Blue skies

Pink blossom looks especially good set against a blue sky, and that is what we have had for most of the week. Some wind and rain today has made the petals fall like confetti. My scrawny magnolia is looking lovely and the massive white magnolias in neighbouring gardens are spectacular.

Everything is colouring up.

I dug up the tree peonies and put them in pots when we moved house two years ago. They are still in those pots, half in, half out of cover. I don't have anywhere in full sun where I can plant them and they seem happy enough for now with a good number of promising buds. "/>

Blossom and birds

The garden is full of blossom and birdsong, my beautiful, shiny blackbird singing his heart out. It is clearly nesting time, the pair of magpies who strut about the place as though they own it have been hard at work all week pulling the soft fibres from the trunk of the palm tree.

I've had to cover the mirrors in the garden to stop the tits flirting or fighting (I'm not sure which) with themselves!

Blossom everywhere.

We've had all sorts of weather, the other day a heavy mist rolled into the garden, so much like smoke that I thought a neighbour must have started a fire. It is weather that's called a 'haar' on the East coast of Yorkshire. Very atmospheric! It's tempting to be outside when the sun shines but is still sufficiently cold for me to come inside every now and then to warm up!

It doesn't help that I've had my hair cut short - very chilly round the neck.

The hellebores continue to give joy. They have been flowering for such a long time but I notice that some of the blooms are starting to swell with seed so their show will soon be over for another year.

Sunshine!

We woke once again to sunshine and went for another early morning walk on the beach. It's officially spring and there was actually some warmth in the air to prove it. Yellow gorse blossom on the hillside added to the brightness of the day.

Somewhere up on the clifftop you can just get a glimpse of a rather fine house. I would love to know what it looks like inside. What a fantastic position, although if I were living there I might well have nightmares about landslips!

All was quiet on the beach front, just a few runners, presumably preparing for the half-marathon that is soon to take place. I was wearing wellies so that I could walk by the shore.

Back at home there were plenty of things to do. Yesterday we had spent a frustrating time trying to track down a product that would stop our steel water bowl from rusting so much. The water had become a dull orange. The birds didn't seem to mind but I did. I wanted a clear sealant for metal and we trecked all about town to one place after another without any success. When we got to Screwfix the young man said they didn't stock it but he would google it and see if anyone did. Why hadn't we done that instead of our wild goose chase? And he got a result! The bowl has now had three coats of sealant and we'll see how it fares.

The spring growth in the garden is bursting into colour. The hellebores have been very good this year, I think that they appreciated the top dressing of compost that they had in the autumn.

In the afternoon we got the deckchairs out!

Two degrees and sunshine.

It is joyful to wake to bright sunshine although difficult to enjoy it fully in our garden due to the heavy shadow from all the neighbouring trees. Dappled sunshine is what we get and we appreciate that.

Some of the trees are tall!

But to get a real blast of sunshine we need to head to the beach. On a day like this, and a weekend, many locals will have the same idea, so we have been down early, joining the regular dog walkers, runners and a few stalwart swimmers. We walked down through the tropical gardens.

The first glimpse and sound of the sea is always joyful. It's calm today and a pleasure to be out, just walking along the shore line. Then it was home for breakfast!