Homing Pigeon...

17 June 2011

I was just turning off the pump for the Koi pond in mum's garden this evening...

When this beautiful homing pigeon shuffled up to me...   I have a natural affinity with pigeons...

I've always loved them...  this one has its racing number ring on its leg so we contacted TACT to get the phone number for the organiser in Lisburn...  So we will hopefully hear from the owner soon...

In the meantime it is in the bedroom in a box with some grain and a deep dish of water as pigeons need to be able to submerge their beak in water to get a drink...

We were told it is important to keep the pigeon warm... hence the bedroom...

I couldn't leave the pigeon as it couldn't take off (probably exhausted) and my friend and neighbour has 7 cats under the age of 1 year so this beautiful bird was not safe to be left.  

This is the second homing pigeon that I have rescued.  This bird is in much better condition than the last one which had been attacked by the local peregrine and had bad damage on its back.

This bird just needs to go home to its loft...

Photos curtesy of Neil as I was holding and stroking the pigeon...  Couldn't remember how to hold it properly although I was shown with the last homing pigeon I rescued.

My Hotter Moment...

28 September 2010

Something very strange has happened to me...

For most of my life I have been perfectly content to slip into a pair of trainers or walking boots with comfy walking socks... but now... unexpectedly...

With the beautiful new pairs of hand knitted socks... 

I found myself dreaming of nicer shoes... smarter shoes...

So I found myself  browsing through the Hotter catalogue when it arrived in the post...

I fell in love with Sugar in Chocolate Brown...

but they were already sold out and the catalogue had just arrived!

So I settled on Amber in the Otter colourway... which I thought would go nicely with any socks with taupe or brown or warm colours in them...

And Shout in the black colourway to go with all colours of sock...

So now when I hold out my toe to show off a newly finished sock...  I also have really cool shoes too... which I must add are actually incredibly comfortable...

And I now dream of shoes in dark teal... bordeaux... chocolate brown... and plum...

This is so not me and it does seem a little extreme to covet a new pair of shoes to match every new pair of hand knitted socks! 

Shellseeking...

10 September 2010

A short walk round a headland from the beautiful Sandy beach at Crawfordsburn is a small bay...

which is truly beautiful and...

a treasure trove for shells and broken shells... after the tide goes out...

The shells are amazing... so many different colours and types and shapes...  limpets, mussels, whelks, etc

The rock pools are filled with shells...

The bank of shells continues under the sea...

As the tide receded the shells were still shiny and wet and I couldn't resist sitting down and looking through all the different types...  this was a beach that was a favourite of ours when we were children for spending a sunny day with a picnic...

Neil on the beach...

The colours are stunning... natural golds and beiges and creams with soft grey blues... dull and pearly...

I love shellseeking on this beach...  so spoiled for choice as my feet crunch with every step...

I think the broken ones are every bit as beautiful as the complete shells... I love when I can see the swirly shape inside the shell and the growth lines on the shell a little like the rings on a tree.

Spoiled for choice...

More Birthday Fun...

10 September 2010

Our birthdays are very close together so today we were celebrating Neil's birthday...

After a cooked breakfast... Neil opened his presents (DVD box sets of the complete collection of Jonathon Creek and the complete Wolf's Rain anime) and birthday cards...

In the late morning as the weather improved we decided it was too warm to stay home and went for a walk at Crawfordsburn Beach... the tide was just turning when we arrived...

It was truly beautiful with a warm breeze...

We paused now and again as we walked along the beach to photograph pebbles...

At one point a man walking his dog paused on his way past to ask if we minded him asking what we were photographing... I laughed and said pebbles...  he replied that he liked to look at the pebbles too and often picked up beautiful pebbles that looked like fossils or had lines running through them...

Sometimes the colours just appeal to me...

As the tide receded the seagulls came down looking for anything edible that might be stranded...

The currents leave beautiful marks on the sand... the water looked so blue and inviting as it reflected the colour of the sky.

Wonderful carved kingfisher beside the river near the carpark...

This huge piece of stranded driftwood reminded us of a pterodactyl's head...

With the tide turning it was the perfect time to do some shellseeking.. see the next posting...

After walking Shane in the evening, we went to the Odyssey for a pizza and then saw Tamara Drewe in the cinema.  The movie was absolutely hilarious...  A wonderful day...

Birthday fun...

8 September 2010

Thank you everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes I have received by email, on yahoo groups and on facebook.  They have all been very much appreciated and helped to make my birthday very special.

This year was a departure for me... for the past few years my birthday present has usually been a new Sasha doll but this year... I opted for books... very cool books...  there are books on sock knitting, books on dyeing wool, and books on using google blogger...  I just adore books...

After breakfast and opening all of my presents and birthday cards, Neil and I went out for lunch to a restaurant in the new Victoria Centre in Belfast.  It was really delicious...  then we wandered around the city centre for a couple of hours finishing off with a cup of tea in the coffeeshop in Waterstone's book shop. 

We had sandwiches for tea with a glass of wine and watched The Goblet of Fire and the Half-Blood Prince on DVD... I really love the Harry Potter books and movies...  a perfect birthday!

Nikki leaves for Kent

Wednesday 14 July

So, Nikki has left for Kent to stay with Valerie for a while.  This is her in our garden just before she left.

So Shane and I are in charge of things Chez Belfast.  We have some nice walks to look forward to, like the one in the picture below (Shane is on the far right beside the path).

We also have to arrange our own catering, 

but as you can see Shane has his own favourites...

Kotara and Aang... new arrivals

28 May 2010

Neil and I went to the garden centre at Donegore as we were looking for a replacement cucumber plant for the one which died.  We also wanted some new packets of seed for the lettuce we like to grow for the summer.  I wanted a couple of oxygenating plants for the pond as I thought it would be nice for the Pinpin and Firefly the Koi carp to have some greenery to nibble. 

As we passed the koi carp we couldn't resist stopping to look at them.  Neil fell in love with the beautiful golden fish.  It was the only that looked like that and is truly beautiful.  We decided that it would probably to best to buy two the same size so that they would have company when they met the larger fish in the pond.

On arriving home, Neil opened the bag and we spent the next couple of hours acclimatising the new fish to the pond environment. 

 

After about 3 hours we decided it was time for the release and Kotara and Aang arrived in the pond and were very quickly greeted by Pinpin and Firefly who seemed delighted to have some newcomers to their fishy shoal.

Kotara is the white and orange one and Aang is the golden coloured fish.

Bluebell Walk on Cavehill

When I walk among the bluebells I am transported by the scent and the beauty to other times in my life.

As I wander through the beautiful blue blossoms I think of childhood, of walks through the bluebells, of picnics to celebrate Pip's birthday in early May.

Of happy childhood days spent roaming on the Cavehill for hours on end.

Shane looks back at us to see if we are following him or stopping yet again to take another photograph.

The bluebells are stunning with so many shades of blue to purple running through them.