Saturday PhotoHunt - Beautiful.

Last week, for wrinkled, I featured nasturtium seeds.

This week the word is
BEAUTIFUL

Last Wednesday we had a lot of very fine rain, and this is what the nasturtium leaves looked like.

I think that's beautiful!

For more takes on the theme, visit TNChick.

Happy Hunting!

ABC Wednesday - F

Today's ABC Wednesday, which was started by Mrs. Nesbitt, Features the letter F.

And today, for me,
F
is for
FRUIT

Specifically the Fruit of my son's pet ornamental crab-apple tree.

I took this photo yesterday of a few of the tiny dark fruits. You can see by the fine drops on the small fruits that the weather was typically wet!

This windfall was the largest fruit on the tree. It measured about 1 inch (2.5 cm) across. We brought it in to examine it.

Here it has been cut across. You can just see the tiny barely-formed seeds inside. Look at how red the flesh is! I wonder if many of the fruits will survive to grow to a useful size.

For more F words visit the other participants at the ABC Linky site, or at the ABC Anthology site.

Reflect This - Day Seven.

This is the final day of Quilly's Reflect This challenge.

For my PhotoHunt entry please scroll to the next post.

This is the glass door of the corner cupboard in our sitting-room.
This room also houses his'n'hers computers.

Reflected amongst my bric-a-brac you can see my husband working away on his computer. On the left of the photo you can see my computer wallpaper. You might even see me, concentrating hard, on the right of the photo!

This challenge has been great fun!

Thank you Quilly.

Saturday PhotoHunt - Wrinkled.

The Saturday PhotoHunt is hosted by TNChick.
Visit her for a load of great photos.

This week's theme is wrinkled.

I thought of a self-portrait.
Then I thought of a photo of my long-suffering husband.
Neither seemed right.

Then Youngest Son did some weeding, and ended up with a load of these.

Fresh Nasturtium seeds.

They look fairly wrinkled.

They'll look even more wrinkled after they dry out - but that's the case with all of us!

One day I must try pickling these. Capers (pickled nasturtium seeds) are used in such things as Tartare Sauce.

Happy Hunting everyone.

Sky Watch Friday & Reflect This - Day Six

Another economy post - two for the price of one.

A showery summer sky, for Sky Watch Friday,

reflected (for Quilly) in our car window.

Reflect This - Day Five

Quilly challenged us to find reflections this week.

This clock was a present from Second Son, and it stands on its own mirror.

Favourite Things Thursday

Favourite Things is hosted by Blue.

This is a short post, as I've not been able to get my brain properly organised - no fancy prose, no pretty pictures.

I just wanted to say that one of my truly favourite things is blogging.
And the very best thing about blogging is all the lovely friends I've made.

I've been overwhelmed at all the messages of sympathy since yesterday morning. Thank you all so much. Your kindness and friendship mean more than I can say.

If I'd never started blogging, I'd never have "met" so many wonderful people all over the world.

Reflect This - Day Four

You lovely people out there have made me feel so much better today. Thank you all from my heart.
A special Thank You to Liz, for her sweet post.

As today is the fourth day of Quilly's one-week Reflect This challenge, I'm posting a photo of Badger taken on a walk not very long ago. This was her favourite puddle whenever we'd had rain, and her face is reflected.

E is for Emptiness

My ABC Wednesday post was meant to be something else, but emptiness got in the way.

Our house is empty and quiet.

Our lovely 14 year old dog left us last night to join her brother, away from stiff joints and other age-related ailments.

Run safe and free darling Badger.


I won't be visiting much today - too many things to do - but I'll try to get to my regular friends as soon as I can.

Two Fer Tuesday & Reflect This - Day Three

Two Fer Tuesday is hosted by Jonna.
These are her rules:
Two fer Tuesday is easy. You just have to post about a pair of photos that have a theme, like Autumn, cars, a trip. The theme can be of your choosing. The theme may be direct or implied. You must explain how they are related, if implied. You must post at least 2. If you must post more than 2, they must be in pairs.

Jonna goes to music when she feels down. I go on a walk, or just out to my garden.

The first of my pictures is a part of my small, currently overgrown garden. I took it this morning. In spite of the dull and cloudy weather there's enough colour to cheer me up.

This second photo is the same part of the garden reflected in the window of my son's scooter shed.

Reflect This is Quilly's challenge.

Odd Shots On Monday, & Reflect This - Day Two

This is economy morning. One photograph for two memes.

There I was, running around looking for reflections to keep Quilly happy.
When I saw this one I realised it's a good Odd Shot for Katney, too.
Sort of two birds with one stone!

A word of explanation may be in order. The door you see in the distance is our front door. I'm standing by our kitchen table. Between the kitchen and the hallway is a window, which is great for bringing extra light into the hall, and for snooping on whoever comes in!
Behind me is a window onto the back garden. The reflection shows the small shed where our dog sleeps, and the houses backing onto us.
You may also be able to see a mirror on the right-hand wall. It has an octagonal wooden frame. It is reflecting my son's hi-viz waistcoat which hangs inside the front door.
Oh yes, you can also see a reflection of part of my "rounded" waistline!

Have I found enough reflections, Quilly?

Odd Shots is hosted by Katney. You'll find a load of oddities if you visit her.

Reflect This - Day One

I've just discovered that Quilly has set a challenge for this week. We are to find reflections. A rapid flick through my files brought this one up, taken last March on a Sunny evening. I liked the way the front of the house was reflected and distorted in the bonnet (hood) of the car.

Camera Critters

Look what I found on my nasturtiums!

Newly-hatched caterpillars of the Large White Butterfly. Looks like they've already eaten a lot!

Misty started Camera Critters.


Edited to show another I found later. This one is much bigger, and can do more damage. Oh dear!

It's a slightly smaller leaf, but the caterpillar is big enough to show its markings now. Nasturtiums make a lovely salad for these critters.

Saturday PhotoHunt - Colourful.

We had a couple of weeks of dry weather a while back. I found this bank of dead, dry grass and baked leaves.
In the middle were these two undersized sorrel leaves, bright red.

Colourful!

PhotoHunt is hosted by TNChick. It's worth visiting to see all the colourful photos on offer.

Happy Hunting.

Dragon Hunt - Final Day!

This is Day 7 of Melli's Dragon Hunt. I started late, on Day 4, so I'm making up for lost time today.

Melli says she loves tiny boxes, with secrets inside. I posted this some time ago, but it's worth repeating now.

This is called "Saint or Sinner" by Harmony Kingdom.

It is a wingless dragon.

The top of its head lifts off, and something can be seen inside.

The skeleton of a would-be dragon-slayer!

Next there are two photos of some of my collection, posing for approval.

And a fierce wooden dragon with feathered wings. I believe he may be a Balinese dragon.

I've gone a bit "over the top" today, but I hope you like these dragons.

Visit Melli to see who else has found dragons.

Dragon Hunt Day 6

Melli started a dragon hunt to celebrate her 1000th post.
I was late starting, but this is my third out of the six days.

This is a bronze treasure pot, only about four inches high. There are four dragon heads spaced around the pot.
The lid rests on the top, and the treasures are guarded by a beautifully detailed small dragon.

Sky Watch Friday

This is a twig of my son's ornamental crab-apple tree. It has purple-red new leaves, deep reddish-pink flowers, and now some small purplish apples. There's one on this twig, but you need to look closely!
It looks lovely against the sky.

For more sky photos, visit the Sky Watch Site.

Dragon Hunt Day 5

This is my offering today for Melli's Dragon Hunt.

My wooden Welsh Dragon hangs on the wall. He should be red, of course, but he's carved out of wood.

Melli has more dragons.

Favourite Things Thursday

Favourite Things Thursday is hosted by Blue, visit her for other favourites.

I missed out on last week's, as my daughters were visiting and I had no time for anything but talking. Family is my most favourite thing, but I'm not blogging about family right now.
No, I'm going to talk about something else - the pleasure I get from receiving packages in the post.
Recently I had a lovely surprise. Denise Nesbitt was giving away some of her hand-made cards, and I was the lucky recipient of one of them. An envelope came through my door, containing not one but two cards.

Even the envelope was pretty!

This is the "Thank you" card.

With such a sweet message.

Below is the card I won.

It has a cut-out window, a pretty design background paper, and a central raised flower.

Inside the cover is a lovely garden quote,

more pretty paper,
and the blank message pages which I haven't photographed.

This is the very back of the card.


I should think of someone special to send this card to, but right now I intend to be mean. I'm keeping this beautiful thing for myself, at least, for now.

ABC Wednesday - D & Dragon Hunt Day 4

I've done very little posting or visiting this past week, but I'll soon be back to normal.
This will be a long post - maybe it will make up for my absence recently.

So far in this round of ABC Wednesday I've posted fossils. This week, for letter D, I want to post a dragon fossil.
Well, it isn't quite a fossil, more of a fake.

To start at the beginning, for Christmas in 2002 my daughter Viv sent me a present from Wales.
It was packed in this small wooden crate.

When I opened the crate I found papers.

And then I saw this lovely dragon.

This label was fixed to the back.

These are the front and back of the two papers in the crate. They will enlarge if you want to read them.

I love the way this "fossil" has been put together, and the work that's gone into the accompanying papers. It's a much-appreciated gift.

ABC Wednesday was started by Mrs Nesbitt. More D entries can be found on the ABC Wednesday no-comment blog, and on the ABC Wednesday Mr Linky blog.
All these pages are well worth visiting.


I'm also offering this to Melli for her Dragon Hunt which started last Sunday!