January Lambs & Daffodils

Twelfth Night & the Christmas tree has been taken down, the decorations carefully packed away for another year and the pine-needles have been swept up though I will no doubt as usual, be finding them in odd corners for months to come!

The Farmer came in this morning with the surprising news of a our first lamb appearing. Its mum, clearly a precocious young thing of loose morals, had produced a fine healthy lamb fathered way ahead of the rest of the flock. Still, a lovely cheerful sight on a grey damp January morning.

Another bright sight was that of a single daffodil in flower standing in solitary splendour at the side of the road near the farm today.

Dotty the terrier puppy is thriving and proving to be a great entertainment to all comers until the needle-teeth attack fingers & toes then her charms are less endearing but nontheless her winning ways soon permit her liberties again.

The Farmer & I have been enduring stinking head colds for the past week but they are on the retreat now thank goodness & we are beginning to feel we can venture out to be sociable once more.

I have had the first guests for 2013 in the cottage over the weekend, a very last minute booking but a good start to the year. With few weeks without guests I will getting on with the necessary running repairs to the paintwork in the cottage and maybe making new curtains & cushion covers if I can find some suitable fabrics, just to freshen the place up a bit.

Younger Son went back up to the north of Scotland today for the next stint on the big forestry job he's involved with after a couple of days of good shooting here and in England. His poor old dog is now recovering. At 10 years old she still works hard & well on the shoots but needs several days to get over her enthusiasm.