Zoo time

It has been a fairly quiet week and I have actually had some time to myself.  However Tuesday was my normal 'Will' day so my sister and I took him to Hamerton Zoo.  When we arrived there were two coaches in the car park with 90 children and their teachers and helpers and we were concerned that they would be noisy and in our way, but we hardly saw them, so they must have been very busy doing school work!

This is a lovely little zoo, with a mixture of lemurs, meerkats, gibbons (very noisy) hanging around, a large wallaby enclosure, cheetahs -

tigers, both white and Malaysian -

 

Will thought it looked like his cat at home

some Reindeer -

A Reindeer stag 'wrestling' the fence!


 and circling low overhead was a Red Kite.  It swooped down into the zoo and had something in its talons that it took into a nearby tree.  I grabbed my camera but unfortunately it had the sun behind it so not a good picture -

 We didn't think it was any of the animals that had been caught, but there was a great deal of food lying about, including dead day old chicks being fed to small carnivores.

I haven't been 'pot washing' of the finds at Chester Farm lately but we did clean some bags up that have been dug up in the last month.  The contractors are now on site preparing the new car park and visitor centre so this is last minute archaeological digging.  I was lucky enough to wash this, complete with the 'Maker's Mark' on the rim.

 

The whole piece

 There was a good piece of Samian Ware also with the Maker's Mark in the centre, so the experts will be able to name the maker.

Maker's Mark in the centre

 

I loved this piece though I am not sure what the figures are - elephants perhaps

Could that be an elephant's trunk on the left?

and this small pot would have been quite dainty.

I have finished my Christmas bauble at last and though it is not perfect I am pleased with it -

It is called the 'Emperor'  but I think it looks like Peacock 'eyes'.

 I still have another kit to make up but that will have to wait as I must get on with my embroidery.