Snapping Away

This first photo

is from my walk with the hounds this morning.

 Low cloud shrouded the hillsides

making the tops of the hills indistinct.

After walking the hounds

I went back for a check up with the dentist

just to make sure everything was okay.

He seems quite a jolly fellow.

He told me that there's a relation of Lord Mountbatton's in the next village!

After that,

I had a stroll around the village.

It was quiet,

you could even call it sleepy....

The image below seems to have some meaning in the village

as there is a large 3D image of it elsewhere in the village.

But as I didn't walk past it,

I forgot to take a photo.

The area we live in is mainly catholic.

These giant wreaths below

I think must be left over from Mayday.

Then I was back down at the river.

I spent a while sitting by the river watching the birds and the boats.

By which time the sun was covered by cloud and it had cooled considerably.

So I took my leave.

But thought I would leave you with this last photo which took my fancy.

A Grey Day with a Silver Lining

Mike flew off to the UK

last Tuesday.

Just before he went

one of the crowns came off my tooth.

I went into a mild panic,

followed by denial.

I hate anything like that happening with my teeth.

But today I finally did something about it

and went off to find a dentist.

I took the camera with me

as before Mike left,

I told him to

check my blog daily,

that way,

he could see what I was up to

what the weather was like here.

I also thought it would

prompt me to update my blog regularly.

Unfortunately,

I haven't been doing such a good job

with that side of things.

Well I did have a very busy week last week.

I went to a village the other side of the river

a few miles down stream,

where I found the light airy dental surgery.

It has an elevated position

and the views from the windows are lovely.

A good way to take your mind off what's happening

in the dentist chair.

However the procedure was straight forward,

and I now have the crown

back in position.

I have to go back tomorrow

to have it checked.

Hopefully, that's it sorted!

On the way back

I stopped a couple of times

to take some photos.

The following photos are of a different village on the way back to ours.

I think today has been the greyest day yet since Mike left.

In fact there was some very heavy rain earlier,

so I hope we don't get anymore of that when I walk the hounds later.

This last photo shows how closely the road follows the river.

It does that pretty much all along the river.

It crosses over the river now and then.

It's very scenic.

I had some more photos to share with you,

but Blogger doesn't seem to want to accept them.

So I'll leave well alone

in case I end up losing them all!

I'll take the camera with me again tomorrow

and hope that there is a bit of sunshine

to brighten up the pictures.

 

Quick, While the Sun's Out

That's what I said to myself

when I looked out of the window earlier.

So I left the hounds sleeping off their dinner,

and dashed downstairs for my bicycle.

I wasn't going far,

but it was an opportunity to get a little cycling in.

I was going down to the river

where the Wein Kirmes has been taking place.

The photo above should be an indication of what a kirmes is.

Kirmes is a funfair.

It's been taking place over this weekend,

and it's been Very Noisy.

They've even been firing off cannons

on Friday and Saturday,

much to the hounds consternation.

I think the cannons must indicate the start of proceedings.

After cycling along to where it was all taking a place,

I took the first photo,

turned round,

and took this next photo...

It looks like two different days doesn't it?

Then I walked into the big marquee.

It was surprisingly busy for a Monday afternoon.

It's where most of the noise has been coming from over the weekend

in the form of music.

Outside the marquee,

and there's the obligatory-

Sausages!

There's always plenty of sausages at these events.

I liked this row of toys

that these girls were walking purposefully past.

Maybe to get to the Dodgem cars.

There were a few market stalls too.

And all next to the peaceful looking river.

And yes,

I did get caught in the rain briefly.

But the sun soon came out again.

Then I was off back home,

to the hounds,

and a cup of tea,

and a cherry bun!

This post has been sitting waiting to be finished,

(which I've just done).

It's now half past midnight,

and the music is still going on at the Kirmes!

Happy Birthday

A very Happy Birthday

to my daughter today!

The above photo is probably all you'll get to see of her,

she's camera shy.

It was taken last month

on a river boat trip here on the Mosel.

I'll follow up with more photos in the week.

I meant to say in my last post

thank you for all your anniversary wishes.

We had a lovely day.

Good Intentions

These photos have just been waiting

for me to sit down at the computer long enough to post them.

They are from a couple of weekends ago

when I took myself off for a bike ride.

Any bicycle ride here

naturally goes alongside the river.

Any other route would mean

climbing hills,

and I wasn't inclined to do that

as it was too hot.

Though not as hot as it's been since then.

Not long into the ride

and I stopped to listen to a band playing.

These people seemed to have the right idea,

sheltering from the sun.

I didn't cycle very far,

but took a few photos on the way.

Unfortunately the heat must have sozzled my head,

as a number of the photos

showed that I must have been holding the camera at an angle,

making the photos unusable.

The one below is straight enough,

just.

I sat for a while on a bench here,

before cycling back,

passing this sun dial showing the wrong time.

To me it reads 2 o'clock,

but it was actually

3.45.

How can that be?

Following that cycle ride,

I had intended to take the bike out regularly,

but Wimbledon

and Glastonbury came on the telly

and I watched them instead.

Good intentions....

An Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary.

Fifteen years.

For both of us,

it's our second marriage.

The plan is to go out somewhere to celebrate.

Maybe a trip out somewhere different with the hounds.

A long walk somewhere new.

Maybe a meal out in the evening.

Or maybe just the two of us

out for a couple of hours for

coffee and cake,

somewhere local.

But as I write this on Sunday,

(I know how bad I am at posting at the moment),

the weather forecast is not looking very good.

So it might be a stay at home day.

The best sort when the weather is wet and windy.

Just have to make some nice cake

to enjoy at home

while we keep dry.

I enjoy baking.

The photo shows the flowers and card Mike gave me last year.

Gardener's World, or Spot the Presenter

Watching Gardener's World Friday evening on the TV, I was reminded that I had some photos from last year that I have not shared with you. (In fact I have quite a number of photos that have not made it to this blog)!
Gardener's World is a long running BBC programme. During the summer Gardener's World and BBC Good Food programmes combine to present an exhibition at Birmingham's NEC Centre. Last year I won two VIP ticket's for it. So my sister and I went along. We had a fabulous time. The VIP tickets gave us access to a lounge where we could sit and rest our feet, and drink endless cups of tea, any time we felt in need. We had a wonderful time. I really should have told you all about it when I got back- sorry.
Well the show has been taking place these last few days, so I got my photos out from last year. A nice reminder of a wonderful day out last year. So I'll share them with you now.

With so much to see, and so many people, I was eager to make a start. We began with the show gardens. The textiles caught my eye in these first two photos.

A garden for football fans.

A garden for wildlife.

A garden for sitting in and enjoying the plants close up.

In the pink.

The next garden shows a neat way to keep your vegetable garden tidy. It was used by the BBC for the presenters to meet the public and answer questions about gardening.

Above you can see Joe Swift being presented, and below Carol Klein.

I was particularly interested to see the Good Food Halls.

 Above, Andi Peters, below, James Martin.

With the VIP tickets, I got two tickets (on the front row) for Masterchef.

Above John Torode and below, Gregg Wallace.

I've included a second photo of Joe Swift, just because I like it.

Despite being so keen to see eveything to do with food, and incidentally winning the tickets through Good Food, the plants were the stars of the show for me.
Below is a garden based on Alice in Wonderland.

But the best bit was the plant hall. After seeing everything, that is where we spent most time.
Can you blame us?...

My sister bought some lovely rose bushes. I had to content myself with some Lily corms. That's all I could get in my case. They're due to flower soon.

Passing the Lake District on the way back to my sister's, there was the most fabulous, memorable sunset.
But guess what, my camera was in the boot of the car, and we were on a motorway, so no stopping.
What a beautiful end to a great day out.

In the Vineyards

It's taken several goes to get these photos up.

I'm not sure whether the computer or Blogger was at fault.

In the end I haven't included all the ones I had chosen.

Never mind.

I thought you might like an update on how the vineyards are looking.

As you can see they are in full leaf now.

I enjoy walking amongst them.

I've been doing a lot of that this last week

with the hounds

while Mike has been away.

I've noticed quite a few workers in the vineyards.

I think many of them come from other countries,

Poland and other East European countries.

By the time I reached these workers

they were having a breather on the track

before continuing down the next row.

They parted to let me and the hounds through.

I suppose we were an unexpected sight,

four greyhounds being walked amongst the vineyards.

I'm not sure what the workers were doing,

probably tying the vines in.

They have grown quite rapidly

while I've been away.

Here are the beginnings of a bunch of grapes.

The area I tend to favour for walking the hounds is rich in wildlife.

Can you see the deer in this last photo?

It's got it's back to us

but has turned it's head around,

most likely to keep an eye on the hounds.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

It's in the centre.

I wish I had had the camera with me the other morning.

But walking with 4 greyhounds

and a camera isn't always that easy.

Especially when Jewel frightens any wildlife away

before I can get the camera focused.

Fortunately she didn't see the hare

hopping past us in the field,

to our left,

or the deer in the courgette field

to our right,

bounding away.

In fact none of the hounds saw them

I think they were hidden from view

with wild rose bushes and grasses.

But it was the best view I've had so far of a hare,

so close.

I haven't forgotten,

I'll be back to report on my UK trip soon.

But before that,

tomorrow in fact,

I'll have something different.