No Rain Today!

The first day for ages we havn't had rain, and we actually saw the sun and blue sky!
So we went out for a walk!



It was bitterley cold, but very enjoyable!

Then I thought a quick trot down the garden and round the greenhouses would be in order, ready?
My baby Tetrapanex Rex has been plodding along slowly but surely in the greenhouse.


The stupid gingers have not died back as I expected they would?


The right side of the big greenhouse


The left


and the large brug in the middle


the rest of the garden is soaking wet, oh! did I tell you we think we solved the lack of eggs problem?

Rats!!!!! Ugh horrible things, they had made a nest at the bottom of a compost right opposite the chickens and it was full of egg shells!!!!!
They have now been dealt with!!!

Monday 11th!!

I did not sleep well last night, I woke up at 01.15am and didn't get back into bed until after 04.00am. I was worried about what the specialist would say today!!! As it turned out I was right to worry, I have to go back in for another op on Jan 12th!!! Lets hope it sorts out the problem this time!!!!

We went up Cherhill Downs yesterday, it was a lovely day but bitterley cold. I got some super photos...................
This is looking back down the track we had just walked up towards the A4!! believe it or not........



Now we are standing above the Cherhill White Horse looking again towards the A4 and the village of Cherhill



This is taken from the same place as above but I have zoomed in. If you look carefully you can just make out Cherhill School. This is where both the girls went and we where very fortunate that at the time Kathryn joined it was an up and coming primary school. Beyond the mound of sand is the town of Calne.



we now walked along the ridge towards Cherhill Monument






This is taken standing at the bottom of it and looking up!!!



The plaque reads:-
The Lansdowne Monument
Designed by Sir Charles Harry and built in 1865 by the Third Marque of Lansdowne in memory of his ancester Sir William Petty 1624- 1684 Physician and Surveyor. Repaired by the National Trust 1990 with funds raised by public appeal snd grants from the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commision.

This looks beyond the monument, in the distance you can see a clump of trees. This is Morgans Hill, supposedly named after the last man to be hanged there!!!!!



Now I have turned my back on the A4 and I am probably looking towards Westbury in the very far distance...



So I hope you enjoyed our walk. I hope to do quite a few over the festive period as I would like to lose another 1/2 stone before my operation in January.

A Beautiful day! and unusual find up the road!

When I got up at 5.45am this morning I thought it was chilly which is surprising bearing in mind we have the Rayburn! As it got light I realised we had, had a frost so threw on my clothes and dived down the garden, not to see if the chickens where alright, although I did let them out on my way past, but to check if my tropical plants in the greenhouse where alright!! Fortunately having wrapped the greenhouse up earlier in bubble wrap it was a cool 5C so no damage!

Neither Mark nor I recall the weather man forecasting frost last night! But this morning at about 6.30 a bloke did the BBC weather and told us we would have rain most of the day!! At 7.ooish a lady said it would be sunshine all the way!!! Now with todays modern technology you would think they could at least get the weather right just one day ahead!!!

After my lovely dippy egg and soldiers I went outside to clean out the chickens and do some bits and bobs in the garden!

I know this looks abit untidy but I will sort that out another day! I have been putting the used aubiose from the chickens on to my veg patches, today I decided to dig it in! I could not believe how many worms we had !!! I must remember to ask Lottie if I can put this aubiose on all the veg patches, because I think there are some plants that don't like having freshly manured ground!!

Having finished the digging, then helped Mark move the Chimnea and wooden table then whilst he finished off I came in as I was begining to get cold!

I made my most favourite soup of the moment Butternut Squash and Sweet Pepper! Yummy! Mark went out to get a paper and post a letter to Kathryn and one to my eldest neice Zoe, whose baby is due on Monday! Imagine me being a Great Aunty???? I remember my Great Aunty, unfortunately she was an alcoholic and rather odd, I always thought she was very old!! I hope Zoe's baby doesn't think that of me!!!!! Even stranger will be that my sister will be a Granny!!!!!! I have been knitting away for the baby and have finished one (can't say what) I need to do the second one, when I have finished I will post a pic!

I was going to start putting marzipan on the Christmas Cakes until I remembered I'd forgotten to get some boards! I still haven't really decided how to decorate them... I fancied a rustic look this year, and whilst I was trolling around the internet I found this......

totally nothing to do with cakes, but I liked the simplicity of it. I don't think it would be hard to make... dried oranges (I will have to ask Lottie again, and I really must get the hang of this drying lark!) bayleaves, of which I have a massive bush, cinnamon sticks and whole nutmegs!

I do have a glimmer of and idea for decorating the cakes with, but its still in the processing stage!!

Mark decided to go for a bike ride this afternoon, so I thought I would go up the road to deliver some chutney to my friend. This is the route I walked every single day when the children where little in the afternoon to get them out for some fresh air!! I don't actually do this walk as much nowadays, so decided to take the camera and what a surprise I got!! So read on.....

This is about halfway up the road looking back towards my house, you may just make out the cars opposite where we live...

this is looking up the road in the direction I was going

this is alot further up the road and I really tok this pic to show how few leaves had dropped!


then I got closer and saw......

yes you can see what I saw... look closer....

Saddleback piggies!! This was a very common site when we moved here 18 years ago! Not necessarily saddleback pigs but free ranging pigs! Calne housed the 'Harris's' factory which supplied the famous bacon and sausages!

and now a little closer

These are younger than the first group and they are Gloucester Old Spot! I passed the farmer whom I thought they belonged to and had a chat and he said go in and have a closer look. So I did but the battery on the camera ran out!!!! I will have to go back!!!!