Empty nest

Signs of spring and it can't come too soon. It's not even February but it's felt like a long, cold endless winter. Now, there are green shoots shooting and I found a tiny, perfect but empty nest on the ground. I am hoping that whatever was in it has flown instead of being taken out by the local cat population. I've put it under a glass cloche so I can keep admiring it's intricate beauty.

Life begins

I recently reached a milestone birthday and had a truly wonderful weekend, full of friends and excitement. My wonderful boyfriend took me to Barcelona and we watched the amazing and talented Joanna Newsom perform Have One On Me at the Palau de la Musica.

Then we returned home for a wonderful dinner with friends and some ridiculously thoughtful presents. Many of them were homemade, some vintage, all incredibly generous.

Risky business

I bought two large winter planting garlic from Thompson & Morgan back in September. They arrived in November and I meant to put them in straight away, but I procrastinated. Then it snowed. Then I thought I'd put them in on the longest day, as garden lore recommends, but it snowed some more. Then I spent Christmas eating, which clearly took precedent over digging. Finally on the 3rd of January I took off my pyjamas, put on my wellies and went outside. I've put in one head of garlic, broken up into about 12 cloves, planted about 10cm down, with 20cm between them. Now we shall just have to wait and see if any of it grows.