Saturday Morning Bike Ride

Off at about 8am...

A zoomed view over the fields to try and show the wispy clouds over the distant hills.

There was a lovely tortoiseshell cat just next to this barn but he scarpered when I stopped. Still, the barn on it's own is rather pretty - I like the red doors.

Hawthorn tree.

Today's route will take me past three reservoirs. This is a little peek of the first one.

Umbellifer seed head.

And another one.

Looking in the opposite direction back towards the misty hills.

A favourite tree. With cows.

Now through a rowan tree frame.

Rowan berries. Out of focus but I liked the colourful effect.

On this road pine trees line one side.

Another view over the reservoir. One reason I picked this route today is that there are lots of rowan trees along it and the berries are at their best just now. Easy to see in "real life", but they're not really showing up well on the photos...

...this zoomed in shot of the rowan tree in the previous photo makes the berries much more noticieable.

Another umbellifer, this one still in flower.

Curious cows come over to see what I'm up to while I'm pausing to take the umbellifer photo.

Reservoir number two.

Beech leaves are starting to turn.

Reservoir number three. Usually there are fishermen here but not today so I take the opportunity to leave my bike and walk round a little.

Bike shot.

Pretty pine cones. I attach them to my handlebars to take them home...

...if you look carefully at the above photo you can see them.

While I've stopped I take some shots of the rusty gate and chain.

I see the gate was once blue.

More rowan berries and the road ahead. Today I meet one car on this road, usually there are none.

Another favourite gate post. I like the different colours of barbed wire and the fact someone has stuffed a pine cone into the gap in the post.

Up here you get a grand view. Today the tops of the hills are a little obscured by the wispy clouds.

These sheep have impressive horns but by the time I get my camera out they're running away from me up the path to the top of the hill.

These cows look like belted galloways.

Lovely pastoral view.

I'm keeping my camera out now and will try some shots "on the hoof" (a la Mrs Micawber) as we are approaching the dilapidated farm...

Here's a little peek. The view is blocked by the silage bags and as usual there are people busy in the farm yard. The photo I take once a little closer is well wonky, I'll try again another time!

This is how it looks round the corner.

Now a completely new-to-me section of road. To get to it you have to cycle past a no cars allowed sign next to a row of cottages where one of the occupants shouts out a cheery good morning as he sits on a bench reading the paper with his cat.

There are lovely views from the road.

Rosehips.

Bee (anyone know what type? I've seen a few of these around)

Blue fly.

Washing line. My favourite photo from today. At this point I join back onto roads I've cycled many times before.

One last shot of interesting bits of barns then I manage to cycle the remaining miles home without stopping for further photos (though I do stop to pet a lovely black and white cat I meet when I join the cycle path).

I must admit to not feeling terribly inclined to go out cycling this morning. The weather didn't look great, though as it turned out it didn't rain. Our house is a mess and I was feeling I should really tidy up instead (plus there are lots of other things needing done), but heyho, they can wait. I did also wonder if I'd really see anything new and worth photographing as I've covered so many of the roads round here before. Well, I'm glad to say I managed to take loads of photos and there were plenty of subjects. Changes in the weather and seasons always present something new to see. Plus we are lucky here to have such a wide network of farm roads that I can have so many different options for cycling routes. Just to be out in the fresh air is such a tonic, the different scents I noticed while cycling along were wonderful. I got some excercise too, which is much needed...

A Crochet Mouse and a Whole Lot More...

Hello!

I crocheted this mouse today. Not what I should have been doing, but an achievement of sorts. I used this pattern. I'd like one with a fatter body and more pointy nose so will have another go with some modifications. I'm trying to think of some new things that are quick to make that we can sell at the C******** fundraising stalls (perhaps a little early for mentioning here!)

Now for a large splurge of photos from August, diary keeping hasn't been great so far this month...

Our first butterfly has hatched. We've put in some flowers and sugar water but there's not much action at the moment. Talking of flowers, I had a quick wander round the garden with the camera today as I like to have a record of the garden through the year.

Beastie on lace cap hydrangea.

Clematis from below.

The cat. Rather too many leaves lying on the grass now for my liking.

Our other clematis. Both are have more flower heads than normal this year.

I bought a climbing rose, inspired by the ones we saw on our walk to the beach while on our holidays.

Now to a little walk I had with the children just before the end of the school holidays. It was really a walk to the woods, but when we got there the neighbouring field looked so tempting and golden under the sunny blue sky that we ended up spending most of our time in the field instead.

Batman came too.

Ahhhh, we had a lovely view. the grass hadn't yet been cut so we sat down for a while. A & N enjoyed making little dens.

Lots of ladybirds about.

Orange hawkweed.

Back through the woods.

Passing the street next to the woods we noticed some friends out making chalk pictures on the pavement. A drew round my shadow. It was getting late as you can tell by the shadow length.

Still homeward bound we pass this cat which we often see here. When it was just a kitten A named it KissKissCuddles, so though not it's real name that's what we call it.

Home now, N's art work, a stegosaurus money box.

Back in time, the butterflies as caterpillars.

Back out to the garden (all over the place here, such fun(!))

Finally we spot a peacock butterfly in the garden though it chose a rather weedy spot to pose.

I have some helpers to paint the shed. I've opted for this rather dull grey as our usual pale sage green shade seems to be no longer available.

Rainbow Crush and Meadow Song look on.

Garden produce.

Some of the courgette was used on a pizza topping. Other ways of using it up are required, I'm thinking a courgette and chocolate cake sounds nice...

I made the rest of the rhubarb from the garden into more jam. This time it's "Ginger & Rhubarb" as the ginger quotient was a lot higher than for the "Rhubarb and Ginger".

The same dough recipe as I used for the pizzas can be used for these loaves which are initially made flat like a pizza then spread with garlic butter and rolled up into loaf shapes. Tasty!

Pretty sky.

Another old fat caterpillar pic.

Small tortoiseshells have been the most commonly spotted butterflies in the garden so far this year. No red admirals at all yet.

Yummy peas, still being picked, late this year after the cold July.

One of the rowan trees in the garden. We have four. One is yet to have any berries at all. The two older ones have more berries than I've ever noticed before, and "something" has happened to our third rowan. It usually has pink berries which fade to white over the winter and are most pretty, but there's no sign of any berries and the leaves have fallen already.

First attempt at jam tarts. The children were doing a jigsaw (a rare event) which featured Fifi and jam tarts, the challenge was on, I think we did OK.

Muffins, forget what type but liked the photo.

A sunny morning in the living room, I love golden light you get early on a good morning at this time of year.

This years window boxes, at their peak some time earlier in the month, starting to like a bit more tatty now.

Mini Lindt chocolates. I was given these as a late birthday present and ate them all in one night. I daren't have boxes of chocolate in the house usually.

Now to "The Do" I have mentioned before which was necessitating much tidying and cleaning (we had overnight guests for the first time for years, eeek!). Earlier in the month we hosted a little party for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. Here are some photos...

All quiet before everyone arrives. I think we're ready, even got the sun to shine!

Balloons!

Cake made by my niece.

Sugar rose close-up.

Nibbles.

Main courses.

Puddings...

Everybody brought something to eat so I can't take credit for all the food! And all had a good time I believe.

Right, it's all a little rushed for which I apologise. I'm finding blogging takes up more time than I want it to at the moment. I'm a little remiss in my commenting too, if you're on my favourite blogs list on the sidebar then please know I do visit every post even if I don't leave a message.

Got to go...