The beach

This is a glimpse of Exmouth beach in the late afternoon, and my first this year.

Switch of focus

Enough of birds, flowers, bricks and taps. It's been a few weeks since our return from Australia and definitely time for another adventure. Don't get me wrong, the evenings are much lighter, blossom is appearing on the depleted cherry trees (post the harsh winter freeze) and the pile of indoor bricks is now in situ out of doors. Picture to follow.

So, first things first. I find it necessary at the planning stage to put a shape to a country, and here it is, courtesy of the Birds of Nepal (2009, 2nd edition) by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp.

There are several second most important things. I've been wearing walking boots indoors for two days, to help me decide on appropriate footwear. Of course this breaks one of the major house rules. As I make the rules I reckon that I'm allowed to break them, with cleanliness provisoes. The aforementioned items are super clean.

Another second most important pair of items are ear plugs, to block out night-howling Nepalese dogs and loud snoring. I wonder which will be the loudest of the two? I spent ages carrying out research at http://www.snorestore.co.uk/  this afternoon and will report back on how successful this was in due course.

I ordered a more exciting item which falls into a first category, last week. This is a contraption to enable me to progress my enthusiasm for digi-scoping. It should enable me to transform my telescope and tiny camera into a giant version of the previously mentioned binnocular/camera onesy. I have practised this technique in the past, but have not used anything more sophisticated than an adapter made from a section of cardboard from a toilet roll. I used the toilet roll method to capture (not literally) the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl in the picture below, taken in the Pantanal, Brazil in August 2006. It is a tiny little owl and was about thirty feet above the ground, semi-hidden in the foliage of a tree.

Because you are so interested by now, I'll include one more owl picture, photographed with no toilet roll adapter - just the little camera and the telescope. This time it's a Scops Owl a long way up a tree (take my word for it), photographed on the Greek Island of Lesbos in the Spring of 2010.

Aren't they just so cute?

A technological 'onesy' (pronounced 'won')

As you can probably tell by my the lack of pictures over the last few days, the little camera has been lying mostly dormant. This has been mainly due to incessant torrential rain. This has had an unfortunate affect on my creativity, rendering it as soggy as the world outside. During a recent cloudy interval when the rain took a break, I set about practising what I would like to believe are technical skills in the photography department. As someone with advanced qualifications in this area, Philipa might not necessarily agree - although in my opinion she doesn't have argumentative tendencies.

I practised using my camera and binnoculars, joined together to increase the magnification to enable me to capture distant Avocets on the Exe. Those interested in fashion could describe it as a onesy (like trousers and top combined), whereas most serious minded ornithologists refer to it as digi-binning - ha ha, how silly does that sound.

The first photograph, where you need a magnifying glass to see the bird is taken with only the camera. The bigger bird, with many visible features, is taken with the camera/binnocular combination.

When I've worked out how to include a slide show, I'll treat you to some more.

Unusual guests

There's not a lot you can say about a pile of very wet bricks which have managed to invite themselves into the warm hallway. They are only interesting because they are so uninteresting. Create something with them, preferably useful or easy on the eye,  and that's another matter. Hopefully I'll be able to give you a glimpse of the next step before too long.

Windy, wet and dingy

The above is a snatched piece of the Exe Estuary on a tempestuous day - with motorway in the background. It was so wet and windy that the pockets of my supposedly waterproof jacket filled with water, providing impromptu swimming lessons for my camera and phone.

On carrying out a more thorough search of the garden, I found these snowdrops which resemble mini-light bulbs. As I write this,  I can hear a Tawny Owl hooting and making a general racket in the background and would like to be able to include the sounds to add atmosphere.

Garden centres and hardware stores

Yes, I know we (in this country) don't generally call shops stores, except for British Home Stores, which is in a category all of its own. However, in Australia shops are generally labelled stores, and believe me, I have plenty of photos to prove it. I'll save a superior selection for another day.

As you may notice from the labels attached to the above flowers, these are not from my garden, or any garden for that matter. I was reminded recently by one of my daughters that "I remember being dragged around these (garden centres) all the time when I was little". What a cheek! As far as I was concerned, it was a privilege. Nowadays, they are convenient places to meet up with people such as sisters. It's definitely not all about plants. A sandwich and coffee is important, accompanied by plenty of catching up, and then a saunter amongst the garden/pet furniture, ridiculously inappropriate stuff and clothes that could only be worn unseen at the bottom of the garden.

I can't say that garden centres have the same effect on me as hardware stores, which I have always had a natural affinity with. The time of year is unimportant where nuts and bolts are concerned, whereas the urge to plant isn't strong in a February gale and torrential rain (today). Instead, I behaved slightly out of character for a garden centre visitor today, photographing flowers in bloom as a substitute for not being able to plant them. Unfortunately I still haven't worked out a way to capture the strong fragrances, but I'm working on it.

Gothic Exeter

This is the best of yesterday's gothic images, snatched on the way home from Exeter, through the high metal fence currently surrounding the area, to keep people like me out.  I had been using the camera to take a picture of the sole of a foot (!) and hadn't changed the settings, which may go some way towards explaining how this turned out. The Cathedral is to the left - so use your imagination, and the rooftops are also whatever you want them to be.

Pansy stalks

I'm thrilled to have doubled the number of official followers of this blog - just one more will beat my all time record. The above picture was taken yesterday when the sun popped out for two minutes. The above are the only flowers remaining in the garden (not surprising at this time of year).  About a week after the planting back in the Autumn, a deer ate the flowers from all the others, about twenty plants, and I've had to look at mostly stalks since. I know that it was a deer because I used my expertise gleaned from having watched Ray Meers on the tv, and identified its little hoof prints in the soil.

Flat-pack and 'The King's Speech'

From this...

To this......in a few hours.

The above creation was the result of a family effort. However, anyone who has attempted to create furniture from flat-pack instructions and piles of apparently random bits and pieces, will testify that it is challenging. Making sense of the first of the 26 instructions was initially demoralising. Working out the back/front, top/bottom and selecting appropriate screws and other essential oddities led to a slow start. We had determination in our favour, even though all three of us has our own individual flat-pack operational style. This ranged from a very measured reflective approach, through to my 'get on with it - we haven't got all day' style, which of course is incompatible with the first.

Thankfully Philippa's intermediary skills kept the process on track. As the piece increasingly developed a furniture-like shape and appearance, our confidence developed as cabinet makers. We finished just in time to devour a chinese take-away and make a run for the cinema, but not before ensuring that all the drawers fitted to the best of our ability. 

The King's Speech was impressive and I spent the night thinking about many of the issues raised, at the same time as re-visiting the cabinet making sequence. I wonder what the consequences will be of the unused two dowels  and a metal lump which has the job of tightening up a screw? I also have a better understanding, thanks to the film, of why our present Queen was so determined to devote her life to the job.Th

Flying visit

What a lovely little red car! This and its Italian driver livened up our house and drive overnight.

Looking out from the nest

This could be confusing, especially if you didn't read what I wrote yesterday. As I've stayed in the nest all day, I had to find something of interest to photograph. Lurking by the new shiny kitchen tap and looking out into the garden, I saw the noteworthy sight of many Woodpigeons engaging in a long lunch of seeds out back (not in the Outback). The above is the best of many pictures taken. Unfortunately the ones including a rabbit, didn't show the birds off to best advantage. I'm including a single bird for those of you who would like a closer look.

This was the best I could do, but as I need to keep my one official follower (so far) keen and interested, I am including a picture of a colourful Great Spotted Woodpecker which we ringed in the same patch out back on 1st May 2008.

Empty nesters

It's just as well that the baby swallows photographed in this nest by me on 24th July 2003 are blurry, as they are meant to symbolise our newly empty nest at home. Philippa has flown, as did these little chicks.


She has semi-flown on a number of occasions, which birds generally don't do. The first was on her gap year, then to university and all the comings and goings during that period. A key feature of these occasions has been, not the momentous flapping of wings as such, but the movement of stuff. It comes and goes, with much heaving, dragging and purchasing. It usually has to be traipsed up stairs and through heavy fire doors, new stuff and old stuff. I'm looking forward to that first cup of tea, with water boiled in the new kettle, by my newly fledged daughter in her new nest.

Maps, Taps and Flats

The map is to give more detail and to demonstrate just how tough the walkers are, particularly as the distance covered was 7.8 miles.

More importantly the tap is in place. What I didn't say earlier on in the week is that following seventeen years of nurturing and polishing, the sink had to be removed in order to replace the tap. It was so nerve wracking for me that I stayed out of sight until the operation was over. Against all the odds it was a success and the huge, heavy artefact in question is now back in situ, none the worse for wear. The tap is a wonder. It doesn't perpetually leak and looks extremely modern. It can also be operated with barely a touch. After all the trouble and sheer brute strength required to replace it, the hot and cold switch operates in the reverse, due to a slight oversight in the operation. I'm just very grateful. 

What a day. I assisted Philippa with the flat move and saw it for the first time today. I'm looking forward to being able to pop in when in town. 

I

The Walk

If you have good eyesight, the map shows that this was a walk based around the Hartland Quay and Hartland Point area and we followed the red line as shown. The walk was very tough and we are both barely able to walk now that we're home at the end of the day. The wind was very strong and the ground was particularly wet on some steep bridleways where we slithered and slipped in the thick mud. We knew from past experience that there would be some climbing up and down the cliffs and we weren't disappointed.

Although the big cooked breakfast didn't help at the start of the day, we were struggling by the time we limped along the last mile to base camp. We had been up and down so many steep hills, on rough ground and in mud, always accompanied by a strong wind, that we were pleased to have navigated safely back by 3.00pm ish. It started raining during this last stretch which made us realise how impossible the walk would have been if it had rained earlier. 

We ate our picnic lunch in an unwelcomingly chilly porch of St. Nectan's Church at Stoke. The wind took up a ghostly howling quality and although it hadn't been raining that we'd been aware of, the porch was very damp and our behinds became chilled on the wet slate perches. We didn't hang about, but pressed on in the encroaching doom, with sore feet and images of the Hounds of the Baskervilles becoming more prominent with each step.

A change of month/life

This is where we're living on the 1st February 2011 - for one night only, on a whim. A straightforward drive up the North Devon link road, a left turn at Barnstaple, and a short right, and here we are - with nothing between us and Newfoundland. The sunny day (a warm 9 degrees celcius) turned to mist as we got close to the coast and Hartland Point, adding to the mystery and pirate-like atmosphere of this amazing place. The sound of the Atlantic roaring and crashing on the rocks all around us, is so atmospheric. The poor little post-flooded camera struggled to keep up.

We are the only guests at the Hartland Quay Hotel, adding to the piratey and Faulty Towers feel. We have a room which looks out the stormy seas. There isn't a storm as such (thankfully) but the vigorous ocean sounds are enough to satisfy my Swallows and Amazons appetite. We're currently sat in the bar waiting for our food and I'm fulfilling stereotypes by doing this instead of interacting with my husband. He is happily reading the paper and probably pleased to be doing this without disturbance. It's also an opportunity for me to see if this process works in a relatively remote spot, where I usually give up on using technology.

If you're wondering about the kitchen tap, carry on reading this week - especially Thursday.