For annual ramblings, please scroll down to the 2 December entry
It should surprise no one that we are glad to see the back of 2023, though my health issues brought me into contact with a whole lot of thoroughly likeable and very caring people: it’s an ill wind, eh?
We’ve had a good time over the festives in our elderly way. As planned, Martyn’s sister Sandra spent Christmas Day with us and stayed overnight, and we had a splendid lunch outing a couple of days ago, visiting our friends Claire and Richard and their kids, not far from where we used to live. Kids: Steph and David have turned out to be charming and responsible adults approaching middle age…
I suspect we’ll see the new year in through closed eyelids. We’re looking forward to welcoming Annie on 2 Jan, and have invited friends Chris and Jon to lunch as well: the time-honoured chicken casserole, I think: never a bad idea when we’re at the mercy of the train timetable. We had hoped Annie’s brother Terry would join us, but he’ll be on babysitting duties.
The remarkably mild weather is kicking a lot of stuff into growth. Lots of daffodils and snowdrops are poking through, and I see new shoots on at least one of the roses. I wouldn’t normally prune them just yet, but may need to. Similarly, the hellebores are putting up new growth, so it’s time the manky old foliage was hacked down. Mild, sure: but the winds have been anything but. I fished the barbecue cover out of the pond this morning, and it has already blown away from where I hung it out to dry. It’ll get wetter again in no time, so it can lie where it fell for the moment. And we’ll see whither it has flown tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment