DERELICTION AND BEAUTY

After a good service at church this morning for Pentecost, we went out looking for some dereliction and found it not too far away.  We enjoyed being out in the beautiful English countryside - with the oil seed rape and blackthorn all adding their beauty and smells.  The air wasn’t that clear because it was so warm, so we just stopped the car and took in the sights and smells all around us.

Mr. HCB is suffering with a painful left calf and couldn’t walk that far, so just amused himself with his binoculars - but was happy that he saw quite a few birds, including a greater spotted woodpecker.  I think being at the top of the stadium at Wembley yesterday and having to climb hundreds of steps probably hasn’t helped, but he and Josh had a great time together - although just when you want a train to be running late, it leaves on time - as they discovered when they tried to catch the 9.00 p.m. train back last night.  However, Josh's team won, so at least he returned rejoicing!

I had seen this old shelter, possibly for sheep, and thought this would do well for Derelict Sunday - now taken over again by Marlieske - and was pleased that the oil seed rape was quite a long way away, so it didn’t make me sneeze.  We spotted lots of cow parsley and bluebells along the sides of the road - as well as pink campions, forget-me-nots and of course, the blackthorn bushes - I hate to say it, but we really could do with some rain!

Now back home and I have insisted that Mr. HCB sits with his legs up and he is NOT allowed in the garden - I may need rope to stop him though!

In other news, I am still wading through the photographs on my Macbook - I have managed to whittle them down from over 20,000 to just over 16,000, which I think is quite good - but I do hate deleting photographs.