Oh dear I have been a long time in posting a blog

Happy New year to anyone reading this. Here we are 2011 and me being forever optimistic I am very exciting at the prospect of a new year beginning.

Already I have enrolled in an Open University Course, have started an evening class with my grandson Daniel doing a stain glass window project, have started looking into Universities in Canada as Daniel is hoping to go there in 2012....if he goes to Canada then so do I!!! Very exciting prospect. Then of course I still am busy taking piano lessons and doing my volunteering work with the Riding for the Disabled.

Spring is on the way, I can see signs of new bulbs pushing their heads through the dead leaves and debris of the winter, the days are starting to get longer; little by little, our weather although very wet and dreary is better than what some people are having...think Australia, how terrible for those people. Our dogs come in from their walk totally filthy and drip muddy water everywhere, or they decide to shake themselves as soon as they get into the kitchen so mud splatters up the walls, Sam (the german shepherd) loves jumping in the lake so you can imagine the state he is in with his long black coat. Still they are worth it our lives would be the poorer without them. I love walking them through the woods, there is always something new to discover and if I am early enough seeing the sunrise over the tops of the trees all pink and blue.
I am truly blessed and a new year is always a good time to step back and reflect on the many wonderful things in my life, my family, my health, my good fortune, I don't believe we should take these things for granted.

One of my new Year Resolutions is to try and write in this blog more, so, so far so good!

Our feathered friends

Last summer we bought a couple of baby peacocks, and up until now kept them inside a secure pen, but the other day we decided they were now old enough and hopefully sensible enough to roam free. What an adventurous pair they are. They love to sit on my car roof, unfortunately they like to leave little "presents" behind, but mostly they seem to enjoy seeing how high they can get. I often see them sitting on the eaves of the roof I can't begin to imagine how they got up there. They can fly of course, but not so high as that surely!!! They are certainly ruling the roost with the chickens, rooster and guinea fowl, every thing scatters when they decide to grace us with their presence on the ground. Even our dogs are wary of them The male, although he has a beautiful metallic blue neck, hasn't got his fully grown tail feathers yet, but this doesn't stop him from opening up the few dowdy feathers that he has at the moment to try to impress his mate. My one fear was that they would be doing that awful screeching sound all the time, but at the moment they are fairly quiet, which is just as well for our quinea fowl are dreadful. We have two of them and when they get separated from each other you wouldn't believe the racket they make.

We also have some new arrivals on the lake. A pair of manderin ducks and a couple of Canadian geese. Hope they don't all start mating...

British Rail and "Rats"

Okay, here is an advert for British Rail. In spite of all the awful things you hear about our train/underground system, I have to say I have had a very pleasant journey to London today. The ticket collector was very friendly, the train was on time, clean, bright and nearly empty, inspite of it being 8.30 in the morning and what can be more relaxing then speeeding through the English countryside seeing sights you would never get to see by car. I sat back in the comfortable seat and listed to my Ipod, the only thing missing was a nice cup of tea and toast. Might make a suggestion to the powers that be. Even the fare I thought was reasonable, it worked out at about £7.00 each way. I guess this blog is a bit sad really.....maybe I ought to get out more instead of being buried in the countryside.


Anyway to make this blog more interesting, here are some pictures of a couple of "rats" we are looking after for a friend of mine while she is in hospital...to say the least, Sam, Megan and Jess are not amused!!




Love to you all

More babies

You won't believe this but we have another twelve baby ducks. This time by one of our white ducks... the little darlings hatched out this morning. The nest was close to the house and we have been giving it a wide berth for a few weeks now, espeacially as the mom duck has a go at us if we venture too near. I first spotted them in the swimming pool having a good drink and then they couldn't get out so in spite of the mom assuming I was trying to hurt her babies I managed to get them all out and she waddled off with all of them behind her to our lake which is a good 100 yards away. I followed her down, and it was lovely to see the male duck coming over to greet them. I swear he looked really excited. While she was on the nest he used to come up to visit her and then go back down to the lake to have his way with the other females!! Tonight they are all now settled on the lake and looking a very happy family.

New Babies

We have some new arrivals, I was standing at the window looking towards the lake when I saw a mallard duck wandering across to the creek with a bunch of ducklings behind her. I dashed out with my camera and did a head count. Thirteen brown ones and three little yellow ones. I think she must have been mating with our white ducks as well as her own kind. One of the little yellow ones got stuck in the ditch, so I picked it up to send it on its way. I couldn't believe how fragile it felt. Isn't it the cutest little thing.

11th April 2010

Sunday morning, for once the sun is shining, bringing with it the promise of spring. As I look out my window I see the daffodils in bloom along with the blossom on the trees. A robin is scurrying about in the bushes looking for worms, it such a joy to see the signs of summer approaching after such a long wet winter.

We are out for Sunday lunch today with our daughter and grandson, no cooking hurrah!!