I have had no internet, or telephone. The phone has yet to be connected so all is quiet. 
We do have the Black Redstarts creating a lot of fussy whistle/ruffles. 
Spring had arrived on a recent trip to the UK. My tiny Magnolias here are much further behind. I bought this Magnolia for my parents along time ago and it is beautiful in full bloom. Lots of crinkly white ribbons folding out of these strange hairy buds.

The bridge in Worcester 

A particularly good example of the Japonica, these are full of nostalgia for me, lovely plants early burst of colour. 

 The stalls and images below are all from Hay on Wye, famous for books. These Hellebores were extra large. I asked if I could take a photo and 'Where do you want me' was his cheeky reply. Nice smile don't you think?

Richard Booth self appointed King of Hay.

The eclipse through a colander. The sky was dark for a while but as the moon passed across the sun and had nearly passed fully over there were shadows again, enough to see clearly that the sun was being eclipsed.

Stall in Hay market. The lady Just Jules Vintage also goes to Cardiff and sells Indian reclaimed based and vintage. She's very enthusiastic and even cornered my dad with tales of vintage.
Hay has a lot of independently run shops, The Old Electric Shop is a new one on me and full of really lovely things. The table as I walked in was full of vintage alarm clocks, there was a café and for such a remote Black Mountains town had lots of interesting folks inside wearing proper knitted jumpers and sturdy shoes. There is also space to rent for artists. 

The Weir again as below. 

The Weir, near Hay on Wye, National Trust. I was hoping to see the snow drops but they are mostly finished here. Lovely setting, with winding paths on a slope. We had Jonquils and Daffodils to admire.The Rooks were very noisily nest building and shouting to each other all with their own distinctive voices.

TK Maxx have some lovely linen frocks in. I am really keen on this orange at the moment. The dress looked a bit wrong on me but I thought I might try some sewing. I have bales of French linen sheets so really with some dye I can't see why I can't try and make this. I had this same colour dress many years ago that I made using some fabric I bought from Liberties. 

My sister with her much loved horse, Norman. He prefers his own company,staying in the sheep field, nothing too taxing such as a hack.

A stall in Ludlow market. I am thinking of renting a place near here for winters. I love France but I can't seem to further my career or indeed stand the isolation. My cats will have to get their passports ready. This year I lost my internet connection for nearly 2 months. 

Same stall as above cast iron door stops, like French ones.

Sunshine in Ludlow. 

The Crooked House

I was just reading this article about the house I have yet to visit but in my imagination is the kind of place I would like to have live in. I love the idea of assimilating a 21st Century life into a way of living that draws from a myriad of found materials. I am constantly trawling through ads looking for interesting reclamation. Imagine using 16th Century stairs,  rustic doors and windows etc. I first saw the Crooked House in Country Living maybe 20 years ago it struck a cord then and still does and the Welsh Borders are special.

Image, More Images, More

 Lots of Great Tits and Blue Tits on the fat balls, there hasn't been any sunflower seeds in the shops for weeks. The sheep are in the home field as I like to keep an eye on them. There is still lots of bramble leaves and they have supplementary feed too. I need to find some hay for variety. The geese don't mind the cold, neither do the sheep. They all have shelter under the house, a Cave which is the traditional way.

This is what was going on up here. Heard the saws and the crashing.

I found a strange setting on the camera, impressionistic.

I bought a salt block for the sheep, it's a bit of a strange noise they make trying to chew bits off, squeaking.

I did this painting a couple of days ago; I drew an outline, painted outlines and then used

a little walnut oil to improve the fluidity. It has dripped a bit so I need to work out what I can do. It needs laying flat to dry which I did but the drips came while I was still painting.

Figure in the garden coming from the pond.

 Road to the village, the snow plough came past last night but it's not too bad and it is melting.

 Strange prints near water, looks like it could be a bird or otherwise a Coypu or Ragondin, haven't seen any round here for a while now. 

We do have Mallards on the lake 4 pairs at least and the Kingfishers.

Just a tiny glimpse of blue but very little colour here.

colour

Christmas rose from my parent's. I have a few hope it will be happy here.

I bought this big zinc basin a while ago. Yesterday it thawed out so I quickly emptied it before it deforms in the next freeze. The gas froze too.

The village just after Christmas, the colours are lovely, I think strangely pink. Many of the rusty leave
s on the Beeches are still attached so the light transforms the forest to something unusual in colour. The other weirdness here is the vivid green grass that has carried on growing.

As we all seem to be, I am hugely affected by light. At the first peep or flicker of sunshine I start moving about the place with my camera recording any strong light and the way the light transforms everything. I live mostly in the verandah in winter and early mornings can be a bit difficult for me.The little wood stove pumps around some warmth quite quickly thankfully. Here I am looking through a piece of crystal glass with the lens at the garden.I might try a bit more of this using impromptu lenses. I'd love to do some of those photos using a vintage camera TTV
 that gives images a dirty lens and a border.

This is the subject of my current painting.

 We have a table for the birds just by the verandah so I started sketching as the birds swoop in grab something quick and then disappear. I can't really do anything with great precision but it's fun.

Not sure where to put the plants. The nights plummeted down to -9° so they all got moved away from the window ledges. The kitchen has this big pillar in the middle similar to the beams they use in mills here to pulley up flour.

I don't normally photograph rain. The Christmas lights are up in Luzy but it's still hard to be cheerful. 

Goosey waiting by the backdoor.

I painted the kitchen cupboard doors last night to go with the verandah, I think maybe circus, gypsy or even Italian insired by the Romans and a bit French too. Not bad.