Escape to the country

I'm pleased to say that I am now 95% better - still coughing a bit and running on low power, but at last life is almost back to normal. Christmas came and went, without much participation on my part, and this has probably been the case for many others who were struck down by the'flu and other nasty things over the holiday period. I'm now in fidgety mode, particularly when standing looking out at the garden, or even more so when viewing the allotments from the bedroom window, and trying to spot any of my fellow plotters at work. So it looks as if it won't be long before I'm joining them.

After some pretty grim days, particularly Friday, when a thick blanket of pale grey mist hid everything from sight, we woke yesterday to another wet and miserable morning. But how it improved, and before lunch we had prepared sandwiches, Christmas cake (thankfully back to my usual standard, as opposed to last year's - I returned to Delia's recipe), and a flask of coffee, and set off to Fradley Junction, under a bright blue sky. As we sat in the car, enjoying our lunch, the car park began to fill up, and other escapees poured ('tumbled' in the case of children and dogs) out and set off along the tow path. Boat folk had turned up to check things out. Engines were running, and smoke rising from one or two narrow boat chimneys. Gangs of noisy ducks collected on the canal banks.

There was still a thick covering of ice on the lake, in the nature reserve and as a result, no birds on the water, but at the water's edge there were some good reflections. I've tampered with the second photo - I reversed it, and I'm quite pleased with the result. What looks like the gables of a building are actually the edges of the boardwalk, and the trees are reflections in the water.

It's another fine day, with a clear blue sky, and I'm seriously thinking of pottering about outside. I'm rather loath to go into the greenhouse as, despite covering everything with fleece, I can see it hasn't been a total success, and there are brown, shrivelled and probably dead plants in there, when I was hoping to see a few survivors. One of my first jobs will be to cut off most of the foliage from the hellebores in order to expose the emerging flowers, just as Carol Klein did, in the programme about her Devon cottage garden. I tend to leave this until now, so that the foliage protects the buds, and there certainly is a lot of leafy growth from last year. Also, without removing the leaves, the snowdrops would be well hidden from view.

Had an email from our youngest son who is in Taipai at the moment, where it's 18 degrees and drizzling. From Tuesday he'll be moving on to other cities in Taiwan, then spending two days in Hong Kong before returning home.

It seems ages since I was out with the walking club, but I've got to get into my stride again. At the end of the month I'm leading a walk with my friend Molly. What a star she is. Whilst I was on my sick bed she went out and pre-walked it. It will be her birthday tomorrow so, if you are reading this Molly - A Very Happy Birthday!