Sometimes, seeing is believing and that's exactly what happened today.

I rushed home from a hard shift on the ward to let my dear hens out and into the sunshine. Yes, the sun was shining in Wales and in my excitement, I didn't even feel the earthquake tremor  (4.1) that hit the coast where I live.

Slipping on my worn out wellies, I hurried to make the most of the day. Everything appeared so different, as if someone had come into our home for waifs and strays and painted it a different colour then added a sprinkling of flavour to the air. A witch perhaps!

No, I haven't gone mad...well perhaps just a little...and I guess I was just a wee bit tired.

I called the 'girls' who chortled and chuckled all the way down to the pond with me. I noticed the snowdrops in clusters so delicate and yet so strong and the daffodils, soon to announce themselves to the world. I noticed the catkins hanging gracefully from the hazel tree and remembered that it got its name from the Dutch word katteken, meaning ‘kitten’, because of its resemblance to a kittens tail...But there was something else, I could hear it long before I could see it and I had heard that sound before!

Then I saw it! Aliens had invaded our pond...even the chickens were apprehensive. Dear readers please close your eyes for just one moment and imagine a witch’s brew, bubbling away in an old black caldron....Imagine the noise it makes...Plop! Plop! Plop! Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! Now open your eyes and I will tell you...that is exactly what the pond at our home for waifs and strays looked and sounded like today.

Well of course, I knew exactly what it was...but for a moment I was a child again and remembered when I first saw the frogs, breeding in our pond at home. I ran screaming into the house and shouted to my father that the school had dumped the uneaten tapioca into our pond...and not only that (I hardly stopped to breathe) they had mixed it all up with dead eyes! My father, bless his soul, left his experiment, to give me an awkward lesson in the reproduction of the amphibian world. He needn't have bothered of course, because I didn't believe a word he said. After all, I was just seven at the time.

I just had to take a photo for you all to see that I wasn’t imagining things! There were many eyes watching me and the girls, eyes that trusted us not to harm them. After all, I had helped them to cross the road safely. And there WAS something in the air today....and it’s called SPRING! Perhaps it’s a wee bit early, but it’s there, never-the-less...you just have to believe!

It moves slowly, but just try and catch it!

For the past few weeks I have woken to discover a slippery trail of another uninvited visitor. If he didn’t want me to catch him, then why leave a trail? And if he did want me to catch him, then why does he hide himself so well? I am calling it a male because surely, if it were a female, then it wouldn’t be so complicated...would it? Perhaps I should just call it....Slip!

Now Slip probably came in with a sack of logs we use on the fire....I spend a lot of time ‘knocking’ each log before I burn it, not wanting to be a killer of a living thing! My dear and unassuming husband says nothing during this ritual, but I know what he is thinking! Like me, he has also turned the room upside down to find the evasive Slip and I am beginning to wonder (by the amount of trails) if Slip, has indeed, an accomplice!

I know that the sheer mention of slugs to most people would evoke a weird scrunched up face which almost spits! But I cannot help my fascination with any creature that is living. My brother also had a similar fascination, though in a completely different way. His facination was for all creatures....dead...purely for scientific reasons, of course!

As children, I would be the one rescuing the animals we would find dying in the woods around us. I would carry them home and tend to their wounds. My brother would reluctantly help with this procedure but I knew what he was waiting for....the poor animal to die!

Just like my father, my brother loved to experiment and burying dead animals was one of his pastimes. He would wait for one of my ‘patients’ to die, bury it, then dig it up weeks later, to work on it. This must sound awful to some of you, I know, but it’s what a young scientist, such as my brother, liked to do. After all, we were very young and lived in a family where the ‘creative mind’ was encouraged.

So whilst my father mixed and produced alarming sounds from his ‘workshop’, known more commonly as our home, my brother would excavate one of the graves and set about ‘re-building’ the poor deceased animal.

As for me, although I never experimented as much as my father and  brother, I did indeed do experiments of my own. I had, and still have, a curious mind, and at the time there were minimal resources to help in the animal hospital that I had created in an old stable at the end of the garden. I did a lot of improvisation and perhaps that is how I eventually became a nurse. I often wondered if I should have become a vet but I always come to the same conclusion....we are all animals!

As for you Slip, I will catch you soon, just as I will discover what is causing the strange noises in our home for waifs and strays...I wonder if there is any connection!!!

Have you ever wondered what’s going on inside your computer?  And I don’t mean all the fiddly bits of electrical spaghetti and screws!

      As a writer of many things, I have begun to wonder what happens to my characters once I have switched off my computer. Do they rest until the next adventure? Or do they have adventures without me even knowing? Are they the culprits for changing the words around in my stories? For example, quite often when I am writing, the characters take on a mind of their own. They say things I would never have thought of let alone said. And they can be very cheeky, by introducing more characters without even asking me....Believe me, this happens quiet frequently.

     And do they get disappointed? This is the question I often ask myself these days. I have many stories on my computer and many wonderful characters just waiting to escape....But I blame the situation on the time snatchers.....but should I?

     It is up to me to spend my time wisely, but I can quite often find an excuse for not doing things I ought to be doing...such as seeing to the needs of my characters.

     Today, I will take one character out and nurture him/her until I am sure of where they are going.

    There is still all the work to be done at our home for waifs and strays, but sometimes, you have to tighten the reins and concentrate on things you have neglected.

    OK, so here it goes! I shall choose a story.... open it up slowly.... and see what hops out! If I’m not back tomorrow, then you will guess what happened to me....I was swallowed up by a bored character!

Wake up! Spring is on the way....

Life at our home for waifs and strays will soon be a hive of activity. Don’t get me wrong, life here is always busy but this spring and summer will hopefully bring more guests (humans and other animals) so lots of preparation is needed. There are seeds to sow and walls to paint, sheds need repairing and jam jars need collecting. On the whole, there is a lot to do if we are to survive another year.

This will be the first time we have contemplated bed and breakfast for humans! It is really quite exciting!

Despite the wet weather, there is no time to wait for the sun to show itself. I am spending a good part of the day making a list....my whole life revolves around list making! There are seeds I need to order, herbs, flowers and vegetables. It’s always exciting deciding what to grow. We used to have our very own herb farm ....however, our lives were taken over by waifs and strays and children, of course, so we have had to adapt over the years.

There are jams to make, enough to last many months and I look forward to picking the fruit which is grown on Gower farms.

Friends of ours keep bees and I have considered doing the same.....but my dear and unassuming husband is not so sure....perhaps I will concentrate on the tasks at hand, before taking on too much! Oh, and not forgetting all the characters just waiting to leave the warmth of my computer! I’m coming!

So hurry up spring....Wake up! I haven’t got all day!

It had to happen, didn't it? Or rather, it didn't. Nothing! For the first time in weeks, the house was quiet all night...no strange noises coming from Mocha's old room. Well I shall keep up the 'recording' and let you know if anything does happen!

Back to today, I have to catch up on a lot of writing so I might not get another blog in until tomorrow. Take care and please call back!