I always find January a particular challenge. After the excitement of Christmas it can seem a bit flat.
Fortunately there have been some things that have lifted the spirits, like the blossom on our winter flowering cherry. Everyone should have one!
And these primroses bravely flowering in a sheltered corner.
Last weekend we took part in the RSPB Birdwatching Event. Its terribly onerous - you have to sit down for an hour (coffee and biscuits optional), count the birds of different types that land in your garden and then send the totals in to the RSPB so they can get a picture of bird numbers in the UK.
The first time we took part a couple of years ago was a bit of a flop as I don't think either of us had thought about garden birds since we were about 7 years old and so had no idea what we were seeing anyway! Categories such as "medium sized brown", "small brown", etc had to be invented.
Of course,on the days around our scientific data gathering session the garden was full of all types of birds including woodpeckers, goldfinches and chaffinches. Sadly, all we saw in the hour that mattered were sparrows, greenfinches (we think!),blue and great tits, a gang of starlings and our robin. Typical.
Large scale sewing has been on hold to let my knee recover a bit more (yes it actually requires a lot of standing and leaning over my sewing table - it's more strenous than you'd think) so I amused myself covering my freebie diary with recycled bits and pieces.
I also made a doorstop for our son's room - he had been using an old pair of slippers! Yuk. That's teenagers for you.
Just have to pop a picture of this up. This is our son's Fender Stratocaster complete with its new blinged up pick guard.
I think its just fab - a bit of "Cool Brittania" - even it it was made in Taiwan...
(Before I get told off - the guitar itself was made in Mexico! Apparently these things matter to the enthusiast.)
This is what really gets me through the winter:
A nice cup of coffee in my new mug and some chocolates given to me for Christmas by my lovely lad. They make me smile even just looking at them - which is why they've been strictly rationed to stretch out that feeling for as long as possible.
And finally, yet another birthday for Jonathan - easy on the candles now - just one per decade!
