February

So much to write about.

First of all, it was Yer Man's birthday on Sunday. On Friday we had no plans, so we rang David Job at Yarde, and he said he would open up for us. We really didn't feel it was on for just the four of us to go along so we did some ringing round. We assumed about half the people we asked wouldn't make it, but everybody said yes, so we ended up with 15 adults and 8 children. Charlie cooked us a really nice lunch - roast pork and apple crumble - and we were piggybacking on the back of someone's 21st, so the place was all decorated with wildflowers. She created a cake with a selection of slices, a fig, and some sparklers, so we all got chance to sing.

We cycled up, and it was quite frosty - there had been a bit of snow, too, and it hailed on us on the way, but we arrived looking pretty clean. It had all melted by the time we cycled back, so we arrived back home looking like a cross between a dalmation and a skunk. The children were so muddy we had to get them to strip down in the porch.

It was a really nice day, though. Rainbow made her daddy breakfast in bed - following the instructions in her 3rd Book for Girls to the letter - I had to fight for marmalade rather than "jam or honey".

The snowdrops are out. They sneaked up on me this year. One day there was nothing, next day there were patches of white under all the hedges and under the trees up in the top corner.

 

There are a few green shoots of daffodils showing through.

 

And this is my garlic patch on Sunday morning, with a sprinkling of snow. The onions I planted don't look so great, but the garlic is going strong.