Jay and feathers and surprise prize

A couple more photos of my jay on the garden wall and on the bird table. 

My jay is still safe in the next door garden.  I can see him up in one of my neighbour's trees.  However, this afternoon I drove to St Nicolas du Pélem and unfortunately saw a dead bird in the road.  It looked like a jay, but it was hard to see as a car passed just as I reached it.  On the way back home I stopped on the verge.  It was a jay, quite badly squashed, but I photographed one of the wings with it's beautiful blue barred feathers and plucked some of them to take home as they are so attractive.

The blue is so vibrant and it's the thing that always draws my attention to the jays when they are flying about.

I had some luck last month and having bought two euro tickets for a draw organised by the SPA, animal rescue organisation here in Brittany, I was told that I had won a table.  I went over to Malguénac yesterday afternoon and collected not just a lovely timber table, but also four chairs.  They now have pride of place under my pergola as my usual table and benches have been removed for sanding and preservative painting.

It's a good size and good quality table with an extending section which pops up in the middle and I'm very pleased with it.  I don't remember winning anything in a raffle for years and years so it was a lovely surprise.

Harry's original owners, J & B, came over for the afternoon and he sat on me most of the time just to show them that he was beginning to take over and rule the house.

And here's when Harry met Daisy ...

Daisy and Purrdy aren't entirely happy with Harry being here, but he's here to stay so they'll have to get used to it won't they?

Three things I like:

1.   Finding four eggs in the hen houses today, slightly more than usual, but still nowhere near what I should be collecting.

2.   Going to the tip this morning and getting rid of the big stock trailer full of stuff I had no use for.

3.   Getting my table put together and put in under the pergola.

Jays, Harry, poppies etc.

I hadn't realised how long it was since I'd posted.  It's been quite an exciting week for me having reached my first anniversary since my mini gastric bypass.  I've lost 66.1 kilos and am very pleased with myself!  If you want to see details of my year then check out http://minigastricbypass2011.blogspot.com

This photo is a reflection of me in my sitting room window which is shadowed I presume because of the double glazing.  Strange how my black and white striped top appears to have blue stripes as well.

When I was driving through my local town last week I had to stop to take a photo of this cardboard heart tied to a down pipe at the crossroads.

I'm not sure whether it was for anything special or just a different way of doing the heart with arrow drawn on a wall or carved into tree bark.

The poppies in my garden have been wonderful again this year in spite of the rain.

I am saving seed as usual for me and friends.

I have a jay who has started coming to my bird table.  In fact yesterday there were two of them, but I couldn't get to my camera fast enough.

This one is of him on my oak tree on the driveway at the bottom of the garden.

This afternoon I went to Malgenac to collect a lovely timber garden table and chairs which I had won in a raffle last month.  There were wonderful wild flowers planted at the edge of the town which I couldn't just go past.

Harry, my newest cat, has settled in pretty well now, apart from a few spats with my girls, Daisy and Purrdy, and has taken to sneaking in behind my back while I am leaning forward using the laptop.  Here he is after I had given up trying to sit in my own chair.  He's a gorgeous boy and I already love him to bits.

And here he is lying on the windowsill which he has taken over from Alfie.

The rain has ruined most of the roses and I've had to prune them all, but managed to save one little spray from against the pergola, which I brought in to finish opening indoors.

The hedgerows are clothed with bramble flowers and promises of lots of berries later this year - I can't wait.

Three things I like:

1.   Seeing the sunshine again after so much rain, and being able to read outside.
2.   Celebrating my first year anniversary of my mini gastric bypass.
3.   Collecting some free roofing felt and tacks for my hen house from a generous person.