Egrets and a butterfly

Same excuses, no ink and too busy! This weekend I had my nephew's wedding to attend, the reception was at a lovely golf club, the grounds looked out to Southampton Water in the distance. During the afternoon and evening I watched three cruise liners depart, including the Queen Mary 2.
Here are a few pics from this afternoons trip to the local nature reserve. We saw beautiful egrets, a cormorant, lapwings, pretty butterflies and dragonflies too. We explored a little further than we have before - big mistake as neither of us has a great sense of direction (actually mine is non - existent) - we ended up walking for at least an hour and a half, totally lost at one point!

No ink and no art but more trips!

All my good intentions to start my robin this week have come to nothing, firstly because I have once again been out a lot and secondly my printer has run out of ink so I can't even print out a reference photo. I can't do anything without that! However I have had some interesting trips this week (NOT including the one to Southampton to buy an outfit for my nephew's wedding - how I detest clothes shopping), so I do have a few photos to show. This will get back to being an art blog soon, I promise! My trips this week were Braxton Gardens, Hurst Castle, The New Forest Reptile Centre and Minstead Church. Braxton Gardens are pretty little gardens just outside Keyhave so we were well placed when we had time to spare to catch the little ferry out to the castle. Hurst Castle saw us braving the steep steps and spiral staircase up to the roof, what fantastic views there are. Yesterday we went to the reptile centre as the RSPB had a large screen monitoring the web cam that's on the hobby nest(lots of interesting info from the expert there), but we also went around the reptile pits, peering in hopefully searching for the various inhabitants. We saw everyting except the smooth snake and the sand lizard. Again with a little time to spare we popped along to Minstead church, saw the grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the author of Sherlock Holmes) also the lovely stained glass. The pics from top to bottom are - bee macro, view from the roof of Hurst Castle, common frog, adder close up, Gatekeeper butterfly and the Robert Eberhard stained glass window in Minstead Church. I must add that the adder was taken from behind netting and a safe distance!

Taivas, a toy and a trip

This week has been busy as I thought but I think I've decided on a robin for my next art project. It's from the photo by Jan (Down Yonder Green Valley).
I took some pics of Taivas with her new toy from our Secret Summer parcel, also have posted a few from my trip this week to Furzey Gardens. Mary and I spent a pleasant afternoon there on Wednesday, we loved watching the little moorhen chicks running over the lily pads.Furzey House is a christian retreat in a secluded part of the gardens.
I had a fright yesterday when walking Ashley and Disney - poor Disney was pottering about, minding her own business when suddenly a pony went into reverse and kicked her. It was hard enough to knock Disney off her feet and I was worried that she was badly hurt - when she got up she couldn't put any weight on her back leg. Fortunately it wore off quickly and she is fine, helped by regular doses of arnica during the afternoon and evening.

Flatcoats in the forest

I didn't feel much like art last week and this week will be busy but I will try and decide what my next project will be and make a start. At least my girls got a decent run at the weekend, they were both delighted to find their favourite mud hole nearly full to the brim. They had a good wallow! I'm also pleased to say that Disney's drugs seem to be working well, I'm just waiting for the results of Friday's blood test to confirm that the dose is correct.

A sad day

Today is a sad day, this afternoon we had to have our sweet Semele put to sleep. A sweeter natured dog you could not find, she was my husband's devoted companion from the day we got her, aged nearly three years.



Semele 10.7.95 - 2.7.07