Springy

Dropped off my two lovely friends from London at the early bus this morning and then went to Mass. Lovely story at Mass this morning; the meeting of the Risen Christ with Mary Magdalene at the tomb. She thought He was the gardener. I have always thought about His smile when He said, "Mary!"

Then, armed with wellies, a new pair of rubber kitchen gloves and the kitchen scissors, I went down to the Marcite and collected two more bags of nettles for the pot. On the way home up the country lane, spotted my first fox which just dashed out of the hedge right in front of me, and ran behind some of last year's hay bales.

It's been a weird week for weather. We woke to a winter wonderland of snow on Tuesday morning after a very wet Easter weekend. By the end of the day on Tuesday the snow in the valley and on the lower slopes was completely gone, but remains even now on the tops of the mountains. The sun came out for the rest of the week, but it's still been quite cold. My friend took a photo in the morning of a winter landscape, and another the same day of plum trees blossoming.

It was very chilly this morning, and I was bundled up like December on the way to Mass and after a sharp, cold wind was up, but by the time I had come back from my stomp, my coat and scarf were bundled up in the bike basket and I was unzipping my woolie cardie. My Mac says it's 13 now, but it feels like a lot more than that in the sun, and the high is supposed to be 18.

Almost all the seeds I started have begun sprouting, and if all goes well, we should have all sorts of lovely things coming up: menta, oregano, thyme, levanda, girasole, marjoram, salvia, rue, nasturtiums and calendula.

I went down to the garden centre to get some of Winnie's special food, and bought two books, one about "autosufficienza" that includes all sorts of exciting things about curing your own hams, drying fruit, smoking meat, making beer and wine and cheese, and canning, jamming, herbing and distilling; and another one all about "compostaggio".

Spring spring spring!!



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