February - the sap is rising

Me and my big mouth.  The weather only got worse!  You have to respect mother nature - she doesn't care about the shame of having all of your rubbish strewn across the front garden for the whole village to see (have now put a brick in the bottom of the bin) or bits of tree flying off and hitting the car.  Oh, no.

This month I have been mostly:-

- calling those lovely AA boys (twice).

- hoofing it up the hill to make phone calls on my mobile.  The gales took our land line out.

- winning the meat draw at one of our local pubs (twice). 

- watching the Olympics and then performing the sports in the kitchen whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.

- having a candlelit dinner in silent, cave like, blackness due to a power cut.  It was never this dark in town.

- observing the many rainbows.

- using power tools to chop down the lilac tree that snapped in the wind.

- emptying the water butt every day so the water doesn't overflow and sit inches deep against the house.

- seeing lots of plays.

- listening to the tawny owl at night.

- walking Big Dog at 6.30am WITHOUT the aid of a torch - Yes!

I have managed to have some sunny walks, I even had lunch on the patio one day.

The local blacksmiths

There are four yearlings in the barn - they are so fluffy (the dark one is the boss)

Oooh, scrap metal.....

A dolls house and a fairground horse in an old outbuilding

I have seen a lot of Jew's Ear fungi, it must like the damp

Big Dog looking for wabbits

Bungalow bake off -

My Earl Grey cupcakes were a bit heavy

I would have taken a photo of the malt loaf that Sarah made but unfortunately Big Dog got there first.  I found, on returning from work one day, a guilty looking pooch surrounded by pieces of tin foil.

But Sarah's cheese, potato and onion pie was divine (thanks to Paul Hollywood)

Cob loaf - not helping my waistline

It's so nice, now the evenings are lighter.

Esme wearing the infamous 'Wimbledon Coat'

Sarah was provided with the Wimbledon coat in 1987 when she did a stint as a line judge.  It is the best, most waterproof, wind-proof coat and we all fight over it.  There's no chance of seeing any wildlife whilst wearing this coat though as it is made of really noisy material! 

My sister and family enjoyed a walk between showers

Somewhere........

Nice wellies Sis

My nephew very kindly cleaned the sign up with his gloves

This road has been closed for a long time now

I can't wait to spend more time in the garden.

View from the back garden

Big Dog sunbathing

Colour appearing

Gorgeous yellow crocuses in the back garden

Signs of life in my pots - yahooooooo......

Snow drops in the front

 I have never seen so many snowdrops as I have this year.  They must like the wet too.

I saw three rainbows this week 

I have had to put up with a chain saw in my dining room for ages!  It's a good job we bought it, now our lilac tree has blown over in the gales.

Fellow bungalow girl with power tool

One of the plays that we have seen this month was called 'Gas Light'.  A spooky thriller set in Victorian London.  I was not disappointed by the set - very dark and smoggy with an eerie light.   The acting wasn't bad either.  Especially, the detective - Joseph Marcell, otherwise known as the butler from 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'!  

'Bella Manningham’s behaviour has become increasingly erratic. As the gaslight flickers and the floorboards creak around her, she becomes convinced that she is losing her mind, as her mother did before her.
But does the terror exist only in her imagination or does the house contain darker secrets? The arrival of a retired detective reveals the startling truth that will shake her respectable Victorian marriage to its core'.

www.salisburyplayhouse.com

www.dailyecho.co.uk

We carried on with the dark, brooding theme last weekend and saw Britten's War Requiem performed at Winchester Cathedral.  It was very passionate and raw and the images of World War I projected on to panels above our heads added to the atmosphere.  The sound of the tubular bells gave me goose bumps, not helped by the fact that I wore an inappropriate, thin, floaty cardy so I was freezing!  We had the usual poor person getting a coughing attack at the end of our row. 

Winchester Cathedral is older than Salisbury Cathedral.  Building started in 1079 compared to 1220.  I still think it looks funny without a spire though!

www.visitwinchester.co.uk

I'm not going to say anything about what the weather might do in March - I have learnt my lesson.