Bright sunshine casting shadows beneath a clear blue sky shortly before midday when I took a chilly walk around the garden belied the temperatures skirting freezing which, during a current further cold spell below 0 centigrade sending rivulets of condensation from our bedtime breath dripping down walls and misting tightly closed windows until we were able to fling them open and dash shivering downstairs to our electric portable radiators timed to ignite at their lowest heat level an hour before Jackie but perhaps a couple after I expected to emerge.
Snowdrops and hellebores share the limelight with, at a higher level, a
variety of camellias;
daffodils are following up fast;
fern filigrees and honesty seed bud traceries are picked out by the clear light, as are
new shoots from our recently pruned roses.
When we first arrived here the garden of the then abandoned next door house, North Breeze, rampaged through our land, as demonstrated by
Now we have the benefit of attractive, sweet scented, acacia,
currently in bloom, hanging over the Back Drive fence.
This afternoon I watched the Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and France – probably the most impressive contest I have ever seen.
For dinner this evening Jackie produced her omelette-topped egg fried rice on which to bed hot and spicy, and tempura prawn preparations, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.
