To my total delight almost the first thing I saw was a pair of jays. I spotted the colour in the undergrowth, the sort of pinky brown of a chaffinch but too big, and then I saw the flash of blue. It's only about the fourth time I've seen jays here in Ireland, and I've never seen two together before. I could only get a photo of one a t time, though.
Chaffinch in a cherry tree
Lots of signs of spring on the way too - catkins, magnolia buds, snowdrops a-plenty, crocuses and cyclamen, a beautiful winter jasmine. It's a shame I can't share a soundtrack of the birds singing their hearts out.
You can see the horses have their coats on - they certainly needed them. Even at 9.30 I still had to defrost the car windows.
I went to the butcher and greengrocer on the way back. I got a free cabbage in the butchers - and there I was thinking we'd take a break from it for a while! We had colcannon made with cabbage tonight, along with lamb shanks cooked with red onions, red wine and a little balsamic vinegar.
You have me longing for spring even more with your wonderful pictures. How lucky to have a day like that - I'm pretending to hear the birds. Every once in a while I'll catch some birdsong when someone rings the bell at school and the outside mike goes on. We still have snow cover, but the promise of warmer temps this weekend may take care of that. Your dinner sounds delicious. I looked up colcannon and found some interesting recipes. May have to give that a try. At Christmastime, my mother makes a cabbage soup we call Kapusta and we serve it with boiled potatoes.
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