End of January

These pictures are from last year, but during the walk today the initial green shoots of the bluebells were everywhere.

In the field there was a man training a Harris hawk. I tried to put Tova on her lead but we were stampeded by dogs and much chasing in circles resulted. The hawk was completely unconcerned by the dogs and ignored her trainer until he turned his back on her, when she launched herself!

Walk in the Woods

 Walked at Wagoners Wells; a bright, cold day, perfect for striding out. Tradition has it that these ponds were produced as Hammer Ponds, with the falls between them driving the hammers used to create the iron bands around barrels and wagon wheels.

Water cascading down the banks has created some sculptural root patterns.

 The reflection in the water surface is broken by ice.

 Even decay looks good in this light.

Tova the Norwegian Bohund is simultaneously frightened and intrigued by the falls connecting all the ponds.

A perfect day.

Spring is in the Air

Leaving the house to walk the dog I noticed these shoots coming up; some kind of bulb, I forget what, but how lovely.

 After days of cloud cover and mild temperatures, today we have bright sunshine and a nip in the air.

 Yet everywhere I walk I see signs of Spring.

There are buds forming on the blueberry bushes.

I saw a young deer in the woods.

It feels like a blessing or a benediction - (why does religion have all the best words?)

 Rhubarb, that Hungry Gap saviour, is pushing through the earth.

Even my poor geranium is fooled into thinking it's time to bud.

The days are getting longer and there's hope in the air.

Twelfth Night

Well the decorations have been taken down, the tree is cut up and waiting in the Green Bag to be collected with the garden waste and we're all back at work/uni/college. The house always looks both cleaner and barer once the decorations are removed and I'm never sure if I like it or not.

So I decided to buy these bright red tulips to give some colour. I always have mixed feelings about cut flowers; they look so wonderful indoors, but as soon as they are cut they start dying. Plus there's the whole ecological question of buying flowers from S Africa etc and the cost of transporting them. So on the rare occasion that I buy flowers I try to always get British ones.

These tulips are British; now I know that its been mild this year, but where in the UK is it warm enough to have tulips in flower? Surely even the Scillies won't be warm enough yet? Does that mean these flowers have been hot-housed? Oh, the guilt with even this small pleasure!

First Recci

In late November Beloved Husband (BH) and I went on our first reconnaissance trip to the City. We stayed in the Marble Arch flats on Baker St. I've been talking to everyone about our plans and have received several recommendations of areas to look at. CB from the Arvon house in Devon had told me about Child's Hill, an area I'd not heard off, located where the Finchley Rd meets the Cricklewood Rd.
So using the underground we set off to Golders Green on the Northern Line, where we planned to find a pub and have lunch. Armed with an OS Explorer map, the A-Z and open minds we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Underground at GG is overground. Less pleasantly surprised by the lack of pubs; I had imagined one of those typical London pubs on a street corner with Victorian stained glass windows and overflowing window boxes.

Finally found a rather tatty place in the Finchley Rd - at least the Guinness and chips were good.
After much consultation of the maps we decided to get off the beaten track and try and find Child's Hill Park. Passing lots of good-sized 1930's houses on the way, it took us a while to realise what was odd - there were no Xmas decorations. Our little Market Town is quite diverse in churches; Catholic, High-Church, C of E, Methodist, Evangelical and Home Churches - all of course Christian. It really brought home to me how WASPish our home town is.
Here we passed an old Anglican church now run by Swarmi S, found a Muslim centre at Child's Hill and saw that the local pub was advertising Hannukah Celebrations.
The park was small but lovely, with a cafe and a children's playground. From it we could see what look alike an interesting development so headed that way.

Later research in a local cafe using BH's iPad revealed it to be a new sustainable development of 1,2 and 3 bed places. Quite interesting and not what we were expecting at all.

Child's Hill centre itself was pretty much as expected.

I quite liked it - not sure I'd be very comfortable in a trendy cafe-society area.
The little cafe was good and had amazing Millionaire's Shortbread.
Then we braved the buses and had a great run all down the Finchley Rd, past O2 Shopping centre, Lord's Cricket Ground (that bought a smile to BH's face) and onto Baker Street.

New Year's Day 2012

The word of the day is:

jad·ed

   [jey-did]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

dulled or satiated by overindulgence: a jaded appetite.

2.

worn out or wearied, as by overwork or overuse.

3.

dissipated: a jaded reprobate.

with thanks to Dictionary.com