Washing Day.

The jackdaws were back in the chimney again this morning so all yesterday's efforts, and smokey kitchen were in vain. At least the fireplace had a good clean out which would have had to be done eventually. I washed the ends of the kilim and managed to dry it outside. It's now back in place having had a good dose of flea spray to deter the clothes moths. It has been sunny and although the wind was cold it was excellent for drying. Peter and I went into town briefly this morning to collect some IT equipment but the rest of my day, in between loading the washing machine and hanging clothes out, has been spent working in the garden.
Celandines, a wild flower that I am happy to have in the garden.
I had several visits from my neighbour's 5 year old son. He drives up on his mini quad bike (my boys are so envious), wearing an enormous full-face bike helmet. The first time he and a little girl brought me a bucket of wood shavings for the hens (from Paul's tree cutting - that sounded like job creation), and the second time we went down to look at the tadpoles in the pond. It's lovely that our valley is so secluded and safe and I never used to worry when my boys were little. One good yell from me and they'd soon arrive home.

Primroses in the bog garden next to the stream.

We had another barbecue this evening, might as well enjoy the good weather while it is here. I had my usual courgettes with the tiniest bit of pork because it looked so luscious. The song thrush greeted the new day with his amazing song repertoire and sang once more at the end of day while we ate our al fresco meal. He definitely does a cat's miaow and his favourite is the opening bars of the Radetzky March.