In The Pink

Image Credit: Brian Davis - Astronomy Picture of the Day I am a bit of a star gazer and so frequently check out NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site and look what I found! How beautiful is that! I have a fancy to get into a bit of space photography but need a bit more kit to be able to get stuff like this, it is do-able though! (Family and Friends - Watch my Wishlist!)

Blimey I am tired! I have had a fairly busy day but no more than others for but for some reason I am feeling really tired in body and mind! Sleep tonight is going to be good! Anyway, all chores are now done and I am treating myself with a glass of wine and the first Underworld film. What is it with vampires and werewolves, why is it so interesting? The romance (obviously referring to vampires there), the immortality, for the chaps Kate Beckinsale in rubber clothing? I particularly like the werewolf (Lichen) leader Michael Sheen. Anyway, given how sleepy I am feeling this is not a topic I am going to ponder now! Sleep well bloggers, and dream not of today.

What a few days it has been! I have written many mental posts but have not had the means to post any of them! Now there seems so much to catch up on! So for a good starter here is a collage of some of the things I have been up to! It's good to be back!

My internet connection has been playing up all day today...I spoke too soon, there it goes again....and its back! I think it's the heat! We have a horrible tendency in this country to complain about the weather what ever we get! And I am no exception, this is as hot as I like it but apparently its going to get warmer! I guess I would not mind if I could go swimming in the sea everyday like I used to when I stayed in Greece. It was only for a year and was ages ago now....17 years ago in fact! Now I have scared myself! But the memory of my time there is very strong and seeing Greece on the TV makes me homesick for it. My very good friend Izzy is visiting from Greece next month and I can't wait to get together with her, it's been three years since I saw her last. (Izzy, if you are reading this how can us being in Porto Heli together be 17 years ago?!?!?) I suddenly feel the urge to go look at some old photos! Anyway aside from intermittent internet connection it has been a goo...

It is my fellas birthday on Tuesday however as we have four days off for the Easter Bank Holiday I asked him if he wanted to start celebrating early and he chose today to be his 'un-official' birthday. We have therefore planned four days of birthday spoils including todays event of purchasing and digging in a pond! The weather has been kind and the rain kept at bay until the last half hour. As such we have a shiny new pond with plants in situ! We put a small pond in a couple of years back using a liner and our resident frogs moved straight in, the new one is bigger and we can't wait for them to venture over and take a dip. We currently have three frogs, that we know of, and one newt. When we put the first pond in they were in the water before we had finished tidying away so I don't expect it will take long. They may have to fight for space with the dogs though! Roxy is a water baby and I have no doubt will give it a go at some point.

I visited a local nature reserve a while back and got these shots of the Canada Geese that reside there for the summer. It was a great afternoon. Now that autumn has arrived the Geese are massing for their migration. They fly over our house in ever growing numbers collecting at the larger water holes to prepare for the off, and as usual I find myself wishing I was going with them. I love all four seasons for different reasons. Autumn displays stunning colours, fruit and leaf fall, and brings the sunrise back to the time of day when I am going out with the dogs for their morning walk. But I also yearn to follow the sun to warmer climates and longer daylight hours, and the birds will be missed during the winter. To join in or see other participants in Camera Critters click here !

We are going on a short walking holiday next week, not on the Pennines but on Bodmin Moor . We have decided to have a mid year break and get some fresh air and so have rented a cottage. We will take the dogs with us of course and roam the Moor for 5 days. We also hope to get a visit in to the Eden Project which we have not visited since the year it opened (2001) and we know there have been some significant changes such as the landscaping of the grounds and the construction of another dome. I also hope we will have time to visit The Lost Gardens of Heligan, which is a favourite place of mine. However most importantly I am looking forward to packing the rucksack for the day and yomping off with the pups to see what we can see.

I have spent too many hours over the past few weeks trying to maintain an Internet connection and then finding that when I can get on line my computer crashes every 5 minutes! It has been most frustrating. Sometimes I cannot get a connection all day but the next day it will be fine and with no explanation. We have asked several technicians who also cannot explain the issue and similarly cannot tell us why our media player is faulty, despite several hours of conversations and upgrades instigated by Microsoft themselves. I have a friend who uses a Mac and swears blind that all of our problems are Microsoft related. We have of course thought about switching but getting a Mac seems to fall into that category of something you have to save up for, even if it is worth it. There are of course a whole heap of other operating systems available and my sister has recently switched to one I had not previously heard of and having gotten past initial differences is getting on brilliantly with it. Doe...

I went to the City of Winchester, former capital of England, for work today and made a trip to the Cathedral during lunch. It is an awesome city and it was my first visit there. Needless to say I took lots of photos. Here's the first of them. This is the central area for the congregation. There was a carol service there at 6.30pm and I bet they raised the roof. The choir pews were so ornate. I sang in church choirs when I was a kid, and loved it, singing with other people is a great experience, especially with the harmonies of a full choir, from baritone to soprano. The robes weren't so great but they kept you warm! As a foot note I was really impressed with the service I received at Winchester City Council, the purpose of my visit. They were extremely helpful.

The Last of Knights. Vsevolod Ulianoff (1924) I have just been looking into Arundel Castle , as I drove through there twice this week and noticed the amazing castle for the first time. Anyway, on my Blackle journey I came across this brilliant website called Castle Xplorer . It has information about all of the castles in the UK and you can search any region to find a castle near you. It is also a School Zone 5 Star Site. In addition to loads of beautiful photos there is lots of history and general information. I went looking for a suitable picture to accompany this post and found The Last of Knights, which I enjoy looking at and thought should be shared. P.S. Can you P.S. a blog post? Anyway, I should mention that this posts title, The Field of the Cloth of Gold, is a Nick Harper song from his new album. It is not available on You Tube but I would strongly advocate buying it and all of his albums! His website, Harperspace, is in my links list.