Busy Weekend

Compared to our usual weekends,

this last one was busy.

For different reasons

we had visitors,

a young couple who have recently moved over here from the States,

and later another couple from Luxemburg.

It was the couple from Luxemburg that brought us the cake pictured above.

A nice gesture we thought.

His family own a Boulangerie.

Perhaps if I'd known that I wouldn't have offered them my own fruit cake,

but apparently they liked it.

The cake they brought is almond flavoured

and is cut horizontally.

It tasted really nice.

That evening, we went to a concert.

It was a local affair involving some friends of ours.

The concert was in aid of Mali.

Tomorrow, I fly over to the UK.

I am spending some time in the north east of England before travelling west to Cumbria.

I'm taking the camera, so I hope it won't rain all the time-

it usually does.

So, I will be away from the computer for a while.

But I should have some photos to share with you

on my return.

Family Portrait

It has been so hot lately

that at the end of our afternoon walks,

the hounds and I

have ourselves a rest

before getting in the van for the short drive home.

They have a drink of water

and settle themselves down.

It's a nice way to finish a walk while it is so hot.

In the photo,

Arthur is sitting at the back.

It's very unusual to see any of our hounds sitting,

except for Rufus sometimes,

and then only briefly.

But I think that's the first time I've ever seen Arthur sit.

Clockwise from Arthur is Jewel

our only lady hound.

Rufus is at the front.

He's been upset by the thunder tonight

but fortunately it's stopped now,

so I can go to bed.

Paddy is the white one.

He's big for a greyhound

and he finds the weather too hot at the moment.

He will often have a lie down part way round.

It used to be difficult to get him to relax

and settle anytime we wanted to have a sit down and admire the views.

Now it's him deciding to take a break.

I'm quite pleased with this photo.

At least none of them ran off while I was taking the photos.

Maybe next time,

I can work on them looking towards the camera.

Simple Pleasures

-such as enjoying the beautiful wild roses.

I noticed on our morning walk yesterday

that the wild roses are blooming.

So this morning I took the camera with me.

The Dog Rose as it is known,

is one of my favourites.

I love it for it's simplicity,

but also for the colour,

and the sweeping arching shapes of it's branches.

Elsewhere it is sometimes known by other names such as

stone rose and bird nose,

have a look on Wikipedia for more.

It's rose hips are high in vitamin C and is used to make rose-hip syrup.

I remember collecting the hips in the autumn

to take into school  in Cumbria.

They were used for that very purpose.

I think there was a prize for the person collecting the most.

This rather large insect was enjoying the flowers.

They have just started to flower

so I hope they will be around for a while.

Buttercups and Blue Sky

It has been another hot day here.

More like summer than spring.

So I chose to walk the hounds in the shade.

We were on the other side of the river for a change.

It affords a good view of our neighbouring village.

The church is quite distinct

even though it's in the background here.

We stopped for a rest

I think Jewel's admiring the view.

You might have to click on this last photo to see the fox in the centre.

We disturbed it while it was sunbathing.

I saw a leap of brown that I thought to be a fox,

it was only a while later that I saw it below us.

I think it was enjoying the sunshine.

Fortunately, the hounds didn't see it.

Has the sun been shining where you are today?

Swan Update

Before Easter I had to have some emergency dental treatment,

I had toothache!

Yesterday I went to pay the bill.

I took my camera,

as I knew that before Easter they had this lovely little display outside the door.

I had taken my camera on an earlier visit, but the batteries had given up,

so I was hoping that it was still there.

It was!

On the way to the dentist

I stopped by to see how the swans are doing.

Obligingly she was rearranging her eggs when I arrived,

and I got a photo of them.

There's three at least.

They have their own little fan club.

This last photo shows one of the holiday cruise ships

that frequent the river.

Bernkastel seems to be one of their stops.

It's a lovely way to see the river.

I don't think the swan is very impressed with it though.

Enjoy your weekend.

Swanning Around

Here are the photos I was telling you about yesterday,

even though the post is dated for today.

I took so long between starting it and posting it.

The first photo is taken just down from the swimming baths.

It just gives a different perspective of the river to the one I usually photograph.

Also the path/cycle track runs right next to the river.

A downside if you're a bit wobbly on a bicycle maybe!

This set of 5 photos shows a swan that's made it's nest

in the car park of our local town, Bernkastel.

A temporary fence has been put up between the nest and the road.

It looks quite at home don't you think.

This next photo shows you how I am spending my time on the balcony,

now that I have run out of books to read.

Crocheting.

I've just added this last photo.

All the rest I uploaded earlier today.

It takes so long, that I go off to do something else.

So they've been sitting here since this morning.

This photo was taken a short while ago when Mike and I

visited Bernkastel for an early evening stroll around the town,

and an ice cream of course.

I will have to visit the swans regularly in the hope of seeing the eggs hatch.

Maybe I should do a weekly update.

What do you think?

Funny Bunnys

Just stopped by with some Easter Bunnies to wish you all a Happy, Hoppy Easter!

This morning I set off to go swimming,

only to get there and find the pool was closed.

I half expected it,

but luckily,

I took my camera with me

and stopped off a couple of times

to take some pictures before returning home.

These weren't the photos I took though!

I was just messing about with these this afternoon.

Then I had a go at putting them on Blogger.

I had trouble trying to upload some photos onto Blogger last week.

So I'm afraid I just gave up.

But I have been taking photos most days.

I haven't been spending much time on the computer lately.

For two reasons I suppose.

One, it's been very hot here.

And it seems wrong to sit inside on the computer

on beautiful, sunny hot days.

But it feels right

to sit on the balcony,

in the shade reading a book.

I've been reading 3 books since I last posted on here.

I've been engrossed with the Stieg Larsson Millenium trilogy.

It starts with 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.'

And it just took over my waking hours.

But now they're finished

and I've run out of books to read.

So I must get all those photos sorted

and start posting them on here.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter.

Fancy a Walk?

As I'm on my own at the moment,

I thought you might like to join me

on this mornings walk.

As it was very misty this morning,

I waited until it had cleared

before driving up the valley.

So it was later than usual

and very warm.

I decided to seek shade where I could.

This road offered some shade for a while,

as well as being very pretty.

It was a shortish walk

to where the view opened out across the valley.

While admiring the view,

this plane flew over.

It is a regular.

Sometimes there are two of them,

and they fly quite low,

and slow.

Apparently they are training planes.

On a bit more

and we have reached the end of the track.

It used to continue,

but now they are building a new road.

So we turn round to go back down,

but not before we see a deer leaping through the bushes.

As usual, Jewel got very excited.

She would have ran after it if I hadn't had tight hold of her.

Unfortunately the deer was too quick for me with the camera.

Back near the start of our walk

we pass this hostel.

It's used by groups,

mainly young people I think.

The new road runs right behind it.

It's future is uncertain.

I think the beauty of this place

is that it feels quite isolated

without really being so.

Next we follow the road down to the left.

We pass where the van is parked

and carry on.

Admiring the trees as we go.

We take a track into the vineyards.

I stop to watch a lizard

on these old poles.

Can you see it?

It's more or less in the centre of the photo

on the end of the pole.

It's tale is hanging down.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

As I stop a moment to look at the lizard,

Jewel takes the opportunity to have a lie down.

Paddy joins her.

So I take a look at the vineyards.

They are looking very bare.

No leaves,

and little vine.

You can see the difference in these two photos

in the way that the vines are trained.

Looking below me,

I can see that the dandelions are taking hold in some of the vineyards.

Can you see the little tractor

in between the vines?

Time to go.

There's a welcome drink at the end of the walk for some.

It turned out to be another hot day today,

perhaps the hottest yet.

I noticed the thermometer reading 26 degrees centigrade in the shade this afternoon.

But there was some wind as well,

always a sign of a change in the weather.

As long as it doesn't rain tomorrow.

Sprinkles Anyone?

It was an early start for us,

4 a.m. to be precise,

to get Mike to the airport for his flight to Stansted.

This afternoon

I was sitting on the balcony

missing Mike,

when the phone rang.

It was my friend

inviting me out for a bike ride

to Bernkastel,

and an ice cream when we got there.

Her 12 year old son,

and his friend

were coming too.

It was just what I needed.

Though when she said

ice cream,

I imagined an

ice cream cornet.

So what a surprise

when we sat down to these.

What a delight.

The bike ride was good too!

Going Barefoot

This is the weather we woke up to yesterday.

Mike was disappointed as it was forecast for

beautiful sunny warm weather.

I took these on our morning walk with the hounds.

But look at it an hour later.

This is taken from our window.

The forecast was correct.

Later when I was at the computer,

I heard a familiar noise.

For some reason,

this little Blue Tit keeps coming to this window

and flying at it as though it wants to come in.

It doesn't appear to be looking for insects.

Sometimes he sits on the windowsill

and looks in.

In the afternoon

I went into the garden and

took some photos.

It was too hot to do anything else.

I planted these tulips last year.

Unfortunately,

all the sunny weather

has brought out the dandelions.

It's amazing how quickly they flower.

There was only about 3 in flower the previous day.

I did manage to put some pansies in a window box.

Before collapsing back inside with a cup of tea.

A pick-me-up

before walking the hounds with Mike.

There's patches of white blossom

across the hillsides. 

Is it wild plum do you think?

We kept our walk short as it was so hot

and tried to stay in the woods

which offered some shade.

It was 24 degrees centigrade on the balcony

when I looked earlier.

It was all too much for Jewel

who just had to lie down

while waiting for Mike to take

the boy's collars off.


Once back home,
I had a shower to cool off,
and then went barefoot
for the rest of the afternoon/evening.

Today,
it has been raining!