Wind in the Willows Grand Tour of the Whole World Return Celebration Worldwide Tea-Party (and this week's Views!)

This time last year the Willows Boys were actually here in the Frozen North of Ireland. Little did Mole know when I took this photo in a very charming coffee shop that he was forty-five minutes away from being left all alone in the rainy street. Until after dusk...

Hopefully all bad memories will have been long eclipsed by the myriad adventures since! And today here we all are- see the list to your right- eating cake and drinking tea and smiling happily at the thought of three little characters travelling the world with their book. Circumnavigating the globe in a way that most of us will only dream of!

This morning the most fabuous four-month old Hannah came to Strawberry Land for its Tea-Party. Obviously she stole the show on the frock front! Red spots and stripes and cosy dress. I did not even compare!

We gave her a copy of the Wind in the Willows to read with Mummy when she gets a bit older. I am delighted to hear from Mummy that she started to devour it as soon as she got back home. For her first birthday I think we'll give her this for her library...

And for the marvellous mapley Jane here are some belated views from The Land.

I would like you to note one very significant difference in the environment.

And no, it has nothing to do with the still slightly forlorn For Sale sign!

Views from My Land

I just about made it to Jane's Views from my Window before dark! This is 5.15pm in Northern Ireland and the moon is out. I love our big sky. I'm under this part of its blanket; you're under another.

Dusk impedes a good view of the emerging apple blossom. As for me and my household, we have decided that Spring is here. Despite the very cold temperatures today.

Yes, this is what the back garden looks like when it is tidy. Minus the reflection of the kettle, the cheese grater, Jo and the broccoli...

We had our first house viewers today, with our second on Saturday morning. So two days of gardening and cleaning will have to be maintained. Poor strawberries!

Start of Lent

I do love Lent.  I don't always have very much to say, and will happily confess to having played Rend to you all last year because I really wasn't doing too much thinking of my own! This part of Lent is nonetheless very much about the return for me. That's the first section in my annual Lent book. The Return.

Getting back has usually been about getting back to daily time for thought and inspiration. This year however, after a particularly wet, grey, tired Autumn and Winter, I'm also very much getting back to blue skies and natural warmth, getting back to suns running around outside, getting back to what's important in lots of ways. I sat for most of this morning, drinking tea and crocheting with Heather Boss, watching our apple blossom tree through the window. I'm sure the blossoms were appearing before my eyes.

Even having our house on the market makes me consider what is incontrovertibly important to us. Speaking of the possible move, when I looked back at Jane's list of Lenten thoughts, the two that struck me most tonight were:

Fast from worry; feast on divine order.

Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that strengthens.

Getting back to divine order and strengthening prayer would be a fine Pause in Lent! It's perhaps no coincidence that this house business is starting in Lent. We're wandering around in a complete state of uncertainty, trusting wholly in God's provision, facing months of uncertainty, and the wandering journey has to be part of our faith story- part of the whole family's faith story.

That's quite exciting...