An Early Start

I got up early this morning to get out with Tilly and my camera.  

It was beautiful, just the frost, the sunrise and the birds singing, brilliant!  Oh, and quite chilly too.

Badger and deer footprints 

 Another badger

Not sure what made these footprints, could be a squirrel, rat, stoat or weasel.  If anyone knows, please let me know.  They were only about 2.5cm across and don't appear to have claws.  

Have a great Sunday.

Lesley

x

It's Been A While

Yes, and hasn't it been a while?

I've spent weeks wondering how on earth to start this post seeing as I've been gone for ages.  Do I say, "sorry I've been gone so long" or "I'm back, did you miss me?" Well, I am sorry it's taken so long and I'm not sure that you would have missed me "that" much but here I am backing in the land of blogging.  Time seems to seep away and some days I achieve lots and others I don't appear to achieve anything, other than all those chores that need doing.  I can't even begin to think about what I've been up to since OCTOBER!!!!!  Surely, it can't be that long?  Christmas came and went, so did the New Year.  November went by in there somewhere too.  What do you know, it's February!  Where did January go to?!

Tilly and I are on our own for a while as The Old Colonel is away.  We've been doing some walks in the woods and across the fields.  She doesn't mind the cold (and boy, hasn't it been chilly), and will happily wade through the stream at the bottom of the woods, even on a freezing cold day.

We have three foxes that visit our garden and this one is in a very poor state.  He has mange and has lost most of the fur on his back end.  It's the first time I've seen him out during daylight hours looking for food and I'm guessing he's probably quite poorly.  Hope he makes it through this cold weather.

My first jars of piccalilli.  The recipe said, leave to mature for two months.  Not sure if I can wait that long!

And this was the sunrise one morning last week, beautiful.

Thank you for taking the time to come back and check on this old blog after all this time.  I'm looking forward to catching up with you all.

Until next time, 

Lesley

x

Trees

I've been out and about looking at trees. Now,that may seem slightly sad or make me rather strange (or both and no, I don't hug trees) but I'm always amazed by the shapes that trees form as they grow and what makes them grow the way they do. 

Man made.

A beautiful silhouette at sunset.

Half of this trunk is dead and rotted away and yet still lives.

The apple tree in the field next to our house.  This dead branch housed a hornets nest last year.

Roots and ivy

Not quite sure how this stays upright, it's about 60 foot tall and thriving, despite most of the roots being exposed and leaning more than the tower at Pisa!

Tunnel forming hazel wood 

A branch from this beech tree (one of the largest in the wood), came down earlier this year.  This photo doesn't do it justice.  I'm surprised we didn't hear it, it's enormous and must have made a huge thud as it landed.  It took out two other trees as it landed too.  Lots of firewood.

This is where the branch was attached.  It must have fallen through the two branches.

Some trees appear to be watching you!

Very spooky!

Hornets nest apple tree, took another battering this year when a big branch laden with apples came down in windy weather.  The rotting apples in the field smelled like a cider brewery.

A rotten piece of apple wood.

Until next time......

Lesley

x

Watching

I've been watching the world go by........

Watching autumn arrive.

Watching the weather in Swanage.

Looking at rock formations in Swanage.

Watching the lowest tide we'd seen for ages.

Rock pooling.

More rock formations.

Looking at interesting fern fossils.

Watching fabulous sunsets.

Walking on the beach.

Watching the lights in the evening.

Getting up early enough to see the sun rise.

Watching the waves crash against the promenade.

Watching people waiting for the waves to crash over them.

And spending time with my best friend Tilly.

Until next time.....

Lesley

x

Beautiful Embroidery, Beautiful Music

 Hi everyone, how are you all?

I went charity shop shopping and look what I found.  A tablecloth, dressing table sets and and beautiful embroidered pillow case, (it does have a fold mark on it).  They are lovely, the embroidery is wonderful and not something I particularly enjoy doing but I do appreciate.

On a completely different theme, today I've been listening to:  

Covers 2 by Show of Hands.  Steve Knightley and Phil Beer, two incredibly talented west country lads who sing folky, acoustic stuff and Miranda Sykes who plays double bass.  Steve Knightley writes some beautiful lyrics and Phil Beer can probably just about play any stringed instrument going. In fact, the man is such a talent that he would make a dustbin lid sound good.  I've been a fan for over 10 years and seen them in concert numerous times.  They've even played the Royal Albert Hall.  What's really lovely about them is that they're approachable.  We went to see them last year at Swanage, Phil was outside collecting things from their van and was happy to stop and talk to people.  Brilliant!

Ok, on with the washing, hoovering and ironing!

Until next time......

Lesley

x