Spring-like

 

I'm still here! 

Life has become rather hectic, once again, as much of my time is being taken up driving to and from the not-so-local hospital. It's exhausting but necessary, as we wait upon test results, and consider all possible outcomes, none of which will be straightforward or easy to navigate. As you can imagine, I'm a little behind with my blog reading, but I'm catching up slowly whenever I get an opportunity. It's lovely to hear everyone's news, especially as I have very little of my own. 

My hospital journeys are, at least, comfortable, in that I'm making them in the new-to-me car. After finally deciding it was time to upgrade with a newer, more reliable model, this one is perfect for us. I would have preferred a slightly more spacious boot, but this one ticks all the boxes in every other way. Lily decided a cherry scented air freshener was in order, and so that is what we now have, and hopefully it won't be long until the footwells display evidence of our Lake District adventures. Although, I've promised myself I'll try to keep it much cleaner than I did my previous car.

As the post title says, the weather here is becoming a lot more spring-like, but it is still incredibly cold. This week, I've woken up to frost on several mornings, and my hats and scarves have become essential wear, once again. It's lovely to see how light the evenings are becoming though, especially when I leave work at half past five. The darkest days of winter are definitely behind us now. We just need things to warm up a bit.

At the start of the month, we went to the farm so we could help out in the lambing shed. Unfortunately, no lambs arrived while we were there, but two had been born just a short while earlier. So we made ourselves useful by changing the straw and putting down the fresh silage, before moving on to milk feeding some of the lambs which had been rejected by the ewes. There are worse ways to spend a morning :)  I could have happily brought several of them back home with me - if only I had enough room. And I'm still finding bits of straw stuck to my hat and inside the pockets of my jacket!

Last weekend, we also managed to fit in another gentle walk along the canal. Recently, there have been improvements to the towpath, so the walk is far less muddy and much more enjoyable. I'm thinking we'll take our bikes next time, so that we can explore a bit farther, although I have visions of going straight over my handlebars and landing right in the water. 

As I'd hoped, I've also completed a small amount of work in the garden. And it feels so good to see it looking that little bit tidier. The grass has had it's first cut of the year and most of the soil has been turned over. I've also dug the raised bed and covered it with the nets to keep any cats away. It's still too early yet to sow anything directly into the soil, but it's all ready for when the weather improves. Fingers crossed this will be sooner rather than later. Buds are appearing on the apple trees, and in a few short weeks I'm sure there will be lots of new growth in the flower beds. I hadn't realised just how much I'd missed spending time outside, in the garden, but it just hadn't been dry enough until this month. 

Back soon.

J. X