Last post

I have decided to make this my 130th & last post, with a picture of the finished house, our beautiful sign, the rowan, holly, and our lavender hedge.

We will of course, still keep busy, making things and getting the house as we like it inside, but, at our 4 year anniversary, feel we can say that the "build" is finished.

We have learned a huge amount since we began and made a host of new friends. A lot has happened in the family as well. We both retired, we have had a wedding, a funeral and a birth.

The blog has been a great record of everything that has happened, of everyone who has helped us (and a very tiny number who have hindered!)

I'm glad that I recorded thanks throughout, as there are too many to list, except to say:

if you have been, thank you for reading our blog

the garden, again

Keith has been working very hard to get the garden looking nice. We have replanted all the bulbs (fingers crossed they will look nice in spring) and planted the borders (thanks to Steve Jackson, a true gardener,  for his contributions). We have a fence to stop Joe running into the brook, and Keith has put up 2 of our Christmas presents: a weather vane and bird house.

Genghis came to visit, here he is, inspecting the work in progress:

the garden

 Keith has been busy in the garden. He began with another bonfire

The balustrade has been finished, and he has planted some geraniums and some herbs. Thanks again to Angela & Nigel, who gave us a beautiful rhodedendron that took a battering in the rain, but has perked up again. I'm afraid that the garden pictures don't do justice to the borders, where the plants are beginning to look at home. The leylandii trunks still look very bare, but you can just see the ivy & climbing hydrangeas that we hope will cover them.

I took a picture of mother duck with her brood, but some have since fallen prey to pike or other predators and only one remains.

The rain has been so persistent that some of the ducks needed to seek shelter. You can just see the duck to the right, with 2 drakes standing guard.

a flight of swallows

 This afternoon, I set off on a walk, and spotted a lone swallow swooping over the brook.
I walked along the Nene, the sky threatening rain. After a short shower, the sun came out and I saw a red kite, a pied wagtail, and a pair of reed warblers darting into their nest on the river bank. As I walked back down the High Street, just rounding the slight curve before our house, the sky filled with swallows, swooping and screeching.

spring continues

The birds have been very active. In the last few days we have seen a woodpecker, an egret, a goldfinch, and all of our usual visitors.

Genghis has been very protective of his mate, although they both fled when the goosander (above) landed near them.

Keith has continued to plant the garden, and has helped to hang our first living room curtain (which has to come down again for hemming). Pictures next time.

Thanks to you all for your good wishes, we would love to see you at any time.

bird watching

The birds have been celebrating spring. I have not been quick enough enough my camera to capture the swans' courting rituals, or the battles of Genghis, who has been living up to his name. When he saw his lady love surrounded by other drakes, he fought them all off, despite ferocious attacks from them. She was obviously impressed by his valour, and as you can see here, has sensibly chosen Genghis - although you can see another troublesome drake on the left.

The geese use the Nene Valley as a migrating route, and periodically stop to feed and meet up. This picture was taken about a fortnight ago, when the meeting place was just opposite our garden.





Keith has been making furniture for the study, and digging the back garden. At the back, he has put in some plants to climb up the fence, and the gap in the leylandii; at the front he has been filling in some of the gaps (and thanks again to Christine Jones, Jackie Morton, & Gwenda Burley for lovely plants)

I have been concentrating on my physio, and going out for walks. It is so much better underfoot now. On Saturday I walked along the Nene as far as Woodford lock & back (about a mile & a half) and rounded it off with a drink at the Cock (now taken over by Christine & Tim who are looking after us very well)

spring begins

 

The snowdrops are out, and we saw crocuses today. I took these photos I the afternoon light.

I need to add that something strange has happened on the blog: as you know, I have added links to things I think will be of interest. I have just noticed that some random links have been added by someone else, such as a link on "garage door" that takes you to a random selection of garage doors, and "phone" takes you to a mobile phone site. I can only assume this has been done by yahoo/BlogSpot, and I will try to remove them, but if you find an odd link, please ignore it!