It's Been a Funny old Easter!

..................or I'm Dreaming of a White Easter...........................

Brrrrrrr........Any Easter bunnies hopping about this Easter will certainly have suffered from frost bite!

Saturday We woke up to this. So, the forcasters were right for a change! Luckily it didn't last long. the thin covering over the ground soon melted leaving me a very soggy lawn.

The weather's been really strange today. Seven and a half hours of sunshine despite the early snow. One minute the sky would be a beautiful clear blue then it would rapidly change to heavy dark clouds before equally quickly returning to a clear blue sky.

The morning post delivered this book from Amazon. I found it on the site last week and thought it looked interesting.

I'm definitely going to have a go knitting some of these patterns. So there'll be a few pairs of socks in present parcels before long! I'm on my second pair right now. I love this colourful wool...................and this is the little jacket I made for Josh I gave him it last Sunday at his Christening.

Easter Sunday. The morning dawned very dark and drawing back the bedroom curtains revealed an even heavier snow fall. This was a blanket covering of about 2 inches. The most snow we've had in this area for over two years. It stopped soon after nine o'clock thankfully allowing the sun to emerged from behind the dark clouds. By midday most of the snow had melted away.

Most Easter morning you usually find me in the kitchen cooking for a family lunch. This year we've no guests. I had pulled a large leg of Lamb out of the freezer ready to cook but every one has prior engagements this year so Dave and I tuck into a beautiful tender roasted joint all by ourselves.

Time for Daisy's Annual Bath!

We normally hear Daisy scratching about in her hibernation box and get her out. Some years she's been out in early February. This year she's been really quite, so I decided it was time to fetch her out last week. She's been slowly waking up in my studio conservatory for the last two days. Today I decided she was awake enough for her annual bath and spruce up. I bathed her in a shallow bath of warm water, dried her then oiled her shell with olive oil. After this shes weighed and measured. This spring she weighs 5.1 kilograms. She was only half this size when she first adopted us about 35 years ago. She appeared in our secure garden one summer. No one seemed to own her and no one claimed her so we've looked after her ever since.

Its always a struggle to get her to eat after hibernation but mostly I win. Only once have I had to haul her off to the Vets. This year she's not been too bad. I always tempt her with green grapes, her favourite food, but she needs hand feeding first before she decided to get stuck in and will only feed when shes warm. That's during the afternoons in the spring. later when she ventures outside I leave her to feed as she wants. She likes to crop the dandelions and daisy's from the lawn. Hence her name....Daisy!

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I've really been enjoying watching the BBC's series 'Larks Rise to Candleford'. I've never read the book or books but I hope the BBC commissions more.

The 'No 1 ladies Detective Agency' by Alexander McCall Smith, screened on Easter day made another hit for the BBC. There more planned for next year. This feature length film was the Director Antony Minghella's last work and the soul singer Jill Scott was a brillant casting as Mama Precious Ramotswe.

Easter Monday
There was no snow this morning although on looking out the conservatory window there was a thin sketchy layer of slush so there must have been some earlier. It's been another sunny day with brief periods of dark clouds.
We decided we to go over to Tixover to visit Sheila this afternoon. Shes in a Care Home after suffering a devastrating stroke in 2006. She does enjoy Daves visits, although communication with her has got progressive more difficult.
It's cold but looking increasily spring like. The hedgerows are becoming greener. The field in front of the Care Home have the sheep back with their lambs always a Ahhhhh...... sight.
On the journey to Tixover we saw two Red Kite soaring over head on thermals. These protected birds of Prey have been a sucessful special reintroduction program for 'Natural England' over the last few years. They were released in Rockingham Forest futher west in the County and are suviving well.