Idyllic?

Hot day, blue sky, barely a cloud in the sky, cattle in a field, reflections in the canal. Memories are made of this, blues and greens, shade and light.

I have memories of days like this, maybe not as hot, but they were calm and happy. I remember a time when things were not scary. Oh there were diseases around, and awful things were happening. But I was a child. I didn’t know about them.

Then I remembered the disaster at Aberfan. There was a land slip of old mining waste. It slid down a hill and landed on a school. Children and adults died. That was the first TV report I remember seeing.

Now rivers rise and places flood all the time, “hundred year events” happen every ten or twenty years. Storms dump three months water on a country while other places suffer heat domes and wild fires.

Will the wonderful days of summer be once in 100 days instead? Maybe we need to sort it out NOW!

I wrote this a few days ago but for some reason it did not publish? Now on a grey, dismal day I look back after another walk and Im sad it wasnt like this, but glad it was a lot cooler!

Ducklings

We saw this duck and her ducklings today, she must have had a second brood.

I took a few photos as one of the ducklings was jumping on and off its mother’s back. I tried hard but it was only fir a few seconds and I think if I’d done a film of them they would have been too far away to capture the details.

They were sweet. Cute. I hope they grow up sturdy and healthy. X

In the canal

On our five mile walk today, saw this young bullock paddling in the canal! It proves how shallow it is. The temperature was up around 28°C and it was lucky that most of the walk was shaded by trees and hedges. We stopped off at the plume of feathers pub where we had booked a table and had a bite to eat. I was more interested in a cold drink.

I’m shattered but I really enjoyed it. I’m just a bit sunburnt now!

Sun setting

Back at Trentham after a walk round the lake. I took this looking towards the low sun. It was hard to see the phone screen so it was a bit hit and miss what I would get.

I like the way the trees and clouds are silhouetted. There is a walkway with metal hoops to the right of the tree, various climbers cover parts of it including wisteria and roses. At the far end is a statue, but we came out one of the side entrances and walked down a grassy slope to look back at this.

Waiting for rain

Tonights sunset. We walked up our steep hill then took a slightly longer route home. At the bottom of the road back to home I saw this sunset and cloudy sky lightening the sky that had been dark and moody all evening.

I’m looking for faces in the clouds but all I can see a profile of a mouse with large ears, it has its front paws lifted up and large wings on its back. I used to think I had no imagination…

Another feather

Once you see something it’s hard not to see it. You ‘get your eye in’. I’ve recently seen a few different ones on various walks and I can’t resist taking photos of them. This could be a duck or a pigeon feather? I don’t know. I remember learning how feathers have thin strands with little hooks on them so when a bird preens it’s feathers the hooks can sort of zip the feathers up and hold the strands of the feathers together? I don’t know exactly how it works. I guess I should look it up on line or find a book with details in it. It is fascinating to think about the mechanics of birds wings.

Copper beech tree

On our walk we saw a glorious copper beech tree. I think it’s only quite young but it is set on its own above the valley of the Trent. I’d love to live in the house on the other side of the road and have this magnificent tree to look at and must be lovely to look at as the sun rises behind it. I will have to get up early to get a shot of that.

June’s walks

Or should I say wanders

My month of walking, the smaller circles are around 2000 steps, the medium ones 5000 and a couple of 7-10000. The big one was 15000?

Most of the walks were local, the hill we live on is steep and I’m walking more quickly so my heart points (energy used) has been good every week if not every day. I do feel a difference and I’m using the car a lot less which must be better for the environment. So I will carry on.

Walked ten thousand steps today

I’d done 9270 steps today, walking to the doctors surgery and back, but I wanted to get to ten thousand. What to do? It was mad but I walked backwards and forwards inside my house, from the front door to the back wall. Over and over. Touch the wall, turn, touch the door, turn. Check if the steps registered (sometimes they don’t). I could have gone out but the rain was tipping down. So wet the cats looked like otters just out of the river when they ran in through the cat flap! Backwards and forwards, till I did it… Tomorrow? Don’t know.