It was a 'doing' sort of day.
Morning
Off to do various errands, including taking five large bags to the charity shop.
I comment I made on someone else's blog prodded me into action. Since I aim to get two bags of donations out of the house every month, this takes care of January, February and half of March all in one go.
I now telephone ahead to check if they want donations; there were a few weeks when none of the shops were accepting anything as they had all been inspected by the local fire service and were busy changing the way they stored stuff. They are sometimes more particular what they need too.
The man who answered my call sounded caution 'what sort of things are you bringing?'
'Some clothes, one bag of books, some gifts and ornaments. And NO cds, cassettes, videos or dvds' I answered; I know they are swamped by cds, and really don't want VHS tapes or cassette tapes!
Shopping
I had to go and pay the deposit for hiring a room later this year at a National Trust garden. It was too cold for me to walk round, but the shop was empty. Whoop whoop! I don't normally get a chance to browse round a Gift Shop... all sorts of bits and pieces seemed to leap into my basket; honey, biscuits, a replacement bird feeder, some seeds... I did enjoy myself!
Garden
Instead of going in and flopping on the settee when we got back home, I went for little prowl around the garden, taking advantage of the fact I was still all wrapped up against the cold.
Daughter cafe me this china sheep stuffed with sheep wool for Christmas. You hang it up for the birds to use for nest building. As you can see it didn't take long for them to find it. You can buy them, and extra wool, from the National Trust shop, I noticed.
The clematis vines are all showing leafy buds.
The afternoon disappeared in menu planning and then a piano lesson; I've started teaching again after taking an extended break into this year. I've missed my students, all three of them!
Thought for the Day
I don't think I stopped to think today... I want to get vacation into the habit of sitting and thinking...
Music
Something gentle and relaxing...
The opening Pavane from the Mother Goose Suite, the orchestral version
Sounds like you had a lovely day. Well done on taking the bags to the charity shop!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that sheep that hangs in the garden! What a great idea and a lovely gift from your daughter. How lovely to have the daffodils as a memorial to your Mum. I always think of my Mum when I see daffodils growing. She used to always have them in our garden when I was growing up
When we put it up the wool was all neatly stuffed inside the sheep!
DeleteI watch for the daffodils every year, then I know the season is moving towards spring.
What a lovely memorial those daffodils are! Thank you once again for featuring Jan Garbarek with the Hilliard Ensemble - my second-hand Officium CD arrived today and I'm enjoying it right now.
ReplyDeleteIt is the most haunting sound.
DeleteI would have loved browsing in that gift shop too💗. I like the idea of hanging wool etc for the birds to use as nesting material.
ReplyDeleteThe tete-a-tete daffodils are lovely and such a great reminder of your Mom.
Some of my Clematis are showing new growth others still are not. I'm pretty sure they'll all be okay though.
I'll be looking out for photographs of clematis on your blog!
DeleteMy Tete a tete daffs are blooming too. And some random daffs are beginning to come through the grass near the apple tree.
ReplyDeleteThey make all the difference, don't they.
DeletePS I'd never heard lungwort called Soldiers and Sailors before. A much prettier name!
ReplyDeleteIt's because soldiers wore red, and sailors wore blue, according to a countrywoman friend of mine; her family now and in the past always worked on the land or on estates.
DeleteI'm going too take the sheepy idea and do something with it for my birds. I often put out hairs from my hairbrush which disappear quickly. Year ago for my husband's 70th birthday the children set off a confetti rocket full of shiny things. Later that year we found most of it beautifully entangled in a thrush's nest"
ReplyDelete