The A..B..C.. of my garden

A is for my Angelica sprouting up with bright green shoots,

B is for bumblebees - the big fat juicy bumbly type that bomb around the garden,

 the butterflies beginning to awake

and the birds who are busy building nests,

C is for the cats that keep me company,

and the crocus that make me smile.

 D for the Dicentra quietly nodding in the garden 

and the dandelions popping up,

 E is for the lime green euphorbia brightening up the darker corners.

F is for the frogs filling the pond with spawn and the air with welcome croaking

and the forget-me-nots that fill the flower beds.

G is for the little Grape Hyacinths that proudly stand

H is for the Helebores with their nodding heads,

I is for me,  working in the greenhouse with my apprentice,

J is for the Jacob's Ladder beginning to grow,

and K is for the kettle, which makes the brew we drink in the garden.

L is for the ladybird basking in the sun,

M is for Moss, who else could it be?

N is for the nettles I weed out regularly,

O is for the Ophiopogon planescapus Nigrasans 

(my favouritist ever plant name in the world!!!)

P is for the primula that shine when the sun seems dull.

Q is for the soil waiting quietly for the sun to warm

R is for the rhubarb I moved and for the stalks I harvested,

and the pudding we ate,

S is for the stack of snails and Snake's Head Fritillary 

T is for trays of seeds,  promising seedlings

who triumphantly grow

U is for the umbellifers the hoverflies love

V is the vegetable seedlings growing with vigour

w for waterbutts and my weed bucket, both usually full

X is the shape my secateurs make when they lie on the floor

y is for the yew at the bottom of the garden,

Z is for that lovely feeling of Zen

#staysafe #stayhome #gardening #gardens #abc

Disclaimer - not all photos were taken this spring but 90% were!

Two photos (O and Y - not mine, as I forgot to take my own photos!)

Keeping to our regulated one hour exercise

We still wrap up even though the weather is definitely milder. Moss already has her collar and lead on and is bursting with anticipation. Pockets are filled with dog-poo bags, latex gloves and tissues and the final thing before we set off - trigger the strava walking app.

We leave the house via the back door, turn left down our gable end, turn right on to the street, then right again up the cobbled track behind the houses. In years gone by, these cobbles were the base for the tram lines which connected our village to our local 'big' town. Unfortunately all that remain are the stones while the rails have probably rusted away at the bottom of the North Sea.

We follow the old tram lines as they pass the allotments and old garages, do the CV19 two (metre) step as we come up to a fellow dog walker. We nod and grin and share a grimace and walk on.

Moss knows this route, knows the secret path between the high hedges, she forges on ahead and waits for us at the little gate at the end. We don our gloves to open all gates - being careful is being wise.

Peering over the top ; checking for stock in the field. We spot Bob, the resident native breed pony, he is too busy grazing to even look up as we walk by.  The field drops down to the stream with a narrow footbridge. We cross over and then up and over the stile. Moss stands waiting at the dog gate and shoots through as soon as she can.

We walk back up a short sharp hill side where the 'fairy trees' with their exposed roots and secret nooks and crannies grow. At the top we turned right, down along the track, keeping our eyes open for lambs.

 And we are not disappointed.

The track goes up hill and quietly turns into a grassy hill, the crows swirl and twirl in the air playing on the breeze. 

We keep on upwards until the field's edge, turn left and start our return following the small stream which Moss finds great fun.

The field is long one, we call it the 'Long Lamb Field' (although lamb free at the moment, it is a bit exposed for the little ones until they are a bit more robust).

The next field has ewes fat and biding their time, Moss is kept close on her lead as we quietly walk through and exit on to a tree lined lane, a favourite one of ours and arrive at the 'rec'. Dog walkers are dotted around the grounds keeping themselves safe but yelling cheerful greetings and conversations with each other. You can tell who are not regular walkers or are not from the village - they avoid eye contact and actively ignore your 'we-are-in-this-together' hellos. Their loss.

Moss runs around in huge happy circles, her happiness is infectious.

Time to return, so we call in a grinning dog, slip her lead on and walk down the road back into the village - we have done our government advised one hour's exercise - but it was so much more than an hour's walk. It was fresh air, it was blue skies and scudding clouds, it was lambs and lapwings,  curlews and crows playing on the breeze. It was long distant views and lovely.

It was just lovely.

Roasties

Ooo err missus.....Fancy roast spuds with that...?

Done! 

So, lightly boiled, steamed dry, then tossed in well seasoned oil,

covered with chopped rosemary, wild garlic and chives (all from the garden).

Cooked in a hot oven until

golden brown and crispy.

DeLISH!

What are you eating at the moment? 

I am trying to make food good and tasty, filling and comforting, to keep up morale, fill empty legs and empty tums - and it seems to be working :)

Somewhere over the .....

Morning !

Here in the uk a small way we can celebrate and congratulate the NHS and other keyworkers is to display a poster in a window - either with rainbows or thank yous, with the hastags of #thankyounhs and #staysafe

 Last night a post came up on FB sharing a free pattern to make a crochet rainbow

I just knew what I was going to do - 

A quick dive into the stash pile, 

 gave me enough colours to make this!

The heart is NOT part of the pattern, 

it is one my fav sis in law made some years ago,

I just added the stitched NHS.

The original design has a row of rainbow coloured pompoms, 

I decided to add two 'cloud' pompoms instead.

So, if you fancy showing your support for the incredible work they do,

put a rainbow in your window - share that love xxx

Pattern HERE

Time it took - a very pleasant evening's crochet :)

#Rainbowofunity #kerryjaynedesigns #windowrainbows #frommywindow ##chasetherainbow #covid_19 #socialdistancing #crochetersunite #supportthenhs #makingrainbowstogether #rainbows  #stayathome #staysafe #supportingthenhs #coronavirus

March's Link up Page

Welcome to March's words and photos - please add your link so we can come and find you. If you are visiting please don't forget to comment, we all love support and contact - especially now xxx


A late entry - please follow this LINK to find Julie's stitchyknitter's post for this month's photos :)

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