Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 10 May 2020

Oh dear, the knitted part looks too dark; colour is more like the ball.

Lovely, AQ. I just came back on to put on a pic for all the Mothers Day ladies:

Our clematis in the apple tree is coming out, quite early, and you can also see in this pic some of the big fat buds of more flowers to come.

This is so high up in the tree, that I had to take the pic by holding up my phone at arms length!

Edit: I must also agree with the quote about hearing babies breathing over the phone. I was once listening to this  when there was a gurgle, and our Youngest said that Matthew had just vomited all over his sweater! (Too much information, I know! :-(   )

Good morning - and still the rain hasn't come; there is some white cloud and a keen wind, with gusts at times. There has been snow in Shetland and parts of Highland. We all woke late this morning, and it looks as if lunch will be late too - but who cares: meals are only signposts to hang the rest of the day upon! No plans here today - only necessity is a shopping list for tomorrow to get the next lot of food!

AQ, Interesting about the tulips. What colour are they? Our gardener planted some tulip bulbs last autumn. I said any colour would be fine (thinking he would choose red, as most men seem to do). I was surprised that they were purple! I love purple, but they do not show up amongst the shrub foliage. I had in mind pink or yellow. Next time, I will be more specific.
I also read at first that Dibnlib had walked with 20 dogs!

Thank you, Diane for starting the week once again. Also, thanks for the wren links. I have not looked at them yet, but will do so later.

That clematis is beautiful Lindy. We have a similar one near our bin store. It improves the look of the area considerably. Would you know the name of it?

The cooler weather and breeze has reached us now.

Still breezy, but sun broke through the clouds at lunchtime - not good for sitting out, but I did walk round the deck and say hello to various buds which are opening. Starlings have almost stripped the leaves off the Sage - we don't have French Marigolds this year, which are their more usual herbal nest liner! J is painting a fence panel today and OH is vacuuming floors indoors.

Heather - There is such a rich variety of church services available online. I have overdosed again today - the Radio 4 service at 8.10am, with Rowan Williams (what a lovely voice!), then a brief online meditation, then a wonderful service from Central Hall, Westminster, then reading through the sermon our chaplain here would have given had he been allowed!, then lunch and a walk. Now I'm looking out on a very grey and windy world and waiting to see what Boris will come up with a bit later. I will catch up with a friend's online musings later …

Hope everyone is keeping well and sane. I really hope Boris isn't too gung-ho in his speech, and whatever he says is clear and unambiguous, unlike quite a lot of what has been said recently. Of course we all want to be able to get back to a more 'normal' way of life, but we also need to be safe. I don't envy the powers that be, trying to find a path through which will not upset too many people …

I have a friend who until very recently had 8 dogs and I thought that was a nightmare!! Sadly one died in January at the age of nearly 8.

Well, we didn't get the 40mile winds which were forecast for this afternoon, but we did get hail when we were out with Benson and snow and more hail. Luckily we were well prepared with woolly hats and gloves.