Christmas Cheer

The last two weeks we have had cold and icy weather. Some days it has rained on the ice and made walking difficult.

Icicles under the railway bridge at Lazonby.

Frozen daggers

I set up my Christmas display in the Artful Garden on Wednesday. The scarecrows were frozen to their seats so I had to prizes their arms and heads so I could dress them in their Christmas outfits.

Charlie Barley.

Do you like my Santa lookalike look?

Looby Loo.

Too cold for a party dress

Boozy Floosie.

Binge drinking

Bobby Barley.

Too many mince pies and not enough football

Crazy Maisie.

All dressed up with no where to go

Baabaara.

I know a sheep doesn't have antlers but

New this year is Jack Frosty. He is made from recycled plastic and newspaper. He doesn't mind the cold but hates the wet as any snowman would!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

I have covered some tin cans and decorated them with Christmas trees.

Can Art

There are some lovely cloud patterns at this time of the year.

Looking towards the Lakeland hills from Shap

I could not decide why there is plastic in the field at this time of the year.

At first I thought this was flooding

Acid yellow gorse is in bloom.

Yellow beads

The farmer's are ploughing their fields if the ground is not too wet.

A healthy loam

Sunset along the river Eden. 

The sun starts to set from 4pm so our last dog walk of the day gets earlier

Jill our sheepdog is not usually found of cats but she made friends with this little kitten on our walk.

Bosom friends

We have had a few warm days so I took the opportunity to tidy up my allotment. I also found some of last years bulbs so I have planted them in front of my allotment shed. This late in the year they may or may not flower.

I had a walk along the river Eden to Lacy's Caves. The path in many places has collapsed due to flood damage.

There were many landslips along the route

This is flood debris that looks like a nest.

Has anyone seen a stork?

Looking up the river Eden towards Little Salkeld.

Look at the reflections

Lacy's Caves are man made.

Gothic arches

The walls are covered with graffiti.

Can you see any famous signatures?

Look how the tree grow out of the rocks.

Ripples and cracks in the sandstone

There were clumps of snowdrops on the forest floor.

These snowdrops have very large stems

The flower heads are bell shaped

A brightly coloured fungus.

A vivid yellow rim

A gnarled tree trunk.

An old alder tree with tiny red catkins

A view looking down on the Eden Valley from the fellside.

Look at the contours and the field patterns

Clouds in a landscape

 A metal bird I found in Wigton.

Tweet, tweet

A nineteenth century fountain in Wigton.

It features bronze reliefs

Sunset at Silloth.

The sun setting over the sea

I have been experimenting with glazes and this is my latest piece.

Glazes, oxides and colbart

Remember to look at my shop on Etsy shop  magscreatesandmakes

  

Canal Capers

I have been on a canal holiday for the past few weeks and have had no internet access so this week it is a bumper blog.
The canal is very relaxing as you travel about 3 miles an hour. This gives you chance to enjoy nature and wildlife.

Narrowboats all vary in size and decoration. A non traditional narrowboat.

Whats it's all about 'Alfie?'

Locks can be single or double taking one or two boats. There is a different mechanism for opening the lock gates depending on the company that built the canal. The lock gates can be very heavy eg. 3016 kg. good for building up muscle power.

Some locks are manned by Canal and Rivers Trust volunteers

There are numerous bridges all different heights, very narrow and most on tight bends.

This bridge is untypically high

Branston tunnel.

Your have a searchlight on the front of the boat and not all tunnels are straight

Sometimes in the towns you see graffiti.

Here's looking at you

You pass many villages that you would not stop at or notice if you were travelling by car.

A quaint thatched cottage

Brinklow is very pretty with lovely timber buildings.

Very decorative

I also found Humpty Dumpty waiting outside the village hall.

Where are the king's horses and all the king's men?

There are some strange inhabitants.

Skulking around

Anyone fancy an ice cream?

One scoop or two?

There are interesting industrial building along the canals.

Look at the crane and the clock tower

A dutch barn.

Not double dutch

There are signposts at canal junctions.

The choice is yours

The towpath is always interesting.

A eclectic collection

That goes on and on

Not everybody has a conventional garden

Occasionally you see the darting bright colours of a kingfisher.
Long horned cows at Shugborough.

Moo

This Victorian grape storage bottle was used by putting the stalk of the vine inside the bottle to preserve the grapes. 

This was before we had fridges

I have made an Autumn wreath for the allotment shed.

Ivy, rosehips and achillea

I have been busy catching up on all my weeding and harvesting raspberries and damsons. 
The pumpkins are turning bright orange and the stalks have rotted on the plants so I have lifted them off  the ground to ripen.

Turn, turn, turn

A wonderful sunset from the canal boat.

Look at the colors reflected in the water