By Bernie Bell

Pics Mostly By McB

February the Nineteenth…….Lighting the stove every day keeps Mike busy sawing wood…

There’s an old saying – ‘A man who cuts wood for the fire, is warmed twice over.’  Why don’t I saw the wood?  Bad back and general state of knackeredness – that’s why!

February the Twentieth…………..Unbelievable!!! ….After all that ‘weather’ we’ve been having……. the sun is shining, blue skies, the wind has dropped….Mike got into his waders and into the pond to clear it out a bit……..

He saw two frogs, a little one and a big one.   And, while he was in the pond, a Sparrow hawk swooped over the garden – maybe wondering what was going on, and if there might be something to be had!

The garden is full of life….waking up…..

And then….it rained……

February the Twenty-first………..Another beautiful sunny day.  We went for a short walk which included looking for – and finding – a cup mark on one of the Stones of Stenness…………..

We had never noticed this before, but having read about it in Douglas Scott’s book ‘The Stones of the Ancestors’, we were determined to find it.  It’s quite hard to find among the lichen, but …it is there!

February the Twenty-second…….And the sun keeps right on shining………….snowdrops and crocuses flowering in the garden –  purple, pale purple, and….a drop of golden sun……

February the Twenty-third……”What are you listening to Mike?”…….”Curtis.”……..”Well I never………………”

February the Twenty-fourth…… FROGSPAWN!!!  Mike went out to get a breath of air before an afternoon of on-line meetings, and…….he saw some frogspawn in the pond!  He only just did his clear-out in time.  Spring is definitely on the way!

Ribbit Ribbit

February the Twenty-fifth……And the Crocuses…..just keep on coming………