spring is in the air!

The sun is shinning, the birds are singing - it may well be spring, well we can hope.  The weather man said yesterday that if this goes on for another couple of weeks then we will have missed out on winter altogether.  I imagine though that the people in Somerset and those living near rivers wouldn't have minded a bit of the cold stuff instead of the rain.

I belong to a book club and we've just finished reading 'The Last Runaway' by Tracy Chevalier which I enjoyed.  The story writing is only ok but the fact that it opened up a whole piece of American history I knew nothing about, namely something called the 'The Underground Railway', which operated in the late 1800s.  It wasn't a railway and it wasn't underground; it was a network of people and places that were used to help people escape slavery.  Who says that reading novels won't educate you!  The link will take you to the Wikipedia page.

The changes to the house and garden over the last year has left us with large areas of soil waiting to be planted.  Plans have been made, garden centres and nurseries visited and lists formulated.  All we need now is the money to buy plants and lots of energy to get them all planted.  A friend suggested that we throw a party where we supply food, drink and supervision for an afternoon while our friends do all the work - what do you think, any takers??

The older son is leaving home this weekend, the flat in London awaits.  Mixed emotions abound, we shall miss him terribly, life here will be quieter and more organised, enormous pride in his achievements, food we put in the fridge two days ago will still be there when we go to get it!   There's good and bad in all things.

I can't resit taking pictures of boats so have included here a couple I found the other day when I looked back on a visit to Aldeburgh on the east coast.  Hope you like them.

'Dry wood stern'

'Sizewell on the Starboard side'