Winter in the South

Winters here are mild, one of the reasons Queen Victoria sat out the British Winter in Cimiez or Grasse. Even so every year we do have a cold spell lasting from a day or two to a month and last week it hit us forcing me to bring my lemon and kumquat trees under shelter and wrap up my paeonies which are budding already.
Sunday, however, was a day sent from heaven. The mercury had risen and an overnight wind had cleared the skies.

I would have liked to have gone down to the coast, taken the day off but duty dictated we stay at home with a mountain of small administrative stuff that had to be tackled. Soooooo booooring(yawn)

After lunch, bored rigid with paperwork I headed outside into the garden to get my daily dose of vitamin D. My garden tends to grow in spite of me and though we have a respectable rectangle of lawn and shrubs under the terrace much of the rest is allowed to proliferate as it wishes. We say that it's more environmentally friendly and attracts more bees and butterflies but really we simply don't have time for everything...

I discovered that tiny violets are pushing through the grass already; one year they formed a purple carpet right across the garden. The viburnum is blooming too but the king of the garden is the mimosa. Natives of Australia these grow here like weeds and are a splash of vivid colour in the depths of January.

The final photo is another view from the back of the house looking north to Pic de Courmettes. The olives and pines belong to our neighbour and though it may look rural he's busy building his house just a little to the right of the picture.

Pity.