The bright sunlight that streamed through my bedroom window this morning was most welcome after the last two weeks of living under a sky tented with low cloud and drizzle, and I decided at once to spend some time out of doors if possible.
Break fast was served today in two sittings as Pa was up late and my son needed to eat and run. A simple meal of poached eggs on toast suited us all and I ate my meal with my son while Pa collected himself.
While Pa ate his breakfast I baked a very large ginger cake , a gift for a friend , and set about preparing our evening meal of rabbit pie. The rabbit must be cooked quite slowly in the oven with a dozen or so bacon rolls and some carrot and parsnip, the stock is made with a bottle of pear cider and some home made thyme and apple jelly. When I am ready to cook the meal I just reheat the casserole, put the meat and vegetables in a pie dish and top with puff pastry. This is most convenient as I am never quite sure what time my son will arrive home on weekend evenings. Since the vegetables are already in the pie I need only pop three sweet potatoes in to roast and reduce the sauce a little and dinner, as they sat, is served.
As soon as all this was done I wrapped up warmly as the sun shine came at the price of a sharp frost and scuttled off as fast as possible. The first thing I noticed was the abundance of squirrels running up and down the woodland trees and foraging about, presumably seeking the nuts they had buried in the autumn. It is not often they find any as the Blue jays have the trick of watching where the squirrels bury their nuts and digging them up for themselves the moment the squirrels back is turned. I have watched this performance with interest on many occasions.
Squirrels bury their food in a random fashion, Jays however are much smarter. They usually bury their acorns near a land mark that they will remember. This is often on the corner of a flower bed or vegetable plot, I have watched a single jay bury eight acorns in half an hour in such a fashion.
They do not always collect them all and on our local allotment site almost every plot has a small scrub oak growing at each corner, I believe that most of the oaks in England are the left over larder of jays. The depth at which they bury them has , I am told a lot to do with weather an acorn germinates successfully.
The afternoon sun hit the tree tops and gilded the bare branches with an almost magical light. An old oak still retaining some of its leaves appeared to be made of bronze and the twiggy ends of my Lovely lime trees glowed red. Along the river the sallows are already turning yellow, a prelude to bursting in to leaf and a promise of spring in the depth of winter.
Towards evening the sky took on a pearly hue, all the colours that you find in the feathers of a wood pigeon were on display and then a parting gift of brilliant red and violet sunset followed. I returned home cold but very happy as the mist began to fill the fields which border the lane.
We were all more than ready for our rabbit pie and I had an extra treat of some very good pear cider to serve with our meal, and we finished off Fridays days scones with jam and clotted cream.
It has been such a lovely day, even the cat Twiggy is happy tonight, she is as I write fast asleep on my desk worn out with cavorting about the garden all the fine frosty afternoon.
Now it will be wonderful to snuggle down under the covers and hopefully drift off to sleep, my knee has been causing a lot of pain lately but somehow I feel that I shall sleep well tonight, and if I do not there are films to watch and my little cat for company, what more can I want than pleasures such as these.
Good night to all, and a happy week to come .
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