Jezreel

Helena and her sister Kate went to the Farmer's Market in town this morning whilst I enjoyed a slow time at home, and even managed to do some work for a short while. Kate's daughter Jezreel stayed over with her cousin near Cirencester last night, and was driven back to meet her mum and Helena in Stroud, before we all went to the far side of town for a boat trip.

Helena and I have wanted to take this short excursion organised by the Cotswold Canal Trust on the newly renovated canal nearby at Ebley, where the District Council offices are located in an old mill building beside the canal. Volunteers run the trips on Saturday afternoons using a short narrowboat which the Trust has bought for this very purpose. We all met up at the Ebley canal bridge but found that we had to wait for a place on the next trip in 45 minutes time. So I walked along the towpath to photograph some swans, ducks, coots and swallows which are all thriving on the water close by. Kate, Helena and Jezreel went to a recently opened cafe in the newly built housing development beside the canal opposite to Ebley Mill.

I walked back to join them at the cafe, sat down and immediately took some pictures of Jezreel. She still had some glitter on her face and in her hair from playing with her cousing Zena. After taking this picture, I offered to show Jezreel what looking through the viewfinder would reveal. I set the camera up around her neck as she focused on her mum and I pressed the shutter button. I'm not sure that she was that impressed.

We then went back to the wharf to board the boat and set off on a half hour trip up the canal to the next lock, and back. On the previous run, the crew said they had spotted a kingfisher so I of course was all set to get a picture of one, but it didn't re-appear. We all liked floating along the canal and just wished it could have been for much longer. It has given me the idea of taking a canal holiday which would be wonderful!