When I moved house at the end of last year I promised myself, having now got the large(ish) garden I'd always craved, I'd spend as much time out there as I could. A sort of unofficial New Year's resolution. And I must say I'm doing quite well. One of the reason's I'm a bit of a stranger to MySpace these days is that I've rediscovered fresh air and exercise.
As a child I spent much of my time outdoors in the garden or on Dad's allotment. I thought I enjoyed gardening at the last house but now, with a more spacious plot which isn't over looked, isn't invaded with footballs and lager cans and doesn't have stuff nicked from it on a regular basis, I find myself hardly ever indoors.

As you can see we've got a nice little log burner to take the chill off the spring evenings and a whole host of comedy wildlife to keep us entertained. Yesterday it was our resident couple of blackbirds mobbing (successfully) the cat from down the garden. We have a beast of a Russian vine at the bottom of the garden and they are nesting in that. You can disinctly hear little blackbirds hetting exceited as mum and dad head back to the nest with beaks full of creepy crawlies. Think the cat got a bit close for comfort and was repeatedly dive bombed. Mr Blackbird did manage to lose a tail feather  in the episode but the cat was sent packing and  the Blackbird family seem to  be  none the worse for the incident.
Today's 'I wish I'd had a video camera' moment came courtesy of our friendly garden squirrel. I saw him scamper up the hawthorn at the end of the garden, then heard  the snapping of twigs as he fell from the tree, thudded onto the shed roof and rolled off Starsky and Hutch style.  I tell you, Bill  Oddy and Kate Humble ought  to have their film crews here.  If nothing else they'll get some comedy footage of the randy wood pigeons in next door's apple tree.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a few shots of the garden so you can see what I've been busy with. Having spent most of the winter months hacking away at overgrown shrubs and digging out docks and dandelions, it's starting to take shape a little. We have a bit of colour at least, although the project still has a long way to go.


Indeed, before that band of rain shuffles its way further up the country, I might head off out there with a bottle of vino and enjoy it some more.