I bet you all think that this is Colin's Christmas tree being dispatched  for pit props - not at all.  This is the three yearly log delivery.  Yes, once every three years we get about 14 tons of logs from the Forestry Commission delivered right to the door.  While all the traffic is held up the logs are cunningly lifted over the wall , and over the next years Mike saws them up then with our brilliant log splitter they get made into fuel for our own and the cottage fires.  It's all very scientific. Each stove has a different size of log, and they must be chopped and stacked and dried in an organised way .  Anyone who has wandered in Austria know that log stacking is an art in itself.  We even have a back-up pile in one of the sheds for the tail end of winter when everything outside has got thoroughly damp.

We laugh when we see gorgeous Grand Design houses with immaculate wood burners, and then look at the chaos  of bark and chips which constantly surrounds our own fire. it's a messy business and you need to be dedicated, but we keep our own house incredibly warm and our visitors love the stoves (though not everyone is terribly good at lighting them).

May has been a quiet month - it always is.  For once the weather has been super and everywhere is glorious and it seems a shame so few people get away at this time. Sadly a lack of swallows - last year was a bumper year but clearly the many that we waved goodbye to in September have not made it back.  Even the cuckoos have been few and far between.

Anyway, enough of the nature ramble - I'm fighting with Google to get this blog up at all.  computers!