Orchids on a stand illuminated by sunshine coming in through church windows.

Bristol Rare Plants Fair 😍 Lots of orchids & a super atmosphere with super food stalls outside ( Malaysuan & Sudanese),people sitting in the sunshine (watching the mining bees in the grass) familiar faces, & growers both passionate & knowledgeable about their plants.

I know its faults 😄 Happy it's presentable though

First go at caning. I'm reasonably pleased though there are things I can improve for next time. This broken stool from a house clearance has a new lease of life at least.
I stained the new cane down with VanDyke crystals in solution which are apparently made from walnut husks.

Mainly Portmeirion, some Bristol pieces & some beaded birds/reptiles from Guatemala.

Spring blossom pick-me-up🩷🤍

I liked the tulips in long grass too for a naturalistic effect. I was wondering if these have to be replanted each year.

Looking along the Walled Garden & its colourful beds at Caisson Gardens.

Another bed from the Walled Garden at Caisson Gardens where the tulips are looking stupendous!

Caisson Gardens near Bath this afternoon full of tulips and fruit blossom. This was in the Walled Garden where there are beds of cutting flowers, fruit & vegetables.

Just the mass of spring wildflowers is lovely

Corfu blue honesty

A bee orchid - maybe Reinhold's bee orchid (Ophrys reinholdii)

Tassel hyacinths

Gorgeous track surrounded by clouds of blue honesty, pink blooming Judas trees & hills behind.

Corfu wildflowers... morning photos sent by my son & his gf who are walking the Corfu Trail. A very blue honesty & Judas trees in bloom everywhere - plus bee orchid types & Tassel hyacinths. Very lovely!

Yes - though he's not read that. He has seen the recent film version though & enjoyed it.

Haha! I like how many physics students are polymaths - but they're definitely a quirky lot.

Love to hear that my Physics student son, who loved reading Pride and Prejudice, is trying to persuade other male physics friends to read it too, because it's chiefly a really good comedy - not a romance.

Daffodils for Good Friday. The scented white Thalias are from a corner of my garden, while the pretty peach ones were from Tesco. The trumpets are yellow when they open then change to apricot and with the white petals remind me of eggs! Anyone know what type they might be? They're quite short.

Wild Garlic flower and its shadow in some very welcome warm sunshine today.

Marzipan through the middle too - so you have to be a marzipan fan 😃

A homemade Easter Simnel cake with homemade toasted marzipan topping too 😋 I actually prefer this to Christmas cake as orange & lemon zests make them fruitier & their flavour isn't overpowered with dark sugar & treacle. Traditionally - in our house - my husband's birthday cake 😄

Just before the hail there was sunshine - though it was cold & windy - & a surprise first Green-winged orchid of the season for me. Beside the golf course at Ashton Court in Bristol.

Wind & solar are currently producing 65% of Britain's electricity. Meanwhile, renewables now offer 30,000 more UK jobs than oil and gas. Meanwhile, we're in a climate emergency. Meanwhile, we're in a fossil fuel supply crisis. Meanwhile, the Tories and Reform want to scrap Net Zero. grid.iamkate.com

Daffodils and forsythia. The pink trumpeted daffs might be Mrs R. O. Backhouse 🤔 I definitely planted them as I planted all the daffodils here, but most were in tubs first.

Oh, and a chiff-chaff, of course. Can't have spring without them singing 😄

Starry yellow flowers in a carpet at the foot of a tree.Blue sky behind.

A sunny walk at Ashton Court this afternoon. Daffodils in the avenue are going over but the celandines are a treat! Skylarks singing, lots of peacock butterflies being territorial, a flitting brimstone, bee-flies on a large patch of primroses, a few bluebells already open - Spring jumps forward!

What are Lidl doing to Hot Cross Buns? It took me ages to track down traditional ones but meanwhile I found:

Clementine
Salted Caramel
Double Chocolate
Apple & Cinnamon

and CHEESE Hot Cross Buns 😳😬

I know 😬

I hear them in Quantock woods in Somerset - but not nearly as much as I used to. And weirdly last spring I recorded one singing in a park in central Bristol. He was there a few days before moving on.

I know! Idiot dog!

My son was stroking the girl when his hand caught on something sharp in her fur. At first he thought it was a piece of stick but as he examined it he realised it was rather white - then remembered their collision the day before. He checked the boy dog's mouth & saw the broken canine! Dogs unbothered

They seem completely unbothered. The girl was playing vigorously with her ball on a rope, shaking it about & trying to 'kill' it just prior to her vet appointment. The boy I'll take tomorrow. I really hope they won't need to take his tooth out because that will be costly - though both are insured.

The boy dog recently cut his eye chasing squirrels through undergrowth & he's knocked himself cross-eyed running into trees twice😬 He frequently runs into people.
He doesn't look where he's going because his herding game is watching our girl collie & running at her to make her change direction.