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.

Insect

Can anyone identify this insect which I saw today?

A visit to the past

I went somewhere today, that I haven`t been since I was a child ! And what different views I had of it.

Being on holiday this week I decided to go to the city, Norwich to have a wander around the shops. I set off fairly early this morning, and getting off the bus in the centre of the city by the castle, I suddenly thought I haven`t been in here for years and years, I`ll go in there before I do my shopping. Having paid my entrance fee - which came as a bit of a shock(!) as it used to be free in my childhood, I wandered around. Obviously over the years there had been a lot of changes and I enjoyed taking in again the history, and it really set me thinking about the way in which the people of hundreds of years ago had had skill and initiative in the making of primitive tools, and things for their everyday life. But what a hard life it had been.

As a child I had always been fascinated to go and look at the display cases of scenes with actual birds and animals in them, albeit that they were stuffed ones. It used to be my favourite part of a visit to the museum. On going into that section today - I found it was set out exactly as it had been 50 years or so ago, not a single thing had changed, except it looked perhaps a bit dustier and rather dated - but instead of enjoying looking at the displays today I found myself appalled by them.
To think that birds and animals had been caught, killed and then stuffed just so that we could look at them in glass cases was a nauesating sensation. How could we (humans) be so cruel as to do that?
In one hall there was a whole room full of cases round the wall full of different birds, and against some buzzards was a card saying that these were now an almost extinct bird-- It made me want to say maybe if they hadn`t have caught them to stuff and put in a museum (and I guess this isn`t the only museum to have such a collection) there would still be the birds about today.

Flowers

I`ll share with you today scenes from a Flower Festival I was at today.

Meeting a little old man

I had a lovely conversation with an elderly man at the event I was as yesterday - well, I say elderly although in years he is he really seems to be of indeterminate age because he`s got such a personality that he`s always cheerful and tormenting in the humourous remarkes that he comes out with, that he doesn`t seem anything like an elderly person.

Anyway, I`m digressing! After a jovial or two praising comments on the event, he suddenly said "you`re like your Dad" (whether he meant in looks or manner, i don`t know and didn`t ask) and then he went on to talk more about my Dad, how he used to always tease my Dad about always wearing a trilby, and the reply that Dad would make, and other such reminiscences. It made my day. It was so good to hear someone talk so easily and naturally about him. And, more than that, to know that someone else remembered Dad.

I wonder why it is, that people always seem afraid to talk about someone who has died making it seem as if they never exised?

This "old boy" for all his appearance and way, seems to have it right.

Flowers

No time to write much, so enjoy the photo of these beautiful flowers which I took today. Just look at the red rose, isn`t it beautiful and wonderful the way it`s petals at the center look to be unfurling. A real joy to behold. Another wonder of nature.

A Busy Time

It must be the season of Flower Festivals, I notice that someone else was writing on their blog about being involved with one this week. I`ve been up to my eyes (so to speak) in flowers and foliage, this week. Here`s a picture of where I`ve been working today... staff on stalls were selling things quicker than I could make them.
And readers, don`t say I should have made them in advance, they were things that couldn`t be made until the last minute.

I didn`t realise until I took this photo, part of my record of the events, just how untidy I was, still I did only have a small space to work in......
......well, that`s my excuse anyway!

So, away from the clutter, here`s a picture of some flowers.

Carbon Footprint

Everyone seems to be talking about Carbon footprints lately, on wireless, tv, even as storylines in tv soaps. So, finding this carbon footprint calculator on here, I thought I`d risk giving it a go to see what they estimate my carbon footprint as.

And, it`s quite a way below the 5 tonnes per person that they say a person uses, so I`m pleased about that. Mine came out at 3.9

But, I really do wonder how much of the problem is caused by all these rockets and things being sent up into space. They must surely cause a terrific amout of pollution to the atmosphere, let alone the awful waste of money that could be far better spent on helping the starving people of the world, the homeless and trying to find cures for the many diseases about. It makes me mad at times to think of the way people suffer when money is used so inconsiderately for space travel and exploration, which really seems to serve no useful purpose.

How much?

I`m going to write about an observation today, and I wonder how many others have noticed the same, or maybe even do it?......

...We queue up in supermarkets and shops with baskets of shopping or maybe even just a single item waiting to pay. Once we get to the till and the items are rung through the assistant says "that`s £2.75" or whatever the amount is, and, it`s quite surprising the number of people who then ask "how much". Not in the tone of surprise or questioning that it is that much, but because although they`re standing there to pay they`re not really concentrating and listening. It almost seems to come as a surprise to them to be asked for money! Thus making the poor cashiers have to repeat everything again.

So, come on all you shoppers, save the cashiers voice, time and patience, and pay attention!

Just one day to go

Yippee! One more day to work and then I can have 17 days holiday (counting weekends), what a nice thought that is. Not, that I mind going to work now-a-days, but the thought of a holiday and a break is always good, isn`t it.

I`m going to be busy for the first week of that holiday though, but enjoyably busy doing something I always look forward to, and plan my holiday for. I know a holiday is supposed to be time to have a rest and to relax, but I`ll do that on the second week - at least I hope I will, although I`ve already got a few things in mind that I need to do that week too!

And, then maybe I`ll find time to get back to writing a more daily post on here.

Peace Shattered

I was about to sit down to write an entry on my blog, saying in an hours time my peace would be shattered. My parent would be home from her holiday.

As I sat down to write that, I became aware of the room getting darker and darker, although it was only an hour or so just past the middle of the day. There was an eerie feel about it, so I decided to log off and switch my computer off. The instant I switched it off there was an almighty crack of lightning and crash of thunder and more followed, the worst I think I`ve ever heard and a deluge of rain fell, so my peace really was shattered in more ways than one!

I was pleased in a way, to hear the rain though, as I somehow always feel safer with a storm if it rains than if is doesn`t.... is there any logic to this?

But what a lovely week I`ve had, able to sit quiet and think or do things without chatter and interuptions. Time to be me. Abilitity to do things at my own speed, which is fairly quick.
Time to relax and feel calm.
It`s not going to be easy to settle down again to not being just me in the house.

Unconventional Lunch

I`ve had a very unconventional Sunday Lunch today. I wonder why it is that Sunday lunch in traditionally a roast dinner? And that is what we normally have, the only variation each week being the meat - some weeks its beef, other weeks, lamb, pork or chicken. But today, being on my own, I decided to do different. I had a toad-in-the-hole. And, it was delicious (not ofcourse that I`m praising my own cooking!).

It`s one of my favourite dishes, but one which I seldom get now, as working every morning and always having our dinner at mid-day, I can`t make it, and my parent is now too shaky with her hands to make one and put one in the oven. But I don`t think she`s think it was the right thing to do for a Sunday lunch. So, "while the cat`s away the mice will play", as they say.

Freedom

I`m feeling free!

I`ve got the house to myself for a whole week, and what a great feeling that is. My parent went off this morning for a weeks holiday, so I`ve time to be "me", to do as I like, to relax, free from the stress of being on edge with her being there. It`s not until times like this that I realise that I don`t totally relax at any time when she`s here, because I`m always conscious of that presence. Of the frustrating interruptions to what I`m doing, or to my thoughts when trying to concentrate on something I`m writing.

So, I`m going to make the most of this week!

Wireless in the Sun

I`m puzzled...
Why is it that adverts on television for using wireless computers often show people sitting in the sunshine in the middle of fields or gardens, happily working away on their lap-tops?
Whenever I take my laptop outside to use, or even into our summerhouse, I just cannot see the screen, it acts like a mirror, and all I see is myself reflected back, and that`s not what I want to see!
Any expert out there that can tell me what to do, so that I can work outside and enjoy the sunshine? Is there some sort of filter, sun-shade or something for computers? Or are the adverts inaccurate? It`s quite frustrating.

Who put that post there?

Who put that post there? that was a question I was asking myself yesterday afternoon, after having done had a large shopping session in a supermarket. I was loading the boot of my car up, and having got more bags of shopping that would fit in the boot (around a walking aid also in there - not mine, I hasten to add), I went to open the rear door of my car to put the remaining bags in. Turning quickly and remembering to avoid walking into the shopping trolley beside me I found myself knock against something and unable to save myself I went sprawling to the ground.

Still clutching a bag of shopping, I hastily got up, hoping no-one had seen me, and rapidly gathered up the scattered cartons of cherries, peel and other baking items that had been in the bag that fell with me. Looking round to see what had caused me to fall I found that at the back of the parking spaces were bollards, and it was obviously one of those that I`d hit myself against. With a sore smarting knee and hand - neither of which I dare look at to see what damage I`d done to myself (because I`m very squeamish), luckily my skirt was long enough to cover my knee so that I couldn`t see it. My hand, when I dared to glance at it after quickly stowing ther rest of the bags in the car, had been protected by the fact that my sleeve was a bit long, so thankfully no blood there to deal with.

I drove home, about a 25 minute journey, all the while with my knee smarting and making myself keep thinking I must not faint I must get home first. And I succeeded, unloaded the car, put the shopping away before I was then brave enough to survey the damage and bathe the grazes with water.

I`m still feeling a bit shaken up this morning though. Why they need to put posts where people want to load cars up, I just don`t know!

What`s your age?

This was sent to me by a friend, so I thought I`d share it with you on here....

YOUR AGE BY EATING OUT
Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway-but your waiter may know!

YOUR AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH

This is pretty neat.

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute.
Work this out as you read.
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!
This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat.
(more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1757 ....
If you haven't, add 1756.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.


You should have a three digit number


The first digit of this was your original number
(I.e., how many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week.)

The next two numbers are

YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2007) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS

Insight

What I`ve been feeling these last couple of days has led me to some deep thoughts.

The way in which I feel I`ve betrayed the trust of these two birds took my thoughts to the way in which Judas betrayed Jesus. I began to see him in a different light. I`d always thought of him as a person who had done something wrong deliberately, but now I begin to wonder.

I had no intention of harming these birds, in the best of intentions I wanted them to find their rightful home and owner. In the same way, did Judas genuinely think he was doing something to help Jesus and to help the people in what he did?

If he did, I can well understand how devastated he must have felt to go to the length of hanging himself when he realised how much he had actually betrayed Jesus, instead of helping him. I can actually feel a kind of sympathy for him.

And this morning, hearing someone talking about how we react and do thing differently when we are under pressure or stressed, to how we would were we not, made me realise too, that if I hadn`t have had a stressful morning at work that day, I probably wouldn`t have done what I did, I would have tackled the situation differently. How I wish I had.

(Don`t get alarmed, I`m not going to hang myself!)

Home

Well, homing pigeons do go home.... but.... not to their rightful home. Guess what I found on the back lawn when I opened the door this morning?!


Yes... one of them was back pecking about on the grass, but although he came and ate some seeds from my hand again, we didn`t see him again for the rest of the day, and there`s no sign of the other one. I`m worried

Betrayed

I`m feeling awful. I`ve betrayed two creatures that had trusted me. Yes, it`s those pigeons I`m talking about (yes again!, sorry if you`re bored with reading about them, but this may be the last post about them).

The advice I was given about them, was feed them for a few days then stop feeding them and they`ll go home, or away. So, since Saturday I`ve not fed them, I didn`t even go out into the garden for them to see me Sunday or Monday, and yesterday - no sign of them. Opening the curtains first thing this morning, what do I see... the two pigeons back. Looking out of the window at them dinner time I saw that they were merrily pecking away eating the leave of all my plants in the pots I`d set last week, and my parent said they`d been doing it most of the morning although she`d been trying to frighten them off. And, seeing her waving her walking stick should have been enough to send any of us running off! But, to no avail there they remained.

The time had come to do something more drastic, I thought, so getting a couple of cardboard boxes with lids, and the bag of sunflower seeds, I went out into the garden this afternoon and they came running towards me. Once they were pecking away at the seeds on the ground, I managed to get hold of them, one at a time, and pop them in a box each, put the lid on, made some holes in the lid, then boxes into the boot of the car, and off I went into the countryside about 20 miles. Stopping in a layby in a country lane I got the boxes out, put some seeds on the ground and let the pigeons out. Got back quickly into the car and drove off leaving them there.

But, I now feel awful, that I`ve done that to two creature who had trusted me. That I`ve abandoned them. Will they be alright? Will they find their way to their rightful home? Will they get run over, or get caught by foxes or anything, I do so hope not, they were such lovely birds. Part of me is wanting to go back and get them!, So much is going through my mind. It feels that I`ve betrayed them. I`m regretting what I`ve done. Was it for the best for them?

Have a look at one more picture of them. Their plumage was so beautiful in the sunlight, almost at time fluorescent. Yes, he/she is sitting on my hand, they were so tame.

Feather brained

My pigeons, well, not mine really, but just seeming to have made this their (we hope) temporary home, set me thinking on how insulting some of our expressions are to birds. For instance the definition of feather-brained as being - lacking seriousness; given to frivolity; silly, not serious in content, attitude or behaviour. And of bird-brain as being stupid.


Yet watching the behaviour of birds, they do have brains and they do use them sensibly.
Ok, maybe these 2 pigeons didn`t use theirs sensibily enough to fly home yet, but they certainly know how and where to come and get food. Having given them some seeds this afternoon, I put the bag of sunflower seeds on a stool in the summerhouse where I was sitting, and it wasn`t many minutes before one of the pigeons spotted them there, so he (or she) trotted up to the entrance, round the door and jumped up onto floor of the summerhouse and then proceeded to jump up onto the stool to peck at the bag of seeds!