Catkins, a sign of Spring on our bright and brisk walk.
A friend popped round on her walk today so that we could swap books and she brought me some beautiful sea glass too. So, I now have new red glass and some sea glass and I need to get back to work.Thank you so much, H, much appreciated. 
The following lovely story came my way today and I thought you’d like it too, Dear Reader.
The horses on our walk were close to the fence today and seemed as interested in us as we were in them.
The Daffodils we see are now in full bloom.
I heard today the our local hospital are asking again for knitted items for the premature babies. I’m going to make the traffic light hats in red, orange and green.
These hats are destined for the maternity unit at Treliske Hospital. Wheal Fortune where the post natal ward midwives use them to indicate the level of breast feeding help a mum and baby need.
Red – lots of help
Amber – some help
Green – occasional help but doing well.
What a day! We watched the inauguration of Biden and Harris and found it very moving and full of hope for the future and we loved the poem, The Hill We Climb, by 22 year old Amanda Gorman, a ray of sunshine, from her words to her yellow coat, as my SIL said. You can find out more about this remarkable young woman here. Another lovely thing was seeing Bernie Sanders in his wonderful hand knit mittens.
A friend sent me this and I love it! I so miss singing it with my choir. I miss my choir. I’m missing the sun too!
Storm Christoph has begun to batter us and is forecast to be around for the next couple of days. It has, therefore, been an inside day finishing off the marmalade this morning and this afternoon, reading by the fire. I’ve just finished “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens, a beautifully written novel celebrating nature, first love and incorporating a mystery that keeps the reader guessing to the last page. If you haven’t read it yet, you have a treat in store. 
I’ve spent the day making marmalade, two batches made and one more batch tomorrow – 16 jars of varying sizes.
Bubbles on the Seville oranges
Beginning to boil
16 jars
I love finding new words. There is a word for love of a place: topophilia, popularised by the geographer Yi-Fu Tuan in 1974 as all of “the human being’s affective ties with the material environment.” In other words, it is the warm feelings you get from a place. It is a vivid, emotional, and personal experience, and it leads to unexplainable affections. This is the word to describe my love of Cornwall. I grew up in Cornwall and left to become a teacher when I was 18 only returning to visit family for the next 40 years but I always needed to come home. That we did 13 years ago.
St Ives where we had our honeymoon in 1967
Apricity is another lovely word meaning something I have described several times in recent posts without having the proper word – it is the warmth of the sun in winter. I felt it again today.
I was late to the allotment this afternoon and when I arrived the lovely Mr S told me that an allotment friend had been along and brought me a beautiful piece of glass. She had had to remove it from a doorway and had thought of me and my glasswork. It is really lovely and I will enjoy getting to work with it before too long. Thank you very much S. I’ll let you know what I make with it. 
It’s been a mixed week of rain, bitter winds and a sun that is beginning to feel warm! My six today are all pleasing to see in our garden and seeds for hope for the future
Lettuces in the edible garden, ready to eat
2. The Alliums are shooting up.
Allium Drumstick/ Sphaerocephalon
3. There are buds beginning on the Snowdrops.
Snowdrops
4. Tiny Nigella seedlings have appeared, all self sown.
Love-in-a-mist
5. There are buds on the Lavender!
Lavender
6. Seeds for the allotment arrived in the post today!
Sarah Raven seeds
The inspiration for Six on Saturday comes from The Propagator. Pop over to see his posts and to read sixes from lots of other gardeners to find out how gardens all over the world are faring.
There were lots of beautiful colours in the dawn sky this morning.
A warm sun shone this afternoon and we spent a couple of hours at our allotment clearing ancient gooseberry bushes and weeds out of the fruit cage that we have inherited. We can now see where the currant bushes are and plan on pruning them quite hard soon. 
We have been back in Cornwall for 13 years today so had a celebration meal of Chicken Pot Roasted in Milk, Bay and Nutmeg, the meal we made for Thanksgiving, very tasty indeed. 
My day got better today when LiveWire no2 called to ask if I could bake with him. Of course! Video call and ingredients all ready, we spent a happy couple of hours making Choc Chip and Raisin Cookies. Our lovely neighbour likes it when I bake with him too as we share out the results. 
A late parcel arrived yesterday wrapped in this delightful brown wrapping paper.
We really needed a different place to walk today so drove a few miles to the North coast. Our walk was short in the bitterest of chill winds!
Sea at Porthtowan
Commentator Award
