Blooms a'blooming and swans a'nesting

My first spring in England and it's been a glorious year for it.  Apparently it is slightly milder than usual and the sun the past few days has been blissful even though it fakes you out and makes you think it is much warmer than what it really is.  The back garden patio has been getting some use both as a place to sip our tea and coffee while basking in the aforementioned sunshine and as a workout area--the latter has greatly relieved my partner because he has been having visions of me losing grip on a kettlebell mid-swing and it flying through the French doors or front window, lol.

Another thing I'm enjoying about here are the endless blooms. I'm sure I'm driving people crazy on facebook with my constant pictures of various flora and asking them to identify it for me.  Spring in the US midsouth is gorgeous but there has always seemed to be a two week time limit on the life of jonquil and daffodil season (I might be exaggerating a little) and here they are still going strong a month after I first noticed them blooming.  Since these are my favorite flowers this makes me a very happy woman every time I'm outside.

The mutts and I also discovered that it is swan nesting season on a walk along the nearby canal trail. The one closest to us is disused as a waterway and that means the swans are able to build their nests in the middle of the canals.  Expect lots of pics in the coming weeks of the progress since there are two nesting within a mile of our walk.  The 2 photos I have are from my phone but we will be venturing out with the good camera soon in order to get better quality ones.

I haven't mentioned it here but I became a certified Nordic Walk Leader through the British Nordic Walking/INWA course at the end of March.  To borrow another fb quote from right after I got my certification, "I can't teach you but I can get you lost!" I was told quite firmly though that getting people lost during sessions is kind of frowned upon, lol!!!!  I am very much enjoying the nordic walking and looking forward to learning how to run with them soon, best yet I'm meeting people that I wouldn't ordinarily get a chance to chat with during our Tuesday morning classes.

All in all, life has been quite good lately. I have had several adventures that need to be blogged about and just as soon as I find the memory card reader so I can transfer images from the camera to the computer then hopefully I can get some posts up soonish.