I am posting this here as it isn't a handmade card, it is the printer's proof of a card which is going to be one of the local hospice's Christmas cards this year.

Fame at last!

Congratulations Sue! I always knew you had it in you to be famous!It is a lovely card.

Your design? Lovely!

Gary, that sunset is so incredible, I just want to be there.
Christina, I've never seen a new reindeer before - sweet.
Satguru, I like the way you always bring us on your travels and that pic just shows how some photos get more valuable over time!



I finally managed a butterfly photo - at last - even if I think using a flash has distorted its true colour somewhat. I think it was a lighter brown really. A "speckled wood". More hairy than I would have guessed!

May I please have a Autograph Ms. Monks.

I am so proud to know you.

Congratulations from the Schweens.

Love the Card.

It will be quite amusing if someone sends me one for Christmas, I normally receive some Hospice cards.

Gary, I love that sunset picture

Sue, very impressive. Will it be just in Jersey or nationwide

Chavs, that butterfly is amazing. You want to stroke it

Thank you, everybody. But the sunset is like that every day here in South Dakota.

In various shops in Jersey including W H Smith but also available on their website later in the year.

Ooh congratulations Sue! That card is lovely!

Your butterfly is gorgeous, Chavs!

A second toucan who was in the same enclosure as the first one, but clearly a slightly different species.

Amazing bird, amazing colours, amazing photo.

Everyones pictures are fantastic, I haven't had much time lately to go out and take pics.

Christina - that is a White-throated Toucan also known as Channel billed Toucan, these toucans are the most common ones in Venezuela.

This little guy was born in my garden when I lived in Venezuela, he fell out/ thrown out of his nest by his mother, and she never accepted him back no matter how hard we tried. We later found out that he had a bit of a defect on one of his wings and he never managed to fly very high or far. Tuki became one more in the family, and when I moved to Spain he came with me, just like all my other pets did, he lived for 26 years, and not one day in a cage, he was always free to do his own thing. This picture is taken in my garden here in Spain, although it is not a very good picture as it is scanned in.

That's wonderful, thanks szabs. Must be great to live somewhere where birds like that fly around all the time.

I love him!

You see some odd things at garden shows. I don't know if too many people would want this decorating their lawn.

I actually have 2 of those. They're great for keeping the neighbor kids away. And door-to-door salespeople. And traveling evangelists. And...

lol deputygary

awwwwwwwwwwww szabs (you made me tear up with your story). Cute little guy and a good pic too (never mind the scan thing!)

Christina: I like ALL of them MUCH better than garden gnomes and fake flamingos LOL!!

Here is a thirteen-lined ground squirrel, also known as a striped gopher. These things are pretty prolific around here. At the airport where I used to work their mounds popped up all over. It would have been a safety hazard for any airplane that veered off the runway. So we had to get a badger to get rid of the ground squirrels. Then we had to get something to get rid of the badger. And on and on...:)

Very nice design Sue, and no idea how you did those patterns in the sky unless you actually did them freehand which is incredibly difficult.
Thanks Chavs, I've scanned all my British photos online and just some of the most interesting abroad. Someone local who now lives in Israel said they'd just been visiting the hotel pool I stayed in 1972 and 1981 and found one of it here I sent her, she says it's hardly changed at all.

Crops in a field in Meldreth near Cambridge yesterday, I've never seen them before and the pods looked like beans. Anyone recognise them?

Pretty sure that is canola - or you'd call it rapeseed

Love your little gopher, looks a cute little thing.

Satguru - I think it's oil seed rape as well. At the stage where the flowers have gone but it hasn't dried off ready for harvest yet.

A couple of years ago we had a big old apple tree die. Didn't want to completely take it out so lopped off branches and made it safe and I planted a rambling rose. Didn't do much last year, but has had a real growrth spurt this year and is looking quite pretty.

Thanks for the ID, a month ago every field was yellow and we all recognised them, but I've never seen the next stage with all those pods. I presume if they go to seed it should plant them for the next season.

I know these signs are popular, and now have doubled my total after getting the next closest ones (almost 50 miles away) near Cambridge. The only little glitch was of the three I got one had lost its right turn symbol very recently, you could see the shadow of where it was so clearly the same sign it was before, but no metal plate. There was a left turn about 7 miles east cross country but didn't know the exact spot and hadn't planned the complex extra part as it was a mirror image of mine. You really can't plan for everything but still made a huge profit. This is a very rare one generally and there were two the same at each side of the junctions, this was in better condition.

The Olympic Torch Relay passed through North Tyneside this afternoon Picture taken on Church Bank entering Wallsend

I love it when creatures pose for me! This chap sat on that leaf whilst I took Precious inside, got my camera, and returned. Then he was off! One photo was all he was going to sit for

By jiminy, good shot.

Nothing here to catch but rain, rain, rain. So here's some irony. Sunglasses.

The eagle has landed

(This may be sort of cheating. If it is, I'll happily replace the picture)

We spent the weekend at Hanging Rock State Park, NC. Here's a view from the bottom and the top of Hanging Rock. Fortunately, there's a path from bottom to top...

More archives, this is the bridge to Hayling Island in 1997

Here's Precious, relaxing with the newspaper.