2018 and all that

It has been a desultory start to the year. Hot, hot, hot and only now after 9 weeks have we had a prolonged shower of rain. Our lawn is the colour of sand, bushes haven't had the energy to blossom and the chickens complain very frequently because of the heat. I realised that they were very noisy and surprised when we had a 5 minute downpour; they haven't experienced this kind of weather since they were eggs!

This evening I have been sitting on the verandah enjoying being cooler as it has rained. I have been sitting at the verandah table, with a heavy file of Family History perched precariously so that I could move the hundreds of pages easily. Cumin, our ginger female was jealous not to receive the attention she deserves and she repeatedly sat on the bit of paper I was reading. Eventually she jumped away when I let out a loud "good grief!" Included in the paperwork were several exercise book pages describing the best way to attack with a bayonet and the various kinds of poisonous gases, and the effects on various parts of the body. I didn't recognise the handwriting, but it was obviously contemporaneous with WW1. I shall have to dig around a bit to check where that came from.

I have just become a grandma of sorts, as one of my god daughters has just had her first child last night. It is a lovely feeling, but tinged with sadness as they are so far away and I won't get the chance to see him grow up.

So, here is our river, not looking like a river, grass, not looking like grass, a cat trying to cool off, a lawn which is dead and a neighbours new born foal.

Happy New Year to you all.