Birdsong

 For a little while yesterday, just a little while, with the sun out, it felt like spring.  I wasn't out in it long as I had to drive to Tam's, and it took 2 hrs to get there as I got stuck behind a couple of slow vehicles and the road does not lend itself to overtaking in many places.  I decided not to fret and just plod and enjoy the scenery around me. It had been very foggy overnight but had cleared to a beautiful sunny day when I set off after breakfast.

I pulled into a layby on the way, as I wanted to take photos of another area laid to waste recently by Storm Darragh.  This pine woodland was on the hillside and just this one swathe had been taken out and reduced to splinters by a sudden extra-strong gust.

There had been a very hard frost, and this area and others in the valley bottom and side which don't get much sun, stayed frosted all day.

The hills give rough grazing to sheep and whilst you might think there it very unwelcoming countryside, you can just make out a little farmstead near the right hand side of the photo. I think the farmstead is in the trees, but this is an outbuilding and a trailer I reckon.

The birds also note the slow lengthening of the days and I noted this morning there is the start of a tentative dawn chorus, which is a real positive.  I noted it today because I had to take out the corpse of a little chestnut brown Field Mouse (they have white tummies and big ears too and are seriously Cute . . .) which the girls had run to earth under my BED! I was woken by frantic carpet-scratching in the vicinity of my head beneath the bed and hanging out of said bed, could see Lulu scrabbling at an upturned box of tissues.  They do stake-outs on the cupboard under the stairs where I keep the bedlinen and whatever useful boxes of Stuff I can shove in there, so I guess this mouse ventured forth.  This old house has walls lined with pitch pine tongue and groove and I think they must have made their way in behind them over the years.  Part of the house is also below ground level so I guess that is where they gained entry.

I spent the day at Tam's playing with Rosie (who wants to try standing without holding on now) and tackling the washing up mountain.  I think I must have washed and dried just about every piece of cutlery, every pan, several big oven dishes and various plates, bowls and mugs.  I could clock Jon one for never doing it (and Tam claims Rosie needs her attention . . .)  She actually got several consecutive hours sleep recently and came down with some energy, but that was a one off.  Rosie has been diagnosed with Eczema and has also been constipated, so neither of those conditions have helped her sleep at nights and she may wake up to 20 times.  Jon has Eczema and I have the Asthma gene (which is connected to Eczema) so I really hope she doesn't go on to develop Asthma.

It was the most beautiful late afternoon drive home. I wish there had been somewhere to stop as the road climbed up into the mountains out of Aber, as the sun on the dead bracken was so beautiful.  I stopped at a layby higher up though - this is a favourite view of mine - and took a few photos of the lengthening shadows.

Today I have the heater boiler service so need to turn it off in the cupboard - I need to GET into the cupboard first as it is blocked with 3 different sized baby car seats, cat food boxes, bottles of fizzy mineral water etc.  I may be gone some time . . .