Squirreling...and a lovely surprise visit.

I know this squirrel looks adorable, but he/she 

is eating the little birds

out of house and home....in spite of a new hanging  feeder that I have put in a different place...

and a new peanut feeder...

his ingenuity knows no bounds....

and this afternoon I found it half way down the garden..

completely empty.

The new pole and baffle are bought but I'm rather out of physical action for the moment,

but will get some help to put it up next week.

As well as my bird visitors today,

including this rook ( or crow)

and the first song thrush in the hedge ( I hope it is thrush),

and the endlessly patient and 

resourceful Edward,

I had a lovely surprise visit from the two daughters of the previous owner of my house who passed  away this time last year. 

They were really delightful people and also curious about my plans and told me  what their father /step father was like.... and lots of anecdotes  about what it was like growing up here, including keeping  ducks and hens and guinea pigs at the end of the garden and a pony in a stable where the mower shed is now, and the story of the oak tree ( 40 years old) and the three silver birches - now only two. And the configuration of the rooms before the extensions were added....including a hatch from the kitchen into the sitting room which was then a dining room.

They said how pleased they were that I had bought it... and that I loved the garden.... and that their childhood home was in good and safe hands.

All of which has made me feel more settled somehow and re-assured that the house and this land and I are meant to be together for the time being.

"And after a time there is another time".