The Orange Sky

The sun began to go down yesterday as we sat in the car at a local beauty spot, and we soon realised that it was going to be a fantastic sunset, so out came my camera!


As the sun sank further down, the sky turned more and more orange, and the clouds shone around their edges as if they were really aglow. It was a stunning scene. We just sat and watched and watched.






(The answer to the church picture, of the last post, is that it is Sandringham church, where the Queen and Royal Family go on Christmas Day)

Rescue mission!

As I may have said on my blog before, I don`t like creepy-crawlies, and especially not spiders. This is the time of year when there seem a lot of webs on the shrubs and bushes in the garden. I appreciate the beauty of them, especially when the dew is on them first thing in the morning and they shine in the sunlight, but I don`t like the creatures that make them.

There is one particularly large one across the outside (thankfully the outside, and not the inside!!) of the window near my dining table. Whist I was having my lunch today I became aware of something large flapping near the window. At first i thought it was a leaf blown into the web, then I realised it was a butterfly.

After watching it for a while, I saw that it wasn`t managing to get out of the web, and the spider hadn`t appeared. I couldn`t bear to see it struggling there any longer, so knew I had to go on rescue mission! Not that I`m particularly fond of being near butterflies either but I couldn`t bear seeing it suffer, so out I went with a small piece of stick and managed to get it out of the web and onto the stick... but then, I couldn`t get it off the stick. It still seemed to be stuck by some of the stickiness from the web, although it was vigorously flapping its wings, so with the aid of a second twig I eventually managed to get it off onto the grass.

As it sat(?) laid(?) there on the grass I saw how beautiful it was, so came and got my camera to take these photos to share with you all. What kind of butterfly is it, I don`t know..... but perhaps someone does.

Shakey, shakey, shake, shake!

All was normal when I went to bed last night and fell asleep. I woke at about 12.55 being shaken. I couldn`t make out what was waking me, there was no-one in the room shaking me to wake me, then I realised that it wasn`t just me shaking, the bed seemed to be shaking and so did everything around me. What had I eaten for supper, that could be making me feel like this I wondered?

I stretched out my arms and gripped the edges of the matress either side of me, to try and steady and hold myself still in the darkness (I didn`t put a light on, as that would have woken me up more). What was happening, it couldn`t be an earth tremor because we don`t get them in this country I thought. What was wrong with me? I`d never felt anything like this before. Gradually as I gripped the edges of the bed it subsided and, so I cuddled down again under the duvet and went off to sleep.

Waking to the sound of my radio alarm this morning, I remembered the event of the night and thought that I must have been dreaming. I felt ok, and everything in the room looked as normal. Then the news came on the radio "England & Wales suffered an earthquake last night 5.2 on the Richter scale, the centre of if being in Lincolnshire" So now I know that it wasn`t something wrong with me, I didn`t imagine it.

I wonder what all the birds in the trees in the wild, and animals in the earth made of it? It must have been terrifying for them.

Scenic Walk

Another beautiful sunny really warm day, so, being that it was too nice to stay indoors this afternoon I decided it was time I had some exercise, so shoes and jacket on and off I went for a walk, taking ofcourse my camera with me.

I climbed to the top of the hill on the cliff, (yes, I found I was out of practice and was short of breath when I got to the top, still, it was the first time this year!) I must get in the habit of doing it more often.

Sitting on a seat there, taking in the beauty of the view all around me - the sea to one side and the town to the other, I got out my camera and took this small video of what I saw.

Hope you`ll all enjoy it, and get a flavour of where I live.



Sorry, the quality of that video on here, isn`t as good as it was on my computer, so I`ll also give you a photo I took.

Reflections

Drawn out by the sunshine this afternoon, the household chores were left behind and off we went in the car for a ride along the coast. It really was a delightful day.
Stopping at a favourits spot of ours (yes, just Mum and I, so that was a treat too!), there wasn`t a ripple or movement on the water in the creek, and the only sound the sound of a few seagulls. It was so peaceful.



Fortunately I had taken my camera with me so I was able to capture these beautiful reflections of the boats in the water.

Can you spot the seagull, in this one on the left?

I found myself wondering is it really February, it feels more like April.

An Early Spring

Is it spring?

It can`t be spring already, can it?

We`re still in January, but it doesn`t feel a bit like January, it hasn`t been really cold once, ok, I admit that people living here, who`ve not been brought up here, may think it`s cold being on the East coast, but there`s been no frost, hail, sleet or snow. The weather here especially these last few days has been exceptionally mild, sunny and really springlike.

The birds must be feeling it too because they`re tweeting and singing away in the trees. At Pensthorpe where I enjoyed my Sunday afternoon walk the wildfowl on the lakes were starting some of their courtship displays. It was a joy to watch.

Black & White beauties

I wonder why it is, that standing (or sitting) watching swans on the lake is such a relaxing pastime? These looked so graceful just floating on the water in the sunlight.

Autumn Sunset

I`d just spent a pleasant couple of hours on my own in peace and quiet, sitting in my car with a good book - Bill Bryson`s Notes from a Small Island, this afternoon, at this picturesque place when I looked up and saw this wonderful sunset reflected in the water.
I love the beauty of sunsets, so couldn`t resist taking a picture of it.

By the Estuary

It was a perfect day, the sun shone, there were autumn colours on the leaves as we drove through pretty lanes to the estuary. Once there, having stopped and bought delicious pork pies in a local butchers which we ate picnic style in the car, my friend and I (leaving her husband sitting in the car), went for a walk right along the shoreline of the estuary. It was quiet, peaceful and beautiful.



It was really good to have someone to go for a walk with, not that we talked a lot as we walked, but just to have the companionship. It`s something I miss at home, where if I go for a walk I have to go on my own, and so don`t venture as far as I`d like and feel conspicious walking alone. So yesterday`s walk was so perfect.

A miracle of life

I apologise that this picture isn`t too clear, but I`ve tried to enlarge a portion of the "What is it" picture which I posted on Sunday.

In the tank, as you may now be able to recognise were baby seahorses. It was such a wonderful privilege and sight to see such tiny life forms, they were no bigger than 1 cm and many were smaller than that, this was about the biggest one in there. (yes, I know I usually use imperial measurements, but they weren`t as big as half an inch long).

It was so fascinating to watch them actually swimming about, and to think that as small as they were they had hearts beating - whatever size must they have been?, and eyes so minute as would be all their body parts, yet they had the distinctive shape and features even at so small and young a stage.

It really is a miracle of nature. I could have stood and watched them for hours, I was so transfixed by the sight of them.


And, here`s a fully grown one, aren`t they beautiful creatures.

Nature`s Patchwork

Come for a walk with me today....



Enjoy the beautiful scenes of nature`s patchwork of colours, all blending so beautifully together.




And the added delight to the eye that a lake of water provides to the scene.

Square Peas?

Chasing some peas around a plate with a fork the other day, I heard someone say,, "Why don`t they make square peas?"!

That set me thinking... what in the natural world is created square?

I couldn`t think of any plant, flower, leaf, clouds, mountain, sea, lake, star, planet.... and so the list goes on, they are all spherical, or oval, or rounded in some way. Why isn`t there anything square - or will someone correct me with something that is?!

And, then I went a bit further in my thinking - and thought of all the things we construct and have around us,.... what shape are they.... all mainly square or at least objects with angular sides.. houses, furniture, books, cars (roughly square), and so on....

Why the big difference?
So, why do we put square items in a round world?