Peaceful holiday

I hope you have had a peaceful time over the Easter holiday, whether you observe it or not. We spent it quietly, visiting friends in the village and family nearby, consuming cake and chocolate, tea and wine. The weather did not let us down - traditional holiday grey with spatterings of rain. As a result my best-laid plans vis-a vis the ice cream van did not bear fruit; when it came calling along the lane I really wanted hot chocolate and warmed hot cross buns dripping butter onto sticky hands rather than ice cream running freezing fingers through my veins. Ah well, maybe next week.

Meanwhile, the blossom is coming out on the pear tree and the hawthorn, and the fish in the garden ponds are starting to show an interest in feeding again after their long winter sleepiness. Despite the damp and grey, we have had the windows open and fresh air pouring into the house. Being able to take deep breaths of spring air is so lovely; I can almost feel the sap running through me. If I'm not careful I'll start to send out new shoots.

Time to eat!

For anyone who is interested, there is now a Kirby Misperton Kitchen vegetarian community on LiveJournal (see blogs list on this page). Those of you who fancy sharing recipes which don't involve eating things that have faces may wish to look at it.

If you do eat things with faces, that's fine too. But those recipes won't get added!

The first ice cream van of summer

I don't know about you, but when I was a child I used to listen out for the first cuckoo of spring, or watch for the first swallows. In fact, until last year watching for the swallows was a favourite pastime as they used to nest in our garage. There they would raise a brood or two, teaching them to fly, swooping down at us if we looked like going too near to the nest site, and generally entertaining us through the summer months.

In fact here is one of the little scamps, taking a break on our dustbin. Apologies for the quality of the picture - it was a hasty snap through the kitchen window. Those little chaps don't stay still for long, I can tell you.

However, that wasn't what I was going to tell you about.

Today we had our first true visitor of summer - the ice cream van. It has been a beautiful day today. Laundry has dried on the washing line, and warm and sunny weather has been enjoyed by all. With the opening of the local tourist attraction, traffic has increased exponentially along the lane, and strangers have been seen wandering through the village. But the final clinching proof was that van.

The ice cream van first came one Sunday a couple of years ago, the driver having taken a wrong turn at the roundabout. Now it's a regular on Sundays during the tourist season, and much appreciated. So we had a cornet, and felt like winter was in retreat for a while. Next week, if it comes back, I might even lash out and have a "99". Mmmm.