Down in the woods and flowers in the village

This photo was taken this morning in my garden, where the wisteria is coming into flower on the wall of the gym.  There are so many flowers blooming now and here are a few of the ones in my garden, my neighbour's garden and the lanes in the village.  The blackthorn tiny little white flowers are particularly pretty and, from a distance, all the hedgerows around here look as if they've been dusted with snow.  I love the yellow of the forsythia too.

Dandelions are growing profusely everywhere and the rabbits get a good handful every morning and to encourage them into their house at night.  The seedheads are lovely too.

This deadnettle is on my field entrance and the horse chestnut bud is in the lane.

The primroses and the muscari are in a neighbour's garden and the foggy view is of the field at the back of the same garden.

Pussywillow in the lane and Snowflake in a neighbour's garden.

From the end of my garden I can walk down into this wood - well I can now I've lost weight - I have been here for six years this month and this was the first time I have managed the sloping paths - and it was well worth it!   When you're down in the woods there is no-one else there and nothing except birdsong and the sound of the stream and little waterfalls.  It's as if you are the only person in the world.  

I found a very intricate piece of wood which is now sitting on one of my windowsills.  It has an amost perfect circle formed by a small branch.  The picture should be 90 degrees to the right, but for some reason it won't upload that way.

The last photo is of a friend's neighbour about two miles away whose cat travels on his tractor with him.  Because the cat kept slipping off the paintwork, he has attached a cardboard box for Caramel to sit safely inside.

Three things I like:

1.   The incredible summer temperature weather we have been having recently.

2.   Seeing the wisteria blossom starting to open - the colour is wonderful.

3.   Collecting three blue eggs this week from my Cream Legbars.

Photos from last Sunday afternoon's drive and back at home

It was such beautiful weather on Sunday afternoon that I took 2-3 hours driving back from seeing a friend in hospital instead of the hour it could have taken.  These photographs were taken on the way back home and in my village too. 

As I tried to leave the village after sorting out the goats, chickens and ducks, there was a coach unloading school children.  There are often coaches which bring visiting children to the village to see the very old buildings here.

This photo sneaked in.  It is of bargains I got from the supermarket early on Saturday morning.  1.4kg of tomatoes for €1 and 580g of chestnut mushrooms for the same amount.  The cauliflower was also really good value and tasted wonderful with a homemade Cheddar cheese sauce and crispy bacon rashers.

These lovely daffodils were in St Caradec.  There's always a wonderful show there each year along the verges on the outskirts of the village.

These are catkins on hazel trees outside St Gilles Vieux Marché and a superb waterfall tumbling down into a small stream.

A butcher's shop frontage - but I can't remember where.  The paintings on the sides of the windows are quite detailed.

This is a huge tree in the cemetery at St Mayeux.  The trunk has an amazing texture.

The church photo was taken in St Caradec where the daffodils were.

I am not a religious person at all, but couldn't resist the statue outside Bothoa church against the blue sky.

Lovely clouds in the sky on Sunday afternoon.  This is a field which had the most amazing colour, not sure whether it's caused by a chemical or what.

An interesting tree with accompanying cows

and finally, an unknown creature which was on my terrace being terrorised by the cats.  I rescued it and placed it on the hot stones making up the wall of the pond.

Three things I like:

1.   Finding my solitaire engagement ring fits the correct finger after 20+ years.

2.   Driving in the sunshine with the hood down - it always takes me back to my youth.

3.   Wishing 4 friends Happy Birthday today and it's my neighbour's grandson's birthday too.

Veggie beds, hens and goats and views of the village

I've had a worker helping me, he was with a friend who had to return to the UK unexpectedly so I got him for ten days and he's cleared all my veggie and flower beds and dug them through.  I've followed behind him sowing seeds and being very happy that the hard work has been done for me.  The tiny weeny lettuce plants I put in the polytunnel are growing except for one casualty which the slugs got to.  I am organic except for slug pellets.  I just can't sit back and let my little plants get eaten, but the lettuces seem to be the only thing attacked each year.  I have parsley growing strongly and the strawberry plants are ready to be planted now.  The first three years I had the polytunnel I grew strawberries inside and they were great.  Last year I planted strawberries outside and in spite of it being a good weather summer the fruiting was very poor.  So - this year I'm going back to planting inside the polytunnel again.

In the back end of the barn the chickens and goats seem to mix happily and I really like to see them in there.

The blue egg laying Cream Legbars have settled in  to their new very large area but are still not laying which is very frustrating.

Flowers in the lane in my village and garden, a neighbour's woodpile and what's left of leylandii which needed to come down.

Just a few logs for the winter!    

And a foggy morning before the sun came out, scorching hot, and I had my first swimsuit sunbathing session of the year.  I love reading in the sunshine and managed to almost finish my book club book - only another 32 pages to go now, so I'll definitely get it read in time for the meeting in ten days.  The book is Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant and takes place in an Italian convent in 1570.  Not my cup of tea, but I will have read it all.

Today the fog has cleared and come back and almost cleared again, but there was no sun this morning unfortunately although it  was 14°C so not cold, just no sunshine.  As I write this the sun is now out and so shall I be in a moment!

 As I couldn't go out and sunbathe I cleared out the fridge freezer in the kitchen area so feel very virtuous.  I gave the dogs across the road some of the slightly freezer burned meat so they are happy.  I have got out some butternut squash soup for my supper and a small lamb joint to defrost for tomorrow.

Three things I like:

1.   The rabbits going into their house at night with no hassle.  It used to take me ages to get them in and now finally they seem to be getting the idea after more than two years.

2.   Receiving an email reply from my surgeon within three hours of sending mine to him.

3.   Knowing that a friend's got through a back operation and is now recovering well.