Dorset sunset.

After a scorching hot day spent cutting hedges, mowing the lawn and weeding the flower borders we went out in the cool of the evening to walk the dog. At times like this I remember how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful county. The lanes are lined by Cow Parsley looking like lace casually draped under the hedges and round the sides of the fields.

Within minutes the sky had turned pink and orange and we watched the sun sink below the line of the Dorset hills. Wonderful. When I see creation so beautiful I know that God made this....it didn't just happen.

Enjoying the summer....at last!

More pictures of the new kitchen! It's lovely to have the space back after all the kitchen fitters have been in, and to fill the cupboards again. The bucket of wild flowers were picked for our Craft day last Saturday, and far too pretty to throw away.

Now that the sun has returned again the garden has blossomed into life, we have had so much rain last month that everything was well watered and it shows!

Wrecks the dog enjoying the weather. He has to be walked morning or evening in this hot spell.....too hot in the day. The Sweet Cicely is looking much like Cow Parsley behind him.

Grannys Bonnets are on show at the moment but the roses are full of buds and in a week or two will be out.

The iris's are flowering in the pond and the froglets are beginning to leave the pond and make for cover in the hedge and walls......it's a good excuse not to mow the lawn. The garden is full of bees and insects especially on the Comfey flowers, and we have 4 adult slowworms and 4 young slowworms under the tin lid. The sparrows are dipping into the pond about a yard away from me as I enjoy lunch in the garden today.

A day out on Dartmoor

 When Father and son get together, they pour over a map of Dartmoor. Son has been on survival exercise on Dartmoor in pouring rain for a week and Dad is a very proud man!

Am I the only person who is having trouble with Bloggers new format....it's SO frustrating, I can't get the words next to the picture I am writing about.

The picture of the traffic is actually the entorage surrounding the Olympic torch as it passed through Exeter yesterday. Unbelievable how much security surrounded it, helicoptors, police on the river in boats, police outriders and numerous police vans!

The last two pictures are of my lovely new kitchen and pantry. It's only just completed and is lovely and so much more storage than I had before.

Does anyone know what this about.....Hundreds of snails were in this crack in a tree in the woods at Dewlish in Dorset?
We thought maybe it was an "Eat All You Can" restaurant for Thrushes !
There was a small pile of empty shells at the base of the tree but this lot looked very cosy and I just wondered if anyone knows about this.

It doesn't look especialy blue in this picture and unfortunately I had to take this from the car, but believe me it was very blue, and very early in the season for the Bluebells to be so fully out.
We went up to Bulbarrow hill (off the grockle-beaten track ) That's 'tourists' if you are outside Dorset and then down to Ansty and Dewlish, where my Father-in-Law grew up.

Met this little fella whilst walking out near St Aldhelms chapel this afternoon. It's a rural fox, although in this picture it looks a bit industrial. It was sitting by a water tank which is just above a stone quarry which is still in operation. I think it may be used to the man that works there, I believe it may only be one man working there.

Dandelions,

Armed with a trowel I patrolled the garden looking for weeds to remove, I came to these dandelions and stopped.....I watched a bee foraging in the golden yellow flowers for several minutes and come out covered in pollen and nectar. I walked away and left them and hung up the trowel, let the bees enjoy....and me too, the lovely yellow sunshine blooms.I found this image whilst trawling the web and it made me think about what I should leave and what I should keep in the garden. in fact I think I will go round the garden today and see what wild flowers are growing there, and decide whether they are weed or flower!

I wonder what ice treat this pony will choose when he gets to the head of the queue! Near Moyles Court School on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday Dad and son doing a bit of map reading. We went up high on the Purbeck so that we could find places to look for on the OS map and then off for a walk. we LOVE maps and have about 150 of them! We do NOT have a Sat nav......and never will!

What a great weekend it's been. On Saturday I walked around Durleston Country park and down into Swanage, it was perfect weather. I watched a line of Guillimots bobbing around in the sea and got a good view of a Great Spotted Woodpecker as I walked through the woods down into Swanage.
Yesterday we walked one of our favourite little strolls at Turners Puddle and met these two horses and their drivers splashing through the ford.

They trotted off down the lane, it was a nice sound with the horses going through the water and no car noise to be heard at all.

Geocaching was a bit of fun when my daughter finally found an elusive one that she has been trying to find for a year!

Celandine and primroses are all over the place

To end the day, a hazy sunset over Spetisbury as we walked from Tarrant Keyneston Mill over the meadows.

Skinnydipping at Hilliers, Romsey !

Yesterday despite the slightly iffy weather we went with friends to Hilliers gardens at Romsey for the day. Lots of different daffodils around.....and not chewed off by snails like mine are at home!

It's a bit cold for skinnydipping in March but this young lady was very brazen about it! (Shame on you if you only read this post because you thought there would be real skinnydipping pictures!!!!)

This pretty house is within the grounds and being used as a wedding venue yesterday.

I loved this dragonfly sculpture and hoped the sun would come out and shine through the glass on the wings, but sadly it didn't.

It was a lovely day but I would like to see it again in summer when the garden is in full flower.

Weekend leave

My son who is in the Royal Marines has weekend leave so it was lovely to go for a walk today up by Creech Grange Arch on Purbeck. These ladies just watched us as we walked by.

The boys couldn't resist climbing the arch and admiring the view from the top.

Along the ridge the views just get better.

We had been to his base at Lympstone to a family day and watched a demonstration of drill, and some parents were dragged out to have a go!

We also watched the PT sessions, which made you tired just to watch, they went up and down the ropes at a fair crack. Visited the assault course and had lunch with our son. A nice day but also a very 'Alpha male' day!

Wintery Dorset in which Wrecks goes skating!

Baffled dog! Wrecks really couldn't understand the ice and kept trying to drink it, as he would a puddle! We haven't had much snow, just a light dusting one morning.

Walks when you don't meet anyone else, they are all tucked up in the warm. Lots of birds in the hedgerows, tits, finches, blackbirds and thrushes.Yesterday a bracing walk around Swanage, people still on the beach and families having fun together. Browsing in the bookshops and dreaming in the craft shop....

A cup of tea and piece of shortbread in this cafe looking at the view from the warm, waving to people you know as they passed the window.