Winter sunshine

Today we have seen a bit of welcome (though rather watery) sunshine, and after all the gloomy posts we in the UK have all been publishing about the weather these last couple of weeks, I thought it might be nice to post something that includes some sunshine, to cheer us up!

Here's a picture of the house in which we live. (A typical English late 1980s property...)

This picture shows very well how 99% of my garden is hidden from view. Only the Crab Apple tree is visible, right by the front door. The secluded back garden is nicely protected from the road by a brick wall which starts at the end of that hedge you can see.

Here's a view of the veg plot from an upstairs window, with sunshine instead of snow on the fleece for a change.

This is the view across the road, just near where I took the photo of the house, with the thin sunshine still managing to cast some deep shadows around the pine trees.

The subject of this one is a really mundane - simply a section of a larch-lap fencing panel - but I love the flowing lines of the grain, interspersed with knots, and the comforting warmth of the red-brown wood.

Whilst looking out for sunshine photo opportunities I watched a squirrel come down and help himself to the seeds I had put out for the birds. A rather blurry photo I'm afraid, but squirrels seldom sit still for very long!

This next one is my favourite - some branches of a Silver Birch tree against the backdrop of a sunlit, cloudless and brilliantly blue sky.

OK, so it's hardly tropical, but it's the best we have seen for a while! Summer may be a long way off yet, but we have to make the most of what comes our way in the interim.