Cold.

The sun has been out today but the air temperature hasn't gone above freezing. The parts of the garden that weren't reached by the sun remained covered in twinkling frost all through the day.

At the moment I'm only able to work outside in short bursts but that was enough for me to clear one flowerbed by the house of last year's dead growth and a few weeds. The crocosmia and aquilegias in there have already got several inches of new leaves growing, a promise of flowers to come. I also put down some rose branches to keep the cats off that bit of garden.

Indoors I still have plenty of more sedentary things to be getting on with; piano, guitar and my slow growing knitted hat. It was very pleasant to be in the sitting room with the afternoon sun streaming in through the big glass doors.

Looking out of the window at the approaching dusk there is not a cloud to be seen in the sky so I guess we're in for another cold night. Peter has made a potato, cabbage, onion and cheese casserole with a lot more meat than I usually put in which will make a nice warming supper.