Hobbies and Crafts

In case you look in Magpie, we will miss hearing about your birds. Have a lovely Christmas and a happy new year.

Our little birds are really getting their act together and becoming real time wasters!!
The meal worms are going down a treat particularly with the two Robins!! Yesterday when we were having breakfast, we saw two mistlethrushes which were interesting as they are quite rare these days. The bluetit gang are as active as ever and have been joined by a couple of great tits! So all in all the garden is a lively place!
We're taking our Exmoor pony and trap + dog (!) down to the village tonight for the carols round the tree.. We do it every year! People love to see him with decorations in his harness and hat!! and it certainly renews frindships!
I'd like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year. This will be my last post as my sub, which I won't be renewing, runs out soon. After ten years of posting it's now tiime to move on!

oops little spelling mistake Ann. I did mean Inara. I think spell-check changed it to Imara :-S Mariam is a pretty name too. I think a lot of the older names are coming back into fashion . One of my Daughters friends has called her daughter Peggy !!! Another friends son is Ted. Our friends Grandaughter is called Ottelie I wonder if Jane will come back into fashion LOL . I can't see that somehow. :-D

My cough is still bad . I think we had both our bad coughs together Ann back in 2014

Yes Jane after Christmas 2014 I had the most horrendous cold and cough which lasted weeks. I caught it off daughter at Christmas. I really really hope history doesn't repeat itself.

I hope that you soon feel better and the cough doesn't spoil Christmas for you.

Inara seems to be not too bad except being a bit irritable because the spots are on her head and her hair itches. Sadly, because Mum is self employed it does mean money has been lost, and they can ill afford it.

Jane.... INARA not IMARA but yes your choice is pretty. I don't remember if I said but my great niece had a third girl 4 weeks ago and her name is Mariam. :-) :-)

I hope Kandj can find some enjoyement in her Christmas with her family. <3 <3

Merry Christmas Vera. Have a wonderful Xmas . The weather was cold and a bit breezy for the wedding but what a day :-D :-D .I am still re living it :-D and having happy tears
Ann, Chicken Pox is such a horrible thing for little children .It always seems to be doing the rounds. Hopefully by Xmas Imara will have got over the nasty itchy bit ..I love the name Imara :-D

I have been down with the lurgy since Wednesday and have the most horrible cough. I am just so glad it waited until after the wedding. I did have a cough then but nothing like I have now.It's one of those that has you awake all night :-S.. Ann I remember a few years ago you had the same when you had to sleep propped up all night.


Birds still feeding well on the window feeder and the Green Woodpecker seems to be spending a lot of time on our lawn lately
:-D

Kandj will be spending Christmas with her Daughter and family. I am so happy she will be with them . It will be Christmas tinged with sadness for her but being with the family will hopefully lift spirits <3

Happy Christmas Vera have a lovely time. We have a spotty child to look forward to as Inara has chickenpox.

I'm pleased the wedding day went off well Jane. I bet you were a proud mum. Was the weather kind to you?

I haven't seen any signs of a sparrow hawk or any other bird of prey around here. I have seen a couple of sparrows on the seeds today and there were a couple of blackbirds in the garden this morning so I took the cage off the ground feeder to let them get at the meal worms and grapes that I had put in there, but they didn't seem interested. I haven't seen the big flock of sparrows or the robin who is often with them for days.

I bet they just start coming back as we go away for Christmas so they will be without food in the garden for a few days and probably stop coming again.

I'm going to be prettty busy for the next couple of days and then we are off to son's in Yorkshire for a few days, so I'll wish you all HAPPY CHRISTMAS now :-D

She looked beautiful Jane. And you and OH looked very smart.

Something must be stopping the birds visiting Vera. As An says could there be a Sparrow Hawk around. I know when we have one all the birds go into hiding.

£7 for that meal Ann sounded a real good tasty meal :-D

The wedding day was wonderful . My Daughter looked so beautiful (and so calm ) . Not like my OH LOL . He was so nervous but he got through it and did a great job as Father of the Bride.I could see him relax as soon as his speech was done :-D
It seems a long while ago now and yet not even a week !!. They are now in Sri Lanka on their Honeymoon.

Is there any chance that a sparrow hawk has been in the area Vera?

Apparently this is the meanin of Bad request.
"Bad Request: Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request"

I am very jealous of all the birds you get. I haven’t seen anything here today apart from a couple of blackbirds first thing this morning. It’s not that I am just not seeing them as at the moment the food isn’t going either. I don’t know what keeps them away. There are no builders around, no cats living in our Close and only the occasional visiting cat. I put out wild bird seed, Niger seed, peanuts, fat balls and meal worms, plus oddments like fruit and there is both a bird bath and a tiny pond for water, yet they still stay away :-(

Oh well,I shall persevere.

Birds are few and far between today, I guess they are sheltering from the storm. It has been tipping down here all day and the wind was so strong it was blowing the bins over.

Throwing my toys out of the pram here. I have just written a long post on another thread pressed submit and waited for ages until it came up with 'bad request'. What does that mean for goodness sake?

We have just got in from our Christmas lunch at the Community Hub. 27 U3A members of various groups. It was a really nice meal, everything was just as I would cook it at home, Turkey, stuffing , pigs in blanket, sprouts, carrots, roast and mashed potatoes and parsnips. Beautifully cooked, nice gravy, everything hot, served on time. roast potatoes were small ones and really nice, as I say just like home cooked. followed by either sherry trifle or Christmas pudding with vanilla cream pudding was well laced with brandy and quite a substantial amount, coffee afterwards all for £7 each. Fantastic, really enjoyed it.

And (and we still don't know why) when we got home there was a fire engine parked across our drive. We assume they were doing a house check but didn't see which house they were in. Driver did move when he realised he was blocking our drive.
and the only fireman I saw (not in his action uniform) looked about 16!! So, that was not very exciting.

Good job the weather was not like this on Saturday for Jane's daughter's wedding.

Hi all. Gill I hope the builder was right and that they leave you in peace now until after Christmas. It was not at all windy here yesterday but about 2pm it really tipped down with rain. very grey here today, light (but cold) showers, still no wind. glad your pots didn't blow right over.

Our son, daughter in law, Grandson and granddaughter came down to us today, they were here before 1030 so must have left M Keynes really early It was lovely to see them and exchange presents and son took us all out to lunch which was very nice as well.

On the patio table dish of mealy worms this morning we had three male blackbirds and one female (although not all at once). We knew the males were different as one has a white patch on his side, one is small and the other very big.

So much for the builders not coming back until after Christmas, they have been next door for the last two days, needless to say the birds haven't been around. OH spoke to the bricklayer this morning and was told he'd be finished today so hopefully it'll go quiet again and the birds will come back.

We had to straighten one of our smaller Red Robins this morning after all the bad weather yesterday. It was so windy the plant ended up leaning over to one side, thankfully it didn't hit any other plants so there was no damage and it didn't fall any further as it was leaning on a rock. I was quite surprised other plants weren't blown about. I'm glad we put the bird feeder into a wooden stand or I think that might have got blown down. It sways a bit from side to side but so far is still upright.

Yes, it was the cat one Ann, it was very funny with the kitten getting up to mischief. Sandra watched it three times.

It's very quiet now with no builders here every day, so all the birds have come back to the feeder.. It's a good job I bought some more meal worms the other day as the starlings are going through them quite quickly. The Blackbirds have taken nearly all the berries off my plants now so they'll probably be on the feeder soon especially if we get the snow that's forecast for Saturday. It's very cold and frosty here at the moment.

You've had a lot of different birds at yours, we only seem to get the starlings, blackbirds and various tits. I haven't seen the robin for a while, but should imagine it'll be back once it knows it's quiet again.

Glad Sandra enjoyed the ecard Gill, did I send the cat one, love that one.

So pleased for you that the builders won't be back until after Christmas, with this colder weather you should be getting more birds again as we are. On the table in front of our lounge window we have had two different blackbirds and a robin plus a cheeky starling who was not allowed to stay. On the feeders we have had 4 or 5 goldfinches, sparrows, starlings, collard doves and a black cap. Not seen any blue tits today but they are probably around.

All the best to Hannah and Gareth Jane, I'll be thinking of them on Saturday. <3

Thanks Ann for the lovely e-card Sandra and I have just watched it, she loves animals so wanted to watch it again.

We saw some lovely 4 week old puppies the other day when we visited OH's aunt. She is fostering them until they are old enough to be re-homed. She's keeping the mother and might have one of the puppies to. The mother was recused from a puppy farm and was pregnant at the time. Mum and pups are doing well and will have safe homes to live in now. Sandra loved them and wanted to bring one home. She pretended to take one and tucked it in her coat when we were leaving, it was the same one I was cuddling, he was so cute. I believe they are Shih Tzu dogs. OH's uncle (his aunts brother) had the mother's sister, as she was at the puppy farm to, unfortunately she's to frightened to go outside at the moment, after being kept in a cage for so long. I'm sure she'll venture out eventually once she knows it's safe and she won't come to any harm, but it breaks your heart to see her, the poor thing.

On a positive we've been told there isn't going to be anymore work on next doors property until after Christmas so with it being quiet today all the birds came back to the feeder. Sandra was thrilled and is looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow. :-) :-)

Thanks everyone :-D x

Have a wonderful time Jane and very best wishes to your daughter and fiancé. Looking forward to hearing all about it when you come back to us.

Have a great time Jane, see you when you get back. :-)