Sunshine on a Rainy Day

What better way to cheer up a miserable rainy day than a splash of colour.

A couple of Saturdays ago I took myself off to the park for an hour with my camera and the instruction booklet and had a fiddle with the settings. One of my favourite pictures was this daffodil, the yellow trumpet so zingy against all the green.

The train station which G and I use each work day has a newly formed group of volunteers who have started to bring some tidiness and colour to the platforms, I love the red of these anemones.

These evening I walked home wearing a jacket and carrying an umbrella, very different to the Tuesday a few weeks back when the sun was shining and we went for a walk along the shore. This was the view I was trying to catch

but this was the result on my first attempt! Cheeky!

And to end, another photo of S pulling possibly the most bizarre smile ever, stood next to her photo on display at school a week ago when she was named as the Superstar of the week because

'S has really raised her effort this week. This has meant she has learnt to do thinhgs much better than she did before. She worked brilliantly on word problems, wrote an effectivel Free Write and showed passion in answering questions about what she had been reading. Great work S!

Water Vole Way

We were organised yesterday and checked ahead for the weather forecast for today. Finding that it was going to be dry first thing we decided a walk in the morning was the way to go and so then it was deciding which walk to do.

In the end we chose the Water Vole Way which is part of the Itchen Navigation Trail where it is possible to walk from Southampton to Winchester.

This part of the trail starts just down the road from Eastleigh train station.

For ease I took the little point and shoot camera with me but I wish I had taken my other camera and tried to take some better pictures with it, though I'm not sure how much of a better photo of these ducklings I could have managed. They were practically running across the water they were moving so quickly!

There were a couple of places along the 3.5 miles which provided good photo opportunities for G and S. T was otherwise engaged with friends and didn't join us.

The river backs right on to many gardens and this was a particularly sweet one with all the bluebells blazing away in the sun and a bench ideally placed for enjoying all that the countryside scene had to offer.

We saw a few butterflies, heard lots of birdsong and as well as the ducks we saw a lone swan. Whilst admiring another back garden G called out to me 'quick look over here there are two cranes.' Very funny.

At one point I had to stop and tie my shoelace and when I looked up this was the view. I love the faded green of the gate and the smattering of bluebells.

The last part of the walk was along Church Road in Bishopstoke and on the front of one of the houses is a plaque. It's in memorial of a local family who had once lived there and had been passengers on the Titanic.

50p Car Boot Buys

I was really pleased with my purchases last Sunday at the car boot, each item cost me 50p except the last which was a whole pound.

First off is a brand new and very beautiful crocheted shawl.

A Crew Clothing tank top

A Ladybird book, quite apt given our mid week trip to A&E

This linen jacket is actually a darker navy than the photo shows and I saw one very similar to it in town yesterday for £80!

As well as clothes for me I also bought a shirt for T, he was with me and was happy with my choice.

And this was the most expensive item at a pound. Quite an unusual design, the character bottom right looks like one of the Teletubbies!

Maritime Festival

My plan on coming home from work yesterday was to sit down and write this post about our day out on bank holiday Monday. Instead I had to take G to the A&E department as he had whacked his head so hard he had double vision and was diagnosed as having mild concussion.

He has been off work today with a very thick head but looks much less dazed than he did!

So now to Monday. Our chosen venue was the docks for the Southampton maritime festival. 

I'm starting with a photo of this double decker bus, not quite in with the maritime theme I know, but what a fantastic idea to convert an old bus into a pub. G says he has seen this at a couple of festivals being used as a Pimms bus. 

Each time we see a soft top car T says how would love to own a car like that one day. I quite like the colour of this one. It was just one of many Rolls Royce cars made on display and all were in an immaculate condition, each one obviously a well loved vehicle.

There was also a small display of different vehicles used by the AA through the years too, I'd rather have a Rolls given the choice.

This was a first for me. I have never seen a tram, seen them in photos and seen them on the TV but never actually seen one in the flesh as it were. You were able to go and sit in this one but it was so busy I made do with just taking photos and listening into a conversation where one of the volunteers was explaining that sometime after this tram was taken out of service it was bought by a gentleman who had it situated in his garden for his children to play in as a grand Wendy house.

There were a few people dressed in vintage fashions and WW2 uniforms.

Girls love a man in uniform, but I'm not so sure about this model, his 'skin' was kind of velour-y, very strange.

Whilst we were sat eating our picnic we were given plastic flags to wave at the King and Queen as they were due on a royal walkabout. The regal pair in this instance was King George VI and Queen Elizabeth complete with corgis!

I really liked the display outside this medical tent, striped deckchairs and a wooden airer hung with a selection of clothing and undergarments to one side

and a stretcher, medical bag and bicycle on the other.

Inside the tent was a huge and interesting display of medicinal aids and also a few pieces of enamelware.

I had a chat with a really lovely chap about the kit which was provided to soldiers. He joined up in 1952 and said that the best present his mum gave him was a darning mushroom and teaching him how to darn his socks properly. The item at bottom right could be worn as a scarf and also rolled up and worn as hat.

Throughout the day there were different art and craft activities for the children and S was pleased to see face painting was on offer.

During the summer there are going to be a number of rhinos around the City celebrating the 40th anniversary of Marwell Zoo and there was one here on display to showcase the event.

Unfortunately this is the only photo I took of the boats and it's not that great, but it has to be included because these boats played their part at Dunkirk and so are very special indeed.

Mrs Tiggywinkle

Late yesterday afternoon we were busy out in the garden having a tidy up. We are due to have a tree chopped down today and things needed to moved.

One of those things was a big blue plastic tarpaulin which when G gave it a bit of a shake so we could fold it up and get it put away it revealed this little bundle of prickles.

It's the second time we have found hedgehogs living in our garden, well three times if you take into consideration the time G called out to me from the garden 'to come quickly there's a hedgehog hiding in the grass' only to find he had taken out the furry hedgehog doorstop we use in the house.

We quickly made a make shift hide for it using some straw left over from when I made the scarecrow with S last year and then covered that over with a drawer from an old chest of drawers in the shed propped up on an angle against the fence, then we added some more straw and then draped a smaller tarpaulin over the top of it all. We hoped we hadn't traumatised it too much and that maybe it would be ok with it's new home but G went out this morning for a quick look and it's gone which is making us feel a little guilty for disturbing it.

Back to the Farm

On Sunday we went on a return visit to Manor Farm.

There were lots of new arrivals in the farmyard such as the cutest twin baby calves born 5 days earlier

and in one of the barns there were lambs which were also just a few days old.

It was feeding time not longer after we got there, a fact this pig was well aware of! She had heard the farmer's voice and had lifted herself up and was snuffling the air sniffing out the bucket of food he was bringing over for her.

Brown paper bags full of chicken food can be purchased and we always buy a bag to feed the multitude of hens, cockerels and ducks who wander around the farm.

We have never spotted this shepherds hut on any of our previous visits, the steps of which made for an ideal photo posing opportunity.

Just look at the dinky little stove set inside it.

The others weren't really bothered about going back to look inside the farmhouse again, but this is just about my most favourite part I had to nip in.

How cosy a scene is this?
A real fire blazing away and as well as the armchair itself being swathed in crochet blankets this clever lady has a shawl of granny squares draped around her shoulders as she works on the most beautiful blanket. Perfection.

And as if that wasn't wonderful enough there were even more beautiful items to feast my eyes on as I wandered around the room featured in the Wartime Farm TV series.
No more words from me ,except to say if you are ever in the area a visit is a must especially if you coincide it with one of the special events they run during the year. Now just enjoy the vintage loveliness in the rest of the photos.