Easter Visit - first day

I got to know my friends Michael and Pine from near Hamburg and Lüneburg in Germany after I made the 2009 duck calendar for the German runner duck forum.  Apart from age we have a huge amount in common and have been corresponding busily ever since they received their copy of that calendar.

Their visit to White Gables had been planned for over a year, and finally the day came - they arrived on Easter Saturday morning absolutely loaded up with presents for us  -   I'll just show you this one, a beautiful solar lamp with 'satellite' silver balls:

They didn't only bring gifts for us, to "curry favour" with our 15 they brought along a great jar full of live meal-worms and got ours as hooked on this treat as their 6 are - this is a picture of them in Pine and Michael's beautiful garden:

We now only have to step outside of our house and the 10 youngsters come running up in great expectation of live meal-worms ........  I'll have to find a supplier!

From the very start of their short visit they were accepted into the greater family, both, but especially Pine, involved themselves into getting meals ready, tidying up etc.  Carl and two of his girls [Sarah was away training with the England Cadet Volleyball Team] very kindly came and introduced themselves and shared our Saturday meal although they were busy getting ready to go on holiday.  After they had to go I took Pine and Michael for a walk around our garden and fields, and the two of them took these photos:

The ducks were first in their attentions, of course.

Hedda, front left in the photo above, is Pine's particular favourite.

 
The photo with the surrounding scrolls - the same as the small one on the left taken at the very top of our second field - is Michael's work.  The view from that spot across to Coleorton Hall and Church is very good:

Walking back towards the house we could see that the donkey shelter was entirely obscured by a fallen, but still flowering, big branch of the Damson tree there - photo on the right.  Here's Pine's picture of the same view after the sun came out briefly:

Halfway back down the larger field we spotted Lane and Anke at their favourite game recently, of digging up a patch of moss.  They spend most of their days there, which is an improvement on escaping into the field, not finding the way back and trampling a little path along the fence trying to get back in and getting raped by the new boys in the process.  

From the house I managed to get a photo of Anke searching for a way back only the other day:

On this occasion we shooed them back towards the pond, the worry about foxes is always there.

By the time we came back to the house the 10 were still searching for meal worms ...

After supper on Saturday evening Pine and I - watched over by John and Michael - baked some "stand-up" biscuit rabbits which we used for place names for our Easter Sunday meal - more of that anon!