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Saturday 30 April 2011

Friday

While most of the rest of the world was glued to their TV screens, or waving flags on the streets of London, Devizes was a very peaceful place, with hardly anyone about. We passed maybe 3 or 4 dog walkers, saw about half a dozen people in Sainsburys and 3 regulars in the White Bear.












I did have a sneaky look at THE DRESS, but I'm afraid I dont do sitting in front of the TV if I can help it. I wish the newly married couple a long and happy life together, as I would all newly married couples.

Thursday 28 April 2011

Scavenger Hunt

I'm a real sucker for a photographic challenge, and this one, which I found earlier this month at Postcards from the PP, seemed like a good one to have a go at. If you click the link and press Scavenger Hunt at the top you can see the other entrants as well.
So here are my twelve for this month

1) April Showers - a bit of a cheat, as it was after a watering with a hosepipe rather than a real shower of rain (which was in rather short supply this month)



2) Breakfast - this could also be my entry for "Eggs", but I decided on a different shot for that.



3) Your camera (well, my camera actually)




4) A set of keys - these are the ones I use the most




5) An interesting shop name - the closest I could get, well I do live in Devizes!




6) A cross - a factory making piston rings




7) A church - the church was actually behind me, and I've snapped it before (for my OU final submission), so this is what you get instead.




8) Eggs - ready for scrambling, 2 singles and a double yolker, but could perhaps also be an entry for the next subject?




9) Something yellow




10) A sculpture - one of eight Gryphons circling the fountain in the Market Square




11) Something to do with Shakespeare -




12) Something to do with St. George's Day - I'll drink to that!

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Easter weekend

I've been looking forward to Easter weekend for ages, as it was our first family get-together for quite some time. The weather had been so bad at Christmas that Mum decided to stay put in Essex rather than travel to deepest, darkest Wiltshire, likewise the Surrey contingent, so I planned for us all to meet up on Easter Sunday.
Inevitably this meant some travelling for poor old Mum, but she bravely put up with it. My sister transferred her to relatives at Marlow Bottom, and we picked her up from there, the worst part of the journey was westwards on the M4 on Good Friday morning, but this didn't last too long, and we were back home by lunch time.



After a sustaining lunch and a short nap, Mum wanted a bit of a walk, so I took her along the road from us, into Quakers Walk and across the field where we enjoyed the peace and the birdsong - and fortunately the rape was just before that point when it starts to smell a bit unpleasant




Saturday was relatively quiet, we took a walk down to town and watched some of the canoes leaving the wharf on the Devizes to Westminster race, here is one entrant on the first few yards of the 154 mile journey.




Then on Sunday the rest of the family arrived. Here are the oldest (Mum, 87) and youngest (Marissa, 6 months) members of my family.




Here we have the Japanese contingent, Junko, my daughter-in-law, Yuko, her sister, and Marissa my granddaughter.




Lunch




Dessert




Family line up




It was such a fun day, they are all such lovely people and get on so well together, the weather was perfect, plenty to eat and drink. Thanks for coming, you guys, and lets hope its not too long before we all get together again.

Wednesday 20 April 2011

A random post

. . . just to let you know I'm still here.
I've been spending time in the garden, mostly weeding and watering, and on Sunday I made up my hanging baskets. I bought the fuscias and nepetia, but all the rest I've grown from seed, hoping they'll be ready to hang out by the end of may.



I gave this potentilla a very severe haircut just a couple of weeks ago, and it has rewarded me by bursting into bloom today.



Ooooh, look, strawberries.



One of eight gryphons which encircle the fountain in the middle of the market square




The fountain



No Cassie, you know you aren't allowed on the worktop!



Lilac hedge in the front garden, from the bedroom window, it smells delicious.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

D is for . . .

. . . daffodil, the last one left in the garden, all the others have died off.



. . . dictionary, essential equipment for crossword addicts.



. . . double yoker, one of our eggs for scrambling this morning.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Neighbours

We live in a really nice town, in a lovely county, close to some fantastic countryside, and have met some of the most friendly people you are likely to meet. However we are unlucky enough to live next door to the most unpleasant man you could imagine. Ever since we arrived he has been confrontational and extremely unpleasant, and seems to have made it his raison d'etre to annoy us as much as he possibly can.
When we first moved here we took down a few old trees, they were only very leggy elders, covered in years and years worth of ivy, and he took great exception to that as he said we had spoiled his view! He even contacted the council and threatened us with £1000 fine for felling trees! Needless to say when the man from the council called to investigate he just laughed.
Just recently he has surpassed himself in his childishness, and has placed 2 windchimes and a bell on the tree right next to our fence, just outside our back door. Only thing is that the bell is too heavy so it doesn't blow in the wind anyway, and the windchimes are actually quite pleasant and dont annoy us at all.
I wonder what he'll think of next? Watch this space.

Sunday 10 April 2011

C is for . . . .

. . . clutter. This little corner of the kitchen, away from the main working area, just seemed to be a magnet for all sorts of stuff.



. . . corner. Now filled in with a couple of shelves, and loaded up with some of the bits and pieces from the cluttered area.



. . . clear space - well almost.

Saturday 9 April 2011

Friday 8 April 2011

Yesterday

Cassie loves to be in the garden, but yesterday it was a bit too hot for her, so she found a nice shady spot



Spectacular sunset


Thursday 7 April 2011

B is for . . . .

. . . blue, which is my favourite colour. Forget-me-nots are one of my favourite flowers and I love this juxta-position of the blue with the yellow.



. . . breakfast, the most important meal of the day.



. . . before. We had to remove a carousel unit from our kitchen in order to access the gas pipe so we could install a gas hob. We decided then that we didn't want to put the carousel back, so instead Damien is going to fit us a shelf unit in this corner spot. Come back tomorrow to see it fitted.




. . . boxes of fruit and veg. Its market day in Devizes today.




. . . bins. Would you believe its also bin collection day in the town centre! Wouldn't you think it would make more sense to collect the bins the day after market day?