Wednesday this and that . . .

 Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares
And take the winds of March with beauty;
Violets, dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,
Or Cytherea's breath. 
~Shakespeare's Perdita, The Winter's Tale

The first day of March came to us yesterday  . . .  not blustering in like a hoyden bursting boisterously into a quiet room . . .  but dancing upon golden rays of sunshine and of daffodil.   Gleams of sunlight stole about the garden and the skies were blue and full of the blessedness of an unutterable peace . . . it gamboled in like a Spring Lamb and all was well.

I ventured out of the house for the first time since Saturday.  Todd came in all agog and said to me . . .  you have to come and see this.  We dug my wellies out (because the back garden is that saturated) and I followed him out to the pond.

(If you are the least big squeamish, look away now.)




The pond was all agog with froggie romance.   They were pairing up all over the pond . . .  fighting each other for the ladies . . . yes.  They have returned to their birthplace to spawn, which is a sure sign of Spring Springing.




Todd counted over 30 of them, and that was just the ones we could see.  The water has gone very murkey over the  winter and not very nice.

The daffodils are in bloom and narcissis in abundance . . . 




Crocus and snow drops hiding amongst the grass  . . .




And this is what greeted me when I squelched my way back to the back door.   Oh, she did want to come out and run through the grass also . . .  but it was far too mudy and wet.   Yes, we need to pain our back door badly.  It is the only door/window which our landlord did not replace last year, and it badly needs refurbishing.  It seems a shame that he did the whole house and left that.  You can stand in the kitchen on a windy morning and the bottom of your night dress flutters from the wind that comes in from all around the edges.

Not my pound to spend.

 

Sister Holmes (our Canadian Sister) stopped by with her companion Sister Dalton to say goodbye last evening.  We are losing her in the transfers today.  I am sad to see her go.  This was her first area on her mission and we took good care of her.  She will now be blessing people in Oldham now.   It was so kind of her to take some time out in her very busy last day here to come and say farewell. We are also losing Elder Hollingsworth (left) and Elder Judd (right)  We will miss all three of these fine young people.  I know that the ones coming in to replace them will also be exemplary folk, and feel like family also.  We wish these three all the best in their new areas.

 I had to go back to bed this morning.  I am still feeling very rough.  My ear is not hurting, but it is still blocked and my head is just banging, despite having taken two co-codemol.  I thought yesterday would be the worst, but it seems the worst was yet to be.  At least I slept last night, once I managed to calm down my coughing.  I think I coughed and coughed until gone 1 am.  Poor Todd. I am sure it disturbed him as well, but he never said.  Bless him.

A thought to carry with you through today  . . .

ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷღೋღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ
We were not placed on this earth to walk alone. 
What an amazing source of power, of strength, 
and of comfort is available to each of us. 
~Thomas S Monson
ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷღೋღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ

Spiritual Enlightenment 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . . . Breakfast Oats with Dates and Marmalade.

 I hope that you have a lovely Wednesday!  Don't forget . . .

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And I do too!!