What a difference ...

  ... a day makes!   Yesterday these Crocus goulimyi leucanthus were just shoots emerging yet in today's sunshine their glory is revealed.   Captured in the warm afternoon sunshine which followed some overnight rain.   A brief interlude as it's raining again tonight.   Extra pic today shows the reverse angle from yesterday, four different crocuses in flower now.

A half day at Aber cafe this morning, hosting a buffet for a party on a special train.   We have a license for weddings at the cafe - watch this space tomorrow.   We also have a memorial garden at Brynglas station, half way up the line, where ashes can be interred.   Today's party stopped there, the last resting place of a long-time member of the Talyllyn family.  After the service they continued to Aber for food, a champagne toast and some words of remembrance from family and friends.   My boss usually oversees such events but needed elsewhere on the railway, she asked me to stand in.   All went well.  

Back home while Ruth worked on a restoration project started after our visit to antiques shops in Machynlleth last week, I completed the repottting of my bulb collection.   I've been asked how many bulbs.  Too many to count (unless you're very obsessive about it!) but somewhere around 500 pots with from one to twenty bulbs in each so several thousand bulbs.   Some are not flowering size as I'm an inveterate seed raiser .....  but the numbers above don't include seed pots from 2020 or 2021which number over fifty.   The flowers started in August and will continue through to May next year, an ever changing tapestry of colour and form.   

Once upon a time my plan was to turn the growing into a little retirement income, selling some bulbs and seed to other enthusiasts and to gardeners when I give talks.   Life and the pandemic have stalled that for now but the possibility is still there if life allows me the time to grow the collection back towards it's former ..... yes, it was .... much larger size.

Jamie cooked a roast dinner this afternoon to which my Mum was invited.  We all enjoyed a happy couple of hours at the flat.   Ruth and I walked Meg after then I worked and while I did, the rain arrived.