Welcome to Feb!

A new month!
Thanks all. I look forward as usual to your great photos.

Caroline Bay in Timaru on a warm summer day during the carnival. The controversial piazza and the start of the central business district in the background. Looks like we may get some rain on Monday and Tuesday....it will be very much needed.

Howie, I'll swop you some rain for some of that sunshine

Miniature daffodils just waiting for a bit more sun to come into flower

My apologies for not posting for a while, great photos by all since I have last posted!

Here's a photo of everyone's favourite animal, the spider. There were quite a few spiders on this walk, but this one was a monster. Needless to say I took the photo and walked away as soon as I could, and I'm not even arachnophobic!

... and,Christina I would swap you 50 of my best orchids for just one of your gorgeous daffs!

Lol, Daniel! I wouldn't have even stayed to take the photo! Brrr...

Sunrise. (from my phone - don't know how to make it bigger)

Oh wow, Mothergoose. Looks lovely just like that. Amazing colours!



I can't take photos of birds like some you can do so well, so I am reduced to taking photos of old plates with bird designs on them!
I like this design.

Oh so do I Chavs. Looks oriental. That may be a crane

Daniel, oh my gosh, that's huuuuuge! I'm not sure I could stand to get a picture of that even if I was so far away and still shaking like a leaf!

My new patio sized fruit trees, one apple, one pear and one plum. Waiting to be moved to their final places when the weather improves and we can get them on a trolley without dragging it through mud.

Leaves Green which is near Biggin Hill in Kent.

You cannot see me, I am camouflaged....

Oh, Howie, I love that! Loving all the February photos

A day or two ago I posted a pic of the January Thaw. Now it is time for February's Snow - this is what I woke up to this morning.



The good news is that it is Groundhog Day, and he certainly wouldn't have been able to see his shadow!

What's even more amazing is that I was up that early to see it!

Great pictures everyone! (even the spider *shudder* ) Such cute houses, Liz and beautiful sunrise, MG!

Finally got my camera out again .. I needed to have it and the charger in the same place for it to work apparently!

Daaanieeel, Scary spider! I almost walked into a web with a spider like that. I stopped within 5 inches of having it on my face. Yeah, I ran away screaming like a little girl!

Ooh, my second favorite subject! Beautiful sunrise, MG!

Christinap, I'm jealous of your fruit trees. I had five citrus trees that I think were killed during the last hard freeze we had. Only time will tell.

Howie, don't you mean "cowmaflaged".

Liz, that looks horribly cold. How cold did it get?

Jill, such interesting scenery you have. Are they wild?

This morning my mother and I went to yard sales and I found these three beautiful Stuart Crystal brandy snifters. The bowl is 4 inches and stands 6 inches tall. Can you believe that I got all three for $2.00? Such a deal!

It actually wasn't all that cold today, just a bit below freezing When it is really, really cold like it was last week (-35 or -40 with wind chill) it is too cold to snow. There wasn't much wind today either, so it was fairly pleasant to be outside.

Had breakfast with my friends this morning and saw this little "jaw-dropper" on my way to the restaurant - stopped and took a photo on the way home. Still can't believe it's up there!

I'm speechless.

(Laughing though).

One of our heros during World War II, Ira H. Hayes is from Sacaton, AZ not far from where I live. He was one of the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima captured in the famous photo. Mr. Hayes was a Pima Native American and a U.S. Marine.

ClaraSue, love those brandy glasses - Stuart crystal is really expensive, great bargain.

MG - I'm laughing and looking at that in complete disbelief at one and the same time.

As I know they're popular here's another old sign I found today in Sunninghill. Streetview had the stripy pole which is the matching style pre-1964, but the sign was illegible as so little paint so had no idea what I'd find when I got there. This is not only rare, but as the advance warning signs all have different yardage each is likely to be unique, certainly by 2013 or even 1983. The best news is the second 'prohibited all vehicles' was 30 yards ahead, another I didn't have before, although like all the others except a couple in Scotland their red circles have been removed from above, meaning I still don't have a complete set of each but a small loss in comparison.

The sky just after a storm passed over us.

Very dramatic, Christinap! The statue looks like a great tribute, CS .. and as for the sign ... LOL!

and yep, the emus were wild, CS.

This is an old steam engine that was used to power a pumpjack over a well. It was used up until the sixties when a windmill (you can see bits of that in the pic too) was put over the well. The windmill fell down in the eighties in a storm. There is now just a bore there.
When it was being used there was someone living there full time to cut the wood .. there was a hut there for them to live in .. it was a bit of an outstation and about 25kms from the homestead. Now we go out there maybe once a week, or even a fortnight depending if there is many stock out there, and turn a diesel pump on over the bore. Progress!

We went to the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts in Wales where we saw Roy Hattersley speak (very entertaining) and the Peter James interview. On the way there and back we went past the Tretower Castle, I managed to photograph it as we sped past in the car.

It's funny how when we travel abroad we often cover more of a country in a few weeks than the residents have in all their lives, I covered ten US states in three weeks in 1980 and covered the same distance as going from London to Warsaw and back.

I always had a fascination with flyovers as a young child so take a photo whenever I see one now, this is the A3 in New Malden.

I'm confused, David. This doesn't look like a flyover.

Ahhh,edited to add....I had to look up flyover. I always think of airplanes doing a flyover. To us in the US, I would call that an overpass.

AND, edited again....I FINALLY got it right as to what a flyover is. I never knew that a flyover was a road going over another road, not just a bridge going over a road (what I called an overpass). Geez, some days it just doesn't pay for me to get out of bed.

Howie - great grab from the car

Copago, we do it to confuse people LOL

Lovely day today, some real heat in the sun at last, and definite signs of spring in the hedgerows when I took Susie for her walk. Some catkins starting to develop

This was taken yesterday, but we did the same "Yowwwrrrr! Hiss! Why are you letting this white stuff make my feet cold?" dance again today. Precious asks to go out, we get bundled up (OK I get bundled up), she lasts for less than five minutes and then starts telling me off. When I say "Do you want to go in?" she runs straight for the door.

A country lane in Englefield Green

Some early miniature daffs (tete-a-tete).

Blackthorn buds about to break

All those lovely signs of Spring! It's snowing here...

Here's Precious looking happier - indoors in the warm this morning, perched on the back of the couch.

Old old sign that's still on our boundary.
i think I've posted this before .. years ago .. so I think that you've now seen all of the property. LOL

I haven't seen that photo before Jill, do you offer fuel etc to people?

Come on, tell us again the size of Copago, I can't remember the figures but it knocked my socks off. I am sure some here won't have read how large it is. Whilst you are at it, how far from your homestead is your nearest neighbour, town etc.

One I just found in the archives, the hovercraft which took me to Calais in 1997.



I had to ditch my 2000 Canon scanner last week as it says it's not compatible with Windows 8, and although it's managed better before the new Kodak ESP C110 replacement is making some really dire scans like this as well whatever I set the resolution at. If anyone has any clues why it's doing that I'll be able to fiddle around with it.

lol, Sue.
okay, we have 85 000 acres (about 34500 ha). We run about 6000 sheep and 1000 goats. The nearest neighbours house is 15kms away .. the farthest one would be about 60km. Nearest town in 40km but it's only a small place so the nearest place for grocery shopping is 240km.
As far as property size goes all our neighbours are bigger than us - we have friends who are the biggest private landholders in teh state with over a million aces. It's classified as semi-arid so while it does sound like a lot you do need a lot to be productive.

Here's a little flower that is defying the dry weather.

So about 133 square miles then. Jersey is 45 square miles so three times the size of this island which has a population of about 100,000.

OOer, its mind boggling. The whole territory of HK is 1092 sq km, the island is 85 the population is about 7 million!

Copago, do you reckon that you could fit 7,000,000 people on your place?

I've never known anyone who owned a small country before.

A couple of wild daffodils deep in a hedgerow.

While in Newport, MaggieG and I took the train to Bath. Of course, on the way back when we reached Bristol it was found that there was something worng with a door and we could not continue. After sitting on the quite full 3 carriage train for a while it was decided that we would all get off and join the people on the platform to get onto another train.....a 2 carriage train so you can imagine how squashed we were...

Luckily it was on the way back so I did enjoy a bit of a walk around Bath first, one of the sights being the Pulteney Bridge over the River Avon. One of only a few in the world with shops built into it.

Wow that is a big property Copago! And lovely photos by all!
I went down to a National Park recently. I went on a lovely walk, and then had some lunch afterwards. As I was eating, this Pacific black duck came over and sat down under my table. He was soon joined by a few others, and before long there was a small party of ducks under my table! I took many photos, not all of them any good as I struggled a bit with the lighting, there was a lot of contrast between sun and shade. This one turned out alright, I think, and I like the way it looks like the duck is laughing!

Lovely photo Howie, Bath is a lovely city to explore

Love the duck Dan - he does look like he is laughing

Found this in the garden this morning. I think it might be some sort of fossil but not sure what

Oh yes, a curiosity! I love a good mystery.

Might it even be a meteorite?

That duck picture is great, and really looks like laughter.

Howie, that's so pretty.

Very odd, I'm just about to post a photo of the museum I've just visited and I saw the fossil, and guess what, they had one there. This often happens with information people ask me I'd only just found myself, but never with an actual item before. Theirs looked the same and was a fossil sea urchin. Had I know another would turn up straight away (it was only 7pm tonight) I'd have taken a closer look but will search some other images in case there are differences. Check these, the lines around the side are common to all including yours. Notice all have five lines around the sphere. According to the details I read you are showing its anus (sorry but that's the view!). sea urchins

Here's the stage at Harrow Museum where I had a photo on exhibit tonight on one of their publicity posters, it was an ancient barn on a 3rd century estate and fairly recently become a local history museum and concert venue on the stage here.

Thank you. I've looked at quite a few images, and yes it does look like a sea urchin. Sorry about showing that particular view folks! It was just laying on top of the garden, I think maybe the recent rain etc. washed it to the surface.

I'm wondering if it's the season as so many seem to be turning up in the south- when the sea levels were higher the lowlands round here were all under water so all the shells were buried and come back as the rain washes them out. But in sea urchins that view is their best side so you are excused, as they would have been there when alive as well...

I'm quite chuffed about that. I've found flints, the odd roman coin (very common round here), even the tooth from a horse once, but I've never found a real fossil before.

I've spent the day going through old photos and have spent hours (I swear it seems like hours) scanning and re-sizing. This is on Curacao a few years back when my sister and I took a trip to get away from winter. I want to take my husband back someday.

ahh idyllic, CS!

Our grader needed to go to town to get some work done on it.

OOoh I would love to drive one of those , very slowly through the middle of HK Central district, just for the heck of it!

I'd like to find any of those but a sea urchin fossil is a great find, well done! I would be chuffed too.

Another photo I scanned yesterday. This one was taken in Vermont in 2001. We were very interested in buying this old car. I wish we had.

I thought of Satguru's interest in road signs when I saw this. Not many Clearway signs left now I'll bet. This one is situated on a side road adjoining the A.325 between Aldershot and Farnborough.

Love the old car, the duck, the fossil and the daffs - and everything else!

This is the view out the window of my back door, just a few minutes ago.

A chic white-out!

Copago and ClaraSue have captured such lovely summery colours. It's nothing but dirty grey here. Today the fishermen had lined up all their handiwork on an upturned boat - new bright ropes on the lobster/crab pots.

Love that old car, probably worth a small fortune done up.

We had a lovely sunny day today with some interesting cloud formations

More trips for me now- that clearway sign is actually an old one despite using lower case- it was the only official one which did and was only issued for a couple of years. I've just found the location. I've got a bag of shell fossils from the beach near Swanage (I did anyway, goodness knows what happened to them) but even with a metal detector I've never found a Roman coin.

I went to an archive exhibition at Harrow Museum last night as they used one of my photos in their poster. It's the view across the hills but the flash managed to reflect off that exact one when I took it.

Round here the Romans were so prolific it's quite usual to unearth a coin when gardening, or to find one that's been turned up when they've been cultivating the fields.

I'm a classics graduate, so would be over the moon to unearth a Roman coin! I'll have to get down to your part of the country, Christina

The other view of Pulteney Bridge in Bath, where the shops are over the River Avon. I did not walk over the bridge and back...

The Romans were all over Essex. Colchester was sacked by Boudica, and the fields round there are full of Roman bits and pieces. The museum in Colchester has some fabulous Roman mosaics as well as weapons, coins, pottery, every day utensils, even a chariot.

We got some snow overnight...
There's a Jeep Liberty hidden under there.

Great pic! Love the JEEPRZ tag!

Today the sun is shining here, and Precious was quite adventurous in the snow.

All that snow! Brilliant pics!
Yesterday here it was 41* (112*F) and we spent the afternoon on the lake with the water temperature being 30. Just thought I'd share ...

A bearded dragon.

Dinner, so how was yours Sara?

Oh yum! Tonight I will cook mine. Hope my crackling turns out well too!

Looks good Sue

A present from my neighbour for dog sitting for her a few times lately

Howie, thanks solely to your pictures, I knew the answer to the location of the Pulteney Bridge in a recent KO round!
SpanishLiz,I can't imagine Twiggy venturing outside into the snow (she hates the rain), but Precious seems to be relatively at ease?
Love the Bearded Dragon - imagine asking kids to draw that based solely on the name! - and the flowers; and Sue, I'm sitting down to lunch straight after this post as my mouth is watering. Nothing as grand as your fare though.

Here's another splash of colour - I THINK this is a variety of Corymbia (a flowering gum) but I'm very happy to be corrected by anyone with more knowledge on this!



Taken in Marlo, East Gippsland, Jan 2013

Mike, good to know I am useful for something and just as well it was not against me in the KO....

I've been looking through some old photos as well. This is a beat up old boat we saw beside a fishing lake when out for a walk about three years ago. Don't know as I would trust it, but it appeared to be still in use

On CNY Day(today) you are supposed to have flowers that come into bloom on the day , in your home So here are mine:

Wow, now that's a lot of snow, CmdrK! I've been watching the news on this storm and have been keeping in touch with a friend in Rhode Island about all the snow he's getting. I hope you weren't one that lost your power during this storm.

Cool bearded dragon pic. I wish it was warm here! It's usually warmer here in Arizona during the winter, but it's been cold this year. I'm so jealous of your heat, Jill.

Love all the flowers pictures! And that is one cool looking boat, Christinap.

Another old photo that I scanned that is one of my very favorites. This is my stepson and my noble ClaraSue about 10 years ago at a lake in northern New Mexico. Just shortly after this photo, both of them dove into the water, one after the other. I have that other photo somewhere that I'll have to find and post because ClaraSue just loved diving into the water. She always loved swimming and playing in the water.

Milking the snowstorm a little more, here's what the other Jeep looked like yesterday. Looking at this picture, I was thinking it looks like something Herman Munster would drive.

After seeing the American and Canadian snow shots I shall try very hard not to moan next time we get about an inch of the stuff!

I love that fishing boat - it looks like a prop out of a movie!

Another view of the bearded dragon in the dappled sunlight.

Flowers should be in threes

Love that boat, Christinap!
and all the flars!
and the bearded dragon ...
But all that snow has me shivering in my nicely centrally heated and cosy home! Not for me thanks, though it looks great!

We also came across Bath Abbey whch was not difficult as it is not the smallest building there....

Thanks all, the boat did look a bit like it was waiting for someone out of a movie to jump in it. We were assured though that it was a much used lake fishing boat - don't think it would have withstood sea very well.

Here's another old one I've scanned. We were at a country show and they had a side saddle riding demonstration team.

That one isn't showing up on my screen.

It's probably too naughty, Ren. (Side-saddle is obviously a euphemism.)

I can see it.

The clearway sign is in the bag, quite possibly the only one in Britain. It was a short lived design, and the only one before 1964 in lower case. There's a picture of one around Hyde Park Corner from the early 60s, on a rectangular plate, and I don't ever recall seeing a circular one for the clearway ahead till now (edit, I just did a search and found one for straight ahead for the road you're on). Here's a little road near there looking over Ash Common.

Hee hee.

I can now! Lol,Chavs

Another scanned photo from a few years back. This is Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

For those who would like some history and are feeling a little hungry, you may like to visit Sally Lunn's Historic Eating House & Museum. One of the oldest (c.1482) buildings in Bath and bakes the original Sally Lunn bun, named after the French refugee who arrived in 1680 and set up a bakery.

.. and you should have round fruits

'Tis Pancake Day, so guess what I had for lunch!

I've been to Sally Lunn's many times in Windsor, I would think it's the same people and has all the history written on the wall as you come in.

You won't see many of these around nowadays, my scouts have been busy this week, and when one I was going to get had been replaced Tellywellies and someone on Flickr provided me with others the next day, this also has a 10mph speed limit underneath it which I didn't have, there is a turn left sign in the centre of London but with very little paint left unlike this one. There were usually red circles on the top of the pole but although there's room on this there's no bracket which would have meant it had been there once and vanished. Luckily I do have one of them as well which is many times rarer to get the whole set nowadays.

.. and lots to eat

All looks so nice Ren.

We are fortunate in having an RHS garden only a few miles from us, and they are well known for their rose garden. This is just one bed of over a dozen. On a warm summer day the perfume can be almost overwhelming.

Beautiful!

Our friend used to own a pub but shut it down.
That left only one pub in town and that friend won't go to that pub.
So he set up his own little pub area (no selling) on the banks of the Darling River.
great spot.

I want to be in your place, Ren!!! That all looks fab! The food, the flars, the fruit, the flars ... the food ...

Then I could slake my thirst at Copago's friend's private bar with a view! Love it!

I see a birthday is in the works. Happy Birthday, Ren!

Happy birthday Sara! I haven't checked my Hotmail yet today or would have sent it from there directly.

In case anyone wonders what the one way system in Enfield looks like here it is. The glass building on the left was a library according to Google but is now apparently a shopping mall. That's called 'cuts'...

A very happy birthday to you Ren. Hope you have a lovely day

Ploughing with heavy horses. An open farm in Rochford has gone back to using horses for a couple of their fields.

Thanks all for your wishes.
Of course the shops all go to town. This is peach blossom. Very lucky and very expensive so only really seen in big stores nowadays.

Yoohoo Ren! Hope you had a wonderful day!!!

Those horses remind me of my primary schooldays. There was a field just over the road and I used to gaze out of the window and watch the farmer loughing the field with his horse.

Beautiful horses, too!

And I hope you had a great birthday, Sara.

Arizona has been colder than normal this winter and this is what all the cold has done to my poor lemon tree. We even had it covered during the coldest nights.

Part of the Royal Crescent in Bath by Victoria Park, you cannot really see how the 30 or so terraced houses curve with the street, apparently built between 1767 and 1775. The best view is from above but alas, I cannot fly....lol

Lovely horses! All of Ren's CNY goodies look wonderful, but I feel very sorry for that poor lemon tree. Bath looks lovely.

I treated myself to a Valentine's cupcake today

In a very small way they are making a bit of a comeback. A couple of vineyards in Kent now use them as they get inbetween the rows of vines better than a tractor. Some Forestry Commission places use them as they can go where vehicles can't and organic farms often use them on at least one or two fields as they often open to the public and they are a great attraction. Always a joy to see them.

Your poor tree ClaraSue.

Something else making a bit of a comeback - otter.

A little late maybe but Happy Birthday, Ren!

Howie, did you know that posh though it looks the Royal Crescent in Bath was actually built as a lot of cheap boarding houses, some housing activities not suitable to mention on a family site. The facade was done as a whole to make the city look attractive, but the insides were a lot lower class than the outside.

Yeah, when you have all these terrace houses joined up like that you get the idea it is not for the upper class people back then. Looking at it in 2010 you could see many of the houses had been neglected. The 'Royal' part of the name was added much later.

Apart from the signs I've only been taking photos to represent new places so far, but as this is a new sanitaryware showroom I thought it warranted a showing, although I didn't get closer to get an actual view into the window for the details.

Went to Sai Kung, by the sea, today. We looked in at the little temple there and this is a lion guarding it.
Lions are really important.In the list of animals for the years there is no lion. He was too late for the race to find which animal was superior, so the Emperor said he could have the job of scaring away the old year. He also guards famous buildings like banks etc.

Here is the little temple

These are some of my favourite shops in Hampstead where I've gone all my life.

Ren, thank you for all the photos and explanations so far, it's all so interesting, I hope there are some more to come. Your pictures are lovely and the "lions on guard" is especially nice; I like the bright colours all clustered together in one area and then the grey monotone is broken by decorative relief carvings - very pretty.

Belated Birthday Greetings! Hope it was a good day.

Hope you managed to eat some cake as nice as that valentine's cupcake!

The local shops all go to town. Thanks Chavs, yes it is a very colourful time here. Noisy too!