It's starting to be really beautiful here, the heavy ice and frost has dissipated (the skyscape last night was breath taking) leaving a feeling of heady-springtime in its wake. There are many more frosts to go before I can start planting and spending days in the garden, but I'll settle for the earlier mornings and later evenings.

I took the dog for a little run up and down the still-frozen lawn, and witnessed this beautiful sky. Mackerel skies, as they are known, are stunning to look at and make me want to dive into a really exciting book that mum got me for christmas, the Cloud Appreciation Society's "The Cloudspotters Guide".

In the pots in the back yard area, all manner of interesting things are popping up. Bulbs mostly, iris reticulata and daffs, narcissi and hyacinths.

But the cold weather brings me back inside quite quickly, lest my feet should return to their usually-blue state, and my nose should glow like Rudolphs. This weather, hail, sleet and ice makes me love some good ol' British fayre, and yesterday I found the Holy Grail of sausages. Not only are they organic (and therefore animal-cruelty-free and ecologically sensitive) but they don't contain any preservatives barring a little bit of vitaminC (perfectly fine in my book). They tasted gorgeous to boot. So what else could we do than bangers, mash and veg with homemade onion gravy (which really makes it).

I've also fallen headlong in love (again) with bands that I'd once loved, had promptly forgotten about, who are now making beautiful noises. Two of the bands, Barzin and Songs:Ohia sound like spring to me, and are being played repetitively in some hope of invoking spring to happen (both can be found here and here, with MP3s to download, free ~ and the site is legit, they don't spam).

I love the sunny colours of the wintergreen growing in the back garden, with its red berries and white flowers, it smells lovely if you rub the leaves (they use it in deep heat) and is apparently, edible (tasting like deep heat and germolene!).

The Cerynth shouldn't be up now, but it started growing in October and is now in fine fettle ~ albeit in the wrong place and at the wrong time of year.

And then I turned around to leave,
when again the skies caught my eye,
whisps of white upon clear azure blue,
fluffy mackerel blankets in the sky.