Less photos and more reading.

The highlight of my day was a trip to B&Q for bird seed, then Lidl for a few essentials. You can guess from that how exciting life is at the moment.
The only other entertainment is watching the workmen in the school yard over the wall at the bottom of the garden. The builders have left, now the gardeners are here putting up a new fence. The men have taken down the fence at the other side of the yard and the top end of the yard. They have pulled a lot of ivy from the wall that runs along the gardens at our side of the yard. Yesterday a delivery of very big round posts were made along with fencing panels. The fence is slowly being erected. I am not sure yet what is happening at the bottom of our garden but we should find out soon.
Tony and I have been amused by a coloured gentleman, who appears to do nothing but walk backwards and forwards along the wall at the end of our garden, until the boss comes, then he moves so fast if you blink you would miss him.
The squirrels are not happy with all that is happening and have not been seen for two days, however I know they are close by watching because I can hear them calling in the trees. I think once the fence is finished they will be back, maybe before if they really want some nuts.
The birds are low in numbers too, this I think is a mixture of the work and the Hawks.


The bad weather is keeping me indoors so I am reading again, I am back to Jeffery Deaver, at the moment. I have however just read a book called " Little Black Lies" by Sharon Bolton. This was an excellent read and kept me guessing right to the end. I am looking out for more of her books to read.

Lynsey has joined the world of blogging, if you would like to take a look you can find her at

http://mypurplestatus.blogspot.co.uk



There you can read about her feelings, rants and day to day life with Pepper and Biscuit, her two cats.

Until the next time...

The rain keeps falling...

The rain is still falling, it is cold and miserable in the garden.
The squirrels however continue to come for the nuts and seeds. The collar doves, starlings and magpies have also visited. There has even been several blackbirds, they are beginning to get territorial over the garden. Small squabbles are breaking out amongst the birds, the males are trying to round up the females and remove the other males from the garden.
The robin is strutting along the fence, sticking out his red breast, obviously posing.
The snowdrops are sprouting and some daffodils too, Margarets garden is coming to life very early.

I have not been down to the shed, it is too damp and cold for me, I will make myself go tomorrow, the nut boxes must be almost empty, squirrels were seen looking through the shed window today. That is a sure sign food is running low.  I wouldn't mind but they don't really let me take pictures like they use to. The squirrels have become crafty, they watch me put out the food, they come and take a couple of nuts then stay away. However as soon as I go back inside the flat, three of them will appear in the garden. They will swing off the feeders, do somersaults on the shed roof and look at me through the window as if they are laughing at me. Yes I know I'm loosing the plot again.!


I just thought I would give an update on "Biscuit ", Lynsey's newest cat. After a bit of research we think he may be a "Maine Coon Cat" or at least a hybrid. These cats can grow quite big, Biscuit is already bigger than Pepper. Just to give you an idea of how big they can grow take a look at this.

This is a collie type sheepdog with 2 Maine Coon Cats

All I can say is good luck Lynsey.

Until the next time ...

Happy New Year.

The beginning of another year, 2016, I wonder what this year holds for us!

Hopefully some good luck for a change.




There have been builders working in the school behind our flat for a while, the squirrels are not happy.
The workmen act as though they have never seen squirrels before, they point and bang their shovels on the ground when they see them. Tony has been tempted a few times to fire a nut in the direction of the men, in the hope they would think it was the squirrel throwing them. The squirrels sit in the tree and watch until they can run down the tree into the garden without being seen. Once in the garden they can stay and eat their fill.

One of the squirrels keeping a close eye on the proceedings.

The squirrels have been enjoying a mixture of nuts over the festive period. They have also had some chocolate and some cake.

The cats are still causing a problem in the garden, however walnuts on the end of their nose does make them run!

Robin posing for the last photo of the year.

The Robin came to see me for his last photo of the year and posed very nicely at the top of the old concrete washing post. He even sang a song before leaving.

We have seen feathers falling in the garden a few times recently but not known what has been the cause.  We didn't think it was the Sparrow hawk as we are pretty sure that it would not be able to strike and carry off a collar dove in the air. We did wonder if it could be a Peregrine. There are Peregrines that nest in Wakefield Cathedral which is not that far away as the crow flies.

On Wednesday Tony was in the kitchen looking out of the window,  sitting on the fence were two Collar Doves, all of a sudden as if from nowhere a Hawk flew down struck one of the Doves and carried it away. Tony said it was definitely not a Sparrow Hawk and he was almost sure that it was indeed a Peregrine.

The remains of the Collar Dove.

We are both now spending a lot of time watching from windows, Tony in the kitchen and me from the shed. Waiting for the Hawk to strike again. Of course it will be the kettle scenario "watch kettle never boils",  "Wait for Hawk never comes".

I saw this and decided that this is very fitting for all my friends and family, because no matter what they love me for who I am, the same as I love them for who they are.

Happy new year, may 2016 bring you good health and happiness. xxx

Untill the next time...

Six weeks is a long time...

It's been so long, I hope everybody had a good Christmas!

Since I last wrote things have moved along nicely. I have had an operation, which I am recovering from very well thank you. The hardest part is not doing anything. Being told you cannot lift anything heavier than a half full kettle, or stand for more than 10 - 15 minutes at a time is quite difficult to do. This means using a camera in the shed is very difficult. Tony is supposed to carry my bags to the shed, set up my big lens on the camera body, then on the tripod, which then has to be placed where I want to use it and not moved from that spot, unless Tony returns to the shed to move it. I can of course turn the camera on the tripod just not lift it.  I have to sit in the shed where I would usually stand to take photographs. Then when I am finished Tony has to come and carry everything back upstairs to the flat for me. As you will have guessed I have not been to the shed much, not because Tony is not willing but because it takes so much of the fun out of it and stops Tony from doing whatever it is he is busy with.
Six weeks this has to carry on for, I am not to do the washing, because I am not allowed to lift the laundry basket, no baking, because I am not allowed to stand up long enough to knead the bread and I cannot do it sitting down, no hoovering, because I am not allowed to push the hoover. I never realised how boring it cold be not doing such mundane things. Roll on the 26th of January when I go back for the all clear!

I did go down to the shed today for an hour, the squirrels had been on the shed window ledge looking in the window. They had been missing me Tony said. I think it was more a case they had been waiting for the special nuts they get at Christmas.
I did not disappoint them, I filled the nutboxes with the usual monkey nuts in shells, then added a few hazel nuts, cob nuts, brazil nuts, almonds and walnuts. The squirrels were happy again.

Squirrel with a walnut.

The birds were not left out, they got apples, gingerbread, chocolate cake, extra sunflower seed and they will probably get some christmas pudding in the next few days when it is cheap in the supermarkets. The blackbirds loved it last year.


The family all seemed happy with the Christmas gifts they recieved.

Until the next time...

On the look out for cats and hawks!!!

There have been more doctors and hospital visits over the last few weeks.Tony has been given cream for his leg and some Tubigrip bandages to wear. His leg swells up and is very painful. He has some form of eczema that is connected to his veins, I cannot remember the name. (how unusual for me!).
I have had my MOT ready for my op. Everything looks ok and it is ready for the off, I can't wait,(that sound you can hear is my teeth rattling or my knees knocking).

The garden has been fairly quiet of late. Maybe it is the Sparrow Hawk that is making the birds stay away. He/She has flown over the garden several times, once or twice flying into the bushes where the sparrows all congregate.

This has resulted in a guard being posted to look out for the hawk.

Sometimes a Sparrow

Sometimes a Blue Tit.

Some of the birds just don't care and they are not taking care at all, the Dunnocks, for instance,

A Dancing Dunnock,

The Squirrels are coming in pairs now catching up on gossip and watching out for cats.

Always look before you put your head in the nut box, check there are no cats.

In and out as quick as you can grab a nut and run.

Last Friday (13th) there was a beautiful rainbow over Wrenthorpe, just before the heavens opened and the rain came down, the road outside our house became a river, the wind blew and it even thundered a little.

It was nice to see the rainbow.

I just thought I would leave you with this, I saw it and it just sums up how I feel I don't want to be normal I want to be unique! 

Until the next time...

Bad weather, Dark nights and Keeping warm.

The weather today has been wet and windy. Not the sort of day for taking photographs. So I decided I would spend a bit of time tidying up in the bedroom.
I had a couple of empty cereal boxes that I had been meaning to cover, so I did that. I now have two black boxes on the cabinet at the side of my bed to put in papers, books or anything else that is usually just laying about.
I moved some other boxes from in front of the wardrobe to the side of the drawers so now I don't have to move them every time I want to open the wardrobe doors.
Then I read the gas and electric meters and submitted the readings online.
That was it then I was on the computer for at least a couple of hours, just looking at my emails, checking the Fibromyalgia website I go on and Google+ to see what Lynsey had put on for me to see.
I found a picture that someone had posted online that amused me, so much that I really have to share it with you.

I laughed out loud at this.

The squirrels in the garden seem to be keeping away a bit at the moment. I think the fireworks are part of the reason, cats are another and the weather.

The birdlife is increasing, though, we have had the Longtailed Tits visiting, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Coal Tits, Wrens, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Blackbirds, Sparrows, Dunnocks and of course not to forget the Robin. With so many calling, I bought a new feeder, It has three compartments. so I filled one with seeds, one with peanuts and one with fat balls. I hung it on the shed at first and put the sunflower ball on the feeding station. However, the squirrel tried to get to the peanuts and almost fell off trying, so I swapped them over and put the new feeder on the station instead.

The new feeder.

I am feeling the cold more now the weather has turned and the early nights are here.The hot water bottle is out of hibernation, the thick duvet, my furry onesie is also in use, the Calor gas heater is back up from the shed, even the gas heating has been turned on a couple of times. I don't know what I will do when it snows? I expect the spare duvet and blankets will come out of the drawer. The only trouble is in the middle of the night I get a hot flush and the bed covers go flying and I lay on top too hot to sleep.

Oh well, that's life with the menopause I suppose!

Until the next time...

An old favourite...

I went into the shed this afternoon to use the sewing machine. I am making some trousers to wear with my boots. I also took in the side seams on a dress that Lynsey bought me quite a while ago as it was too big. I am losing weight a couple of pounds a week and have been doing for the last couple of months (yippee).
While I was in the shed I spotted something moving on the roof of the school, I was amazed. Just a day or so ago Tony and I had been saying it was a long time since a Grey Wagtail had been in the garden, low and behold there it was. I could not get a decent photo because I did not have my big lens, and the light was too dim. Hopefully, it will come again.

Grey Wagtail in 2011

Grey Wagtail in 2012

No Grey Wagtails had been since this photo was taken, so I am really pleased that I have seen one again.



Until the next time...