Who nibbled the crocus?

Some crocus flowers are in bloom in the back garden, despite the freezing cold weather today.

There are also some tiny blue flowers - Scilla?

Some of the crocus are showing signs of the leaves having been nibbled, prior to the flowers coming out.

We know who the culprits are..

Waiting for the Cherry Blossom

In Washington the cherry blossom watch has been underway since mid-February - at which time there was a considerable amount of snow on the ground.

The Cherry Blossom Festival began a week ago and there are many events, but as yet no blossom.

There is a 'Blossom Cam', but as yet the buds remain tightly closed and brown.  As you see from the webpage above, the peak bloom prediction is for dates at the end of the Festival and beyond.

Last year we were in the UK and missed the blossom.  This year we will definitely try to get to see it!

As this second webpage shows, the arrival of the cherry blossom is an important part of Spring - and detailed records are kept.

Anyway, while we wait for the blossom you will be pleased to know that Giant have leapt into action with their Easter 'crysanth' offering..

Jewellery Workshop

In a rash moment I agreed to run a jewellery (earring making) workshop for members of the Women's Club.  Twelve people signed up and I was concerned about fitting everyone around the table (and whether I had enough chairs!).  

At 10am everything was ready.  In the end ten people came along and soon got busy finding the beads that they wanted to work with and putting their creations together.

Several hours on and everyone has made two or three pairs.  We then went on to make more to donate to the Community Association - they have been collecting dresses and accessories for those attending their proms in May but who are unable to afford to buy new dresses and jewellery.

On offer at 'Giant' today

In previous blog posts I have featured some unusual (and not very desirable) floral offerings from our local supermarket (Thanksgiving turkey chrysanth; St Patrick's chrysanth).  Today, though, I was very taken by the hellebore that they were selling.  Presumably a Lenten rather than Christmas rose - plants were several feet tall.  The individual flowers had very pretty centres.

There was also this very fresh and vigorous looking orange plant, the name of which I noted but promptly forgot.

Anyway I wouldn't want you to think that there were no shocking items today as there were a couple in the confectionery aisle..

Chocolate filled Cadbury's creme eggs??

One pound (weight) Snickers bar??  It is hard to appreciate the size from this photo.  Quite a hefty price too, as you see..

Easter Is Coming!

At the supermarket on Saturday we saw these hot cross buns.    We haven't actually bought any (yet).  They look a little different in a few ways - the 'cross' is made of icing;  the buns are glazed and hence sticky;  there is fruit in them but not so much.  No sign of any Easter biscuits.

We also saw this Easter cake, featuring the brightly colored 'Peeps' marshmallow figures which are very popular.  Not so sure about the colored balls on the top - I think intended to be eggs as a little numerous for disciples!

Dinner Party

Our postponed dinner party went ahead tonight with no hitches!

Our guests brought us a beautiful orchid, clearly marked 'easy care' - so here's hoping that is true.

They also brought a box of chocolates from the Ukraine - when opened up they were very different and very good..

Heath Robinson would be proud..

Today started off in a relaxed way, we had friends coming for dinner at 6pm and spent some time preparing the house and get everything cooked and ready.  We were just about done when I went down to the laundry room to fetch some kitchen roll.

Signs of damp at the bottom of the wall, and a dripping sound...

David chopped his way through the partition wall and found the leaking joint on the pipe.

The Heath Robinson instinct then came to the fore and a nifty solution was rigged up using a wine funnel, plastic tubing and quite a bit of duck tape!

With the plumber on the way we had to postpone our dinner guests until tomorrow night.

After two hours or so of work with the heating and water turned off and a few more large holes in the wall, the offending pipe was sealed..