Sicilian siesta

Sicily turned out to be full of good food,
sunshine and mountains.
There was also a totally different pace of life
with everything stopping for several hours
in the middle of the day.
Saturday saw us arriving in this little
mountain village right in the middle of the
day. The streets were deserted, pretty,
as you can see but deserted nonetheless.
After a walk to enjoy the view and take
some photos we were hungrily returning
to the car to push on in search of food
elsewhere when we found an open bar
which made us tasty sandwiches to go
with our bright green apple juice.

Signs of Spring

Recently I've been wondering whether Brighton had
mysteriously turned into Narnia one night while I
was sleeping. Truthfully we haven't had much snow -
in fact all our snowfall was before Christmas but
nonetheless it has been relentlessly cold for the last
five months.
Many of my bulbs failed to flower this year - probably
sharing my view that Spring had been cancelled.
These beautiful blue hyacinths are notable exceptions
reassuring me that Spring is on its way albeit slowly.
Beginning to think that my eldest daughter currently
living in Italy having vowed never to spend the winter
in the UK again has the right idea.

In the meantime

Spring pretty much arrived while we were away with lighter evenings and some long-awaited colour in the garden.

These tulips are on the deck outside our kitchen window providing a welcome splash of colour when you look out.

It always seems like you plant loads in the cold days of bulb-planting but never seems enough when the flowering season starts!

Brighton Beautiful

Another sunny Sunday and a walk

along the beach towards Brighton

brings you to the newly restored

bandstand, new paint gleaming

in the Spring sunshine but still

freezing cold!!

Signs of Spring

Despite the continuing bitter temperatures

giving the impression that Sussex has turned

into Narnia (where it is always winter) there

are signs of spring in the garden.

Surely it will warm up soon!

Sunshine and daffodils

While we were away Spring seems
to have arrived fast! Sunshine and
daffodils everywhere you look.
Here in Brighton where I live
people are already digging out their
flip flops and heading to the beach.