Where has Spring gone?

Hot Cross buns! Hot Cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot Cross buns!

If your daughters won’t eat them,
Give them to your sons;
But if you have none of those little elves,
Then you must eat them all yourselves!

Easter is nearly here yet the weather is more like mid winter, we seem to be doing far more baking than normal as it's warm in the cottage but cold in the garden, still the digging is getting done and as soon as the weather warms slightly we can get the potatoes planted, we are hoping over the Easter weekend, maybe!
Still we should not complain, it seems that the UK has had very heavy snow, something we have escaped.
Last night Simon decided to make our hot cross buns, it's doubtful if they will last until then but they are easy enough to make.
 Like so many customs it is hard to find out where and why hot cross buns originated, Elizabeth the 1st banned them apart from Good Friday, Christmas and funerals, some link them to Passover, others to the Crucifixion of Christ, and other sources say they are a Pagan symbol, the cross signifying the four seasons, or the four phases of the moon. Whatever the origin they are delicious, but no good for the figure.

Frost bitten strawberry flower.
 

The night time temperatures have been cold, cold enough to frost the flowers of our early strawberries which are in the tunnel, we were picking strawberries last April, we wont be this year, this coming winter I will cover the plants with either fleece or straw so we can get an early crop again, too late to do it for this season though.

Red squirrels seem to be making a comeback in this part of Ireland, today we saw one not half a mile from where we live, we have yet to see a grey squirrel here. The increase in the reds is supposed to be thanks to the Pine Marten, the greys being heavier are unable to escape the Marten where as the reds being smaller and much lighter can escape by going onto thin branches. So maybe the Pine Marten is not all bad news.