Hobbies and Crafts

Hello All

Ann I love hats and will wear them at every opportunity, Summer and Winter, weddings and christenings but never at funerals. It has taken me to become "mature" to gain the confidence though, so I feel that perhaps there are some perks to this getting older lark ha ha.

I also looked up the Hellfire Caves Vera and they look awesome and cool inside on a scorching hot day trip, so I hope you enjoyed it all. The red kites sitings would be a bonus.

Good to know that Thomas is behaving himself now Jane or perhaps the tinkling of his neck bell is alerting others now.

A very quiet bird day here, so the seed/suet pellets are lasting longer for a change.

I think Thomas is going to have to have a Cow Bell..........very sad news
He has killed the Adult Moorhen :-( :-( :-(.............I just hope the 2 young ones are alright.

He was sitting beside it outside the back door this morning.Not eaten or mauled .So it must have been a gift :-S..Not quite the present I was hoping to have today.I have proper birthday presents lol

We have put the bird in the field across the road rather than in the bin as I am sure it will be a meal for something.

Hello All
Oh no Jane, that is sad news, the poor moorhen and poor little ones too. I hope they are big enough to fend for themselves now. Thomas is slowly getting rid of all the wildlife in your garden. I wonder what he has his eyes on for his next kill?

Happy Birthday Jane, I hope you have other better presents than the moorhen though. The weather is nice enough so I hope you are enjoying your birthday.

We are watching Wimbledon and the spectators look rather hot and bothered today.

Still not a lot of activity around now but both feeders are filled and I have just put fresh clean water in two bird baths so its all there for when the birds need it.

Happy birthday Jane and very very naughty Thomas.

Kandj I think the best place to watch the tennis is in your house, it looks much too hot at Wimbledon.

Happy birthday Jane. I hope you are having a good day.

How sad about the moorhen. I hope the little ones can cope without their mum now. Thomas, you need a long spell on the naughty step.

I suppose you are sure it was Thomas., A few years ago we went through a patch of finding dead birds by the back door and assumed it was one or other of our two cats. Then one time we came back from a few days away to find a couple of thrushes by the back door. Our cats had been in the cattery while we were away so it must have been some other animal though why they would leave their presents by our door I don't know. :-S

maybe another cat was coming A'courting?

LOL

:-D :-D..I'm sure it was Thomas .He was right beside it :-D :-D,just waiting for the back door to be opened to bring it in !!!.

Oh dear Jane,how sad,hope the babies are big enough to fend for themselves. Naughty Thomas,not a nice present,hope you got some better ones than that !!!

I hope you had a really lovely birthday, I am sorry my wishes are belated, I haven't been around much the last few days.

My daughter had a threatened miscarriage, all seems to be OK now, fingers crossed, she has had scans and baby is doing well and they can find no sign of problems.

Then the little one got Chicken pox so couldn't go to the childminder or pre school
so we had her,also so Mum could get some rest, especially as it has been so hot. and neither of them could sleep properly.

Just preparing myself for retirement next week ...............

M.

Maryanna, hope all continues to be well for your daughter. Aaw and poor little one chickenpox is so uncomfortable in the warm weather. Has your daughter had it?

Well you are certainly preparing for retirement and all the child minding you can do then :-D :-D

Weather has changed here at the moment and is dull and showery.

Not a nice day here either, although when the sun has come out it has been very warm.

We have a family do here at the weekend and I have been trying to get the garden ready. It has either been too hot or too wet, it looked amazing last week but not most of the Roses are over and a lot of the Perennials are past their best, the Phlox are coming out though so should look good and the tubs and baskets are "blooming ".

All the kids had chicken pox when they were small, we were on holiday and they all went down with it including the youngest who was about seven months old, he was smothered. Luckily we were in Cornwall and the weather was bad and we were self catering so we could keep them covered up and it was too bad for them to go on the beach or in the pool.

Those Jackdaws have taken over as being the major pests from the Magpies, they are sooooo noisy !!!!!

M.

We actually ignored the grey sky and went out as planned to Hidcote garden and we hardly had any rain, just a sprinkle, then the sun came out and it was very pleasant. It was windy but a warm wind and the gardens were beautiful, so much in flower, Roses Delphiniums, poppies antirhinums, sweet peas, phlox and even a few Dahlia plus loads of plants I recognise but can't identify. Lots of photos taken. We then had a picnic lunch, in the car overlooking a field of sheep and to the left of us a view over the valley to Stratford on Avon.

Hello All

Very few birds want to come to the feeders but the bird baths are still well used. I just wish the birds wouldnt use it as a toilet though!!

Maryanna, that must have been such a worry time for all your family with daughter's threatened miscarriage. You must breath a sigh of relief now and I hope thinks have calmed down and everything goes as planned for her pregnancy
Chicken pox isn't very good so I hope the little one isn't too bothered with spots.
Looks like you will be kept busy in your retirement.

Ann, that was a wise move to ignore the weather forecast and go ahead and enjoy a lovely day out at Hidcote garden and on to a picnic with nice scenery.
A much more interesting day than I had yesterday because I'd put whashing out early and it rained and so I brought the wet clothes in and then put them out again as it brightened up and then it rained again..... I wasn't a happy bunny lol.

Kandj, I don't trust the weather today so my washing is drying in the conservatory. :-) :-)

Maryanna I hope all is well with your Daughter and Bump now.That must have been quite a scare.Chicken pox is a horrible thing isn't it.But good that most Children get it when they are really young.My Gt Nephew has just had it ,he is 3.I'm not sure ,but I think I have heard of Chicken Pox Parties.So that all the children can get it all at the same time and all done and dusted.I remember my 2 having it and they were absolutely pickled :-S

My bird food is lasting so much longer now since 'killer ' arrived.But at least the little birds are still coming.I still wonder if the little Moorhens are ok :-(

The thing is we are pretty sure that the cat has been having to survive by hunting for quite a long time.I just wish he realised that now he is well fed he doesn't need to do it any more.He is becoming a proper little porker lol.When he turned up he looked big (because of all of the thick long fur) but I could feel every rib and he was definitely really hungry.
Next week we will get him microchipped and vaccinated so he will officially be ours then.I have given it long enough now just to see if I could find any owners,and I have seen no posters or pleas for a cat resembling him.

Butterflies galore today .I don't think I have seen so many in years.Bees too.I think the clover on the lawn has a lot to do with it and the hot weather.

So counting down the days now Maryanna to retirement :-D :-D.My Sister is also counting down to hers ,but that is Christmas .She can't wait.

I hope the weather stay good for the Family do this weekend.I think tomorrow is good but not sure about Sunday.
Just watching Murray .Not sure he will get through to the final ...but you never know.

Good Morning All

A nice sunny day today. I have washed the bird baths and filled the window and ground feeders, so just sitting back to see who fancies putting in an appearance today

No butterflies here Jane, or none that I have noticed. Better go to Spe*sav*rs!
Andy Murray lost out to Roger Federer yesterday despite our two supportive efforts.

Maryanna, I hope that all is now good with your daughter's pregnancy and that you all will be able to relax and enjoy your families get together this weekend.

Hope everyone is well and will have a good weekend whatever you all have planned

Morning everyone,

I spent yesterday in Cambridge with a ladies' group I belong to and in the afternoon we had a boat trip on the river. We saw lots of dragonflies, swans and ducks including a duck with 8 tiny ducklings. They were so small they must have been newly hatched. Later we saw another duck with just one duckling and think any others she had were probably taken by predators. I hope her one child survives till adulthood.

As the boat was manoeuvring by a lock gate we saw a man on the bank push one of his two dogs into the river. The dog was only a few feet from the engine of the boat and one of the crew yelled at the chap to get his dog out of the water. Then we realised that in that spot there was nowhere for the dog to get a paw hold to haul itself out and it wasn't wearing a collar for anyone to grab. The owner had to lean over the water and get hold of a chunk of skin and fur to pull the poor animal out.
As the boat straightened and moved away we saw the man push both his very reluctant dogs into the water again. I'm not sure if he was being deliberately unkind or if he just lacked common sense but they were not happy dogs. :-(

What an idiot that man was Vera :-S :-S.Cruel comes to mind especially if the dogs were scared to go in.Plus nowhere to get out !!!!!!.
What kind go boat were you in?.2 years ago OH and I had a punt ride and as I was getting in I ended up head first in the bottom of the punt :-S..I can't begin to tell you embarrassed I was.I was just glad I was wearing trousers lol as my Backside was right up in the air.We are going to Cambridge on Monday,but not having a punt :-D.I need to change a handbag that OH bought me for my birthday.Bless him .It was a lovely thought but was really not my kind of bag.So rather than say it was lovely and not use it I was honest :-D.I hope he understood.

I saw a Mummy Duck today with about 8 or 10 tiny yellow chicks.But they were on the pavement on one of the busiest roads :-S :-S.I am just hoping that they got to the river at the bottom without trying to cross the road,because there was no way they would have survived that.

Kandj I think all the Butterflies must be here then.They are everywhere :-D
I hope you are having a good Weekend and that the weather has been as nice as it has been here today.

I expect the Family do will be in full swing at Maryanna's now :-D :-D

Do you know what, I give up !!!

The " do " is today, Sunday, typically after all the sun we have had recently, it has decided to pack in, no chance of getting the tables into the garden and sitting in the sun.

Yesterday, Himself went out for the day, on the way out of the drive he took out a gate post and dented his car. ( lucky it wasn't mine he was driving ) so he went off half an hour later than planned in a panic.

Soon after, daughter and little one arrived, so that meant getting out all her toys to show her Uncles....... Two of them then took her off the the local park to play and catch some fish in the stream they all came back soaked.

Daughter is suffering with a bad back so not able to do much to help and daughter in law was using a voucher she had for a spa day, eldest son went out on a twelve mile walk.

In the evening youngest son arranged to meet his friends in Guildford, missed the train so had to be given a lift.

Everyone disappeared to bed 10 ish leaving me to make a birthday cake. I went to bed at midnight only to be woken up 1ish by a loud bang and then the sound of scrubbing.

At 3am youngest son came home only to find his father had locked him out so had to ring the bell and bang on the door to be let in. He then spent most of what was left of the night throwing up in the ( newly scrubbed ) bathroom.

I went down this morning to find the hall covered in brown sticky stuff, whatever ???!!!

Turns out Himself had dropped a can of Coke on the mat as he came in, it had gone all over the outside if the front door, the carpet, doors to the living room, loo and study, the two side tables, the curtains....... Everywhere.

Thank goodness the new front door has been delayed so we haven't had the new carpet put down yet, phew !!!! But the new decorating has a few extra embellishments.

He tells me it will " be alright" and to stop going on.

Nothing like a nice family get together, they will all be here in a few hours, lunch is planned for 1pm.

Keep you fingers crosse nothing else goes wrong.

Sounds like everyone else has been having fun !!!

M.

Hello All

Cambridge sounds good with lady friends Vera, but not so good at all for those poor frightened dogs! What on earth was the horrible cruel man thinking of? I just wish someone had rescued the two dogs and then pushed the man into the water so that he had a taste of his own medicine!

Jane, would you believe I drew the blinds this morning and a beautiful red admiral butterfly was there, such a nice surprise, so please will you send others along today

Maryanna, please don't give up ha ha. Sounds like a typical family gathering so just go with the flow, it can only get better! I hope the sun comes out and your daughter's back becomes more comfortable and that everything will be great soon.
What was the family occasion please? Obviously someone's birthday.... more cake!!

Ann ,I love all the beautiful flowers at Hidcote gardens. Thanks for sharing them.
I'm sure Luke had a good 2nd birthday with lots of fun and pressies galore.
Now where did all those months go to??!! He looks as cute as ever bless him.