At the start of April

Not so long ago, this tree was bare.  Now it's clothed in bright new leaves. 

We welcomed April in yesterday, sitting in the garden, reading (him), knitting (me) and nest-watching - both of us.  We're feeling very protective of our little bluetit couple, and their work ethic in building and furnishing their nest-box has impressed us very much.  I'm beginning to wonder just how much room there is left in that little box, judging by the amount of soft nesting material that is being taking in.  These two birds are certainly diligent parents-to-be; I hope all their hard work pays off with a successful and healthy brood.

One of our bluetits with a beak-ful of nesting material.  This was the best of many, many photos I took of these birds yesterday, but my goodness, they're always darting around - no time to pose!

I tried my hand at making hot-cross buns yesterday.  Not having made them from scratch before, I followed the recipe very carefully but for some reason the dough didn't want to prove at all which was a bit disappointing.  I wonder perhaps if it was because I added the dried yeast to the dry ingredients instead of starting it off with sugar and warm milk as I do for my bread.  

Although there were a few hiccups with the process, the buns were good and certainly better than shop-bought ones which seem to disappear in a couple of mouthfuls, at least in this house they do ;)   Next time, I think I will use the basic bread recipe which I have just about perfected ('frothing' the yeast to start), and add extra sugar, twice the amount of spices (we like our hot-cross buns spicy) plus the fruit and see if I get a better/lighter result.  

I didn't make 'crosses' (I'm told that's only for Easter buns), but the glaze was a success.

Now the clocks have gone forward an hour, we are having that re-adjustment to lighter evenings.  It's the anticipation of late Spring and Summer, warmth and sunshine.  And a productive garden.  So much to look forward to.