Salt water, a quandary and some inherited clumsiness

There were huge tides on the River Severn this weekend, it was time for the Severn Bore, a big wave that runs up the upper reaches of the river.  At the wildfowl and wetlands place we go to the floodplain had been covered at high tide.  It's a rare Atlantic salt marsh habitat, and excellent for all sorts of wetlands birds.  The weather was hideous, and I hunkered down in the corner of a hide at the top of a tower while the real birders opened all the windows and let the rain and the force ten gale in.  I took a big flask of cocoa (unsweetened - Lent).  It was actually very peaceful up there, just gazing out at the river and the hills in the distance and thinking quiet thoughts.  One of my happy places.  Sometimes the proper birders find something wonderful with their telescopes and they let us have a look.  Say, a peregrine falcon or a marsh harrier, something like that.  If I have the binoculars I look at the little houses on the other side of the river and wonder if the grass is greener over there.

Back on the ground a squirrel was helping himself to the bird food from the feeder.  He hung upside down like that for ages.  If you look closely you can see two rats underneath, picking up anything that's dropped.  There are lots there at the moment, apparently it's a good year for rats.

My blog friend Teresa sent me a lovely crocheted heart and wrote me a sweet card in her beautiful calligraphy.  It's something I'd love to try one day when there's miraculously more time.  It made me happy when the postman dropped the envelope on the mat, all the way from Oregon.  So kind and thoughtful.

The first seedlings are up.  Apricot chillies, planted a couple of weeks ago.  I don't have a fancy heated thing to put them in, so I just kept them in the warm kitchen, next to the bread machine.  It worked a treat.  I bought the seeds on Ebay, and seven out of eight have germinated.  Apricot chillies are supposed to be really mild.  We shall see.

I went looking for snowdrops this afternoon.  The church is having a little roof repair at the moment.  The snowdrops are looking beautiful though, down at the other end of the churchyard.  I don't know what variety they are, but the ground is thick with them.

Oh the home front the littlest boy is needing eye drops.  Any tips for how this might possibly be accomplished gratefully received.  I did get one in his ear.  He can't even do it for chocolate buttons.  (Yes, I do employ bribery wherever possible.)

I'm in a quandary over whether to crochet a blanket or knit a cardigan.  A friend gave me a voucher for yarn, I need to spend it wisely.  Such a large project will probably last me for years, so I'm not rushing in to anything.  I'm still slowly sewing a quilt or two.  And I have a couple of little cross stitch projects knocking around.  Maybe I shouldn't start anything else just yet.  But then again, if the mood to knit strikes it would be terrible to be projectless.  The middle boy and I share a complete inability to make decisions.  We agonise over the smallest thing for days and days.  If I ask him what birthday cake he would like, two weeks before his birthday, I can guarantee that the day before no decision will still have been reached.  The littlest boy and I share a humongous clumsiness.  He came home from school with an injury note yesterday.  Then he fell off the bed and hurt himself.  Then two minutes later he fell of the bed again and hurt himself even more.  This evening he hit his face on the table.  I actually remember regularly running upstairs and hitting my shin really hard when I was little.  He does that all the time too.  I do hope they get some good stuff from me as well as the dodgy qualities.  Although I can't think of what that might be offhand.  If I come to a yarny decision I shall let you know.  Your thoughts on the subject, or in fact any subject, will be very welcome.