Peace

Despite the fact I couldn’t sleep last night, due to the very hot humid weather, I had to be up early this morning. As I write the temperature is cool and a small breeze is wafting the tops of the trees.

You are either a morning person or an evening person - I tend to be a bit of both. I function better in the evenings but I enjoy getting up early in the quiet of the mornings, when I know I won’t be disturbed for a few minutes, and I watch the birds in the garden whilst I have my coffee and usually softly browned toast and marmalade or warm croissants.

This morning I had to drive across to Brockenhurst, as my son needed to get the train to London, and the forest animals were also enjoying the cool of the morning. The horses and deer were grazing by the side of the road and the young foals were suckling the mare’s milk.

On the way back I seemed to be hounded by people all wanting to go faster than me and overtaking in places that were in some cases a little dangerous. They were on their way to work all rushing to get to places to earn money without looking at what was around them. I can remember I used to be like that - until my pace of life slowed down.

People need to think about the important things in their lives and realise that they need to slow themselves down from time to time and just enjoy.

Whether you are reading this in the middle of a city or in the countryside - take time to stop and look at things. Maybe the leaves are blowing in the breeze or a small insect is humming past you -  just stop, watch and breathe. Life is wonderful.

Take care of yourselves

xx

Happiness is (2)………………..

Pink roses in my garden

The beach in summer

Walks in the forest

Sunsets

See you xx

Butter wouldn’t melt……

You’d think butter wouldn’t melt in Pebbles’ mouth she is so kind, soft and lovely to have around the house - making it into a home.

However it is open season for wood mice in the night garden and the shadier side of Pebbles comes alive at around 8pm these days. It’s like living with Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll sometimes.

On most warm nights from Spring onwards the garden is alive with rustlings and minute squeaks as mice and hedgehogs roam the undergrowth. Overhead there is the high pitched sound from the bat swinging over the roof - a sound I can no longer hear, but my sons can.

Pebbles sits most nights in one of two places - by the shed or by the gate - with the result she usually catches the mice who aren’t paying attention. On the rare occasions we see her catch a mouse we all dash out to try to save it - a situation which results in either getting growled at or Pebbles dashes off with us chasing her. She just can’t understand when she has gone to all the trouble of catching a mouse that we aren’t pleased with her. (One thing she has now learned is she is not to bring mice back into the house).

Last night it was a victory for us, we got her to drop the mouse……………

We got between Pebbles and the little mouse and it sat there shaking in the grass. Then it started to look around………..

and realising the cat was now safely inside the house (and howling that she could still see the mouse), he sat up and began to clean his face……….

After watching him for a time I put some sunflower seeds near him, turned the garden lights off and left him.

Today there is no sign of the mouse and the sunflower seeds have gone - so he is fit and healthy to fight another day.

See you .

xx

Open Gardens

Some brilliant gardeners, in our village, open their gardens to the public in the month of June and the visit is well worth it. Not only does it bring the community spirit alive, but it also teaches us a lot about plants and planting. Today was no exception - the sun shone and everyone had a great time.

The foxgloves (digitalis) are now in full bloom, enjoying dappled shade under large trees.

Unfortunately not everything is happy to grow in my garden, like this beautiful rhododendron, as my soil is heavy clay and, six inches down, the clay is thick and yellow - good enough to make rudimentary pots!

For those of you who are new to this blog - welcome. I hope you find something interesting.

See you soon xx

Blue Tits

My bird table is situated about 3 feet from my sunroom door and sometimes when the door is open I get a close-up of the birds feeding. For the last few days I’ve been watching a male and female Blue Tit who have been visiting the bird table frequently. Then four days ago along came the babies:

You can see how the parents’ appearance have changed over the course of a few days - they became thin and a few feathers were missing. The baby blue tit is on top of the bar whilst the parent was trying to feed the hungry mouth. First one baby came then two more all wanting food.

During the last two days I have watched the babies gradually learning to feed themselves, until last night when they were on their own. The babies are now quite happily independent and the parents are nowhere to be seen - no doubt having a rest  - unless they are creating their second batch of the season. Here’s the babies enjoying fat balls:

UPDATE:

I was just replacing some food on the bird table when the baby blue tits appeared:

Two of them stayed in the trees but one of them decided he was too hungry to wait around for me to go, so he came to me and allowed me to feed him by hand:

I was wondering what he felt like as he still has a little baby fluff and he allowed me to stroke him very gently. The feathers were so soft I could hardly feel them - but he definitely liked me stroking him - as you can tell by his reaction:

Enjoy!

See you soon.

xx

Music Man

I had to include this website in my blog

Rabbit of Fire

I just love the music this band plays - I have got a vested interest though - my youngest son is the drummer. Good luck boys - you deserve it!

Famous People

Minstead Church

I’ve written about architecture before now, but you can’t ignore the people that created our way of life.

The New Forest has been home to many famous and infamous people but the most notable to worldwide visitors is Alice Liddell - the Alice of  ‘Alice in Wonderland’ - who is buried in Lyndhurst Churchyard and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  - who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories - who is buried in an unassuming grave in Minstead churchyard. I ought to also mention Jane Austen who is buried not far away in Winchester Cathedral

All these people had and still have an influence on today’s literature. Without them the literary world would be a poorer place.

See you soon.

xx

New Outlet

As you can read on our NEWS page. Milford Designs now has an outlet in Chesapeake Mill in Wickham. The Mill is well worth a visit - and have a cup of tea while you are there!

xx