Hobbies and Crafts

Vera ,what a nice afternoon you had. All that lovely wild life :-D :-D. Good job you didn't go today what with the wind and rain !!! :-S :-S

What a day it has been . The only positive thing is we haven't got to water the garden or top up the bird bath :-D :-D. It is still looking a bit iffy here . The birds have been snatching food from the window feeder in between the heavy downpours.
I think tomorrow is going to be a better day. :-D

That sounds a lovely place Vera, you certainly had a lot to see. It always amazes me how people don't want to explore

Had a lovely afternoon yesterday. We don't live too far from Long Melford so we spent an hour in the grounds of Melford Hall first. They are quite small but we had a look at the gardens and walked round the park bit where there is a flock of Jacob Sheep.

Then we moved on to Melford Country Park. Pre-WW2 this was arable land, then during the war the ground was used to extract sand and gravel. Now the pits are turned into ponds and lakes and the river is nearby. The rest of the land is mostly left wild. Lots of rabbits and I imagine they keep the grass cropped.

We saw swans and various ducks including, I think, little grebe, several wagtails at the water's edge and a mistle thrush on the grass that didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by us. But the best bit was several large areas full of tall nettles. From a distance it looked as though they were covered with black butterflies or moths that were flying in and out. As we got nearer we realised they were some form of dragonfly with a blue body and dark wings. I've never seen anything like it before; there was such a mass of them.

When we got home I did a bit of investigating and I am sure they were either the Banded Demoiselle or the Beautiful Demoiselle, and as they were so dark I think they were the Beautiful Demoiselle.

I found it a bit sad that there were several cars in the car park but the occupants were all within 100 yards or so of their cars. We had all the rest of the park to ourselves. Each to their own I suppose but it seems pointless to me to go to a country park and not see what it has to offer.

Birds do seem to be quite choosy about which gardens they visit. We have been here nearly four years now and the birds are only now starting to come regularly. The birds that are coming are mostly the common garden birds. The garden is small and we have no grass so I don't think I can expect to get the jays ,woodpeckers and so on that we used to have in the old place.

I have just seen a young robin hopping about out there. I had to google to make sure it was a robin. It was near enough adult size and had all the robin characteristics but hadn't yet got the red breast. No sign of a parent but it looked big enough to cope without them.

Jem ,it sounds like you have a garden full of birds including your Great Tits :-)
Our window feeder is just like the drive through at Mc Donalds .Non stop.At certain times of the day it is mayhem. I do think there are lots of youngsters now visiting ,especially Chaffinch ,Gt Tits and Blue Tits. The Jay pops in still now and then.
There was a very young looking Squirrel this morning on a branch of the tree by the feeder. I went out to try and shoo it away but it just sat there and looked at me. OH said I should have told him and he would have been out with his gun :-| :-| :-|
No mice around here as the cat eats them all !!

Kandj,I wish you had more birds visiting you. It is strange how some of us have so many and others so few even when we all have gardens with trees etc. We are very lucky here as ti is all hedges and trees. The only downside is the mess they all make :-S

It seems your OH has had a wonderful 80th birthday weekend Vera. I hope you aren't too shattered after all your hard work. Hopefully you can both relax on holiday soon.

I was cleaning the back bedroom window just now and a little bluetit flew past and landed on the clothes line, a real surprise as this is the first one and easily recognized.

Good Evening Everyone :-)

Vera it sounds as though you have had a very successful weekend with your catering and a wonderful time seems to be had by all, especially the birthday boy! :-)


Woody Wood Pigeon was back again today. Eating like there's no tomorrow :-D
I love them, they are so comical looking!

When we first had him visiting (I like to believe it's the same one that comes every year:-D, but probably not) my Grandson 1 came running in excited saying there's a DUCK in the elderflower tree! :-D :-D



My Great Tits have come back today too. :-)
The little robin returned and he seems a very vivid orange-red today.
A small collared dove was here today as well as the usual pair.

All the "usual suspects" :-D have been here- the Starling Families, The Blackbirds, The Jackdaws, and the "Hundreds" of Sparrows and their young.


Not seen the mouse for the last couple of days, but my favourite visiting cat has had to be sent out of the hedge a number of times :-0 :-D

Time to chill out now then Vera after what sounds like very successful birthday celebrations for OH's big Birthday bash :-D :-D. You did so well to cater for so many people . Not sure I could have done the same.

I see the feeder is empty yet again !!. The birds don't have put it away. The Blackbirds in particular fill their beaks .They are quite greedy so and sos' They remind me of Hamsters when they stuff as much as they can into their mouths.

Lots of birds in the garden at the moment. Plenty of sparrows, blackbirds and starlings, a little robin and a couple of pigeons having a love-in on the fence. There are also a couple of dunnocks bobbing in and out of the lavender right outside the patio doors where I am sitting and I haven't seen those for a while.

Ann, for OH's meal I had large, thick individual pieces of beef - not sure of the cut but it was a sort of very lean casserole meat. I wanted to do it in the slow cooker so that he wouldn't notice how much was being cooked. I thought my cooker was just a standard size but when I was catering for a party of 50 a couple of years ago I borrowed some cookers and most of them were smaller than mine. I had planned to put in mushrooms, and some carrot and onion but there wasn't room so they had to be cooked separately. I did manage to cover the meat with a gravy made of thickened beef stock, tomato purée and plenty of red wine and very tasty it was too :-D

Kandj I definitely over catered on the cake front. I think people's tastes are changing. I also put out cheese scones and some savoury bits and pieces and they were all eaten.

While I've been posting a couple of great tits have flown in and I haven't seen them for a while either. It's clearly a good day for birds :-)

It sounds like your OH has had a weekend of surprises Vera and enjoyed all the
fuss for his special 80th birthday. I hope that you had enough coffee and cake to go
around today. If your friends stayed for afternoon tea, they really enjoyed themselves.
I hope that you can rest, relax and get your breath back tomorrow. Well Done You!!

The chaffinch has returned and the magpie has disappeared. All very strange.

So pleased it all went well Vera and that your OH enjoyed it all. What meat did you have in the slow cooker? And how big is the slow cooker?
A day of rest tomorrow then?

Well, I am shattered, but the man himself has had a wonderful time so it has all been worth it.

He was so surprised and delighted by each new arrival. The meal went well with lots of laughter. I had been worried the meat might not be well cooked as it had really been crammed into my slow cooker with not an inch of spare space but it came out perfectly. We finished with birthday cake made by daughter in the shape of the five pointed Russian Star, iced in red and with the hammer and sickle symbol on the top in gold icing.

Today we had sixteen people for coffee and cake at 11 am and several of them stayed till 4 which I hadn't expected, so at 2 I made a load of sandwiches.

The rain we had this morning and the wind has kept the birds away though I did see a little robin pecking away out there just now.

A touch of hubble bubble toil and trouble. Bet it is all happening chez Vera tinigh

Happy Birthday to your dear OH Vera. Plenty of surprises in store for him !!!

Goodness !! how big is your slow cooker??? To get meat in for 10 people.Must be like a cauldron LOL.
Have a fabulous weekend with all the rellies and guests <3

Wonderful Vera, how lovely for him. :-) :-) <3

How lovely to see a baby goldfinch Ann.

Thank you all for OH's birthday wishes. He still has no idea that family are on the way to see him - my brother, who will be arriving within the hour, even rang this morning to wish him happy birthday!

I managed to get meat for 10 in the slow cooker before he was even up so he just thinks it is a meal for us, and I managed to prepare veg. etc while he was watching TV last night. He is going to be so surprised when everyone comes - he thinks his celebration is the 16 friends who are coming for coffee and cake tomorrow morning :-D

Happy 80th birthday to Vera's husband. Hope you both have a wonderful weekend.

The very young starlings are so funny two of them were sharing a bath in our water feature, I didn't have the camera downstairs unfortunately, they looked so funny, then one of the hopped up to the segond tier of the cascade and had a shower under the spray from the top, one flew off and theother went back in the pool it was obviously enjoying it. :-D :-D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Vera's husband. Hope you all enjoy the 80th celebrations this weekend with family and friends and that Vera doesn't get too tired with everything.

The Jackdaw is back again. Just the one. He comes and goes. He is here now.
The chaffinch has disappeared..... I think this must be a half-way feeding house!!

Sounds like a possibility Jane diesn't it? Cats will be cats!

Ann,that must have been so nice to have seen the baby Goldfinch on the feeder.I haven't seen any Goldfinch here for a little while now.

There is a suspicious amount of little white and grey feathers on the ground under a tree that has a Woodpigeons nest :-0. I hope a youngster didn't fall out of the nest and that Thomas didn't have it !! :-S