The news is announced

It's been an exhausting but exhilarating day in many ways. Chairing a meeting with 800 in the audience isn't a piece of cake, but when one has news up one's sleeve, the day whizzes by in a blink. Quite how we kept it quiet until "the moment" is amazing, especially since we had TV cameras from BBC, ITV, radio and news reporters there most of the day, who I felt sure would spill the beans by allowing themselves to be overheard.

But we did it. We are thrilled, as were the audience, who broke into spontaneous applause. Having kept this secret since last June, I was pleased, at last, to share it!

Appreciative

Some time ago, before I discovered the fun of knitting, a friend made me this little brooch. I pulled out a big warm sweater to wear today and found it pinned to the collar.

I'd forgotten how much I love the clown, and more to the point, quite how much she put into making it.

I am very appreciative. I think he needs a new hat, though, doesn't he?

Tulips 2 - continued

Though I really like using Picasa and find it much easier to blog photographs from there to here, I can't upload more than one photograph per post. I've looked in the help file and found that " You can publish up to one image at a time in a single blog post". Up to one, eh?

So, further to my last post, I thought the whole vase of tulips deserved a showing. They are quite beautiful and are drooping nicely, too.

Tulips 2

Stunning, isn't it?

Spring?

Once home, the sun was out and after sitting in the car for a few hours, it seemed like a good idea to have a walk in the garden for a breath of fresh air. Couldn't believe how much difference a bit of sunshine makes!

Not everything looked so pretty though

The green woodpecker might be a pretty sight in the garden, but the holes he leaves aren't quite so pretty. Looks like we've had an L&P plane crash, a disaster on the "frostproof" planter front, and a fallen star lay on the path, most probably left behind from Christmas.

But look what was in the pond