A Murky Day

The weather has been changeable while I've been in Cumbria.

On Wednesday last week

Three of us set off into the Lakes.

We drove up by Borrowdale and parked the car

where we could take a look at the view,

such as it was.

Rather murky.

But nevertheless,

we set off for a walk along a closed valley to a place called

Watendlath.

Along a narrow,

twisty road.

Lined with dry stone walls.

Watendlath is a little hamlet at the end of the road with a few

Lakeland buildings,

one of which is a tea shop!

Beyond this bridge is a tarn,

(a small lake).

It was generally overcast,

and started to rain.

Not that the ducks minded.

They seemed used to people,

and saw them as a provider of food.

The picture below was taken on the way back when the sun came out for a short time.

Just before the thunder,

which was deafening,

and frightening,

and lightening,

which I didn't notice,

began.

That evening on the local news,

we heard that a number of walkers

in a valley to the west of where we had been had been struck by lightening!

I think we were very fortunate

in that we only got wet.

Cat in a Box

As promised,

I'm back with more photos.

The first one is from an evening walk I did with my sister and a friend

in Cumbria.

These two are of my sister's cat,

Jazz.

She loves boxes.

Can you tell?
She's a Bengal cat.

They have a bit of a reputation I believe.

They don't like other cats,

but may tolerate dogs.

I 'spotted' this dog outside a colourful shop in Keswick in the Lake District.

I liked the black and white against the colour.

I rather liked this little area in a coffee shop.

I must admit that I have uploaded these photos in the wrong order!
Before we went into Keswick,

We had a drive along one of the Lakes,

Thirlmere.

The view below is the view we had while enjoying our picnic.

Before we had our picnic

we took lots of photos.

I love Bluebells

so I was pleased to see some down by the lake.

Of all the lakes in the Lake District,

Thirlmere is fairly quiet.

The photo below is looking across Thirlmere towards Helvellyn,

a popular fell with walkers.

I've been having problems with the camera for a while now,

not wanting to focus.
By the time the camera decided to respond,

this sheep and her lamb

had had enough of posing and were running away!

One of my favourite fells in the Lake District is Blencathra.
We took a back lane to get the following shots.

Except for this shot below!
My sister took this of me

getting down low for a photograph

at Thirlmere.

Farmlife and Bridges

HELLOooooooooo!

Long time no see.

Though some of you have been kindly stopping by to check up on me.

And I appreciate that, thank you.

It's difficult to get going once you have a break.

But I've had these photos ready for a few days now

just waiting for me to find some words to go with them.

So what have I been up to on my unplanned blog break?

Well I have been working with hexagons.

Elongated hexagons.

An idea I saw a couple of years ago in a magazine

but only now am I following it up,

 I was able to buy the necessary template on my last visit to the UK.

I have to work from a template to make my pieces accurate.

I'm afraid everytime I try to draw a shape accurately,

it's never good enough.

I find these quite time consuming and more fiddly than the regular hexagons.

But I love the effect,

when pieced together.

What else has been happening?

Well flowers in the gardens seem to be blooming generally.

The flowers pictured here are taken in my sister's garden.
And from a garden we visited last weekend.
Yes I am on another visit to the UK!

Unusually,

we have had some lovely weather in Cumbria

since I arrived over a week ago.

My sister's garden is full of birds.

I enjoyed listening to this Blackbird singing his heart out one afternoon

as I sat reading my book below.

This little fellow came to join me for a while.

Last Sunday morning started off sunny and warm.

So I set off with my camera

for a walk along the river.

The county show is coming up in July.

Both my sister and I have been looking at the categories for entering

exhibits.

We both thought we might have a go at entering some photos.

One of the categories is 'Farmlife'.

Another is 'bridges'.

So both of us have been clicking away

trying our best to get some interesting shots.

We must have taken hundreds of photos

trying to capture the right one.

We're still looking.

But it's enjoyable.

And I'll be back with some more photos soon.

Snowy Fells

As promised,

here are some photos from a trip to

The Lake District

that I took with my sister

on the first day of April.

It was particularly spectacular

as it had snowed overnight

making it a winter wonderland

on the fells.

We went to my favourite lake,

Ullswater,

then on to

Derwentwater.

It was very cold,

but pretty.

The photo above is looking over to Skiddaw.

Finishing off by

Bassenthwaite.

It was lovely to get into the Lakes

and for once the sun was shining.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Me, I'm staying at my sister's

with her family.

It's been dull most of the day

here in Cumbria.

But the sun did get out eventually at about five o'clock.

So me and my sister took ourselves off for a walk.

What a difference,

there's actually flowers blooming outside.

When did they appear?

Daffodils and tulips flowering together.

I seem to think that the daffodils usually arrive before the tulips.

I always like to stop and look back at this row of cottages.

And then stop a bit further up the hill

and look over towards the east.

Lovely blue sky.

Maybe you can just see a bit of snow over there on the Pennines.

Earlier in the week

we took ourselves off into the Lake District

just after it had been snowing.

I'll have to show you the photos I took.

So pretty.

Meanwhile here are two photos

that I took of a window display in Keswick.

I always take the opportunity to visit this shop when I can.

And until I get back to show you those photos,

do help yourself to a chocolate

or two.

These are all the way from Germany.

I just didn't get round to

posting them here before I left.