Oh! What a Beautiful Morning.......

Today has been absolutely glorious, blue skies, sunshine and warmth - I spent the morning working on the small border opposite my back door and I was wearing just a shirt - well, not just a shirt but you know what I mean:) The cream crocus tommasinianus above are in another little bed but had opened up in the warmth and light of the sun so I thought I'd take a picture.


These winter flowering iris are actually a much stronger lilac-y blue than they appear in the photo, normally I don't see the first flowers until late March though another garden nearby has them flowering much earlier than mine do. They may be a different variety though, these are called 'Mary Barnard'.


The results of my morning's labours! The dead looking sticks are a spring flowering clematis alpina and will look beautiful around April - maybe earlier this year!


This is the same border in mid-summer!


This afternoon J and I took the dogs up onto the moors for the first time this year, it's been too wet up to now, the moors are peat so hold the moisture and in parts even today we could feel the ground squelching and moving under our feet. Bilbo Baggins had a thoroughly good time.


Judy had another dog staying with her so there were three of them today -this is by a little moorland stream where they are having a drinks and paddling break.



Bilbo Baggins with his new friend JoJo - she's a one year old Border terrier.


This is how a lot of the moors look at this time of the year - you have to pick your path very carefully in places. Worth the effort though on a day like this.