I am writing this just before I watch the Festival of Remembrance from the Cenotaph, when the Queen will lay a wreath on behalf of the nation and Commonwealth. I always get choked up by this as my father was in the Great War and World War 11 and I remember those who never came back. He didn't arrive in France until March 1918 and was demobbed in March 1919 but he went through the second World War manning the East Coast defences in Frinton. Not glamourous but he met my mother during this time, and though everyone thought he was a confirmed bachelor, they married and hence I am here. I wrote about him in this blog.
I have been working on 'land conservation' at Chester Farm over the last few weeks and the weather has been amazingly good to us.
This was taken just before the rain poured down! Luckily we were on our way to our lunch break in one of the barns. We were clearing the Holm meadow and building up 'walls' of wood to stop dogs (and people) getting into the undergrowth. The contractors have started work around the farm buildings and have pulled down the corrugated barns and silos and opened up the site to build the new visitor centre. Work cannot start on the house yet as they have discovered there are bats roosting /hibernating, so they have to be left until they fly off sometime soon - hopefully!! Bats are a protected species in the UK.
On my Monday Nordic walk we walked by the river in Irthlingborough Lakes and rounded a corner to see this sight.
We thought it was rubbish blown up by the wind, but on closer inspection we realised what they were
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| A grey heron and white egrets |
It was a thrilling sight as we hadn't seen so many egrets together in one place before. While we were watching the heron lazily flew off.
Yesterday the 50+ Adventure Club had an outing to watch Northampton Saints play rugby and initially I wasn't going, until I heard that they were playing Gloucester in the Anglo Welsh Cup. My younger son was born in Gloucester and we lived in Gloucestershire and South Wales for 25 years so my family have always supported Gloucester.
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| Come on you Cherry Whites!! |
It was looking good -
but by the end the result was against us - Saints 19-13 Gloucester. C'est la vie!! However this was a family occasion for me as my son, grandson, brother, sister and brother in law were all there and when I was parking my car I saw my niece with her children. Her youngest was playing in an Under 9's mini-rugby competition and at half time the teams paraded round the pitch - great excitement from these youngsters.
In the meantime I have been very 'crafty', though most of it cannot be shown as it is Christmas related. However I have completed my latest piece of embroidery.
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| Goldwork |
I bought this as a kit in 2007 when I went to a Royal School of Needlework one day course and it sat around until I thought I should finish it. My embroidery teacher suggested that the pattern would look better on this emerald green dupion and though the emerald green doesn't show well in the photo, she was right as usual!! I am going to make it into a box lid when I can find an appropriate box.
Funny how we can have busy weeks, but find nothing to write about, but there, you have written about your week. VERY INTERESTING TOO. I seem to only barrack for teams that wear red & white, as here in Oz, I follow both AFL & League & both my teams have those colours. I'm more of a big cricket fan than footy. We see a lot of cattle egrets in our area, but I suppose those were the ordinary ones. I love watching birds. I think your volunteer work sounds very interesting. Take care.
ReplyDeleteBusy week Carol, sometimes just "stuff" takes your time but doesn't seem that exciting. But interesting to read again. x
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