Wet November

 It's been a very wet November.  Here we've had 3x the normal November rainfall.  The good news is our hosepipe ban has been lifted but the bad news is that roads and fields are flooded.  When I was a child with a November birthday, it always snowed and several years my party was cancelled as no-one could get there!  

Anyway back to the photos.  Some days have been nice, there have been some good skies and sunsets and I've been out with my camera in the local park watching the trees change to autumn colours.  The funniest photo is the squirrel with his conker.  He watched me walking by, I got my camera out, he posed beautifully and as soon as I put my camera in my pocket, he scarpered up the tree. 

Lots of birds again including a Great Tit that's new to the garden.  We have a Wren in the honeysuckle but it's too fast and more camera shy than the squirrel.  And as you can see, Christmas is a-coming so says the Christmas Cactus.  Mind my white Easter Cactus is in full flower too so who knows what's going on with the natural world :)

That's all for this month - thanks for visiting!!

Elaine xx

Trees, Birds & a Hedgehog

 October has been lovely - some rain but mostly sunny, beautiful blue skies and 21 degrees to end the month.   Another eclectic mix of photos so do take a look:

A great selection of oak leaves and colourful autumnal trees so I managed to do a few Saturday tree posts on facebook. A selection of birds too - the blackbirds are back that nest in the honeysuckle, bluetits as ever, a goldfinch and Mr Hedgehog came to visit.  We noticed him trundling around the back garden, he went under the fence and was next spotted sitting in the middle of the road.  It's quite a quiet cul-de-sac but I felt obliged to go out and make sure he got safely across the road.  In the end he came back into our front garden and disappeared.  It's about a year since we last saw a hedgehog so guess we will have to wait another year!!

Lastly I opened the curtains to a beautiful sunrise so I fetched my camera and 10 mins later the clouds arrived and it was gone.  Nature is a wonderful thing - always changing, always something new to see!!

Thanks for visiting

Elaine x

September - Ode to Autumn

Autumn seems to have come round very quickly this year - misty mornings, dark evenings and it's certainly been a strange month.  The Queen died at the grand old age of 96 after 70yrs on the throne and so started a period of mourning and superb pageantry.  Below are some photos that I took off television.

Apart from that the weather has been reasonably kind - sunshine and warmth with some rain thrown in for good measure.  Whilst the spring and summer was dry, some trees seem to have enjoyed it.   There are loads of acorns on the Oak trees and the conkers on the Horse Chestnut seem massive.   In nature, there is always something positive to be found. 

Thanks for visiting!

Elaine xx

A mixed August

 Another dry month but the good news is we have had some rain..... well we had 2 days of torrential downpours, lightening and thunder and at last the grass and verges do seem to have greened up a bit.  We still have a hosepipe ban but as we don't use ours to water the garden and my OH rarely cleans the car then it doesn't affect us too much.

This month's photos are a bit limited - flowers in the garden, interesting skies and random birds on the feeder.  We had 5 bluetits at one point but they flit so quickly I didn't manage to catch them all together.  I think the ground is so hard they are struggling for food and I've certainly noticed them drinking from the water dish.

Autumn seems to have arrived early going by the amount of leaves dropping already but hopefully we'll get some rain soon (preferably overnight) and all will be well!!

Thanks for visiting!

Elaine xx

Dry July

 Another month goes by and I think you could describe it as very dry - we've had so little rain and everything is going brown and crispy.

We managed to get the caravan out and have a quick trip to Yorkshire for "Christmas" with friends. We stayed on a small site overlooking wheat and barley fields and the sky was different everyday.  We had a little rain early morning or in the evening but the days were good. I say that but we went to Leeds to find my Great-Grandfather's grave and the heavens opened and the rain came down - was that  a sign??

Anyway we came home to a lawn going brown and some very crispy hydrangea flowers!!  Not sure what I'll photo in August - guess you will have to wait and see!!

Elaine xx

Flowery June

There seems to be a theme - colourful flowers - and again mostly in my garden as I'm into the 6th week of exams and I've been nowhere.  Weekdays are in a Sports Hall (not very photogenic) and weekends are catching up with the household chores and ironing.

So June consists of flowering shrubs, my patio pots and the rose on the front of the house.  We've had some lovely sunsets and one day there was a goldfinch singing it's heart out on a TV aerial.  The photo is a little blurry as it was a good distance away but it was singing very loudly.  It makes you wonder where the lung power comes from in such a small bird.

Well that's it for June.... thank you for popping by to look!!

Elaine xx

Changeable May

Well as ever the weather has been weird this month - very dry but heavy showers which will hopefully help the garden grow.

I've been invigilating most of the month but the other day I was working with a new lady who is American.  She was saying she knows why we discuss the weather so much - it's because it changes from day-to-day with absolutely no warning.  I guess in America the weather changes gradually, whereas here it can be baking hot one day, cold downpours the next.  She thinks it's why we wear scarves a lot!!

Anyway here is a summary of May - a Jackdaw eating a peanut, snails who'd made it to higher ground, some really threatening skies, bees on the Rowan tree and then some summery flowers.  The last photo taken on the 31st is the Kiftsgate rose on the front of the house - it's about 2 weeks early flowering but the flower stalks are only about 1ft long as it's been so dry.   One year they were 5ft!!

Hope you like my photos and thanks for visiting!!

Elaine xx

Blooming April

 Another month and another bunch of photographs - another eclectic mix too!!

Spring has finally arrived and whilst it's not been particularly hot, the flowers are blooming, new leaves are unfurling and the bees are buzzing.  The Oak tree on our patio (it's in a tub to keep it small) has just started to come out and I love the photo of the Mountain Ash against the lovely blue sky.

Other than watching the garden come to life, we've been Spring cleaning down the Rifle Club.  The red danger flags (probably 20yrs old)  were mainly pink and full of holes so my husband bought some new red material, got my sewing machine out and made 4 new flags.  The wind flags we use were getting a bit faded too so I dyed them sunflower yellow.  We've also been cutting wood up for new duckboards.  Fun times!!

Whilst this year I'm not doing a photo a day, it's still like a diary and I'll look back in a few years time and remember life just now.  Anyway hope you are all keeping well and thanks for visiting!!

Elaine xx

March Flowers

 Well I was going to write Spring is well and truly here but these last few days have been much colder and there's been snow in the air.   However all the colour from the Spring bulbs makes up for it - you can't see all the yellow daffodils  without feeling cheerful.

So here's some colour to make you smile

Daffodils, Hellebore, Primroses, Winca, Grape Hyancinths, Narcissus and even the Christmas Cactus in the house has joined in.  I've done 3 weeks of exams in March so haven't had time to go out photographing much else so just enjoy the flowers!!

Elaine xx

February Colour

Well that was an interesting month - some good sunny days with high clouds in the sky, some beautiful sunsets and then 3 storms in a week and no water!

It started with the first few snowdrops out on 1st of the month, quickly followed by the cyclamen, crocus and early daffodils.  The bee was fast asleep in the purple crocus. The next day he was two flowers across and then I think he hid in there during the storms.   The sky was black, it blew a few pots over on the patio and in the end I had to go and rescue the umbrella on the bird stand - it was in danger of taking off!!

Sometimes I think I'd like to live on top of a hill so I could enjoy the sunrises and sunsets but then we get really windy days and I think maybe it's best to be a little more protected.  Anyway I'm looking forward to more of the Spring and more colour.

Thanks for looking!

Elaine xx

Views from a Window

Happy February everyone!!   Hopefully you've all survived January  - it's been a bit dull round here but we've had some clear skies so lots of moon photos.   It's been a relief not to have to take a photo every day but I've taken some and chosen 11 to represent the month. 

So we have the moon, the full moon,  the moon setting behind the trees and the new moon(?) in the morning. We have cobwebs, foggy days and new growth, the bulbs coming through, the heather out in full colour and the mahonia starting to blossom.  It's nice that there has been some colour!!

Elaine xx

Happy New Year

Before we fully start 2022 I thought I'd finish with 2021 so here are my last 31 photos for the Photo365 Challenge.  I worked out I took over 1500 photos during the year!!

December started on a positive note - well Covid positive!!   I had a bit of a twitchy and slightly runny nose but as I was doing exams at school I tested myself and the result came back positive.  No-one else caught it, I didn't manage to give it my family so I sat inside for the alloted 10 days taking photos out of the windows or the moon from the front door step!!

Looking back on all the photos life does seem very colourful and I've thoroughly enjoyed trying to find something different to photo every day.   It's a pictorial diary so I can look back and remember.  Take this last week or two - we had a lovely sunny frosty day on the 22nd, but ever since then it's been grey, wet, damp and dreary. Now the year has ended I'm not sure what I will do.  Maybe I will take the occasional photo, still create an A4 page but with bigger photos.  Anyway thank you for keeping me company all year - I'm amazed I finished!  

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2022!!

Elaine xx