Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible ....

.... as I am off to England at the crack of dawn tomorrow (provided it's prepared to crack just a bit later than it usually does) to see my new grandson.

As the forecast was rain all day today, I limited my objectives, and just did one more pair of shutters.

This picture was taken first thing this morning - before the rain:



and this one in the afternoon, when in fact the rain had turned out to be a very light drizzle, hardly enough to wet the ground:



I'd welcome suggestions about the rusty door on the electricity cabinet. Do I leave it is it is - after all the rust blends in quite well with the colour of the stone? Or would it be better painted - and if so what colour?

The two other shutters in the picture are in very poor condition. I may well decide to replace them, so it's a good thing they will be staying open most of the summer. They are the shutters for the kitchen and breakfast room, and there's usually no call to shut them. In the summer the sun is off this side of the farmhouse by about 10 in the morning, before it gets too hot. If the shutters are left are open, visitors won't really notice what they look like, as they won't be able to see them without craning their neck.

Spring is late this year. The willow tree is only just in leaf:



and usually it is a good week or two earlier than this. On the other hand, the wild violets in the grass underneath it have been putting on a good show, for at least three weeks now. This picture was taken on March 24th:



Coincidentally, I have been reading Fernand Braudel's wonderful "Memory & the Mediterranean", and he notes (shortly before disagreeing with J L Borges on the merits of Athenian democracy as a foretaste of paradise) that Aristophanes described Athens in its then vanished past as "crowned with violets".