Welcome March!

I woke up to sunshine this morning; the birds were singing high in the trees. Two doves were doing a courtship dance on the pavement outside - I'd seen them last week collecting twigs for nesting. Is it my imagination or does our garden world seem more lively today? The air is warmer and fresher. There is a definite buzz of excitement out there.

On 1st March 1927 Margaret Shaw wrote in - 'A Countrywoman's Journal' - words that seem apt for today.

'The last few days of February were horribly wet and stormy, but today was quite mild and fine. The yellow crocus are in full bloom, those under the dining room window are a serried mass of gold in the sunshine.'

On 2nd March Margaret Shaw's entry says:-

'Glorious spring day with warm sunshine. On our way to Guildford we saw some lovely "Palm" or "Pussy-Willow" in the hedges.'
I saw some of those today, too!


Welcome, March, Welcome!

White Rabbits

Did you remember to say white rabbits first thing this morning? Where I grew up in North East Derbyshire we used to say white rabbits on the 1st of March each year, you had to say it before you said anything else and if you could do that it was supposed to bring good luck. Paul, who hails from Nottinghamshire says 'rabbits, rabbits, rabbits'. Does anyone else have any memories of this? Or of any other 1st March traditions?

After a busy day yesterday, shopping in the City Centre, visiting the Museum and then a walk around Trentham Lake in the afternoon, today was a pottering around at home day.

I managed to get quite a bit of tidying up started in the much neglected garden. As I cleared away the dead leaves and plant stems I could see all the new growth coming through, the frogs were active in the pond, the birds were singing their hearts out up in the trees and for a short while, the sun felt warm on my back as I clipped and swept. Meanwhile Paul was busy in the greenhouse with seeds and compost and later with giving the car a much needed wash.

It really did feel like Spring was finally on its way. I was tempted to cut the grass especially where we have taken the 'For Sale' sign down from the front lawn where the grass had grown around the bottom of the post but I decided it would be better to wait another couple of weeks just in case we have more bad weather. In the end I completely filled the garden wheelie bin and there is still a way to go with the 'spring cleaning'.

The White Rabbit, Sir John Tenniel, 1865

White Rabbits

Hurrah, it's the first of March today and I managed to say 'white rabbits' before I said anything else. When I was a child my mother always used to tell me that if the first thing we said on 1st March was 'white rabbits' we would get a nice surprise. I wonder where this came from? Does anyone know? Did you do the same? I've heard of 'pinch punch, it's the first of the month' are there any others?

Last night was extremely windy and about half an hour after we'd gone to bed there was a bang and a clunk as if something had hit the roof just above us. Oh, no we thought, a tile has gone. This morning I got up first and ventured outside, in my dressing gown, to take a look. At the back of the house were three pieces of guttering but I couldn't see where they had come from. By the time we were both up and dressed Paul went out and looked at the guttering and declared it not ours. It had blown from next door, hit our roof and blown over the house into our back garden. Unfortunately, our neighbours only had that piece of guttering mended last summer and had to pay the earth because the builder had to put up scaffolding so they are not going to be happy this morning.

Well they do say that if March 'comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb'.

Wind and earthquakes this week seem to have spurred the frogs in our pond into heights of activity - Paul has reported the goings on in his blog.