Growing in the Fens

We are enjoying a beautifully crisp, clear winter day here; the sun is shining and there is still a frost in sheltered parts of the garden. The cat is replete from her breakfast and is sunning herself on top of the wheelie bins, and the two Dutch bantams are pecking around under the rabbit hutches for tidbits which they may have missed earlier! A vegetable seed catalogue came in the post this morning so thoughts have turned to planting the garden in the spring and which plants to put where. Before we can get to that, though, there is the small matter of several heaps of horse manure to be dug into the beds - and that needs to be done sooner rather than later. It will be good exercise, I think - well, that is what I am telling myself!

Yesterday, the EFG's godfather and his daughter arrived at about 10.30am. They came down from Doncaster, where he lives. His daughter lives in Scotland and was visiting for the holidays. She will be flying home at the end of the week ready for school again next week. She is 10 months older than the EFG, and they get on OK. So, we had a coffee and some chatting whilst the kids played on their DSs together, then we had the baked potatoes and various fillings. After that, the girls went outside for some fresh air and a bounce around on the trampoline, but it was quite chilly so they weren't out there very long! It was a good visit and it was lovely to see them again. They left at about 3 as we had to go out.

We had to nip into the town to throw some rubbish at the dump, have a quick scout around Tesco for some fruit and veg, and then a visit to a friend before coming home for tea. In the evening, I had a bath early and then we watched one of our Christmas DVDs, which was good!

Today, I have changed the sheets on my bed and they are in the machine at the moment. I have to hoover up there and clean the bathrooms, and then I am planning a quick tidy round down here as well. There will be some ironing to do later, and I have some serious cleaning to do in the utility room which is really messy at the moment, and I am hoping to encourage the girls to tidy their rooms up too - I like things to be clean for the New Year. The YFG has a headache now so I am not sure that there will be much enthusiasm from her today! The EFG is pleading homework so I doubt I'll get much help there either!!! The FH is still doing his puzzle, although he is making good progress so it should get finished this year.