Alice skyped this us morning. She'd been meaning to go to her mother's in Brum and have her mother and her partner take Ivy off her hands for a bit but she's snowed in too- and J is away from home. I played the xylophone for Ivy and clapped my hands and sang nursery rhymes and waved Iggle-Piggle in front of the lens and Al said this was almost as good having a baby sitter in. Ivy waved and clapped as if I were there in the room.
The birds deserted the feeders when it was spring but now that it's winter again they're back. I've seen a wren and some great tits and a pair of blackbirds and a dunnock- along with the ever-faithful pigeons and starlings and sparrows.