BY THE WATER'S EDGE

Well, its Spring here, but summer elsewhere (or so I am told!) and our thoughts turn to cooling water, and if you are young, getting into it!

Which is why Carmi, over at writteninc. invites us to post how we see the water's edge.

When Max was younger (he has now, alas, died) he never hesitated at the water's edge.   He was in there, straight away!   This is the River Bollin, not terribly deep, but it does have much deeper parts by a couple of bridges, whic h is where Max is!

We woke up to  this fantastic view early in the morning, as our cruise liner moored at at Cadiz.   It was a lovely town, and the place where we tied up (if that is the term for a big liner!) meant we could walk straight into town, being at least 100 yds from the Dock gates!   Wonderful!

Four very young cygnets make an early start to finding their paddling abilities. The two extremely attentive parent swans looked after them so well that I think that year they raised all four.

Right on the water's edge at Queensferry, in Scotland.   This was the nearest our cruise "Round the British Isles" could get to Edinburgh.   We decided to miss the expensive P&O tours and soon found plenty of locally run trips to Edinburgh.   In fact, ours went on a big red London Bus, at a very reasonable cost, putting us down near the centre, and running several return journeys "on the hour".

Go to the link above to find out what sort of water others are dipping their toes into, and post your own!

SHOPPING

Its Thematic Photography time again, and this week the theme is SHOPPING.

Now I am not a great fan of shopping, and certainly when it comes to food cannot go around a big superstore, AND stand in the queue at the checkout!   So I order all my groceries etc. online.   And it all arrives, somewhat haphazardly packed, brought by a very pleasant driver, and lands on my kitchen table.   What could be easier?

Of course, it all has to be put away then!   

But I have to admit to doing nearly all my shopping online!   I find it much easier, and except for a few specialist items, it all turns out very satisfactory!

Do go to the link above and see how others see shopping as an activity!

And there's some spring flowers in the previous blog here - just to prove the seasons are moving along!

SPRING WEATHER

Thematic Photography has had a little stutter. so thought I'd post a few photographs of my own.   Just in case anyone reads this blog!

The weather here is either rain, rain forecast, or rain just stopped.   However, we have had some warm sun in between, and everything in the garden seems to grow at least 6 ins overnight, and flowers pop out all over the place.

I had some lovely daffodils in pots, and also some absolutely gorgeous tulips.   I've planted the ones that have finished in the garden and am hoping they will appear again next year.   They are called "Jimmy", and really, they ought to have had a feminine name!    I also had some other lovely tulips, but they came out later than I expected and are still sitting in their pots, blooming away.   I have had a lot of bedding plants delivered, so had to find other pots for them!   its all go here!

     

Think these were King Alfred

Tulips "Jimmy"

Daisies and violets that sneaked in among the bricks on our path.

Sadly, we don't get out much these days, but had a lovely afternoon over with my daughter, it was warm enough to sit in her garden, which was lovely.  considering her garden when she finally moved in was a builder's site, she has done marvels, and obviously worked very hard.

Why does everything break just when it is most inconvenient?   Washing machine expired with a loud bang a couple of Saturdays ago.   Luckily on the very last spin of the programme.   Fortunately a local firm just down the road had the exact model I had had my eye on for a while, and delivered it on the Monday, taking the old one away.   hey presto!   A great new washing machine and I am wondering why I didn't get a new one much earlier.

Pathetic, isn't it?   that I can wax lyrical over a washing machine!!!

NOSTALGIA

Yay!   Thematic Photography is back!    Oh, I've missed it Carmi!

Well, its Nostalgia this week.   And I'm afraid I think about a lot of things that happened long ago!   In fact, we found a really old video of one of our very early holidays in Spain, far too long ago for me to admit to!   And we enjoyed looking at it, it brought back so many memories.   But I have no way of getting an old video onto my computer, so I've delved into something else.

In fact, it was a cupboard I delved into, turning it out, as one does when the sun shines, and found three things I couldn't remember using for ages.

The aluminium colander was replaced years ago with a plastic one, and then another plastic one, but the next photograph will show why I thought it nostalgic.    The double cooker  - well, when did I last use that, I can't remember!     And the little ceramic jam pot we brought back for my Mum-in-law from our first holiday abroad with Sue, in Austria, must be about 45 years ago!!   And just seeing the pot brought back memories of the Austrian holiday - getting lost in the forest, watching the local band do a bit of marching, and taking the ski lift up to the top, and then thinking we'd walk down, which nearly finished us off - it was a lot further than we imagined.

But this photo, which was taken by my Dad, is me, aged about three, shelling peas in the garden, and using an identical colander!   Now I'm not saying that mine was the same one, though it could have been, as I don't remember buying one, and I think my Mum bought a plastic one later one, but it is identical, and just seeing my old one reminded me of this photo Dad had taken.

Now there's nostalgia for you!   To see what memories others have come up with, go to Carmi, over at Thematic Photography and post some of your nostalig memories, too.