It's Been a While....

...partly because I have run out of room in my online photo album so can't post pics without deleting previous ones or purchasing album space, and my laptop has been donated to my son and my old pc won't speak to my camera. Consequently, uploading pictures and getting them on to my blog is a bit of a palava. I'll try and sort something out though. Things have been busy here: I find spring such an energising time of year but I'm actually trying to slow down a bit. I used to make my cup of tea in bleary-eyed fashion, crawl back to bed and resurface once the life-giving caffeine had gently woken me up. Now, I have got in to the unhealthy habit of putting the kettle on, feeling obliged to go and feed the hens and then take the tea outside and start wondering what I can get on with in the garden. Yes! I know! Madness!!

The children are going to their dad's tomorrow morning until Tuesday afternoon so I am looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet. Camilla has been round which is nice for the girls, and Amber has had her friend Emily to stay too. Tristan had his regulation time with Joel last week so the inevitable bickering has been at a manageable level. I have banned the words "I'm bored" with threats of double work when we get back to homeschooling if they chunter about not having anything to do during the break. Tristan is starting French GCSE and hopefully history if I can understand what set books I need to get. I took a special trip up to Foyles in London to have a decent peruse but got completely lost so gave up. I did get a really good insect field guide, a biodynamic calendar, a bee book called "Queen of the Sun" which is a lovely anthology of  articles, pictures and poems from a bee-friendly perspective. Oh, and a great Eleanor of Aquitaine bio by Douglas Boyd which I am really enjoying. So. er, yes, not a great result on the textbook front but I'm well stocked up. Things with their dad are ok; I'm letting the CSA do the running around for me! Well, I say running...I think the Alps are moving more quickly but hey, I wouldn't want to do their job.

The garden is looking full of promise though, and this morning we are finally getting some rain. Drizzle actually, but it's better than nothing. It's not been too bad with the hosepipe ban as I have the duck's bathtub water to decant over the border (which yes, I lug 5 watering-can-loads of water to) and I've been prioritising my new plants so it's all looking pretty green as I've got mainly perennials.

The chickens are all doing well and enjoying the dry weather. They still haven't touched the dust-bath station I installed, but are finding plenty of other places; in my row of potatoes, a pothole they've excavated in a patch of bare earth in the lawn, under the bikes which kicks dust up all over the chains, that sort of thing. Blossom the chick has gone broody, and at the risk of sounding like I advocate teenage motherhood, she's been so out of sorts and hormonal I felt it better to let her sit and see if she stays rather than force her out of it. She's in the spare rabbit hutch in my potting shed so it's nice and quiet, and she has got a selection of nextdoor's eggs under her. My neighbours lost Dorothy, a favourite hen and have a few of her eggs left. There are some others too, mainly Pekin bantams and Polish and some other fancy fowl - they're a bit more adventurous than me.

The call ducks are also fit and healthy, and are right at this moment enjoying the dampness. John the drake is extremely full of the joys and keeps grabbing the chicks and trying to mate them. I did think he was just chasing them but no, having observed him from the upstairs window as I shouted directions to Amber in the garden, he definitely has more libidinous things in mind. They have got a bit wise to him now and give him a good pecking which is a bit dangerous as they could do him some real damage. Not that he seems frightfully aware of that. It certainly doesn't seem to be putting him off. Jean, the duck, did go broody too and [extraordinarily] tempted though I was, I decided not to let her incubate :-( she is very young and ducks are less easy to find homes for than hens. I'll see if it happens next year and let her have a go then.

I'm knitting/crocheting a tea cosy at the moment - it's a variant of the Spring Explosion Tea Cozy from Crochet With Raymond, which looks like this:

I'm doing a fruit 'n' veg one though, and so far it's looking great. I've also discovered the Martha Stewart website which has lots of ideas, so have been churning out strawberry pincushions (from the Sewing Projects) section, and yesterday Kate came over with her machine and we gave it a clean up whilst drinking tea and chatting. Very pleasant :-)

Happy Easter to you all.