you know how I feel

Although we have had some really cold weather this week, there have also been some afternoons when the weather has been warm and sunny. I'm not too old to be amazed - and the change we have witnessed this week has (as it always does) completely transformed the garden and our qulaity of life.

Today, the sunny weather began at breakfast time and continued for the entire day.

We ate outside for breakfast, had lunch outside, and had our evening meal outside.

Late winter Siskins still buzz in the birch trees and the threat of frost will be with us for some time. But spring flowering pansies and violas are at their best now, with native cowslips (primula veris) coming into their flowering peek. Although none of the summer migrant birds are back around us yet, but there was a brilliant feel about the day. Positive and optimistic.

The garden looked great and we are a pond away from completing the landscaping work begun in Christmas 2006.

We gardeners are especially priveliged on days like today, as our gardens come back to life after the long, dormant period. Who couldn't feel good (or be persuaded of the immense therapeutic power of nature) on days like this?