Photographing Dogs

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

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.

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!

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. 

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?

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.

Wordless Wednesday: Camber Sands

photo by  Stacey Harris