It's Good Friday. The fish-man had promised crabs. They didn't appear. I cooked sea bass instead. That was OK. It's not always straight forward.

Rich living today... I left the house at 5.30am, having pulled on yesterday's jeans and jumper, and drove to the beach in Kenmore in order to get some nice dawn shots onto the memory card on the camera. Technical problems... Looked at the disappointing results as I got back and pressed the delete button many times. What's left on my own internal memory card is the sound on the beach as I arrived; the oyster catchers were out in full force and their calls were joined by other birds'. No one else about. Magic. Once home the subject for next month's short story presented itself and I wrote half of it before breakfast. By now the garden was basking in sunshine and I went outside to prepare the raised vegetable beds for this season's sowing. The frogs have found their way to their new home, last year's pond project, and the bulbs I planted late in the autumn are coming up in all sorts of places. I can't remember what I planted, or where, and it's a delight to now find out. Lunch consumed sitting by the burn and it was too warm to wear a jacket (!!) Bliss after one of the longest winters I've known.

Having looked at earlier posts this winter, I can now confirm that it wasn't all over. This week has seen two days of snow and hail. The seeds in my vegetable bed are feeling the cold and I wonder if they will decide to come up at all. Photograph taken by the Tay yesterday afternoon.

Vernal Equinox today at 17.32. Surely, that must be good...?

As I write this, I think it is all over. It was a winter and a half... A reminder of my childhood's winters in Sweden. Journeys undertaken were carefully researched beforehand on the internet, a luxury that wasn't available in the 60s... The 27 hour power cut ( shortly after I took this photograph) didn't throw me. There were more severe ones in Berkshire twenty years ago or more. I am glad I bought those skis shortly after I moved up here; they have been used now. However - I am really looking forward to warmer weather now!

Winter Swan