The rather lovely flower was hiding under some trees in our local gardens, What is it? I know little about flowers .

She was lovely, Telly, I know how you must miss her.

I had heard that there were swans in the Bay, but had not spotted one until today. He was moving along at a fair pace!

A small Easter display I made in our reception area.

My only attempt at gardening in the last ??? years; a couple of mini daffodil plants. I put them in next to the recently deceased guinea pig.



Maybe I'll mow the 'lawn' one day.

some black friends for SpanishLiz's swans.

They are lovely, Copago!

Here is another bird, but I'm hoping someone will be able to tell me what type it is. He was spotted going for a stroll just on the outskirts of town, and some present thought he might be a barn swallow, but nobody was sure. I said that my online friends were certain to be able to help

SpanishLiz: It's (a very nice shot of) a killdeer. They're a type of plover.

Thanks Jakeroo, I don't think I have ever seen one before.

Out for a walk in Petworth park when I spotted these Deer.

Hi Jeaniie! Those deer look very purposeful!. Jill it is so great to see you with enough water to float a swan!. They are lovely.

Copago, the paragliding photo was taken at Panchgani, a nearby hill station.

Taken at the market in Mahableshwar.

Magicjeanie: thanks for the info. I really must save up for some different lenses. Are those fallow deer? They have such interesting antlers.

SpanishLiz: you might not have seen one on the ground before, but you've probably heard them. They have quite a distinctive call.

Runningbare: Thank you to you too for the camera info. I believe that pretty plant you captured is a Scilla bifolia. Member of the Lily family. Comes in blue, light blue and white (alba).

The hubby and I were in Vegas earlier this month. We've been there before, so to do something different, we thought we'd take a day or two and visit the Grand Canyon (it's about a 3.5 hour drive from Vegas). On the very first night, hubby got lucky in the casino, so we spent his entire winnings on a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon. Beats driving anyday, I must say lol. In this picture we were flying over part of Lake Mead:

Stunning photo, Jake. It's beautiful.

A pond in Clandon Surrey

A wild budgie. We only get these in a good season so it was great to start to be seeing them again. I've seen them in past in mobs of hundreds but there's only about 20-30 so far but we hope the numbers will build up.

I love the deer - beautiful, Jeanie.
And great shot (and story!) of the grand canyon.

Sorry I have been absent for a while - computer problems (couldn't boot up). Don't you hate it when your 13-month old computer plays up right after the 12-month warranty expires.

We had a freak hailstorm last Monday with hailstones as big as golf balls, and flash flooding. It gridlocked the city and caused chaos, not to mention a damage bill into the millions.

Luckily, my house escaped unscathed but my poor car didn't. It has a broken windscreen (will post a photo of that tomorrow), shredded weathershields and the body looks like the lunar surface from the impact of all those hailstones. I tried taking pictures of the dents but you can't see them on a white car.

Here are some of the hailstones. They were initially bigger than this but they melted rapidly in the rain. Even so, you can get an idea of their size by comparing them to the pavers.

Yikes MG!

In my part of the world, we're used to 6 months of winter and 2 months of "bad sledding" - not to mention snow in May and killing frost in September. But I REALLY hate hail (am sure it is God's private joke on gardeners). Many sympathies (on the computer too).

As an aside, I "assume" a windscreen is the same as a windshield here, but what are weathershields?

Copago and Zorba: thanks.. pictures of the ACTUAL Grand Canyon will be forthcoming.

Copago: awwww on the budgie. As a kid I had one that looked JUST like that. His name was Skipper (because he was one BOSSY son of a gun - probably should have called him Nipper instead, since he had a bad habit of biting lol)

Yes, a windscreen is a windshield. I am not quite sure how to describe weathershields but I'll do my best. They are plastic wind deflectors that you fit to your car door so that it's more comfortable when you have the window open (it greatly reduces the impact of the wind and/or rain). A lot of people just have one over the driver's door, but I had one over the front passenger door as well.

Taken at a West Sussex Gardens, I hear you all say why didn't he name the flower, the answer is ignorance, I know not what it is, I must get a book.

Runningbare, I'm pretty sure your flower is one of the Helleborus species. Also known as Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose, I have a few in my garden which grow happily under camellia bushes. So "olde-worlde", I just love them.

I was away a couple of days there last week but thought of you when the news of the Perth storms hit, MG. Hope you can get your car fixed with no worries.
In the 80s I went thorugh a couple big hailstorms and got 43 broken windows in the house and both my parents cars were hit badly. Can't supply facts about this but it was Commodores that had the back windscreen broken a lot - it was thought it was something to do with the angle of it.


Here's today's offering ... two budgies

Omigod ! I think I've finally gone and done it! Without meaning to, I laundered the cat! Let it be known, little guy could have used a bit 'o freshening up ... but putting him in the dryer might have been pushing it .

Oh, you MUST let me know how you got your whites so white.