Odds and Sods - April 2018

April was a very changeable month - we had heatwaves, we had floods and torrential rain, and the heating was on and off constantly - the thermostat has never been so twiddled with in this house!  I was beginning to despair that we were ever going to get a spring.  And in fact it all came and went so quickly that I didn't even have a chance to collect beech leaves this year so the beech leaf gin is not on anyone's Christmas list unfortunately.  Fingers crossed for the blackberry brandy instead!

Finn has been ridiculously cuddly lately - not that I mind of course.  He had his annual MOT and check up at the vets in April and he's doing well - he has a small lump which we need to keep an eye on - but he's pretty healthy in every other way.   He doesn't seem to want to go for long walks - or sometimes even short ones, he sometimes just sits down on the front doorstep and refuses to budge!  Which is a worry because we've got a month off in September to walk 175 miles - I may need to do some re-planning.

Talking of which ...

I've finally started to break my new boots in - which are still looking very clean!

My weight loss is progressing well (23.5 pounds off as I type this) and I can start to see a difference now and am having to buy new clothes!

This is a spring vision!  Haring around the Norfolk countryside one day, I had to stop to take this photo - it's at the top of North Elmham village, where Mum and Dad, and now Amanda and Sid, live.  Beautiful.

I've been watching the progress of these beautiful magnolia buds on my daily walk to work - it was absolutely stunning for about a week!  I love magnolias but it's over very quickly and then makes a terrible mess when the flower petals fall over the lawn.  Maybe the fact that they're so short lived makes us love them even more?

Andy came up from Bristol for a week and brought these goose eggs with him - my god, they were enormous!  Much too meaty for me sadly so I shared mine with Finn.  We had to put them in tumblers as we didn't have egg cups big enough!

The blossom this year has been beautiful - I don't know if that's weather related?   I've spent quite a lot of time with my nose in flower blossom on my walk to work - I must look like a real weirdo!

Excited to report that my Runrig ticket has arrived - I'm off to see them in June and trying not to peak too soon.

The other exciting news is that I learnt that I had passed my latest two horticultural exams - on fruit and veg, and growing under glass.  75 per cent qualified now, just have to make sure I don't stuff up the final two!

Last word goes to Finn ... as always!