It’s been a strange few weeks, I still feel as if I’m in a sort of seasonal limbo. Flu is finally shaken off, and I’m poised and ready for action in the garden, but the ground is soggy and looks uninspiring in a post-snow brown. There was a brief lull in the rain last week, so I made myself go outside and see what’s popping up. I was gratified to discover all of the above, and especially happy to see the muscari, flowering away in a little hollow by the hedge. It was just as well as it was time to paint my magazine column illustration for April and I needed inspiration.
That made me feel a lot better. I snipped some prunus blossom to bring inside. Sadly, conditions in the house were also arctic as we forgot to order our heating oil, only to find that a lot of other people had too after the cold snap, and there was a long waiting list. Five days to be precise….brrr.
Thank goodness we have an open fire. And a small emergency hot water tank. I did a lot of baking (the oven heat was very welcome) for Mother’s Day weekend, and I have loved cooking with the forced pink rhubarb from Yorkshire. This Waitrose orange, almond and rhubarb cake is a good recipe, and what a beautiful colour it is. I love the sharpness too.
Warmth is restored inside today, thankfully. I appreciate it so much. I did think a lot about people living without home comforts.
The countryside is waking up.
It’s time to get the house sorted too, as it goes back on the market at the end of this week. We haven’t seen anything we would like to buy, but we’ve learned the hard way that we need to get our sale sorted first. Fingers crossed that the right buyers will come our way….