This time last week

Incroyable. This time last week it was all sunshine and blue skies. Proper teeshirt weather. And now it's all snowy and grey skies. Enough to make the newly arrived swallows do an about-turn and head back south.

Good job t'other half came over last week and not this. Would have been awful for her. Luckily we had sunshine for most of her break. Just a couple of cloudy days at the week-end. Perfect for a spot of gardening. She had a great time weeding, trimming, watering, fiddling with the smelly old compost heap, whooping with joy at my fine collection of worms therein (or maybe shrieking with disgust - not sure), carrying bits up to the bonfire pile and generally doing whatever it is that gardeners do. Would have given her a hand but my susceptibility to hay fever wouldn't allow it (doctor's orders - okay, so it may have been back in '58, and it may have been advice rather than an order, and I may have outgrown the allergy decades ago,  but you can't dice with death y'know). So all I could do was shout encouragement while sipping a cool scotch or three. Come to think of it, I vaguely remember her planting a few green things that we bought up the garden centre. Hope they survive this cold snap otherwise I'll be in the chien maison. Woof.

She had an equally enjoyable time on the sunny days too: washing and drying, fixing the loo, fixing the sink, tidying the loft room and sweeping the hundreds of dead flies off the floor, doing the washing up and a bit of cooking (hasten to add that I knocked up one of my special curries and a delicious spag Bol - just in case anyone thinks I just laze around doing bugger all), bedmaking, handwashing my filthy winter sweaters (crikey, they were dirty - washed about three times and the water still ended up black!), spot of dusting and tidying of the boudoir and more washing and drying. In return for her efforts, I allowed her full control of the telly twiddler at all times - apart from Match of the Day. And Top Gear. And the news. And maybe a couple of other progs. Can't say fairer than that. Yup, I know, I'm generous to a fault.

'Course, I would have given her a hand with some of these chores had I been able. But, unfortunately, I had to grab the opportunity afforded by the fine weather to do some arty-farty painting. Finished off that blossomy picture I started last year but didn't complete due to the intervention of a week's rain, followed by a distinct lack of blossomy bits when the skies eventually cleared. Quite tricky finishing it off 'cos the trees had grown somewhat so I had to adopt a bit of 'artists' licence' and all that, but nobody'll know. Still not sure about the little row of trees on the right though. Their trunks were actually in a dead straight line but it looks completely unnatural. Think I'll have to wobble 'em up a bit (top pic: April '09, lower pic: May '10).

Thus inspired, I then started a quick painting of the lane up the back with long evening shadows. Didn't finish it of course 'cos the sun dipped like a stone and the dogs wanted their supper. Would have finished it the following evening but, sod's law, that's when the weather changed. No sun. Cloudy. According to the weather forecast, it ain't gonna be sunny again 'til the end of next week. By which time the leaves will have grown and the scene will look completely different. Looked pretty different when I walked the dogs up there this afternoon, as you can see by the photo. Ah well, such is life for an amateur dabbler.