Easter Extraodinaire

For the first time in ages I have got back to my gardening. I have spent today clearing my strawberry bed of couch grass that seems to be all over the allotment. I also weeded the rhubarb patch. Some of the wood rubbish we have burnt so the plot is looking a lot tidier.

I have set up the Easter display in the Artful Garden.

A bucket of Easter flowers.

 Easter cheer

The daffodils are looking very festive.

Dancing daffodils

Pretty blue scilla grow amongst the daffodils.

Vibrant blues

All the scarecrows have new Easter bonnets.

Boozy Floozie needs a glass of blackberry wine

Crazy Maisie still striving for the glamour look

I love my bonnet and check out my silver boots

Bobby Barley did not want a bonnet so he has a special pair of glasses.

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit

Three French Easter hens.

Oh la la

The pheasant has joined in the celebrations.

Easter plumage

The Rock Chicks are in the groove.

Rock on

Giant Easter eggs hang from the tree.

Eggciting

Happy Easter to all my readers.

 A Happy Hen surrounded by Easter egg bunting

Canal Crusing

We are spending a week on the Grand Union Canal travelling to Market Harborough. On a narrowboat you are so close to nature and have time to see the detail in the countryside. We have seen kingfishers, moorhens, Barnacle geese, woodpeckers and lots of birds building nests and the joy of the morning chorus.

A thatched house in Crick. I love the eye shaped window.

The parish church at Crick, a colourful stained glass window.

An amazing old heater, I love the shape.

Postman Pat on holiday from The Lake District.

Bosworth Tunnel 1170 yards. Look at the reflection.

Foxton Locks a staircase of 10 locks descending / ascending 75 feet.

This is how it used to be for the canal workers, horses not engines.

A lock keeper.

Baby lambs gambling.

Market Harborough has lots of interesting buildings.

  

The Swan Inn.

With this sort of transport delivery might be slow.

Too much high living.

This and That

Spring is on its way. In the morning the birds are singing as they fly around looking for nest materials. The curlews and oyster catchers have returned.

We have had snow and cold weather again this week. The ground is still very wet but with the frost I have been able to add manure to the potato bed and around the fruit bushes and rhubarb.

I had a trip to Upfront Gallery for Mother's Day and saw this lovely exhibit.

Choose a title

They have an wonderful collection of puppets, some are antique.

Java puppets elaborate costumes

Look at the lovely colour of these hen eggs.

They made a wonderful Toad in the Hole

The sheep are being strip fed on swedes. 

Munch bunch

This is a view of the heather moor from the back of Cross Fell

Look at the shading 

Pottering a Plenty

We have spent part of the week when it wasn't too frosty or snowing, preparing the beds on the allotment. I have planted a tayberry and a red currant bush. The gooseberry bushes and blackberry bushes in the Artful Garden have been pruned. 

The grape vine in my home garden has also been pruned.

It is amazing how high the grapevine grows within a year

My potatoes, Pink Fir Apple and Sante which are main crop, and Nichola a first early have all been put to chit in seed trays as I have run out of egg boxes.

Chitting ie. potatoes put to sprout

On a trip to Carlisle the daffodils were in full bloom on West Walls.

A carpet of golden daffodils

The snow on the Pennine hills looks beautiful as it enhances all the contours.

The view from my back garden

My two little pottery birds are surviving the freezing weather.

Two little birds are we

I have spent several long days making my pottery. First I design the object then make it in clay. It is left to dry before painting with glaze stains, a coloured powder mixed with slip. 

The colours always look different when they are fired

This is my table top pottery.

Painting the pottery

Here is a selection of flowers, bird houses, and lady gardeners I have recently made. They are now ready for  the first firing, biscuit firing. I apply a contrasting coat of glaze stain before the final stoneware firing.

Most of these designs can be mounted on bamboo canes

A selection of shells I brought back from New Zealand. Such a variety, beauty and abundance on the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea.

Lovely colours and shapes

Pumice stone found on the beach.

Bubbly pumice

I was given this card by a friend. 

Watch out there may be a gardener about