Friday 10 January 2014

What is to come?

I daren't say that there is a hint of Spring in the air today as so many of you in your comments yesterday remarked that Winter is on its way.   But it is certainly mild and there is no wind, so that it is a pleasure to walk about - as Tess and I did after my morning trip to market with the farmer and meeting with nine other friends for our morning coffee.   Friend W gave us all a bunch of daffodils as heralds of Spring - so thank you dear W - they are cheering up my kitchen.   Because the Aga is always on and it is warm in there flowers don't last all that long - but I can't bear to be parted from my favourite harbingers of Spring.   The buds are bursting already.

The birds are definitely behaving as though Spring is here; blackbirds are pairing up in the hedge bottom and the males are falling out like mad.   The farmer reminded me that one year, when there was a mild spell after Christmas, a pair of blackbirds built a nest and laid eggs in the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square.

The pheasants are also getting a bit fruity - males are fighting duels in the middle of the lane.   Why they can't settle their quarrels in the field I will never know, but there they are - mid road - flying up, pecking and squawking and not noticing when a vehicle comes along.   Our lane is always much more busy on market days as the local farmers take their stock to market - today is a particularly busy day with a sale of bulls, of heifers, calves - over forty in one class alone so that the market is very busy indeed.  It will be no surprise tomorrow if there are dead pheasants  on the side - falling out over a mate is far more important than getting out of the way of a vehicle.  The females have seen it all before and continue to scratch away on the grass verges, looking for grubs and seeds.   They seem to be saying, "let them fight it out amongst themselves, stupid things."

I think the farmer must have had a bit of a wood search since yesterday, just to catch me out.   For the last few weeks I have been lighting the woodburner after he has laid it with laths taken from the old parlour roof, which was replaced a few weeks ago - and boy were they slow to catch.   Today he had laid it with twigs gleaned from somewhere and it went up like a little bomb, roaring up the chimney.   I am sure he is somewhere having a good laugh at my expense.

I have booked our holiday today in Northumberland.   Neither of us wishes to go all that far; we would rather enjoy the scenery of a leisurely drive to our destination than push through heavily populated areas.   To get to Northumberland we can actually set off cross-country from our doorstep, calling in all our favourite places on the way.   You would think that as we are not going until May there would still be plenty of accommodation in the hotels up there, but they are in rather short supply and more than half of the rooms were already booked in the hotel of our choice  so we were right to book early.   Now I have four months to look forward to it.

16 comments:

Heather said...

How nice to have your holiday to anticipate - it will help you through any wintry days which may turn up. There were three male blackbirds trying to look important and one disinterested female in the garden when I opened the curtains this morning. The bulbs are pushing up and ignoring my advice to slow down.

Gwil W said...

Northumberland is a wonderful area. There's so much: Farne Islands, Cheviots, Lindisfarne, Alnmouth, the endless beaches, the birds, the wide skies, Grace Darling, the Scottish border, well Pat you don't need me to tell you ;), and also it is very clean, never crowded, and great value for money.

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

Iv'e never been to Northumberland and yet there are many places I would like to visit there. I'll have t try to get D. interested.
I like the idea of a cross country journey.
We seem to have a lot of blackbirds this year and they do seem to be either fighting or pairing up.
Gill

John Going Gently said...

I'm with gill
Never been myself
We should do

MorningAJ said...

Northumberland is lovely. It's a few years since we went (Seahouses) but we loved it. We're doing Whitby this April and I'm already looking forward to it. Proper fish and chips!

tilly said...

Goodness me.... Northumberland is my destination this year but not even thought of booking yet, better get a move on, my daffys and crocus are shooing up, weeded them this morning
Tilly

Terry and Linda said...

How much fun is that?! I can just imagine all great and wonderful things to see and do!

Good Luck!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Tom Stephenson said...

Afters. For what we are about to receive...

Cloudia said...

looking forward to the pictures you will take along the way!



ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
> < } } ( ° >

Cro Magnon said...

Yes, very springlike here too, but I ain't being fooled. Our Blackbirds are getting feisty; I can't wait to hear them singing again, it's one of spring's great pleasures.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Yes Spring is definitely on the way as far as the birds are concerned, they're singing already and I've seen mallard drakes fighting.

Northumberland is a lovely place for a holiday, we used to go quite often when I was a child

Elizabeth said...

Spring?!!
We dare not even think of it here until at least the end of March.
I do remember looking for snowdrops at the end of January in Essex!

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

I so enjoy reading your blog. Thank you for writing it. Spring? Here on the east coast of the US it was -17c on Monday and Tuesday and today it is supposed to be 17c and then get colder with snow by the end of the week. I don't know what to think. Neither does Josephine.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Welcome to a new reader - Maureen. I hope you enjoy joining us all.
Thanks to everyone for calling.

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Thanks for the warm welcome :)

Hill Top Post said...

I am not a new reader, just new at commenting. I never miss reading your wonderful blog. But, I must confess to being a bit jealous of your early signs of spring.