Thank you!

First rose in the garden this year

I spotted this little family out for a swim as I walked across the footbridge today.

Early morning at the horse farm.

My daughter with the help(?) of my grandson, made this cake for me. The markings of the cat aren't familiar, but the surly expression is definitely Bijou!

Happy Birthday Auntie Hope you enjoy the cake.

That cat certainly looks annoyed at the thought of being eaten! Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday Auntie!

The countryside in Missouri looks exactly the same as southern England, but that straight road would never be seen here running through it!

A steam locomotive at Alresford station at the end of the Mid Hants steam railway

Oh yes, that's the Watercress Line, David. I must look out my photos of Thomas Tank who actually lives there.

A toucan at the Roatan Butterfly Garden in Honduras

I've got loads of photos of the actual running days on the Watercress Line from the last time I actually used it rather than visited, I'll put one in tomorrow. Meanwhile this is the village at the top of the road where the station is. The community hall has a tea room run by Christian evangelists, and little booklets on the tables to spread the word. Once you've looked at them someone comes over to ask you what you thought of them. Hampshire and Sussex seem to have many similar places and they are all very friendly and have good and reasonably priced food as well. The best was Noah's Ark along the same road in Winchester where we had lunch if we got there in time till they closed down. They had a little prayer box at the counter where you wrote a request and put it in there and a religious bookshop in the next room.

Great pictures Zebra

The picturesquely named Scaffold Hill Farm the farm house is not now lived in. It is now part of the stables

Alresford station in 1998 where I took the train and took photos between stops.

Stained glass in the door of Scaffold Hill Farm

In nostalgic mood, I went for a solitary walk in the Williamstown Botanic Gardens, established in the developing colony of Melbourne in 1860, as "a place for reliving the gentle English landscape, a place for social outings and to promenade".

When my brothers and I used to be taken for outings to Williamstown Beach, The Gardens were where we ate our picnic lunch and waited the obligatory hour before trudging back for more swimming and sunburn.

The shrubberies where we played hide and seek have shrunk to give way to more open lawn vistas. The brass cannons we clambered on have gone. The gloriously large fishpond has been emptied, and the spacious aviary, once full of budgerigars, has been demolished.
Furthermore, time, impudent colonial possums and prolonged drought have not been kind to the noble trees of this "gentle English landscape".

My spirits were restored when I saw a family with three little children in fairy costume, having a birthday picnic for the 2-year-old.

A typical view of the older areas of London near me, this is Stonebridge just coming up to the North Circular Road with the new Wembley Stadium beyond. It's half way between Harlesden and Wembley should anyone be more familiar with the area.

Buses waiting at the lights by Golders Green station

Where is everybody? Another straight road, the A31 in Ropley, Hampshire.

Dejeuner sur l'herbe.

Lets see what is happening in the outside world today...

That basset hound is looking for June!

ooops! Thanks.
This thread is now close Thanks all for the great pics for May.