Monday Motions

I mowed the front lawn this morning...there were long wispy bits, but so much of the lawn is dry so I had it on quite a high setting.

I had to top up the pond again as it had gotten low.

The water lilies are still looking as lovely as ever.  The white patches on the leaves are from the blanket weed killer stuff I put in the pond. fortunately the wildlife still seems to be fine.

I painted some rocks 

Just a little bit of fun.

I left one of my walk in the afternoon.

I sat and watched  a little wren while out on my walk.  I am pretty sure it had a nest in the shrubbery along where I walk...I could hear lots of little peeps and chirps.

I managed to get some wood shavings with my grocery order on Sunday so am seeing how that works in Dennis' cage.  I'd love to have a bigger space for him, but he won't be living indoors indefinitely so it is probably not worth the financial outlay - gumboots/wellington boots need to come first!

Enjoying the day on the grass.

Murphy with Jeremy resting beside him.

Bailey and Felix.  

I've been having salad leaves and radishes for lunch everyday and chard and spinach for dinner.  So good to be eating home grown produce.

I had to do my first reduction in steroids today so now down to 4 mg.  Instead of coming down every three weeks, I think it is going to have to be every two weeks if I want to be off them for at least three weeks before my tests in September.  I will see how I go.

The Wow Factor

A lovely morning for a walk.

I thought I would try walking a bit further today to see how I managed it now I am feeling so much better than last week.

I walked to a place I went with my husband last year...we didn't get to do the full walk, we just walked a little way.

I decided I wanted to walk down to the water, as we didn't do that.

A tantalising glimpse of a beach...

A lovely pond.

The cliffs.

Rugged beauty.

The car park.  It had a few cars in it already when I arrived.  I'd walked along the road to get there, but only one of the cars passed me just as I got there.

Walking down.

A little more of the beach.

and then.....

Wow!  I was absolutely amazed.

I really hadn't expected this.

Beach wise, I am not easy to impress being used to the magnificent New Zealand beaches where I grew up.  A lot of those take some beating.   This came close to being comparable in beauty that is for sure.

I had a lovely time walking along it.

I didn't walk as far as I would have liked as knew I had to walk home again.

I didn't want to overdo it, so it will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow.

Such richness of colours.

Waves lapping the shore

The sea really did look inviting.

Colourful cliffs.

There was such colour in them, difficult to capture on film properly.

Time to say goodbye until another day...I will definitely come back, with a packed lunch so I can enjoy walking right along the beach.

Large Red Damselfly

Lovely pond.

Instead of walking back via the road I went through the fields and the woods.

Looking back...

A swing someone had set up in the wood hanging from a tree.  I bet many have enjoyed a good swing on it.

Back home....

The crows enjoying a sunbathe on the roof of my seat.

This arrived this afternoon.

I sold a doll in the weekend and was able to arrange a courier collection so I didn't have to go to the post office.  With the proceeds I was able to buy a hutch for the guinea pigs.  They live inside my garden shed, but the sun shines directly into it all day, and I am worried about them getting too hot so wanted something they could go in during the day that would be cooler for them.  So was pleased to be able to get this and was most impressed how quickly it arrived.

The pieces.

The assembly...

Finished!  It fits on the deck beside my sewing studio nicely.  It is shaded there...I just have to check in the morning if it is shaded enough.  Certainly by late afternoon when I finished building this it was.

I will put the guinea pigs back in the shed at night as we have foxes, and after a fox 'opening' one of my guinea pig hutches many years ago when we first moved to Rose Cottage, in Hertfordshire, I don't trust them, and don't want to risk them getting into the hutch here.