The Swallows Return.

The morning was grey, damp and chilly which I'm sure contributed to my inability to get on with things with much enthusiasm. However no one else is going to come and work through my jobs list so I pushed on with tidying up the kitchen and around the place. It's those little or not so little, piles of things that haven't quite got a home that are hard to sort out. I found the perfect place for my Hobbit clock and at last the piles are getting smaller.

By the afternoon things brightened up a bit and I escaped outdoors. As I was cleaning out the built-in barbecue (the one we never use in the outbuildings) there was much excited /angry ? chittering as the swallows swooped into the pump room. Our swallows have returned from their winter in Africa. Now I know summer is around the corner. Never mind that the immediate forecast is for dropping temperatures possibly even snow. 

I finished off my afternoon with some weeding of the primrose bank. I achieved my goal which was to dig out all the dandelions along with some other weeds that were there. It didn't feel too windy as I worked because the house was sheltering me from the northerly wind but right now it is whistling around the conservatory making it sound as if we are in the teeth of an Arctic gale.

One of my morning jobs was to clean out the vegetable basket that lives in the porch which is cooler than the kitchen. I've cooked up lots of carrots with some parsnips, a small swede and a sweet potato. My plan is to make a mixed root mash with some butter and cheese for supper. Might be an interesting flavour mix.

Last night's sunset.