Monthly Archives: January 2017

Birds

Birds and Animals Leave a comment

birds

The sun did not appear today, it has been wet, cold, dull and misty. There has not been much wildlife in the garden except for a few birds on the feeders. Dougal and Florence both went out, Dougal several times, and Florence went up onto the balcony, but by late morning, both were in sleeping in warmer places.

Today’s picture is of a Robin and a Great Tit, both on the bird table at the same time and taken through the kitchen window. I was focusing on the Robin when the Blue Tit joined it on the table.

Cambridge - United Kingdom Leave a comment

cycles

It was very foggy first thing, but we went to Cambridge as my husband had an afternoon appointment at Addenbrookes Hospital. We went shopping in town and I bought a new coat. I wanted a purple one, but bought the black one as the purple one was only available online and not in my size.

I also wanted some white felt and some other odds and ends and looked in John Lewis. I could not find what I wanted and there was only one person serving in the whole of the haberdashery department; she was busy with someone else and could not even tell me where to find it, except that they had it in rolls, by the metre; I wanted one small square! Then I went up another floor to get a mouse; they had three all brightly patterned and not what I wanted. Sometimes I wonder why I go in that shop any more, especially as they will no longer serve tea or coffee in the restaurant side, without buying a meal and send us to the self-service side. Looks like it will be Amazon again although online shopping is causing many smaller shops to close, those like John Lewis will survive.

We had an early lunch in Harriett’s Tea Rooms before taking a few pictures; it was dull, drab and cold, so today’s picture is of some bicycles; there are plenty in Cambridge. We went to Addenbrookes, first to one clinic and then to another before coming home; at least the fog had lifted and it was still just daylight when we got home.

Frozen

Weather, Snow and Frost Leave a comment

Frozen.jpgDespite it raining overnight there was still frost in the garden. I took this picture of my car’s frozen rear windscreen at 1025 hours this morning. Since then it has warmed a little to eight degrees Celsius, but it has been raining on and off for most of the day.

A day of doing what Sunday’s were made for, cooking lunch, catching up with hobbies and generally preparing for the week ahead.

Hats

Knitting and Crafts Leave a comment

hatsToday’s picture is of two of the small hats I have made for charity. I needed a break from knitting blankets and small clothes for premature babies in very fine white wool so I decided to make some hats for a different charity, before going back to the white knitting. I was rather pleased with the knitted flower, which is the first one I have made. This charity also likes little hearts on their hats so I will be attempting one later today.

It is cold and raining, although late this morning the sun was trying to shine; both cats are in the house so obviously they do not think the weather is suitable for outdoor activities. I think it is another day of reading and knitting. I will be very busy later this coming week with marking student’s scripts and a visit to Addenbrookes Hospital with my husband, so I shall make the most of this weekend to catch up on some magazines and books.

Squirrel

Animals Leave a comment

squirrel

Another very frosty morning although it seemed less cold today. We went into Saffron Walden during the late morning to collect my husband’s medication. We had lunch in café CouCou and a quick walk around the town, there is not much to see in Saffron Walden, before coming home.

I took this today’s picture of this Squirrel, before we went out, one our Squirrel nut boxes was occupied by another Squirrel and I suspect the other box was empty as this one is sitting in one of the trees which contains some of our bird feeders.

Two Starlings

Birds and Animals 2 Comments

Two Starlings.jpg

It has been very cold today, according to the thermometers, not getting much above minus two degrees Celsius; it also stated ‘it feels like -8’! My daughter saw some flakes of snow as she drove to work this morning in the direction of Cambridge; I have not seen any here.

A busy morning sorting out some paperwork and making telephone calls. Then I walked to the village to collect my prescription and was told that my husband’s prescription would probably be collected, by them, this afternoon; a rubbish comment! It was so cold out that I did not take a camera, but took today’s pictures from the conservatory and the kitchen when I got home. The one in the main picture decided to fly away as I pressed the shutter! The Starling were taking advantage of all the fresh food and water that I had just put out; the little birds were not getting near it, so I will need to refill it again this afternoon.

As it is so cold, an afternoon of knitting looks likely, or maybe I will catch up with some of my reading.

Starlings on the bird table
Starlings on the bird table

Robin

Birds and Animals Leave a comment

 

robin

It was frosty and very foggy this morning, throughout the morning it cleared a little and then the fog returned; it has not been completely clear all day and the sun did not put in an appearance. I did some more ‘Spring’ cleaning this morning, although clearly the weather does not think it is Spring; it seems it will get colder.

This afternoon I did some admin jobs including sorting out whether our prescriptions were ready. Since the brilliant pharmacist left Newport Village Pharmacy last year there have been a lot of problems, not just with our prescription, but with many others in the village. It took them two weeks to get some of my items before Christmas and on at least two occasions my husband has had to wait while the prescription was made up, even though we ordered them a week earlier; on the last occasion he waited for over an hour.

When I ordered the prescriptions on Thursday 19 January I requested that they go to Boots in Saffron Walden, they cannot be any worse! Today when I rang Boots to see if they were ready they had not received our prescriptions even though they collect from our surgery everyday. I rang our surgery and after six minutes they finally answered their telephone, they apologised, but the prescriptions had gone to Newport Pharmacy. I rang the pharmacy, yes mine was ready, but they had not received my husband’s prescription. Back to the surgery I went, where they answered their telephone quite quickly this time. His prescription was printed on the same day as mine and sent with it to Newport Pharmacy; they offered to fax it immediately to Boots in Saffron Walden. I will collect mine from Newport probably tomorrow and then we should get the other items in Saffron Walden by Saturday.

Today’s picture is a Robin, maybe the same one as my husband blipped recently, although we have several pairs in our garden, so it might be a different one. Two Pheasants were in the garden, but pictures of them were not very good.

Miscellaneous Leave a comment

stampsIt was very foggy with some frost this morning, but once it cleared it has been sunny and more like a Spring day; I suspect the temperature will drop again this evening.

This morning I did some more sorting out and got rid of a lot of rubbish; I do not need receipts from dated 2013 onwards!

I also sorted out some stamps, they are today’s picture and I will be sending them to the Coeliac UK Charity; the pile is bigger than it looks and fills an Ocado plastic shopping bag, if you have any you need a home for the address is

COELIAC UK, PO Box 16992, Sutton Coldfield, B73 9YA

You can also recycle a variety of things for charity including your car! More details here.

My First Snowdrop of 2017

Flowers, Garden Leave a comment

 

It will not be the last!

snowdrop

This morning it was frosty, but not quite as cold as it has been these last few days.

I did some work with students, but spent much of the day ‘Spring’ cleaning, even though it is still January. Pictures of cleaning do not make much of a picture, so today’s picture is of a badly battered, trodden on (by deer?) and eaten Snowdrop. I have been looking in the garden daily for the Winter Aconites, which often appear before the Snowdrops, but they are nowhere to be seen. This Snowdrop is often the first one to flower and is one of those placed on my Splodge’s grave.

An Airborne Squirrel

Animals Leave a comment

squirrel

This morning it was even colder and minus eight degrees Celsius in the garden.

Fortunately today is a day for doing indoor jobs, in particular for backing up and sorting out my computer and photographs. There are far too many photographs on my hard drive and they need to be fully backed-up before being removed from the computer.

I was about to take a picture of a blackbird, when I realised that the squirrel, which was also sitting on the wall was about to jump from the wall to the bird feeder. I got one shot, which is not as sharp as I would like, but there is no way I am not going to use this picture for today.