I was surprised to see this in flower as early as it is – a kind of Cow Parsley, Umbelliferae perhaps? It was the only one to be seen. 
The sky was brilliantly blue and the air bitterly blowy coming in on an easterly wind but no snow here in the South West as there is down the East of the country.
There is a spot on our walk where a Robin always sings but we can rarely find him. Today, with more patience, we spotted him. 
A friend called by today to return a book I lent her recently, The Binding by Bridget Collins, such an intriguing tale which had captured H’s imagination as it did mine. It is so lovely to see a real person at the door, especially another Book Lover, and to exchange both some chat and another couple of books. 
One of my American Blogger friends, Nancy, posted the following poem and so much of it rang true for me and maybe for you too. Just to say, my friend, Ute, is feeling much better so thank you for keeping her in your hearts.
COVID IS RAGING . . . MY LIFE IS A MESS
I LIVE IN PAJAMAS AND DON’T HAVE TO DRESSI’M IN ISOLATION, JUST STAYING AT HOME
AND WOULD GIVE MY LAST DOLLAR TO BE FREE TO ROAMI’M SERIOUSLY AT RISK (OR THAT’S WHAT THEY SAY)
TELLING ME TO STAY IN AND NOT GO OUT EACH DAYIN MY HEAD I’M SO YOUNG THOUGH MY LICENSE REVEALS
I’M A 70-PLUS SENIOR (BUT THAT’S NOT HOW IT FEELS!)WHEN I RUN OUT OF FOOD AND DELIVERIES ARE LATE
I HAVE TO BUY GROCERIES BETWEEN 7 AND 8SO EARLY MORNING I HEAD OUT TO RESTOCK
AND DISCOVER A LINE WINDING ‘ROUND THE BLOCKSOCIAL DISTANCING SENIORS ALL 6 FEET APART
MAKE ME WONDER WHEN I BECAME AN OLD FARTMY LATEST NEW OUTFIT IS GLOVES AND A MASK
AND I’M STARTING TO WONDER IF I’M UP TO THIS TASKI WASH ALL MY GROCERIES ALL FRUIT, MEAT AND VEG
WILL THIS ADDITIONAL PRECAUTION TIP ME OVER THE EDGE?MY BEAUTIFUL BROWN HAIR HAS WIDE ROOTS OF GREY
NO HAIRDRESSERS AROUND TO HELP WASH THEM AWAYI’VE BEEN TALKING TO MYSELF & ANSWERING BACK
IS IT MONDAY OR FRIDAY? I’VE REALLY LOST TRACKI’VE STOPPED KEEPING HOUSE
IT’S WEEKS SINCE I’VE DUSTED
AND I KNOW WITHOUT VISITORS
I’LL NEVER GET BUSTEDI FACETIME FRIENDS OR GROUP CHAT ON ZOOM
AND TRY TO PRETEND WE’RE ALL IN THE SAME ROOMTHANK GOD LIQUOR STORES ARE CONSIDERED ‘ESSENTIAL’
WITHOUT DAILY DRINKS THIS WOULD DRIVE US ALL MENTALEVERY ONCE IN A WHILE IT IS GOOD TO REFLECT
ON WHAT THIS ALL MEANS AND WHAT WE CAN EXPECTIT’S A TIME TO BE GRATEFUL FOR ALL THAT WE’VE GOT
LIKE A WARM HOUSE AND FOOD THAT OTHERS HAVE NOTTHE BOTTOM LINE HERE
BY THE TIME THIS ALL ENDS
IS THAT WE’LL GET THROUGH IT
WITH OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS
We ‘attended’ a brilliant talk this morning about one of our favourite artists, Andrew Wyeth. Art Historian Stella Grace Lyons, has such an accessible style of delivery and is so enthusiastic. It is a pleasure to spend an hour with her and to discover so much more about this artist. Next week, the talk is about Edward Hopper, another favourite of ours.
Wind From the Sea Andrew Wyeth 1947. Just look at the delicacy of the lace.
This afternoon, I baked with T, LiveWire No 3. She chose to make a Victoria Sponge and we spent a lovely couple of hours together ending up with a delicious cake in each household.
T’s cakes just out of the oven, photo taken of iPad screen.
There is no way that the lovely Mr S and I could (or should) eat all this cake so we enjoy sharing with Sue-next-door. We had a very socially distanced tea party, each bringing our own cup of tea and using disposable plates and enjoying a very good catch up. You can see the rain spots on the top of the cake. We don’t let the rain stop our fun!
Spring is really on its way when the lambs start appearing the field behind our house. This was taken on a very long zoom.
I found a recipe for Rainbow Veg Pakora Picnic Pie by Nadiya Hussein and liked the sound of it. I made it this afternoon, thinking I would make the whole mixture but a smaller pie so that we had some veg mix left over.
I needed the extra mixture because this afternoon, LiveWire No 2 wanted to bake on Skype and asked if I would like to make Flatbreads. As I had never made them before, J offered to teach me and a fine job he did of it. We had a really lovely afternoon. Sue-next-door always loves it when I bake with J as there is always too much for us and we share it with her.
One of our favourite veggie meals is Rainbow Roast, lots of roasted vegetables with cubes of halloumi cheese. There are red, yellow and green peppers, courgettes, red onion, cauliflower florets, sun-dried tomatoes and red grapes – it is delicious!
I just about managed to get a photo of the little wren who visits our garden. 
My SIL sent me this link and it is great fun. Make sure you watch the video!
Here is this month’s Action for Happiness calendar. Have a friendly month. Just want to put out a call of friendship to Ute, a Blogger friend who has Covid. Happily she is recovering, just, please, keep her in your thoughts. 
We have left up our garden and indoor fairy lights until Candlemas as I heard on the radio that that is the moment when the days being longer have lengthened enough to notice so we don’t need the other lights anymore. I heard yesterday that this time of year is also the pagan festival of Imbolc which is about celebrating spring, the beginning of the lambing season and new life. It is one of the four key festivals in the Celtic calendar – the others being Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain – and traditionally falls when winter stores of food were beginning to get low mid-winter and halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox. It begins on February 1st and ends on February 2nd.
Some people decorate the mantlepiece with items such as a vase of snowdrops, swan feather and/or green candles.
The lovely Mr S has had a good day despite everything. Family phone calls and videos, cards and presents have made the day fun and we have ended with a favourite feast of Confit Duck and then the Lime and Ginger Cheesecake. To top it all (what a strange thing!) he has booked for his vaccine tomorrow!
Presents from our lovely neighbour
Lime and Ginger Cheesecake ready to serve
I am trying to track down the maker of this pottery, initials JC. Just a call out in case anyone local might know. We know the potter is in Cornwall and was potting in the late1970s/early 1980s.
For those of you following my friend’s icy water exploits, she has added a comment to yesterday’s post. 🙂
Commentator Award
