Catch up on last week

On Monday I went out just before 3 pm with the camera to check up on how John's fire was going - he was burning the soiled duck bedding near the donkey shelter - and on the way back to the house I took a few photos showing that we still have a bit of colour in the garden.

 

In this photo you can see how the prevailing winds have blown the fallen leaves to the right side of the pond - the ducks used to search through them to see if there were some insects hiding underneath.  All the leaves are off the trees now, we'll have to clean the pond soon before it freezes.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were taken up almost entirely with shopping for, preparing, cooking and baking the 5-course dinner at Moira Chapel where John and I got married.  Transporting food and implements from here to there was made extremely difficult because of the horrendous weather, with fierce winds and very heavy rain.  Poor John had to make two trips and got stuck in a traffic jam.  Everything went very well nonetheless, and to judge by the many favourable comments and thanks and requests for recipes the dinner was enjoyed by all 30 guests.

Friday, before lunch, I took time to take photos of some of the mud puddles and rivulets the ducks enjoy so much:

The narrow channel in the picture above right has by now, 3 days later, widened out to a metre at the bottom, ducks LOVE making mud puddles.

When I got down to the pond the whole mob was just standing around, undecided as to what to do.

The 2 drakes with similar markings in the right hand picture are Tuts, on the left, and one of the 5 from this year.  I've noticed that Tuts and Dotty [small photo above left] very often come as a pair to the food station, often on their own, not with the rest of the flock, it certainly looks as if they've taken a fancy to each other!  Dotty, one of the 6 from Seagrave, is fast becoming a favourite with me.  She and Billie-Jean, who attacked and "bit" me when she was sitting on eggs, are the most trusting now and come the closest - especially when there's food to be had.

While taking these photos on Friday all ducks and drakes suddenly decided to run ahead of me to the food station, I pursued them with the camera:

 

John has been doing some digging!

 

On Saturday morning we went to Hicks' Cycle Lodge outside Willesley where the National Forest had organized a Tree Planting Day.  It was a present to John from Gerd and Maria for him to take part in this event which was very well organized and we were lucky that the rain held off.  Here are a few pictures:

 [Don't know how I managed to get that arrow on John's back...]

 

On Saturday night Julie [John's elder daughter] had invited us and 19 other friends and family to a big pre-birthday dinner at a favourite pub of hers.  Her husband Andy had asked me to make her a cake - she loved it!

 









Yesterday, Sunday, we had a very nice guest for dinner, and that's about brought you up to date with what's been happening here in the week past.