April 29th – dying fly…

If you have, or have ever owned a Flatcoat Retriever you’ll recognise this classic (certainly not classy) sleeping pose.

It’s a good job our lounge is a fair size to have 2 sofas otherwise we’d be sitting on the floor.

Callie is currently out for the count, and snoring her head off, but I’m sure she’s dreaming up some mischief for tomorrow.

I hope you’re all sleeping as well as Callie and have sweet dreams

April 28th – Rain

Well, today (in the UK) we had rain for the first time in ages. I took today’s picture between showers to cheer us up. Our clematis is looking lovely at the moment, despite the dreary weather.

I know our friends on the farms and water companies desperately needed the rain that came today after a very dry April. Wouldn’t it be great if we had rain between midnight and 5am, to keep farmers and gardeners (etc) happy, and then nice sunshine during the day?

I managed to get out with the 4 legged children this afternoon, and funny enough, they weren’t at all bothered by the weather.

Stay safe people x

April 26th – Lockdown thoughts

Not the best photo in the world but seeing a plane in the sky this afternoon seemed like a rare sight these lock-down days.

As someone that cares about the planet, seeing less aeroplanes is a good thing. But on the other hand I love travel, and also having step son who is a pilot I look forward to travel restrictions being lifted.

The restrictions that we are experiencing really make us think about what we need, and how much we value them which has got to be a good thing, re-evaluating what is really important in our world, but as in this example it isn’t always that easy.

April 25th – Helpers?

Another baking hot day, and you would think that the 4 legged children would want to lay in the shade being black, but oh no, they decided to ‘help’ me in the garden.

This ‘help’ consisted of stealing tools; sitting on me; checking the screwdriver whilst in use; removing sweat from my face with their tongues and chewing wood required for the job I was doing.

I love them dearly and they certainly give us plenty to smile and laugh about

April 24th – choices….

Today’s post is about one of my favourite tipples…. Gin.

There are so many excellent gins on the market at the moment, and when you multiply that by the different tonics, plus garnishes the choice of drinks are vast.

I tend to always try gins neat before deciding what tonic to add. If the neat gin is aromatic and full of flavour I usually go for a plain Indian tonic.

Conversely, if the gin neat is a tad plain I will experiment with flavoured tonics (elderflower is one of my favourites)

I look forward to being able to share my collection with friends when the lockdown is over. Stay safe

April 23rd – Memories

A lazy day, slobbing in the garden today due to the fabulous weather we have in the UK at the moment, but I looked through some old photos of this time last year and came across the photo below.

It was another fab day, albeit not so warm, but we went on a great walk through the Somerset countryside, and this was pre-Alfie, so featured just Callie and Velvet.

We really look forward to venturing further to explore some more new walks but we will put this off to keep others safe and stop the spread of this nasty virus. Stay safe people, keep your spirits up and look forward to when this is all over x

April 22th – Symbolic

Today’s photo was taken whilst I was out walking the hounds and my mind was off wandering in it’s own weird way (Sorry in advance).

My thought was: ‘If some of the seeded dandelions represent people with virus like covid-19, they would be safe to walk by but if the wind blew and the seed flew and touched you you then got infected’ much the same as someone sneezing. So best to stay away because you can never tell when the wind might pick up (or someone might sneeze or cough).

I sometimes worry about the way my mind works but never mind…. Do you ever have weird thoughts? Stay safe and keep your distance from others x

April 21st – Another blooming lovely day

Not too much to say today, but hopefully a nice picture for you.

This was taken whilst taking the dogs out earlier. The blossom and blue skies definitely helps lift ones spirits.

Imagine if we had to endure lockdown during mid winter, with cold weather and grey skies.

Let’s all stay home, stay safe and well, to get this covid-19 business sorted ASAP. x

April 20th – What so you see?

Today’s photo, captured on my phone, could quite possibly be the worst photo I have ever taken. You can’t really see what it is…… Which actually is the point of today’s post. Confused? Thought so ….

Let me explain…. Whilst on my walk with the 4 legged children today, I ‘safely’ saw/passed a few folk riding bikes, running or walking the dogs, but I also noticed a lot of them had ear phones in. Now, I love music, and so I can understand why people want to listen to it, but they are missing out on so many sounds of nature.

Going back to the photo, it is of a skylark, which is less than 20cm in length and has a wingspan of just over 30cm, but it flies very high, hence the spec in the sky photo (which has been enlarged). Even, with the naked eye they are tricky to find, but the sound they make is amazing.

It sang for quite a while giving me a chance to hone in and find it despite being a tiny spec. Why not ditch the headphones next time you’re out and listen out for the wonderful sounds of nature.