Friday 30 August 2013

Guernsey

We did go to Guernsey on Tuesday. It was touch and go when I got several emails and texts informing me that the Poole ship was in dock and we had to go to Weymouth for the 8 am ferry. The last ones told us to go to the Poole port by 6 am for a coach to take us to Weymouth. So that’s what we did. Daughter and I got up at 5 and woke granddaughter at 5.30 by which time the chauffeur (hubby) was drinking coffee and getting ready to take us to the port, leaving 2 dogs on their own for half an hour, before chauffeur became dog minder.

The fog was thick as we left Poole and several times on the voyage the captain warned us that he was going to have to use the fog horn. St Peter Port was much as I remembered it from previous trips and by the time we disembarked at around 10.45 the fog had lifted and the sun was out. We mooched around the shops and bought Eryn a pair of high top trainers in a sale at a bargain price. Then we collapsed at an outside table at a Thai restaurant with a birds’ eye view of the harbour and an ice cold bottle of vino in a bucket.

After one authentic Thai meal, a large cheeseburger and chips and a crab salad because Eryn wanted to try some crab meat, we headed back to the harbour wall and ambled along hoping to have ten minutes on a beach, but a) the tide was in and b) it was too far to walk in the time we had left. So we sat around watching people play boules on the side of the harbour and then went to check in for the journey back.


We all agreed that we’d enjoyed the visit but it wasn’t long enough (on the last day trip that Hubby and I had done from Weymouth, we’d left at  7 am and got back around midnight – that day had impressed us so much we’d gone back to stay for a few days a couple of years later, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing more of the island). Unfortunately this week it took about 45 minutes for the coach to get out of the car park to get us back to Poole and we were all pretty fed up and knackered on arrival, and the sight of our steadfast chauffeur pulling in ahead of the coach was very welcome indeed.

The photo is of The Little Chapel, one of my favourite places in Guernsey. It is in a village south of St Peter Port, and really is a tiny chapel on two floors, built by a monk who completely covered every one of its surfaces with decorative shells.

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Photographing Dogs

Why should I look at my mummy? There are much more interesting things to see over there.


Monday 26 August 2013

Garden Goodies and Guernsey

The tomatoes I wrote about here are now flooding my kitchen. Everytime I come in from the garden I have another bowlful of  juicy red fruit - or are they veg? I think opinions are divided. It's the first time I have been this successful in growing tomatoes out of doors. It must be thanks to the glorious summer we are having. We're also eating our own potatoes and runner beans, and they are serioously good.



Hope the weather lasts for at least another day. Tomorrow is a very early start, as the ferry we should have been taking from Poole is laid up and we have to get another fromWeymouth for our day trip to Guernsey. It means getting to the Poole ferry terminal by 5.50 am to get a transfer coach to Weymouth. Another one will bring us back from there on our return at 5 pm.


We'll have four hours to explore St Peter Port or find the nearest beach.


Friday 23 August 2013

Exceptional Weeks

This week has been quite exceptional.

Monday:  I posted a question about plant identification and since then have discovered via Dave's Garden that it is a shoo-fly plant, corroborated by the RHS website.

Wednesday: pub lunch and a lovely dog walk in the New Forest with old friends we only get to see a couple of times a year. Their dog, Ginger, has featured before in this blog.

Thursday: sadly, a funeral. My cousin has finally lost his wife to cancer after a diagnosis over ten years ago. I can't remember the last time we got together with all of his children and grandchildren at the same time. Such a pity it takes such an ocassion for it to happen, but it usually does.

Next week is also going to be exceptional.


Monday: my daughter and granddaughter arrive for a short stay with Rafi, their puppy. If we have time, we'll take him and Jade to a fun dog show in aid of Pound Puppy Animal Rescue.

Tuesday: an early start. The dogs stay with hubby while the three of us take the ferry to Guernsey as a day trip, using a voucher from lastminute.com. Before we get back, my son will arrive with his girlfriend to be put up while they do some local house hunting. We'llbe short of sleeping space that night, but we'll manage.

Wednesday: take hubby to Bournemouth hospital for a 9 am consultation about a cataract in one eye. Daughter will be dog minding till we get back, then will take her tribe home.

In between all this, I have deadlines to meet. Help!

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Charcoal Sculpure in the Lost Gardens of Heligan



I can't call this a Wordless Wednesday post becasue there are lots of words in my second photo. I hope you can read them. This is the largest size I can post in this template or the right hand side is lost, but you might be able to drag it larger with your mouse. 

Monday 19 August 2013

Mystery Plant

This rather magnificent speciment has appeared in the middle of our potato patch. It now dwarfs all the potatoes and is displaying one or two beautiful blue bell like flowers. Can anyone tell me what it is?


Saturday 17 August 2013

Pound Puppy Animal Rescue

This morning we took Jade to meet some old friends of hers at a fund-raising bazaar for the rescue organisation that passed her on to us. They hold one of these at the Courtyard Craft Centre in Lychett Minster several times a year. It's not far from us and we like to go along and support it whenever we can. The organisation is usually in hock to the vet and when we got Jade their account was about £4K in the red.

You can see some of the dogs they have rescued on this Facebook page. It includes a photo taken of Jade after she had won second prize in the prettiest bitch competition at one of their fun dog shows last year. She seems quite blase about the blue rosette she is wearing. It was her mum who was all puffed up with pride. I tried to copy the photo to display here but it wouldn't let me. Perhaps you can find it by scrolling down.

Here's another pic of Jade taken last year that might show you why she had to be a winner.

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Monday 12 August 2013

Here we Are Again

I know. I've been away too long, and I apologise. Actually I have been dithering about whether to continue blogging at all, because I've been so busy since I returned from my break, and I am tired. But I can't actually bring myself to make the break, so the bad penny is back.

Jade was poorly the last couple of weeks as well. She had the squits and was clearly out of sorts, and after a few days I took her to the vet, where she had jabs and got put on a rice and chicken diet with a food supplement. We went back a few days later and she was pronounced well on the road to recovery, although my purse is a good few pounds lighter in more ways than one.

I can't really remember how I felt during and after my break, but I was away for six days. The first three I spent with family in a caravan, and was able to enjoy the delights of Hastings and Camber Sands - all very exciting. Hastings is a seaside town that sits beneath towering cliffs - see the pic of its cliff railway by Tony Hisgett of Birmingham, UK. The town famously gave its name to the battle in 1066 which heralded the Norman conquest of England.

The next three were very laid back, staying with generous friends just outside Eastbourne with my own spacious double bedroom and ensuite and all meals cooked for me. We made a return visit to the Clergy House at Alfriston, which was the first ever National Trust property, and visited a tasteful new residential development at Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne, where my friend's cousin had been fortunate enough to acquire a lovely flat with a balcony overlooking the harbour on one side and the open sea visible through the kitchen window on the other.

So no matter how tiring my days are now, I have some lovely memories.

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