Shock! Horror! 4 days later and 26 chocolates gone - mice are such awful creatures.

This is called The Mother's Day Diet. One chocolate a day - well maybe 2 at most.

After a storm last Monday night, the river and the carrier stream burst their banks and overflowed into the watermeadows. The depth marker pole - which is usually on the side - can be seen peeping out of the stream! That water is travelling very fast too. Spot the obsessive fisherman!

The Christmas cactus has been flowering since - Christmas of course! I think it loves to hang over the tall stool - bought for £2 from the local tip shop. It also spends winter in the unheated lean-to conservatory, only brought inside if it is really frosty overnight. After flowering, Provado vine-weevilled and then put outside for the summer.

Bergenia - home to slugs, snails and vine weevils - but also toads. And looking pretty now as it comes into flower.

Camellia Japonica "Adolphe Audusson" also from Otter Nurseries but some years ago. Kept in a pot because difficult to plant in our garden to avoid sunshine after frost which damages the buds. Usually flowers in the lean-to conservatory so lovely to see from the sittingroom and then it goes outside for the summer.

Spring has sprung and we are recovering from the pandemic viral infection which is not flu but feels somewhat like it! Get outside to enjoy the morning sunshine on the flowers.

These are first year bulbs bought from Otter Nurseries, Devon and planted in the front "seasonal" bed.