Another trip to the lakes

On a beautiful sunny morning I went for a walk with my eldest son to Anton Lakes. My son has recently purchased a super-duper long lens and was wanting to try it out by pointing it at some birds.


I felt quite inferior with my much smaller lens but am quite pleased with some of the results I got. 

This robin sat and posed for me beautifully

Cormorants sat on the highest branches

A hybrid, mostly mallard but think he might have a bit of shoveller duck in him

Mallard (see the difference to the one above)

One of the many mute swans that frequent the lake

A goosander (managed to get better photos than the ones I took the other day)

And again, you can see his colours better on this one

So elegant, I love it when swans glide through the water like this

I love the water glistening on this swan's neck and beak

Another mallard  - what a stunning colour they are when the sun shines on them!

And last but not least a beautiful tufted duck

Let's hope this sunny weather continues. It makes so much difference when taking photos and we have had more than enough grey murky days recently.

Crocheting up a storm!

I am pleased to say that I have now dealt with all those pesky ends I was telling you about on my Autumn colours corner-to-corner crochet throw and completed the edging. It now has pride of place on my sofa and I am really pleased with it. I must say that I am glad to have finished it, it is very heavy and I was roasting underneath it as I was working on it. The only issue now is we have another matching 2-seater sofa and that is looking a bit naked now so I feel another throw coming on sometime soon - perhaps a V-stitch one (a pattern I have been wanting to try)!

I have now started on my next project that I told you about in my last crochet related post - making the first of my Sunshine blankets to donate to a local residential care home. This is hopefully my first of twelve blankets that I have challenged myself to complete this year and I am really liking the colours of this one.

I don't know the name of this square, I found the pattern online but it was in Dutch, with the help of Google translate I managed to work out how to crochet it although I must say it took a bit of doing. Even after the translation, for example, it talked about sticks instead of trebles and there seemed to be no difference between chains and double crochets so hope my interpretation is correct. For now I am calling it my Dutch square until I find out differently.


These squares will need blocking and luckily enough I have just the tool for the job coming to me very soon. It is a product by Daisy Boo Creations and I will show it to you when it arrives, it is still in production as we speak and I am really excited to try it out!


I will keep you updated with my progress. 

Winter has arrived at last!

Well, we are at last experiencing some wintry weather but hopefully it will not spoil these daffodils which have been out on our local recreation ground since Christmas.

Both DH and I have had colds since just before the New Year but decided that we needed to get out and blow the cobwebs away so we went for a short walk today to Anton Lakes, a local nature reserve. I have to say it was really quite chilly with an icy wind blowing and for the first time this winter I really should have put some gloves on but it was still good to get some fresh air in our lungs.


We did manage to see a Goosander duck which is quite rare in these parts and a Kingfisher, unfortunately the photos I took of these birds didn't turn out particularly well as the Goosander was some way from us on the other side of the lake and the light wasn't good when we spotted the Kingfisher. It is always a pleasure to see Kingfishers as we don't see them very often, although we have seen a couple since Christmas, one on Boxing Day as we took a walk by the river in Kingsclere and now again today.


We also saw an elusive Water Rail but he didn't hang around to have his photograph taken and took to skulking in the bushes and weeds by the side of the river!

Goosander

Love the reflections of the reeds in this little pond

A view looking back to the main lake

Lots of hungry waterfowl, unfortunately we didn't take any food to give them so once they realised we weren't going to feed them they swan off

A majestic Mute Swan

This photo shows how choppy the water on the lake was today

And the stunning Kingfisher (not a fantastic photo but at least you can see what it is)

We are so lucky that we have two nature reserves close by where we can enjoy spotting wildlife and occasionally see something a bit more unusual.


Until next time ....

New Year Crochet Plans

I have almost finished my Autumn colours sofa throw, well that is apart from the dreaded ends (why don't I learn and do them as I go along) and the edging. I must admit in all this mild weather we have been experiencing I have been cooking underneath this throw as I have been crocheting as it is quite heavy.

Colour scheme from ThePatchworkHeart's Autumn colour recipe with the addition of Tomato (all Stylecraft Special DK).


Hopefully I can deal with the ends later today and the edging shouldn't take too long - I just have to decide which colour to use for it.


Anyway, on to my plans for 2016 ...


I love making blankets but don't really need anymore so I have been mulling an idea around in my mind over the Christmas period. I also have far too much wool taking up valuable space so I thought I would make some sunshine blankets for the elderly and donate them to a local care home. I would like to think I can manage 12 this year but will have to see how it goes (I always think I can achieve more than I actually can in practise)! My friend's Mum is a resident in one of the care homes close by so I thought it would be good to see if they would like to accept them. 


Sue from the SIBOL blog actually started this project but is now happy for us to donate blankets locally rather than spending on postage to send them to her so I am looking forward to being able to help in this way and at the same time trying out some new blanket ideas that I have been longing to try. 


Watch this space to see what I come up with ...

The Year In Books 2016

I have been inspired by another blogging pal to join in with The Year In Books 2016 which is hosted by Laura from circleofpinetrees.com. 


At the start of each month we blog about the book that we are intending to read, and, if we want to, write a few words (thoughts/comments) about the previous month's book.


So the book I have chosen for January is 'In Falling Snow' by Mary-Rose MacColl. I will let you know how I get on with it next month. 

I usually get through more than one book in a month but thought I would just stick with this one for a first go and see how I get on, if I manage to read more I will blog about them when I publish my February post.


Although I hadn't officially joined The Year In Books in December I thought I would tell you about one of the books I read in the lead up to Christmas.

Having heard about this book on a couple of friend's blogs I decided to try it and found it to be a delightful read. It is set in Moss's home village on the Somerset levels where he takes us through the year describing the flora and fauna that is found on his patch. A fascinating insight into the nature that surrounds his everyday life.


Until next time ... HAPPY READING.

A look back at 2015

Well it has reached that time where we look back at the year just ending and I must say that 2015 has been a fantastic year for me. 


I reduced my working hours at the start of the year which has meant that I have had lots more time to spend with my DH and also on my hobbies - this year it has been mainly walking and crocheting.


In late January/early February we had a major kitchen refurbishment (long overdue) ...

We have undertaken lots of walks.  Some near to home ...

and some further away ...

We have seen lots of flora/fauna ...

We enjoyed two holidays in the West Country and a few weekends away ...

I joined Slimming World at the end of March and to date have lost 4 st 2.5 lbs and won the Miss Slinky competition ...

and I have done lots of crocheting ...

I am hoping that 2016 will prove to be as good as this year has been.


All that remains is for me to wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful 2016. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mum's 90th Birthday

Not only have we celebrated Christmas in the last week but also my Mum's 90th Birthday on Boxing Day and a party for 30 of her family and friends today. 


It has been an exciting time but also a worrying one for me hoping everything would go smoothly and I wouldn't mess up my speech and toast. I am pleased to say everything went really well and the meal and the party was a huge success. I produced a slide show of photos of Mum throughout her life which we were able to project onto a screen which everyone enjoyed and lots of talking points came out of that! Mum had a fantastic, albeit an emotional day and I think we did her proud. 

Now I can begin to relax before going back to work next week although before that I have weigh-in at Slimming World tomorrow which I am definitely not looking forward to!