Changeable weather, changeable lives

Hello All
I am currently sitting in my living room listening to the wind howl and the rain tip down looking at this picture taken only last week on one of those beautiful February days when all the cranes fly overhead to get back to their summer homes, the air is still and the sun is warm on the face providing a much needed respite from the winter. Not that I have anything to moan about really as the winter here in reality is not extraordinarily long, nor extraordinarily cold on the whole. As you can see I am actually working...????....You are not looking closely enough....there is a hosepipe filling a water trough to my right. It is an arduous job filling water troughs.
As some of you know Gavin has been away for a few days and I have had my able assistant in tow...

Here James is in an action shot learning about bales and sheep and how it is best to avoid squahing them. He is from Yorkshire so hence the summer wear in February ;)
We had quite a busy week with the first lambing starting the evening that Gavin left and she had triplets which was all good fun and she is already a star on our Franklin Farm Facebook page. Following that there were 2 sets of twins and 2 singles one of which sadly left us via the mouth of Mr Fox. I am guessing that Nougat the donkey was on his night off. 

I had a surprise email as well the other day from a very good German friend from Konstanz whom I knew from  Zimbabwe who had just found us with the able assistance of google and a bit of time. We lost touch when she left Zimbabwe in 2000. There are some advantages to being easily traceable on the internet. Her son and Patrick were best friends at Nursery school. Took me back to a different time in my life when the sun was always warm and there was quite a lot of chatting and tea and cake eating as a part of my life. I guess the tea and cake eating bit hasn't changed much, and I suppose the chatting still happens although under a slightly different format. 
Many thanks for all the continued support from our clients with adjusted schedules for the markets and also for your kind words after the sad loss of, Rob, Gavins/the childrens, Dad/Grandpa and my Father-in-law. The up side is that Gavin finally saw his Mum, his Dad, his sister and his brother all together at their family home for the first time in 14 years. So happy comes from sad and the circle of life continues..... probably at the big beerhall in the sky where all other recalcitrant fathers go....hey Dads!
See you all soon
​Helenxx