June

 Summer is a-coming - the weather has been glorious recently as long as you were in a sheltered spot away from that chilly east wind.  It's exam season so I haven't done much other than having a good 5m wander round Wakehurst Place for my daughter's birthday.  We saw lots of birds - baby geese, guinea fowl, moorhen chicks, pheasants and of course bluebells.

My Horse Chestnut trees are coming along nicely.  Whilst I picked up the conkers from a row of trees, the two that sprouted are different - one has pointed leaves and the other more rounded.  On investigation it seems, the trees with the white flowers have rounded leaves and the pink flowered ones have pointed leaves.  You learn something new everyday day!!

I've also been getting on with my challenges - I'm 10,900ft up Everest (over halfway) but not high enough for snow yet, just a continuous stony path with lots of huts and hostels etc.   As far as Land's End to John O'Groats, I've made it to Scotland - Monday I stopped off at Gretna Green and now I'm in Ecclefechan,  500m with 374m to go.   In all of this I also did the Coronation Challenge - a nice easy 26.2m which only took a week. My final postcard is below - I'm sat waiting to receive my medal !!

Thanks for popping by

Elaine xx 

May Day

 Another month has gone and so quickly too!  Lots has been happening but some not photogenic.  We started with our Open Shoot and because Easter was early and Spring was late, the daffodils in the car park looked good.   We had a wander round Nymans, Ashplatts Wood to see the bluebells and lots of birds including a few Jackdaws on the bird feeder.  Here's a selection of photos I took:   

Bottom left are my Horse Chestnut trees.  I planted 3 conkers last autumn and 2 have started growing.  I obviously won't be planting them in the garden but they will go in a pot alongside my bonsai Oak.

On April 1st I signed up for the Mount Everest (Virtual) Challenge as I live in a hilly town. I'm 5700ft up in a month and received my 2 postcards - that's over a quarter of the way!!

On my walking challenge I've made it north of Preston - 396m out of 874m - so I'll soon be halfway on that.   I'm probably boring you all but it keeps me motivated - so that's me off out on another walk!

Elaine xx

Spring has Sprung

I think we can firmly say Spring is here - the Daffodils are out, along with all the other Spring flowers, the Pieres has flowered this week and the Berberis is just beginning to sprout it's orange flowers.  Having said that it was cold and snowy at the start of the month and wet and miserable most of the time.  What we need is some sunshine and warmth!

Here's a random selection of photos - flowers, snow and trophy centres that I spent an hour or two putting together ready for our Open Shoot this weekend.

I also received my postcard from my Land's End to John O'Groats Challenge - 200 miles from Land's End, only another 674 to go.   Actually I think I've walked 285miles so far so I will soon be getting my 300 mile postcard!!

That's all my news for now.  Thank you for visiting and I look forward to reading your comments - they are much appreciated.

Elaine xx

Spring is on the way

 Another month has gone by and whilst not a lot has happened the spring flowers have started putting on a show.  It's been cold, but sunny, so there's been a good selection of snowdrops, crocus and cyclamen to brighten everywhere up.   I bought the daffodils!!

I've also made progress on my End to End LeJog challenge.  Having put my mileage in for February, I've done 195miles in total and I'm just at the junction of the M5 with the M4.   At the end of today I will have negotiated the interchange and will be heading for the Severn Bridge!    Below is my postcard for 100m and I've planted a tree somewhere for completing 20% of the distance to John O'Groats.

Happy Days!

Elaine xx

January 2023

Here we are again - another month, another blog post.  

For amusement I signed up to do LeJog 2023 virtual challenge - walking 874 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats.  I reckon if I walk about 20m a week I will get there by October.  By 31st January I've walked 98m so just passed Okehampton on the A30 if you know the way.  You get postcards as you progress so here's the first 50m one:

I've been doing exams this month so lots of walking around school and not so many opportunities to take photos but here are a few.  It's been a month of beautiful sunrises and atmospheric moons, along with some baking and the catkins ensuring spring is on the way.

Elaine xx

Wintry December

 It's been an interesting month and a proper wintry month - well wintry week.  The snow came down one Sunday afternoon and kept coming.  It was very cold too (minus 5 here) so luckily the snow stay and everywhere looked pretty and white.  Lethal on the pavements, but pretty in the garden and local park!

We were visited by lots of birds too - the regular pair of blackbirds, 3 goldfinches, a wren and Mr Robin who spent a lot of time here.

The highlight was attending a wedding at Battle Abbey School - apart from the bride's dress getting a bit snowy, it was good. The building was beautiful with some fitting stained glass windows of snowflakes and with dinner in the library.   After that, Christmas with all the decorations, presents, food and drink!  

Thank you for visiting over the year. Not sure what style my blog will take next year but I guess photos will be involved.  

Wishing you all a very Merry 2023!

Elaine xx

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