What's cooking?

Mmmm, looks promising! What am I cooking?
Soil. I took a look at my pots of auriculas and they looked SICK. Oh dear, let me guess. I knocked one out of it's pot and there they were, those horrible, fat, white vine weevil grubs chewing away at the roots. I've got dozens of plants and every one of them will need to be re-potted. I've scrubbed the pots and I'm using a fresh mix of John Innes compost. I'm sterilising batches of the used soil in a battered old baking tray in the Aga - those weevil grubs are dead meat!

A couple of dozen plants treated, and a great many more to go!
A friend came round with a brace of pheasant. They had been hanging for over a week so I was able to do some rather more conventional cooking.

They taste good but careful chewing is required in case of lead shot!
We are skulking in the house because the weather outside is fearful. We drive a 4x4 so the flooded roads are not, as yet, proving a problem. On a quick dash to the shops for provisions I cheered myself up with a bouquet of white roses. £2 from Lidl and they are behaving beautifully. They were in tight bud when bought but just look at them now! I can remember when flowers in the middle of winter were incredibly expensive and you had to pay £2 for just one bloom.

 I was given a tiny pot of daffodils at the garden centre whilst buying the John Innes compost. They are sitting on the kitchen table with the hyacinths that I planted before Christmas and they remind me that spring IS coming - but not yet!

The rain stopped and the sun shone, just for a little while, making everything look a great deal more cheerful.

But now it's back to battering winds and driving rain. We are thankful that our home is warm and dry and the electricity still working. But candles are at the ready and the wood pile well stocked!