Saturday in St André and no rain - so far

There's very sharp wind this morning with interesting skies.  The sun succeeds for a moment in breaking through and everything takes on the most wonderful colour and light, then it is gone almost as quickly, before returning again in seconds.

  

I was wandering round the village toward lunchtime, camera in hand, just snapping really, when a persistent car horn beeping shattered the peace and quiet.  

Some details on a neighbour's building and two hanging details.  The catkins are on my young hazels along the lane side but they aren't new, they've been hanging there in a tighter form since well before Christmas.

A waterfall which isn't normally there - towards the back of a holiday home in the village.  It is just there because of the enormous quantity of rain we have had and the noise from it is amazing as it is such a small cataract.

I came back down into the lane and there was a dark red van whose driver wound down his window and, without even saying "bonjour", launched into a sales spiel about clothes he had in the back, jumpers, cardigans, jackets with pockets etc. etc.  After a minute or two he stopped for breath and I managed to get a word in and said I wasn’t interested.  He remarked on the fact that I was English and said he’d carry on down the lane.  There are only three more houses and there was no-one at home, two being holiday homes, and I said as much.  Not very carefully, he quickly reversed past me and continued beeping as he left the village, though there would be no-one to hear him for at least a mile, apart from the hunters parked further up the lane, who wouldn’t appreciate the disturbance at all.

Here's Grace mid wash.  I love the light shining through her ears!

The only flowers out in my garden at the moment are Bergenia and Viburnum Tinus.

I think the Viburnum flowers have suffered from being constantly wet.  I can't wait for other plants to start blooming here.  On my walk round the village I only found one primrose out.  I am surprised that there aren't more as it's been relatively mild during January.

Three things I like:

1.   Seeing a heron fly up, legs dangling, from the spilling stream alongside the lane today.

2.   Having a morning reading other people's blogs - very interesting.

3.   Cooking and lunching on an unsmoked collar bacon joint brought back from England.