Five Things Friday

1. The Easter Weekend passed by so quickly.  The weather was good, we managed a walk each morning in the bright sunshine and blustery winds.  The snowy, sleety weather forecast for Monday actually came to us on Tuesday but didn't stay long.

 

2. It's so good to have open spaces within walking distance of home and between us and the city centre where we can take a breath of fresh air.

 

On one of our walks, down the lane and across the fields we spotted two wrens, a dunnock, a robin, many crows, magpies and  gulls, a kestrel and a skylark.  Paul took the photo of the skylark.

 

3. On Monday evening around 6.30p.m. I was looking out of the kitchen window whilst washing the pots and a fox ran across the lawn carrying in her mouth what I at first thought was a cat but quickly realised it was a fox cub. 

 

 I shouted Paul to bring his camera as I had a feeling she was moving dens and that there may be more cubs to retrieve.  She carried three more across the garden so we now know there are four cubs.  One more than last year.  

 

 

I don't know what happened to make her move her cubs across two or three gardens but she must have felt threatened or in danger to be out in the light of day.   It took her about a quarter of an hour to rescue them all, rushing backwards and forwards at full pelt.  They now seem to be back in the old den across the hedge in a wild area at the back of the school.

 

4.  Just down in the town at the Gladstone Pottery Museum, which recently featured on channel four's 'The Great Pottery Throwdown', more filming is happening.  This time it is a Sky original film about Clarice Cliff.  Called 'The Colour Room.'  It is about her early years and her rise to fame in the 1930s with her colourful 'Bizarre' ware.  Apparently the two lead roles have gone to actors from Downton Abbey and Bridgerton.  I don't know if I'll ever see it as we don't have Sky, perhaps it will become available on other sources eventually.

 

The photos below were taken in August 2009 

5.  In a rainy garden plants are coming to life 

 

Honesty, Lupin, Spirea, Peony and Wild Garlic.  The strawberry plants are again looking fresh and green and there is a hint of blossom on the plum tree but we have lost a Ceanothus plant from the front garden, it was one of those low, creeping ones with  pretty pale blue flowers.  We now have a big space to fill.

Thoughts on Thursday

Just  a few, simple things that have made me smile this week

  A surprise visitor to the garden

 Monsieur Reynard or Mr Fox visited our garden this week, not unusual in one sense as we know that foxes visit the garden - they leave behind the evidence- but we rarely see them.  This one visited around lunch time in the bright light (well grey, drizzly light) of the day.  He sat for ages on the grass behind the greenhouse and I was able to rush upstairs (well rush as much as I can nowadays with my knees) and grab my camera and photograph him from the landing window.  He sat for ages scratching, and then began  stretching his legs. front then back,  before he wandered off to the top of the garden where there is a way in and out through a small gap in the holly hedge behind the shed.

 A Rainy Walk at Ilam
On Wednesday morning we set out to walk at Ilam it was quite rainy when we arrived and we sat in the car in the car park for a while before we decided to risk a walk.  I'm so glad we did as the rain stopped shortly after we set off and only started again as we neared the end of the walk.  We had the place almost to ourselves just a couple of school parties who were way ahead of us and a few people staying at the Youth Hostel who stopped to chat on their way along the riverside.

We went inside the church too.  I know I've taken you here in several posts and told the tale of St Bertram whose tomb is in the chapel built especially to house it.  The font is Saxon as is the cross, one of two to be found in the churchyard.  The pictures around the walls of the nave depict the history of the village of Ilam through the centuries.

Back in the Garden
Things are livening up a bit, the winds and rain over the last few days have flooded the area around the pond again, but around the garden and in the raised beds the signs of spring are there.  The little tete a tete are raising their heads and the muscari and puschkinia are in flower.  The rosemary has little blue flowers and the rhubarb and wild garlic are looking lush and green.

  Easter Decorations 

Just a few bits and pieces out for Easter.  I've yet to find a suitable twig for hanging decorated eggs on. It has also been very hard this year to find any chocolate eggs without palm oil but the ones in the bowl from MandS seem to be free of it.   I don't know about the cute chocolate bunny, it was given me by my neighbours for looking after their cat for a couple of days whilst they opened up their caravan in Wales for the season.  We are making our own hot cross buns, in fact they are being made as I type by the bread maker of the house and the smell of mixed spice is wafting in my direction.  I will make some Easter buns or fairy cakes on Saturday. 

Hope you all have a lovely, peaceful Easter weekend.

Apologies for my Absence

Sorry I haven't been around for a while either blogging or commenting on all your recent posts which I have been reading when I've been able to.  I had a fall in the garden last Sunday and exacerbated an old injury to my ribs and sternum.  It has been very painful and I've done lots of lying around feeling sorry for myself.

I can't lift or carry anything or sit upright for very long.  I have been able to sit in the garden on a sun lounger over the last few days so I have been enjoying all the lovely weather we've been experiencing whilst reading and watching the birds visiting the bird feeders.  I hope I'll be back soon and that everyone is having a restful Easter weekend.

Into April

It's April already! Where have the first three months of the year gone? Even though we are now on British Summer Time and definitely into Spring the weather has been really awful for the last few days.

I've decided to ignore the rain, wind, sleet and snow and make a Spring garden ready for this weekend.

I've also made an Easter twig decoration - how long it will last with the cats around I've no idea, I've already rescued one of the fluffy chicks!

Ready for Simone's Friday Cake Bake Paul has made some hot-cross buns - link to his recipe - and I've made some little fairy cakes with chocolate eggs on top.

My best wishes to you all for a very Happy Easter!

Early Easter and late nights

I heard on the news recently that Easter this year is the earliest it's been since 1913, and snow is expected in some areas of the north and east. I've known one or two snowy Easters in my time. I particularly remember one when I was a child when we were going into North Wales - Llandudno I think - for my sister to play in a hockey tournament. We got caught in a snow blizzard on the Snake Pass in Derbyshire and I remember my Dad saying 'there is a pub along here somewhere called the Cat and Fiddle' just as we came to a standstill. After the blizzard subsided and we could see where we were the pub in question was just a little further down the road and we hadn't been able to see it.

I've been pottering around with knitting an Easter bunny - not a great success as I've sewn the ears in the wrong place and made him look rather disgruntled - and making yellow gingham lavender hearts. It's a good job that I'd started the preparations early, even the little Easter cakes are made. All this has come to a standstill now as the long hours (6p.m. - 2a.m.) at Royal Mail have taken their toll and I'm too tired to think straight, let alone knit, sew, bake cakes or even potter on the computer; it's taken me a couple of days to finish writing this post. Three shifts done and four to do, I'm counting them down then I think Easter for both of us is going to be lots of rest - hope there is something good on TV. We were hoping to get some walking in over the weekend but as the long-range forecast doesn't look good, that idea may have to be abandoned.

I hope everyone has a lovely Easter.

Good Wishes and Frustrations

Easter Greetings

Firstly, I want to wish everyone reading this a happy and peaceful Easter holiday.

In my last post I promised more photos of the High Peak Trail and since then we've walked another five mile section from Parsley Hay to Friden, but unfortunately Picassa isn't allowing me to upload any photos. It seems to be a server problem as I'm nowhere near my full capacity; so, as you can imagine, I'm feeling quite frustrated by having loads of lovely photos and not being able to share them.

Today we drove up to Leek, past Rudyard Lake which was twinkling in the sunshine and out towards Macclesfield. We then cut across country to Buxton passing through brilliant sunshine, low white cloud drifting across the valleys and then clear cool skies before hitting the sunshine again as we went down the hill into the town. We stopped at Poole's Cavern and after a mug of coffee joined one of the frequent tours. I was a bit nervous when we first went into the cavern as I couldn't see very well but my eyes soon adjusted and it was wonderful looking up at the incredible rock formations and stalactites and gazing at the strange orange tipped stalagmites rising from the cavern floor. I really enjoyed myself and didn't feel at all claustrophobic, the guide was very amusing and got a round of applause at the end of the tour much to his embarrassment - we both took some great photos but again, at the moment I can't share them with you.

Good news this week too, we've managed to book two tickets for the ferry along the Manchester Ship Canal with the help of a gift voucher courtesy of some dear friends (you know who you are). We are going on August 2nd and are now looking at booking a hotel for a couple of nights so that we can relax and enjoy the whole day. It is good to have something to look forward to.