English weather report in pictures.

We Brits do love to talk about the weather, which isn’t really surprising, considering how awful it can be at times. It’s a hot topic, or should that be ‘a cold topic’ at this time of year? 😕 Today is ‘Red Nose Day’ in England, and I must say in this cold weather, there are lots of people around with ‘real’ red noses. 🙂 Coughs, colds and sneezes seem to abound, but thankfully hubby and I are fine for now, at least.

You may be pleased to know that the temperatures here have risen a few degrees, and the angel on the plant pot, has thawed out. I’m sure she’s smiling  just a little. 🙂 We could even get up to 10 degrees today. Luxury!

The bunny rabbit who was looking decidedly frozen on Wednesday,

is now frolicking happily with the bright-eyed black cats on the lawn.

The pond still had a layer of ice yesterday morning, but it soon melted.

The crocuses are bloomin’ lovely, and the pigeon looks very well fed.

I did see a squirrel, but he was far too quick for me. Today it’s raining, and we’re going out with hubby’s sister for the day. MiL is feeling much better, well enough to bake her famous ‘Victoria Sandwich’ cake this afternoon. Things are really looking up and warmer weather is definitely on the way. I’ll leave you with these gorgeous flowers we got dear MiL for Mothering Sunday. The Freesias have all opened up, and smell just like Spring.

We have more family coming to stay tomorrow, so I’ll be busy catching up with all their news, and most probably, cooking, eating too much, and then of course there’s the inevitable washing up. I may find the odd moment to pop in on some of you, but if I don’t, do have a wonderful weekend. 🙂

Jake’s theme: Focused attention.

“Obstacles are those frightful things you can see
when you take your eyes off your goal.”
~Henry Ford

Jake has given us some fine examples of images which demonstrate ‘focused attention’.  He defines it as “the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things.”

I chose a few photos which to me suggest that something or someone is paying very close attention to the job in hand, to the exclusion of everything else.

This Great Blue Heron outside my house here in Florida, was obviously focusing on his next meal.

My sister-in law’s poodle, Luca, was keenly focused on the rabbit amongst the fairies and black cats in her mom’s back garden. She did make a dash for it, but of course that rabbit was very quick off the mark. 🙂

Little Max was fascinated by the ‘Remnants of Supernova’ exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

Back home in South Africa, this Vervet monkey was very focused on my bananas in the fruit bowl. Unfortunately for him, the door was closed.

If you would like to join in, or see more very focused pics from other bloggers, just click here.

Diners and a bunny, on display

Ailsa’s travel challenge, “On display,” could be interpreted in many ways, and when we arrived at the restaurant on Friday night, I thought how these diners inside were really on display, to the passersby.

The decor inside was really lovely, with beautiful artworks displayed on the walls.

The wine we ordered, was from a local Sussex vineyard, and was extremely good.

My sister-in-law and I had a great catch-up on all our news.

The food was absolutely ‘to die for’, and when it came to dessert, the maitre d’ told us of a speciality of the house, which they called “Dragons’ Whiskers.” He explained it as banana, split in two and sandwiched with red bean paste, covered in angel hair noodles, and deep-fried, a bit like the Greek ‘Kataifi’. I wasn’t too sure about the red bean paste, but he made it sound so delicious, that we all ordered it. It  came with delicious vanilla ice cream and strawberry coulis, and every mouthful was an absolute delight.

Earlier in the evening, we had been at SiL’s house for a glass of wine and a chat. She showed us a little concertina which someone had given her. it was really just to display as an ornament, but she found that it would actually play. When she started to make really weird noises with it, Luca her gorgeous black poodle, decided to sing along. It was hilarious.

Something else we saw on display in the garden, earlier in the day, was this cute little bunny rabbit,

More family are due to arrive for lunch at any moment, so I’d better go and put the cream, raspberry and kiwi fruit topping on my cheesecake. Have a great Sunday, everyone., and don’t forget to check out other entries for the theme.