Recent Reading, Easter and Garden Flowers and Butterflies etc

 

I don't think I've done a post on recent reading recently so here are the latest books.

I haven't read Agatha Christie for years and years but I enjoyed this first Miss Marple book and will read more.

If I am honest I bought this book because I liked the title and cover! but I enjoyed it immensely.  The book covers the author's encounters with nature and visits to various homes and museums connected with past naturalists such as John Clare, Charles Darwin and Gilbert White etc.  

This book, like the first in the series, was really poorly edited as an e-book (I really ought to complain to Amazon!).  The font size varied from one chapter to another which isn't too much of a pain but text was repeated and even worse bits of it seemed to be missing. It is a shame because I am enjoying this series set in the Scilly Isles.

I bought this book second hand as it now seems to be out of print. I have to admit I learned a lot about the Neolithic Age, Iron Age and Bronze Age - a period of history I didn't know a lot about) and its given me lots of ideas of places to visit. Top of the list is Arthur's Stone!!

I hope this series continues as I do like Nikki Galena and this book was again very good.

I enjoyed Murder at St Anne's probably more than others in the series. I do find at times the conversations between the characters are a bit "forced".  It seems to be the last in the series that you can buy although I think the next is due to be published sometime this year.

My daughter bought me this book for Christmas. It is really a coffee table book full of the most beautiful photos of Grasmere and the Lake District taken during lockdowns.  My only complaint is that the photos are not captioned with details of where the pictures were taken although I recognised many of the locations.

Another Shire book - usually I adore these books but this one I found rather hard going.

A re-read of the next Merrily Watkins book.

Easter

B always makes Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday.

Posy of garden flowers for the table.

I always make a Simnel cake for Easter.  I tried using a recent present of a cook's blowtorch to brown it which didn't seem that successful!

Blackthorn flowers

In the garden

The female Blue Tit has now laid 8 eggs  I hope the brood is more successful than those in recent years.  Butterfly wise - Orange Tip have emerged and I've also seen Holly Blue, Green-veined White and Speckled Wood plus a Peacock.  Worryingly we have had no frogspawn at all this year - I still blame it on newts eating the frog tadpoles and over the years the frog population has died out!  There again there could be another reason.

One of the bays is flowering.

B grew Honesty from seeds he had collected from the garden for here and the caravan.  We now have Honesty Plants in two of the borders here.

The Camellias are still flowering.

Bluebells are flowering - sadly we have a mix of not just the native bluebell but also the Spanish bluebell. They are plants we inherited when we moved in and they have spread everywhere.

Cowslips are spreading too - we now have at least 100 plants in the wild flower area.

I have no idea what this shrub is but it does have thorns!

Wood Anemones and Wood Sorrel

Thanks to Rosie of "Corners of My Mind" I have now remembered what this blossoming shrub is -Amelanchier! 

Green Alkanet and Forget-me-nots

One or two daffodils are still flowering.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

Photos taken by me with Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.