All Go!!!

The last couple of days have zoomed by! I had my last cricket net on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised with my batting- of course when it comes to the real thing on early season pitches it is likely to be different !

I hosted Book Club last night and we all had to bring a poem that meant something to us. Certainly we ended up with a real diverse offering. It was a great evening!

Today my time has been split between the garden and cycling to appointments. I am off again soon on my bike to watch the quiz final. Tomorrow I travel with trepidation to Derby to watch the Not So Mighty Hatters. Got a feeling it could end up being a wake! I will have everything firmly crossed!

Signs of Spring

As the weather is about to change thought I would mention the recent lovely signs of spring. I cycled to Gloucester today to meet a friend I was delighted to see plenty of cowslips, lovely fresh leaves on the trees (our quince is looking fantastic) and plenty of blossom. Yesterday I watched two marsh harriers not quite dancing but circling over the reed bed together. Today the lake was full of sand martins. I saw my first whitethroat of the spring.

The picture below is a marsh harrier from a couple of years ago from Splatt Bridge.

     

No Boom

Today’s title doesn’t refer to my football team who certainly didn’t have much of a boom yesterday (now resigned to successive relegations!)

No the title refers to a bittern – we have had some activity here in Frampton. I went today hoping to hear one booming. I didn’t!!! I will try again this week. I did see to marsh harriers flying together which is encouraging! The bittern picture isn’t mine!

     

Lords!!

Had a wonderful day yesterday taking my old friend Dave to Lords for his Birthday and Christmas present. We were doing the tour and what a great day we both had! We sat in both changing rooms, walked through the Long Room, sat in the Compton Stand at the top and also the Grandstand. A few photos at the bottom.

I have clocked up a good few miles on the bike this week including today where I had a delightful ride into Nailsworth for storytelling. I was making my fourth visit since just before Christmas to the care home there. I do a real mix of stories to accommodate  all the residents.

Thought the Mighty Hatters did well on Tuesday and so fingers crossed for another big game tomorrow.

   

 

   

Cricket, Birds and the Garden

A busy day starting with an early morning bird watch- I was hoping to see an active bittern. However no such luck but I did see  redshank, greenshank, bullfinch (a real surprise for by the canal), greenfinch and chiffchaff. Later when in the garden a parakeet flew over despite them being all over London and the South East fairly rare in our part of the world. A poor picture of the chiffchaff and also one of the greenfinch.

Had a cricket net this afternoon which was good fun.

I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed for the football tonight. It is a vital game for the Mighty Hatters just hope we can get something from the game!

 

     

Tired but Smiling

We had an exhausting week and weekend! So it was taking it easy this afternoon! It has been really rewarding being with our lovely grandchildren. Have spent the weekend playing a whole range of imaginary games with Ellen.

I was encouraged with the football on Saturday. The Mighty Hatters certainly are playing much better at the moment – just wished we had started playing like this much earlier. Sadly it might be too late but still ever hopeful.

Home

Back in sunny Frampton after a week away. had a lovely but exhausting time with our family, three youngsters under 5  keep you very busy! I do wonder how did I manage to be a parent and do a demanding job. The answer of course (sadly) is age! We now have our granddaughter Ellen staying with us while her parents have a deserved break so next week is likely to be a rest!!!

A few pictures from Pembrokeshire from my camera.

   

       

   

Below is my attempt to photo the partial eclipse last week when there was a brief gap in the cloud! Look carefully and you can just make out the crescent shape of the moon!

   

 

 

 

Future Gigs

Apologies the preceding blog to this one was written on Sunday. As I am using my phone I forgot to press the magic button!

We are still away but now with all our family so it is all action with three little ones!

I have quite a few gigs coming up during the summer months – a real mixture of audiences and venues!!!

Sea and Sunshine

We are currently in St. David’s  Pembrokeshire. You could say in my role as consultant!!! Farms for City Children where I volunteer (Wick Court) have two other farms and one is here Treginnis. There are thinking of doing bird watching with the children so have asked my advice. So I have spent the weekend bird watching around the area to get a feell for what is around. Ironically 30 swallows appeared when we arrived I hadn’t seen any at home yet! Stonechats aplenty and saw some choughs performing their distinctive acrobatics! The weather has been superb so it has been great being out and about.

i even managed to watch the football yesterday in a pub. I persuaded them to put the Luton match on! Delighted with the result and the comical goal- it was about time we had some luck!

Even managed a cycle ride this evening! It was an adventure ended up pedalling across the old airfield. Some coastal pictures from my phone below. Tomorrow we link up with all the family to enjoy a holiday together!

Out Of My Comfort Zone!

I was performing in South Cerney this morning on a specially commissioned gig!   Carters the construction company asked to to do a story about safety on building sites. I played with a story they had sent me. Felt slightly uncomfortable doing something that wasn’t really on my terms. Still I think I managed to get the message across. (I may have pictures later so will put a couple on the blog.

Telling stories later at Wick Court with young people from Croydon there are Y8 to Y10. It is then a rush to be quiz master for the quiz league (we are doing it because we are not on tonight.).