Goldfinch on Ceonothus

The start of the day was very cold again, 2c, will it ever get warm? It always has done before !!

Around 7am I was looking out of my bedroom window and saw 2 goldfinches on the ceonothus. They are the first we have had this year.

The strange looking thing in picture 1 is a ceonothus seed heed and when the birds peck at them they open out to about 4 times that size and are full of fluffy seed material. Which I am sure is great fun, if you are a gold finch.

Picture 2 is just to show how easy it is to root things in plain water on a cold kitchen window sill even as early in the season as this. The plant in the stem glass, with such healthy roots forming. is a Fuschia and I had only nipped the cutting out of another rooted-cutting because it was getting 'leggy'.

After lunch we decided on a little trip to Arnold and had a great time. We didn't need anything much. Some milk, I think, and sausages - to see what Rowbothams the Butchers are like. We went our separate ways for an hour and I had a good mooch in the charity shops - which I love and Yvonne hates. There is a super semi-remaindered book shop on the main street and I weakened and bought a Humorous Quotations Dictionary. I was won-over by the fact that it contained the immortal "He would say that wouldn't he?" - Mandy Rice Davies quote. Plus lots of P.J. O'Rourke, Woody Allen, W.C Fields etc.....

Meeting up finally in the Asda cafeteria. Rather rough but clean I suppose. Then we decided against further house-hunting and drove home. Had trouble with my blog again. It was very reluctant to upload the pictures and I kept trying, clicking, starting again etc., only to find eventually that I had a blog-page with loads of excess pictures thereon which I don't know how to delete. I shall have to find out! Because in the end I had to ditch it and start afresh.