Our Garden

The view from my window

Our rabbit run

You can see more Spring Snow pictures, taken in Scotland in the last couple of days on the BBC News website here.

My five year old twins look forward to their annual Easter Egg Hunt. Hubby and I like to hide a mixture of decorated hard-boiled eggs, chocolate eggs and other Easter novelties around our back garden. However, living in Scotland, we have once had to resort to Plan B and hide the eggs around the house instead, because it was a wet and windy Easter Sunday.

The girls believe it is the Easter Bunny who leaves their treats for them. He also leaves treats for our own pet bunnies, Chip and Dale.

Are you looking to have an Easter egg hunt for your children? With a little creativity, you can make the experience enjoyable for children of all ages.

Happy hunting!

Share your Easter stories / experiences by joining the MckLinky blog hop or simply by leaving a comment below.



I live in Scotland, UK, and we have experienced our coldest winter in more than a generation.  The British media has dubbed this winter as “The Big Freeze“.

I recently posted the following two snow-themed entries on my blog:

• My Wintery Walk to Work  - See some photos of the “Winter Wonderland” I had to walk through on my way to the office, during the “Big Freeze”.
• My Twins’ Favourite Ways to Play in the Snow - See some photos of my gorgeous twin girls having some festive fun over the Christmas holidays.

 You should also visit the BBC News website links below to view some stunning photographs of my beautiful  country taken during the Big Freeze:

• Photos of Scotland 18th – 25th December 2009
• Photos of Scotland 1st – 8th January 2010

There’s no snow here at the moment, but various places in the UK (mostly high or coastal areas) have experienced snow in the last week or so, and the MET Office have warned that there’s still more to come.  Here it’s actually a lovely sunny day, but it’s perishingly cold. 

What like is the weather where you are?  Please leave a comment and/or (if you have your own blog) join the MckLinky below to share your snow pics and stories.

If you have hopped by on the MckLinky blog hop, please say “Hi!” in the comments below, and (before you go) check out my other MckLinky’s here.

Still, it would have been quite inconceivable ten or so years ago, for me to consider writing an article about saving bees.  However, that is what I am finding myself doing today, as part of a campaign on Bloggers Unite.

The Help The Vanishing Bees campaign asks bloggers:

“To draw attention to the bees. They are vanishing in alarming numbers. With out bees we will have half of the food we need.”

 Over the last couple of decades our bee population has been in rapid decline.  There have been many theories put forward as the cause of this decline:

• environmental damage
• weather conditions
• the parasitic varroa mite
• viral disease
• mobile phone masts
• pesticides
• diminishing forage
• GM crops
• bee-keeping practices

However, as yet, the exact reasons are not conclusively known.  Indeed it is likely to be a combination of these factors that is behind bee colony losses.

Many people may be indifferent to the plight of bees.  They might ask what business it is of theirs that this is happening.  Some, especially those with insect phobias, might in fact be happy to see the back of the bees.  Sadly, though, the declining bee population poses serious threats to our survival.  Some scientists have predicted devastating consequences for humans if bees die out.  At best, our quality of life will suffer.

So what are the implications of the demise of bees?  Their demise has serious implications for food supply and the price of goods.  Bees are important pollinators of flowers and crops.  They pollinate many of the fruit and vegetables eaten by humans and that feed livestock.  The economy will suffer greatly if bees die out.   In the UK, the estimated economic value of crops grown commercially that benefit from bee pollination is approximately £165 million per year.

So what can we do about this?  There are several ways that ordinary people, like you and me, can do our bit in helping to save our bee population:

• Plant bee-friendly plants in your garden, such as cornflower, foxglove and thistle.
• Provide shelter in your garden for bees, such as an area of long grass or densely planted flowers.
• Provide a source of water for bees to drink in your garden.
• Reduce the use of pesticides in your garden.
• Encourage solitary bees to nest in your garden by purchasing a special nestbox.  (For more details visit The International Bee Research Association here or Plan Bee here.) NB: Solitary bees do not swarm and will not sting.
• If you don’t have a garden, perhaps you can plant a bee-friendly windowbox or why not adopt a hive? (For more details visit Adopt A Hive.
• Refrain from purposely killing bees and report swarms to your local authority for safe collection and removal by a qualified bee-keeper.

I am personally going to look into buying a selection of bee friendly plants for my garden, and perhaps installing a nest box for solitary bees.  After all, I may not be the humble bee’s biggest fan, but I do love the delicious honey that honey bees produce, and I do enjoy the wide variety of foods available to me through pollination.  It’s only fair that, in return, I do my best for our fuzzy black and yellow friends!

The Twin Tuesday QOTW, courtesy of Jennifer Miller of Twin Happy,  is:

What are you looking forward to doing with your twins, once spring finally gets here?

The girls and I are soooooo looking forward to Spring!  We’re looking forward to (weather permitting) spending more time outdoors. 

We have a big back garden, with lots of play equipment for the girls: swings, slides, trampoline, seesaw, playhouse, sandpit.  The girls love playing outside, and they love to invite their friends from next door over to play with them.

We also get to spend more time with our two pet bunnies, Chip’n Dale, who live in a huge hutch and run in our back garden.

At Easter, we have an Egg Hunt in the garden and the girls love finding eggs, nestled in various hiding spots, to fill their Easter baskets.

Mothers’ Day also falls in the Springtime (UK), and the girls look forward to this day as much as I do!  They make me cards and gifts, help Daddy bring me breakfast in bed, and then we all go out for a nice lunch together.  Bliss!

What about you?  What do you look forward to doing with your children in the Springtime?

As I write this, the wind is howling outside and there are spits of rain on the window pane, and I feel a pang of sadness for another Summer’s end.  What does Autumn (or Fall) mean to you?  Do you like or loathe this season?

There’s a lot about Autumn that I dislike:

• Shorter Days – I really don’t like the dark mornings, and I find it increasingly difficult to get out of bed at this time of year.  I also dislike the fact that it is starting to get dark as soon as I get home from the office.  It depresses me to think that in a month or so it will actually be dark before I leave the office!
• The Fall in Temperature – I hate the fact that my office is now pretty cold and I have to wear an extra layer of clothing.  In a month or so I’ll have to wear a couple of extra layers to work!  (This is the downside to working in a beautiful old building.)
• Holiday Overkill – Have you noticed that the supermarkets have been selling Halloween goodies for the past couple of weeks, even though it is more than a month until the 31st October?  Even worse, some shops have started stocking Christmas goodies!  I noticed boxes of mince pies on sale in one supermarket last week, with Use By dates in November!!  Unbelievable.
• Having to Budget for Christmas – I dread the thought of how much money Christmas is going to cost this year!

Having said all that, there are many aspects of Autumn that I truly love:

• Autumnal Shades – I love the beautiful Autumnal shades of the trees at this time of year.  I am lucky enough to live at the edge of a small Stirlingshire town, with lots of beautiful trees behind my house.  The country path between my home and office is beautiful at this time of year, with the trees on either side providing a golden tunnel effect.
• Autumn Games - My daughters and I enjoy playing games as we walk to school.  Jumping on freshly fallen crunchy leaves is a favourite game of ours.  The crunchier the leaf the better!
• Halloween – My daughters are looking forward to Halloween again this year!  We will decorate the house and garden, making some Halloween decorations ourselves.  We will also make some tasty Halloween treats together. 

What about you?  What do you like or dislike about Autumn? 

If you would like to get creative and make your own personalised Halloween greeting card, then click here for a demonstration on a fantastic online system.