APRIL COME SHE WILL WHEN STREAMS ARE RIPE AND SWELLED WITH RAIN

April, above, in the words of Paul Simon. We have had a beautiful start to April, unseasonably warm sunny days without any wind, but still getting a strong frost at night. You really have to temper your planting of young plants, the warm days beguile you into thinking how much they will love to be planted out in the fresh air, then the cold night hits. I planted out some trailing verbena, which I have never tried before, yesterday and woke up this morning to see the frost on the grass. With heavy heart I made my way to the garden and looked, oh dear I thought I had lost them, but tonight after a good few hours soaking up the sunshine they look as though they have perked up. I do hope so, I must restrain from too much planting.



We have had wonderful Moons since the beginning of April, waxing, full and now waning, but brilliantly clear and a fantastic cool icy lemon colour, one night, in particular it had a wonderful hazy aura round it for part of the night. So four wonderful nights of sleep for me with the Moon shining in my bedroom window, and as Spring has arrived and the bedroom winter is open wider the night breeze was making the mirrored discs on my hanging window ornaments chase around the bedroom, a wonderful free light show. I love an ice cold bedroom, I usually have the radiator knocked off at night, and to be toasty and warm under a really thick duvet. It's the mixing of cold and hot, bliss, sort of like a sauna and cold plunges I suppose.



Speaking of the Moon, the photograph above is of the Moon Goddess doll that Robyn made for me as part of the Hello Dolly Swap. This is not a very good photo of it, and I will have to take some proper ones, but at least you can see it. She is all white with golden eyes and some glittery moon net. Her hands are above her head holding up a Full Moon. She is adorned with objects with meaning in moonlore. In her little bag she carries a silver coin, crystals and precious stones. She also carries a little scroll telling lots of things that are connected to the Moon, such as colours, herbs, flowers jewels etc. I just love her, she obviously sits in my bedroom window with my moonstones at Full Moon. Thank you Robyn.



Does anyone else smudge, or clear their house with incense. I am a great believer in it. I usually get my special incense from a little shop that does postal order in Glastonbury. They do two lovely ones, one for house protection and one for clearing away bad energy. Sometimes I think if unhappy things have been happening or you have a lot of unhappiness or sorrow it can cling to the atomsphere of the house sort of multiplying until you are caught in a spiral of unhappiness that, for want of a better word, 'feeds' upon the negativity creating more of the same. To get rid of it you need to open all the windows, light the incense in every room or alternatively go through the rooms with a smudge stick letting the bad vibes fly out through the window. Try doing this and at the same time thinking a happy thought or singing a happy song even. Spring, even if your house doesn't feel negative, is a great time to clear the house for the year like this. Sort of like mental, or mind spring cleaning.



I have been running my Local History Group tonight and I am pleased to report that it really is going from strength to strength, the idea of an illustrated lecture with a speaker one month and a meeting to discuss items the next seems to be bringing people in. Every time I learn something I didn't know, and someone usually tells me a snippet of history of the village history. We are having an open day at the end of the month, where people can come and see us informally, they can look at what we have researched and found and bring items to show us that could be of interest. It's free and there are coffee and biscuits, so I'm sure people will pop in and out.

Time now to start relaxing for Easter, forget about sorting, serious gardening, housework, just have an indulgent few days doing whatever takes my fancy, I mean if that happens to be gardening thats fine. Really though, I have got a pile of books that are just about tippling over that are waiting to be read, I really could do with sitting in the garden reading and whittling that pile down a bit.

A HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL AND DON'T EAT TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE. WELL GO ON THEN YOU CAN IT IS EASTER!