Take Three Thursday: Alpines

Things are progressing quite well in the farmhouse now. The floor tiles are nearly all down, the kitchen is being fitted, a lot of the wall paper is up. We still need to see a bit more of the electrician and the plumber. It's completely beyond my comprehension as to why they don't just concentrate on finishing one job rather than chasing from one to another.

We have also been tidying up the garden and have put a stone trough on the wall near the door. I thought some of the plants we have in it would be good for this week's Take Three Thursday. 

1. This gentian is a beautiful blue. It has had a series of little flowers.

2. I bought this little pink plant when in Cornwall. It's always nice to have a plant to remind you of your holiday.

3. House leeks always fascinate me. This one is producing a sizeable number of house leeks.

I will post a photo of the whole trough soon.

A Few More Finds for the Scavenger Hunt

Rather than bore you all totally in one day I thought I would spread my finds over two days so here is the second instalment. My next photo is for No. 6 An Umbrella open or closed.

My first possibility for No. 7 A Curving Path is the knot garden at Trerice House in Cornwall. 

Then a path weaving it's way through the garden at Landhydrock House.

There are so many possibilities for No. 10 Something made of stone. The most commonly used stone in Cornwall is granite, a resilient tough stone usually silver grey in colour. This is depicted well in a tableau at the Royal Cornwall Show which was part of a WI competition "A Celebration of Cornwall ". It shows the importance of granite in the whole county.

Leading on from this here are some uses of granite that I captured while on holiday in Cornwall last month.

I think one of my favourite finds so far is this iris which depicts No. 13 Two colours of the rainbow in any combination.

The coastal walk along the cliff between Treyarnon Bay and Constantine seems to have more than it's fair share of benches. It is of course a lovely place to sit and admire the view on a relatively accessible walk. There are no less than 3 broken ones and here are two of them for No. 15 A broken chair/bench/stool.

My last category for now is No. 18 Something that should be found in pairs. Yes, you guessed, I set this one up with my shoe.

However I did find this lonesome boot.

Then surely car wheels should really come in pairs! You do need to look quite carefully.

The First Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt Link Up

I am still at the stage of finding and choosing photos for the Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. This is hosted by Mary Lou so don't forget to pop along to see her finds and also find the links for everyone else joining in.

I am sharing some of my possible options for just a few of the prompts. I have in fact already posted my finds for No. 14 A Handwritten Sign which you can find here.

No. 1 An Outdoor Clock.  I found a couple of possibilities for this when I was in Cornwall. The first is the clock on the tower on the harbour in Porthleven. This tower has become a popular subject for photos in stormy weather has it is beaten by large waves. It is often mistaken for a church but is in fact the Bickford-Smith Institute and houses some of the town council. The clock tower stands 70ft high.

Another choice is on the stable block at Lanhydrock House which would have helped to ensure that all horses and carriages were ready at the correct time.

My third choice is a natural option. I am sure you all know how to tell the time with a dandelion. Hold the stalk firmly and blow. Keep blowing until all the seeds have gone. The number of blows needed indicates the hour of the day.

No.3 Repetition . The first two are taken at Lanhydrock House.

A classic Cornish wall with a fence on top gives two repeated patterns.

A row of terraced houses on the harbour of Porthleven.

An impressive collection of keys in Trerice House.

No. 4 Blurred Vision is a fairly difficult one to portray. The focus on one group of flowers obscures the rest.

Catching the waves at sunset at Treyarnon Beach.

Looking out from Trevose Head.

I have a lot more to show but will save those for another time.

Take Three Thursday: Glorious Roses.

I am joining Mary Lou again with her Thursday meme of taking 3 pictures with a theme. There are some fabulous roses around this year. Here are three that I captured after a prolonged shower of rain on Sunday afternoon hence the raindrops.

This third is by my kitchen window ( until I move!). It is called Tess of the D'Ubervilles. It was a gift to Farmer Husband from my mum.

Sorry but I obviously cannot count. This bonus is one of three roses given to us last year for our Silver Wedding/ my 60th birthday.

A Rogue Visitor

I have fed the birds for many years in the cherry tree that I can see from my kitchen window. I know that a lot of people have trouble with a particular cheeky visitor eating the bird food and damaging the feeders. I have been lucky up till now but not this year.

I do agree that the grey squirrel does look rather cute but they are referred to as tree rats for a good reason. They have pushed out our native red squirrel, they destroy young trees, eat bird's eggs and generally make a nuisance of themselves. He has polished off all these sunflowers and broken the feeder.

The war is on ! I shall be looking at ways of deterring him!

A Flower at all Stages

We tend to have a pretty traditional Sunday here. I was brought up to consider it as a family day and we have tried to keep that up. Sunday mornings for me are spent preparing a roast dinner and more often than not I make a cake too. Sometimes I even go to church! We try and get my mum over most Sundays and at least one of the girls is usually around. This week it was both of them.

It had been a glorious start to the day but by the time younger daughter had collected mum and I had the lunch ready it started to rain. It poured all afternoon. Mum and I stayed inside in the dry and then eventually wandered out very late in the afternoon when it finally stopped and had a stroll around the garden. I took my camera because there is nothing quite like that post rain freshness.

This poppy caught my attention. Drenched in water it made quite a picture.

I soon realised as well that I could catch every stage of the flower from bud to seed head.

Every stage has its own beauty.

Nature is sipuch a wonderful thing.

A Bit of a Farm Update

I am pretty aware that I have talked quite a lot about the house lately and not so much about the farm. I thought therefore that it was time for a bit of an update. 

The lambs are growing fast and even the pet lambs are out side now. They are with a group of ewes with triplets who need a bit more feed and a special eye kept on them. The boy I look after became quite attached to the pet lambs and was a little disappointed that they didn't know him once they were out in the field.

Like all youngsters  there are a few mischievous ones.

The pet lambs are pretty good at breaking out and have to be escorted back.

These ewes with triplets have done remarkably well nurturing all three.

Meanwhile the crops are growing. The potatoes are coming on well.

Poppy and the cats still all accompany me on my walks.

We have a new flock of hens which are now well into lay and enjoy the opportunity to be outside.

They are a curious lot which is rather uncomfortable for poor Poppy.