quiet. I can hear the birds outside, a delicate chorus punctured by the occasional throaty call of the crow. I make tea in a favourite cup and sipping, read a few lines. The calm action of drinking and turning pages a balm to counterbalance the noise of life with young boys.

growing

Scenes from late afternoon on Sunday. Today, of course, it's pouring and cold but yesterday in the sun and the whipping wind Kevin, Hugo and Will finished off the raised vegetable beds. They are immaculate - stone free and topped up with compost and well rotted manure and are ready for planting. We are looking forward to garlic, courgettes, beans, peas, rhubarb, beetroot, salad leaves and anything else we can cram in there...

weekending

This weekend we've been at home. After a long week of school and work it's nice just to stay here. Coffee and slow breakfasts. Walking the dogs in the grey early morning. Baking a chocolate cake (this one). Making a roast. Yes, there's washing and ironing and humdrum housework but there's also laughing with the boys over homemade pizza as they draw what's in their brains (and ours... Kevin's is mainly "dusty buildings" and mine "family"and "lovely mummy shops". There's also been the chance to read by the fire (the third book in the Cazalet series 'Confusion'). All fairly low key activities but enough to re-store our energy and get us ready for the week ahead.

because the sun shone...

...I washed the floors, beat the rugs, dusted and fussed, cleared cobwebs from ceilings, opened the doors and let Spring in...