The sun has got his hat on

For weeks I have been waiting for Spring to finally arrive. I've been kidding myself by having daffodils, of which who knew there were so many varieties.

Last weekend  the sun did have his hat on. This being the case meant that Majorie Mountfield could come out of hibernation. I'd never needed such a lawn mower before moving here the grass areas were always a bit of postage stamp and needed no more than a flymo.

As you can see that is not the case here. When we first moved here just over a year a go the bearded one was not so keen on the purchase of Marjorie but after spending 5 hours helping me do all three lawns with a flymo he seemed to very quickly think that maybe Marjorie wouldn't be such an extravagance after all. She did take a bit of getting used to it felt very strange the first time I sat on her to drive around the garden but I wouldn't be without her now. The gardens here really are a blank canvas and my intention over time is to plant it up to make it into more of a garden than a paddock. 

With having these four fiendish devils our first priority was to make sure the garden was dog proofed

Rufus is quite an accomplished escapologist given half the chance.

I've made a start on the one side of the front garden 

This is a photograph of the hydrangeas I planted last year but with all plants they are taking their time to bed in and grow and haven't quite sprung back into life yet after the hard winter we had, but that just means I can take more photo's to share with you as things start look more like a garden and less like a paddock. 

We have a lot of bird life visit us here at the farm house. It always tickles me the way the sparrows queue up on the front gate to take it in turns to come to the feeder. What doesn't tickle me is the little deposits they leave behind. 

I managed to find some these planters in the sale and purchased six to sit on top of the gates to see if this would deter them. I set about starting the laborious job of creosoting the fences last weekend which included three gates out of six and once dry popped the planters on top.  So far the sparrows are avoiding them and my hope is once I have planted them up it will continue to stop them.  

Last weekend also saw the return of the swallows. They are what I call time wasters as I could watch these birds swoop over the garden and surrounding fields for hours. 

They had nests up in the eves of the farm house last year and D even had to rescue one from the drain pipe hopper when it fell in and couldn't get out. The mother kept flying up to us just missing our heads and screeching in desperation until we realised what the matter was.  When D climbed up on the step ladders to get it out she kept flying right up to his face as if to warn him not to hurt her baby.  It was a bit of a reluctant fledgling but after D let it go she kept coming back and flying round us as if to thank him. It was really quite a thing to see so I am looking forward to seeing them raise their families again this year.

When I know the weather forecast is in our favour,  and the likelihood is that I will be able to spend most of the day in the garden, I always try and get something prepared that doesn't take a lot of effort when we're finished for the day and come in feeling a little weary and ready for a hot bath or shower. I have always made quiche, it's something my mother taught me to make but she also taught me two alternatives to making conventional short crust pastry!!

This weekend unfortunately the sun has not got his hat on and it has continued as it has all week and been non-stop rain which means creosoting the rest of the fences is clearly not going to happen. Instead I have put the time to good use and tried to be a domestic goddess and clean the house, sort the washing you know all those boring things we have to do. But yesterday I had a very enjoyable afternoon with my pasta machine and made homemade mushroom and spinach lasagna and sun-dried tomato frocaccia for dinner which I hadn't made for sometime.  It can be a bit of a faff getting the pasta machine out etc but if I could have make this blog have smellavision I tell you the smells coming from my kitchen were out of this world. Even if the bearded one when asked what he thought of my bread asked if I had bought it at the supermarket that morning. I couldn't decide whether I should be insulted or flattered but the majority on my facebook and instagram accounts felt I should be flattered that he thought it was that good so on this occasion I will let him off.   I will of course get around to sharing the recipes for all of these at some point soon. 

Since returning to blogland my posts do seem to be a little foody but in the background I am still stitching and crocheting or knitting and will have lots of projects to show you before too long. In the meantime I hope you are enjoying the recipes I have shared certainly my Grandmothers Iced Tea Bread has proved very popular. If you've had a go at making it please share a photo on my facebook page or Instagram or even on your blog I would love to see it. My grandmother was a big feature in our lives she was known to wear a pinny at all times, they did that in those days didn't they I'm sure I'm not alone in this memory, but she was also known to be the nanny with the pinny of many pockets whatever you needed it was bound to be somewhere in one of those pockets. 

I will leave you with this little blue tit sitting on the feeder in twilight it was taken a few weeks ago now but is one of my favourites. I am still filling the feeders most days at the moment as it is still slim pickings for the birds at the moment I had to wait until this little chap had taken himself off to bed before I could go out and fill it up again.  I didn't want to disturb him he looked so chilled. 

Take care & stay safe

Mx