Forsythia and chicken outfits

The lovely lady who previously owned our house had a forsythia foresight and planted a great circle of them in the back garden. Their splendid lemon to yolk yellows - according to the variety - punctuate the greens of the garden in every direction during March and early April, more so this year as we failed to get much pruning done in the winter . . .

The chickens are also in full blossom with fine new feathers after a molt period. This is Rod, after Rod Stewart, one of two in our flock who I always find difficult to imagine as female, her rockstar 'hair' and leopard skin more akin to stage and microphone and strutting rather than straw, egg laying and worm-hunting.

Broadly speaking

These are just the most wonderful vegetables (pulses?) to grow, and eat!
I literally threw the dried up-looking beans from last year into some badly-toiled furrows on a freezing day back in November and promptly forgot about them and the garden.
Early April, their first leaves appeared, not even thwarted by our one real frost of the winter, and continued to become towering Jack-and-the-beanstalk plants. They flowered and the next time I looked, while trying to galvanise myself into some much needed weeding, the pendulous pods were there, ready to be picked.
So, beans every day, much to our 18 yr old's disgust - fried, boiled, steamed, given away to friends and frozen if we don't eat them all before the plants finally collapse.
I'll hold a bag of beans back, dry them in the sun and start the process again in November. If only all crops were so simple . . .

cake sculpture

The weather is now like mid April: veering from bursts of hot sunshine to howling winds and torrential rain. It's unnerving. I had to make some strange food.
We had folk coming round; Mark wanted to make lasagna and I was assigned 'pud'.
I have made these cakes before, but I think this was the most successful one yet.
Free improvisation with a tin of pineapple, two 'Super U' cake bases, seasonal fruit, silly whipped cream in a can and jelly bears.
Next time: three tiered and adding of marshmallows, I think.
Tasted rather good too.