Sign of spring?

A bit of a meh day today...with a definite reluctance to grind into gear and get real life underway after the prolonged Christmas and birthday celebrations. The weather started clear and frosty, but cloud soon gathered and hung around for most of the day, which didn't help. I did take the dogs out this morning, mostly to postpone finishing my accounts. I'm now dealing with all the niggly bits, which I hate.

About this time of year I start desperately looking for signs of spring, in the hope that this will miraculously make it happen more quickly. In general everything's still looking pretty wintry, but the alder catkins, which have a lovely wine-red colour, are developing and it won't be that long before they open up as long red tassels.

I'm off now to cook venison sausage casserole for tea, before plucking up the courage to finally polish off these accounts!