Ottilie born on her mums birthday 23rd January,isnt she beautiful.

Spring is coming at Botany Farmhouse February 2013.

Still here,spent the winter building an ark as water rushed around the house,the wettest winter we have ever experienced in our thirty years here.There is very little you can do in a wet January apart from toast yourself by the woodburner with many a good book.Been very busy with the wood pile in the summer so feeling smug this year we have plenty of dry wood,the old Massey tractor has a shiny red new bonnet,the circular saw has been sharpened and the log splitter serviced, so all is well.Graham has even double glazed the windows(the temporary sort) because its grade2 listed so we must be prepared to freeze,have to resort to practicalities like lining curtains with heavy wool blankets to keep everything toasty.Have made a lot of curtains out of old silk saris that I bought from Dorchester market and hoarded.I love the old silk ones with silver thread work,the dining room is resplendent with a pair in a sort of lilac turtledove colour ,suitably mournful for January.
But its February and the birds are singing and people are beginning to beat a path to our door so the hibernation must cease.
February  good news, we have a little granddaughter Ottilie,born on her mothers birthday,I wish for a really girly girl so I can indulge in buying sprig muslin dresses,lots of flower prints and lace,which her mum always hated!
"Babes" my very tame deer is still very much alive,I cant go into the woods without being mugged for an apple,pictures to follow.All that rain has meant an explosion of snowdrops and daffodils.

Plans for 2013,no ambitions really.Looking back on the year, whats happened?.Sold the camper van didnt use it enough,went to Venice yet again,24th November this time,the week previous watched the St Marks webcam nervously
with Venice experiencing the worst floods in years.Arrived to a week of cloudless blue skies,warmth and sunshine,didnt have any body to play with this year so rented one of the boys little houses again in Cannaregio,had a blissful week.If anybody fancies Venice, Jonathan and Alasdair,visitvenice.co.uk,cant recommend them enough and thanks to Gail and Martin that stay with us for telling us about it.La Serenissima keeps luring us back for more.
Als found me a teal blue Audi convertible for the summer(very old,come on this is Botany farm!)car auctions had to find a secondhand hood,it leaked but now looking forward to the summer,not so Graham who does not like my driving,much domestic,might attract a toy boy but dont think I could cope with one.
Oh yes,I nearly forgot,my nephew got a gold medal for the sprint kayak,everybody staying had a delayed breakfast whilst we watched with bated breath.
New food things,to delight or otherwise,taken to making different sorts of granola,bored in January,thank you Nigella but it is really really nice and bloody expensive and I eat it(full of calories)Grahams got bored with proper attempts at sourdough and found a quicker method which tastes pretty good,one of our oldest customers has a bakery chain,when we first started breadmaking a long time ago,he would turn up with his own bread,he no longer does,nothing was ever said but we have taken it as a compliment.

Another year to look forward to,same ethos,same prices,loads of the same people,thank god.Blogging on.

Love to all
Carol