Oh the joys of cycling!!

Today was the day for the 50+ Adventure Club to take to the road (or cycle lanes) for their annual bike ride. We were told to assemble at Normanton car park on Rutland Water and we would cycle about 11 miles.

So far so good, everything was easy since I invested in my bike rack and though I have to push and shove a bit to lift the whole bike onto the rack it is quite easy, especially if there is a handy man to lift it off at the other end!!

So we set off on a pleasant day to our first stop at Lyndon Nature Reserve Centre where we had a talk about the Ospreys that now nest and breed on the reservoir.


Alas dear readers, I did not shin up a post or climb a tree to get a shot of male bird number 33, they have a webcam set up over the nest and it is screened back to the centre.  This is a photo of the TV picture, which we saw 'live' and the bird flew onto the nest whilst we watched.  Unfortunately he and his mate Maya, got together too late in the season to produce a brood and he is sitting on phantom eggs!!

We cycled on for our lunch stop and then decisions had to be made.  Should we return the way we came or cycle all the way round.  It was a no brainer really as my Garmin said we had already covered 9 miles and the organisers said it would only be about 14 miles all round, so that is what we did.  After a fairly leisurely ride on a good cycle path we came close to the Ospreys nest and saw number 33 flying around.  Very exciting.  We know it was him because they are very territorial and will attack other males who come into their territory.

We eventually got back to the start after having cycled 16.4 miles and was I glad to see the car!! My legs had turned to jelly and I needed a cup of coffee to revive me and I am planning something a little stronger later.

And tomorrow is Orienteering!!!  Luckily I am the organiser so I will sit in the cafe drinking  coffee and reading a book, while the 50+ Adventure Club amble/shamble/walk or break into a trot to find the posts.  Then off to a birthday party in the afternoon for tea and cake!!  Lead me to a darkened room, I can't cope with this dizzy whirl of activity.

BUT my Garmin said I burned off 2,000 calories today so I can eat cake tomorrow, without a guilty conscience. 

Buttons, buttons and more buttons!

Whilst I was away in Kent Higham Piecemakers had a workshop making Dorset buttons, felted buttons and Fimo buttons.  Somebody very kindly provided me with the instructions for all three and so far I am trying to master Dorset buttons.  I only have one size of plastic ring at the moment, about an inch from outside to outside and I have experimented with different colours of Pearl cotton. As a beginner there have been problems getting the spokes centred but I think I have cracked that at last.

I love the dark multi-coloured one as the colours are so vibrant, but the pink shades show up the 'spokes' so well.  The white and gold one is slightly off centre and it shows up on the photo, but I have further ideas for using this thread.  I just need to get some larger rings.  I also have ideas for Christmas Tree decorations but these are still at the drawing board stage and may never come to fruition!! Don't hold you breath on this last one.

As well as these buttons, I am pressing on with my smocking, and at the same time I want to speed up on my embroidery drawn thread sampler.  I have two classes in June and then we stop for the summer and when we come back in September I want to make embroidered Christmas tree decorations, so the sampler is priority for the next few weeks.  All the ladies at the class are far more experienced than me and produce the most exquisite work and I am hoping to persuade one of them to let me take a photo.

I am currently waiting for a delivery of more colours of Stylecraft yarn so that I can try out another Mandala pattern that I got off the Attic 24 site.  I will show them on the blog but crochet club get first dibs!!  I will then have to decide which to send here for Yarndale 2014.  Decisions, decisions.

Bank holiday thoughts!

Friday was my first class in smocking and I really enjoyed it thanks to lovely teacher J.  Here are my first efforts, with still a long way to go.

I didn't realise red thread would bleed into white fabric but
I don't think it shows

Smocking has become very popular thanks to Prince George appearing in a smocked romper suit in Australia  I think that I have a long way to go before I reach that standard.

Yesterday was entirely devoted to the 50+ Adventure Club as I had organised a car rally which started in Northampton and went through various villages to end up for a pub lunch and the presentation of the prizes.  All went swimmingly and the weather was sunny, until the pub lunch which turned into a long, long, long wait to be served and and even longer wait for some people to get their puddings!  I will not mention the pub here but I have sent a write up to Trip Advisor!  It certainly spoilt the day for me, as an organiser.  

However what I thought would be cunning and devious questions for members of the club to find appeared to be too easy as there were four teams in second place.  Luckily for me there was a winner and a loser as I had forgotten to do a tie break question!  

Embroidery class this week and as I haven't been for a month (I was away in Kent last time) I thought I ought to do some homework, so I spent an hour doing Herringbone Multi Plait stitch and another hour undoing and re-doing all my work.  Still a little more to do and I shall be happy.

By the way, friends have told me that they enjoy reading this blog, but I would love to hear 'comments' from anyone who is overseas as I know that some of you are and if any of you are not enjoying it, please let me know what is wrong, so that I can try and put it right.  I shall not be offended!!

Horrid, horrid cat

I am plagued by a hunting cat in my garden. I  love my wildbirds and have a well stocked bird table, BUT this cat knows it is there and hides in the bushes and any unsuspecting bird is pounced on.

It was pouring with rain for a large part of yesterday and so I decided that as the weather is warmer I would put my rather scraggy pot plants out for a wash and water.

Note the water puddling on the table!

I went inside and five minutes later looked out of the window to check they were alright and there were feathers on the lawn!!!  I could see the cat at the far end of the garden with a wood pigeon and it was trying to stop its wings from flapping.  I rushed outside, the cat jumped the fence and the almost wingless baby wood pigeon flew at me, I shrieked and it landed on the patio.  What to do next?  Well I left it there as I can't kill anything and went indoors and I cannot see it this morning.

I know that some people loathe wood pigeons as vermin but I don't think any bird deserves to finish its life like this; and the parent was watching all this on my roof as I could hear it calling to the baby and watching what was going on.  The two of them had been feeding on the lawn earlier.

A stormy afternoon

What  a difference to last week with its hot weather and today, where  I have spent all afternoon dodging the deluges!

Wednesday morning I delivered this birthday present of a 'Sweet Treat Bag' which I have made for a little girl and filled with small things that a little girl might like.  Eliie, my 4 year old granddaughter, advised me on the content to a certain extent, though when I was buying them I think she thought they were for her until I had explained.  I have made it in one piece of fabric rather than strips, but quilted it down the middle, and was pleased that my quilting line matched exactly.

Closed with a magnetic catch

Goodies peeping through

This afternoon was U3A Handicrafts and a group of us went to Uppingham in Rutland where we had lunch and then visited Uppingham Yarns.  We could see that they specialise in cones for knitting machines and weaving in the most wonderful colours, but do not have the same range of knitting wools.  Disappointing as they don't stock my favourite, Stylecraft.

Anyway enough of being grumpy, it was a lovely early afternoon and I was in good company, but the drive home was horrendous with hailstones, heavy rain, lightning and flooded roads.  We couldn't hear the thunder in the car but as soon as we stopped - wow!!

Colour kaleidoscope

Following my few days in Kent, I went straight into a busy weekend because I needed to do a big job whilst the weather was fine.  I started this on Saturday as I was free all day and finished on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday morning I went Nordic walking from outside the Bell Inn in Odell, through river meadows beside the river Ouse, the Harrold Country Park and finally climbing the hill to have a wonderful view of the village and valley below and then into Great Odell Wood.  Odell church has links to the USA as a previous rector, Peter Baulkley, fell out with Archbishop Laud in 1635 and took some of his flock off to New England where he founded Concord.   There is also a castle, though unfortunately not the original which burnt down in 1931.

We did see this on our walk, which amused us no end - an enormous sheep in a tiny little hut. We wondered how he (we assumed he was a ram from his size) got out because he looked as

Is he stuck?

if he might be stuck, a bit like Winnie the Pooh eating too much honey and not being able to get out of his hole.













When I got home I finished off my mammoth task started on Saturday.  If you have been following my blog you will know that I have painted my garden table and I realised that it needed a second coat.  Well after doing this I still had paint over so what to do next - easy, the chairs!!  So each chair was painted a different colour, except the armchairs, which were both painted terracotta because I had plenty of this colour.  I really have to give them all a second coat but I have run out of energy, so this will be done at a later date  If there is any paint leftover I shall do my shed door!!

Taken from upstairs

        

Back again after a short break

I have been to Kent for a couple of nights with my friend N, and we stayed with my son, G , his wife and my two 'Kent' granddaughters, aged 5 and 3.

We were blessed with glorious weather and the county looked at its best.  We were not due to arrive until after 4.30pm so we went to Smallhythe Place, which was where the great Victorian/Edwardian actress Ellen Terry, spent her final years.  She loved the place and we could well see why.

Look closely at the levels!! 

She had a very long professional association with Sir Henry Irving and the house is full of the artifacts of her profession and some of her costumes and there were many pictures, engravings, theatre programmes, letters, newspaper cuttings etc.  Very personal and intimate and the floors upstairs were completely uneven as the photo shows.

Ypres Tower

The following day was spent exploring Rye, one of the Cinque ports, which has one of its original gates to the castle, the Landgate, the Ypres Tower with its guns and St Marys church.We also managed to fit in a little retail therapy, visiting many little boutique shops, though regrettably for them we did not spend much, but we did have a coffee on the terrace of a little cafe,basking in the hot sun and enjoying the view towards Rye Harbour in the distance.

Next stop was Winchelsea, another beautiful and historic town and we walked round it admiring the gardens and old houses.  It is reputed to have the largest collection of medieval wine cellars in the country. We went into the churchyard and saw the grave of comedian Spike Milligan, who has a Gaellic epitaph, that when translated says "I told them I was ill".  We had a delicious lunch of antipasta of salami, bread, cheese and olives in a courtyard, which was so hot that N's butter had to be poured onto the bread!!

The highlight of the day was the afternoon that we spent at Great Dixter the home of the late Christopher Lloyd .  We could have looked round the house and gardens but decided to leave the house until another day.  The gardens suited N and I because they didn't appear structured and were just a profusion of plants, wonderful topiary and for me, a beautiful pruned fig tree!

A pruned fig tree!

The long border with a wild flower meadow in the foreground

Are these topiary mice?

I thought these were mice, but N didn't.  What do you think?



Well we did spend some money in their nursery and we came home with plants as a souvenir of our short break in Kent.