At Home Today

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Dreki and Lilja are now allowed to be with each other but not really getting along.

That is because they are siblings (albeit half).

No one wants to play Fuzzy Felt or Lego nicely together.

There is no “lovely sharing” as we used to say in our house.

And I have to say that I am very disappointed.

Daisy took these photos today.

For me, while living so far away at the moment, it is lovely to see my little foalios together.

They are typical brother and sister, I think.

The main argument is about Daisy and who should own her.

Lilja is determined it will be her because she spied her first!

BeAnne is busy entertaining herself and I am pleased and relieved to see she is not pining for me.  A happy BeAnne means I don’t worry when I am away for her.  We both have separation anxiety from each other.

Lambie is on top form, though looking a tad porky, and has adopted the position of professional beggar.  He waiting for Daisy to take pity and shower him with his Rich Tea biscuits (the box is in the porch, just over there, if you don’t mind!)

So that is life at home.  Everyone is getting along fine without me.

Still miss them all, though.

Mum’s Gros-Point Tapestry

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In 1967 my mother started her gros-point tapestry – 5′ high x 10′ long.

She created completely from scratch an incredible medieval hunting scene.

The tapestry was made from two pieces of canvas joined down the middle and Mum was always sewing at it every evening.

The crewel wool (3 strand) and canvas came from Heinz Edgar Kiewe in Oxford.

The clothes were copied from tapestries from the 14th century and, amongst the composition, are various family momentos and portraits of real trees, such as the great oak in the park, silver birch, oak, copper beech trees.  They have been all part of our lives.

The lovers under the oak tree are family.

All the wild flowers are real species of English wild flowers, copied from life.  I remember Mum drawing the blank canvas with black Indian ink designs while it was work-in-progress.

The white stag is the emblem of St Hubert, the Christian saint who is the patron saint of hunters (as well as mathaticians, opticians, and metalworkers – I am finding out just as much as you are, here).

The Arum lily plant signfies the death of our beloved King Charles Cavalier spaniel, Bollinger.  He was wonderfully wicked and used to wander round the garden with a live hen in his mouth if he could!

I have always loved the hunting hounds.

The white hound is a lady’s hound – an Italian greyhound, who has not learned to jump up!

A trompe-l’œil frame surrounds the tapestry like a proper gilt picture frame arranged with the correct perspective so that it looks 3 dimensional (ish, added my Mother!)

Mum finished the tapestry in 1978.  It was stretched by the Royal School of Needlework, which reminds me of this old Punch cartoon.

Lambie is Helpful

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Bjørn came round yesterday evening to shoe Kappi, in preparation for the British Championships in two weeks’ time.  Daisy and Kappi are training hard.

As it was in the evening, Wiggins (a Shetland chicken) was furious.  Bjørn was using her bedroom as a work surface.  Usually Wiggins is tucked up, fast asleep but this night she had been evicted so spent her time being resentful.  There is nothing like a resentful hen!

As per usual, Lambie was in evidence, “helping”.  From the photos, Daisy sent, I would say Lambie was busy being a dog and seeing what Amina, Bjørn’s wonderful German Shepherd, was doing.

Firstly, Lambie “helped” by attempting to chew Taktur’s forelock – thank you, Lambie.  And then, according to Daisy, he pee’ed in the one place Bjørn wanted to work.  Thank you, again, Lambie.  I think, at this stage, he was evicted for being a P.I.T.A (pain in the arse).

I love this little film Daisy sent me.

Now this is Lambie’s favourite pastime – secretly eating Rich Tea biscuits when no one is watching.  He adores them but has to be rationed.  Actually, they all have to be rationed (3 biscuits a day) as everyone would happily live outside the front door begging!

Note:  Lambie can eat them whole when he is in a greedy mood.  Sometimes he takes little bites out of them like Miss Marple!

You’ve gotta love Lambie!  No, seriously, you’ve go to.  It is probably The Law.

A walk in Watford

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It’s Nick here again today, as Frances is at a funeral.

I’ve been scratching my head over what to write about today, however I decided I’d take photos with my phone while out walking Danny this morning. It’s not until you get a dog that you discover so many interesting places to walk near your home, and I was surprised at just how much there is near us, so I wanted to share this with you.

First up, we’ve known about this field for ages; it’s home to loads of skylarks (which is a good thing as these poor birds are in decline across the country due to changes in farming methods). I know you can’t see any in this photo, but it’s the first taste of rural scenery on the walk after I cross the busy road near our house

There’s a footpath alongside this field that leads to the Ebury Way – a converted railway line that now acts as a footpath from Watford to Rickmansworth (I mentioned this in a previous post). The connecting path heads through some trees, then up some steps to the Ebury Way:

If you turn left at the top of the steps, the path crosses the river Colne, with beautiful views downstream

It looks particularly nice when there’s a layer of mist hanging around – this is from a few years ago:

Further along the Ebury Way there are sites of interest that you can go and visit, such as Lairage Land. A Lairage is an area of land set aside for resting cattle en route to market, and the one in Watford is now a nature reserve. I didn’t visit it today, but it’s only a short walk from the footpath.

The path crosses a road leading to a farm, which is where I leave the Ebury Way on my morning walk and head into the meadow where the footpath runs alongside a lake, which is often teeming with terns, herons, geese and grebes.

The path then crosses the river Colne again, next to Hamper Mill, and old mill that is often used as a filming location.

We cross the road into the large, former golf course that is now Oxhey Playing Fields, a wide open space where Danny can run free with all his friends

It has plenty of woodland too, and Danny loves to pose on the felled trees

After a good three mile walk, and a quick drink, he loves to cool off by rolling around in long grass for a good scratch

So there you have it: Watford, not quite as bad as you might expect!

Thanks again to Frances for letting me share this with you. See you all again soon!

The Roses

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Mum loves her roses.  She has been growing every kind of rose here ever since I can remember and they are always beautiful.  Part of my childhood.  She always used to send back to my flat in London with roses.  Sometimes she would send me back with cats.

🏵 😺 🏵 😺 🏵 😺 🏵 😺 🏵 😺 🏵 😺 🏵

Rosa ragosa (white) – Rosa rugosa ‘Alba’

Wild foxgloves grow around the garden too.  Mum “rescues” them!

“The Magician” – a climbing rose that never climbed!

Félicité et Perpétue (a rambling rose that used climb the chains like Queen Mary’s garden in Regent’s Park, London).  This rose has been here since the 1960’s.

“Gypsy Boy” (a climber)

  

Eden Rose

Swan Lake – a modern climber, utterly perfect but absolutely no scent which, for me, is the biggest disappointment.  I love the shape but I so it want to smell right.

Parade – a climbing rose

    

Seagull – a rambler that has actually rambled!

Josephine Bruce – this rose smells divine, a very pure rose scent.

It has been raining and the garden smells lovely.  A deep rose scent surrounds us.

And this is a nose by any other name (!) –  Pip is on top form and our early morning walks are a delight.

Meanwhile, Daisy sent me this photo.  She is riding my old Icelandic horse, Haakon.  Apparently they went up to the canter track and back for a good old plod.

Me?  Jealous.

Meanwhile, BeAnne has been doing her yoga.  Apparently this is her interpretation of “downward dog”.