snowgoosey

Going back in time at Bradford on Avon

2011-12-03T11:49:00.006Z

Dave had a day off this week and we spent it in Bradford on Avon, which turned out to be a very good decision. This Tythe Barn was in use on the farm until 1971 but is now part of a country park. Just next to this are some wonderful craft workshops to browse around. Stained glass makers, carpenters, artists and much more.

Inside the barn, a beautiful space with a cross window with light streaming through. I would like to put up long tables down the middle and have a humdinger of a party there.

We had been told about this unassuming looking coffee house, Mr Salvat's. It was like stepping back to the 17th century, the seats like tall pews, crackling open fire in the grate and the wonderful Mr Salvat in 17th century dress and writing with a quill. We had a very nice lunch there but Mr Salvat does not take cards (well....they hadn't been invented had they!) so we told him prior to lunch that we would go off to the cash till, he wouldn't hear of it and told us he would be open until 5pm and just pop in any time to pay! We tried to give him a tip but he wouldn't accept that either.
The 17th century music, the fire and the decor was just so relaxing, you must visit him if you are in the area.

A quick shot of the dining room. The town feels very old, there are no big chain stores to be seen and some really nice little shops, the ladies seem to use wicker baskets to carry their shopping and I found the most wonderful little sewing shop!

We really didn't spend the whole day eating but after walking around for several hours we did go into these 15th century tearooms, The Bridge Tearooms for a reviving cuppa. The door is very low and even I, who am only 5 ft 2" had to duck....Dave is a foot taller and had to stoop very low!

Tea looked inviting, another roaring open fire and waitresses dressed in Victorian costumes, very pretty in their long dresses and pretty caps and aprons but maybe a couple of centuries too late

If you should be naughty in Bradford on Avon.... this is the old lock up. It's positioned on the bridge so the back of it overhangs the river. Again the door is very tiny!

This old Baptist Chapel, founded in 1689 and rebuilt in 1797, and people are still worshipping there now by the looks of it. How amazing to have so much history. When you looked through the arch there was actually a very big building behind

We have passed through this little town lots of times on our way to see our Welsh family and when our son was at University in Swansea but we had never stopped there, it's well worth it.

The Fantastic Mr Fox

2011-11-20T18:33:00.003Z

It's really not like November at all at the moment, it feel warm and mild and beautiful sunsets to be seen.
We wandered down the lane at Middlebere, stopped to watch a couple of Goldcrests in the hedge, marvelled at the Starlings doing their dancing in the sky......a whole murmuration of them and enjoyed seeing the Fieldfares and Redwings back again.
The cottages all quiet now that the summer visitors have left,including all the swifts, swallows and martins who have long flown away.
The hedges are laden with berries and golden landscapes.
BUT the best part was meeting a man who goes down every day to feed the foxes, he feeds nine at the moment and knows them all by name. They know his car and run up to meet him. As we walked to where he was he told the fox to shoo off because he was worried about our dog chasing them, however Wrecks was on a lead and no danger to the foxes. We chatted to him for a while, said our goodbyes and we wandered off. A few minutes later he passed us in his car, he pulled over and said he had something to show us as we had seemed so interested. In his car he had an album of photos of his fox friends, he knew every one by name. What a nice man, a real countryman with a wonderful Dorset accent and a pleasure to spend time with.

Harvest

2011-10-25T15:00:00.002+01:00

I used to be involved in my previous Church in setting up the Harvest display every year, it took ages to get it right.....but somehow I think this shop which we saw in Llangollen a few weeks ago has got it right without trying too hard!
Lets just be thankful for the rich variety of food available to us in this country, for the farmers who grow and rear it and pray that food will be available all over the world for everyone.

Tarrant Rushton Airfield

2011-10-22T07:42:00.003+01:00

Last Sunday we walked right round the perimeter of the old disused Tarrant Rushton Airfield, near....you've guessed it, Tarrant Rushton! The airfield was used in World War II between 1943 and 1947 and gliders left here on the eve of D Day to begin what was to become the Pegusus Bridge mission. Flight Refuelling took it over for 30 years and flew Lancastrians and Lancasters from here.

Now it has become agricultural land again and is home for lots of pigs, cows and sheep as well as the crops being grown. These piglets were running under the fences, which their mother could not do and tearing up and down the tunnels made by big bales of straw that were along the side of the path.

If you fancy a rest as you walk, well someone has thoughtfully left the prettiest view in Dorset from an armchair I think!

Cows grazing and an awful lot of sky. From parts of the airfield we could see Badbury Rings. It's just over 3 miles right round the airfield and a great winter walk I would imagine as the paths are solid, although could be very windy and cold.

There is a memorial to the brave men who flew from here, where we parked the car, and behind it is one of the old aircraft hangers now used to store farm machinery and be a home to alot of birds who were flying through the giant door openings.

2011-10-15T10:37:00.002+01:00

We have recently returned from a short break in Wales and took the chance to visit Chirk Castle. The gardens were stunning in the early autumn sunshine.

Chirk castle is on the border of England and Wales and still lived in by the family although the National Trust run it
The view from the summer house through the autumnal leaves. I will put more pictures of our Welsh break soon but have just watched the Welsh rugby team go out of the world cup and feel too sad to write about it now! Sad to lose after a dodgy ref descision, I wish it had been more clear cut.......I wish they'd won!

Dee

2011-10-10T20:15:00.004+01:00

Just to recommend my friends blog which she has just started. Dee has terminal breast cancer and in her words is "living with it". I won't say any more as you will understand as you read it.

The Oak fair at Stock Gaylard

2011-09-15T08:10:00.010+01:00

This is Stock Gaylard house in North Dorset,between Sturminster Newton and Sherborne, and once a year they hold the Oak Fair on the heavily 'oaked' estate.

It seems right to have this picture of a grand old oak tree to start this, it is one of many ancient oaks on the Stock Gaylard estate. For me this was a special place to go, having traced my family back to this area of Dorset, in nearby Holwell, my family were farm labourers on this land. Walking through the gateways and along the tracks I was wondering if my ancestors had walked the same way!

There were heavy horses dragging logs around....and keeping the grass trimmed!

The wonderful "Axe men" demonstating their skills with humour, despite the rain showers which made climbing trees more dangerous than usual.

These canoes were just beautiful to look at.....

and this man was hand carving a seat of a chair and really interesting to watch.

Is this a sort of Dorset bagpipes? This lady was just standing playing quite randomly.
Wrecks the dog was very tired at the end of the day having met so many of his dog friends there and slept all the way home.

We loved this fair as it was a proper country fair, so many of these so called country fairs are just the town going out to the country and full of car showrooms in the open air, etc..

At this one there was no intrusive music, the food area was great with local producers and tables and seats made of straw bales with a wood top and we even had a buffalo burger for an interesting change!....been mulling over ever since what the difference is between a buffalo and a bison is! Maybe I should say a bisalo! Lots of interesting wood crafts to see, a trip round the deer park on a tractor and trailer if you fancied it, falconary. We didn't manage to do everything but it was a great day out!

2011-08-31T17:51:00.004+01:00

This is the wonderful Barford Farm Ice Cream hut near Sturminster Marshall in Dorset. My daughter has to go back to work tomorrow after the long summer holidays, so we went out to a country pub for a snack lunch and then off for a walk and ending up here Barford Farm.

This is the little shed where the ice cream is sold.A dip in the river near Spetisbury for Wrecks.

The ice cream gardens which are large and have lots of hidden places to enjoy your sorbet or ice cream. The ice cream is made from the cows milk on the farm and is LUSH!!!!

One of the little corners to sit in. The local farmers are very busy at the moment getting the harvest in, seem to meet a tractor or combine harvester around every corner!

Why can't I comment!

2011-08-09T07:54:00.002+01:00

I don't know why, but I can't seem to leave comments on some blogs now....I don't know why but please don't think I am ignoring you if I usually comment on your blog and have suddenly stopped!

2011-08-07T20:02:00.004+01:00

This weekend has been very busy and quite exciting too! I went to a very special wedding of this delightful older couple, John and Val. I work in a Hospice and these two lovely people both lost their spouses a couple of years ago at our Hospice, we run a "Pop-In" for bereaved folk that they can come to after they have lost someone and that is where John and Val met and fell in love. Yesterday my fellow nurse Jan and I were invited to the wedding and it made everything worth while!

This is not a very clear picture but it has just won a silver in the Dorset Arts and Crafts Exhibition at Bovington....and I also won Gold for my hebridean Landscape picture. I didn't intend to enter anything and have never done so before, however my Mother was entering some of her lace and bullied me into it. I was so surprised to have got awards!

Here they are!

Friday evening spent at the Swanage Carnival, watching the Red Arrows......

Watching my two sons running the annual Wheelbarrow race, the barrow is meant to be a John Deere tractor! They came about 9th out of 30....it's hard to tell as it is a very rough race with barrows crashing into each other and carnage generally!

Relaxing at the end with Ed's girlfriend with him in the barrow and Will pushing!

A fun weekend indeed!

Rest in the Outer Hebrides

2011-07-08T09:50:00.006+01:00

I have just returned from a wonderful restful two and a half weeks in the Outer Hebrides and the North-west coast of Scotland. I almost don't need to write anything as the pictures say it all. This first picture is the view out of the kitchen window in the cottage we stayed in for the second week as the sun set.

I make no apology for most of the photos being over water but it was so stunning to look at.

This is the main 'A' road through the islands, they do seem to be making some of it two-way traffic now but alot of it is still single track with passing places! We didn't see any traffic lights or roundabouts, although I believe there is a roundabout in Stornoway, also didn't see any Police at all or hear any sirens for the whole time....peace!

Hushinish beach, how perfect is that!

I just love these sheep just looking at the sea!

Driving along....round a corner and this view opens up before you....

This is again the view from the kitchen window, the sea comes almost up to the house, it's in the village of Ardmair just north of Ullapool and the island is the Isle of Martin if you are a map reader.

Been back to work two days and it all seems a long time ago, roll on next year!

Tarrant Rushton and the Garden Fair.

2011-06-10T20:32:00.005+01:00

We have just had our 2nd annual Garden Fair! It sounds rather grand, but it is'nt.We sell cakes and crafts in the garden for a little school in Kolkata in India where my daughter went last August. The sun shone, people came and ate cake and drunk tea and bought stuff I have been making over the past few months.

Amazingly we made a staggering £650, I still can't believe we made that much!

Plenty of cakes, the maltesers cakes are always a goodie.Some of my pictures and other stuff were on sale.
Changing tack slightly I went to visit someone I work with in her new home in a village in the Tarrant valley, Tarrant Rushton. It's a beautiful place and not on a through road, so very quiet. We walked up from her cottage to the little church, so pretty and tucked away at one end of the village.

Inside the church are these two pots which are set into the wall high up. They are said to be early amplifiers to help sound travel around the church.After a browse around the church we walked to the other end of the village where there is a river and a ford....but I think you would need a 4wd to get across it. It started to rain then, but not before I saw a flash of a Kingfisher right near to us!

Springtime in Dorset

2011-05-01T20:05:00.005+01:00

We have had such fantastic weather for the time of year and time to enjoy where we live. Last weekend we drove up to Shaftesbury and this is the view over Blackmore Vale, so lovely with the Cow Parsley growing in the foreground.I think this is the start of a couple of Oak Apples on this Oak branch but not sure about that.

This afternoon we wandered through Kilwood nature reserve and found this concrete ruin. It is the remains of a bunker from the 2nd world war where 7 local men from Church Knowle were part of the GHQ Auxillary unit which were all over the country. They were trained in guerilla warfare and the bunker could act as a headquarters and sleeping place too. If you click on the picture of the sign you can see what the bunker was like. Walking along the River Stour near Sturminster Masrshall this swan sat quietly on her nest, I sat in the meadow and watched her while surrounded by Orange tip butterflies, Brimstone butterflies, wild flowers and Mayflies, listening to two Cuckoos calling to each other. Heaven on earth I think!

Heavy Horses....not Obese horses!!!!

2011-04-17T19:41:00.003+01:00

A lovely afternoon spent watching heavy horses working and being shown at the Harbridge Farm Heavy Horse Event which is near Ringwood, Hants. I love these horses, I am not especially bothered by other sorts of horses but these big guys I love! As a child myself and two of my cousins would ride a big horse like this around the fields.....all three of us on his back at once. His name was Clover and he had been on the farm working since my Mother was a child too.

These four were the cheeky boys of the day and just looked like they would like to cause a bit of mayhem although they were well behaved.

I took so many pictures it was hard to choose my favourites.

This one jingled as he passed and looked marvellous.

A really good afternoons entertainment and although there were alot of machines about like ploughs, harrows, rollers, etc...there was no engine noise. We had the first picnic of the year, home-made bread rolls and freshly boiled ham, tomatoes and apples for pudding.....it feels like summer.

This blacksmith was kept busy shoeing the horses, they have such big feet!

We laughed when a friend of my daughter didn't know what a heavy horse was....Amy told her it was an obese horse....and she believed her!!!!

Lastly a video of them...and no I didn't get squashed at the end!

Good birding

2011-04-15T20:59:00.005+01:00

A wander down to our favourite birding spot was well worth the effort, two good new ticks (for this year)....an Osprey and a Marsh Harrier. The Osprey was sitting in his/her usual spot and didn't move much while we watched for about an hour, of course as soon as we left it had flown and we missed it! The Marsh Harrier cruised along above the reed beds looking for some dinner.

These deer looking at us looking at them.

In the garden this morning a little Great Tit was picking up some fur fromWrecks the dogs recent hair cut which the dog groomer (me) had left on the lawn. The bird had stuffed it's beak so full it could hardly take off let alone see where it was going! Still, somewhere there is a fancy nest with a fur lining! Poor Wrecks is so embarrised by his awful hair cut he can't go out in case other dogs laugh at him....sorry Wrecks!

Buttercups and Daisies and a field of grazing cattle....how English is that scene?

And finally, a lovely wedding last Saturday in the hot April sunshine.

2011-04-03T19:21:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we had to take three large 19 year old youngsters plus baggage...plus several surfboards to Bristol airport so they could jet off for some warm weather surfing. Two hours in the car with these three talking excitedly about surfing was enough to wear you out!

So having waved them off we headed off to Tyntesfield house not too far away to chill out with a nice meal in the wonderful restaurant there. The window above was in the Chapel of the house which is a Victorian house.

I LOVE these kitchen cupboards and this is exactly as it was when the National Trust took over the house and as the family had left it.

This fellow was in the billiard room....not shot on the estate I would say! More like dragged back from Canada or somewhere I suspect.

Genteel furniture in one of the saloon rooms.Later in the day we stopped at Farrington Gurney at the wonderful farm shop there. These chickens live in the "Cluckingham Palace" posh place for chicken. In the shop there is an incredible mosaic of a Friesian cow, just an amazing bit of artwork I think.

Holiday at home.

2011-03-25T07:29:00.002Z

I have 2 weeks holiday, which is very nice but my husband has to work....so I feel rather guilty at having such a fine time with wonderful weather. On Sunday Wrecks the dog and I had a great walk at Durleston, meanwhile my husband went on a train ride on the steam train from Swanage (he is a member of the railway) and my son did a run from Swanage to Kimmeridge and then inland. Now that sounds OK, unless you know Dorset and the coast path is very, very steep and he ran about 13 miles of that!
Well the best laid plans go awry, the train my husband was on got very delayed because of a fire by the track at Harmans Cross so he was stuck, my son was supposed to phone us to tell us where to pick him up.....but he couldn't get any reception to call me. We ended up driving in his general direction until we found him lying by the side of the road, he was liberally sprayed in nice smelling spray before we let him in the car (well he had just run 13 miles!).

Last night we had a walk along the river at Eyebridge, no Kingfishers to see but we were fairly late and darkness was coming in fast. The river was very still and serene.

I am still working as a volunteer at my local museum, researching the history of the High Street, and at the moment I am working on this bit, the Corn Market. The green shop was built in the 16th century as one house and I am working on finding all the people who once lived in all the buildings and traded there. I took my parents to a little tearoom behind the green shop....through the little arch to the shops right as you look at the picture and sat in a very old Courtyard at the back. It was my parents 55th wedding anniversary yesterday.....quite an achievement.

Well, did Lord Baden-Powell smoke?.....it seems he does now!

Worth Matravers and Winspit

2011-02-20T19:13:00.003Z

On such a nice Sunday afternoon what is better than a nice walk from the little village of Worth Watravers down to Winspit. I have been on two very busy night shifts so am very sleep deprived but a bit of fresh sea air is a great reviver! We left the village and walked down through the field, hills on either side of us lined with the old strip lytchetts on the fields, made many years ago. We got to the quarry which is here right by the sea, you can go in the caves and wander about in them They are a favourite place for bats to hang out.
The views from here are stunning, the picture above is looking east, back towards Swanage.

In 1786 a ship called the Halsewell foundered on the rocks between Winspit and Seacombe and was smashed to pieces, 168 people drowned.There are said to be relics of the ship in many Purbeck homes and some in the Dorset Museum in Dorchester, there is also a mirror from the Haslewell in the Church at Worth Matravers. The ship was bound for Bengal. There were a few survivors but the Captain, his daughters and two neices died, he had refused to leave his ship knowing that his family could not be saved. The dead were buried near Seacombe. After a little time sea watching we headed back up to the village, a gentle climb of a mile and a quarter.....which is alot when you are massively sleep deprived!

The cottages in the village are quaint and old but most of the village is owned by 2nd home owners and has lost it's heart and soul. I know this as I used to stay here regularly when I stayed with a local farming family long before I was married and came to know the village well. This was 35 years ago and even they have gone now, leaving it to the 2nd home brigade.

In the graveyard is the grave of Benjamen Jesty and his wife, Elizabeth. In 1774 he gave the first injection of cow pox to his very trusting wife and probably unknowing sons, they survived and he had created an innoculation which saved lives worldwide.

Just opposite the church gate is this little building in someone's garden, and I would love to see inside it! The chimney is intriquing, maybe it's a potters shed and the chimney is a kiln chimney, but I like to think it's a snug with a little log fire called 'The Hut" as it says on the door!

So ended a very pleasant Sunday afternoon.

A tree Puzzle

2011-02-18T08:39:00.003Z

I have a bit of a tree puzzle, I think I should learn my tree identifications this year! When I walk with Wrecks I sometimes cut through this graveyard where there are 16 Monkey Puzzle Trees growing in a semi-circle. I notice that the trunks have perfectly symetrical circles round them where I presume branches have been at one time and have fallen off so now they are only at the top of the tree. However I have never seen a branch underneath a Monkey Puzzle tree, so what happens.....or are the council just good at taking them off? I must admit I don't like M P trees and I thought they had no value to British wildlife but I have since watched thousands of Starlings roost in them after doing their murmurations over the graveyard! Also it seems the wood pigeons like them too.
The second thing I want to know is what type of tree is this tall leafless tree in the background? There were 3 of them but one has just been felled. Anyone good on tree ID ?

Buzzards in town

2011-02-14T18:42:00.002Z

No pictures this time, but just a short blog about my dog walk today.
I walked down through the woods to a field in the town which is used for football and dog walkers, children playing in summer, scout and cub groups playing games. It was wet and soggy underfoot but over the other side I could see a group of Magpies mobbing something, we wandered over there slowly and I saw very close up a Buzzard, as I edged even nearer I realised there was a pair of Buzzards. They flew from tree to tree to escape the attentions of the smaller birds which by now had been joined by a very noisy Jay. I watched them for about 10 minutes and as I walked away I could hear the familiar Buzzard calls.
I know Buzzards are fairly common now but this was right in the town, not on the edge of the town at all.
Lots of singing birds around too, Coal Tits,Robins, Blackbirds, Great Tits and Blue Tits.

I'm a Twitcher !

2011-02-09T18:16:00.003Z

This is a rare bird hereabouts I am told....it's a Long Billed Dowitcher and it's causing a bit of a stir in my local park! Now I have to say I would not have known it was rare and would probably have admired it and passed on by. I knew which bird it was by the twitchers all dressed in camoflage gear and lying on their stomachs on the pavement while the locals stepped over them! The bird was very close to the pavement, about 3 metres away. While the twitchers snapped away with their huge lenses other folk just stood watching dressed in all colours of the rainbow, dog walkers and cars going past and the bird did not care a jot! I think it has come from North America.

Still I enjoyed it and it's a good tick on my bird list. I also saw a few other waders and water birds around.

The lake has been drained a bit so that the mud it showing and it is bringing in alot of birds. Someone told me that there is a Ring Billed Gull there too, but I didn't spot it......also from America I think.

2011-02-09T08:05:00.002Z

This picture doesn't look that impressive but these snowdrops were numerous and just outside this very old cottage they were carpeted on the ground. It's near Badbury Rings (ancient earthworks) and we walked for 2 miles in the rain on Sunday....Oh the joys of having a dog!

The next day was a town walk with Wrecks, while my better half visited an elderly friend of ours who has had to go into a Nursing Home for a while Wrecks and I walked along by the river at Wick on the other side of the river from Christchurch. The Church in the picture is Christchurch Priory. It was a bit of a grey day but not wet.

Am going to look for a Long Billed Dowitcher today which happens to be relaxing in our local park today apparently!

Turn Back Time on the High Street

2011-01-28T19:23:00.004Z

A trip out this afternoon meant scarves, hats and gloves, it's bitterly cold at the moment, and the blue sky in this picture makes it look warmer than it was. We saw this large herd of fallow deer (about 55-60 of them) and the white blob in the picture is a large stag, pure white and majestic.

I'm not going to name exactly where we saw him as there are people out there who trophy hunt these fabulous creatures,especially a white one.... hopefully no-one like that would read my blog but you never know.

After a while they all sat down, seemingly unperturbed by two humans and a dog!

At the moment I am doing some voluntary work at my local museum, we are researching the main street in our town in tandem with the BBC's Turn Back Time on the High Street. The street has been broken up into chunks, and this is my bit!

It goes back to at least the 1600's and the shop "Lush" was once a pub called the Bell and Crown. I have four shops to research and it is fun to find out about the people who used to live in the buildings and what they did, how big their families were and how long they were there.

I have to take pictures from all sides to see what is still there, and round the back I saw this great painting on a gate of a dog ! What a great way to warn people off without a "Beware of the dog" sign.

A new bit of trailway has opened

2011-01-22T08:46:00.003Z

In the winter months there is no better place to walk than an old trainline which has been made into a trailway. They are usually raised up (so not wet underfoot) and sometimes gravel tracked. We have walked lots of bits of the old Somerset and Dorset line (S & D ) otherwise known as the Slow & Dirty! The line ran between Bath and Bournemouth from 1875 to 1966. This stretch has been opened between Stourpaine and near Shillingstone

which means you can now walk, cycle or run (if you are completely mad) from Sturminster Newton to Stourpaine.

Wrecks seemed to approve and we walked about 2 miles along the path.

The sign on this gate says "PENALTY FOR NOT SHUTTING GATE £2" That must have been written a long time ago....£2 is nothing now, it would probably say £200!

Signs of spring are just peeping through, I saw catkins like little decorations hanging on a tree and clumps of snowdrops along the lane in the village of Stourpaine. No lambs out in the fields yet, it's still too cold.

2011-01-10T08:12:00.004Z

What a lovely sunny weekend we have had. I had been on nightshift but managed 2 hours sleep before getting up and going off to the pub with this view! One of our sons pre paid for us to have a meal

at the pub as a Christmas present. It was a really nice meal and a great idea for a clutter free gift!....or maybe it adds clutter around the waistline! This place has the most amazing view over Corfe Castle and we do go there quite often! What is nicer than a meal in January sat by a roaring fire and enjoying this view. Watching sparrows in the bushes and Buzzards flying around looking for some dinner themselves.

A walk through the woods near Wareham yesterday, a clear sky and the moon out too, you can just see it in this picture.

New Birding year begins

2011-01-01T16:01:00.004Z

I know the snow has gone now from our area but couldn't resist a couple of pictures of the lovely white world.

Snow is so pretty whether it be far off or close up. I was on night shift and had to walk home about 2 miles but had the camera in my bag so enjoyed the walk. One of the interesting things to see was how many fox tracks there were criss crossing the roads and paths.

Snowy dog! Not beautiful but fun!

Excitingly a new bird list starts today with the new year and I have seen some Waxwings as we were in Swanage today.....so thats a good tick for Jan 1st!

So far today;

Robin, Blackbird,Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Dunnock, Wood Pigeon, Green Woodpecker, Waxwings, Crows, Rooks, Buzzard, Common gull, Great Black backed gull, Black headed Gull, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Curlew, Kestrel, Great Crested Grebes, Pheasant, Goosander, Teal, Wigeon, Mute Swan, Shelduck and Brent Goose.

The best Christmas present!

2010-12-27T09:52:00.002Z

I love Christmas but this Christmas was a little different, although I wasn't working one of my son's was....so the celebrations had to wait until the evening when he got home. In the morning we went to Church and on the way home saw some people staring up into a tree and taking pictures. We turned the car round and got out....a flock of Waxwings! They are quite beautiful and were stripping the Rowan tree of it's berries before moving on to the next tree.
Since then we have had a few sightings of them, a real treat as I have never seen one before.
That was the best gift I had that day, even though I had some lovely presents.

Help.......dog advice please

2010-11-16T08:55:00.003Z

If there is anyone out there who is a bit of a dog expert I would welcome some advice. Wrecks was a rescue dog and we have had him since he was 3 (we think, it's very uncertain about his exact age) now he is about 10/11. he has alot of fears and is afraid of alot, washing machines, fireworks, buses, anyone outside the family touching his head, lorries....I could go on! He feels safe at home and just lately is refusing to go out on a walk at all, he is not tempted by food and treats. It's such a shame, I'm even wondering whether he is getting a bit senile as he is ageing. Has anyone got any ideas how to manage this. We love him to bits but has had a difficult past. He has become my shadow recently and follows me from room to room, sitting right next to me....he's here now just next to me. I would really like to be able to walk with him again.

Autumn has come and gone and I'm back!

2010-11-14T21:20:00.005Z

Autumn has come.....and nearly gone and I have been very remiss about the blog. So a short look back to what has been going on. The beautiful colours of the trees at Stourhead enjoyed on November 1st, a perfect autumnal day.
A visit to Pensthorpe in Norfolk where the wonderful Springwatch was filmed, and where we saw these Crane. What a tick!
A visit to Wimpole Farm, where the cows were behaving badly...."don't stand in your food!"

and "don't put your food on your head!"

Getting the logs in ready for winter

Preparing and eating the prettiest vegetable in the world, the Romanesco. It came in the vegetable box, and I love it!

Making a cream tea for my husbands birthday, yum!

2010-08-29T09:38:00.002+01:00

Whilst walking Wrecks the dog the other day we were enjoyed wandering around on the Purbeck...when all of a sudden a tank fired in the distance. The army tank training area is in Dorset, and Wrecks does not appreciate this at all. In fact he sat down and faced the way back to the car! His body language says "I'm not going anywhere!" So we headed home for tea!

Spotted this moth on the window the other day, I don't know what it is but just in awe of the amazing colouring and how well it would be camouflaged on a tree.

Wareham walking and sad slow worms

2010-08-11T18:16:00.002+01:00

Over the weekend we walked 5 miles around Wareham. Along the river Frome right down to Swinepoint where you can see Poole harbour. It was a hotter day than we had thought so it was a bit much for Wrecks the dog, we stopped to let him cool off in the river and he came out covered in mud! He still smells now!

I found this pot in the garden, unfortunatley a slow worm has gone through one of the holes and tried to get out through another hole and sadly died in the process.

I won't leave pots around on the ground any more.

More cheerfully I took this evening shot whilst walking from Hammoon, near Sturminster Newton to Shillingstone and back on Saturday.

A great holiday and a sad story in Derbyshire

2010-07-11T20:41:00.004+01:00

If you think of England, you may think of London and all it's great buildings, but there is another side...the "green and pleasant land" as we all used to sing at school! The picture of the landscape of Derbyshire for me depicts this, the green fields, the stone walls dividing them and the lush vegetation.We stayed in a village called Sheldon which is a couple of miles outside Bakewell, and this is the lovely little barn conversion we stayed in with it's own little garden.It was spotlessly clean and every comfort included. These cows were driven up the village twice a day for milking and nice to see even if we did have to wait a bit to get out in the mornings!

Bakewell is a lovely little town with interesting small shops and seems largely untouched by the supermarket giants that ruin our towns now. Down by the river these folk were dancing to old 40's music and passers by were joining in, it was a great atmosphere.There is a village called Eyam near Bakewell which has a beautiful window in the Church depicting the plague that killed so many of the villagers in 1665-6, in total over 14 months, 260 villagers died. If you want to see the window better please click on the picture.

The bottom left of the window shows the local tailor, George Vicars opening a parcel of cloth that had been sent from London, unfortunately it also contained fleas and as he dried it out the fleas became active. George died a few days later of the plague.

The Vicar of the parish, William Mompesson decided that as people were dying all around, their services should be held out in the open to minimise the risk of infection. It was decided that everyone should stay in the village to contain the outbreak, and food was left outside the village for them to pick up with no human contact. There was a young couple, Emmott Sydall from Eyam and her sweetheart Rowland Torre from a neighbouring village who would meet at a river and shout across to each other but sadly Emmott and eight of her family died of the plague and this is in the bottom right of the window.
The Vicar's wife, Catherine Mompesson nursed many of the victims herself and lost her own life in the process, aged 28 leaving a young family. Every year on the Sunday nearest her death a service is held and a wreath laid on her grave to this day.

A sad story but it happened in so many places back them, it's well worth a visit and the village is very pretty anyway.

From Dorset to Wales to Derbyshire.

2010-07-04T16:23:00.006+01:00

I've been a bit quiet on the blog front as we have been on holiday for two weeks, the first week in North Wales and the second in Derbyshire. Amazing weather for both weeks and we've come home feeling refreshed.
Our cottage for the first week was quite old and a little basic if I'm honest!

Okay, I'm kidding...this was the cottage we stayed in, it was 200 years old and had still got alot of original features in it. The half stable door, a built in box bed with wooden steps up to it which was very old,

and an old hand made kitchen with a slate workspace. It was a nice place and a nice position right up in the hills, but not as clean as it could have been and a not great bathroom. Rather strangely they had added a sauna to the cottage but the shower was rubbish so it was a bit useless really! I don't think they had saunas 400 years ago! However while D watched England get beaten and thrown out of the World Cup I reclined in the sauna with a good book!

We walked up the lane on the first evening and saw masses of bird life, 5 Cuckoo's together...I have never seen that before. Wheatears, Redstarts, Red Kite, Buzzards, Pied Wagtails, Grey Wagtails, Mistle Thrush and lots more.
Foxgloves everywhere, wonderful against the stone walls. and then the relaxing started....lots of walking, reading, sewing, sunbathing, drawing and no painting...I just didn't get around to it.

Watching the filming of Springwatch and Wrecks has a nasty shock.

2010-06-18T08:01:00.006+01:00

On Tuesday evening my daughter and I and Wrecks the dog went down to Kimmeridge to watch Simon King filming Springwatch and be a bit nosey. It turned out to be quite a traumatic experience! In the first picture you can see Simon King out in the water being filmed.

This is all the paraphernalia in the car park with Clavell tower in the background.

Looking down on the filming, Simon King on the far left. Unfortunatly my batteries ran out on the camera but my daughter has some much closer pictures taken very close to them on the beach.

We decided to take Wrecks for a walk while the filming was going on and walked on the lane behind the coastguard cottages when suddenly out of one of the gardens came a German Shepherd dog at high speed and just latched onto poor Wrecks neck! Amy and I tried to get the dog off but he was too strong for us so we just had to shout "HELP" and thankfully people came running out of the cottages. It took two people to prise the dogs jaws off Wrecks and seemed to take ages. The lady owner was obvoiusly very shocked as it was entirely unprovoked and Wrecks was on a lead and walking sedately between my daughter and I. Thankfully Wrecks is OK although his collar has a bite mark right through it and his neck is bruised, he can't shake his head properly at the moment. I think we may have given the sound men on the filming a bit of a problem with all the noise! It was very frightening and I admit the following day I was nervous of walking him.

Up on the top a lone camera.

Lastly the garden is looking good, it's such a lovely time of year.

This is a VERY scary hedge!

2010-06-08T11:50:00.006+01:00

This first picture is not at all scary, it's a view of Dorset from Okeford Hill where we walked in the very hot heat on Sunday afternoon. The wild flowers are so pretty at this time of year and the lanes peaceful and full of butterfly's.

Whenever I think of moving out of Dorset I only need to walk up here to change my mind again.Right, here's the scary bit! We saw alot of bits of hedge festooned in cobwebs like this, there would be a few yards of clear hedge then lots of patches like this.I am not a spider lover so made a mental note not to live in this village! Does anyone know anything about it and why there is so much in one spot? Some bits were bigger and more densely covered.

This little insect obligingly sat next to me allowing me to play with the macro! I don't know what it is, I must look him up.
Just to add, my son has started writing a blog about his trips around Britian on his new touring bike, so far he has been to Devon and Somerset, have a peep on the side bar (Cycling expeditions)

2010-06-04T09:59:00.007+01:00

These early summer evenings are just perfect for strolling and enjoying the insect filled, scented dusk. Walking with wrecks the dog last night was pretty near perfect!

Bank holiday Monday saw us back at Corfe Castle, partly to get my birthday present and partly so we could see this train running through from the main line (which is, I am told quite rare!)Here it is going across Corfe Common where I reclined and read a book while we waited.

I like this little bit of garden outside a cottage in the village and would like to sit in the chair.

When I walked through the park on my way to work I saw this Cormorant at about 7am in the misty light before the sun had burned through. He's there nearly every day.

The birthday gift I went to get at the Boilerhouse gallery in Corfe Castle was a hand carved wood kingfisher made by a chap called Bruno Channon. I had arranged that I would go and look this weekend but unfortunately for me they had all sold, and he had put three there on Friday! I spoke to him and he is going to make 2 more and I can choose which one I would like....and I get to choose the wood I like, which is better really. Sort of bespoke! I have chosen Oak and Yew, I was born on Oak Apple day and I love Oak trees, and Yew is just such an old and beautiful coloured wood.

I did however get these two bird feeders that you see hanging from the Oak tree in our garden, they were outside a cottage and only £2.50! The notice said "Put money through letterbox", this was a bit tricky as he had nailed up the letterbox in his door! Anyway we forced it through and the neighbour said he would tell him it was there!

2010-05-25T14:13:00.004+01:00

Is it just me, or are there more dandelion seeds flying around this year? Walking last night the sides of the path are carpeted with thick layers of them. This spiders web was prettily festooned with them too.
One of my son's had a touring bike for his 18th birthday about 6 weeks ago and he's really enjoying it too. Last week he cycled down to Devon (about 60 miles each way) and slept in a bluebell wood!
Yesterday he cycled up to Burnham-on-Sea as he wanted to see Wales across the water. That's about 160 mile round trip! He really enjoyed the Somerset Levels and this time slept in a old overgrown footpath but the dawn chorus woke him at some unearthly hour so he set off early and has arrived home again.
He's going to save up for some panniers to go on the front of the bike to even out the rear panniers. I can hardly even lift the bike, and it's a steel frame too!
Lovely walk along by White Mill at Sturminster Marshall the other night, the Mayfly hatch is well underway now. Saw and heard a Cuckoo ( second time this year). Several Kingfisher sightings and a Reed Bunting too. The fields are full of Buttercups and Cow parsley, it's all heaven to me.

Tarrant Keyneston

2010-05-16T16:16:00.005+01:00

Just a short walk this afternoon across the fields from Tarrant Keyneston Mill to Spetisbury, passing this beautiful mill covered in Wisteria and full of bloom. I have been on night shift so only a short wander today!
You'd have to bend down a bit to get in this door!

The mill always looks stunning but at this time of year it's extra special. Then across the River Stour where ducks and their little ducklings dash about in the water. The horse chestnut tree dipping down into the water.

Keep going and cross the next bit of the river by the mill pond where the swans are nesting at the moment. Then you come to another mill with beautifully tended gardens and the footpath goes right across it which must be a bit annoying if you live there.
Best of all the Cow Parsley is blooming all along the edges of the lanes and roads, orange tip butterflys dancing about around them. There is nothing like a few sprigs of cow parsley in a jug with a few buttercups and a bit of Campion too. I didn't pick any but I imagined it!

Corfe Castle from a different view.

2010-05-12T10:39:00.003+01:00

Sunday afternoon saw us scrambling up the castle mound in Corfe Castle. There was a diesel gala there last weekend and D wanted to have a look, he's not a fully paid up train spotter but if somethings happening locally he likes to see it. The first picture was taken from up on the mound but not actually in the castle.

The old station is very pretty and the station masters garden was wonderful, a real cottage garden with lilac in full bloom.
Just a sneaky peep through the gate.

Sadly the main road to Swanage passes through the village but these cottages have been there for generations, well before the car appeared.

Just another view of the castle.

Kimmeridge

2010-05-02T07:33:00.002+01:00

As the promised rain had not arrived by yesterday evening we went for a walk at Kimmeridge. Not a good hearty walk as usual because both of us have been poorly in the last couple of weeks and I certainly could only manage an amble! This is a view across the fields towards Clavell tower on the far headland. The tower has been moved in the last year or two back from the cliff edge and rebuilt brick by brick.

It looks stunning now and I'm sure as good as it was when it was first built in about 1831 as a folly on the Smedmore estate.

Even on a dull evening the view is good.

We walked up past the nodding donkey to hopefully watch the badgers that we often see there playing around their sett but energy levels were lacking and 4 young bulls in the field slightly put me off....I think they were past the bullock stage and on the cusp of being bulls! I know, I'm a woss, and considering I spent my childhood working on dairy farms every holiday, maybe I should be braver but one or two near misses have made me very cautious!

A walk in the dunes

2010-04-28T09:43:00.005+01:00

Last week I went for a walk with my youngest son around the inside of Poole Harbour. We crossed from Sandbanks to Poole on the Sandbanks chain ferry as walking passengers. Then rather than following all the other people who toddled off to the beach at Studland we went the other way and followed the inner harbour for a few miles as far as we could go. In the first 2 hours of walking we didn't pass another person. Ed's attempt to recreate the Titanic scene was slightly disturbing!

This was very exciting, lots of tracks crossing the path, of sand lizards. We managed to find one basking in the sun but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of it. What surprised me was how brilliantly coloured they are, it was emerald green, so beautiful and also bigger than I had thought too.

We crossed the road and came back through the dunes and back to the ferry, and back to the town again.

This last picture shows....well I tried to take a photo for the header of the blog of Primroses BUT Wrecks chose to sit on them just as I clicked!

I watched the wonderful Monty Hall in the Hebrides on TV last week with his dog Reuben who he referred to as "a tail with an idiot hanging off it".......seems to sum Wrecks up! We love him really!

Any ideas on this UFO hanging in a tree?

2010-04-19T12:40:00.004+01:00

After an extremely difficult weekend at work and out of work, we went for a "clear your head walk" to the hide at Middlebere. On the way down the lane I spied this contraption made out of a fruit juice carton, covered in black and the bottom opened to let something in, as you can see in the second picture.

I can't think what it is so would welcome any thoughts!
Also heard the first Cuckoo of the year and saw plenty of swallows. The Osprey is back but not in it's usual place yesterday so we haven't seen it yet. Also saw some Goldfinches and Bullfinches, the Chaffinches were singing beautifully. The ponies were wandering around the car when we got back, one of them licked the car...perhaps he likes the taste of volcanic dust and sulphur!

First picnic of 2010 and another textile landscape done.

2010-04-16T11:25:00.005+01:00

It was a bit nippy yesterday but my daughter, one of my son's, myself and Wrecks the dog decided it was time for the first picnic of the year. I had been to a friends house in the morning as it is her 50th birthday and her daughters made tea and home-made cakes for her friends to celebrate (very English!) it was lovely but a good walk was needed before a picnic! The picture above is one of the the windows in Moreton Church, the glass in all the windows are etched rather than stained glass as is traditional in the UK. Click on the picture for a better look.
This one is of the constellations, they are absolutely beautiful.

The more supple members of the family had fun ....
and eventually achieved the handstand!

This is the latest textile picture finished last night, now I've started a beach hut picture, if you are interested go across to my handmade blog. Or click on the link under my profile on the sidebar.

Willow farming

2010-04-12T20:03:00.003+01:00

Today in the lovely sunshine my daughter and I trundled off to Somerset to the Willow and Wetlands centre near Taunton to buy some living willow to make an arch for the garden. It's a wonderful place and well worth a visit if you are in the area. We had taken Wrecks the dog with us so we took him for a walk as soon as we got there through the lines of drying willow, golden on one side and brown on the other side of the path.

This is the start of an arbour made in living willowAnd here is one after a bit of growth, in the summer it will be almost covered and like a secret den.
I loved this seat in an arbour and have got enough willow to try and make one. I have got it all soaking in the pond this evening to keep the roots wet. We actually managed to get x50, 8ft sticks back in a Renault Clio! Plus I got some willow sticks to make some plant supports too!

Unfortunately Wrecks had to lose a bit of his reclining space on the way home and was not amused at all! However he did enjoy the walks through the fields there.

It's been a lovely spring day and I have seen a Comma butterfly, Peacock Butterfly, some swallows and some Ladybirds, all firsts for the year.

Oh, and Barry's back! The slow worm who lives under a tin lid in the garden has returned, a few weeks later than last year but he's back!

The sun shines at last on Dorset.

2010-04-04T20:04:00.005+01:00

At last...the sun has come out! After two weeks of rain ( which, incidentally I have been on holiday for two weeks!) These Daffodils are on the side of the lane leading to Moreton Church and so pretty in the evening sun.

Although spring is trying to show itself the general landscape still looks very wintery. We walked across the fields towards Waddock farm but it was just too wet and muddy in the woods to complete the walk.

This is some of the cottages in the village, they really haven't changed too much except for the telegraph wires going across....and the wheelie bins for the rubbish!

Our lovely neighbour across the road has made this lovely cake for my son's 18th birthday as a gift for him. She became a widow a few years ago and has taken up cake making and decorating and is amazing at it. She makes the most fabulous wedding cakes too.

A very unflattering picture of the birthday boy in his sleeping bag which his sister gave him. He is having a touring bicycle from us, he intends to cycle across Europe next year, so the sleeping bag will be an essential item!

Bluebell woods, slightly early!

2010-03-27T09:59:00.006Z

This is my latest offering in the landscape pictures. Last year I went to a quilt show in Exeter and went to a workshop by a lady whose name escapes me now, but we started on this picture of bluebell woods.
I don't know why I chose this workshop really as I already do a lot of landscape pictures and maybe I should have chosen a workshop I knew nothing about! However it's good to see what others are doing, this is from the kit the lady had made up and was started at the exhibition.
I have strayed off her guidelines quite a bit, when I got home I got carried away with the embellishments.
On the family front all is good, my eldest son has just got an amazing job with a very good company that he hardly dared hope he could get. My younger son who has been out of work and very down about it, refusing to sign on as he didn't want to live off the state, has been interviewed for the job his brother is leaving and has got it!...it's his 18th birthday on Tuesday, the best present he could have!

The best gift...time

2010-03-22T07:59:00.005Z

On Mothers day last week I had the best gift, time! My two son's gave me a whole 8 hour day each working on the garden. This is obviously the 'before' picture! They dug the borders, cleared the ponds, replaced all the stones around the ponds and hacked back all the overgrown stuff. We had let the garden go as we have had look look after my parent-in-laws garden and get it up to scratch to sell their house so we ignored ours until it got so bad that I didn't know where to start!Anyway it's alot better and although there is alot to do still it feels like "Ground Force" has been in and done their bit!
My daughter gave me a Clemitis to grow in the newly sorted garden and a gift of money to help people in Africa learn to make compost and fertilisers, what a great idea.

We went for a walk at Arne yesterday evening and in the car park was this insect house...or maybe high rise flats, some really good ideas here.

This is the view over the islands in Poole Harbour, lots of deer and birds about.

Lastly here is the Hebridean picture from the last post after it had come back from the framers. Not a great photo as the light is reflecting on it a bit, but you get the idea!

I'm working on a fabric picture of a bluebell wood at the moment.

Turners Puddle and Hambledon Hill.

2010-03-09T07:07:00.007Z

At last, I have finished the picture I was making of our holiday last year on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. I took some fabric with me and tacked it together while I was there then did it properly when I got home. This was the view out of the cottage window over the sea and the hills. If you click on the picture you can see that there is some Harris tweed on the hills and some real sheeps wool that I picked up there. It was fun to do and it has now gone off to be framed. I wasn't going to frame it but just hang it as it is but my husband thought we should preserve it better from the ravages of time.

Sunday saw us walking about 4 miles near Turners Puddle and past the little church with it's snowdrops in the graveyard, this is the same churchyard that was covered in celandine and later cow parsley last year too. I took some pictures last April too and again in summer!
Saturday we climbed up the old iron age hillfort of Hambledon Hill. We parked in Irwene Courtney and started the long pull up the hill. It was a bit slippy as we have had so much rain lately but we got there. You can clearly see the ramparts in this picture.
From up on the ramparts the view was amazing, looking over all the villages of Irwene Courtney(Shroton), Irwene Minster, Childe Okeford, Shillingstone (aren't they lovely names).

This last picture is looking over Childe Okeford, just look at the lovely house and grounds in the bottom left of the picture...very nice!

Off to put my feet up till next weekend!

I plan to.......

2010-03-07T10:24:00.002Z

I have a plan to hold a garden party at the end of May, when the roses will be beginning to open and the garden looking good...(hopefully!)
I plan to raise some money for my daughter and 9 others from Church to go to India in August and work on several things including working with the street children there.
I plan to serve tea in china cups and saucers and make home-made cakes served on china plates.
I plan to have tables with embroidered cloths on and little posies of flowers.
I plan to sell my quilts and quilt pictures and quilted cards, painted cards, scented sachets and drawstring bags, and maybe some other stuff too.
I plan to be busy!
I will be praying for it to be a success.
I will be praying for a sunny and warm day...with no wind!
I will be praying for the 10 going to India.
I will be praying.
I would welcome any advice from anyone who has done this sort of thing already!

Dorset and falling off a bike!

2010-03-01T08:15:00.004Z

Last week my daughter and I (and Wrecks the dog, of course), walked down to St Alhelms chapel on the coast of Dorset. On the way you walk past this old quarry, it's still in use and I don't think much has changed here in many years. On the horizon you can see the white coastguard cottages which we walked past too.

These gulls were following a tractor which was ploughing this field, there were hundreds of them! This is looking eastwards towards Bournemouth and Poole.

This weekend however I have been working, when I finished at half past three yesterday afternoon D and I went for a short walk of about 2 miles near Morden Bog (attractive name!) It has rained almost relentlessly recently so everywhere is very wet underfoot and huge puddles about...but even they have their beauty in reflection.

The sunset reflected in the puddles.

Sunset over the field...lovely. Back home for tea, it got cold very quickly.

Just had a phone call to say D has fallen off his pushbike on his way to work (it's icy this morning)and is being brought home as he has some nasty cuts...so off to get my nurses hat on!

P.S. Thankfully not too much damage done but his elbow has swollen up hugely and is black and blue. His forearm is cut and grazed and hip grazed too. He feels a fraud being home but his manager sent him home!

Good news!....there is frog spawn in the pond this morning. I saw the first frog yesterday and today there are dozens in the pond with lots of spawn. The newts are back too, saw two of them on Saturday.

Walk around the old town and giraffe feeders!

2010-02-17T19:08:00.005Z

Recently I have started as a volunteer at my local museum helping to index the old newspapers from the 1870's onwards. It's fascinating work and I'm really enjoying it, in fact it's hard not to just sit and read it all!

One article I read today was about a man who stole 3 fowl and was arrested by a policeman the following day and was found to have feathers about his person resembling those of the missing fowl!

The picture above is where I do this volunteering, a lovely and ancient old building on the quay in the town. It's called the Town Cellars and was built during the first half of the 15th century, wonderful to do the indexing in a building which has nearly 600 years of history already.

It takes me about 45 minutes to walk there and I noticed these little fellows on the way through as I went through the park...all facing the same way!Another side of the town is the luxury boats that are made here, you can see by the size of the cars parked next to them how big they are. The super rich come to buy them, I believe Roman Abramowicz has a bigger boat than these but it comes from the same boatyard.
Last Sunday D and I walked from Okeford Fitzpayne, up over the ridgeway to near Shillingstone, it was cold but the views up there were glorious. We saw a flock of about eight yellowhammers, bright yellow in the afternoon sunshine. I notice this week that the birds are singing properly now, spring is just around the corner when that happens.
What's this? Not as I thought, a giraffe feeder...not a lot of giraffe in Dorset, but a beacon that is lit on special occasions right up high.

Fritham and Eyeworth Pond

2010-02-13T19:02:00.004Z

D and I had to go to fetch something from the New Forest today so decided to make an occasion of it and enjoy a cold January day out in the forest.

We went to Fritham and on to Eyeworth pond where we met this very friendly little fellow. It was bitingly cold but occasional bursts of sunshine made it all more bearable! We sat here and D listened to the football match on the radio between Southampton and Pompey (that had a gloomy outcome as his team didn't win!) so to cheer him up we went to have a bowl of soup at a nice little tearoom nearby.

I'm sure there is a caption somewhere for this picture! In the forest there are alot of animals wandering around in the roads, pigs, donkeys, cows, sheep, deer and of course the New Forest ponies.

This Mandarin was so beautifully marked, I know they originate from Asia but this one and his lady seemed perfectly at home on the pond. Click on the picture to see a better view.

Again if you click on the picture you will see a donkey and a few pigs on or by the lane.
The bird in the middle at the rear of the ducks is a Goosander, this is a first for me, I don't think I have ever seen one before. There were several pairs at the pond and I suspect they will disappear in the spring away to their breeding grounds.

Also saw a Nuthatch, Willow or Marsh Tit, Blue Tit, Robins, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Greylag Geese, Wagtails, Hedge Sparrows, House Sparrows, Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Redwings, and Fieldfares.

I'd like to go back to the pond in the spring, and take a picnic....and watch some more......

Surfers sunset

2010-02-10T17:22:00.002Z

One of my sons is crazy about surfing and spends every moment he can freezing on the water in winter by Bournemouth pier. He took this picture on his phone a couple of days ago and I think it's wonderful. Gods creation at its best.

2010-02-06T19:17:00.004Z

Well, Bovey Belle asked what my favourite music memory would be. This afternoon it would have been the Welsh national anthem having just watched Wales beaten by the English in the Six nations!
However I do like this one by Enya, she has such a beautiful pure voice and my Grandmother used to sing this song (although maybe not quite as well!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH9-nGMGKFI

Enjoy Enya!

Spring is on it's way....

2010-02-04T19:50:00.004Z

I am often amazed to find that even though I live in the heart of a large town,..conurbation really, there is always a little bit of the natural world to enjoy.

Having spent a lovely afternoon sewing with four friends from church and drinking tea I walked home through these woods. The birds were singing well, maybe spring is on it's way soon....

You can hear traffic all the time but

when I wander through these woods I can tune the sounds out a bit and just hear the birdsong and the urban sounds fade away. When you get to the top there is viewpoint which looks over the harbour, you can see the ferry in this picture but in the next month all passenger sailing will cease from this Port. The most exciting thing in this picture is the tree in the middle with catkins all over it, spring is on the way!

Chilly walking and the final bit of the quilt.

2010-01-30T08:24:00.002Z

Well, here is the final bit of the quilt...the baby's name is to be Gracie Ann (not Isabella as I had thought!) It's gone now to it's new home although the Mum and baby are not there yet as there have been a few difficulties..but hopefully soon.

It was chilly walking yesterday but very pretty in the winter sunshine, the cottage looks so inviting.
This road leads to the little church of St Stephens, it has a very long lane up to it, behind me there is at least the same distance of tree lined road.

Just another view of the green and trees at Pamphill in the dappled winter light.

Well I'm off to Taunton in Somerset today to collect my sewing machine which has been at the repairers for a few months now, looking forward to it very much. I have 2 night shifts this week then a week off, so I'll be catching up on my sewing....I have stacks of stuff ready to be sewn together!

A baby is born and a quilt completed

2010-01-23T17:30:00.003Z

Just in time! I finished this cot quilt last night and the baby arrived today! A baby daughter for our pastor and his wife, their first baby. She's about 3 hours old now. The quilt is entirely hand-made as my machine is still not returned so every stitch was sewn by hand. Click on the picture to see the fabrics better. I am going to embroider her name in the middle next to the flower but need the name to be confirmed....I think it will be Isabella.

I took this picture on an old roof, trying to be 'arty' but I think the daylight was a bit too bright and the colours don't show up.

We had lunch out at a pub called The Scott Arms in Kingston,Purbeck, overlooking Corfe Castle and I took the picture in the car park on an old roof which goes down to ground level....co-incidentally the new father was once the landlord of this pub...before he became our Pastor! My husband meanwhile tried to pretend he was not with me while I was draping quilts over a car park!

The stork is arriving today, hopefully!

2010-01-22T09:05:00.003Z

I need to quilt like mad today...there's a baby on the way! Our Pastors wife is in hospital being induced today and having their first baby. We are reliably informed that it will be a little girl....I have made a cot quilt and am just sewing the border on now. I thought I had another 8 days....but it seems not!
I'll take a picture of it later when I have finished!
I hope the info is correct about it being a girl because it's a girly quilt.........

Walking in the snow at Arne

2010-01-15T20:23:00.003Z

Last Sunday, I woke at lunchtime.....no I'm not lazy, just been on the night shift at work! We went out late afternoon and parked at Arne but rather than take the usual path we went off over Coombe Heath. These Sika Deer were in the field that we crossed and barely moved to get out of the way. I have to confess that I am a bit of a nervous walker in the snow so it did become a bit of a slow and deliberate walk.
However when we got to the top of the hill this was the view over Purbeck, looking across to Middlebere. The channel here is part of Poole Harbour but was iced over in places and the poor old birds were having to skate over it.

This Fieldfare was one of about six that have been in my garden this week along with a few Redwings. I have also had a female Blackcap, Long Tailed Tits, Coal Tits, Greenfinch and Song Thrush as well as the usual visitors to the feeders. I put some apple out for the Thrush, Fieldfares and Redwings which they devoured very quickly. Now the snow has gone so have the visiting birds, shame but it was nice to see them.

I have seen more different varieties of birds in the garden by the 14th January than I did in the whole of last year!

Staying home and baking...and enjoying it!

2010-01-08T08:06:00.002Z

As it's so cold at the moment and we are being told not to go out if we don't need to, I have been staying in and actually enjoying it!. I have been hand sewing a quilt for a baby due in three weeks and baking biscuits and puddings.
These Empire biscuits I saw made on the The Hairy Bikers by a lovely Scottish lady and her daughter (catch it on iplayer if you like) They scored very highly with the family!

This lovely tin was a Christmas present from my parents, it's really heavy and solid.

This is what came out of it, pineapple upsidedown pudding which was served with "lashings of custard" in true Enid Blyton fashion!

Back to work tonight so no more messing about trying to be a Domestic Godess!

At last!

2010-01-07T09:02:00.004Z

At last...the snow has reached our bit of Dorset! I was beginning to feel a little left out when I saw how much snow some areas have. This little snowman has appeared on a gatepost opposite our house, I think he's nicer than a giant snowman!

My son walked through the woods near us and took a few pictures. I know we have less snow than alot of you have but it was fun anyway. My son's girlfriend lives and works between Reading and Basingstoke and they have alot there, she cannot get to work and they have closed the place down as no-one can get there.

I am due to go on night shift for two nights from tomorrow and am a little worried as I live at the top of a steep hill and they forecast alot more snow, I will probably walk and maybe ask my parents if I can sleep at their place during the day as they live near work. It's not so much the snow that's a problem but the ice.

Very pleased to have a pair of Song Thrushes visiting the garden every day at the moment, had a flock of Long Tailed Tit's also.

2010-01-04T19:49:00.002Z

In the frosty weather it is easier to walk along the old railway lines which tend to be up on an embankment rather than across muddy fields, so that's what we did yesterday. we haven't had much snow here in our part of Dorset just lots of ice and frost. This is all that remains of Spetisbury station and although the trains have long since gone, they have been replaced by a peaceful place to walk. I think I saw a Bullfinch in the bushes but not sure enough to record it as a sighting. However I did see a Fieldfare eating apples on a tree, and lots of noisy Rooks.
The building down below is the old Post Office in the village, now a private home.
As we stomped back to the car the locals were lighting their fires and no doubt having tea in front of the fire....which is exactly what we went home and did too!

Whilst walking Wrecks the dog at about 4.30pm this evening I saw a large flock of Starlings making their lovely patterns in the sky. Wrecks and I went to where they were, all the time more starlings were joining the flock, and ended up in the local graveyard. We stood and watched as they flew low over our heads with a swishing sound as they went over. Eventually they all suddenly flew down into the trees I was standing next to and surprisingly they all went to roost in a group of Monkey Puzzle trees. I must confess that I have always hated Monkey Puzzle trees as they seem so out of character in the UK, however obviously some wildlife likes them!

New Year walking round Poole harbour

2010-01-01T18:50:00.005Z

What a fantastic day to start the New Year! We stayed up last night to see the New Year in, friends came round and we spent the evening playing on the Wii.....much hilarity! While half the country were sleeping off last nights excesses the day opened up to be wonderful. Not too many people about early I think, but later a few hardy's ventured out underneath coats, scarves, gloves and hats.

We walked along the beach to Redhorn Quay which is on the other side of the harbour looking to Brownsea Island. There is no quay there now but the signs of past activity are showing.This little robin was all puffed up in the gorse but we also saw Avocet,Oystercatchers, Redshank, Dunlin, Shelduck, Teal, Wigeon, Brent Geese, Grey Plover, Curlew and Buzzard.

Stopped at Corfe Castle on the way back for a cup of tea (no luck, tearoom full!) so had a walk instead and watched the steam train on it's way back to Swanage.

No resolutions this year but 5 goals a month!

Goals for January;

1.Declutter every room.

2. Make a baby quilt for a baby due soon.

3.Lose 8 lbs in weight.

4.Don't use the microwave.

5.Walk for at least half an hour daily.

2009-12-31T16:28:00.003Z

One of the nice things about the New Year is starting a new bird list! I have filled the feeders up, bought a new ground feeder ready to go out in the morning, just now as it is dusk I saw a Thrush in the garden which I haven't seen for ages.
Resolutions? Oh the usual...Keep the house tidy, Get fit, Get thin, cook from scratch, be frugal...yawn,yawn,yawn!
On second thoughts I'll just watch the birds and get on with living!
Happy New Year to you all!

112 different birds seen in 2009!

2009-12-27T20:34:00.006Z

I decided to record the birds I have seen in 2009. My aim was to see 100 different birds but I managed to see 112, probably helped by a holiday in the Outer Hebrides where I saw loads! I will delete the bird list on the side bar on 1st January so that I can start a new list for 2010.

Arctic Skua (Outer Hebrides)
Arctic Tern (Outer Hebrides)
Avocet (Middlebere)
Barn Owl (Hammoon)
Bewick Swan (Slimbridge)
Black Guillimot
Black Headed Gull
Black Throated Diver
Blackbird (Garden)
Blackcap (Garden )
Blue Tit (Garden )
Brent Goose
Buzzard (Near Upton)
Canada Goose (Poole Park)
Chaffinch
Chiff Chaff
Coal Tit (Garden)
Collared Dove
Common Gull
Common Sandpiper
Common Tern
Coot
Cormorant
Crow
Cuckoo (Morden)
Curlew
Dunnock (Garden )
Eider
Feral Pigeon
Fieldfare (Shropshire)
Fulmar
Gadwall
Gannet (Isle of Harris)
Goldcrest -Garden
Goldeneye
Goldfinch (Hartland Moor)
Great black Backed Gull
Great Crested Grebe
Great Northern Diver
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Tit (Garden)
Green Woodpecker (Horsted Keynes Churchyard)
Greenfinch
Greenshank
Grey Heron
Grey Wagtail
Greylag Goose
Guillimot
Herring Gull
Hooded Crow (Scotland)
House Sparrow (Garden)
Jackdaw
Jay
Kestrel
Kingfisher (River Stour, Eyebridge)
Kittiwake
Lapwing (Middlebere)
Linnet
Little Egret (Middlebere)
Little Stint
Long tailed Tit (Garden)
Magpie (Garden)
Mallard
Marsh Tit (Bulbarrow)
Meadow Pipit
Moorhen
Mute Swan
Nuthatch
Osprey (Middlebere)
Oystercatcher (Poole harbour)
Peregrine
Pheasant
pied Wagtail
Pintail
Pochard
Puffin ( Outer Hebrides)
Raven
Red Breasted Merganser
Red Kite (Wales)
Redshank
Redstart
Red throated Diver
Redwing (Seaview point, Poole)
Ring Necked Parakeet (near London from a coach window!)
Ring Plover (Ullapool)
Robin (Garden)
Rock Dove
Rock Pipit
Rook
Shag
Shelduck (Middlebere)
Siskin
Skylark
Snipe
Song Thrush
Sparrowhawk
Spoonbill (Middlebere)
Spotted Flycatcher (Ringstead)
Starlings (Garden)
Stock Dove
Stonechat
Swallow
Swift
Teal
Tufted Duck
Turnstone (Baiter)
Wheatear
Wigeon
Winchat
Wood Pigeon (Garden)
Wren (Garden)
Yellowhammer

We walked down to a hide today at Middlebere, didn't have too long to spend there but we saw Lapwings, Egret, a lone Avocet, Shelduck and a huge flock of Geese.
I have seen only 14 different birds in the garden, this is disappointing as the numbers get less every year despite me feeding them and having a 'bird friendly garden'. On looking back through my old bird lists I can see that in the 1980's we had 23 different types in the garden, we have lost Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Woodpeckers, Ring collared doves, Warblers, Thrush and Greenfinches. Such a shame. I think alot of it is caused by people who move in to the road and immediately cut down trees, lay concrete and cover their gardens in decking....probably as a result of the quick fix gardening programmes that were so popular a few years back! One family moved in a few years ago and the very first day had two mature trees felled!
I think the answer will be to move out of this area, hopefully to somewhere with good habitat. That's my grump over for today!

2009-12-23T21:12:00.003Z

It must be getting close to Christmas....we've had the ward 'do'

Made and sent the cards Decorated the house, inside and
outside
Sung carols in the rain in the streets near our Church, given out mince pies and chocolate to the locals and ended up singing to the punters in the local pub! X factor here we come!

Got my uniform all pressed and ready for work on Christmas Day
and added a new bit to the uniform...just for the day!

Have a wonderful Christmas and a very special time. xxx

2009-12-16T10:47:00.005Z

At last...my Mothers quilt is finished and just in time for Christmas! I'm very relieved to have got it done as I have had alot of sewing machine problems and had to borrow Mum's machine to make it! I hand quilted it and just finished slip stitching the edge this week. Look at the blue sky behind it!
I'm a little worried that it's too bright for her, she likes soft pastel colours but at least one of the colours is in her curtains. Look who's trying to pretend he made the quilt by posing next to it!
Oh yes, it's "Wrecks the dog!"

Made lots of mincemeat...none of it has made it into mince pies yet!

Last week I went to meet up with some other nurses from the palliative care unit where we work ( we call it TLC which stands for Tena Lady Club....I'll let you work out why we call it that!) for a coffee and a cake in a local garden center and saw this upsidedown Christmas tree as a table decoration....weird but nice!
Bought myself this book the other day! Ha ha ha!!! It hasn't worked yet!

Winter walking and foraging and stopping the comments for now

2009-12-13T18:31:00.005Z

No pictures today, just the written word.
Awoke this morning to find 3 extra people in the house, I knew my son's girlfriend was staying here but didn't know my other son had bought 2 friends home after a party last night! Padded downstairs this morning to find strange young man in the kitchen looking for cereal and a bowl to put it in! Hey Ho...I wouldn't have it any other way and the noise, fun and laughter over breakfast was so fun!
Walking out in the cold open spaces of the Dorset countryside this afternoon looking for Holly and Ivy and evergreens to decorate the dressers with. After driving around through the Tarrant villages and on to Blandford we found some lovely Holly with berries near Bloxworth. Careful not to take too much from one bush and left plenty for the birds to eat. The sun set giving us a late winter show of orange and pale grey sky with bright blue in between.
Then home to a warm house and time to use the greenery to decorate the mantle shelf and over the dressers and above the pictures and mirrors.
Lovely, I've earned my tea tonight and just made some Cranberry and white chocolate biscuits from the Nigella Christmas book, and the house is full again so they won't last long!
I have made the decision to turn off the comments in 2 days time and just enjoy the writing and recording stuff that are of interest to me. I will of course still look at other peoples blogs and leave a comment here and there, especially those who I have 'talked to' for a long time. I am even thinking that I may stop using facebook too, one of my son's (he is nearly 18) refuses to go on facebook and believes it destroys real interaction with friends and I have to say I agree with him!
Anyway, please continue to look at the blog if it interests you, but have no pressure to comment! I will review how I feel in the new year and will decide then if to continue without comments. I will leave the comments on for two days to let people have their say!

The tree is for the chop!!!and a SWEET/Choc quiz

2009-12-05T06:25:00.009Z

Hooray...The ugly cone/tree in our town is coming down on Tuesday and a real one is to be put up in it's place!(See the previous two posts if you don't know what this is about) People have complained and started facebook groups in protest, it's been on the news and in the daily papers....for once our town is on the map....for all the wrong reasons! The cone has been vandalised but as you pass it you hear everyone talking about it so it's become well known.

My daughter is entering a quiz about names of sweets and chocs using these clues but we are stuck on the last 10...so if you can help??!!!!!

ie. High Class thoroughfare =Quality Street
Now your turn! (in italic are solved now, thanks)
Mother's local= Mars bar
Frankie Vaughan wanted it= Moonlight
Good children get these= Treats
Gem orchard= Opal fruits
Capital granite=Edinburgh Rock
Noisy insect= Humbug
One who wanders=Minstrel
Not the RAF pills=
County pot-pourri=
Sugary Golden Virginia= ?Sweet cigarettes
I have had this week as a holiday from work and spent it preparing for Christmas and just enjoying having the time to be me again.
A nice but blustery walk along the seafront at nearby Swanage.
Redecorating the lounge (if you scroll down to my previous post you will see the 'before picture' when it was raspberry pink!)It's only a small lounge so only took three days to do.

A walk in the wintry countryside, cold but fun above Kingcombe near Dorchester, too wet to walk far in the light of the recent rain we have had. We were on the way home from Taunton in Somerset where my sewing machine has had to go in for another repair job, we just stopped to admire the winter trees.

To Church to see the children doing their nativity play, with all it's hiccups and children forgetting their lines but all the more lovely for that.

A walk to the next town to do a bit of shopping, it took me one and a half hours to walk there.
Delia has to be part of Christmas, mincemeat and Christmas cake, mince pies and pudding.
My kitchen smells wonderful this morning as I have left this bowl overnight with the dried fruit soaking in oranges and lemon and waiting to have a good dollop of brandy added later. The other bowl is the Christmas cake fruit soaking in brandy.
All the plates on the dressers have been taken off and replaced with Christmas china and glass, tablecloths changed to red and white, tea towels to red ones, tea cosy's to christmassy designs so hopefully the place will be less cluttered with decorations but still different. Most of the plates are from charity shops and I had a real job to find one with the Christmas story on it instead of Father Christmas and robins and trees! I eventually found one ( middle top row) it's not great because the faces are a bit twee and it's quite pink...but better than nothing!

So Christmas is coming...but I'm still making paper decorations so not finished yet!

2009-11-29T07:20:00.003Z

It seems I am not the only one to think that the tree in our town is a poor show! on my last blog I put a photo I had taken of it.....and now the Daily papers have seen it too! All for 'Health & Safety', the council are worried someone might trip over a guy rope and sue them! The world has gone mad and we have become a 'nanny state'. People never used to think of suing other folk for an accident, you took it as part of life. My son's have always been very adventurous, in fact one of them went out to an island in a boat the night before last and spent the night sleeping in the undergrowth with a friend, they climbed trees, got freezing cold, wet and filthy dirty but they had an adventure and his memories will stay for ever . Life is a risk and it will be very boring of we are mollycoddled so much we can't enjoy it.

The Christmas windows are appearing, ahhhh.

A friend from work played Mrs Beaver in the play "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"in a local Church. Isn't that a good costume? I hope she doesn't mind appearing on here....but you wouldn't recognise her! It was a really good show and I really enjoyed it.

Lastly, this is our tiny lounge today...but I have a holiday this week so I will be painting it, putting new curtains up, new light fitting and new carpet in, so goodbye to the raspberry pink and cream and hello to.........wait and see!

A finished quilt and an amazing co-incidence!

2009-11-23T20:13:00.006Z

I sat indoors this morning while the rain pounded on the windows and sewed round the last bit of binding on this strippy quilt...feet up on the table with the quilt on my lap. When the rain stopped I ran out to the garden to take a picture while it was dry! I need a record of this one as I want to sell it to try and raise some funds to help my daughter pay for a trip she wants to go on next August to Calcutta to work with the street children there.

I think it would do for a child maybe, it's a bit on the bright side for some people maybe! It's virtually all done by hand, pieced and quilted by hand, just used the machine to join the blocks and sew the binding on.

After the rain had stopped I walked Wrecks the dog, down through the woods which were criss crossed with little channels made by the heavy rain that we have had over the past few days, the autumn storms are upon us. As I walked I could hear the sound of chain saw's where people were cutting up trees that had come down and making branches safe. Thankfully all we have suffered is a bit of fence damage, we have been lucky, in Cumbria they have had flood water in their homes.
This old grainy photo was taken in the early 70's of a house I lived in with my parents in a village about 70 miles away from where I now live and my parents have long since moved on. The amazing thing is that my son and his girlfriend were invited to dinner with one of her colleagues last week and yes...it was this house! How amazing is that! It was wonderful to hear how it looks now, we moved in when I was 12 when the house was brand new in 1969....I can hear all your brain cells working now to work my age out!

This is our towns poor effort of a Christmas tree this year, it's really a bit dull I think. I think they should plant a real tree in the middle of the square and let it grow and decorate it every year, I'm sure it would be cheaper in the long run and certainly would be more attractive to look at. Sorry...bit of a moan there!

November break in Wales.

2009-11-18T18:36:00.003Z

We have just spent a lovely long weekend in the cottage called Lliety again in North Wales, tiny and cosy and very quiet. We had some family stuff to do up in Snowdonia and some family visiting too.

In the evenings we lit the fire...I don't know why I didn't take a picture when it was lit! Plenty of time to finish quilting a strippy quilt and finish an embroidery of a lavender field...I will take some pictures of them soon.

The light over the reedbed in the Conwy RSPB reserve, actually a storm was on the way but we managed to hide in a bird hide from the rain before hurtling back to the safety of the visitor centre and a nice warm cup of tea.

The little church at Beddgelert, the countryside looks so different at this time of year but every bit as beautiful as it was in the summer.

Walk by the River Glaslyn and you will feel renewed and at peace. Hardly any walkers or tourists about......heavenly!

A quilt in the making and leaf people

2009-11-07T09:02:00.004Z

This is the start of a quilt top that I am making for my Mother for Christmas this year. She has asked for another quilt as they have moved into a flat this year and the colours are greenish/blue in their new bedroom. She hasn't seen the fabrics I have chosen and wants it to be a surprise on Christmas day ( luckily she doesn't look on blogs and doesn't know I blog so it should be a secret).
The idea for this top came from a Kaffe Fassett book I bought a few weeks ago and I have used a few Rowan fabric in it too. The fabric with lace bobbins on it is to denote my Mums love of lace making and the fairies because she loves them too!

These little leaf people are an idea from someones else's blog ( if anyone has seen something similar please let me know so that I can credit them for their work). Unfortunately I don't remember whose it was. Anyway I went for a walk and picked up the leaves to make these little people...fun aren't they!

Pretty Pumpkins

2009-11-01T20:50:00.004Z

I'm not a great fan of Halloween or pumpkins and we ignore it in our home, but this afternoon we went for a walk at Kingston Lacey and in a little dell in the garden we came across these pumpkins and gourds which had been laid out along the edges of the path. They were cleverly and attractively positioned, gourds were hanging from the trees, pumpkins by the paths, looking all the more pretty because of the autumnal shades of the leaves lying about.Oranges in 'nests' in the woodland floor, with gourds on the ground behind them.I love this pumpkin!This was growing in a container near the tea room ..... we declined their lovely cakes because we knew that at home there was a birthday cake...for my husbands birthday today.

Born again naturalist......even Spiders!!

2009-10-14T08:48:00.008+01:00

I picked this little book up in a charity shop and have been inspired to look at my garden differently. Now I know alot of you who read this are ahead of me here, but I am guilty of noticing the fancy stuff (birds, mammals, dragonfly's, butterfly's) in the garden but ignoring the less glamorous stuff (beetles, spiders,bugs). I know that without them the creatures higher in the food chain wouldn't be here, but I do ignore them....well not any more! I have decided to try to record everything in the garden for the next year and see what I find, it was interesting to read that the so called "wildlife-friendly" plants are just as good as other stuff...have a read of this website www.bugs.group.shef.ac/uk about the BUGS projectof gardens in Sheffield. So, I'm off to find a notebook......

Now anyone who knows me knows that this is a brave photo! I don't do spiders! In fact on night shift a couple of weeks ago another nurse and I found a HUGE one in the ward, neither of us like them so we shut the door to the empty room and even thought about running sellotape along the bottom of the door so it wouldn't come out! Debra and I really shouldn't work together on nights at this time of year as neither of us can remove them!

The ivy was humming with bee's yesterday filling up on a good pre winter feast. Painted Lady butterfly's and Red Admirals filling up too. My husband hates the ivy and would tear it out tomorrow but I plead with him to leave it!
In the evening my daughter and I went to walk the dog and watched this amazing sunset...it really was this colour!

What came home with me from the Knitting & Stitching show..and what's this insect?

2009-10-12T18:30:00.006+01:00

Does anyone know what this little insect is? It was on our car yesterday and I can't remember what it is although I have seen one before I'm sure.

As promised here are the bits I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show last week..........Rowan fabric, I've got 2 quilts to make, one for my mother for Christmas, she has asked for another lap quilt, and one for our Pastor and his wife who are expecting their first baby in January.

More wool than you would know what to do with! I just bought this one but could have got really carried away.

A Rowandean kit of a lavender field, it doesn't look very colourful in the picture but I saw one made up at the show and it was very bright. My friend bought two kits!

Some scraps that I don't know what I will use them for yet but probably to embellish a landscape patchwork.
This is really good silk waste which will embellish a sea scene I think

A book to inspire me, I love Sally Holman's stuff anyway.

There is no special reason to buy a Kaffe Fassett book...but I can't resist his stuff.

That should be enough to keep me busy over the winter months!

A field of poppies...in October!

2009-10-11T18:22:00.004+01:00

Last week my better half saw this field of poppies as he went past on his motorbike, so took me off to see it yesterday. It is up on Fontmell Down near Melbury Abbas in north Dorset. It's a very big area and is a huge scarlet splash across the hillside.

They had it on the news this week as of course they shouldn't be flowering in mid October. It seems the farmer ploughed up a field that hadn't been ploughed for years and the latent poppy seeds were given the chance to put on a show. It's a bit like the poppy fields in France in the 1st World War, the ground was suddenly churned up where the trenches were and the poppy's popped up.
Afterwards we went across to the little airfield at Compton Abbas and enjoyed a baguette and a mug of tea and watched the little planes taking off.

If you live near enough do go up and see this field...but be quick, they'll be gone soon! It's a gift when things like this show up, and half an hour sat looking at them is a tonic for the stress filled life!

Knitting and Stitching in London

2009-10-09T19:42:00.009+01:00

In a random way my friend Suzie ( and Goaty, seen here on a blue post outside)and I decided to go to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace yesterday. We had never been before but as Susie grew up in the road just behind the Palace she was keen to see the exhibition and to catch up with her Uncle who she hadn't seen for 20 years!
I need to say that the goat in the picture is a member of the team on the Palliative Care unit where Suzie and I work and often goes with staff on their holidays or on days out!...and of course always likes a picture of the occasion. I think this is his first time in cyberspace too!
I left home at 05.20 am and made it to the exhibition at midday, we spent ages in a traffic jam on the M25 all because a lorry driver had forgotten to fill his truck up with diesel and so caused a huge jam, our National Express coach was very delayed because of it. It was a shame as we missed 2 hours and hence didn't get around all the rooms.
Alexandra Palace is a beautiful old building and has plenty of inspiration of it's own. It was worth the hassle to get there.

This life size boat was knitted and all the creatures in the next picture were around it, all knitted too.

See Nemo at the back!What about these colours...I could have seriously overspent......maybe I did!

This is not a drawing but done in thin black thread.

Ohhhhhh, wonderful colours.

But this has to be the most inspiring window, I think I may try to recreate it in patchwork sometime.

Next time I will put some pictures on of what tempted me!

Salem and hidden things in the picture.

2009-10-03T07:49:00.007+01:00

This is a very famous Welsh painting called"Salem" painted by Sidney Curnow Vosper in 1908. It hangs on our wall here at home and before that it hung on my Welsh Mother-In-Laws wall as a reminder of her Welsh heritage. It was painted in the tiny Baptist Chapel called Salem in Cefncymera, Llanbedr, near Harlech in North Wales. While we were up in Wales we drove up into the hills to see it.
It is said that you can see the devils face in her shawl ( the nose is the sitting lady's hands) and if you look closely there is a hint of a little girl looking through the window. Click on the picture to get a better look!

When you open the door it is exactly as the painting, the only thing missing is Sian Owen who was the lady standing in the foreground. All the people in the painting were real people except for the seated lady in the red shawl just behind Sian who was a tailors dummy and the head is again Sian Owen in profile! Apparently the little boy, Evan Edward Lloyd was frightened of the dummy and would not go near it.

This is the Chapel from outside, completely unspoilt, no charge to go in, no shop, no tat. What a refreshing change! They used to baptise folk in the pool in the river that runs just below the chapel.

This is another painting by the same artist which also hangs on our wall of the same Sian Owen getting home from market in her kitchen.

Recycling from slate

2009-09-29T08:36:00.003+01:00

Really!!!!!

This is beautiful landscape in North Wales but if you look closer you will see all the discarded waste of the slate mines and the long forgotten homes of the workers. As you walk through this place it is eerily quiet, no birds calling or insects humming. 100 years ago it would have been all noise, men shouting, explosions as they blasted the rock, horses and wheels turning.
Anyway, the day before we had been to Penrhyn Castle and as we looked around the servants hall I saw a wonderful pastry board made of local slate, polished and cold. Pastry is so much better when made on cold stone rather than plastic worktops! I really wanted to buy one to take home but couldn't get one for love nor money, we were offered a sign for Nearly £50 which we could use the reverse of...however while walking through all this waste we found a piece that will do just right...for free! It's not polished or beautiful but today I intend to make pastry on it.

D gamely staggered back to the car with the slate muttering about hernias and tyre pressures on the car!

This is a picture of the Ffestiniog train, I just like the way the steam looks in the evening light.

Inspired by colour and knitting!

2009-09-25T15:03:00.003+01:00

This is what happens when you get inspired by someones elses work in a book you happen to pick up in the library.....
You spend a couple of hours trawling round the charity shops hunting through the leftover wool baskets, and come up with this little selection of earthy colours. Even the needles are from the Charity shop, I'm not a knitter really so I don't have alot of stuff about.
Before you know it you are knitting a scarf for the chilly winter to come! Getting carried away with colour and the freedom to put in whatever colour you like (or that you can get hold of!) ......I've been on night shift for the last two nights and my break has been spent clicking needles instead of dozing!

Can you see what I can see?!?

2009-09-23T08:46:00.003+01:00

Can you see an elephant in this rock?

Can you see the profile of a man's face looking to the left? It's supposed to be a historical person but I forget who!

Can you see a dog in the water?...It's a rock covered in seaweed really!

In Wales there seem to be alot of pictures in the rocks and I didn't find all of them!

Kaffe Fassett Studio : Links

2009-09-23T08:09:00.003+01:00

If you click on the Kaffe Fasset interview on this link I think you will have a very enjoyable 45 minutes! I did! I saw on it on Jane Weston's http://www.janeweston.blogspot.com/ first.

Kaffe Fassett Studio : Links

Kaffe is so inspiring and always makes me want to explore colours more...in fact I'm feeling so inspired I'm off to the library now to get one of his books out! Bye!!!

A little break in North Wales...and my 100th bird!

2009-09-21T22:37:00.004+01:00

We have just had a week away staying in this little white cottage in Penrhyndeudraeth in North Wales. Lovely weather, wonderful cottage... the only fly in the ointment was the very large black spiders that were also resident in the cottage. From the front we could watch the steam trains on the Ffestiniog line go across the level crossing right in front of the house ( in fact I may have been standing on the crossing when I took this picture). We had doors flung open in the day when the sun was shining and in the evening lit a log fire to relax by.
Nearby was Porthmadog and this view from the Cob looking towards the Snowdonia mountains. Lots of walks around here and trying to bird watch too. The Ospreys had just left on their long migration to Africa.
In Porthmadog there is a great old fashioned shop called Kerfoots, it's a store with all sorts of stuff in it. There is an amazing Victorian staircase going up the middle which is unsupported by pillars,, when you see it you wonder why it doesn't collapse. This beautiful stained glass window was made to show the surrounding countryside and to commemorate the millennium and crowns the roof as you look up the stairs.

Very excited because at last I saw my 100th bird...it was a Grey Wagtail on a rock in a Welsh river that we had sat by to pass the time and "chew the fat" as they say.

Flying things...but not birds this time...

2009-09-05T07:44:00.003+01:00

A couple of weeks ago in the next town along the coast from us there was an Air show along the beach. Thousands of people attended and of course it was all free, all you had to do was go and sit on the 7 miles of sandy beach or stand on the cliff top to get a great view. As you can see the skies were blue and the weather perfect. It started in the afternoon with the Parachutists coming in and throughout the day we saw wingwalkers, helicopter stunts, the Eurofighter, The Vulcan, Spitfires, Mustang, Lancaster Bomber and for me the best bit was The red Arrrows.

I never tire of watching these guys do their stuff, they are so amazing and fast.

No they didn't hit each other but the precision flying at high speed is incrediable. the vidoe below shows a couple of their stunts and a good commentary if you have the sound on.

One of my son's has had a summer job on the end of Bournemouth Pier and so for 4 days during the Air show had the most amazing view...probably the best in town and he was paid for it!

Evening walks in the cool of the evening

2009-08-20T16:01:00.003+01:00

It's been so hot in the day that the dog isn't impressed by the idea of a walk, so we have waited until evenings and what a lovely time of day it is.... cooler, the light is nice and pleasant to walk in. The farmer across the river in the first picture was busy getting all the baling done, he had obviously heard the same forecast as us for today, showers (which haven't happened!).

Our daughter tried to entice Wrecks

the dog to take a dip, he wouldn't go any deeper than this...he's such a lightweight!!!This cow was curious about Wrecks and crept as near as she dare for a better look!

In the afternoon we visited a farm shop to get a few bits and saw this lovely little donkey foal. It's a new farm shop opened by HM the Queen a couple of months ago. I won't be going back despite this little cutie as they let cars park in the farmyard where the cafe is, which wasn't pleasant at all when the cars came in or out.

Also it seemed to be a certain sort of person who shopped there, not country folk, rather the wealthy townie who is looking for a different type of food stuff. The staff were friendly but I got called 'madam' a few to many times! You probably think I'm very fussy now!

We have trawled around several farm shops lately and some are lovely, the staff friendly and knowledgeable and really nice provisions on offer, still good job there is a choice because the ones I like may not be to other peoples tastes!

Dorset wanderings

2009-08-15T08:55:00.004+01:00

Just one or two pictures of recent Dorset wanderings, the first being Dewlish Church not too far from Dorchester. Look at that huge bean row in front of the tower!

Saw this lovely sky up on Whiteways hill a few nights ago. That pink is almost fluorescent!

The evening light over this field made it look golden and later there was a lovely full moon over it.

I'm off for a BBQ today at Holten Lee...there is a great bird hide there on the edge of the harbour....I have seen 99 different birds this year, maybe I will see that elusive 100th bird! It's our church annual BBQ and fun day, lazing about day, playing rounders/cricket/hide and seek and treasure hunts for the children day.

A day trip to London...it's a mad place!

2009-08-09T20:03:00.004+01:00

South west trains have been doing a special offer this month, return trip to anywhere in the SW region for £10. Thinking this a bargain the beloved and I duly set off at the crack of dawn (06.28) London bound.
Now I have only been to London a few times in my entire life so I was well out of my comfort zone and didn't let the much beloved out of my sight all day! I even made him stand outside the loos in case I got lost...
We did all the sights, Buckingham Palace...the Queen was in residence as the flag was flying but didn't invite us in for tea!

Big Ben, we waited to hear the 5 O'clock bongs.

Then we walked along the Thames on the Embankment and that's where it got weird! There are loads of street entertainers every few yards doing all sorts of odd stuff. This 'dog' was great.

Lots of people pretending to be statues and then jumping out or touching people as they passed...I gave them a wide berth!

Micheal Jackson!!!!!

Dinosaurs riding bikes

and this young lady doing the most amazing pavement paintings, click on the picture to get the full effect....and why has that man got his hand on that lady's bottom!!!!!

I suppose this guy was playing the blues!

Then we did a little hunting of addresses where my ancestors had lived and I was pleasantly surprised. They lived in quite grand houses. My Grandfather lived in the blue house and his wife to be, lived in the one next to the scaffolding.

My Great Grandmother lived in one of these lovely houses on South Kensington, and married in the Church round the corner.

It was a lovely day but very hot and the underground was unbearably hot. Really good day but nice to be back here today...walking this afternoon in the country and met a man who showed us where he sees Otters, where a Screech Owl hangs out and Kingfishers nest. Later met a farmer whose cow had got stuck in the river, stood and sympathised over the problem with him. That was a nice restful afternoon!

Moth and Ladybird, first for the year

2009-08-07T08:52:00.002+01:00

This little moth I have found is called a Brimstone Moth, it's yellow like the Brimstone Butterfly but not as bright yellow. Strangely I only see these at work when I am on night shift, they are obviously attracted to the lights which are on all night in some rooms. This was on the office wall. I wonder what it lives on as it always seems to be in the building somewhere.

Oddly this is the first ladybird I have seen this year, some years there are loads in the garden but this year I haven't seen any. This is a National Trust ladybird! I found it whilst walking on their land near Kingston Lacy and Badbury Rings.

Family shame!

2009-07-29T20:07:00.003+01:00

I have been doing a bit of genealogy lately and have traced my maternal grandmothers family back to 1640 so far. Alot of them were buried in Horsted Keynes Churchyard, seen above and the rest in St Denys Church at Rotherfield not far away. My Mother was born in the pretty Sussex village of Horsted Keynes on a farm. But now for the shame!!.....

This font is in Rotherfield Church and in the leaflet about the Church the following reads...

"The octagonal stone font is late Norman and was missing for a number of years until the Rector at the end of the 19th century found it lying in a field belonging to Horsegrove Farm being used as a cattle trough. Although slightly damaged, a small sum of money was exchanged and the font was returned to the Church.

How it came to be in the field is a mystery although it should be noted that Samuel Wickens was Churchwarden from 1814-1818 and he was the tenant of the farm in 1816!"

Samuel Wickens is my ancestor! It is a large font and would have taken several men to move it and get it onto a cart!

My family were farming in the same place for nearly 400 years (probably more) but I cannot get further back at the moment.

At last I've seen an Osprey in Dorset!

2009-07-20T13:20:00.003+01:00

I have wanted to see an Osprey in Dorset for years (I did see a pair a few years ago in late summer on their way to Africa). Yesterday I saw one clearly and another kind birder let us look through his telescope for a better view. We waited an hour and half for it to move but it just sat in a dead tree, eventually hunger got the better of us ( but not the Osprey) and we went home, looked back at the tree as we walked back to the car....and it had gone!!!!!
Also saw a rural fox, it's very common to see them in town now but not in the country. Lots of deer, Redshank, Godwits, Canada Geese, Little Egrets, Shelduck, Oystercatchers, etc...

Uncle Robert

2009-07-16T14:14:00.005+01:00

My Great Uncle Robert died last night in his 95th year ( I thought he was 97 but stand corrected!) He had been on holiday with his son and daughter-in-law and had expressed a desire to go home early and on the way to see a cousin of his. This was done, he visited the cousin, was taken home sat down and died peacefully. What a great way to go, he said his goodbye's and went to be with the Lord he believed in and trusted from a young man.
I have such fond memories of him, a real countryman, he was a shepherd in his younger days and he would catch a lamb and give it to me to hold and cuddle when I was a child. I recall he took me to pick some bluebells and at other times Primroses on the farm and when I could pick as many as my child's arm could hold he would say "well that's not a very big bunch, you'd better go and get some more" I would stagger back with arm fulls of sweetly scented flowers and they would be plonked in huge jugs and we would take them home at the end of the day.
He was married but his wife had died many years ago leaving him and his son together until his son married and he had grandchildren. He had wonderfully bushy eyebrows and an interesting face, last year he had been to a garden party at Buckingham Palace. He would send me £5 every Christmas and birthday and a spidery-written letter that with his failing eyesight got more and more difficult to decipher but all the more precious because of the effort it had taken to write it.
I didn't see him much, the last time was at my parents Golden Wedding party which he made the long journey to come to with his family about 3 years ago. RIP Uncle Robert.

Graduation time

2009-07-10T21:49:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we had the privilege of going to see my son Will, graduate as 'BEng hon' in Automotive Engineering. He got a 1st which made it even better.

The ceremony was very traditional with all the fancy academic dress and traditional words and speeches. The national anthem of Wales sung in Welsh and the British national anthem in English also sung. The old pipe organ playing and the surroundings of a very old and ornate hall.

Here they are after their group had gathered outside, Will is second from the left..the tallest one, and me his Mother only just scraping 5' 2"!

Here's the old tradition of throwing the mortar boards in the air!

If you like to listen to the Welsh language listen to this, part of one of the speeches. I love to hear it and for my husband it is very special as his Mother was a Welsh speaker from North Wales.

A bit of Birding!

2009-07-07T15:10:00.002+01:00

I know...you need good eyesight to work this one out but I don't have a fancy camera! Not sure if this was a Buzzard or a Golden Eagle, it was pretty big and up in the mountains on the west coast of Scotland.

This too takes a bit of seeing, if you look right in the middle on top of the stones you will see a Ringed Plover, it helps if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it! Well I gave up the nature photography then and stuck to binoculars instead! Here's the list of birds and creatures seen during my holiday in Scotland and the Islands.

Starlings (loads on the Hebrides)

Blackbird

Snipe

Wheatear

Cuckoo (heard it everywhere!)

Gannets

Puffin

Robin

Lapwings

Oyster Catchers

Skylark

Common Gulls

Wren

Raven

Greylag Geese

Rock Pipit

Fulmar

Shag

Cormorant

Meadow Pipit

Rock dove

Artic Tern

Artic Skua

Eider

Little Stint

Guillemot

Black Guillimot

Great Northern Diver

Common Sandpiper

Chaffinch

Hern

Greenfinch

Siskin

Dunnock

Hooded Crow

Pied Wagtail

Buzzard

Red Kite

Ringed Plover

Black Throated Diver

?Golden Eagle

Slavonian Grebe

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Sparrows

Common Seal

Grey Seal

Dolphin

Sheep!!!!!!

This little hand-made notice summed up the steepness of this hill and the seat is well placed! Worth it though because the view is amazing, over the Summer Isles.

One of the many lochs we sat by and idled time away, reading books that you never have time to do at home, drawing and painting or just cloud-watching.

A remote holiday in the Outer Hebrides

2009-07-05T19:19:00.005+01:00

If you are wondering where I have been over the past weeks, this is the answer...the Outer Hebrides...to those of you outside the UK they are a small chain of islands off the west coast of Scotland. We stayed on the Isle of Harris in this beautiful cottage in the first picture overlooking the loch. It was like stepping into another century, the people are charming and everyone waves as they pass you in their car or in their gardens and love to chat and pass the time of day with you. Sundays are still special and everyone goes to Church, there are no shops open, no Sunday papers (until Monday lunchtime!) no washing on lines and it is a real family day and a day of rest. It reminded me of when I was a child and I have decided I will keep to that in my own way now, I have slipped into the habit of popping to the shops anytime but it was so nice to have such a peaceful day.

This is an evening view over the loch from the cottage, we could see seals from here and plenty of birds too. We also saw dolphin.

One of the many lochs in North Harris, I think this was Loch Seaforth. As you can see we had amazing weather and sunsets that kept you outdoors every evening. Because the islands are so far north the sun does not set for long at this time of year and it never gets completely dark. In fact my husband found he could read a newspaper outdoors at 10 minutes past midnight, just about!This sunset was taken looking over the Sound of Taransay, which if you watched the BBC's Castaway a few years back is where the folk were 'castaway'. This was the first week of a wonderful holiday which I hope we will repeat one day.

I managed to get my bird count up to 97...so 3 more to go!

Working hard at the Nurses Gala

2009-06-13T20:49:00.003+01:00

Today we had our Nurses Gala at the Palliative Care unit where I work. We set up some great stalls, jam made by one of the Mac Nurses, cakes to drool over.............

Tombola, I've never seen such a big tombola stall, manned by our amazing volunteers who put in so many hours both on the ward and for the Gala.

Tattyanne doing the BBQ, they tasted wonderful and I think she ran out of Burgers in the end! It was good to see her again, quite like old times. (She has moved on to pastures new during the last year)....but we keep in touch.

In came the people, it doesn't look many but when it was really packed I had to man my bookstall and couldn't take photos.

The sun shone and we did really well, the funds are replenished! Alot of the people who came have lost loved ones in the past with us and it is lovely to catch up with them, lots of hugs, a few tears but mostly fun and laughter.

At last...I've done a bit of gardening!

2009-06-11T19:54:00.002+01:00

I spent nearly all day today doing the garden with my son. We got out there by 9.30.am and kept going until 5.00pm! We repainted the seat and table, cleared out some scruffy bits of the patio, dead-headed the roses, weeded and hoed.

When we sat down to have a break we had a go at racing two snails which we called George and Sid. George won but Sid was rubbish!

This is the pond which has a host of wildlife in it. The whole garden is a bit of a wild garden but I like it that way. It's typically English in that we put everything in closely and let it all spill over the path and grow into each other....and it is only a small patch but I have 23 rose bushes in it, nearly all old fashioned smelly ones and lots of Cranesbill too.

We celebrated by having a BBQ this evening!

It's a grave matter!

2009-06-10T09:21:00.004+01:00

A couple of weeks ago whilst walking Wrecks the dog I came around the corner here in the graveyard and saw an adult fox with 4 cubs. The cubs were playing and rolling about and jumping on the smaller gravestones. Wrecks and I stood and watched and they seemed not to have seen us...of course I didn't have my camera with me!
Since then I have been back regularly (with my camera) but only seen the adult fox, he or she seems unconcerned about me being there but no sign of the youngsters. He or she is in the middle of the picture at the back....I know, it's a bit distant!
I am beginning to wonder if people are beginning to think me odd as I am loitering about in the graveyard alot (Nobody who knows me is allowed to comment on whether I am odd or not!!!!!) Still, I shall keep looking every time I go past.

Baptism's in the sea Brrrrr!

2009-06-07T20:30:00.002+01:00

Today 3 people in our Church were baptised in the sea, and it was a cold and rainy day. I'm not sure who was wettest, the baptism people or us stood on the beach! Mark was the first to declare his faith in Jesus and Ben (our Pastor) and Marks wife Rosie did the baptising. Now Rosie is a tiny little lady and the waves were buffeting her about, and prior to the service Rosie told me she "doesn't do cold!"

As you see it was a bit of a struggle with the waves and everything but Mark did go under!After Mark two young girls were baptised, Chloe and Verity watched by everyone from the Church on the beach to great cheers when they came up out of the water. Before this we had all had a shared lunch back at the Church.On the way back from the beach we stopped off to cheer my sons girlfriend on, in the 10k race, she's the girl in the grey T shirt getting soaked through. I think the rain was actually OK for them, it kept them cooler.
And now, at the end of the day the clouds have cleared and it's blue sky! So it was back to our house for a birthday tea for one of our son's. A busy day but really lovely too. Now...where's a darkened room I can lie down in !

Lower Kingcombe...land saved from development

2009-05-29T08:21:00.003+01:00

On bank holiday Monday we had a wander round Lower kingcombe north of Dorchester and near Toller Pocorum. This farmland was bought by the Dorset Trust for Nature Conservation about 25 years ago. it had been a farm owned by the Walbridge family and had been farmed with no chemicals or any sprays or artificial fertilisers. It was therefore untouched by modern farming methods and had kept it's meadows and hedgerows as they have been for generations. The estate was bought by a London property speculator who broke the land up into lots and put it to auction. There was an outcry locally and I remember it being very much in the news here in Dorset. Eventually enough money was raised to save over 300 acres and that's why we could enjoy this meadow today.
The little beastie above is a wasp beetle.This meadow is one of several, every field you walk through is covered in wild flowers, I haven't seen meadows quite like these since I was a child.

We saw lots of birds, dragonflies, and flowers. It's real escapism and I shall hopefully return to see the later summer meadows. We came here years ago when it was first bought by the Nature Conservation and it's nice to see it so unchanged.