Saturday 18 June 2011

A very quick post

One of the most wonderful things about our new home in the country is the incredible variety of feathered neighbours we have. I can spend (waste??) hours every day sitting in the conservatory just watching the birds visiting the feeders and am probably going to become very boring telling you about them. I have to share this with you though. Yesterday after bringing the mini Moonshines home from school I thought I'd just have a cuppa and a sneaky read of my new book (thanks Mum) in the conservatory before making tea (fisherman's pie - delicious went down a treat with all the Moonshines (a miracle in itself!) (thanks Mum again!). Where was I - oh yes, just walked in to the conservatory with book and cuppa when a bird of prey landed on the paddock fence for a second and then flew off again. Wow I thought that came in close - about six metres away from where I was standing. So being a bit organised I grabbed the camera and waited...

Well, for the next three hours I played camera cat and mouse with a male kestrel who kept flying in to the paddock, landing for a nano second and then soaring off again. Needless to say he was just too quick for me to photograph on the ground but I did manage to get him perched in the trees. Thank goodness for ultra-zoom!

So here are a couple of my kestrel pics - hope you like them.


And here he is enlarged in Photoshop so I apologise for the loss of definition.


I'm hoping he comes back again today so that I can try and get him on the ground.




Look at the trees, look at the birds,
look at the clouds, look at the stars...
and if you have eyes you will be able to see
that the whole existence is joyful.


Osho.       

Thursday 9 June 2011

New Home, New Garden

OK, so if you've come here from my other blog (Maisie Moonshine's) you will know that the Moonshines have re-located. Which means of course that there is a whole new garden to play with - and not only a garden - we also have a small paddock beyond the garden gate.

Since the house is a new build we have virgin garden which in estate agent's speak is "laid to lawn", which gives us a blank canvas to work from - a daunting prospect again.

STOP PRESS

This time I remembered to take "before" shots - so for the first time ever we will have progress and reminder pics as well as keeping this ether-journal of the whole project.

Here are the back garden "before" photos taken in April 2011






As you can see the garden is a bit of a tricky shape - and we are having a devilish job deciding on a design - which is unusual, as Mr Moonshine is usually pretty good with the old graph paper and coloured pencils. We are still awaiting the EUREKA moment when inspiration dawns - so watch this space 'cos how it will all progress is as big a mystery to me as it is to you!

Just for the record here is a picture of the paddock in all its winter ugliness. This was taken before we bought a new mower and it hadn't been mowed for about 6 months (AMAZING the difference mowing has made - will post pics next time). The earthworks in the middle of the picture are the holes for the fruit trees we have planted - more on that next time too.







Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil,
getting dirty without feeling guilty,
and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity.
Lindley Karstens, noproblemgarden.com