I'm going to join in with Louise and write an occasional post about what makes me happy. I think most definitely it's the small things that happen during the day that make me smile. I was happy yesterday evening when I realised that it was still quite light at 5p.m. - the days are getting just that little bit longer. I was happy today when I woke up and the sun was shining and we were able to go off for our usual walk around Trentham Lake and treat ourselves to a cup of coffee which we sipped whilst watching the water birds on the lake including some we hadn't seen before and which Paul has featured in his latest post - link.
I was really happy when we found the heathers above for just 50p a pot in the sale at the garden centre; there are 12 plants there and they will replace the large, old heather we lost in the bad weather late last year.
The tulips, narcissi and muscari in the spring garden I made last year have flowered this week. I brought the pot inside during the bad weather and forgot to put it out again so the flowers are very early but a joy to see.
The photo above is especially for Michela and Louise who commented on my last post that they wanted to see the jars of marmalade we had made . Well here they are!
This weekend is the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. I've pre-registered to do the survey so I'll report on what birds I see later. I've been topping up the bird feeders in readiness - we have lots of sparrows and starlings visiting the garden at the moment but also, rather worryingly, a young male sparrowhawk which we saw sitting on the fence overlooking next door's bird feeders yesterday! I've also managed to take all the photos needed for January's Photo Scavenger Hunt so I'll be posting those on Sunday.