Zooming In!

Photos are copyright of Maggie May

No, I'm not collecting chains for the garden! They are so huge and these large pieces of ironmongery could not possibly be lifted without the use of a crane.

I was visiting the Black Country Living Museum recently, in Birmingham and these objects seemed to be crying out to be snapped.

This was a Skipper butterfly that I snapped sitting on the side of the house, (The butterfly, not me!) This photo could definitely not have been taken so closely with my old digital camera, so I am very pleased with this one.

At the moment my garden is full of skippers.

I am very fond of the tiles in this reproduction fireplace in our lounge! As the house is more than a hundred years old, it does fit the personality of the place very well.

Why would I want to zoom in on a blackboard, you might well ask? Well, while out walking a few weeks ago, this blackboard was propped against a house with this message on it. I thought, "If it is still there when I walk back again (from where I was going), then I would definitely pick it up for the grandchildren."

After about half an hour, it was still in exactly the same place as where it was first spotted and I picked it up and took it home. Things often get left outside a garden with a little note asking people to help themselves. Its a good way of recycling and means one less trip to the city tip.

No doubt about it, the girls really enjoyed playing with the blackboard and recently when the older grandsons came to stay, all four children used it for their art work! There were some quarrels mind you, along the way!

Maybe the strangest thing that I have zoomed in on is this pot containing another egg! I didn't take photos of the first two eggs that were left mysteriously in our garden but this one has been recently placed in this pot and I thought I would leave it and see if Mr Fox comes back for it.

If you are not sure what I am talking about click here and here.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed zooming in with my new camera.

The Canoe, the Egg and The Fox

'Messing about on the river....er canal"

Don't quite know what these people were actually doing in the middle of the canal, but they eventually got everything sorted and paddled on their way to where ever they were going, passing me as they did so.

My daughter and two grandsons spent a pleasant time walking along the embankment with me, last summer on a lovely sunny day. Made a good walk.

For those people who read my last post Mystery of the Hidden eggs, I am pleased to announce that the mystery has been solved! My next door neighbour told me that a fox has been running up his path and jumping over into my back garden.

Another neighbour tells me that she had an egg left on her front porch once and she thinks that foxes grab crates of eggs that the milkman leaves on door steps in the morning. She thinks that the foxes eat what they want and then take eggs and bury them for the future and one chose my garden!

So customers might wonder what is happening to their egg order that never seems to arrive and I dare say the milkman will be scratching his head at the mystery and wonders why his customers never seem to get their eggs.

Working Mum had the same thing happen to her last year and her husband thought it was a fox! I was quite relieved to know that someone else had the same thing happen to them. Made me feel less isolated with the problem!

I also had the perfect answer from Hilary who sent me a very useful link about the way foxes steal eggs! Fascinating look it up here.

One less thing to worry about! I can cope with a fox!

Mystery of the Hidden Eggs

I know it has been Easter and people expect to see all sorts of chocolate eggs about but I have had a mystery in my garden and so far *it* has happened twice!

Not far from here, I was pottering in my garden and I noticed that there had been some disturbance in a pot of chives! Looked like an animal had scraped some of the soil off the top of the pot and had thrown it on the patio. There was a little mound on the edge of the pot and I dug my hand in, hoping it wasn't cat's mess and found an egg! It could have been laid by a bird but it was a brown hen's egg and to make matters worse, there was a sell by stamp on the side of it! I know what you are all thinking. It's a joke! The family are playing a prank on Maggie May!

Well let me tell you, it isn't a joke. I had watered that pot of chives the night before and there was no sign of the egg then. My son and family were on the south coast having a break and although my older grandsons had been here one of the weekends previously, the eldest has an aversion to eggs and certainly wouldn't handle them (one of his autistic traits) and the younger one could never have kept a secret like that. Besides....... no one has been outside the back door but me because of the nesting wrens.

My daughter would have thought it was a waste of an egg and I would have set her off laughing when she saw my puzzled expression if it had been her, so I know it had nothing to do with Deb.

Harry is as mystified as I am and he really isn't good at jokes. What you see in him is what you get..... he couldn't have anything to do with it I am one hundred per cent sure. So my family has been ruled out!

My garden is fairly secure though I suppose anyone could get in anywhere if they really wanted to.

The first time it happened was some weeks ago when I noticed an egg in the gravel by the side of the kitchen, following the underpinning work. It was sucked down tightly into the wet gravel and when I prised it out, it broke. That was also a brown hen's egg with a stamp on the side of the shell.

So it looks like an animal deposited the eggs. What could it be, do you think?

Could a cat have carried one without breaking it? Could a squirrel or a rat? A magpie? A fox?

If they could, why would they do it? Why not eat the eggs? Where did they come from?

All you people who live in exotic places, need not tell me it was a raccoon or a posssum or anything that we don't get here. I want to know what British animal could have done this?

Any ideas gratefully received and it really is not a joke!

In case any of you are wondering why I have a photo of pansies and not chives, well it is raining today and I already had a picture of my pansies but not of chives! Saved me getting wet and I am also a little scared of going out and finding another egg!

Not sure why but my Blogroll gadget didn't show up my last post The Main Attraction on anyone's blog.

Springing into Action

The weather has been lovely for the last few days and after being stuck in the house because of the wrens (see last post), I finally decided to have a little look round my garden armed with a camera and snap what is in flower.

My garden is far from perfect and I should have swept round the pots before I took photos. Never mind, this is what it really looks like. The primulas have got a bit of wind damage or water damage, or sun damage....... not sure which, but never the less, it is heart warming to see them flowering after the long winter days. The violets have appeared from self seeding and I like the way they just take over other pots.

I had these hyacinths for Mother's Day and they were in tight bud when they arrived and now they are opening up with the sun. I do love hyacinths and their lovely perfume.

I also love primulas when they are flowering but find they can look a mess during the summer, with withering leaves. However, I cannot find it in my heart to throw them away after flowering and usually repot them and find after adding a bit of fresh compost, they do look lovely again the following Spring.

These were also Mother's Day presents and they were also in perfect condition when I received them. They have been out on the patio on some rainy days, when I couldn't get out because of the wrens. I was amazed to see wrens going back to the nest yesterday but I decided I couldn't stay in all through the holidays, so I hope I haven't frightened them away again. Maybe there is one sitting on eggs. Time will tell.

Speaking of eggs...... A very strange thing happened the other day and I really have no idea how it came to be. I was amazed to spy an egg in the gravel that has been put down over the damaged ground caused by the underpinning. We are waiting for the ground to settle before we can concrete over it. I thought the children had planted a rubber toy egg and I started to carefully scrape back the gravel which was wet and sort of sucked the egg deeper down and I had to tug it to get it out. The egg was a brown hen's egg and as I pulled it, the shell broke! Now how did an egg get into the gravel in the first place, that's what I want to know?

I took the picture below because I am very fond of bamboo and have mine growing in containers so that it won't take over my garden. Two or three containers together look good, I think. There is an old mirror behind the bamboo. I wonder if I got my reflection in it? I think it is too dense..... phew!

I had my daughter and grandsons over for the weekend as they had arranged to meet up with a friend who happened to be visiting here from Scotland and they do not normally get see each other from one end of the year to the next. Deb's friend has children too, so while they played in a park, daughter and friend caught up with all the news from a bench nearby. The weather kept fine for them. Some how or other, ten year old Dean ended up in a pond...... but that's another story. His clothes had to dry out in the sun! Just as well he is a tough little guy!

I am soaking up that delicious feeling of the beginning of a school holiday that is stretching out before me.........

We have decided that we are going to visit our daughter from Thursday 9th - Tuesday 14th April, so forgive me if I don't get to visit your blogs as I know my daughter's broadband is in the middle of a change over, so will have to manage without the internet till I get back. However am I going to manage!